AMA 08/19/2022

Opens the AMA live from Colorado and recaps DEF CON and the Crypto 2023 conference.

Highlights post quantum cryptography research from Crypto 2023, including lattice and hash based schemes.

Catching up with his brother on the hobbyist community still building homebrew Super Nintendo games.

Recommends Python or JavaScript as a first programming language for beginners before moving to something more structured.

Recounts meeting a man who took two years to get a Liberian birth certificate and refers him to the Africa Credential Alliance.

Names the living people he admires most, including Matthieu Ricard, Lex Fridman, Jordan Peterson, and Terence Tao.

Admits there is no canonical textbook on peer to peer networking for cryptocurrencies and points to libp2p and Kademlia as references.

Jokes about whether Cardano should get a more appealing name.

There are no current plans to work with Gavin Wood but would welcome collaboration on standards or smart contracts.

Weighs in on whether Elder Scrolls 6 will ship soon, criticizing Bethesda's aging engine and simplified game mechanics.

Responds to backlash over his Bethesda comments and reflects on the scrutiny that comes with being a public leader.

Upgrades require 75 percent of stake pool operators to agree, so he is not unilaterally in control of the network.

Gives a quick take on Return to Monkey Island.

Argues the Tornado Cash sanctions set a dangerous precedent by treating code as intent, citing Bernstein versus the Ninth Circuit.

The Tornado Cash developer's 30 percent pre mine could complicate the free speech defense if funds were ever used.

Recalls a game breaking bug in King's Quest VII that froze every time he entered the underworld.

Reacts to Sam Harris saying he would still vote for Biden regardless of scandal, calling it Trump derangement syndrome.

Praises David Sinclair's longevity research on epigenetic information loss, cellular senescence, and mouse aging experiments.

His own anti aging clinic using hyperbaric chambers, full genome sequencing, and cell reprogramming research.

Rules out running for president in 2024.

Criticizes the Taliban government while discussing the US holding onto frozen Afghan funds.

Reacts to news that Dave Asprey's Joe Rogan episode was deleted and defends bulletproof coffee.

Names koi as his favorite fish for their long lifespan and friendliness.

Confirms Cardano has not reached the end of its roadmap, with a new 2027 roadmap planned after Basho and Voltaire.

Psychedelics reset the brain's default mode network and describes VR and neural stimulation research replicating the effect.

Explains why quantum resistant cryptography like QRL is not on the roadmap yet, citing immature NIST standards and heavy performance overhead.

Points to Hydra's public roadmap and steady weekly progress on GitHub.

Praises Tesla's Optimus robot and imagines it handling ranch labor and anti poaching work within ten to twenty years.

Jokes about Red Letter Media's Best of the Worst show and Mr. Plinkett.

Explains why pizza is cut into triangles for equal portions but boxed square for shipping efficiency.

Agrees systems literacy and model thinking are underappreciated in education and recommends Scott Page's course.

Recaps a fun video shoot with a bison named Champ and driving his Sherp off road vehicle.

Calls forever chemicals in rainwater one of the worst problems today and links them to declining male fertility.

Cardano will never truly be finished but would enjoy building dapps on a side chain someday.

Lax US food additive regulation compared to other countries is killing people.

Praises Ergo and Alex Chepurnoy as great collaborators.

Lays out a systems level vision for sustaining a much larger population through nuclear and geothermal energy, vertical farming, and seven generations thinking.

Denies fearing he could become an Oppenheimer figure through his synthetic biology work.

Reflects on his early enthusiasm for transhumanism and the idea of upgrading the human body the way people upgrade technology.

Experiments giving human cells octopus like camouflage and speculates how changeable skin color would upend racial identity.

Warns that unevenly distributed enhancement could split humanity into wealthy transhumanist overlords and an unmodified underclass.

Speculates on brain computer interfaces like Neuralink enabling extended cognition and a shared collective consciousness.

Compares arresting a developer for writing open source code to arresting an author for writing an inconvenient book.

He genuinely enjoyed winning a satirical Scammy award for his it's a scam remix.

Names Space Marines as his favorite Warhammer 40k faction.

Picks Minsc, Boo, and Aerie as his favorite Baldur's Gate companions.

Names Baldur's Gate 2 as the most influential video game of all time for him.

Plans to visit Skinwalker Ranch through a connection to the team investigating it.

Praises Lex Fridman's John Carmack interview and looks forward to the Jordan Peterson episode.

Reveals interest in an AI companion venture inspired by Lex Fridman's Replika interview, envisioning privacy preserving chatbot matchmaking.

Every criticism holds a kernel of truth and steelmans fair criticisms of Cardano's choice of Haskell, peer review, and decentralization priorities.

The story of IBM, Bill Gates, and Paul Allen to illustrate how risky early choices can look obvious only in hindsight.

Admits he has not always been the nicest or most mature person and commits to being a little better, wiser, and more patient each day.

Criticizes Bitcoin maximalism's dogmatic refusal to evolve past its founding doctrine.

Reflects on feeling smaller and more humbled with age, and on losing three of his four grandparents.

Explains why he is cutting commitments and delegating his companies to hired CEOs to focus his limited time wisely.

Confirms he owns a zero gravity chair.

Launching proof of stake was extremely hard for both Cardano and Ethereum, expecting Ethereum to reach it soon but not immediately at scale.

Recalls living in Osaka and loving trips to Nara, Japan.

He is happy, not sad, to see Cardano growing beyond his personal control.

Compares arguing with proof of work maximalists about security to arguing with flat earthers.

Teases a fourth generation cryptocurrency concept in development, covering multi resource consensus, broad side chains, and post quantum features.

He would gladly return to the Lex Fridman podcast once he has more interesting things to share.

Thinks Ethereum's Merge to proof of stake will more likely than not happen close to schedule.

Infrequent AMAs are simply because he is running four companies at once.

Retells the plot of Planescape Torment, calling the Nameless One's search for his identity one of the best written games ever made.

Plans to have lunch with Kimbal Musk and praises his school garden programs.

A viewer who wants new Cardano leadership to step up and become one themselves.

Proof of useful work has no impact on Cardano today since it is not yet a fourth generation protocol, referencing SAT problems.

Uses a Karate Kid wax on wax off bit to explain that crypto markets simply cycle up and down regardless of fundamentals, citing Luna and Celsius.

Recalls PPCoin as an early example of a hybrid proof of work and proof of stake project.

He wants a polyglot culture of multiple independent Cardano node clients as an open source project.

Recaps enjoying his Fox Business interview with Maria Bartiromo as a way to reach a broader audience.

Rich story driven RPGs like Planescape Torment are rarer now because AAA budgets have ballooned to fifty to one hundred million dollars.

Names Rick and Morty as his favorite cartoon.

Jokes that if BlackRock buys 51 percent of the ADA supply he will airdrop a new no homers chain.

Confirms he has played both Diablo 2 and Diablo 2 Resurrected.

There is no ADA token burn planned.

Confirms he is not currently working on his teased Legends of Valor game project.

Jokes he is not bitter about missing the chance to bring proof of useful work to Ethereum Classic.

Weighs in on seed oils, noting a strong correlation with rising obesity and diabetes, and describes his clinic testing nutrition hypotheses directly.

Deflects a Taiwan sovereignty question, joking he does not want to risk a YouTube ban.

He has personally witnessed things he would consider paranormal.

Recounts personally rewriting the ending of Game of Thrones season 8 out of frustration with the show.

Prefers real time combat and recalls maxing out a necromancer build in Arcanum.

Gives an update on Phil Wadler's ongoing work on extended UTXO and Plutus.

Jokes about stake pool operators taking their time upgrading to node version 1.35.3.

Rejects the claim he attacks loyal supporters, walking through how the Vasil hard fork negotiation requires 75 percent SPO approval before shipping.

The days of him unilaterally deciding things are over, and defends recommending rather than dictating the testing approach.

Rebuts the claim Cardano would have broken had everyone upgraded, walking through the 1.35.2 and 1.35.3 bug timeline and mixed node mainnet testing.

The pre production testnet plan achieves the same testing goals as resurrecting the broken original testnet, and previews a post Vasil post mortem.

More diverse SPO hardware and geography surfaces more bugs and calls for a stronger testing harness as the system grows more complex.

Shares a YouTuber's continuous glucose monitor case study tracking mood against blood sugar during a seven day fast.

Confirms he enjoyed Fallout New Vegas and praises Mr. House.

Names Aron Nimzowitsch as his favorite chess player of all time.

Hospitals will not rely on consumer CGMs for diagnosis but they remain useful personal steering tools, like a home scale versus a DEXA scan.

Suggests plant based meat or nuclear powered carbon capture as ways to cut emissions without giving up steak.

Clarifies he owns a Black Hawk helicopter but not a boat.

Continues the CGM discussion, comparing its accuracy to a hospital glucometer and a full thyroid panel.

He votes Libertarian rather than for Trump or Biden.

Gives an update on his dog Mr. Tippers, who is heading up to Wyoming.

Updates on construction of his Nessie's restaurant in Wheatland Wyoming, including a plesiosaur skeleton display in the atrium.

He prefers a pellet grill for smoking over charcoal.

Names his Shadow Systems Glock 19 and a Staccato 1911 as his favorite guns.

Confirms he plans to play Baldur's Gate 3.

Closes the AMA praising Larian Studios' work on Baldur's Gate 3 and thanks everyone for listening.