EB141 – Ralph Merkle: Revolutionizing Democracy Using DAOs
Channel: Epicenter Podcast
Date: 2016-07-25

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Legendary scientist and cryptography pioneer Ralph Merkle joined us to discuss his recent paper on DAOs. Merkle examined how the voting mechanisms in today's democracies are flawed and how a decentralized, transparent DAO making decisions using prediction markets could create more efficient democratic systems.

Topics covered included:
- Merkle proofs, Merkle Roots and his early forays into cryptography
- Blockchains as living organisms
- Why DAOs will be subject to a Darwinian evolutionary process
- Why voting is flawed and we need new governance methods to save democracy
- The concept of a DAO democracy
- How prediction markets and futarchy would help govern a DAO democracy

Links mentioned in this episode: 

- Ralph Merkle DAO Democracy Paper [PDF] http://bit.ly/29XR7RG
- Ralph Merkle's Homepage http://bit.ly/2anLaPA
- Ralph Merkle's Wikipedia page http://bit.ly/2am6xE6
- EB98 - Robin Hanson: Futarchy, Prediction Markets http://bit.ly/2aE3djy
- Tim Urban: Why Cryonics Makes Sense http://bit.ly/2akC6MV
- Alcor - Life Extension Foundation http://bit.ly/2a9P7IM

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- Hide.me: Protect your privacy and personal data with a free VPN account at Hide.me/epicenter
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Show notes: http://epicenterbitcoin.com/podcast/141
SoundCloud: http://soundcloud.com/epicenterbitcoin/eb-141


Epicenter Bitcoin is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain, Sébastien Couture & Meher Roy.
 
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