the paradise paradox – Page 29 – worldliness & spirituality

Episode 52 – The Panopticon & Your Privacy: Juan Galt

by Kurt Robinson on August 10, 2015 in Podcast • 0 Comments

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The Story:

The Panopticon was a well-crafted piece of architecture which allowed just a couple of guards to watch an entire prison. The prisoners never knew exactly when they were being watched, but they always knew that the potential was there. Juan Galt made the case in his article “Anne Frank Had ‘Something to Hide’ and Something to Fear“, that this is a perfect analogy for the modern surveillance state, the many programs which officially exist to keep us safe from terrorism, but in fact are one of the greatest examples of mass government overreach that the world has ever seen, short of genocide.

It’s common that when you present these facts to regular people, they will say “But why does it matter? I really don’t think I’m that important that they’ll want to see my information.” Yet, when one organisation, or one agent of an organisation, has this much power, it really doesn’t matter whether you’re important or not. When someone is that powerful, they can dig up your personal information, and probably destroy your life, for a personal vendetta or even for a joke. So what can we do about this?

I had another chance to interview Juan Galt and talk about security, privacy, a few things you can do to protect yourself, and how technology will be used by regular people in the near future to evade the clutches of domineering governments.

Join us both on this next exhilarating episode of… The Paradise Paradox!

The Links:

Juan Galt’s articles on Cointelegraph

Ethereum prepares for take-off – on Cointelegraph

The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto

Neuromancer

Facebook is expanding the way it tracks your data

Episode 51 – Business Time: The Cardroom

by Kurt Robinson on August 5, 2015 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Episode:

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The Story:

If you’ve always lived in a developed country such as Australia, the UK or Norway, you might have the impression that everything is going well, and that the government’s laws are there to help you. Maybe you have the impression that your country’s currency is safe, as “sound as a pound”, and maybe, if you’re an extremist, have the view that it’s morally wrong to do anything without first asking your government’s permission.

Yet, what if I told you that the security of your currency is an illusion, and that to ask for permission to do something is an indication that you are not free, but enslaved. Many people in developing nations know this intuitively, and many have experienced the effects directly.

Entrepreneur Jeff Berwick (among others) has been predicting that the US dollar is on the brink of failure for many years. And now he believes that a date in September may bring significant changes – if not the end of the dollar, at least a stock market crash and the economic destruction that brings.

Our response to these circumstances is to put money in commodities that are hard to reach, such as silver and bitcoin, and also to find new ways to make money, such as opening an illegal gambling establishment.

Disclaimer: Nothing in this video is to be considered seriously as financial advice or legal advice or any other kind of advice. By the way, in the end I decided against the cardroom because it would violate the terms of my lease.

The Links:

The Dollar Vigilante

Jeff Berwick talks about the Shemitah

Guys and Dolls

Doyle Brunson’s Super System

Super Systems 2

The Theory of Poker: A Professional Poker Player Teaches You How To Think Like One

Professional No-Limit Hold ’em: Volume I

No Limit Hold ’em: Theory and Practice

The Mathematics of Poker

Rounders

Silver Bullet Silver Shield

Numerological speech from Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF

Cover image used and modified under Creative Commons. Original image by Steven Depolo.

Episode 50 – Ethereum & The Future: Juan Galt

by Kurt Robinson on July 31, 2015 in Podcast • 1 Comment

The Episode:

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The Story:

In 2008, an unknown, man, women or team going by the pseudonym “Satoshi Nakamoto” released some code to a cryptography mailing list, informing the small group of nerds that he had created something interesting, and say they should use it if they liked it, giving birth to the world of “cryptocurrency”. What has happened since has created a strange kind of chaos and order, and formed a foundation for a new world. People have used Bitcoin for charity, such as the organisation Bitcoin Not Bombs and Sean’s Outpost. Others have used it for profit or (what some might consider) more questionable means, such as gambling, selling drugs, firearms. Other, more nefarious agents have used it as an excuse to prosecute, destroying the lives of people such as Charlie Shrem and Ross Ulbricht.

Yet the march of progress continues. The pace of technological development is increasing so rapidly, we don’t necessarily even know how the technology is going to be used when it arrives. Bitcoin has been compared by some to the combustion engine, in terms of how it will change the way it will permeate our lives, changing the nature of every transaction it touches. And yet, thousands of clever people are scrambling to devise the next iteration, the next generation of blockchain technology that fully exploits the potential of Satoshi Nakamoto’s gift. One of those new iterations is Ethereum.

The other day The Paradise Paradox had a chance to interview Juan Galt, journalist for Cointelegraph, traveller, and all-round cool guy. What kind of developments will Ethereum allow? Can we make lawyers and escrows obsolete using smart contracts? What threats and benefits do autonomous Internet economic actors present to us?

We ask all these questions and more in this exciting development of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Links:

Ethereum prepares for take-off – on Cointelegraph

Ethereum price skyrockets as Ethereum confirms launch – on Cointelegraph

Ethereum announces official launch date – on Cointelegraph

Ethereum: the World Computer

The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto

Neuromancer

Facebook is expanding the way it tracks your data

The Internet of Things is Bigger than Anyone Realised – on Wired

Attorney-General struggles to explain metadata

So you think you’re smarter than a CIA agent – analysts vs regular people

League of Legends gambling with Bitcoin

The War on Drugs is a War on People – on The Paradise Paradox

AI “MarI/O” plays Super Mario World

Non-Aggression Principle

Elon Musk & Stephen Hawking warn about autonomous killing machines

Episode 49 – Charlie Carlos

by Kurt Robinson on July 25, 2015 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Episode:

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The Story:

A man steps off an aeroplane in a foreign country, with little more than a few bags, a few changes of clothes. This man is no stranger to foreign countries, having travelled through his own country as a child, with his belongings stuffed in the back of a Mazda MQ, and just recently has skipped from the beaches of Sri Lanka to the ghettoes of Los Angeles. An experienced traveller with all of his bridges burnt, within days he is forming sentences in the land he has just discovered. The land is Mexico, and that man’s name is “Charlie”, but in Mexico he goes by “Carlos”. This fellow is a rugged mix of academic theory studied in a university, and raw experience of life.

Now, upon arrival in Mexico, he realises that he has no safety net, as his government has decided to stop giving him money to study. Can he survive in a foreign country with nothing but a Tarzan-like grasp of the local language, his Tarzan-like stature, and his wits?

In this episode, Carlos tells us about his adventures in Australia, Sri Lanka, the USA, and his philosophical adventures, criticisms of the higher education system in Australia, and his ideas about ideas.

The Links:

Free Ross

Panel about Silk Road trial at Anarchapulco

The Fallacy of Misplaced Concreteness on Wikipedia

Akon is bringing electricity to 600 million in Africa

A Tribe Called Quest – I Left My Wallet in El Segundo

Ghanaian entrepreneur: Growth hindered by foreign aid

Thomas Sowell – The effects of welfare

Mises.org – Austrian economics, freedom and peace

Episode 48 – The French Arizonian Mexican: Taylor Alan

by Kurt Robinson on July 22, 2015 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Episode:

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The Story:

Living in the USA, the media bombards you with stories telling you that you should accept immigrants, or that you should be afraid of immigrants stealing your welfare benefits. When trapped in a limited media FOX/CNN right/left propaganda paradigm, it may be difficult to overlook the fact that more and more people are deciding to leave the USA and never come back. Some of them are looking for the principles of liberty and opportunity that made America great. Some of them are increasingly concerned about political risk. And some of them just want an opportunity to break their daily routine, leave the ordinary life behind, and find what mysteries the world has to present to them.

Naturally, some of these adventurers have decided to spend some time in Magical Mexico. Kurt’s neighbour Taylor Alan is one of these gringos that decided to explore the world, if only by accident. On a month-long family trip to France, she met a charming local and decided not to leave.

In this episode, we interview Ms. Alan and find out how she managed to survive France barely speaking the language, her easy-going attitude, and how she ended up in Mexico.

Join us on another exciting, world-shattering adventure on… The Paradise Paradox!

The Links:

MiGringa Inglés on Facebook

Mexico is not a hellhole

Trump bashes Mexico in a speech

Cover image used and modified under Creative Commons. Original image here, by Kevin Dooley.

Episode 47 – I Dream of Vocho

by Kurt Robinson on July 17, 2015 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Episode:

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The Story:

The Volkswagen Beetle was and is a fine example of German engineering. It has just the bare minimum amount of moveable parts, was built to last, and still lives up to its name as “The People’s Car”. Adolf Hitler first commissioned the Beetle in 1934, and the design was completed by Ferdinand Porsche in 1938. Many models, 30 years old and even older, are still running in many countries, especially in third world countries, and Mexico is no exception. The Mexicans, saving the hassle of trying to pronounce a German word, know the vehicle as the “vocho”, and you can see them used as taxis in certain cities, most notably Acapulco.

In this episode, Aaron tells us about a dream he had where he was driving a group of friends in his black vocho, when everything goes wrong. The breaks don’t work, the road drops out, and the laws of physics abandon him. Find out what happens next in this exciting chapter of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Links:

Enter The Void

Labyrinth

Serpent of Light: Beyond 2012 – The Movement of the Earth’s Kundalini and the Rise of the Female Light, 1949 to 2013

Original cover image by Robert Couse-Baker. Modified and used under Creative Commons.

Episode 46 – The Dox News Box July 2015

by Kurt Robinson on July 12, 2015 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Episode:

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The Story:

On the fifth of July, the people of Greece voted in a referendum on whether to accept new austerity measures, or to reject them. When the people voted no, there was footage of people celebrating in the streets, and it was hailed as a democratic success. Have the Greek people really succeeded in anything by this referendum? Or did they just get the democratic choice of the colour of rope which will be used to hang them?

Vaccines are an increasingly controversial subject. Some people are afraid to take them, and some are afraid not to. People can get passionate or even angry about it if you do nothing more than ask their opinion. Some pro-vaxxers claim that any potential risks are miniscule. Some anti-vaxxers claim the risks are known and potentially fatal. And some say it’s a matter of questions needing to be asked. With the complex legal issues sometimes barring legal action against vaccine manufacturers, and the media spin against any public figure who asks questions, is it even possible to know the truth?

Ever since the year 2000, people have been asking the eloquent question “So where are the fooking flying cars, mate?” There are many companies working on this problem, and with the availability of technology, materials and engineering information these days, it’s very possible that one of these companies might crack it very soon. What are the technologies that these companies are looking at, and how viable are they?

We ask these questions and more in this media circus of an episode of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Links:

Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi

Goodfellas

Tspiras asks for 30% debt haircut and 20 year grace period

Andreas M. Antonopoulos educates Senate of Canada about Bitcoin (Oct 8, 2014)

Red flag traffic laws in England and USA

Google self-driving cars “Free Ride”

Government OK’d support for flying car development

Drone that carries people

The Volocopter

People still insist this flying car will arrive by 2017 despite crash

Lexus says it has a real hoverboard

“You did it Jim Carrey” – vaccine article on Jezebel

“First they came for the anti-vaxxers” on LewRockwell.com

“16 years ago a doctor published a study and it made us all sicker” on Upworthy

Parents can’t sue vaccine manufacturers

Vaccine injury compensation programs

Episode 45 – Right In Your Facebook

by Kurt Robinson on July 7, 2015 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Episode:

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The Story:

The year is 2005. Brad Greenspan, Tom Anderson and their team of dedicated programmers have built an empire using a relatively new method of communication and social interaction – a social media website, a medium allowing people to connect and interact with people all over the world sharing common interests, to make new friends, and to advertise their companies and bands. In July, he sells the company to News Corporation for $580 million. For three years, MySpace was the largest social networking site in the world. After that, in a few short years, the userbase would decline and it would be worth only a fraction. News Corporation would watch their investment dwindle, watching their customer base slowly trickle to the new guy on the block – Facebook.

This is the process of creative destruction that happens so frequently in a free (or relatively free) market. One company creates an idea, another company improves on it, and if the original company can’t innovate quick enough, it gets washed away on the shores of history. The second company goes on to enjoy all the spoils of pandering to an ever-fickle and frequently disloyal consuming public. Then, the cycle begins again.

The question is, how long is Facebook’s cycle going to last? Many contenders have risen and fallen, and many more have risen and stagnated: TSU, Diaspora, Google+. Customers are aware to some extent that Facebook likes to use its users for social experiments, but that does not deter them, with the appeal of convenience and a network effect maintaining their presence. Princeton University predicts that Facebook doesn’t have long left, and by 2017 we may see an exodus.

What will the next wave of social media bring – social media 3.0? How will new platforms such as Synereo and Minds.com entice their potential user base – monetarily, or otherwise? What will it take for you to give up on the Book of Faces? We ask these questions and more in the next exciting chapter of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Links:

Synereo
Minds.com
TSU
MySpace
The Paradise Paradox on Facebook
Facebook sorry – almost – for secret psychological experiment on users
Facebook will lose 80% of users by 2017, say Princeton researchers
Why Facebook Will Probably Not Die Out By 2017

Episode 44 – Down at the Ashram: Link McElvenny

by Kurt Robinson on July 2, 2015 in Podcast • 0 Comments

The Episode:

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The Story:

The year is 400 ACE. A scholar dutifully reads Sanskrit from a decaying fern leaf, contemplating the words, arranging them within the forefront of the mind, and again writing them in fine caligraphy onto another leaf. The scholar couldn’t have known that even more than a thousand years later, people would be referring to those words and the wisdom contained within. That scholar’s name was Patañjali, and the words are known as the Yoga Sutras.

Not even Patañjali could trace the exact moment, or even the exact millenium, in which the first person decided to sit down and contemplate, to calm their mind, to say some sweet words to themself, representative of some idea greater than their own personal existence, to explore inner space, and attempt to find some kind of transcendent truth. Nobody knows exactly where this practice started, individually, or in parallel. Nevertheless, the threads of this first meditation, this first yogi, extend all over the world today, permeating every major religious tradition in the world, in what’s known as “mysticism”.

One such tradition continues today. Thousands of people all over the world chant the mantra “Om Namah Shivaya“, patiently waiting to experience divine gratitude, happiness, and grace. In this episode, Kurt interviews his close friend Link McElvenny to find out about his three month trip to an ashram in India. Join us on a spiritual journey as we are transformed, in this exciting chapter of … The Paradise Paradox!

The Links:

Om Namah Shivaya on Wikipedia
The Yoga Sutras
Hatha Yoga Pradipika
Inkstain Pro on Bandcamp
Inkalot.net
Inverter Alter on Soundcloud
Link interviews Kurt on The Space Between

Cover image used and modified under Creative Commons. Original image.

Episode 43.5 – Naturalised

by Kurt Robinson on June 29, 2015 in Podcast • 0 Comments

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The Story:

Here’s a quick episode to tell you a few little stories about our continuing adventures in Mexico. Kurt went looking for a new room to rent, and had a few surprises. He also had an intimate encounter with a huge moth. Aaron became a Mexican citizen, and had some problems with his mother-in-law’s prejudices.