#239 – Niall Ferguson: History of Money, Power, War, and Truth

Niall Ferguson is a historian at Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is the author of 16 books on the history of money, war, power, and catastrophe. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: - The Prisoner Wine Company: https://theprisonerwine.com/lex to get 20% off & free shipping - Stripe: https://stripe.com - Coinbase: https://coinbase.com/lex to get $5 in free Bitcoin - Four Sigmatic: https://foursigmatic.com/lex and use code LexPod to get up to 60% off - Indeed: https://indeed.com/lex to get $75 credit EPISODE LINKS: Niall's Twitter: https://twitter.com/nfergus Niall's Website: https://www.niallferguson.com University of Austin: https://uaustin.org/ Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe (book): https://amzn.to/3wt7AI8 Kissinger: The Idealist (book): https://amzn.to/3CVXvGc The Ascent of Money (book): https://amzn.to/3kCK0Ev The Square and the Tower (book): https://amzn.to/307YfK8 The Age of AI (book): https://amzn.to/3BUgTSH PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: - Check out the sponsors above, it's the best way to support this podcast - Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman - Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman - Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here's the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) - Introduction (09:14) - University of Austin (UATX) (42:09) - Sam Harris (1:00:36) - Elon Musk (1:08:55) - Money (1:18:50) - Hyperinflation (1:24:15) - Bitcoin (1:40:57) - Ethereum and smart contracts (1:49:43) - Worst disasters in human history (2:11:41) - How history will remember the current pandemic (2:25:16) - Hope for the future (2:33:46) - Love (2:40:24) - Meaning of life