Stranded Technologies Podcast

Does this sound straight out of a science-fiction novel? That's because it is. In " Termination Shock ", Neil Stephenson described a near-future earth where climate change has significantly altered human society and follows the attempts of a businessman using solar geoengineering to cool the planet. Luke Iseman , a hardware entrepreneur and solarpunk, read the book and dug into Stephenson's resear...

David A. Johnston is the Chief Strategy Officer at DLTx , the first public tech company run by decentralists who believe the future will be built on open public blockchains, owned and operated by their users. David is a major crypto OG, he was the chairman of the board of Mastercoin and facilitated the world’s first ICO (initial coin offering), he was one of the first people to analyze the Ethereu...

Bret is an entrepreneur on a big mission as the CEO of Last Energy , a vertically integrated nuclear-powered electricity provider. Bret aims to create energy superabundance, fix climate change and elevate human potential to unimaginable heights and sees nuclear as the solution. Few if any people in the world have talked to more experts. Bret hosts the " Titans of Nuclear " Podcast, which has a who...

Eche Emole is the co-founder of Afropolitan , a digital nation aimed at empowering Africans to lead abundant lives. With a background as a lawyer, technology executive, and community organizer, Eche has extensive experience in his field. He has successfully organized events for over 200,000 diaspora Africans, including the 2019 Year of Return in Ghana, which generated $1.9 billion in economic acti...

Scott A. Beyer . is a journalist and consultant, and owner of the Market Urbanism Report , a think tank that advocates for free-market city policy. Scott is currently on a 1.5-year-long trip to document how Market Urbanism can apply to developing world cities in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Scott has just arrived in Africa after 6 months in Latin America. Niklas and Scott talk about what's wron...

Patri Friedman is the legendary founder of The Seasteading Institute , and General Partner at Pronomos Capital , a VC fund focused on improving statecraft. Patri is the foremost thinker behind the idea of "competitive governance". Patri has been a huge inspiration for this show, and for Infinita VC . This makes this one of the most defining and important episodes in the history of the podcast. We...

Max Borders is an author and public intellectual. He wrote books like " The Social Singularity " and " After Collapse ". He is also Executive Director at Social Evolution , a non-profit organization dedicated to solving social problems through innovation. We start the conversation by discussing competitive governance and using "exit" to improve existing institutions. Max views existing institution...

Adeo Ressi is an iconic entrepreneur, investor, and teacher. He is the CEO of VC Lab , which runs the leading venture capital accelerator. He is also the Executive Chairman of the Founder Institute , the world's largest pre-seed accelerator. Adeo has launched more than 14 venture capital funds and founded 11 startups, having nearly $2 billion in exits before the age of 30. Adeo speaks about his mi...

Dan Epstein is Director at Trust Ventures , a VC fund helping entrepreneurs overcome regulatory challenges. As a political economist and regulatory litigator, Dan is uniquely positioned to understand the politics, law, and economics of regulation and how it affects entrepreneurs at the forefront of technology. Studying and practicing regulatory litigation on both the government side, and the entre...

Niklas speaks with Thibault Serlet , the Director of Research at the Adrianopole Group , a firm providing intelligence on special economic zones (SEZs) Thibault is one of the world's leading thinkers on the past, present and future of governance innovation through SEZs. SEZs are business parks that are geographically walled off from the countries that they're in, and they have their own laws. The...

Niklas speaks with Eli Dourado , a senior research fellow at the Center for Growth and Opportunity at Utah State University. Eli is also a blogger, investor, and self-described "regulatory hacker". Eli and Niklas have a conversation about many things technology, innovation, and regulatory bottlenecks. His breadth of knowledge includes aviation, energy, housing, cryptocurrency, biotech, cybersecuri...

Niklas speaks with Mark Lutter. Mark is the Founder and Chairman of the Charter Cities Institute , a non-profit which is building the ecosystem for charter cities. Mark has a PhD in economics from George Mason University. Mark also has a podcast called the Charter Cities Podcast , a fantastic listen to learn about this fascinating movement. Mark and Niklas start by talking about how they both beca...

Niklas synthesizes insights after thinking about regulation & innovation by talking to experts and practitioners for more than 8 months. Why are regulations important? John Maynard Keynes observed that capital accumulation and technical improvements enabled economic growth. Keynes calculated that with 2% growth per year, the economic pie increased by 7.5x in 100 years. If it would be 5%, it’s...

Niklas speaks with Santiago Pinzon , the founder and CEO of ORKID . ORKID aims to revolutionize healthcare in Latin America through autonomous drone delivery. In this episode, we talk about technological and regulatory challenges in the aviation industry, and how to unlock a future of rapid logistics. Aviation is a fascinating industry that has developed high safety standards and technology that l...

Niklas talks with Joshua Scigala , the Co-Founder and CEO of TheStandard.io , which offers over-collateralized stablecoins backed by Gold, Bitcoin and Ethereum. Josh and Niklas talk about the recent events surrounding the collapse of FTX, the crypto trading platform. Josh has been in the industry since 2010 and has seen many collapses and creative destruction over the years. He believes the indust...

David K. Levine is an economist at the European University Institute and at Washington University in St. Louis. He is the author of Michele Boldrin of "Against Intellectual Monopoly", an empirical study of the economics of intellectual property ( available for free here ) that concludes that IP is not necessary for innovation and as a practical matter is damaging to growth, prosperity, and liberty...

Niklas speaks with Caroline Cochran, the COO and co-founder of Oklo , joined by special guest Mac Davis, the CEO of Minicircle . Oklo is revolutionizing nuclear energy to create a clean energy future. Nuclear energy is probably the best example of a stranded technology. It has the potential to give us a low-to-no-cost, low-to-no-carbon future economy - but it is held back by industry stagnation, p...

J. Storrs Hall or "Josh" is an independent researcher and author. He was the founding Chief Scientist of Nanorex, which is developing a CAD system for nanomechanical engineering. His research interests include molecular nanotechnology and the design of useful macroscopic machines using the capabilities of molecular manufacturing. His background is in computer science, particularly parallel process...

Dusan is the Founder and CEO of the AmityAge Academy , a Bitcoin Education Center based in the startup city of Prospera on the island of Roatan, Honduras. The mission of the academy is to accelerate bitcoinization. Dusan and Niklas share a special history. Dusan heard about the paradise island of Roatan, Honduras from a friend. While he was visiting in April, he heard about the "Build Prospera Sum...

Savva is the Founder and CEO of Crowd Funded Cures , a New Zealand-based charity and Open Source Pharma De-Sci Organisation. Savva and Niklas talk about the pharmaceutical market, and how the interplay of clinical trials and the patent system disincentivize pharma companies from producing widely available drugs that could significantly improve people's lives. This is another deep dive into one of...

Niklas speaks with Silicon Valley-based serial entrepreneur John Chisholm. Over the last 35 years, John has founded, grown, or sold four companies in Silicon Valley, including Decisive Technology, now part of Google; and CustomerSat, now part of FocusVision. He has served as president and chair of the worldwide MIT Alumni Association, and as trustee of MIT and the Santa Fe Institute. Today, John i...

Niklas speaks with Zina Sarif , the Founder and Managing Director of Yendou , a company on a mission to accelerate clinical research and make it universally accessible to patients, clinicians, and scientists. Zina starts by talking about her familial experiences with cancer during her upbringing in Morocco, and how it motivated her to dedicate her life to combating cancer. During her career as.a c...

Niklas speaks with Sebastian A. Brunemeier. Sebastian is the Co-Founder and General Partner at Healthspan Capital , a venture fund focused on longevity biotech ("LongBio") & geroscience. He is also the Co-Founder and CEO at ImmuneAGE Pharma, a drug discovery platform for immune system rejuvenation. He holds an advisor and board member position at multiple companies and organizations, such as V...

Niklas speaks with Grant Taylor . Grant is the Founder & CEO of Quotanda , a company that is digitising financial aid for educational institutions and students. Over the past 40 years, college has developed from an offering for an elite of knowledge workers to a job entry requirement for a majority of the population. Grant argues that college is overutilised in developed countries such as the...

Niklas speaks with Cameron Sorsby , the CEO of Praxis , a college alternative that builds your skills, your network, and leads to a full-time job at a growing business. Over the past 40 years, college has developed from an offering for an elite of knowledge workers to a job entry requirement for a majority of the population. However, during the past 2 years enrollment rates have been dropping rapi...