The Agora

Riley Bennett went from wage slave to entrepreneur. He explains how he did it & how you can too. 

A primer on crypto-anarchism. What it is, why it's important, & how to participate. We cover everything from old-school black market ciphers to modern day blockchains & end-to-end encryption services. 

"A specter is haunting the modern world, the specter of crypto anarchy."

-Timothy May

George Selgin takes us to econ school & explains the origins of money! We discuss how Bitcoin challenges traditional economic theories & how those theories can inform Bitcoin's future.

Corey DeAngelis is the Director of School Choice at Reason & an adjunct scholar at CATO. He is the liberty movement's point man on all issues related to education policy. I asked him to come on the show and explain why government schooling has been such a disaster & what recourse parents and students have.

Joel Valenzuela is the host of the Digital Cash Network. He joins us to explain how you can become your own bank and live free of fiat blood-money. What resources, workarounds & services will you have to know about? Find out in this episode.

IMHO, this episode is a must listen for everyone serious about counter-economics.

Bruce Fenton is the Cypherpunk Stockbroker.  He's the CEO of Chainstone Labs, & founder of Atlantic Financial & Satoshi Roundtable. He's an OG Bitcoiner who's been regulated by the SEC for most of his life & he's here to provide an insider's perspective on the coming wave of tokenized securities & assets. 

Truly, there is no one else on the planet, better suited to explain why tokenization is so disruptive, what chains firms are looking at & the best paths for early adopters, investors & entrepreneurs.  

CTRL+Pew & Ivan the Troll lay out a beginner's guide to 3D-Printing with the Ender 3. Go from 0 experience to FGC-9 owner in one week. 

The tokenization of securities & assets will end FINRA's cartelization of the brokerage industry. Find out why agorists are so excited about tokenization & what steps we're taking to benefit financially from the coming tokambrian explosion. 

Roger Ver & I spoke about the future of money & what that will specifically look like. What role will privacy & tokenization play in shaping the future global economy? How did austrian economics predict the current financial crisis & why does it make us so bullish for cryptocurrency? We discuss all of this & much more!

I answer the most common questions people have about agorism & field a bunch more from Twitter!

I use Austrian Business Cycle Theory to explain how central bank inflation has destroyed the US dollar. I talk about what we can expect economically, socially & politically in the near future. We also cover how agorists are preparing, using my favorite manta - gold, guns & a getaway!

John McAfee is back on The Agora to school us in everything blockchain. We discussed Satoshi's identity, privacy coins, the McAfee DEX, the metanet, the coming halving, & much more. We also covered Epstein's "suicide" and John's favorite book. 

OG agorist, Victor Koman, stops by The Agora to give us a history of the early days. Having spent time at the famous "anarcho-village," Koman has a unique perspective to offer.

He gives us all the inside details - including the role played by a certain former US congressman, inside drama, and what agorism means to him. He also reflects back on the life and work of Sam Konkin.  

Walter Block joins us to break down the correct libertarian position on slave reparations. Through the consistent application of the non-aggression principle, Block reaches a conclusion that is both counter-intuitive and logically sound. 

Not all entrepreneurship is agorist, but all agorism is entrepreneurial. Whether you're selling flowers at the local farmer's market, or zip guns to Chinese dissidents, agorists can't avoid entrepreneurship.

Per Bylund, a fellow at the Mises Institute & Professor of Entrepreneuship at Oklahoma State University joins us for episode 52 to break down the inseparable relationship between agorism and entrepreneurship. 

This past spring, John McAfee clued myself & listeners of The Agora into a decentralized privacy coin known as Apollo. I began to research the project and was frankly, taken aback. Apollo is an attempt to create an all-in-one blockchain that encompasses all the best features a cryptocurrency can possess. This is done by marrying extreme privacy standards with a very decentralized ecosystem. AJ Mora, Media & PR Director for Apollo joins us for episode 51 to explain all the details.

As requested by patrons, Pete Raymond is back on The Agora! We caught up this past weekend over a few beers & I had the chance to ask him about his experience with the social media censors, and his forthcoming documentary, The Monopoly On Violence. We also discussed his beef with potential CIA-plant and Chair of the Partyarks, Nick Sarwark. Needless to say, Pete & I have a less than favorable opinion of LP strategy...

Jeffrey Tucker stopped by The Agora to school us in some of the finer points of crypto-economics. We discussed his expectations for Facebook's Libra, the disruptive potential of tokenization, Bitcoin maximalism & currency competition as well as hodling's effect on the velocity of cryptocurrencies. We also had a chance to discuss his new book The Market Loves You: Why You Should Love It Back which explores a brilliant thesis thus far unexplored in economics. This episode has something for both the beginner's and the OGs. 

With the growing tide of regulations against cryptocurrencies, privacy has become an increasingly valuable aspect in the blockchain ecosystem. Dash is a cryptocurrency agorists can confidently trust to facilitate instant & anonymous transactions. Amanda Johnson stops by for this episode of The Agora to explain how this is made possible by utilizing a unique secondary layer of masternodes. We also discussed the advantadges of Dash's treasury system and some of the development goals Amanda is looking forward to.

Stephan Kinsella is a renowned patent attorney and one of the world's foremost libertarian rights theorists. He stopped by The Agora to help us break down some of Craig Wright's recent legal claims, including his attempt to copyright the Bitcoin White Paper, as well as some of the torts he's filed. Does a copyright application imply CSW is Satoshi Nakamoto? Can he use the courts to force individuals to refer to him as such? This is a great opportunity to learn to some of the legal aspects and nuances of libertarianism from one of world's leading experts!

Growing your own food is one of the easiest, safest and most enjoyable ways to practice counter-economics. Every produce item grown in your garden denies the state a litany of taxes, including but not limited to sales, gas, & export. Not to mention it saves you and your loved ones from state mandated pesticides and chemical additives. Unfortuantely, available planting space has become increasingly rare, particularly for young folks. So, with that in mind, Alex Utopium joins us to share some of his favorite urban gardening tips! 

Vin Armani stopped by the Agora! Vin is the CEO of CoinText & an OG agorist so our meeting was well overdue. He drops some knowledge on STOs and the future of tokenization and also tells us what he's looking forward to in crypto's near future. We also got to discuss an amazing article he wrote for the recent May issue of Counter Markets titled Emerging Opportunities to Profit on The Bitcoin Blockchain.

Thaddeus Russell stops by The Agora to elaborate on his plans for a School for Agorism! What sorts of classes will be offered? When can you sign up? A historian by trade, he has a unique appreciation for the role counter-economics has played throughout human affairs. From the freedom-fighting sex workers of yesteryear to Gandhi's satyagraha, we put a close lens on the heroic agorists throughout time.

Dr. Craig Wright is the chief scientist at nChain and is believed by many to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the original inventor of bitcoin. That means he is either a computer science genius or a marketing genius. In either case, I thought it would be wise to acquaint ourselves with him and his ideas. We spoke about Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, nChain - and although he isn't an anarchist, we may have even found a bit of common ground regarding central banking.

Gabriel Cardona is head of R&D at bitcoin.com & one of the most skilled developers in the blockchain community. He stopped by the Agora recently to discuss technological decentralization and we hit all the stops. 3D-printing, AI, tokenization, smart contracts, DAOs, biomimicry & more. 

Roger Ver, stops by The Agora to discuss voluntaryism, tokenization and bitcoin cash. He is the brains behind a number of projects in the crypto space and a dedicated voluntaryist. I asked him if he agreed with my assessment that the tokenization of securities and assets will be a death knell for the FINRA cartel & the SEC. You'll be as pleasantly surprised as I was to hear his encouraging repsonse.

Smoking L's, talking crypto, and dippin on the IRS with John McAfee. This is the fun part of the liberty movement. 

In logic, an axiom is a statement that is self-evident or otherwise accepted as true. The action axiom is simply that individuals act. It is the foundation of austrian economics and the subject of episode 41 of The Agora. To help shed some light on the topic, I asked the world's leading praxeologist, Walter Block, to help us sort thru the minutiae. 

Each year, trimmigrants from all over the world gather in Humboldt County to prepare the cannabis crop. In doing so they knowingly put themselves at risk; which is perhaps one reason they are rewarded so generously for their efforts. In this episode, fellow agorist and experienced trimmer, Angelo Depuma, gives us the low down on the north cali trim scene. 

Does the state inspect and approve of the food you subsist off of? Do you pay for that food using the counterfeit notes of some banking cartel? If so, congratulations - you're a slave! In this episode of The Agora, find out how aquaponics can liberate you from food slavery and how it gives you the tools to free others as well.

This episode of The Agora focuses on some of the various use cases for 3D printing counter-economically. From bump stocks to kidneys, 3D printing offers the agorist a myriad of regulations to nullify. 

In the second installment of my discussion with Pete Raymond we truly cover the gambit. Don't miss out as we discuss everything from the 2018 Meme War to black markets and comic books. Also, hear my take on why agorism and anarcho-coalitionism are incompatible!

Have a general understanding of blockchain tech, but still find yourself at a loss when others start diving into the intricate details? This episode of The Agora is meant for you. Join me for part two of my discussion with Professor Abdullah Tansel as he explains the glorious marriage of cryptography and databases. We compare and contrast blockchains to traditional databases, learn about scalability, public vs. permissioned blockchains, as well as the role of encryption.

I recently hosted a war council with fellow Ancapastani memelord, Pete Raymond, in order to take a look back at the 2018 Meme Wars. Join us as we compare notes, discuss the best and worst memes of the year, & take stock of casualties.

The second and final installment of my discussion with longtime agorist Jim Davidson. We cover a number of topics including black market economics, collapsitarianism, science fiction, social media censorship and much, much more. Don't miss Jim's top three books for agorists!

Blockchains are to the agorist as the hammer is to the carpenter. In this episode Max Hillebrand and I discuss how blockchains facilitate state subversion. We also get his take on some of the recent trends in the crypto-community such as the BTC/BCH debate, PoS vs. PoW, & alternative blockchain applications.

Though Sharia law is commonly vilified in media outlets as being brutal and antiquated - if participation is voluntary, should we care? What is it anyhow? How does it compare with the laws that our enemy, the state, subjects us to? Will Coley, Imam & former libertarian-VP candidate, joins us to shed light on the issue. 

Next week in Dallas, a group of armed anarchists will - in defiance of local "authorities" - distribute food, clothing and shelters to the local homeless population. I asked the event's founder, Murdoch Pizgatti, to come on the show and discuss the event, as well as his brand of activism. 

Ever since episode 9 of The Agora (Top 10 Libertarian Sci-Fi Books) I've wanted to cover libertarian themes in sci-fi movies. Since I'm more of a book person, I invited an old friend of mine on the show to help us out. Angelo Depuma is a fellow libertarian and the biggest movie buff I know of, and in this episode, he breaks down the top 5 sci-fi movies with a libertarian theme.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was an economically illiterate, racist, warmonger. An only child and a mama's boy, FDR was born with a silver spoon in hand and quickly learned to utilize his only asset in life; his last name. His legacy is one of political centralization, warfare and fraud. This is the story of America's 32nd president you won't hear in public indoctrination camps. 

It's hard to find a better example of an agorist than Jim. He once racked up 600,000 counts of felony gambling charges. Another time, he spent ten minutes with Barack Obama, preaching the anti-war message. Still not convinced? Jim almost took down the entire US Space Program using counter-economics. In this episode, Jim gives us the details on all of this and more!

All of the nonsense emanating from the general government can be traced back to Alexander Hamilton. The federal reserve, high taxes, and our $20 trillion debt, are all echoes of his ideas. Moreover, our omnipotent executive, weakened state sovereignty and bloated judiciary are all the result of actions he took, or advocated for. In this episode of The Agora we take a biographical approach to find out how and why he became the poster child for statism. 

An avowed white supremacist, known for lying and lethargy, who exhibited traits of psychopathy at a young age, Lincoln would grow up to be America's first, but not last dictator. In this episode, we take a detailed look at how and why Lincoln manufactured war with the South, his crimes against humanity, and his shredding of the Constitution.

Fidel Castro turned Cuba into his personal hacienda - modeled after the old sugar plantations - and then proceeded to open concentration camps and slave rings. This episode of The Agora is designed to give folks who have general, conversational knowledge about this cockroach, a deeper understanding regarding his pathetic excuse of a life.

Non-state education is one of the most potent counter-economic activities one can engage in. In this episode of The Agora, we explore the history of compulsory education, the disastrous results it's produced, as well as what you can do about it, and how. 

Per Bylund is an economist at Oklahoma State University and a frequent contributor to mises.org, lewrockwell.com, and Entrepreneur magazine. For episode 20 of The Agora, I asked him on the show to discuss an article he wrote on counter-economics 12 years ago. 

On 10/2/18, Jamal Khashoggi walked into the Saudi consulate in Turkey, but he never walked out. In this episode, we explore the politics that led to his death and those constraining the US's response.

In this episode of The Agora, fellow agorist @carcampit joins us. Not only does he co-host one of my favorite podcasts, Friends Against Government, but he also publishes a blog on crypto-markets called Voluntary Mess. The topics we cover range from becoming an agorist and getting started with counter-economics, to NPC memes and Facebook purges.

In this episode of The Agora, J. Kent Hastings joins me to discuss the legacy of the great Karl Hess. Karl started out as a speechwriter for the Barry Goldwater campaign and went on to become one of the pillars of Agorist philosophy, yet many libertarians still aren't familiar with his story, or his work. Hess is responsible for what Per Bylund has termed "horizontal" counter-economics & the diy culture of the liberty movement.

A blowjob is better than no job - but don't tell that to the feminazis or the religious right. After all, they're the ones responsible for driving sex work underground in the first place. In this episode of The Agora, we use three books to examine pimping and prostitution.

What's the deal with Kratom? Is it a drug or medicine? Is it taken recreationally or medicinally? Is it natural or man made? Are there potential risks? And most importantly, why does the state and federal government not want us to take it? To answer all of these questions and more, we're joined by Luis Fernando Mises of www.emancipatedhuman.com!

One day, residents of the Agorist utopia may very well look back and consider seasteading to be the catalyst that brought freedom to humanity. Joe Quirk, President of The Seasteading Institute joins us to discuss the role seasteads play in the liberty movement, and current progress being made by the Institute. 

J. Neil Schulman is one of the last founding fathers of Agorism. He has authored multiple books including the Prometheus-award winners, Alongside Night and Rainbow Cadenza. He has written, directed and produced movies and episodes of the Twilight Zone. He joins us to discuss everything from SEK3 and the early days to being a Sci-Fi author.

Class theory can seem like a dirty word to libertarians. In this episode, we examine four readings in order to derive an Agorist Class Theory. John C. Calhoun's Disquisition on Government provides the first brick in the foundation of the theory. In chapter 14 of Space Capitalism, Walter Block & Peter Nelson critique Calhoun's interpretation & offer a competing version. That view, is perhaps best summed up by Murray Rothbard in his article, The Case for Revisionism. Finally, a graduated synthesis is provided by Wally Conger's booklet, Agorist Class Theory. 

I'm certainly no expert in firearms, but RoyalNonesuch is. With almost 400K subscribers on Youtube, he's well known for his daring expertise and deep knowledge of building firearms. In this episode he tells us how to build a shotgun for 20$ and a handgun in 4 pieces. We also discuss Youtube's crusade against gun channels as well as his favorite builds.

The ability to think logically sometimes feels like a lost art. This is unfortunate, because when an individual thinks critically, they're better prepared to engage in debate and rational discussion. More importantly, it makes us better advocates of liberty.

The logic of space and time is a mystery to most. In this episode, we discover the logic behind everything from Xeno's paradoxes, Newton's bucket experiment, Kant's thoughts on incongruent counterparts, and much more.

A ranking of the top 10 books in libertarian sci-fi, including both the classics and some newer material. A twitter poll I ran on the subject got some interesting results as well, plus a few honorable mentions!

Walter Block on Elon Musk, homesteading the Moon, and terraforming Mars, as we discuss his new book with Peter Nelson, Space Capitalism. 

Unlike Russia, the United States has an abundance of advantageous geographical features. A location entirely within the temperate zone, numerous deep water ports and natural harbors, and an interconnected, navigable river system helped make the United States a global superpower. The current shale boom, promises to extend that legacy into the 21st Century. 

A rundown of the host of geopolitical factors Russia must contend with. The cold climate and rugged terrain may have built the Russian character, but the lack of portage and the unbroken Eurasian plain, have been constant sources of frustration throughout history. 

The political geography of America's favorite whipping boy - the Middle East. 

The South China Sea is the most dangerous place on earth and most people aren't paying attention. This discussion breaks down the various competing interests in the region. 

It's important to understand the main theories in geopolitics because they're used by our enemy, the state, to make decisions. This is a discussion about some of the dominant theories in geopolitics. 

Inaugural episode of The Agora. A quick breakdown of what to expect.