HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Balaji Srinivasan: Technology Will Lead to a Borderless World

Views:1053
@ReasonVids

The Silicon Valley entrepreneur says cryptocurrencies, virtual reality, and mobile devices are helping individuals escape failed institutions.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine/
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Subscribe to our podcast at iTunes: https://goo.gl/az3a7a

Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Go to reason.com for a point of view you won't get from legacy media and old left-right opinion magazines.

----------------

"Soon you'll be able to join a VR world, and earn virtual currency in virtual reality," says Silicon Valley entrepreneur Balaji Srinivasan. "Which means that, for a good chunk of people in the world, the majority of their waking hours are going to be spent in the Matrix."

Srinivasan believes that new technologies—mobile devices, cloud computing, cryptocurrencies—are rapidly taking us into an era when geography, nationality, and other limitations on our labor and freedom fade away. He says that this evolution will empower individuals and erode the authoritarian capabilities of the state.

Srinivasan is a modern-day polymath who venture capitalist Marc Andreessen has called the person with "the highest output per minute of new ideas of anybody I've ever met in my life." A Ph.D. in electrical engineering, a co-founder of the genetic testing firm Counsyl, and a Stanford computer science lecturer, Srinivasan was also on Donald Trump's short list to head up the Food and Drug Administration.

He believes in technology's power to provide a way for individuals to migrate away from ossified institutions and destructive policies. Borrowing a framework from a 1970 political science treatise by Albert O. Hirschman, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States, Srinivasan described his vision in a much-discussed 2013 talk titled "Sillicon Valley's Ultimate Exit."

Today, he spends most of his time running the cryptocurrency-based startup Earn.com, which allows users to get paid for small tasks, like responding to emails and completing surveys. It is ultimately, he says, a tool for creating a "frictionless digital workforce." He imagines Earn.com providing users with a new type of decentralized employment based purely on their skills. Participants would log on, see a feed of tasks they needed to accomplish, and then be compensated accordingly.

While teaching at Stanford a decade ago, Srinivasan and his brother Ramji founded the genetic testing firm Counsyl, which offers a single assay that tests for every major Mendelian genetic disease. The company aims to lower costs, empower parents, and improve the way genetic diseases are identified and treated.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Reason's Nick Gillespie spoke with Srinivasan about his current ventures; how the FDA and other regulatory bodies should adapt to new technologies; the controversy over genetic testing and "designer babies;" how the 1997 book The Sovereign Individual has influenced his thought; his intellectual heroes; and how he's contributing to "Silicon Valley's ultimate exit."

Interview edited by Justin Monticello. Camera by Paul Detrick and Monticello. Music by Grégoire Lourme (https://www.jamendo.com/track/1292388/technology), Silent Partner (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiCCPvpOLb0), Blue Giraffe (https://www.jamendo.com/track/1388629/dubstep-opener), and Hare (https://www.jamendo.com/track/1317046/positive-chaos).

libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
balaji srinivasan
,
nick gillespie
,
cryptocurrency
,
bitcoin
,
blockchain
,
silicon valley
,
fda
,
genetic testing
,
the sovereign individual
,
technology
    Thumbnail for The Government Wants to Crack Your iPhone. Here's Why They Can't.11:08
    The Government Wants to Crack Your iPhone. Here's Why They Can't.
    ReasonVids
    1007 views
    Thumbnail for 【Final Fantasy VII Remake】 I Already Miss Tifa In The Dress | Shiina Ch. 天ノ川 しいな 【Phase Connect】5:24:56
    【Final Fantasy VII Remake】 I Already Miss Tifa In The Dress | Shiina Ch. 天ノ川 しいな 【Phase Connect】
    invidious
    566 views
    Thumbnail for Strong Bad Email #94 - Video Games3:02
    Strong Bad Email #94 - Video Games
    homestarrunner_unofficial
    877 views
    Thumbnail for Red Cop / Blue Cop2:10
    Red Cop / Blue Cop
    ReasonVids
    947 views
    Thumbnail for Fixing Chicago's Traffic Gridlock: Reason's Adrian Moore and Sam Staley29:59
    Fixing Chicago's Traffic Gridlock: Reason's Adrian Moore and Sam Staley
    ReasonVids
    940 views
    Thumbnail for Unitarian Church Leads NSA Lawsuit: Q&A with Rev. Rick Hoyt4:38
    Unitarian Church Leads NSA Lawsuit: Q&A with Rev. Rick Hoyt
    ReasonVids
    819 views
    Thumbnail for Finding Mr. Righteous: Lisa De Pasquale on Dating Conservative Men4:53
    Finding Mr. Righteous: Lisa De Pasquale on Dating Conservative Men
    ReasonVids
    847 views
    Thumbnail for California's High-Speed Rail Boondoggle: An Interview With CFEC's Eric Christen7:26
    California's High-Speed Rail Boondoggle: An Interview With CFEC's Eric Christen
    ReasonVids
    909 views
    Thumbnail for Welcome home1:19
    Welcome home
    bestofupgoat
    103 views
    Thumbnail for Uncaged Helena0:10
    Uncaged Helena
    bestofupgoat
    210 views
    Thumbnail for Calling out everyone in checkout on welfare day0:09
    Calling out everyone in checkout on welfare day
    bestofvoatxyz
    2157 views
    Thumbnail for An Economist Walks Into a Brothel: What Prostitutes and Big-Wave Surfers Can Teach Us About Risk7:06
    An Economist Walks Into a Brothel: What Prostitutes and Big-Wave Surfers Can Teach Us About Risk
    ReasonVids
    799 views
    Thumbnail for Episode 11 - Mandell's Milk1:46
    Episode 11 - Mandell's Milk
    murdochmurdoch
    1383 views
    Thumbnail for TV Reporter Has a Tucker Moment, Whispers Some Truth0:45
    TV Reporter Has a Tucker Moment, Whispers Some Truth
    bestofvoatxyz
    555 views
    Thumbnail for How Dewey Bartlett Balanced Tulsa's Budget without Raising Taxes6:23
    How Dewey Bartlett Balanced Tulsa's Budget without Raising Taxes
    ReasonVids
    851 views
    Thumbnail for 44 Ways to Say TSA: What do the initials "TSA" really stand for?1:15
    44 Ways to Say TSA: What do the initials "TSA" really stand for?
    ReasonVids
    910 views
    Thumbnail for What Makes a Game Feel Mysterious? | Game Maker's Toolkit29:37
    What Makes a Game Feel Mysterious? | Game Maker's Toolkit
    invidious
    169 views
    Thumbnail for Liberland: A New Nation Founded on 'Love and Freedom'2:36
    Liberland: A New Nation Founded on 'Love and Freedom'
    ReasonVids
    923 views
    Thumbnail for Never send an asian lady to buy lightbulbs 0:40
    Never send an asian lady to buy lightbulbs
    bestofupgoat
    389 views
    Thumbnail for Republican Machine Urges Voters to DITCH TRUMP After Big Election Losses.14:32
    Republican Machine Urges Voters to DITCH TRUMP After Big Election Losses.
    bestofsaidit
    876 views
    Thumbnail for John McWhorter: America Has Never Been Less Racist45:51
    John McWhorter: America Has Never Been Less Racist
    ReasonVids
    850 views
    Thumbnail for The Taboo that Could Break America8:49
    The Taboo that Could Break America
    AmericanRenaissance
    3795 views
    Thumbnail for Marion Barry Doubles Down on "Dirty Asians"1:39
    Marion Barry Doubles Down on "Dirty Asians"
    ReasonVids
    714 views
    Thumbnail for OKC Mayor Sacks Lingerie Football! Reason.tv's Nanny of the Month (Nov 2010)1:18
    OKC Mayor Sacks Lingerie Football! Reason.tv's Nanny of the Month (Nov 2010)
    ReasonVids
    824 views
    Thumbnail for The most wonderful time...0:18
    The most wonderful time...
    bestofupgoat
    163 views

points

Permalink
Reply
libertarian
,
reason magazine
,
reason.com
,
reason.tv
,
reasontv
,
balaji srinivasan
,
nick gillespie
,
cryptocurrency
,
bitcoin
,
blockchain
,
silicon valley
,
fda
,
genetic testing
,
the sovereign individual
,
technology
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle