In this Logos Podcast episode, Jarrad Hope interviews Federico Ast, founder of Kleros, a decentralised arbitration service.

Federico shares his journey into the crypto world, influenced by Argentina's economic challenges, and describes how he envisioned Kleros as a tool to globally democratise access to justice through low-cost arbitration.

They explore the mechanics of Kleros, emphasising its use of blockchain for transparency and economic incentives to ensure fair decision-making. The conversation also highlights Frederico's thoughts on the necessity of blending historical governance insights with modern decentralised systems to create efficient and legitimate solutions.

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RESOURCES:

Jarrad Hope X

Federico Ast X

Kleros X

READING & COURSES:

The Sovereign Individual: Mastering the Transition to the Information Age

Yale Introduction to Political Philosophy

Yale Power and Politics in Today’s world

Oxford Very Short Introduction series

TIMESTAMPS:

00:00:02 What Led You to Start Kleros?

00:03:46 Is Kleros Rooted in Practical Necessity?

00:06:00 How Do Economic Incentives Play a Role in Kleros?

00:10:26 How Did Kleros Handle Disputes in Prediction Markets?

00:18:17 How Do You See Kleros as a Tool for Decentralized Justice?

00:22:35 How Does Kleros Address Real World Problems?

00:28:01 How Has Kleros Bridged The On-Chain and Real-World Divide?

00:33:27 How Does Enforcement Work in Kleros?

00:41:15 Can Kleros Shape Future Governance Models?

00:44:10 What Can DAOs Learn From Political History?

00:48:22 What’s Next for Kleros and Decentralized Justice?

00:54:39 Which Books and Courses Should Blockchain Enthusiasts Read?

This week Jarrad Hope spoke to Jameson Lopp to discuss his decade-long effort to promote self-custody in Bitcoin by lowering technical barriers for users, emphasizing the fight against human nature's preference for convenience over security. Lopp traces his journey into Bitcoin and Cypherpunk ideology, highlighting the appeal of cryptography in creating open and fair systems resistant to manipulation.

Both Lopp and Hope explore various technological solutions and the challenges inherent in privacy and decentralization, such as the pitfalls of centralization in legacy protocols and the need for vigilant, iterative improvements in Bitcoin.

Finally, Lopp underscores the importance of evolving Bitcoin's base protocol to foster more innovation at the second layer, while maintaining the decentralized ethos of the network.

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Jarrad Hope talks to Diego Gutierrez-Zaldivar, Chairman and Co-founder at IOVLabs and co-founder of Rootstock.io, about his lifelong mission to create an equitable society by integrating technology and social work.

He believes that Bitcoin can transform society by establishing a peer-to-peer monetary system, merging his passion for technology with social transformation, particularly in financially unstable regions such as Latin America.

By collaborating with governments and NGOs, Diego aims to scale and implement decentralized digital trust frameworks, ensuring financial inclusion while preserving individual freedom.

Mark Lutter of the Charter Cities Institute and Braavos Cities discusses focusing on tangible, actionable research to help make better decisions for developing charter cities. Lutter explains the significant challenges in city development, including the necessity of political buy-in and complex stakeholder coordination amidst increasing global uncertainty. He notes that younger, growing populations often drive city growth. Alongside Jarrad Hope, they explore topics such as urbanization patterns, financing mechanisms for low-income housing, and economic development strategies essential for successful charter city projects.

Jarrad Hope talks to Niklas Anzinger, Founder & CEO of Vitalia City and Founder & General Partner at Infinita VC, about building a decentralised city for crypto-driven biotech and the regulatory challenges these types of communities face.

"...the United States did not give satisfactory assurance in relation to Julian being able to rely on constitutional protections for freedom of speech " - Stella Assange on the decision made by the courts to allow Julian Assange to appeal his extradition to the United States. This episode originally aired in December of 2023. We bring it to you again, in light of the appeal decision. Jarrad Hope, co-founder of Logos, sits down with Stella Assange – lawyer, human rights defender, and wife of Julian Assange – for an in depth conversation about Wikileaks, Julian Assange, and the role technology has played in shaping the global socio-political landscape. Stella talks about her experience working on Julian Assange's legal team, her introduction to new technologies including Bitcoin, and the current surveillance state that has emerged since the rise of the open internet.

Robert Gehl and Jarrad Hope discussed the misconceptions and societal impacts of dark web technologies, emphasizing how they're often unfairly characterized by their negative uses, overshadowing their potential for positive, discreet communication and community building. Gehl shares his exploration into alternative social media and encryption technologies' ethical implications, particularly focusing on anonymity's role in protecting users' identities and enabling free speech. Through their dialogue, they touch on the challenges of decentralization and the struggle against the centralization tendencies of large tech companies, highlighting the importance of maintaining small, interconnected communities over large, dominant networks. The conversation also explores the idea of creating a cyber-state or virtual space that respects privacy and freedom, underscoring the necessity of encrypted communication as a fundamental right and safeguard against tyranny.

In the episode, Jarrad Hope talks to Professor Tom W. Bell about the process of shifting from traditional nation-states to more flexible, innovative, specialized jurisdictions. They also dive into the practical mechanisms for establishing such jurisdictions, the importance of foundational legal systems like Ulex, and the challenges posed by traditional copyright hindrances. Overall, Tom and Jarrad reflect on the need for resilient and adaptive models that can withstand the challenges of the future while promoting human flourishing and the benefits of technology like blockchain in achieving these aims.

In this conversation, Jarrad Hope discusses the transformational impact of crypto and peer-to-peer technologies with Michel Bauwens, highlighting the potential seed forms for a new decentralized and commons-oriented societal organization. They acknowledge the complexity and the challenges of the current state of crypto, stressing the importance of building an inclusive and more user-friendly infrastructure while maintaining the pursuit of pluralistic and intelligent discourse.

In a Logos Press Engine crossover, Jarrad Hope brings Corey Petty - Logos Program Lead & Hashing It Out host - to discuss the political and technological motivations behind their work and their aim of building infrastructure that supports civil liberties and resists centralization of power, using open-source tech. They question if the nature of technology is inherently neutral or not, the ethics of building technology, and how it relates to political structures.

Jarrad Hope, co-founder of Logos, sits down with Patri Friedman – Co-Founder and General Partner of Pronomos Capital – for an in-depth conversation about creating autonomous communities, from Seasteading to modern Charter Cities. They discuss the values and monetary incentives that bring people to these new spaces, and the challenges of turning ideas into reality.