764: Nick Bilton | Hunting the Dark Web's Silk Road Kingpin
The Jordan Harbinger Show
Jordan Harbinger
4.8 • 12.3K Ratings
🗓️ 15 December 2022
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Nick Bilton (@nickbilton) is a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, a contributor to CNBC, a former columnist for The New York Times, and author of American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road. [Note: This is a previously broadcast episode from the vault that we felt deserved a fresh pass through your earholes!]
What We Discuss with Nick Bilton:- How does a merit badge-bedecked Eagle Scout become the head of a thriving online black market worth a billion dollars?
- What are the costs of maintaining a double life?
- What’s the real reason Silk Road mastermind Ross Ulbricht was caught?
- What is Nick Bilton’s unique research process for covering a story like this?
- Is everyone susceptible to the level of Ross Ulbricht’s mix of ambition, hubris, and self-deception, or does it require a certain personality type?
- And much more...
Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/764
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Special thanks to Nebula Genomics for sponsoring this episode of the Jordan Harbinger Show. |
| 0:04.7 | Coming up next on the Jordan Harbinger Show. |
| 0:07.6 | We look at the things we're doing. We're selling these drugs and guns and having people tortured and, |
| 0:13.3 | you know, at least they think they are. All these things that we're doing, |
| 0:16.0 | he's like, we've crossed a line a long time ago and Ross' responses, I don't believe we have |
| 0:20.3 | crossed a line. I think we've just moved it. |
| 0:26.0 | Welcome to the show. I'm Jordan Harbinger. |
| 0:28.1 | On the Jordan Harbinger Show, we decode the stories, secrets, and skills of the world's |
| 0:32.0 | most fascinating people. We have in-depth conversations with scientists and entrepreneurs, |
| 0:36.4 | spies and psychologists, even the occasional organized crime figure, arms dealer, |
| 0:40.8 | neuroscientists, or astronauts. And each episode turns our guests wisdom into practical advice |
| 0:46.5 | that you can use to build a deeper understanding of how the world works and become a better thinker. |
| 0:51.3 | If you're new to the show or you want to tell your friends about the show, our starter packs |
| 0:55.1 | are a great place to begin. These are collections of some of our favorite episodes organized by |
| 0:59.4 | Topic to help new listeners get a taste of everything that we do here on the show. |
| 1:03.9 | Topics like Persuasion and Influence, China, North Korea, Technology and Futurism, |
| 1:08.6 | Crime and Cults and more. Just visit jordanharbinger.com slash start or search for us in your Spotify |
| 1:14.3 | app to get started. On this episode from The Vault, we'll be talking with my friend, Nick |
| 1:18.5 | Bilton. He's a special correspondent for Vanity Fair, where he writes about technology, |
| 1:22.6 | politics, business and culture, and the occasional crime. He also wrote Hatching Twitter, |
| 1:27.0 | which chronicles the turmoil in chaos inside Twitter as it grew from a fledgling startup |
| 1:31.8 | into a multi-billion dollar company. And it might be a time for an update on that one, man. |
... |
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