Natalie Smolenski joins me to discuss her paper, 'Toward an Anthropological Theory of Money.' We talk about the relationship between anthropologists and economists, the difference between social institutions and social technology, and the anthropological significance of Bitcoin. Natalie Smolenski is an author, Bitcoin entrepreneur, and theoretical anthropologist. She is the founder of the Texas Bitcoin Foundation. // GUEST // Twitter: https://twitter.com/NSmolenski Website: https://www.txbitcoinfoundation.org/// SPONSORS // In Wolf's Clothing: https://wolfnyc.com/NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/whatismoneyiCoin Hardware Wallet (use discount code BITCOIN23): https://www.icointechnology.com/Mind Lab Pro: https://mindlabpro.com/breedloveCrowdHealth: https://www.joincrowdhealth.com/breedloveWasabi Wallet: https://wasabiwallet.io/Bitcoin Apparel (use discount code BREEDLOVE): https://thebitcoinclothingcompany.com/Feel Free Tonics (use discount code BREEDLOVE): https://botanictonics.comCarnivore Bar (use discount code BREEDLOVE): https://carnivorebar.com/// OUTLINE // 00:00:00 - Coming up 00:00:40 - Intro 00:02:14 - Helping Lightning Startups with In Wolf's Clothing 00:03:00 - Natalie Smolenski's Background and Her New Paper 00:05:00 - David Graeber and Nick Szabo Twitter Debate 00:11:34 - Bridging Together Anthropologists and Economists 00:16:26 - Graeber's Top-Down Theory of Money 00:19:45 - Interstate Payments 00:21:43 - How Fiat Shaped Social Science 00:24:47 - Social Consensus and the State 00:27:27 - Defining Social Institution and Social Technology 00:30:04 - Run Your Business from Anywhere with NetSuite 00:31:09 - Secure Your Bitcoin Stash with the iCoin Hardware Wallet 00:32:07 - Distinguishing Social Institution and Social Technology 00:36:46 - How Technology Affects Institutions 00:38:31 - Money is the Most Sailable Good 00:41:18 - Spheres of Exchange 00:45:35 - Money as a Social Institution 00:47:37 - Functions of Money 00:51:55 - Objective Measurement of Value 00:53:41 - Credit Money vs. Commodity Money 00:57:10 - How the State Utilizes Credit Money 01:00:28 - Is Money a Creature of the State? 01:04:38 - Geopolitical History of Gold 01:07:23 - Enhance Your Brain Power with Mind Lab Pro 01:08:30 - Take Control of Your Healthcare with CrowdHealth 01:09:32 - A Bitcoin Wallet with Privacy Built-In: Wasabi Wallet 01:10:23 - Payment vs. Settlement 00:14:56 - Legal and Psychological Settlements 00:19:04 - Legal Money vs. Emergent Money 01:22:46 - Value of Emergent Commodity Money 01:25:40 - Tending toward Commodity Money 01:28:45 - Utility of Bitcoin 01:31:10 - Anthropological Significance of Bitcoin 01:34:32 - Where to Find Natalie on the Internet// PODCAST // Podcast Website: https://whatismoneypodcast.com/Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-what-is-money-show/id1541404400Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/25LPvm8EewBGyfQQ1abIsE?RSS Feed: https://feeds.simplecast.com/MLdpYXYI// SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL // Bitcoin: 3D1gfxKZKMtfWaD1bkwiR6JsDzu6e9bZQ7 Sats via Strike: https://strike.me/breedlove22Sats via Tippin.me: https://tippin.me/@Breedlove22Dollars via Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/RBreedlove// WRITTEN WORK // Medium: https://breedlove22.medium.com/Substack: https://breedlove22.substack.com/// SOCIAL // Breedlove Twitter: https://twitter.com/Breedlove22WiM? Twitter: https://twitter.com/WhatisMoneyShowLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/breedlove22Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/breedlove_22TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@breedlove22All My Current Work: https://vida.page/breedlove22