This was an excellent interview, arguably the best RV interview I've listened to.

Excellent content and interview! Would certainly enjoy hearing him speak again.

Disgusting and worrying! The way he talks about "China's great bio wall", immunity passports and talking about China's red/yellow/green color code as something that is good is highly alarming. Hopefully our world will not descend into this kind of technological dystopia. We can do very very well without being tracked everywhere. And they're talking about it as if it's a cool new toy that has basically no downside. People are already motivated to self-isolate right now. Srinivasan has amazing breath control.. he doesn't stop talking and is annoying. Those who said he's repeating the MSM position are mostly right. Preserving liberty should be our primary concern right now.

Balaji has some great thoughts. After thinking about this interview for some time a couple of things came to mind. First, being "iatrogenesis." It's offspring, the Hippocratic Oath (first, do no harm) has been a useful mantra for the practice of medicine and protection of the populace from the days of bleeding people in order to heal. However secondly, a great mantra in the hands of any "organization" can become problematic in certain endeavors. I believe that empirical evidence suggests that the nature of the evolution of organizations, can become quite sinister. Whereas the basic premise of "first do no harm", evolves into no more than a dogma in order protect the power, authority and prosperity of the organization. In this regard, the FDA follows the organic evolution of all organizations, whether religious, political or any other purpose. All organizations should have built in term limits

What an excellent in-depth interview with such an intelligent person. Looking forward to the new live interview tomorrow!

Outstanding interview.

Balaji was not in the US during this interview. Where was he, and why? Interesting interview!

LIKE TO HEAR THOUGHTS; The Japanese professor of physiology or medicine, Professor Dr Tasuku Honjo, caused a sensation today in the media by saying that the corona virus is not natural. if it is natural, it will not have affected the whole world like that. Because, depending on the nature, the temperature is different in different countries. if it were natural, it would only have affected countries with the same temperature as China. instead, it spreads to a country like Switzerland, the same way it spreads to desert areas. whereas if it were natural, it would have spread in cold places, but would have died in hot places. I have done 40 years of research on animals and viruses. It is not natural. It is manufactured and the virus is completely artificial. I have been working for 4 years in the Wuhan laboratory in China. I know all the staff of this laboratory well. I called them all after the Corona accident. but, all of their phones have been dead for 3 months. It is now understood that all of these laboratory technicians are dead. Based on all of my knowledge and research to date, I can say this with 100% confidence that Corona is not natural. It did not come from bats. China made it. if what I say today turns out to be false now or even after I die, the government can withdraw my Nobel Prize. but China is lying and this truth will one day be revealed to all. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasuku_Honjo

Surely we shouldn't trust blindly the UN or WHO but even more so we shouldn't trust big corporates such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft either. I would bet with all of you here that these companies exist because deep state is backing them and is much more involved than you think !!!

We have met the enemy...and it goes by the name of the FDA. Sounds like they will have to bear the bulk of the responsibility for this virus getting out of hand in the USA.

Ugh, I could throw up. The truth being the US cant play chess with China which is decisive and merciless. Two traits our weak politicians are least equipped to confront. They waffle and pander to get reelected.

The presumption is there will be immunity. If the virus is a manufactured entity why would you presume immunity? Corona is notorious for short term immunity and everybody is hoping for a vaccine or herd immunity to drive R0 below 1. If manufactured for high infectivity, why not also manufactured for low or short term immunity which keeps the virulence intact? I think that this virus is not enhanced just means you're in denial. Immunity would be convenient, but what if the biology doesn't care about host convenience? The bottom line is the virus has no arms and no legs and apart from a host is not alive. It certainly has no will. Its will and replication is strictly dependent on the will of the population it infects. It does not respond to narrative, but absolutely narrative will respond to it, so lying to yourself and pretending is of no use in dealing with reality. You can surrender to the truth or let volatility convince you of the truth and then surrender from a position of greater destruction. We're not getting out of this one based on bullshit, and pretty much all we know thus far is bullshit.

Incredible interview. Thank you, Ash & Balaji!

Aircraft Carrier Commander said: 800 out of 5,000 tested positive, with most asymptomatic. As of this comment, Washington is claiming significant evidence Covid-19 was developed in Wuhan Lab. Article months ago of Canadian CDC Asian doctor or lab tech, sent back to Wuhan on some emergency basis? Not sure, but the dots are being connected. Totally agree States should not wait for Washington or the Feds to decide for us. Agree on comments about WHO and CDC no trust and accountability!!

enjoyable, glad you called him out on Facebook/apple replacing the UN & WHO ;) , but in all honesty, really appreciate the depth of his perspective

I watched the interview in full. My original comment was wrong. The content was excellent.

I have to add some comments on Balaji's comparison of big tech companies vs the UN or governments etc. His conjecture that tech companies are more accountable than governments perhaps looks okay on paper but not in reality and I feel he is just talking his book here and indeed that is to be expected. Being a shareholder of a tech company is the same as being a voter in a democracy, vested interest et al., and competence is not a positive as he suggests but is in fact neutral because it goes both ways. Big tech companies can use their competence to be even more diabolical and I feel what has happened to Google over time is a perfect example of this. The most recent incident is Youtube's CEO flat out censorship of anything that disagrees with their view of COVID-19. This is nothing less than flawed human beings with flawed thinking trying to enforce their flawed view on everyone and if Balaji thinks my objection to this policy will make them accountable then I have a bridge I want to sell him. The reality is that it takes someone with hundreds of millions or billions of dollars of equity in Google to have an effect at that level. Millions of people objecting to this policy does not in reality hold a candle to the millions of dollars that Google spends on lobbyists to get what they want. I would go so far as to suggest that this type of disconnect charactizes Silicon Valley thinking generally - the reality does not match the hypothesis when it comes to the general public. That being said this was still a great interview and I enjoyed watching it.

Great interview. Nice that Ash knows about private banking in 1830 but please be mindful that the audience may not and it might be interesting to learn about parallels to now. Great work guys.

I’m somewhat overdosed on Covid and wasn’t going to watch this. That would’ve been a big mistake! Great discussion, one of the best informed and interesting speakers to date, where Ash really brought out the best. Definitely won’t be missing any future Vids with Balaji.

Really good discussion. Please invite Balaji back regularly. I'd love to hear him in depth on cryptos.

Balaji for President!

It is not just the flu. You do not need a ventilator and ICU nurses with the common flu. The problem is each one of us must choose between two possible existential outcomes. Not being able to support your families or possible ventilators and death with COVID-19. It is no wonder that opening for business is such hypersensitive question. DLS

This virus came from the Wuhan Lab and Chinese knew what they were dealing with. That is why they took drastic measures to contain it. Biulding hospitals in few days would not come to anyone unless they knew what they were dealing with. COVID19 - MADE in CHINA.

Absolutely terrifying that uninformed people think rapid deployment of vaccines is the answer. Think of the Salk and Sabin vaccines in the 50's which were found later to be contaiminated with SV-40 simian virus from monkeys which is known to cause cancer. This is because the polio for the vaccine doses was grown on monkey kidneys which were infected. At its height 33 thousand people were dying from polio per year, but over the next three decades the incidence rate of cancer went up over 100%. Hundreds of thousands died from cancer unnecessarily. The oral polio vaccine is stilling killing and spreading polio in Africa. The best defense against Covid-19 is to maintain a healthy immune system and not inject a strain directly into your bloodstream. Where are the Dr Bernice Eddy's of our generation?

1. CDC numbers don't add up and certainly not at the scale of sickness and death by other flu illness? 2. Bill Gates desire to test and inject the entire world---population control? Double his wealth? 3. Vaccines not under same set of laws as drugs? Can't sue manufacturers, providers, injectors? 4. Getting Covid-19 and building antibodies versus locking down, then getting the virus later and worse? 5. Dog and Pony show on every death being carried out the hospital front doors, cold storage trailers---why? 6. Biological warfare by politicians, taxation, massive government control without true data? 7. Narrative keeps changing as people use their creativity and intelligence. No masks, masks, gloves, no gloves, etc? 8. CDC, Health Departments, State, Local Guidelines are now acting as doctors demanding their guidelines as law? 9. YouTube, Google, FaceBook all blocking freedom of speech--Why? Hide the truth? What are they afraid of? 10. Bring down Trump? 11. Watched a TED Talk on bacteria that 96% of bacteria is beneficial to life. 4% is the bad bacteria. Are we killing the good bacteria with all the sanitizer, alcohol, Lysol, wipes, etc? More sickness as good bacteria is gone and can't protect us? 12. The Flu and other viruses always travel with the weather patterns in the winter time. However this Covid-19 traveling from NY to CA is the opposite of how diseases spread. Jet travel sure, but at this magnitude after longtime shutdown of travel? Cold weather in record amounts globally from the current Solar Minims, which throughout history has brought famine and sickness. Now governments talking rebuilding the economy in the new Green Deal? We need warm weather and man cannot control it whatsoever. Pollution we can fix. 13. Every death is now Covid-19. Skydiver forgot his parachute, but died of Covid-19. Covid-19 has cured all other sickness and diseases? 14, Governments have always used war to cancel debt obligations and unfunded liabilities. This will be the new debt reset? 15. CDC, WHO, Health Departments funded by private and corporate donations? Quasi-Government? 16. Kill off Baby Boomers to relieve the pressure on SS, Medicare? Excellent Interview!

this was another great video. these long format videos are especially great while we are in lockdown. my 2 penny worth is we wont really know until this time next year. because by May 2021 the northern hemisphere will have done a full winter of covid 19 and flu together. I dont want to be a total misery-guts but what if a part of the world has a really bad grain harvest this year? dont think there will be a vaccine - thats just hopium.

“So what blockchains give you is kind of the next step after open source, which is open state and open execution” I work at snglsDAO.io and this is exactly what we are working on. This was an amazing interview. Thanks for the high quality content as always.

Excellent interview. Wonderful breadth and flow directed by Ash's usual incisive questioning. Many thanks to both of you.

I enjoyed the interview, but just a point of correction from what was stated: 1) the FDA shut down 23andMe because they were making medical claims from initial predictive models for diseases (e.g., you're at 30% risk for type 2 diabetes) without FDA approval and they ignored FDA letters for a prolonged period of time, and 2) there are two substantial genome-wide association studies on COVID-19 using data from biobanked samples that have been completed as of the time of this taping. Unfortunately, they haven't revealed anything strikingly significant.

I'm glad that RV did an interview with someone with some level of background in the biological sciences area.

So why isn’t Sweden falling apart ?

Great conversation. But Balaji, whats with the Dasani water bottle? A smart guy like you should know better than to be using the single-use plastics!

I am curious who Balaji thinks would allow China access to their county ("boots on the ground") to create a Covid-free Green Zone Space for economic and societal enhancement ??

Great interview. Balaji is a brilliant out-of-the-box thinker and Ash has done a good job teasing ideas out of him and pushing back aptly. I have reservations on some of Balaji's idea, mostly on big tech and governance, but I am happy to keep them in mind/consider them. On removing price controls, I know it sounds bad to allow "price gouging", I tend to agree that allowing prices to reflect demand and supply is a better way forward over could be a multi-month disruption. I thoroughly enjoyed the interview. Thanks RV

Wow. What a remarkable interview, with such a remarkable individual. Thank you so much for producing this!

What an absolutely fantastic interview Vincent D

Great interview, hopefully can get him back to dig more into biotech/genomics/crypto.

Fabulous interview. Thorough enjoyed it.

Balaji is a very bright and intelligent person, just like the Architect in Matrix movie.

Seems to me that, up to this point in time ..., if one were to address the obvious easy to control systemic shortcomings that have been exposed (initial response/politics, elder care, over crowding), and then remove these influences in model forecasts, I suspect the virus does not justify extended shutdown.

Maybe the crash was in play anyway and this is a distraction from the real cause of the issue. The repo market went up in smoke prior to all this sending out the signal that something was deeply wrong in the global system. In many ways it has been a convenient scape goat. We will never know for sure.

Ash is a great interviewer, I hope he gets more interviews such as this one and not only daily briefings! The host was also great

Fantastic interview. A million thanks to both of you. DLS

this was really good, thanks guys !

This guy is absolutely brilliant. Amazing interview thanks guys.

One of the best interviews that I heard here on RV. Amazing work.

Given opinions on this topic are so polarised, it would make perfect sense for RV to host a conversation between supporters and opponents of lock down as a mitigation strategy for covid pandemic. In this case, however, real experts' opinion would be much appreciated. Not just some smart dude from silicon valley reading twitter. Clearly, mass media is incapable to do it.

No way I'm downloading the tracing app in Australia, once you give your privacy away they will take and take. How often do laws get revoked, rarely. Governments love control. yuck

Great interview, many different and new ways to look at things! Food for thought.

Suggesting that 23&me provides useful information is short sighted and dangerous. While it might seem useful to ha have genetic medical data - the use of that data by foreign actors is dangerous. The owner of 23&Me is related to the owner of Google (husband and wife). It is no coincidence the genetic lab work for 23&Me is performed by Chinese labs owned by the Chinese Communist Party. The CCP now uses the genetic data of Americans for nefarious purposes - as witnessed by a defecting Chinese Army General. Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither. I blame the Obama Administration for allowing American genetic data to be harvested by our enemy.

Mr. Srinivasan's narrative implies message being sent by media outlets is correct. In other words, global shutdown was justified. But empty hospitals and the most recent numbers tells the opposite story. As a matter of fact covid19 isn't more dangerous than, say, seasonal flu (unless i'm missing something). Would really like someone to either refute this statement or take a look at economic consequences attributed to pandemic as logical continuation of complicated financial situation, that was looming on the horizon long before "pandemic".

Thank's Yuriy, I won't need to watch ;-) If you want another view: https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/international-news/disease/youtube-banned-video-of-the-doctors/ And on why this lockdown: https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/climate/merkel-reveal-this-is-about-climate-change/ Never let a good (fabricated) crisis goes to waist...

At the end did he just describe a new Cold War between centralization vs decentralization. I honestly thought that I was watching a recap of the second Red Dawn. Liked the interview!

Dude this guy has connected so many dots its insane!

When the CCP knew? CCP Chinese Numbers? CCP choices? WHO?

This discussion was excellent. It was informative and enlightening.

A common sense interview on another over hyped fear that makes no sense. Calm response instead of silly forecasts of death and mayhem.

The average person can not sway the opinions of amazon, apple, google.

How can anyone trust China when it lacks transparency?

Good interview. But, I think an argument can be made that Corona cases are being over-reported in the USA. I'm no statistician, and I haven't looked at this deeply, so I could be way off, but here are two issues I found interesting: 1. Death certificate reporting has been altered. Those filling out a death certificate are told to list COVID as a cause if it was reasonably likely that it was one of the factors contributing to death. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2020/04/07/covid19-death-certificate-change-stirs-controversy I don't know how seasonal flu was counted in previous years, but the linked article describes this as a "change" in process. There's a link in the article to the forms that actually spell out this change, e.g., always list COVID on the bottom line, presumably for ease in tallying. 2. Seasonal flu charts maintained by the CDC appear to show a statistically significant drop off in normal flu cases right about the time the pandemic began gathering steam. Compare this year to any prior year. https://gis.cdc.gov/grasp/fluview/fluportaldashboard.html This year, the flu begins to disappear around week 13. Look at when flu really begins to disappear in prior years -- it's always much later. There could be many explanations for this, e.g., fewer people are getting tested for "normal" flu when told to quarantine. (I would actually think more would get tested due to fear of exposure, but I'm totally guessing.) My theory: How does a doctor whose patient dies after reporting symptoms of fever, cough and shortness of breath distinguish between normal flu and COVID? We know there was no testing for many of these deaths early on and probably still today. But, it could lead to some statistical overcounting in the absence of tests. I'd be interested if anyone here has a more informed view. This is just 15 minutes of googling and, again, I'm no stat geek.

To say that FaceBook, Google, Amazon, Apple, etc. are trustworthy is an oxymoron

Great interview Ash. Being on the west coast myself and in tech, I encounter lots of folks like Balaji. They, right or wrong, believe that basically algorithms can solve all the worlds woes. Very bright people, but somewhat myopic to the human factor impact. I liked that you pushed back on his assertions that big tech can, and I'm paraphrasing, do things better than anyone else.

Some solid broad thinking, but I did giggle at the end - you have to take off price controls, do not discourage price gouging and allow people to make a lot of money to make masks. What planet is he on? Stupid arguments. Awarding prizes for vaccine development is a counter argument to allowing people to make, via a free market, lots of money by producing vaccines. And mask makers should make fortunes and only a fortune would encourage them to hire people. Lol. Some fairly standard "I know what to do" responses from tech guys who believe they are superior to politicians. The point is that government needs to be well run, it has enormous societal value when it is and is a complete disaster when it is not. Which is what is unfolding here. Everywhere we turn.

Great interview.

Who is positive and who isn't is important, but isn't the demographics and medical status of those people more important in order to drive decision making?

Great interview

Yes. I enjoyed the conversation up until Balaji started to talk about favoring big Tech and I guess "Big Info" because they are smarter - Very Arrogant - over more layman/representative influenced systems/governments.

If you want to decentralize and go open source you do not want to hand authority from large gov't to corporations. That would be like 'Meet the new boss, same as the old boss -- The Who'. Move from large gov't to smaller gov't and all the way down to community level in layers of increasing authority.

Really worthwhile interview! Lots of detail that should warn us not to get too optimistic too early. Very smart, well-informed and articulate guy... the best and most important RV interview since this virus started...

Balaji is highly intelligent and this was a good interview on Ash's part. I wonder about the typical SV blindspots though: 1. implicit assumption that giant tech companies are trustworthy. 2. seemingly implicit trust of data from China, combined with the idea of "lockdown till zero new cases". How do we know that China has achieved anything close to zero new cases, especially in Wuhan? How can we trust any data from there? How realistic is it to impose lockdown till zero new cases in a region?

Great interview Ash!!!

I thought he was a very impressive guest, and a great interview. Nicely done.

There was a moment where you pushed back on the Corporate turning to states and absorbing trusts of WHO and UN. My hunch is that for people who didn't like the interview, that was the obvious moment where some of my own views on government which relatives to my understanding of the market's game board were questioned. That never feels good. The same sentiment is also present when people are presented with new ways of something, like outcry to electronic trading. This is not to say that he is right. They key is that change is coming, and it's probably going to be a version where technology and its associated philosophies plays a big role. Great interview!

Really like this interviewer & Balaji. Nice job

Is it just me or am I correct in believing that the content on RV is getting less compelling?

I really like the main argument to look at the excess mortality shown in the chart just after 21 minutes. What I haven't found though is the data sources that the FT is using. I haven't found this information in Burn-Murdoch's article where he presents that chart. I have seen such statistics before, but they were all based on Euromomo data. And, in my opinion, data from this source is better not being taken at face value. (here's a German video explaining why, after around 5-6 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szSNKPrduew) I'm just wondering whether Balaji has been taking into account the reliability of such data as well?

Very interesting discussion

Great interview Ash. Extremely broad and well articulated discussion.

very impressive perspective. the problem is the system (flailing inept Central Government) not the disease, or for that matter the cure...

Balaji Srinivasan's mind contains an informed treasure of knowledge to be savored. A refreshing tone of intelligence. My vote would be a weekly Srinivasan update on a variety of projections we are, and will be, faced with.

Guys a genius. Don’t listen to the negativity - a good interview