The FairShare Podcast
A podcast conversation with Second Life founder Philip Rosedale about digital currency and the future of money
I recently produced and hosted FairShare, a five-episode podcast series about digital currency, with Second Life founder Philip Rosedale.
When I worked as a reporter, I covered the rise and fall of cryptocurrency. While many crypto projects were scams, the enthusiasm around using innovative technology to build a “new economy” was authentic.
FairShare is Rosedale’s attempt at side-stepping crypto baggage while reexamining the idea of digital currency.
The project aims to reduce economic inequality through built-in mechanisms regulating the money supply and distributing wealth evenly. A small transaction fee and progressive income tax fund universal essential income payments that put purchasing power back into consumers' hands. If left unchecked, Rosedale argues that major technological shifts like AI stand to worsen wealth concentration. He presents FairShare as a preventative measure to construct economic systems aligned with ideals of equity, openness, and democratic participation. By continually circulating money to citizens, FairShare could counterbalance distortionary effects from innovation and uphold values of shared prosperity.
While I remain neutral on FairShare and the idea of digital currency, the project was fun to produce. Philip is an authentic, good-natured big thinker. I learned a lot by making this podcast, and I hope you enjoy listening to it.