Patrick McKenzie - Money Laundering, Big Tech Censorship, SBF & Japan
I talked with Patrick McKenzie (known online as patio11) about how a small team he ran over a Discord server got vaccines into Americans' arms: A story of broken incentives, outrageous incompetence, and how a few individuals with high agency saved 1000s of lives.
Plus unconstitutional censorship, money laundering, Factorio, and a friendly debate about crypto.
Enjoy!
Links:
Transcript: https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/p/patri...
Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/3RFuS7b/
Spotify: http://spoti.fi/3APeQ3L
Follow me on Twitter: / dwarkesh_sp
This episode is brought to you by Stripe, financial infrastructure for the internet. Millions of companies from Anthropic to Amazon use Stripe to accept payments, automate financial processes and grow their revenue. Go to https://stripe.com/ to learn more.
If you’re interested in advertising on the podcast, check out this page: https://www.dwarkeshpatel.com/p/adver...
Timestamps
00:00:00 – Why hackers on Discord had to save thousands of lives
00:18:09 – How politics crippled common sense vaccine distribution
00:39:02 – Fundraising for VaccinateCA
00:51:52 – Why tech needs to understand how government works
00:59:41 – What is crypto good for?
01:13:50 – How the US government leverages big tech to violate rights
01:25:19 – Can the US have nice things like Japan?
01:27:24 – Financial plumbing & money laundering: a how-not-to guide
01:38:25 – Maximizing your value: why some people negotiate better
01:42:57 – Are young people too busy playing Factorio to found startups?
01:50:11 – Thinking well and finding true rigor
01:58:13 – The need for a post-mortem