308: Matt Ridley On Rationalism & Innovation In The Current Environment

Matt Ridley is a British journalist and businessman. He is best known for his writings on science, the environment, and economics, including The Rational Optimist and his new book, How Innovation Works And Why It Flourishes In Freedom. In this conversation, we discuss how prosperity evolves, why optimism is important, the difference between innovation and invention, how innovation is bottoms up, why China has been so innovative, and the future of stateless innovation.  ===============================  BlockFi allows you to keep your crypto, put it up as collateral, and receive a USD loan funded directly to your bank account. They do loans ranging from $2,000 to $10,000,000, and they're perfect for helping you reach your financial goals of all sizes. Visit BlockFi.com/Pomp to learn more about putting your crypto to work without having to sell it. https://www.blockfi.com/pomp  ===============================  Our second sponsor is choice, a new self-directed IRA product that I'm really excited about. If you are listening to this, you are likely part of the 7.1 million bitcoin owners who have retirement accounts with dollars in them, but not bitcoin. I was in that situation too. Now you can actually buy real Bitcoin in your retirement account. I'm talking about owning your private keys and using tax-advantaged dollars to do it too. Absolute game changer. https://www.retirewithchoice.com/podcast?kid=19DN5C ===============================  Pomp writes a daily letter to over 50,000 investors about business, technology, and finance. He breaks down complex topics into easy to understand language, while sharing opinions on various aspects of each industry. You can subscribe at pompletter.com