PODCAST

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge

Max

Notes on the hivemind and other ideas from the edge hivemindvc.substack.com

technology philosophy

All Episodes

115:11

Bitcoin, AI, and The Evolution of Digital Life with...

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge ·

2025/05/16

Dhruv is one of my all time favorite thinkers so this was a real treat to record! We begin by revisiting a number of provocative ideas from Dhruv’s 2018 talk: Down the Rabbit Hole or Blockchain Mind Candy, including the relationship between Bitcoin & energy and how the Lightning Network is actually a new p2p Internet with built-in incentives. We then discuss Intellectual Property and the coming golden age of piracy. We continue with a deep dive on one of my current obsessions: the evolution of

107:06

Open Source AI and Confidential Compute with Anthony...

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge ·

2025/05/08

Anthony & Marks were in town for LlamaCon so we got a chance to jam! We discussed a variety of topics including: * The state of Llama, DeepSeek, and Open Source AI* Dario’s take “On DeepSeek and Export Controls” https://www.darioamodei.com/post/on-deepseek-and-export-controls* Data Quality is key - Garbage In, Garbage Out (speculation: Facebook data not nearly as valuable as Twitter or Reddit?)* Trend of companies not using proprietary models to protect data privacy* AI Alignment towards truth: how

86:53

Building a Decentralized App Store and Web of Trust...

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge ·

2025/04/14

I’ve been sitting on this for a month, but the conversation is more relevant now than ever! As vibe coding enables the creation of orders of magnitude more apps and media, the question becomes: how do I sort through this embarrassment of riches to find what I actually need? One option is to trust centralized entities like companies or governments. Franzap, however, has another idea. Using Nostr’s global identity, data commons, and micropayments, he’s designing a new kind of app store powered by a

135:12

Money & Markets in a Post AGI World with Jordi...

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge ·

2025/01/29

Jordi is one of the few people in the world with a deep understanding of the concurrent singularities of AI and Bitcoin. He has particularly novel thoughts on the nature of money and markets post AGI/ASI. This was a fascinating discussion - hope you enjoy! A few topics we discuss: * How Jordi became AGI/ASI pilled (language = code)* The concurrent singularities of AGI/Bitcoin (almost no-one understands them both)* Two fundamental types intelligence: 1) desire / will and 2) implementation* AGI

82:05

Kagi: Hacker News’ favorite search engine is coming...

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge ·

2024/12/02

I got the opportunity to speak with Vlad, the founder of my favorite search engine, Kagi! Kagi is a Hacker News darling with a popular paid search engine (and an interesting philosophy on how to build better search than Google). Vlad and the team recently announced their intention to engage with and build for the Nostr community! We discuss ideas for how they can implement Nostr features as well a ton of other interesting topics, including: * Andy Weir’s The Egg as a model for reality* Vlad’s

34:35

The State of Nostr with Bob Scully, David King, Oscar...

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge ·

2024/11/22

We recently hosted a Hivemind Ventures LP/Portfolio day, where we showcased a variety of presentations. The Nostr panel was particularly good so I’ve decided to release it publicly. The panel features an all-star cast, including: Bob Scully (founder of boardwalk.cash), David King (co-host of Nostr News), Oscar Merry (co-founder, Fountain), and Moritz Kaminski (co-founder, Alby).We discuss:* Why Nostr feels like the early Internet * How Nostr (Nostr Wallet Connect) serves as the universal messaging

101:02

Complexity Rules Everything Around Me with Lyn Alden

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge ·

2024/11/01

This was a fun and fascinating conversation with Lyn Alden! We discuss a number of topics about which she’s not typically asked. One common thread throughout the conversation is how best to understand and invest around complex systems. Please note that while Lyn and I discuss some biohacking/energy boosting stuff, we’re definitely not doctors, so do your own research ;)Here are a few of the topics we cover: Energy Hacks * Lyn’s favorite energy boosting hacks, including: magnesium, sardines, vitamin

117:14

Designing Jack's favorite shirt, Creating an open...

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge ·

2024/10/23

* The genesis of lightning.store* Parallels between Bitcoin and the punk/DIY scenes * Max’s dad - indie artist who made some cool trippy nostr shirts (which Max is wearing during interview)* Sam’s NOFX Nostr shirt (which Max wears frequently)* How Sam decides what shirts to make* Making Jack’s favorite shirt, seeing it on the Super Bowl, and stress testing Sam’s Lightning node + btcpayserver setup * Sam needs a Lightning Shopify app that works (opportunity for listeners!) * Sam got started making a

80:26

High Strangeness, Memetics, and the Open Source...

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge ·

2024/10/09

This was a fun one! In most recent episodes, I’ve had conversations with builders from the Nostr/Bitcoin community about other rabbit holes they’re interested in. In today’s episode, I sat down with Jack Heart, a longtime blogger and veteran of high strangeness and esoteric rabbit holes galore. Although we focus primarily on themes from Jack’s blog and recent book, we do spend some time discussing the principles of Nostr and how they align with Jack’s view of building an open source insurgency. I’m

106:30

Anarchism, The Origins of Nostr, & The Future of FOSS...

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge ·

2024/09/24

I sit down with LNbits founder Ben Arc for a wide ranging and fascinating conversation about political philosophy, Nostr, and the future of FOSS/AI. Check out the notes below for more details on our discussion. This was a treat to record and I hope you enjoy!* Ben’s left libertarian / anarchist lens on Bitcoin - the ultimate goal is liberty * Stateless socialism, Marx, and Adam Smith * Open protocols like Bitcoin / Nostr and public key cryptography replacing functions of the state* Pierre-Joseph

71:11

Power Markets, Pirates, and Energy Backed Money with...

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge ·

2024/09/04

Andrew and I sit down for a fun conversation while overlooking the San Francisco Bay. There are a few sound/wind issues with my mic (mostly towards the end), but hopefully nothing too disruptive. We focus a lot on energy, but touch on a number of interesting ideas from the edge, including:* The declining cost of solar and batteries* The commodification of solar and Bitcoin miners * The interconnection process in ERCOT * Opening new markets as the cost of solar continues to decline * Bitcoin Mining

142:20

Music, Discovery, eCash, and Identity with Tony...

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge ·

2024/07/18

Max and Tony cover a lot of ground, including: - Music and its role in society: “He who controls the music controls the mind” - Why the ad model for monetizing the Internet is not only a panopticon, but also extremely ineffective- How to find under appreciated long tail Internet content - How to improve Nostr on-boarding for noobs - The role of the curator on Nostr- Permissionless identity creation means evolution can happen much faster- How Tony uses AI - How to live a healthy life with (and

68:13

Swarmwise, Ron Paul, and Open Source AI

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge ·

2024/06/17

Christopher and Max explore:* The influence of Swarmwise and the Pirate Party on Chris’ approach to building* Lessons learned from the Ron Paul Campaign in ’08 and ’12 * The state of open source AI* Plans for openagents.com to unlock bottoms-up market intelligence * What exactly is the singularity? Is the future gray goo or Star Trek? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hivemindvc.substack.com

104:46

AI, Simulations, and Startups with Keyan Kousha...

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge ·

2024/06/05

Keyan and Max jam on several topics including:* What is the singularity?* The future of AI and the coming intelligence explosion* Does the brain create or receive consciousness? * Can machines have souls? * Do we live in a simulation? * Keyan’s learnings from 7+ startups prior to Stacker News* How to balance intuition and feedback from reality* Why Jack is a 🐐 founder* Using bitcoin to create physical constraints in digital space* The future of Stacker News territories (end-to-end encryption?!)*

84:14

Evolution and Nostr with Stu Bowman (Founder,...

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge ·

2024/03/28

Stu and Max jam on a wide range of topics including: Terence McKenna, the world of language, evolution, Web of Trust, and the future of Nostr. At least two big ideas really clicked for me: 1) Nostr as the substrate for digital evolution (i.e. forking with checkpoints) and 2) Nostr as an API for market intelligence. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hivemindvc.substack.com

0:10

Just a test

Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge ·

2024/02/17

just a test This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hivemindvc.substack.com

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Hivemind: Ideas from the Edge

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