I just released Episode 2 of ASOMOCO Unplugged, and here’s the meditative track that I promise at the end of the show, exclusive to paying subscribers.

ASOMOCO Unplugged is in an experimental stage, and I’m having fun with it, and I’m playing with this more multi-media approach to draw in folks who otherwise might be deeply…

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Dear ASOMOCO community,

I’m really happy to present Episode 2 of my new podcast ASOMOCO Unplugged, a relaxed and informal walk through the chaos of our economic system, accompanied by musical compositions and guest contributions. In the first half we cover:

• Karmic reciprocity, David Graeber and Intro to Econ Life

• The Inner Civil War, my follow-up to the Stone Soup Theory of Billionaires

• Shaun Chamberlin on why we should use Mastodon

• Animism vs. monotheism, and a beautiful song from The Mononoke Wolf Choir

• Cory Doctorow’s concept of Big Tech Enshittification and whether Jay Graber of Bluesky can avoid it

In the second half, we have a crypto special:

• Jemima Kelly and Eli Gothill on the Grim Ghost of Crypto Future

• Numerical nouns vs. numerical adjectives and why this matters for the Hole in Bitcoin’s Heart

• Professional wrestling and how it inspired my recent essay, the Art of Crypto Kayfabe

• The crucial concept of countertrade, and how it secretly governs the Bitcoin world

• Josh Davila on TrumpMusk’s Bitcoin gambit, patronage networks and the risk of political manipulation of the crypto markets

• Cryptography vs. cryptocurrency

Links and community shout-outs

• Mark Kohr’s great ‘Ecodemmurage Currency’ video

• Sarah Jaffe’s Work Won’t Love You Back

• Surviving the Future by the late David Fleming, edited by Shaun Chamberlin (see also Lean Logic)

• Shaun on Mastodon, and his excellent course on Surviving the Future

• Josh Davila’s Blockchain Socialist podcast, and Blockchain Radicals book

• David Graeber, Cory Doctorow and others in the SPECTRE video about basic income

Bonus for paying subscribers

All my sweet paying subscribers who keep ASOMOCO going get a bonus 14 minute meditative track here. Enjoy!

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Welcome to ASOMOCO Unplugged, a new experimental podcast format in which I discuss some big things happening in the world of political economics alongside bits of juicy gossip from friends, all interspersed by musical compositions. On today’s episode I play a kalimba through an Ibanez TubeScreamer and talk about…

• Stone Soup Theory of billionaires

• The influencer economy and algorithmic holidays

• Propaganda on X, and the rise of Bluesky and Substack

• A recent discussion on the potentially contradictory meanings of ‘anti-woke’

• Ethnomusicology, and the anthropology of music

• Grace Blakeley on the US election

• Marxism, David Graeber and SPECTRE

• My friend Julio’s upcoming book on Abolishing the US dollar

• Julio reporting in live from Thailand about quantum money and crypto kings

• Why I’m planning to write about crypto again

• Upcoming articles

Free subscribers get the first half, but if you want the full 45 minutes, sign up for a paid subscription here…

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