508. Does the Crypto Crash Mean the Blockchain Is Over?

Freakonomics Radio

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Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6 • 32K Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2022

⏱️ 50 minutes

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Summary

No. But now is a good time to sort out the potential from the hype. Whether you’re bullish, bearish, or just confused, we’re here to explain what the blockchain can do for you. (Part 1 of a series.)

Transcript

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0:00.0	My name is Tom Sachs. I'm a sculptor. I'm 55 years old. You may remember Tom Sachs from a recent
0:12.4	series we made about the art market. He had a lot to say about the art market. Things like this,
0:19.5	it is extremely unregulated and subject to all kinds of monkey business, and like this.
0:27.2	There's this phrase coined by a friend of mine called LPM Lies per Minute. After that series,
0:34.8	we kept in touch with Sachs and visited his studio in Lower Manhattan. It is huge, most of it
0:41.2	underground, and it feels like a mashup of woodshop, pirate ship, and circus. He has a lot of
0:47.2	assistance and collaborators, a lot of workstations and power tools, all sorts of projects being built.
0:53.7	One project in particular caught my eye because it was related to the next podcast series we were
1:01.2	planning to make. This one. So we invited Sachs up to our studio to talk about his project and he
1:08.7	brought a prop. So the rocket is 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 and it's just tall and about an inch in diameter.
1:17.0	Just to be clear, it's a model rocket. Some people might call it a toy rocket, but this one is
1:22.4	much more than a toy, although it does look like a toy. The nose cone is about two inches tall. It's
1:29.4	matte gray with a portrait of Brian Griffin, the dog on Family Guy. The body is about five inches.
1:39.2	It's McDonald's red and it's hand painted golden arches. And this is supported by the base,
1:45.9	which is a deep, deep navy blue with a hand painted United States Postal Service logo.
1:53.6	Can we launch this puppy? Let's do it. We head outside to Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan.
1:59.8	It is one of the first sunny days of spring. It's a beautiful green lawn. I think we'll launch it
2:07.3	over the lawn and hope for the best. The lawn itself is empty because technically it's closed,
2:13.7	but surrounding the lawn are hundreds of people, stunning themselves, eating lunch.
2:20.3	I'm nervous about where we're launching it because of trees. Trees are the enemy.
2:25.5	As part of this new project, Sacks has been launching rockets all over the world,
2:29.6	Los Angeles and Paris, Hamburg and Seoul. I'm just looking to stay away from people as much as
	...

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