In this week's The Reason Roundtable, editors Matt Welch, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and Peter Suderman laud the election of libertarian economist Javier Milei in Argentina and parse the results of the federal case involving the online advertising platform Backpage.

0:31—Javier Milei elected president of Argentina

16:25—Verdicts in the Backpage trial

36:43—Weekly Listener Question

46:44—Sam Altman out at OpenAI

54:48—This week's cultural recommendations

Today's Sponsor:

Do you ever find that just as you're trying to fall asleep, your brain suddenly won't stop talking? Do your thoughts start racing right before bed or at other inopportune moments? It turns out, one great way to make those racing thoughts go away is to talk them through. Therapy gives you a place to do that, so you can get out of your negative thought cycles and find some mental (and emotional) peace. If you're thinking of starting therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get matched with a licensed therapist, and switch therapists any time for no additional charge. Get a break from your thoughts, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/roundtable today to get 10 percent off your first month.
Join us on November 27 in New York City for a viewing (and afterparty) of the new Reason documentary: Bitcoin, Bathhouses, and the Future of Energy. Tickets and details here.  

Audio production by Ian Keyser; assistant production by Hunt Beaty.

Music: "Angeline," by The Brothers Steve

Subscribe at YouTube: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Visit the archive: https://reason.com/tags/reason-podcast

The Reason Roundtable

The World's First Libertarian President

The Reason Interview with Nick Gillespie goes deep with the artists, entrepreneurs, and oddballs who are making the 21st century more libertarian—or at least more interesting—by challenging old, worn-out ideas and orthodoxies.

Today's guest is Pablos Holman, a legendary hacker and cypherpunk who holds over 100 patents and has worked with Bill Gates to cure malaria and with Jeff Bezos to get Blue Origin off the ground.

Pablos also runs a venture fund called Deep Future, which is committed to "creating technology that matters." In his new book—also called Deep Future—he exhorts the reader to "boycott dystopia" and describes companies that are saving bee colonies by using mushroom spores to inoculate bees against pests; recovering ancient Roman secrets to make concrete that lasts for thousands of years; and launching solar panels into space to deliver a constant, uninterruptible supply of clean energy.

He and Nick Gillespie talk about the need to move faster with AI, why hardware ultimately matters more than software, and why decentralization will eventually triumph over the Facebooks, Apples, and Googles of the world.

How can we make The Reason Interview better? Take our listener survey for a chance to win a $300 gift card: http://reason.com/podsurvey

0:00–Intro

1:53–Evaluating our technology

3:55–Deep tech and Holman's innovation investments

7:36–Energy demand, consumption, and production

15:09–Nuclear energy adoption

20:05–AI and creating better hardware

27:31–Holman's introduction to computers and hacking

33:06–Who were the cypherpunks?

37:30–BitTorrent, Bitcoin, and decentralization

43:41–Can RSS feeds solve tech pessimism?

49:28–The origin of Holman's eyewear

Subscribe at YouTube: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Visit the archive: https://reason.com/tags/reason-podcast


We're Moving Too Slow on AI

This week, editors Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and Matt Welch dig into Sen. Josh Hawley's (R–Mo.) speech at the National Conservatism Conference, where he denounced artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies as threats to liberty. They debate why MAGA populists are embracing anti-tech rhetoric, how this mirrors parts of the labor left, and what it means for President Donald Trump's simultaneous push for AI investment and closer ties with Silicon Valley.

Our editors also break down the latest jobs report, analyzing labor force participation, manufacturing losses, and whether tariffs and immigration limits are holding back growth. They then turn to New College of Florida's talk of privatization following its clash with Gov. Ron DeSantis, and what that would mean for university governance. A listener question prompts each editor to explain how they came to identify as libertarian and why the label matters to their work. Finally, the panel examines the Justice Department's move to ban transgender Americans from gun ownership.

How can we make The Reason Roundtable better? Take our listener survey and get a chance to win $300: http://reason.com/podsurvey

0:00—Does AI threaten liberty?

11:53—AI social anxieties

20:01—Abundance agenda embraces AI

23:40—Trump jobs report raises alarms

32:37—New College of Florida talks privatization

44:31—Listener question on becoming libertarian

52:15—Gun ban for transgender Americans

1:04:33—Weekly cultural recommendations

Subscribe at YouTube: http://youtube.com/reasontv
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Reason.Magazine
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/reason
Visit the archive: https://reason.com/tags/reason-podcast


MAGA Is Wrong About AI. Trump Is Right.

Founded in 1968, Reason is the planet's leading source of news, politics, and culture from a libertarian perspective. Our podcast offerings include:

The Reason Roundtable
Every Monday, the libertarian editors of the magazine of “Free Minds and Free Markets”—Matt Welch, Nick Gillespie, Katherine Mangu-Ward, and Peter Suderman—discuss and debate the week’s biggest stories and what fresh hell awaits us all.

The Reason Interview with Nick Gillespie
Want to know what comes next in politics, culture, and libertarian ideas? Reason’s Nick Gillespie hosts relentlessly interesting interviews with the activists, artists, authors, entrepreneurs, newsmakers, and politicians who are defining the 21st century.

The Soho Forum Debates
Reason presents a libertarian-themed debate series recorded monthly before a live audience in New York City. Moderated by former Barron's Economics Editor Gene Epstein, the Soho Forum features Nobel prize winners, radical thinkers, and other public intellectuals facing off over the future of bitcoin, veganism, sex work, illegal drugs, electric vehicles, abortion, robotics, government debt, and other controversial topics.

New tracks tagged #Disruptive Technologies