097 - Ben Gunn: Volatility, Stoicism & Anti-Fragile Networks

Bitcoin, Forestry, Stoicism, Próspera, Volatility, Risk, Anti-fragility, Nostr, Identity, Land Ownership, Parallel Networks, Freedom, Citadels. Timothy Allen talks with Ben Gunn. Pseudonymous Ben is somewhat of an elusive character.. and I mean that in the best possible way. He’s a grafter, a proof-of-worker and he doesn’t sit down and do podcasts very often. I drove up the Welsh borders to visit him at his woodland estate last week to chat about a number of things. The idea was initially sparked by a conversation we had in Prague a few months prior when he told me he was starting a company in Próspera. We meander though a number of subjects during this chat, diving under the surface of Ben’s forestry project in Wales and the ethics that underpin its business model. We talk about his experiences living on Roatan in Honduras, about the pandemic, inflection points and the broader implications of global economic shifts. Ben is a former broker and he uses the language of finance to frame many of the interesting concepts we speak about, including my request for him to explain “Long Vol” to me. If you don’t know what that means, I’m not about to explain it here but its something I’ve been grappling with for a while. Thankfully Ben sorted me out this time, so many thanks for that and listen on for your own answers and much more. Enjoy the conversation. Free Cities Podcast on Fountain: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://fountain.fm/show/xudG4tsYH5TimGLfAmqn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Contact the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠ Free Cities Telegram Community: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://t.me/+im6c6r4jQkUzMjU0⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LIBERTY IN OUR LIFETIME CONFERENCE: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://libertyinourlifetime.org/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Make a small weekly donation to support the show: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.patreon.com/FreeCitiesPodcast/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TIMESTAMPS - 00:30 - Introduction - 05:45 - Setting the scene - 09:06 - Creating new existential threats to society - 14:12 - ESG and the misallocation of capital - 15:57 - Ben's journey: Military, finance, diving and forestry - 26:25 - Explanation of the project in Wales - 35:22 - Living in Prospera: Experiences and insights - 48:59 - Critique of the Prospera model - 1:04:26 - Blue collar/white collar pay spread - 1:18:30 - You can fight the system successfully - 1:22:27 - Explanation of "long vol" & anti-fragility - 1:35:42 - Protecting physical networks from destruction - 1:42:59 - Preparation & risk - 1:51:39 - The modern comfort crisis - 1:55:20 - Stoicism & raising children - 2:06:53 - Resilience and anti-fragility in life & business - 2:21:01 - Doing business in a network of Bitcoiners - 2:26:05 - Successfully dealing with bureaucracy - 2:34:42 - How do stoics deal with incompetency in others - 2:47:34 - The most important task is to have a family - 2:53:17 - Strategies for making decisions in life - 3:04:22 - Describing the world through the lexicon of finance - 3:13:18 - The truth is in the pudding NOSTR: Ben Gunn: npub1lt8nn8aaa6qa63wjwj8gz2djf5nlhg3zfd0v6l45v8zhvuyh0p3s5zzt5y Timothy Allen: npub1gcf9ltaeu42f4tr20z3avkas04dezlx3jaudqsuu87gvmh686xasrvqjg0 Free Cities Foundation: npub1lsj8pmgedqqamt89c27tzjjnlf0wn7q7udjm7j2cl9xxz97eacns2mwpee TWITTER: Ben Gunn: ⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/poorbengunn Timothy Allen: ⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/MrTimothyAllen⁠⁠⁠ Free Cities Foundation: ⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/freecitiesfound⁠⁠⁠ LINKS: Free Cities Foundation: ⁠⁠⁠https://free-cities.org/⁠