86 - Alex Gladstein: Anti-Authoritarian Technologies & The Future of Governance

86 - Alex Gladstein: Anti-Authoritarian Technologies & The Future of Governance Our guest in this episode is Alex Gladstein, the Chief Strategy Officer at Human Rights Foundation and VP of Strategy for Oslo Freedom Forum. We attended and spoke at Oslo Freedom Forum last year, and it was one of the best conferences we have ever been to - it was really well produced, with amazing participants who talked about important topics and ideas. In this interview we discuss why civil liberties make a country better for its people, what the future of governance, internet and money looks like, and why anti-authoritarian technologies like Bitcoin are important for that future. "In a centralized system, the goal is to survive. In a decentralized system, it's all about competition." (https://goo.gl/yjfpV5) In This Episode Of Future Thinkers: - The mission and activities of Human Rights Foundation and Oslo Freedom Forum - Why countries with civil liberties are generally better for people - The recent global tendency towards totalitarianism, and what it means - Governance, internet and money - key areas of change for future societies - Anti-authoritarian technologies vs. technological colonialism and authoritarianism - The emergence of sophisticated surveillance and social credit platforms, i.e. in China - The importance of old school activism and civil initiatives to keep governments in check - The opportunities and limits of a direct democracy - Competition as the main characteristic of decentralized systems - How to create urban design that protects the privacy of citizens - The problems of shifting responsibility and decision-making from governments to technologists "Builders, technologists and developers will be the new decision-makers. They have to be careful. A technologist is the key person in the future." (https://goo.gl/wtDMmo) Mentions and Resources: - Human Rights Foundation (https://hrf.org/) - Oslo Freedom Forum (http://bit.ly/1uzyzcu) Book Recommendations: - Books by Yuval Noah Harari (https://goo.gl/UrqKu2) - The Zero Marginal Cost Society by Jeremy Rifkin (https://amzn.to/2A0FPep) Show notes: http://bit.ly/2RELQTT Join the Future Thinkers Community on Discord: http://bit.ly/2RgIHNI This episode is sponsored by: http://bit.ly/2GItIbE Recommend a sponsor for Future Thinkers: http://bit.ly/2R6XCdu Support us on Patreon: http://bit.ly/2GxdAJW