John Robb explains how we've become sharecroppers of our own data. S03E04 is out now. https://fountain.fm/episode/jCYytxpQ5gzNZWNAUimY

NEW EPISODE “All it takes is the political will or the political mistake to turn it on. And it's there.” John Robb flew Tier 1 special operations, built tech companies, and now maps how surveillance scales. His assessment: every piece of a totalitarian AI system already exists. An AI assigned to every person. Real-time manipulation. Automated punishment. All assembled by corporations building normal products. What stops it, according to Robb? Not much. Not Bitcoin. Not encryption. What individuals can do: pair with AI now, control it locally, stop feeding centralized systems your intelligence. S03E04 is out now for supporters, tomorrow for all: https://fountain.fm/studio/OIYZniSDb9jd3Pb78CpF/IAcYeLXGG9VqvP7SeuLS

Out now. @Aaron van Wirdum joins to talk pre-Bitcoin failures, the block size wars, mining centralization, and why incremental regulation is a bigger threat than a 51% attack. https://fountain.fm/episode/Go9j4PIZm0XIV5f2v9dV

NEW EPISODE “The big concern is the emailification of Bitcoin.” @Aaron van Wirdum spent 13 years covering Bitcoin and wrote The Genesis Book tracing its lineage back to DigiCash in the 90s. His warning: the protocol survives, but everyone interacts through custodial middlemen. SMTP still exists. Nobody runs their own mail server. We talk pre-Bitcoin failures, the block size wars, mining centralization, and why incremental regulation is a bigger threat than a 51% attack. S03E03 is out now for supporters, tomorrow for all. https://fountain.fm/episode/Go9j4PIZm0XIV5f2v9dV

Jason Hughey and the team @Satoshi Pacioli Accounting are on a mission to show what's possible when you lead with principles and virtue, not value-espousing posters on a wall. We can build businesses on merit and trust. S03E02 is out now. https://fountain.fm/episode/zvmY5AzkCF8nEIHbKoFz

NEW EPISODE Enron had “integrity” on the wall. FTX didn't bother. Both collapsed. Jason Hughey on why organizational betrayal isn't random—it's designed in. The same signal suppression that starved Soviet grocery stores is happening in your company's Slack channels. His fix: Principle Based Management. Hire for virtue over talent. Let decisions flow to people with local knowledge. Stop treating employees like resources. S03E02: Companies Don't Keep Promises. People Do. Out now for supporters, public tomorrow. https://fountain.fm/episode/zvmY5AzkCF8nEIHbKoFz

“Love all, trust a few, Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy Rather in power than use; and keep thy friend Under thy own life's key: be check'd for silence, But never tax'd for speech.” ― William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well

NEW EPISODE Spotify and Apple combined hold 30% of podcast listeners. Joe Rogan took $100M to go exclusive on Spotify. For two years, he was invisible to 70% of his potential audience. Couldn't be shared. Couldn't go viral—while watching Lex and Huberman fill the gap. Then he reversed it. @Oscar Merry, cofounder and CEO of @Fountain, on why open wins. S03E01 is available now for supporters, tomorrow for all. https://fountain.fm/episode/muP1tUHZyoQJkqw5WHKc

@Oscar Merry and @Shawn dive into the benefits of fragmentation in podcasting and the impact of exclusivity deals on reach and influence. Discover why open podcasting is crucial for creators and listeners alike. Coming this Wednesday for supporters, Thursday for all. https://podcast.trustrevolution.co

We're back with season 3. What better way to kick it off than diving into open media with @Oscar Merry? Coming this Wednesday. 🎧

Trust Revolution

Trust Revolution

Unfiltered conversations with builders, thinkers, and operators in Bitcoin and beyond. Exploring systems we trust, why they work (or don

https://fountain.fm/show/Mk0fJte5vrfiDQ5RyCZd

Who do you trust? #asknostr

NEW ESSAY “Support the show” is charity language. “Make me uncancellable” is a product. That's what voluntary payment actually offers. Not mass adoption—fifty years of data killed that dream. An exit when Patreon bans you, PayPal freezes your account, or your bank decides your business doesn't align with their values. The 5% who pay aren't your revenue. They're your lifeboat. Adapted from S02E14: Why Ads Keep Winning.

Trust Revolution

A bet worth making

Voluntary payment can

Season 3 is coming. Tighter focus. Greater clarity. This is our Why.

Trust Revolution

Why Trust Is Broken

Banks freeze accounts. Platforms sell data. Institutions don

ICYMI Trust Atlas is live. Open data for global trust. What Happened: Iran dropped 55 points between 2000 and 2007, with a small recovery since. Indonesia fell steadily from 52% to 5%. Iraq and Egypt declined through years of conflict. The data ends at 2018 for most—we don't know the current state.

Trust Atlas

Trust Atlas

Trust is the invisible infrastructure of society. Open data across 210 countries.

New and improved. ✨

Trust Revolution

Trust Revolution

Unfiltered conversations with builders, thinkers, and operators in Bitcoin and beyond. Exploring systems we trust, why they work (or don

NEW EPISODE Twitter verification used to mean something. Now it means you paid $8. Meta employees need permission to remove spammers if their ad budget is high enough. @Pip the WoT guy built the alternative on Web of Trust. Reputation computed from your actual social graph, not from a company that can flip a switch and erase you. S02E16 Pippellia – Reputation Without a Kill Switch https://fountain.fm/episode/K745y4I3kdplDkqnI7D2

NEW EPISODE Voluntary payment has never cracked 5% adoption. Fifty years of trying. NPR, Radiohead, Patreon, Nostr zaps. Human nature doesn't change. So why build #V4V rails at all? Because when Patreon banned creators in 2018, lightning worked. When SubscribeStar got cut off by Stripe and PayPal, sats kept moving. That creator you zap? You're not tipping them. You're making them uncancellable. S02E14: trustrevolution.co

Trust Revolution • S02E14 Why Ads Keep Winning • Watch on Fountain

NEW EPISODE It took 69 years to break up AT&T. IBM outspent the DOJ for 12 straight years and ran out the clock. Cory Doctorow knows this. He still thinks regulation is how we escape enshittification. We talked about why—and whether that faith is warranted. S02E13 is out now: https://fountain.fm/episode/bJgdt0hJAnppEve6Qmt8

Cory Doctorow on why the future of the internet is “Post-American.” Full episode tomorrow: https://fountain.fm/show/Mk0fJte5vrfiDQ5RyCZd

"What is the role of tech journalism in a world where CEOs no longer feel shame?"

Platformer

Roblox is a problem — but it’s a symptom of something worse

What is the role of tech journalism in a world where CEOs no longer feel shame?