Hacking State

Oct 25 2024 35 ep. 77 mins 10

Hacking State Podcast artwork

Alex Murshak explores minds, machines, and matters political in the spirit of overcoming system limitations.

Society & Culture Science Arts

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36 - Eric Kaufmann: Breaking Taboos to Win the Culture War

Oct 25 2024 66 mins

Eric Kaufmann is a professor of politics and Director of the Centre for Heterodox Social Science at the University of Buckingham. He is also Adjunct Fellow at the Manhattan Institute. We talk about his new book "The Third Awokening" and cover: how quasi-religious left-wing liberalism bears more responsibility for Wokeness than “radical neo-Marxist” Theory, the weaponization hum

35 - Ben McCormick: Getting to Know Kinode

Oct 10 2024 52 mins

Kinode is a decentralized operating system, peer-to-peer app framework, and node network designed to simplify the development and deployment of decentralized applications. Ben McCormick, a lead developer at Kinode, joins me to discuss the birth of Kinode, the need for backend tools in crypto, choosing Web Assembly for peer-to-peer computing, breaking out of the Feudal structure of

34 - Charles Haywood: Political Action, Foundationalism, Advice for Ambitious Young Men

Sep 26 2024 88 mins

Charles Haywood is the Maximum Leader of The Worthy House, publisher of over 600 book reviews, and creator of a framework for the renewal of society called Foundationalism. We talk about how buying machinery from a defunct hair products manufacturer made him tremendously wealthy, The Worthy House and refining his politics by writing hundreds of book reviews, the (im)possibility of

33 - Nina Power: Defamation and Free Speech in the Internet Age

Sep 12 2024 67 mins

I speak with Nina Power about her harrowing defamation suit court battle, the narrowing window of free expression in the West, novel problems of anonymity, pseudonymity, and identity presented by the internet, the antagonism of the philosopher and the city, and the need for cultural tools to push back against authoritarian overreaches in free expression. Nina Power on Substack: htt

31 - Nick Simmons: Octu Ventures + Urbit, Building the Pillars of a Digital Civilization

Jun 11 2024 62 mins

Nick Simmons is Cofounder and member of Octu Ventures, a member-driven venture DAO investing in teams building on Urbit. Urbit comprises a decentralized network of personal servers, a unique digital ID system, and a decentralized peer-to-peer networking protocol. Altogether, these constitute load-bearing pillars of a truly digital civilization. We talk about the Urbit stack, Octu's

30 - Alexander Pacheco: Building a Network of 150

May 21 2024 56 mins

Alexander Pacheco is the founder of social media platform, 150. Based on Dunbar’s Limit, 150’s innovative social network leverages insights from network science to create a small-town feel that elides many of the downsides that come with incumbent social media giants. Alexander walks us through using anthropology and human nature to shape the network topology of 150 to more clo

29 - Kevin Dolan (Bennett's Phylactery): Rebooting Natalism for the 21st Century

May 07 2024 76 mins

I’m joined by cofounder and organizer of the 2023 Natal Conference in Austin, TX, Kevin Dolan. We talk about the conception of a conference to promote having more babies, the various religious and techno-optimist factions of the Natalist Movement, environmental detriments to fertility, how we’re radically undervaluing motherhood, thought-terminating technical solutions to the f

28 - Charles Rosenbauer and Olli Payne: Finding the Keys to Our Possible Futures

Apr 30 2024 86 mins

I am joined by Charles Rosenbauer and Olli Payne of Possibilia Magazine. Possibilia is an ambitious literary magazine showcasing realistic, optimistic science fiction. They’re bringing positive visions of the future in digital and in print—replete with short stories, nonfiction companion pieces, and illustration. We talk about the constraints of keeping sci-fi optimistic and

27 - Lomez: Keeper of the Press

Mar 26 2024 63 mins

I speak with father of the Passage Prize and Keeper of the Passage Press, Lomez.

26 - Stephen R. C. Hicks: Ayn Rand and High Romanticism

Mar 05 2024 59 mins

On Ayn Rand, Objectivism, the resonance of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, the development and spread of Individualism, high Romanticism, Rand's polarizing characters, the relationship between altruism and selfishness in her works and philosophy, Ayn Rand's large influence on entrepreneurs, and the intellectual subculture of Randian academics. Stephen R. C. Hicks is Professor