Download During this episode of Psychedelics Today, your host Joe Moore interviews Brian Normand of Psymposia and coordinator of the Cryptopsychedelic Conference. * Banks are devaluing currency by charging high fees. * With block chain, you’ve got to think in the long-term. * There’s so much going on with crypto, you can’t keep up. * What blockchain developer wants to go work for Facebook?
Show Notes * Joe and Brian discuss the CryptoPsychedelic Conference the took place in Tulum, Mexico. * What is blockchain? + A next-gen decentralized ledger. + A peer-to-peer border-less, institution-less payment system. + Money will be one of the first users of blockchain. + Banks are devaluing currency by charging high fees. + The whole concept of money will transform, it will be a border-less thing. * When Napster came out, peer to peer transfer became a very popular technology. + When the record companies worried about being irrelevant, they sued. + There could be something like Spotify that pays artists more fairly than Spotify currently does. + Social media could be rebuilt. - We could no longer be the product being sold, but get paid for our contributions. * Could crypto be used to trace the history and purity of substances? + Yes, that’s a definite use case. + The first voting on a block chain happened in Sierra Leone. + You’ve got to think in the long term. * What were some of the more interesting things that came out of the CryptoPsychedelic conference? + Some of the new relationships and seeing the potential collaboration between the two communities. + Projects in this space need to be taken on. + It was a time to question, not really a time for answers. + Watch the movie 2001 a Space Odyssey in one sitting. - Every time you watch it you come away with a new experience. + Cryptocurrencies are border-less, some have minimal fees, and it’s instant. * Decentralized systems + Information is easier to access, it doesn’t have to climb up a ladder. + The DAO is the Decentralized Autonomous Organization – there is no hierarchy. + Government could eventually be run via blockchain. * How could we use the internet to further the message of psychedelics? + Before the internet, the only way you were exposed to information was top down. - Networks, authority institutions. + Because of the internet, information is moving more horizontally. + How do you change incentive structures in the drug war? Could it be these new technologies? * The rate of innovation now is way faster than it was when the internet was first coming out. + You cannot keep up with what’s going on, there’s too much going on. + Look at money as a tool or form of energy. * Crypto will change everyone’s concept of paying taxes. + Air BnB cut the cities completely out of the picture. + Taxes and healthcare or both extremely important and impossible for people to understand. + Internet privacy is a big deal in crypto and psychedelics alike. + Brian doesn’t think that Facebook will ultimately make it. * Developers want to build new tools to take down the giants like Facebook. + Recently, Facebook announced a decline in users. + What can you do to reverse becoming “uncool”? + Reddit’s price per impression is much lower. + Steemit has a fascinating model. + It would be cool if you could be compensated for putting helpful content online. * We assume that the way the internet is now is how it’s always going to be. + How can we use the tool to help the people whose lives aren’t privileged like ours? + In a lot of refugee camps, you can’t have cash, so crypto is huge for them. + What happens when people who are impoverished around the world can now crowdfund?
Resources Mentioned * Psymposia * CryptoPsychedelic
Brian Normand Viveros Brian Normand is CoFounder of Psymposia, entrepreneur, and advocate of psychedelic science, therapy, and drug reform. He attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst and holds a B.S. in Plant, Soil, and Insect Science, Magna Cum Laude.