Are We Better Than Nature? w/ Michael Sullivan

The "What is Money?" Show

Robert Breedlove

Bitcoin, Breedlove, What Is Money, Investing, Rabbit Hole, Cryptocurrency, Money, Finance, Education, Robert Breedlove, History

4.8 • 710 Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2025

⏱️ 115 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Michael Sullivan joins the show to explore humanity’s fragile relationship with nature, the consequences of technological overreach, and why attempts to “play God” often backfire. They discuss the illusion of control, the dangers of manipulating complex systems, and how modern civilization hides the true costs of interfering with natural order. Michael breaks down how incentives, power structures, and centralized decision-making distort our understanding of risk. They explore ecological imbalance, moral responsibility, and the sobering reality that human beings are not separate from the systems they manipulate — we are embedded within them. Michael Sullivan is Co-Founder and Director at Blockware Intelligence, focusing on energy systems, Bitcoin mining, and the long-term consequences of human intervention. // GUEST // X: https://x.com/SullyMichaelvan // SPONSORS // Heart and Soil Supplements (use discount code BREEDLOVE): https://heartandsoil.co/ Blockware Solutions: https://mining.blockwaresolutions.com Onramp: https://onrampbitcoin.com/?grsf=breedlove Performance Lab Supplements: https://www.performancelab.com/breedlove The Farm at Okefenokee: https://okefarm.com/ Club Orange: https://www.cluborange.org/ Efani — Protect Yourself From SIM Swaps: https://www.efani.com/breedlove // PRODUCTS I ENDORSE // Protect your mobile phone from SIM swap attacks: https://www.efani.com/breedlove Lineage Provisions (use discount code BREEDLOVE): https://lineageprovisions.com/?ref=breedlove Colorado Craft Beef (use discount code BREEDLOVE): https://coloradocraftbeef.com/ Salt of the Earth Electrolytes: http://drinksote.com/breedlove Jawzrsize (code RobertBreedlove for 20% off): https://jawzrsize.com // UNLOCK THE WISDOM OF THE WORLD’S BEST NON-FICTION BOOKS // https://course.breedlove.io/ // SUBSCRIBE TO THE CLIPS CHANNEL // /@robertbreedloveclips2996 // TIMESTAMPS // 0:00 – WiM Episode Trailer 1:35 – Podcast Starts 9:12 – The Illusion of Human Control 18:48 – When Civilization Works Against Nature 25:06 – Heart and Soil Supplements 26:06 – Mine Bitcoin with Blockware Solutions 27:17 – Why Humans Overestimate Their Competence 36:33 – Energy Systems, Entropy & Fragility 46:30 – Onramp Bitcoin Custody 47:28 – Performance Lab Supplements 48:35 – Centralization, Complexity & Human Hubris 57:44 – What Happens When Systems Break 1:04:23 – The Farm at Okefenokee 1:05:29 – Natural Order vs Human Intervention 1:16:12 – Why Nature Always Wins 1:25:48 – Orange Club 1:26:53 – The Myth of “Being in Control” 1:38:10 – Humility, Wisdom & the Limits of Knowledge 1:50:02 – Efani: Protect Yourself From SIM Swaps 1:51:08 – Unlock the Wisdom of the Best Non-Fiction Books 1:52:11 – Outro // PODCAST // Podcast Website: https://whatismoneypodcast.com/ Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast… Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/25LPvm8… RSS Feed: https://feeds.simplecast.com/MLdpYXYI // SUPPORT THIS CHANNEL // Bitcoin: 3D1gfxKZKMtfWaD1bkwiR6JsDzu6e9bZQ7 Sats via Strike: https://strike.me/breedlove22 PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/RBreedlove Venmo: https://account.venmo.com/u/Robert-Br… // SOCIAL // Breedlove X: https://x.com/Breedlove22 WiM? X: https://x.com/WhatisMoneyShow LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/breedlove22 Instagram: https://instagram.com/breedlove_22 TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@robert_breedlove Substack: https://breedlove22.substack.com All My Work: https://linktr.ee/robertbreedlove #whatismoney #WiM #nature #complexity #philosophy #humility #systems

Transcript

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0:00.0	And that's going to blow up in our face, by the way.
0:02.0	Assuming that's all legitimate conspiracy theory and there were seeding clouds, create rain.
0:06.0	Anytime that we play God, where it's like humans interacting in their environment and trying to think that they know more than their environment,
0:14.0	I just think is a disastrous proposition.
0:16.0	That was very much a self-exporatory process for me, but it took place in the near future and there's
0:21.2	genetic differences trying to be removed from the gene pool. I think one of the dynamics there is
0:25.7	so interesting is people want there to be less disadvantages in the world. Like they want there to be
0:31.1	like less defects and whatnot. But anytime you interact with the environment in that way, like you
0:36.7	are meddling with things
0:38.0	you may not understand all of the mechanisms behind.
0:40.5	I think one of the better analogies here is like that of a greenhouse where if you grow a bunch
0:44.9	of trees in a greenhouse, they will grow tall.
0:47.0	But if you remove that greenhouse, the first gust of wind, the experience, they will fall.
0:51.1	That example, I think, applies to all life and all meddling in systems you don't
0:56.3	understand, where it was actually the wind that was causing hormetic stressors on those trees that
1:01.5	was making them strong. And you didn't understand that mechanism right away. So you removed the
1:05.5	thing without understanding it fully. I wrote the first book about that because I think it's so
1:09.4	interesting that humans are now starting to meddle in the gene pool a little bit.
1:11.6	We have no fucking clue how these things are going.
1:14.6	And it's really terrifying.
1:15.6	I am generally an optimist about how technology will play a role in our future,
1:20.6	but I do think that humans need to be humbled a lot more often. So we were just talking about fiction.
	...

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