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Lessons from the Soviet Union and the Flight to Safety | Simon Mikhailovich
16 september 2021 · 1 uur 40 min
In Episode 209 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Simon Mikhailovich, founder and Managing Partner of "The Bullion Reserve," a professionally managed private vehicle providing full-service solutions that ensure legal compliance, jurisdictional diversification, liquidity, physical access, and deliverability of gold bullion. Operating within a single structure, TBR maximizes flexibility and enables the use of gold bullion as a deep out of the money put option on the failure of extreme monetary policies with an asymmetric upside. Lees meer
Demetri and Simon spend most of the podcast discussing Simon's experience growing up in and emigrating from the Soviet Union, and the economic and political lessons that he has drawn from that experience and that we can apply to our present predicament in Western society.
The last twenty to twenty-five minutes or so is spent specifically on TBR and the value proposition of holding gold bullion in a world where the traditional, safe-haven asset of US treasuries no longer inspires the same amount of investor confidence that it did only 10 or 20 years ago and what that means for not only portfolio construction but political and social stability as well.
Because some of today's conversation deals with investing, it's important to make absolutely clear that nothing discussed on this podcast can or should be viewed as financial advice. All opinions expressed by podcast participants are solely their own opinions and should not be relied upon as the basis for financial decisions.
You can access the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our premium feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | …
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The Age of Crisis: COVID-19 & our Post-Pandemic Future | Adam Tooze
13 september 2021 · 48 min
In Episode 208 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Adam Tooze, professor of history and the director of the European Institute at Columbia University. He's also a prolific public commentator and author of several prize-winning books including his latest, "Shutdown: How COVID Shook the World Economy." Lees meer
In the first part of their conversation, Demetri and Adam work their way through the chain of events that occurred between the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 in January 2020 and the inauguration of Joe Biden in January 2021. Effectively the period that we now consider to be the first full year of the pandemic. In Adam's own words we "wrestle with power and knowledge in time," in an effort to understand the nature of the forces that this pandemic has unleashed, their constancy, and their implications for shaping not only our children's futures but more immediately, ours as well.
In the second part of our conversation, Demetri and Adam begin to dissect specific aspects and features of the modern world whether those be the fragility of our debt-financed economy and the neoliberal order, the threat, perceived or imagined to the United States, its citizenry, and its power structure posed by the rise of a potential peer-competitor in the form China, as well as the future of warfare and how to think about the proper relationship between the state and the private sector in the context of the types of polycrises of the Anthropocene that Adam and Demetri discuss during this conversation. It's a phenomenal episode that you will not want to miss.
You can access the second part of this episode, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's conversation through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our premium feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | So…
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China's Western Horizon: Beijing and the New Geopolitics of Eurasia | Daniel Markey
6 september 2021 · 52 min
In Episode 207 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Daniel Markey, Senior Expert on South Asia at the United States Institute of Peace who recently served as senior research professor at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies and as the academic director of the school's Global Policy Program. He is also the author of "China's Western Horizon: Beijing and the New Geopolitics of Eurasia," which provides the roadmap for this conversation. Lees meer
In the first part of their discussion, Demetri and Daniel examine how the communist party in China views the lands, countries, and regions to its west, both historically and in terms of its contemporary security concerns and economic ambitions. How do its Eurasian neighbors view China? What motivates the CCP's influence campaigns, investments, and diplomatic overtures in its Western region? We also discuss China's Belt & Road initiative, and how it fits into a larger economic and political vision for a stronger, wealthier, and more assertive China on the international stage.
In the Overtime, the conversation shifts to how the recent US withdrawal from Afghanistan is beginning to alter the geopolitical dynamics of the Greater Middle East by putting pressure on existing relationships, while opening the door to new partnerships and strategic alliances. Daniel explains what this means for the durability of China's strategic partnership with Russia, how the internal politics of Pakistan and its relations with India are affected by China's increased involvement there, and the economic and security implications of these developments for other regional players such as Kazakhstan, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, and what this means for US policy in the region.
You can access the episode Overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
I…
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How America Lost the 'Good War' in Afghanistan | Jonathan Schroden
30 augustus 2021 · 47 min
In Episode 206 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Jonathan Schroden, Director of the Countering Threats & Challenges Program at CNA. Schroden has served as a strategic advisor on Afghanistan to the US military since 2008, ranging from commands in-country to operational commands outside of Afghanistan, as well as strategic elements in the Pentagon, including the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Lees meer
In the first part of today's conversation, Jonathan and Demetri examine the lens through which the public has become informed about the events unfolding in Kabul over the last two weeks and the public narrative that has quickly formed around what is truly a humanitarian and political disaster.
The question however that has been lost in all of this is why the United States is leaving Afghanistan in the first place, the cost-calculation behind the decision to withdraw, and how this decision fits into a broader strategic shift in the focus of American Foreign policy.
In the second half the two focus on the specific elements that contributed to America's defeat in Afghanistan, from the adroit battlefield tactics of the Taliban and their use of commercial technologies to fight an information war to massive corruption on the part of America's partners in the Afghan government. We also look at the ecosystem of terrorist organizations operating in-country and the international threat they pose to Americans, as well as the geopolitical implications of America's withdrawal for countries like China and Russia, as well as the supporting role played by Pakistan to aid the Taliban in its 20-year resistance against the US occupation.
The goal of this episode, as well as our recent episode with Laurel Miller, is to help you fill in the gaps and put together some of the important pieces that have gone missing in what has largely been a unanimous condemnation of the President's actions. By the end of this episode, you should be able to understand clearly (1) what went wrong, …
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Afghanistan Withdrawal & Implications for U.S. Policy in Asia | Laurel Miller
26 augustus 2021 · 56 min
In Episode 205 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Laurel Miller, Director of International Crisis Group's Asia Program who previously served as deputy and then acting Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan in the U.S. State Department. Laurel also held the position of senior foreign policy expert at the RAND Corporation and served as a Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, Senior Advisor to the U.S. special envoy for the Balkans, and Deputy to the Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues during her previous time in government. Lees meer
Today's episode is meant to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of the situation currently unfolding in Afghanistan, the unique circumstances leading up to the collapse of the Afghan government, and the political and geopolitical implications of the reconstitution of a Taliban-led Afghanistan for the United States, its allies, as well as its competitors in the region.
The first hour of Demetri's conversation with Laurel is about the specific events that transpired in Afghanistan over the last several weeks, specifically looking at the contributing factors that led to the seemingly sudden collapse of the Afghan army and the evacuation of the capital by President Ghani and other members of the Afghan government. What were the facts on the ground leading up to the collapse? Who was aware of those facts? And why did the Biden Whitehouse and the US State and Defense departments fail so astonishingly in planning for this contingency?
The two also discuss the history of America's involvement in Afghanistan, if things could have turned out differently, and what could have been done differently in the context of what we knew then and the priorities and risks facing previous administrations going back to George W. Bush in 2001.
The second half of this conversation is spent looking forward at not only the various scenarios for how Afghanistan's political and economic future is li…
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Opportunities for Value Investing, China's Digital Currency, & the Pivot to Asia | James Aitken
23 augustus 2021 · 54 min
In Episode 204 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with investor and macro-financial strategist James Aitken. Lees meer
This is an over 2-hour-long conversation that ranges from a discussion about the oil industry and the impact of ESG mandates on prices, to the short-and-medium-term impacts of monetary & fiscal policy on inflation, to the post-Covid economy and opportunities for value investing.
In the Overtime, James and Demetri pivot their discussion to Asia and the ongoing crackdown in Chinese capital markets, as well as the disruptive implications of China's deployment of its digital currency electronic payments (DCEP) system and what it means for companies and investors doing business in China. They also discuss the impact that these drastic regulatory changes and disruptive technological innovations will have on American foreign policy and the future of the dollar.
You can access the episode Overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas
Episode Recorded on 08/18/2021
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Kofinas Answers Audience Questions in First-Ever "Ask Me Anything" Episode
16 augustus 2021 · 1 uur 27 min
In Episode 203 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas answers dozens of audience questions about his process for guest selection, outreach, and preparation, thoughts about certain conspiracies, the business side of podcasting, his experience creating a TV show on RT, and much, much more. Lees meer
All questions were submitted through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. Premium subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas
Episode Recorded on 08/10/2021
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A History of the Future: Hope & Fear in the Social Smartphone Era | Rory Cellan-Jones
9 augustus 2021 · 41 min
In Episode 202 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with veteran BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones about the biggest developments and news stories in tech from the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s to the rise of Google and Facebook. These stories and more are included in Rory's new book "Always On," which chronicles the rise of the smartphone era and how technology has altered our customs, expectations, and lives in ways that are easy to forget only fifteen years since the launch of the first iPhone. Lees meer
This is a conversation unlike most any other that you will have heard on this podcast, because there isn't any one particular lesson that you are meant to take away from it. Instead, we want you to use it as an opportunity to reflect on just how much change we've seen in our lives over the last fifteen years and think about not only the causes of that change, but how different the world will be over the next fifteen if current trends continue and what that's going to mean for our lives, for our businesses, and for our political systems.
In the overtime, Rory shares his impressions of Silicon Valley culture and what he's learned from interviewing some of the most powerful people in tech. Demetri and Rory also discuss the transformation of media, cultural differences between British and American journalists and the press, and the future of independent publishing and podcasting and what it means for the viability of traditional news outlets, especially those that depend evermore on sensationalism and controversy in order eke out a profit in this hyper-competitive media landscape.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe …
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Is Elon Musk Humanity's Savior or a Supervillain? | Tim Higgins
2 augustus 2021 · 40 min
In Episode 201 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Wall Street Journal automotive and technology reporter Tim Higgins, about his new book "Power Play," which chronicles the incredible and chaotic rise of Tesla and its controversial CEO Elon Musk. Lees meer
In the first part of their conversation, Tim and Demetri discuss the origin story of Tesla all the way up until the successful launch of the Model S: a truly remarkable achievement that came during a time when Americans were desperate to find something in their economy to feel hopeful about. Unfortunately, the success that Tesla enjoyed during that period was not something the company would be able to replicate and this is what most of the second half of this conversation is spent discussing. The two examine the difficulties that Tesla faced after the deployment of the Model S, why it faced those challenges, how management and the board dealt with them, and the stunning disconnect between the public's perception of Musk as a "Tony Starkian innovator" and planetary savior, and the reality of who he is, what he knows, and what he's willing to do whenever he finds himself backed into a corner. At the end of the day, it's going to be up to listeners to decide for themselves where they fall on this story. How many people believe the hype around the man and the company? Will he ultimately deliver on the promises that he's made—despite a long track record of making promises that he consistently fails to deliver on but which have non-the-less substantially improved his personal financials and helped grow the equity value of his companies?
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple…
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WeWork, Adam Neumann, & the Great Startup Debacle | Maureen Farrell
26 juli 2021 · 56 min
In Episode 200 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Maureen Farrell, author of "The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neuman, and the Great Startup Delusion." Lees meer
Maureen, along with her colleague and co-author Eliot Brown, were some of the first reporters at the Wall Street Journal to cover what is arguably the biggest financial debacle in the history of early-stage investing. And yet, this description doesn't even begin to capture the incredible story that is the rise and fall of WeWork: a story about a real estate company that was at one point the most valuable start-up in America, despite racking up over $10 billion dollars in losses over the course of just nine years and vaporizing nearly forty billion dollars in equity value practically overnight.
The reality of WeWork—of what it is and what it was—stands in stark contrast to what its founder, Adam Neuman said it was to his investors, employees, and the media. It was going to be worth ten trillion dollars, more than any other company in the world. It wasn't just an office space provider. It was a tech play. Its spin-offs like "WeGrow" and "WeLive" were going to revolutionize education and change the world. Adam Neuman was going to solve Middle East peace and WeWork would help colonize Mars.
As crazy as all of this sounds, it is emblematic of a larger decay in the most basic principles of capitalism that prioritizes the raising of capital over the turning of profits. It rewards storytellers over businesspeople. Price overvalue.
This episode is broken into two parts, the first half of which is focused mainly on the particulars of WeWork, the characters involved, and the disastrous decisions made by its management along with the dereliction of its board. The second half focuses on the larger macro forces that are responsible for encouraging the type of behavior that we've seen in the case of WeWork and applying that template to other companies and their executives. We also explore the intersection of politics an…
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The Asian Financial Crisis & the Birth of the Age of Debt | Russell Napier
19 juli 2021 · 53 min
In Episode 199 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with investor and financial historian Russell Napier. Napier's latest book, "The Asian Financial Crisis: 1995-1998," covers a period of time that many investors are either not familiar with or haven't studied anywhere near as closely as they should given its relevance to the investment regime in which we are living today. Lees meer
Today's investment regime—what Russell Napier called "The Age of Debt"—is characterized by excessive private and public debt levels, financial repression, market concentration, and all of the unintended consequences that arise from the perverse incentives that these dynamics create. We spend the first hour of our conversation discussing the crisis itself, its drivers, as well as the practices and policies that made it possible. The second hour is spent on the resolution of the crisis and applying the lessons learned from that period to today, with implications for the future path of interest rates, inflation, growth, political stability, and most practically, opportunities for investing in the new market regime that we are moving into.
Since this episode deals with markets and investing, we want to make absolutely clear that nothing we say on this podcast can or should be viewed as financial advice. All opinions expressed by Demetri Kofinas and Russell Napier are solely their own opinions and should not be relied upon as the basis for financial decisions.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hi…
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The Memory Thief & the Secrets Behind How We Remember | Lauren Aguirre
12 juli 2021 · 40 min
In Episode 198 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Lauren Aguirre, an award-winning science journalist whose book "The Memory Thief," tells the story of a team of doctors responsible for discovering a surprising connection between the use of opioids—specifically fentanyl—and memory loss. This condition, first detected in drug overdose victims with severe damage to their hippocampus has since led to a series of discoveries about the nature of memory, as well as the mysteries that persist about how we remember—where memories live, how they're formed, and why we forget most of what happens to us in a day but can remember some events with stunning clarity, years, even decades later. Lees meer
Perhaps the greatest mystery that Lauren tackles in her book is why Alzheimer's—a degenerative brain disease responsible for causing dementia and early death—has evaded scientific capture for a hundred years despite afflicting tens of millions of people around the world. It's one of the questions we explore in-depth during the episode overtime, where Lauren also reveals promising new strategies and developments that may finally lead to an effective treatment and perhaps even cure of this devastating disease.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
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Revenge of the Real: Politics for a Post-Pandemic World | Benjamin Bratton
5 juli 2021 · 47 min
In Episode 197 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Benjamin Bratton, professor of visual arts at UC San Diego and the author of "Revenge of the Real: Politics, for a post-pandemic world." Lees meer
Bratton's book explores how our collective response to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates a critical inability on the part of society to govern itself. The pandemic in this sense serves as a sort of non-negotiable reality-check that upends the comfortable illusions of a world that increasingly bears no resemblance to the one we have vacated.
Benjamin raises important questions about not only how we came to find ourselves in our current predicament of mask wars, urban riots, and institutional decay, but also, how we might go about constructing a world that is more representative of reality and the needs of the present moment.
In the overtime, Bratton and Demetri explore what a post-pandemic world might look like and what this means for our conceptions of governance and the individual.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas
Episode Recorded on 06/28/2021
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Crypto Ethics & How to 'Make Money Great Again' | Hasu & Demetri
28 juni 2021 · 56 min
In Episode 196 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas is interviewed at the ETHGlobal HackMoney Summit by crypto researcher and writer Hasu, whose work Demetri has relied to educate himself on some of the most important issues in crypto over the years. Lees meer
In this conversation, Demetri explores many of the same themes of financial nihilism, hyperreality, and transformation that he recently discussed in his appearance on the Grant Williams Podcast, but with a much deeper focus on Bitcoin, Ethereum, DeFi, and the larger crypto ecosystem. This includes a discussion about crypto ethics and moral accountability, particularly among some of Bitcoin's most outspoken promoters.
Anyone interested in following Hasu can do so on twitter at @hasufl or by subscribing to his podcast "Uncommon Core." Those interested in learning more about ETHGlobal and how to attend any one of their upcoming events, conferences, or hackathons can do so at ethglobal.co.
You can follow Demetri on twitter at @kofinas and you can subscribe to the Hidden Forces mailing list, explore our episode library, and subscribe to our premium content at HiddenForces.io.
You can access our episode overtimes, as well as transcripts and rundowns to each episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas
Episode Recorded on 06/18/2021
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Mental Immunity & the Search for a Better Way to Think | Andy Norman
21 juni 2021 · 57 min
In Episode 195 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Andy Norman, an award-winning author, public philosopher, and prominent advocate for the field of "cognitive immunology," which studies the mind's resistance to bad ideas. Lees meer
In this conversation you will learn how mental immunity works, how epidemics of irrationality occur, and how present cultural conditions exacerbate the spread of bad ideas by compromising our mental faculties, exploiting loopholes in the evidentiary chain of reasoning that most of us rely on in order to assess, accept, or reject claims and assertions.
Whether we're talking about the spread of baseless online conspiracies, increased political polarization, or the bewildering popularity of cancel culture, rethinking and reforming our approach to inquiry and dialectic is urgently needed.
In the Overtime, Andy and Demetri discuss ontological truth and explore the limitations of science and reason in helping ascertain reality. It includes discussions about spirituality, religion, the immaterial, and whether or not it is possible to know something authoritatively, even if you can't explain it logically or through evidentiary reasoning. They also discuss mattering theory, something Demetri has covered in a prior episode with Rebecca Goldstein, as well as how to build up our mental immunity using concrete steps that help us become better thinkers and better brokers of information during a time when this is desperately needed.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing…
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The Power of Mimetic Desire in Markets, Politics, & Culture | Luke Burgis
14 juni 2021 · 57 min
In Episode 194 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Lukis Burgis, founder and director of Fourth Wall Ventures and author of "Wanting," a book about the power of mimetic desire and how it impacts our behavior in markets, politics, and culture. Lees meer
The goal of this conversation is to help you understand what mimetic desire is and how it operates in your own life and in society at large, whether that be in financial markets, politics, or the broader economy. In practical terms, this means understanding the forces that shape how we come to want the things that we desire, from fancy degrees to high-flying stocks, to political ideologies, so that we can learn how to extract ourselves from the systems of wanting that leave us exhausted.
Mimetic desire is not something we can eliminate, conquer, or transcend. It's a power, like gravity, that we have to find a way to live with—and thrive in. This episode reveals how we can tune into our mimetic desires to counteract their destructive forces and learn to desire differently.
In the overtime, Luke and Demetri discuss the mimetic consequences of social media, and how the hyperconnectivity of modern life has fundamentally altered our perception of reality with dramatic implications for our political and economic systems.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join…
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Winning: The Unforgiving Race to Greatness | Tim Grover
7 juni 2021 · 1 uur 6 min
In Episode 193 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with world-renowned trainer, author, and CEO of Attack Athletics, Tim Grover. Tim has personally trained and worked with some of the most elite, iconic athletes in the world, including Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, and hundreds of other sports and business professionals. He is the preeminent authority on the science and art of physical and mental dominance and his latest book, "Winning: the Unforgiving Race to Greatness," is a testament to that life-long dedication. Lees meer
This is not a conversation that's going to give you a roadmap to victory. Not even close. In fact, we wouldn't even describe it as motivational. For some people, Tim's words will be incredibly validating. For others, unnerving, because "winning doesn't apologize," as Tim would say. "It doesn't explain. In the language of Winning, there is no talk about motivation." Words can't capture it. Only you can if you're willing to pay the price, and even then, there are no guarantees.
If you're already addicted to the taste of success, if you've been chasing it for as long as you can remember, if you've caught it, and want it again, then this conversation will speak to you. In this episode, you're going to learn about some of the tools and techniques that Tim and his athletes and high-achievers have used to execute and compete at the highest level of human performance. You're going to learn about how to harness your dark-side, about how not to care about what others think, about letting go of entitlement, clearing your mind, and learning to focus on the details, and on what matters most to you. As Tim will say, "winning is not a marathon, it's a sprint, with no finish line." There is no balance. In order to win anything, you have to live your life with urgency, at every moment, because winning wants all of you—there's never enough time, so why waste any of it?
For those of you who are basketball fans, Tim shares stories from his experience wo…
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Financial Nihilism, Narrative Investing, & the Hyperreality of Markets
1 juni 2021 · 1 uur 37 min
In Episode 192 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas shares a recent appearance he made on the Grant Williams Podcast. Grant has been on the Hidden Forces Podcast before, twice on his own and twice as a guest along with Ben Hunt. We have provided links to all of those previous appearances in the related section on the episode page on our website. Lees meer
Grant spent the first 20 minutes asking Demetri questions related to his bio and how he got started in media, as well as the origins of Hidden Forces. The rest of the episode is devoted to discussing many of the various forces that Demetri has talked about on this podcast—things like the phenomenon of financial nihilism, the hyperreality of markets & society, China and the changing geopolitical order, and much more.
If you are interested in learning more about Grant and how to become a subscriber to both his podcast and his monthly newsletter, you can do that at grant-williams.com.
If you are interested in learning how to become a subscriber to Hidden Forces, you can do that through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application. For more information about previous guests and topics, we invite you to explore our episode library at HiddenForces.io.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas
Episode Recorded on 05/17/2021
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Podcast Update: The Will to Win, Mimetic Desire, & the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
24 mei 2021 · 10 min
Demetri shares his thoughts about the news cycle and provides listeners with a sneak peak into the next 5 weeks of content, including episodes on the will to win and memetic desire.
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Ultrasound Money & the Ethereum Triple Halving | Nikhil Shamapant
17 mei 2021 · 1 uur 10 min
In Episode 191 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Nikhil Shamapant, the author of a recently published and widely circulated 79-page report that sets an ambitious 18-month price target on Ethereum of $150,000 per ETH—more than 30x the current level. Nikhil believes this will be driven primarily by two upcoming changes to the underlying Ethereum protocol which will reduce the supply of ETH by the equivalent of roughly three Bitcoin halving cycles. The changes are scheduled to take place in two phases beginning with the adoption of EIP-1559 in mid-July of this year and culminating with the formal transition to proof-of-stake in late 2021, turning Ethereum into the preferred savings vehicle in crypto, according to Nikhil. Lees meer
The second part of this episode is an hour-long conversation that we recorded with one of EIP-1559's main champions, Tim Beiko. We brought Tim on the program in order to do a deeper dive on the protocol changes referenced in our conversation with Nikhil, including changes to the network fee model (i.e., basefee burning & tips) and the block reward subsidy (i.e., staking), as well as changes to the user experience, the impact on miners and miner extractable value (MEV), network scalability, staking rewards, & much more.
You can access our episode with Tim and download the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
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Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on…
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The Sources of Chinese Communist Party Conduct | Josh Rogin
10 mei 2021 · 1 uur 6 min
In Episode 190 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Josh Rogin, a Washington Post foreign-policy columnist and author of the book Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the 21st Century. Lees meer
Rogin's book explains for mainstream audiences how the Chinese Communist Party works: its history, nature, motivations, operations, and objectives. It does so in a language that is both accessible and at times entertaining because it's full of personal anecdotes colored by Josh's own reporting which is a testament to his skill as an investigative journalist and as someone with a reputation for breaking big stories.
While we don't break any stories today, some of what you will hear in this episode is probably going to be news to you. You are going to learn how CCP influence operations work, who they target, and how they compromise influential individuals in both the public and private sectors, including CEOs, University administrators, and elected officials, along with their spouses, friends, and family members. You're also going to learn how the CCP uses tactics of blackmail, repression, and counterprogramming, both within and outside of China's borders in order to coerce and drown out its critics as part of a relentless culture of intimidation that is foundational to the party's identity and history as an underground influence organization. Lastly, you're going to learn why all of this matters to those of us living outside of China and how Western governments should respond to a threat that is no longer gathering but is in fact quite clear and immediate to those of us who have devoted time and attention to understanding this very important issue.
In the subscriber overtime, Kofinas and Rogin delve deeper into the financial side of this story, and how for years, the CCP has used US financial markets to fund the buildout of not only China's military but also its surveillance systems, including those used to monitor and control repressed minorities in the count…
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Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe | Niall Ferguson
3 mei 2021 · 1 uur 4 min
In Episode 189 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with historian Niall Ferguson about his latest book, "Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe." The book is a historical tour de force of epic disasters ranging from pandemics to botched military responses, to nuclear accidents. What all these catastrophes share in common is a striking combination of operator and managerial error resulting from systemic problems that became calamities in the face of predictable, though unimaginable crises. Lees meer
While Doom is mainly a history of disaster, its lessons apply most urgently in our own time, which provided us an opportunity to explore some of the contemporary challenges that we face in western society with someone who thinks and writes about such risks and opportunities regularly. At the top of this list is an emerging cold war between the United States and a coalition of authoritarian powers led by China and Russia, two nations that are increasingly cooperating on matters of national and economic security. This episode also includes a discussion about financial markets, digital assets, and the health of Western economies.
In place of an overtime, Demetri recorded a premium-only episode with Grant Williams on endgame scenarios for the economy, including a conversation about the prospects for runaway inflation and how to manage that risk for your portfolio.
You can access the premium episode, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
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Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Ni…
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Existential Risks & the Future of Humanity | Toby Ord
26 april 2021 · 1 uur 12 min
In Episode 188 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Toby Ord, a Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy at Oxford University and author of "The Precipice," a book that focuses on the big picture questions facing humanity's long-term future and the risks which threaten to put a premature end to our existence. Lees meer
The purpose of today's conversation is first, to get you to reflect on this question of whether or not humanity and our future is worth fighting for, and second, to reflect on what that means in terms of human action, politics, and global cooperation. What are the existential risks that we face as a species? How do we calculate those risks? Where do we focus our attention, how do we prioritize, and finally, what can we do to mitigate those risks that we deem worthy of our attention?
For those interested in learning about existential risk factors, this part of the discussion begins near the forty-minute mark and focuses mainly on the threat of nuclear war and the geopolitical dimensions that escalate its likelihood. The overtime is spent primarily discussing the risks posed by both natural and engineered pandemics, biological terrorism, and artificial intelligence. The two also discuss asteroid impacts, climate change, and supervolcanic eruptions.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the con…
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What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters | Steven Koonin
19 april 2021 · 1 uur 5 min
In Episode 187 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Steven Koonin, author of "Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters." Dr. Koonin serves as Director of NYU's Center for Urban Science and Progress. He previously served as Undersecretary for Science in the U.S. Department of Energy under Barack Obama and as Chief Scientist at BP, where he was a strong advocate for research into renewable energies and alternative fuel sources. Lees meer
The science of climate change has become, like almost everything else, a matter of political identity in 21st century America. A recent Pew Research study found that Democrats are more than three times as likely as Republicans to say that dealing with climate change should be a top priority. And yet, if you ask people independent of party affiliation for their views on climate change and why they believe what they believe, most of them will struggle to give you a coherent answer. In fact, very few people, and this goes for politicians, journalists, and even academics, have actually read the reports put out by organizations like the IPCC and others responsible for doing the actual research that we all cite when we talk about "the science." And to be honest, can you blame them? Afterall, why would anyone want to spend a minute of their time learning about exactly why we are so screwed? About how we've destroyed the planet and "broken the climate?"
We've read all the headlines. "Climate Catastrophe." "Climate Disaster." "The earth is burning!" But how true is this, exactly? Are we really facing a "Climate Apocalypse?" Is climate science really "more reliable than physics," something that journalist David Wallace-Wells said in a recent appearance on the Joe Rogan Podcast. Not according to my guest, but more importantly, not according to the science, which, to borrow from the book's title, is very much "Unsettled."
Before you react to that very provocative book title, you should know that no one is s…
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Solving the Oracle Problem: Blockchain's Missing Link | Sergey Nazarov
5 april 2021 · 1 uur 14 min
In Episode 186 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Sergey Nazarov, Co-founder of Chainlink, the leading decentralized oracle network used by global enterprises and projects at the forefront of the blockchain space, which enables smart contracts on any distributed ledger to reliably connect to real-world data, securing billions of dollars in value across decentralized finance, insurance, gaming, and other industries. Lees meer
Chainlink and other decentralized oracles are not blockchains. They are not, in other words, monolithic networks of distributed databases that all operate in unison. Instead, they consist of a potentially infinite subset of networks that support blockchains and operate in parallel to them and to each other by relying on a common framework that is highly customizable and adaptable to the unique needs of their users, who consist of decentralized applications, data providers, enterprises, etc.
The purpose of today's conversation is to help educate you on not only what Chainlink is and its value proposition, but also to help you understand how this industry is evolving, the design choices that are being made at the heart of these critical networks, and the opportunities that have presented and will continue to present themselves to anyone interested in capitalizing on the disruptive efficiencies and novel sets of use cases created by these systems.
In the subscriber overtime, Sergey and Demetri delve deeper into Chainlink's architecture, how smart contracts interface with oracle networks, how such networks come together to service their users, how they come to consensus about events in the real world, and much, much more. Sergey also shares his views on Internet culture, ontology & epistemology, futurism, and how governance is going to work in a world where more and more of our lives, relationships, and experiences are happening online.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through th…
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Mission Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism | Mariana Mazzucato
29 maart 2021 · 54 min
In Episode 185 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Mariana Mazzucato, a Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London (UCL), where she is Founding Director of the UCL Institute for Innovation & Public Purpose (IIPP). She is the winner of numerous, prestigious international prizes including the 2020 John von Neumann Award, Chairs the World Health Organization's Council on "the Economics of Health for All," and is also the author of three highly-acclaimed books, the latest of which is "Mission Economy: a Moonshot Guide to Changing Capitalism." Lees meer
In it, Mariana argues that if we want to meet the principal challenges facing us in the 21st century, we need to rethink the capacities and role of government and above all recover a sense of public purpose. We need to be innovative, collaborative, and mission-oriented in our thinking, while also taking a stakeholder view of public-private partnerships, which means that when we take risks together that we also share in the rewards that derive from those risks.
The purpose of today's conversation is to help you think bigger about how we as a community of citizens and nations can mobilize our resources in a way that is bold, inspirational, and oriented towards solving the most 'wicked' social problems of our time. This means changing government tools and culture, creating new markers of corporate governance, and ensuring that corporations, society, and the government can coalesce around a common set of goals, ambitions, and objectives.
In the subscriber overtime, Mariana and Demetri discuss how the politics of divisiveness impact our ability to work towards shared outcomes, why Western society seems to have become more individualistic, and what we can do to shift our cultural awareness towards a more collaborative mind-set when it comes to value creation in both the public and private sectors.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this …
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The Lonely Century: Coming Together in a World That's Pulling Apart | Noreena Hertz
22 maart 2021 · 59 min
In Episode 184 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Noreena Hertz, a renowned thought leader, academic, and broadcaster, named by The Observer as "one of the world's leading thinkers" and by Vogue as "one of the world's most inspiring women." Lees meer
Over the course of her career, Hertz has grappled with issues of political-economy, markets, business, culture, and technology. In her latest book, "The Lonely Century," she draws from this well-spring of knowledge, as well as from her research in the fields of psychology, philosophy, and evolutionary biology in order to help us understand how our growing sense of loneliness and isolation—from ourselves and from each other—is contributing to much of the social instability, political dysfunction, and existential angst that many of us experience in our daily lives.
The purpose of this episode is not only to help you understand the scale of the loneliness epidemic and its drivers but also to draw the connections between its more visible effects like mental and emotional illness and those whose pathways and relationships remain largely hidden. As you will learn during the course of today's conversation, there is good reason to believe that loneliness has a role to play in everything from rising levels of political polarization and social instability to environmental degradation and neglect.
In the subscriber overtime, Noreena and Demetri delve deeper into the health consequences of isolation, as well as how the world of online dating has impacted intimacy in a way that is rarely discussed. They also consider solutions, both at the individual and community-levels that Noreena thinks can immediately begin to help stem this rising tide of loneliness that impacts so many people in society today.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite…
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Engine of Inequality: The Fed & the Future of Wealth in America | Karen Petrou
15 maart 2021 · 57 min
In Episode 183 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Karen Petrou, co-founder and Managing Partner of Federal Financial Analytics and author of "Engine of Inequality: The Fed and the Future of Wealth in America." Lees meer
The objective of this episode is to help you better understand how monetary policy and financial regulations have changed in the years since the great financial crisis and how those changes have destabilized financial markets by transferring risk from the more tightly regulated banking sector to other parts of the system.
In the subscriber overtime, Karen and Demetri discuss solutions to this predicament and what policy actions the Fed and regulators can take to rectify the problem. The two also discuss some of the limitations of the current policy and how much more room policymakers have to stimulate the economy before inflation finally begins to pick up or before we start seeing yields in the treasury market rise precipitously. We may already be there.
You can access the subscriber overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas
Episode Recorded on 03/09/2021
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This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends: The Cyber-Weapons Arms Race | Nicole Perlroth
8 maart 2021 · 1 uur
In Episode 182 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Nicole Perlroth, award-winning cybersecurity journalist for The New York Times and author of a recently published book on the cyber-weapons arms race titled "This Is How They Tell Me The World Ends." Lees meer
This is the latest episode in a series that we've devoted to the subject of information security and the threat posed to our infrastructure and to our lives by the cyber-weapons industry.
Cyberattacks against individuals, companies, and infrastructure have increased steadily year after year. Attacks like the recent one targeting a water treatment facility in Florida or the Solarwinds hack, discovered last December and which compromised thousands of private and government users — including Homeland Security, the Pentagon, and the NSA — are only the tip of the iceberg. These types of attacks are happening 24hrs a day, 7 days a week, and the costs that they impose on individuals and organizations are measured in the trillions of dollars every single year.
The purpose of today's conversation is to highlight both the nature and the urgency of the threat posed by the cyber-weapons industry. You will learn details about the market for exploits and vulnerabilities and what measures we can take to protect ourselves individually and as a society.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://…
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Silicon Valley's Ultimate Exit: Arguments for and Against the Network State | Balaji Srinivasan
1 maart 2021 · 1 uur 57 min
In Episode 181 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Balaji Srinivasan, an angel investor, entrepreneur, and prominent futurist who's views on crypto, the future of education, and the network state put him at the forefront of innovation and disruption in money, business, and politics. Lees meer
The two discuss Balaji's thesis for the rise of the network state, what it means for existing institutions of money & power, and what life will look like for human beings in this not-too-distant future.
Demetri's thesis is that Silicon Valley culture and the ongoing disruptive dynamics associated with social networks, mobile devices, automation, and now cryptocurrencies, are not only restructuring and remaking the commercial world but increasingly encroaching upon the traditional assignments and obligations of government and the state. We see this perhaps most notably in the case of privately issued cryptocurrencies, but one can argue that this culture of disruption runs much deeper and its consequences for society are much broader than most of us realize.
In this sense, what we are living to today is nothing short of a political revolution and while our systems of government are ripe for disruption, the solutions being put forward by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, financiers, and the broader commercial sector may not adequately reflect the interests or the concerns of the vast majority of people whose lives would be most affected by these changes.
This conversation is an exploration of the methods, opportunities, and consequences of such solutions and their implications for individuals and the state.
You can access the first part of this conversation, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the follow…
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Podcast Update: Cybersecurity, Financial Warfare, the Mission Driven State, & More
22 februari 2021 · 9 min
In Episode 180 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas provides listeners with a sneak peak into the next 5 weeks of content, including episodes on the networked state, financial warfare, cybersecurity, the loneliness epidemic, and how to rebuild the mission-driven state. Lees meer
You can access the episode overtimes, as well as the transcripts and rundowns to each week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
of Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas
Episode Recorded on 02/21/2021
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Generational Conflict, Decentralization, & Global Disorder | Radigan Carter
15 februari 2021 · 1 uur 50 min
In Episode 179 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas shares the overtime to his 4-hour-long conversation with Radigan Carter, an investor who has spent the last two decades of his life working across five continents as a member of the US military, as a private contractor, and as a special agent for the United States government. Lees meer
In this second-half of their conversation, Radigan shares not only his remarkable insights on geopolitics and foreign affairs, including a long discussion about the security and politics of the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, but also his perspective on what's happening within the United States: the radicalization of the citizenry and the potential for an escalation in political violence over the next few years. The two also discuss the pro's and con's of decentralization and what a more decentralized world would look like in practice.
A transcript to this episode is available to our premium subscribers through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts by following this link: http://bit.ly/rate-the-podcast
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas
Episode Recorded on 01/26/2021
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Meme 'Stonks': How Call Options & Reddit Broke Wall Street | Lily Francus
8 februari 2021 · 1 uur 9 min
In Episode 178 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Lily Francus, a 25-year-old PhD student in bioinformatics who spends her time modeling complex, dynamic systems, trading meme stocks, and writing about options, derivatives, and how stories and ideas spread on the Internet. Lees meer
Unless you've been living under a rock or don't have an Internet connection you will already know that some really crazy shit happened in the last couple of weeks involving the video game retailer GameStop, a number of large, Wall Street institutions, and the online community subreddit r/Wall Street Bets, which has now grown to over 8 million users.
There have been so many competing explanations put forward for what happened here that it would be impossible to try and summarize them all. Instead, this episode attempts to explain the mechanics of how it all happened. In other words, how an online community consisting primarily of retail investors managed to pump the price of GameStop's stock to such a level that institutional investors who were short the stock were forced to cover and in the case of hedge fund Melvin Capital, get bailed out to the tune of nearly 3 billion dollars.
In this conversation, we look at how both market structure and the endogenous dynamics of the options market, combined with the proliferation of narrative in the form of Internet memes were used to organize, coordinate, and execute what was effectively a community-sourced short squeeze that caused chaos across wall street and left the financial press and the public, scrambling for answers.
While the conversation about options is specific to wall street, the memetic aspect of this story is perhaps the most fascinating, not only because understanding online culture and how narratives spread on the Internet can help you capitalize on trends and monetize momentum, but also because its application extends to pretty much any use-case you can imagine.
This week's overtime segment is a conversation Demetri had wi…
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Generational Wealth-Building During a Fourth Turning | Radigan Carter
1 februari 2021 · 2 uur 7 min
In Episode 177 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Radigan Carter, an investor who has spent the last two decades of his life working across five continents as a member of the US military, as a private contractor, and as a special agent for the United States government. He has extensive experience leading large multinational teams -- including a 350-person security force -- in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa. Lees meer
Ratigan's love of history, knowledge of foreign affairs, and first-hand experience overseas give him a unique perspective from which to comment on the political, national security, and economic issues facing Western society today.
We spent the first two hours of this four-hour long conversation discussing Radigan's experience overseas, including his participation in Operation Iraqi Freedom, his work as a private contractor in Qatar, and his time spent as a special agent for the United States government in Afghanistan and North Africa. The stories that he shares are inspirational and at times unnerving, but they are always delivered with a wisdom, reflection, and authenticity that you rarely find today.
In the second half of their conversation, Radigan shares not only his remarkable insights on geopolitics and foreign affairs, including a long discussion about the security and politics of the Middle East, Europe, and Asia, but also his perspective on what's happening within the United States: the radicalization of the citizenry and the potential for an escalation in political violence over the next few years.
We also discuss his views on financial markets and the macro economy, including a conversation about cryptocurrency, its place in his own portfolio, and how it fits into his larger investing philosophy.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite p…
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Cryptocurrencies, Foreign Threats, & the Fight of a Generation
25 januari 2021 · 14 min
In Episode 176 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas shares his thoughts on a series of interconnected topics including Tether, Bitcoin, domestic terrorism, generational conflict, and foreign interference. Lees meer
The medium posted cited in this episode is "The Bit Short: Inside Crypto's Doomsday Machine."
The two Blockchain Debate Podcast episodes cited are (1) "Tether has always been acting in bad faith (Bennett Tomlin vs. Larry Cermak, co-host: Patrick McKenzie)" and (2) "Tether will likely get crushed by authorities in the next two years, thanks to its shady practices and defiance against regulators (CasPiancey vs. Matthew Graham)"
The episode of the "What Bitcoin Did Podcast" mentioned in this episode is "Questions for Tether with Paolo Ardoino & Stuart Hoegner."
You can access the transcript to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas
Episode Recorded on 01/22/2021
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Restoring Trust in an Age of Political Polarization | Kevin Vallier
18 januari 2021 · 59 min
In Episode 175 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Kevin Vallier, an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bowling Green State University, whose interests lie primarily in political philosophy, ethics, philosophy of religion, and economics. Lees meer
In his latest book, "Trust in a Polarized Age," Kevin draws on empirical data and liberal political philosophy to demonstrate that rising levels of political polarization can be largely attributed to a multi-decade decline in trust. If we want to reduce political polarization, argues Kevin, "we have to start by rebuilding social and political trust." While this may seem like a tall order during a time in which Americans are less trusting than at any point since at least the 1960's when measurements began, the situation is not hopeless.
In this conversation we discuss the causes and consequences of declining social and political trust, the two-way relationship between trust and polarization, and what sorts of practical steps can be taken at both an individual and societal level to begin to restore faith in each other and in our political and legal institutions.
In the overtime, Kevin and Demetri touch on a number of timely topics, including concerns about domestic terrorism and the parallels that can be drawn between the early 1990's and today. One of the more interesting parts of the discussion deals with the "mainstreaming" so to speak, of conspiracy theory. Unlike in the early 1990's where domestic terror groups and individuals were motivated primarily by extreme ideological beliefs, those being monitored today, some of which were involved in the attack on the US Capitol building, combine political violence with mainstream views that are shared by a significant percentage of the American people.
You can access the second part of this conversation, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easil…
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Future of Financial Media & Digital Assets | Jason Yanowitz & Michael Ippolito
15 januari 2021 · 50 min
In Episode 174 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Michael Ippolito and Jason Yanowitz, the founders of Blockworks, a financial media brand that delivers breaking news and premium insights about digital assets to millions of investors. Lees meer
In this conversation, Jason and Michael share news about the recent launch of their editorial site, including anecdotes from their experience creating a crypto-focused, financial media company from scratch in an industry that has seen explosive growth in investor interest over the last 12 months.
If you are interested in blockchain technology, decentralized finance, cryptocurrencies, or just generally fascinated by the culture in crypto and blockchain, you will love this conversation. Michael and Jason explain how they bootstrapped the company without any outside funding, creating a stable of talented podcast hosts like Ted Seides, Peter McCormack, Preston Pysh, and most famously, Anthony Pompliano, whose podcast they started together and which has since become the most popular podcast in crypto.
The second half of the conversation focuses primarily on understanding the content and business models of BlockWorks and how they compare to their competitors.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript to this episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
Follow Demetri…
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Social Media Purge: The Urgent Need to Regulate Big Tech | Matt Stoller
13 januari 2021 · 53 min
In Episode 173 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Matt Stoller, Director of Research at the American Economic Liberties Project and author of Goliath: The Hundred Year War Between Monopoly Power and Democracy. The two discuss the reaction of Big Tech to the storming of the Capitol building in Washington D.C. this past week, what it reveals about the power that these data monopolies have over their competitors and the government, and how we can use the law and regulation to restore equilibrium between corporate power and governance in American life. Lees meer
Topics include: Section 230, common carriage laws, the de-platforming of Trump by Facebook & Twitter, the banning of Parler from the Apple iOS & Android app stores and Amazon's servers, and more.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
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Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
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Episode Recorded on 01/11/2021
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America's Political Precipice & the Hyperreality of Markets: Grant Williams & Ben Hunt
11 januari 2021 · 1 uur 8 min
In Episode 172 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Grant Williams and Ben Hunt. Ben is the founder of the widely read Epsilon Theory, a newsletter and website that is known for its insights and analysis on markets and society with a particular focus on how narrative drives our perception of the world and our place in it. Grant is the long-time publisher of a popular financial newsletter and the host of the very popular Grant Williams Podcast, which you can find on any major podcast platform. Lees meer
The three of them discuss the urgent social, political, and economic issues facing the United States and what Americans can do to help themselves and their country in this moment of heightened uncertainty. Topics include equity markets, cryptocurrencies, politics, national security, social media, & more.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
Follow Demetri at @Kofinas
Episode Recorded on 01/05/2021
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The Code of Capital: Markets, Big Tech, & Blockchain | Katharina Pistor
4 januari 2021 · 1 uur 7 min
In Episode 171 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Katharina Pistor, a leading scholar of corporate governance, money & finance, property rights, and comparative law & legal institutions. She's also a prominent commentator on cryptocurrencies, has testified before Congress about them, and has written papers dealing with the issues of digital statehood and monetary sovereignty. Her latest book, "The Code of Capital," is a tour de force that explains in captivating detail how the law is used to code and construct capital, protecting some assets over others, how this creates wealth for society, and how its use and abuse can make the difference between societal cohesion and political revolution. Lees meer
In today's conversation, you will learn how the law—a powerful tool for social ordering and wealth creation—has been put to work in the service of private consolidation and political control. This leads us to focus on three, interrelated topics:
The first deals with the nature of property and how the legal system and its network of lawyers turn assets into capital by encoding them with certain, key attributes. One of these attributes, convertibility, has been notably expanded in its application over the last thirteen years, as central banks have accepted an ever broader basket of assets as collateral and used their balance sheets to monetize not only government debt, but mortgages, corporate bonds, and stock ETFs.
The second deals with a knock-on effect of the first, namely, the astronomical growth in the market value of Bitcoin. In this context, Bitcoin can be seen as an exogenous response to the erosion of trust and credibility in the conduct of monetary policy by central banks and in response to questions about the integrity of public money. But questions remain about whether or not a private form of money like Bitcoin can replace state-issued fiat money or if monetary sovereignty even exists without territorial sovereignty.
The third and final area of discussi…
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The Future of Freedom, Governance, and the Networked State
28 december 2020 · 1 uur 41 min
In Episode 170 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas shares an interview he recently did on the Bankless podcast, where he gives his views on the future of freedom and governance. Topics include cryptocurrencies, global macro, monetary policy, geopolitics, and more. Lees meer
Since our episode with Rohan Grey aired, we have seen new regulatory proposals including the FinCen KYC regulations on self-hosted wallets and the recent securities fraud lawsuit filed by the SEC against Ripple. As part of our effort to educate listeners about the ongoing transition towards a pro-regulatory environment, we have put together a couple of episodes in the new year dealing with these issues head-on.
Today's conversation deals with some of these topics, specifically this notion of a networked state or a digital state. David and Ryan seem to feel that code can supplant legal structures as an operating framework for society. While Demetri may agree that smart contracts can automate agreements, he doesn't believe that self-executing software can or should supplant our legal systems. He also thinks that it is naïve and dangerous to synonymize open-source software with liberal democracy, an argument that he expands on in this episode.
You can access the transcript to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
Follow Demetri at @Kofinas
Episode R…
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The Tyranny of Merit: What Has Become of the Common Good? | Michael Sandel
21 december 2020 · 58 min
In Episode 169 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Michael Sandel, professor of Government Theory at Harvard University Law School, host of the BBC series "The Public Philosopher," and author of numerous, bestselling books including his latest, "The Tyranny of Merit." Lees meer
When people complain about meritocracy, the complaint is usually not about the ideal but about our failure to live up to it. According to this complaint, meritocracy is a myth, a distant promise yet to be redeemed. This complaint is certainly valid. But what if the problem runs deeper? What if the real problem with meritocracy is not that we have failed to achieve it but that the ideal is flawed? What if the rhetoric of rising no longer inspires, not simply because social mobility has stalled but, more fundamentally, because helping people scramble up the ladder of success in a competitive meritocracy is a hollow political project that reflects an impoverished conception of citizenship and freedom?
Perhaps nowhere has this mindset around success and failure been more evident than in our response to the pandemic, where we were continually assured by our public officials that we are "all in this together." And yet, for those of who have been working from home during this time or who are economically independent enough to prioritize social distancing, take the necessary health precautions, and access the highest quality health services this catchphrase rings hollow. We know it's not true. We know that there are two different realities for two different classes of people in this society, the winners and the losers.
In their conversation today, Michael and Demetri explore how we got to this point, what it means for our society, and how we might begin to engage in the moral and political renewal required to fix it.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime…
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Understanding the STABLE Act and the Push to Regulate Crypto | Rohan Grey
14 december 2020 · 1 uur 2 min
In Episode 168 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Rohan Grey, an expert on the legal design and regulation of digital fiat currency and one of the prime authors of the recently proposed STABLE Act put forward by congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and congressmen Jesús García and Stephen Lynch of Illinois and Massachusetts respectively. Lees meer
The stated justification for the bill is to "protect consumers from the risks posed by emerging digital payment instruments, such as Facebook's Libra and other Stablecoins," which the authors define as "digital currencies, whose value is permanently pegged to or stabilized against a conventional currency like the dollar and which pose new regulatory challenges while also representing a growing source of market, liquidity, and credit risk."
The goal of this conversation was to get absolutely clear on the language and intent of the regulation, not just as a standalone document but as part of a much larger regulatory agenda that is being put forward by the more progressive factions of the democratic party. What is clear is that much of this depends on how we define money and what we mean when we talk about "a deposit."
Regardless of what your personal beliefs are, regulation is coming. The question is what is it going to look like and how is it going to impact you and your community, whether that community is your local community, your business community, or a crypto community?
This conversation is meant to help you begin to wrap your arms around this new paradigm, to understand what you think about it and how you want to respond to it.
You can gain access to the episode overtime, Demetri's additional conversation with Jeremy Allaire, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page.
All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can …
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What's Gone Wrong with the Democratic Party & How to Fix it | David Shor
7 december 2020 · 59 min
In Episode 167 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with political data scientist David Shor. David was recently described in New York Magazine as Obama's "In-House Nate Silver" for his work on the president's re-election campaign where he was responsible for building and maintaining the campaign's election forecasting system, which accurately predicted the outcome to within a point in every state and was the primary input to the campaign's resource allocation decisions in the 2012 election. Lees meer
In this conversation, David shares his theory about why Democrats have struggled to win elections in recent years, why the polls have been so off in both of the last two presidential elections, and what the implications of his findings are for the viability of the party and its ideological platform and rhetoric.
We also look at how Republicans gained support from African American men and Hispanics in an election year that we were told was supposed to be a referendum on white privilege. Does this mean that identity politics has run its course, or does it just validate the assertions of people like New York Times op-ed columnist Charles Blow who claim that this is simply further evidence of the entrenchment of white supremacy in American society?
David also shares his predictions on the Georgia senate races and gives his opinion on how polling should be reformed. Lastly, Shor explains how education levels correlate with ideological extremism, how this has put Democratic candidates out of step with the majority of Americans, and what this means for policy choices in the event that the Democrats retake control of the senate in 2020 or 2022.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the …
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What America's Founders Learned from the Greeks & Romans | Thomas E. Ricks
30 november 2020 · 59 min
In Episode 166 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Thomas Ricks about his book "First Principles: What America's Founders Learned from the Greeks & Romans." The two discuss the influence of Greco-Roman thought and culture on America's founding generation, while drawing lessons that can be applied to our democracy today. Lees meer
First Principles is a timely book, in that we find ourselves grappling today with many of the same questions, concerns, and anxieties that animated and vexed the drafters of the American constitution. It is also a deeply profound one, because it reminds us that America was, is, and always will be an experiment. The constitution was constructed after all, in the midst of the Enlightenment.
"What was most important and really new about the Age of Reason," writes the scholar William Goetzmann, "was the sublime confidence of the intellectuals and societal leaders in the power of man's reason...Human nature, like all other nature, was a constant that yielded to rational inquiry." In other words, the enlightenment showed the founding generation that it was possible to use reason and observation to discern the eternal laws of nature and then to use that understanding to aid human progress. To be enlightened was to have an energetic way of examining the world with skepticism and self-confidence and that self-confidence came from the knowledge that the world was knowable, that truths could be discovered, and inquiries made into the nature of things. "To be enlightened," as the intellectual historian Caroline Winterer put it, "was to be filled with hope."
It was with this sense of hope and empowerment that America's founding generation set about to construct the American constitution and bill of rights. What were their objectives? Who did they look up to? What books did they read? And why the obsession with the ancients? What lessons did they take from the successes and failures of the Greeks and Romans? What did …
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Emerging Markets & the Turkish Lira: Assessing the Risks & Opportunities | Paul McNamara
23 november 2020 · 54 min
In Episode 165 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Paul McNamara, an Investment Director at global asset manager GAM who serves as the company's lead manager on hedge fund, emerging market bond and currency long-only strategies. Lees meer
The first half of this conversation focuses on the macro forces driving EM overall, including how the latest vaccines could affect the global recovery and the service and export sectors in emerging markets, the global debt picture and its impact on economic recovery, the resumption of trade, etc.
The second half of our conversation focuses exclusively on one emerging market country in particular: Turkey. Turkey is a uniquely important country, not least because of its geostrategic positioning as a gateway between east and west, straddling multiple important theatres of conflict, diplomacy, and trade that matter greatly to all the major powers, including the United States.
What happens to Turkey's economy, the country's ability to service its debts, and the value of its currency are materially important for its geopolitical stability and for the stability of its neighbors and NATO allies.
To that effect, we examine some of the latest government-family drama in Turkey involving the president's son-in-law Berat Albayrak and the significance of his ouster as Minister of Finance and Treasury, along with the implications for Turkey's economy. We also discuss the recent 475 basis point rate hike by the Turkish central bank and what this means for the economy, domestic bank lending, and the value of the Lira going forward.
Lastly, given the turmoil in relations between Turkey, the US, and Europe, it's an open question as to how an incoming Biden administration will deal with this important NATO ally and if sanctions could be used against Ankara in the event that diplomatic headway isn't made and Turkey's president continues to go his own way on issues that are vital to both the US and Europe.
You can access the afterthought segment,…
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The Long (and Short) of it: A Cynic's Take on Markets & Investing | Jim Chanos
19 november 2020 · 56 min
In Episode 164 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with legendary short-seller Jim Chanos, founder of Kynikos Associates, about the art and science of selling short. Lees meer
What is short-selling? What does it mean to sell something short? How does one learn to do it successfully? These are just some of the questions that Demetri and Jim explore in their two-hour-long conversation on markets, politics, and life. Demetri asks Jim for his philosophy on investing and why value-oriented allocators have had a difficult time profiting during the later stages of this bull market. A vocal critic of corporate excess and malfeasance, Chanos also offers his view on what a Biden administration will mean for financial regulation, capital markets, equity valuations, and the broader economy. The two also dissect the business models and prospects of companies like Tesla and Uber and consider the value proposition of Bitcoin amid its extraordinary rise in recent weeks. They end with a conversation about history and what we might come to expect from the future by looking into the past.
This is yet another excellent, engaging, and profoundly eye-opening conversation in a series of such discussions that we have released in recent weeks. We hope you enjoy it!
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at https://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook…
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Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World | Fareed Zakaria
16 november 2020 · 55 min
In Episode 163 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with CNN host and bestselling author Fareed Zakaria, about his book "Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World." Lees meer
The two explore a wide range of economic, political, social, & geopolitical issues facing America and the world in 2020. They discuss the outcome of the US election and its implications for the republican and democratic parties. Fareed shares his thoughts on what he believes are the major foreign policy challenges currently facing the United States and how a Biden administration will differ in its approach to meeting them. Zakaria also provides lengthy commentary on the news media, censorship, Big Tech, the future of US-China relations, the fate of globalization, the rise of illiberal democracy, and much, much more.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at http://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
Episode Recorded on 11/10/2020
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Making Sense of Election 2020 and Its Aftermath | Matt Taibb
6 november 2020 · 45 min
In Episode 162 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Matt Taibbi, a contributing editor for Rolling Stone, co-host of the "Useful Idiots" podcast, and author of several, best-selling books on politics, finance, media, and culture. Lees meer
The two discuss the state of the US presidential election and speculate about what may have contributed to Trump's outperformance, how this election may eventually draw to a close, and when we will know for sure who the winner is.
In the overtime, Demetri and Matt discuss what a post-Trump presidency may look like in the event that he loses, the dangerous role played by tech platforms during this election, and how we may all find ourselves in a much darker place before 2024.
You can access the episode overtime, as well as the transcript and rundown to this week's episode through the Hidden Forces Patreon Page. All subscribers gain access to our overtime feed, which can be easily added to your favorite podcast application.
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at http://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
Episode Recorded on 11/05/2020
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Limits and Consequences of Ponzi Economics on Politics, Markets, & Society
2 november 2020 · 52 min
In Episode 161 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas plays an interview he recently gave to Sebastien Couture and Friederike Ernst on Epicenter.TV. This is a wide-ranging, macro conversation focused on markets, politics, geopolitics, and crypto. Lees meer
If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces you can help support the show by doing the following:
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | YouTube | CastBox | RSS Feed
Write us a review on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to our mailing list through the Hidden Forces Website
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
Subscribe & Support the Podcast at http://patreon.com/hiddenforces
Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod
Episode Recorded on 09/30/2020