Okay, so I'm going to present you what the work we have done on the septin and had a few time, I'm going to focus on the problem of the curvature sensing. So septin, if you don't know, we are working on buddingy septin and they are located between the mother and the daughter cell during cytokinesis and you can see them here with fluorescent or here by electron microscopy. During the cell cycle, septin undergoes some modification like phosphorylation, simulation or de-simulation and from a structural point of view, they start from a hard gloss shape here that you can see there and they split in two rings with perpendicular direction during the cytokinesis by interacting with the actomyosine cortex rings. From a structural point of view, what we know about septin is that they assemble in vitro in high soil concentration as an octamer with a symmetry here, an octamer or something which is around 32 nanometers in length and by decreasing the soil concentration by interaction with membrane, septin organized as paired filament here and they polymerized to form longer filaments. So a goal and what we are interested in is we want to understand if the septin can modify the mechanical membrane properties of the membrane and also if septin are able to sense membrane curvature. So I'm going to start with the mechanical membrane properties. So what we are doing is, as I told you, we are working in vitro and what we are doing is we produce some giant unileveral vesicles which are vesicles with a lipid bilayer that we label in red. The side is typically 10 of micron and we incubated with this vesicle some GFP septin meaning green. So in the absence of septin you can see that this is a section of confocal microscopy. The vesicles are completely spherical and when we have the septin you see some yellow signal meaning that it's green plus red and in the absence of septin if we have the same osmotic pressure inside and outside the protein then we also have some spherical protein and all that in up in the low septin concentration. If we make an osmotic shock on this vesicle that means that we make the pressure inside an outside difference we can make an hyper osmotic shock that means water goes in on an up osmotic shock that water goes out of the vesicle and usually when we make this kind of shock or when we make a difference of 20% then the vesicle burst and in the presence of septin we see that the vesicle they are able to resist to very high shock and here you can see that they resist to a shock of 350% which is really huge. So we found here that the septin they rigidified the the lipid membrane. To go further what we've made is that we make some micropipette experiments so you have here micropipette here the vesicle still labeled in red for the lipids and we held this vesicle with a micropipette by imposing a difference of pressure and this difference of pressure is controlling the tension of the vesicle and what we are doing is that we keep this difference of pressure constant meaning the tension of the vesicle constant and we inject over time the septin on the vesicle and what we monitor is we monitor the tongue lengths which is the length that you can measure here and is directly related to the variation of the vesicle of the vesicle hurry are here and what you can see here is that over time that's mean increase that injecting septin concentration you can see that the vesicle become more and more red that's mean that there is more and more septin interacting with the vesicle and that's what you can see here with this red curd that you see that over time there is more and more septin and what was striking for us is that we keep the aspiration constant in this experiment but we see that the tongue lengths here is decreasing over time meaning that the variation of the the hurry are variation is decreasing of the vesicle sorry is decreasing over time so what this means exactly size wise this shape what corresponds to the shape this graph what do you mean which percentage of this actually so what we measure is we simply measure we know the radius of the vesicle we know the tongue length so then we just have the vesicle area it's very small decrease of hurry are fraction so if you want to see something like two percent of decrease of hurry are fraction you can clearly more visible see it here with the length of the tongue comparing to the to the vesicle so it's just to see some very small fraction area so and that's what I'm quantifying here we made that for different vesicle and we see that the septin reduced the apparent surface area of the vesicle from two to ten percent and I remind you that's all that is made as a constant volume that's mean the septin they can either change the mechanical property of the membrane and or reshaping the membrane so we know that they change the mechanical property of the membrane and that's mean that they also reshape the membrane and this is what we are going to focus now on so the the goal here is that I remind you that the septin they are located between the mother and the daughter cell here the constrictor time which is highly curved so we want to see if the septin are able to sense this membrane curvature so we again take a giant in illamela vesicle and this time we think we have we are working at higher septin concentration and you can see that the vesicle they are not run so this is spinning projection so it's not anymore a confocal but you can see that the vesicle totally not run anymore they are sort of bumpy and it's completely static it's not something which is moving and if we increase again the septin concentration then here it's 600 nanomolar you can see that we have this kind of spiky vesicle which appearing with with a distance between spike which seems to be repetitive and that's what we quantify here you can see that's the so the the wavelength between two spies is ranging from one two three four microns so it's probably depend on the on the vesicle size but if we look on the on the curvature here impose and on the lengths of this spike it seems that the septin they are imposing some spike of one micron one over one over one micron radius curvature so to go further in this so it's I forgot to say it seems then that septin able to sense micrometer curvature range so to go further we produce some p some wave is substrate so how we do that we take a pdms we stretch the pdms and then we make some oxidase oxidation and by relaxing the stress so this oxidation they make two layer with different mechanical properties and by simply relaxing the stress then we obtain this kind of wavy pattern this is made in collaboration with the team of joe cabral in the imperium college london and we are able to to trigger the to to to trigger the the wavelengths and the amplitude of the substrate in the micrometer range which is exactly the range that we are interested in so after what we are doing is that we put some lipid bilayer on top of the on on top of the substrate and then we incubate it with the septin you can see here a low magnification images where you can find the the wrinkle surface that we have here and this is kind of defect that we have when we make the when we make the substrate and if we zoom in you can see that you have some septin filament here aligning and this is someone fused vesicle which remain when we make the lipid bilayer if we zoom in again you can see that the septin they are not aligned they are aligned parallel to the hill on positive curvature and this is clearly visible with this greenish color and on negative curvature meaning in the valley they seem to align perpendicular so that's mean that the septin they doesn't like positive curvature but they're more like negative curvature in the micrometer range this is what is quantifying here with the alignments on the top meaning on positive curvature and on the bottom meaning negative curvature which are orthogonal to each other moreover if we focus again on this kind of defect that i show you we clearly see that the septin they are aligned parallel to the hill and when there is a crossover they don't not go in the valley they continue on the positive so that's mean they really don't like positive curvature and this is also what we quantify here with again this reddish here and greenish color here and if we go more in the valley then we can clearly see that the septin they are aligned parallel to the parallel to the valley meaning that they really like this curvature so we have been able to quantify we have been able to quantify the the density of the septin depending on the curvature and we have been able to see that so for the lipids so this has not been made by same but by fluorescent microscopy but you can see that for the lipids there is no sensing of the curvature this is what we expect the lipid they are uniformly distributed on the on the surface but the septin they are really present some difference density depending on the surface and we can find them that they have a higher density for a curvature of two micrometers which is the top of the hill where they are aligned where they arrange parallel to each other so has a conclusion I show you that septin have a curvature preferences with this wave is substrate this curvature preference is problem is for sure related to the give to the deformation on the give that I observed this is exactly on the same range so the question is how that something which is 32 nanometer can sense on hand use some micrometers scale curvature we have a theory for that but unfortunately I really don't have time to talk about that now so has a conclusion I show you that septin they can deform the membrane they can affect the mechanical property of the membrane they can sense and feel some micrometer size curvature and to finish I would like to thank Alexan Bebe who is the PhD student to perform this work he is co-supervised by Aurélie Bertin and me hold the bathroom team the collaborator Dr. Okabral of Manuela Nanyani who make the wrinkle surface the electron microscopy for the scanning electron experiments and the Nikon Center for the fluorescent microscopy thank you we have time for questions so can you connect your surface association of your protein with what happens in cells in the orientation of the septin so yeah so what we what we found what well also this so it's more the theory would give us that but what we have is in a theory explain what we have in cell with these all glasses shape and the splitting because when it's pleated it's because it's too narrow so this is too narrow for the septin so when it's too narrow for the septin that's mean with the theory we have and we can discuss about that later if you want that's mean they we think they prefer to bundle and that's mean that then it would be a bundle and I think I have the images somewhere at least I hope I keep it yesterday I don't know I remove it if you look at the images of the septin in vivo it seems that they are if it's a monomer filament they are parallel parallel and what's in bundle of filament they are perpendicular so it's really because we think that it's when it's too curved they bundle and then they like this curvature and then could explain what we what we have yes yes they have there well they undergo some some that's what I said at the beginning they undergo some phosphorylation simulation and so on but already I think just the curvature make them I think moving because they they they they when it's too narrow for them then they they bundle and then they they switch probably so if I if I remember septins are gtp binding proteins yeah gtp is yeah but but they don't in fact we don't know exactly what's why is why is there still some gtp because all that is made in the absence of gtp if you had some gtp the no not that we know at least it's pretty clear now that the gtp is involved in the assembly of the complex and particularly to form different types coming to that and this is related to thomas question do you know if you have only modern ones or do you have you know septins and so what yeah so we have at the beginning we have the the rods and we make it so this is really important that we make them polymerized on the membrane with the filaments if you make the filament first and make them the polymerized polymerized yeah it's going to be a little different so you think this is not being driven by polymerization of septins into a higher-order structure once again so the effects that you see are the binding it's because they polymerized and then it's because of these long filaments so it's not the cause of kind of discern between the cause and the effect yeah i mean is it well it's probably related is it because septins have to assemble into all of them thus therefore they change the properties well they can assemble on what they want but then if you when it's curved then they this is what we have it is perfect timing so thank you very much stéphanie


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So, how are you feeling about just introducing yourself a little bit about your history at the Electric Public Library or working at libraries in Texas? And then, you know, you can see my questions, I just wanted to know a little bit about the town. And in particular, you might emphasize, since this is related to internet, do you know how many different vendors or carriers you might have, just an approximation that are available in the community? Okay. Generally, if you live in that community, what kind of speed do you have at home? Right. Those kinds, that's, so it's not, it is the people, and that's why we're all here, because we're interested in having the people have faster internet at the library. But this particular group is going to be more focused on those kinds of numbers, I think. Oh, we can promise you with that. Yeah. So, we can, yeah. So, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself and say. Okay. Laura, where are you from? Yeah. Okay. My name is Stacy Nelson. I'm from Electra, Texas. I am the library director for the Electric Public Library. I've been here since 2012 before coming to work here. I worked for our school system as a school librarian from 2004 until 2012. So I don't have a master's in library science because of the population. We're not required to have that here to run the library. So I'm always trying to learn new things and keep myself up to date on what we need to be doing so that our library can continue to grow. I was hired for this job because I embrace technology and I have a desire for our youth here in town. And I also get along with our older patrons. And my heart really lies with the kids. So is that good? And then you can just prompt her with anything. Okay. So then, just some background about the public library there. Prior to your participation in the library is Connecting Texas, which is the program that we're going to be highlighting with you today. What was the internet speed in the library? And I first took over that we were wired in with our telephone company. And they were just starting to explore the internet services. So our speed was really slow. It was a dial-up internet. And so I think a year after I got here, we switched to satellite providers. And in Electra, we have like four different companies that can connect you with satellite internet. Now that our phone company just got purchased by a more technologically savvy company. So they're starting to install fiber here in town. But it wasn't available when we went through the library Connecting to Texas program. The highest speed that we could get was six megabytes per second download and two megabytes per second upload. That is the only speed that we could really function at. A lot of the providers here in town are not as dependable. So we went with the one that was the best suited for our speed. Because of how slow our speed was, we really didn't have that much computer traffic because people just got tired of sitting there waiting for it to load. Did you offer Wi-Fi to the community? Yes. We had Wi-Fi that was available 24-7. I mean, they could pull up outside the library and access it if, you know, weather permitting. You know how satellite internet is. If you've got clouds in the sky, your internet's not going to be all that great. So we were having to run the library on that speed as well through our circulation computers and all of that. So with us being on there and other people being on there, it would slow the speed down so much that even our circulation computers would time out. So it was really, really a hectic thing to have to deal with day in and day out. Our school system, and I worked, my IT person is also full time for the school as an IT person. And I was, I worked with them when I worked for the school system. So they brought the fiber lines in to help their speed. And then they brought it to my attention. And then the state library brought this program to all of our attentions. And I immediately jumped on it. I asked my city manager if I could have permission to do this. And they told me that that was fine, as long as when that first year was up, because they helped pay for that extra 20%. Once that was up, I would have to find a different way to fund paying for that 20% that was our responsibility. So our... So the libraries connect Texas that paid for the one year? Yes. Yes. And that was a million dollars, I believe, that they provided for libraries across the state. Right. Right. When you're doing all of that and you have such a low speed, then the consultants that the state library provided helped to write in to my application, you know, or the thing for the companies to bid to bring their service to our library. They helped write in, you know, the extra equipment that those companies would provide, you know, free of charge because they were bringing their services to us. And so that was really helpful because I had no idea that it was going to require so much update on servers and all kinds of, you know, I can't think... So it's the library infrastructure that you're talking about. Right. Within the library, you had to do some things in order to be able to work with that type of a speed that you were going to be receiving. That's correct because the higher the speed, the more it would put... It would put it on the system we already had and our system could not support that speed so it would have burned it up, you know. So we had to think about that and then the company that I went with said that if I signed up for a three-year agreement, they would not charge me for the installation of the fiber. So that saved us money that way. And you know, you can... Go ahead. Was that a unique deal? Did each one... Do you know about other libraries participating? Did each one kind of come up with whatever fit their needs across the state when they were doing that? Do you know? Yes. I would think that all the consulting company that the state library provided us with would come in and ask you different questions and then, you know, help you to put what you needed into your application for e-rate. And so in that experience, as far as within the library, were you the sole person that communicated with them or did you have people, board members or other community members come in and provide you with some thoughts about what was needed or... No, I presented it to my library board but they're only an advisory board. Okay. The only one that I really had to get permission from was our city administrator because he is my boss. And he oversees all of our financial needs. So... So you had not applied for e-rate prior to ever in the past prior to signing up to work with this project? Right. I had started doing the EDGE program that our state library provides so that they can help you, you know, develop a plan to update your technology and things like, you know, you go through different webinars and they input, you know, set different goals for you to achieve a little bit at a time so that you can eventually get up to where you're, you know, the speed that we should all be at but we just don't have the funds for, you know. So I was going through that but I had always heard how difficult it was to apply for e-rate so I was a little apprehensive about that. Yeah, we have heard that and we're, I'm sure for some it may be but I think that it sounds to me like you had a positive experience working with the consultants. Do you feel comfortable? Do you feel more knowledgeable about e-rate or what's the, what's your take back from that situation after you've completed it? Well, I feel more comfortable. I like the fact that we do not really webinars. They're conference calls or and stuff and then they record them so that I can go back in and re-watch them on different things that are going on as we're progressing through this program. So the State Library does that for us. We have an agenda and we do these like once a month and so those are really educational on getting you a little bit more familiar with the different websites and how to do a lot of different things, how to submit and all that. So I'm still learning a great deal. I'm not, nowhere knowledgeable yet. And this program became available in 2017. What about the date that it was offered? Let's see. The first, let me think. The first year that we were financed for it was 2018 to 2019, I want to say. And now we're funded for 2019, 2020. Right. And I can't, I know you mentioned to me when we talked on the phone, but you talked about the issue of being able to find the additional funding and maybe I missed it. You already mentioned, you went to your friends of the library. Yes. We had a gentleman here in town that left a million dollar trust to the library. And through the friends group, they get to decide it's meant for the children. Anything that we could use that will benefit our kids, then that is what it's to be used for. Not to handle our budget needs or anything like that, but, you know, having a higher internet speed provides our kids with more benefits for, you know, like if they didn't get their homework and stuff done at school, which our school system really tries to do, that they can come here and, you know, finish working on papers or download pictures or whatever it is they need to do. So we, you, I went to the friends group and I told them that our 20% that we would be responsible for was just a little bit over what I was paying with their approval for the eight megabytes per second of internet that we were getting through a satellite TV satellite provider. So, I mean, it was like maybe a couple hundred dollars more a year to have a hundred megabytes of speed. So they were all on board for that. So great. So that's what we were meeting together at our committee meeting here. And we're recording this ahead of time is to talk about the homework gap. Um, comparing the before and after of when you introduced the hundred megabits per second in the library, do you see an increased number of students coming in? Um, or have you done anything in the community to advertise that this could be a spot to come to do your homework? Uh, I've put it in our, I am, I do a weekly newspaper article. So I put it in there. I've put it on our web page. I've put it in our Facebook page, uh, anywhere I can make use of it. But yes, uh, we, when we were in the lower speeds, we had no one here after school or anything, uh, because it was just way too slow. All this summer, especially, uh, we have 15 computers in the library that are for public use and, um, we have four laptops and then 11 computers. And they're all have someone on them all day long. So, yeah.  Do you, um, have a lot of people in the rural areas outside of your community that have no internet at all, families or ranches or? Yes, we do. We have some that have no way to get internet way out where they are. Right. I mean, there might be one company that provides that, but it's so outrageously priced, they can't afford it. Right. Uh, and we leave our wifi on all the time, even when we're not open so that people can pull up in the parking lot and still be able to access the internet if they need it. That's great. So then also, do you have, um, have you increased your programming? Just, I know that we're talking about the homework gap, but do you find ways to collaborate with the school? Do you offer, uh, virtual field trips or anything along that line now, some things that are different because you have that speed and you also have that number of, um, patrons that are younger, that are in the library? Uh, no, because the school system had the, this internet provider before me. So they already have the speed up there to do the virtuals, field trips and things like that. So, um, I haven't done that. I do want to develop, you know, like the coding, um, programs for the older. It's just trying in, in a rural community like this, your, your students are involved in every single activity in school because there's so few of them to cover everything. So trying to find a day or a time that they are not busy when the school is up and going is, is really hard. I'm trying to develop a youth advisory council so that they can kind of help me, you know, decide what kind of programs would pull, uh, students in here and things like that. So I think this next school year, we're just going to have to do some experimenting and see what days we get the better response from. Okay, so I did ask you this question before, but I was, um, and I don't know that, um, on the phone, but we were talking about, you said that the school and the library connected with, were a connection with fiber and that you do have other fiber connections to businesses in the community. And I just wondered if, um, if you had any possibility of sharing that connection between the school and the library, as far as just fiber into town with other businesses, and I can't, I don't think that you were aware of anything at this point in time. Yeah, our, um, our hospital here in town is the only other one that they have, uh, connected the five or two. So, um, and when you file for E rate, you, um, when they file for E rate, are they filing for the school and the library together? This, uh, consulting group, or are you a separate entity as a library only? I'm a separate entity. Okay. Yeah. Uh, the school does not have, uh, accessibility to the, the consultants that I do, or at least they don't take advantage of it if they do. Cause even when I was at the school system, I didn't have any clue about the state library and what it could offer. Uh, we had a, you know, a librarian with the masters in library science at the school system and she wasn't a part of the state library system. So that was all a learning process when I took this over. Uh huh. Well, did either one of you have any additional questions that you would like to ask Stacey? And so Stacey, do you have some additional comments that you might be helpful for, um, okay. When I'm talking about the, like the fiber line, our hundred, 100 megabytes is dedicated just to us, like when you're on a satellite provider or something like that, the more people that are on it, the more the speed pulls down through the whole town so that, you know, only the people that are accessing the internet here in the library affect our speed. You know what I'm, I'm trying to. Yeah. So to me that, that is, uh, kind of beneficial and, um, but yeah, you need to know your, uh, what your system requirements can handle and if you're going to have to update any of that and, you know, I about drove my IT guy crazy trying to get all the answers to the question. I don't think you're probably unique in that related to this program. I just wondered also, do you happen to have a number? I, you talked about, you have your, your, uh, meetings, uh, monthly meetings or cetera about this project, I think, do you know how many other libraries, public libraries in the state took advantage of this? Um, I could look that up for you and email you because they just told me, I want to say it's close to 30 libraries have been funded through the E-rate. Now, how many took advantage of the program that I was a part of or still am a part of? I honestly couldn't tell you that, but I could find out for you. Well, that would be great. We could report on it. Yeah. Cause I told you to, uh, contact Henry Stokes, but he's out on vacation until I think August 1st. I, I actually visited with him. I didn't update you on Friday. I had a great conversation with him. So I put some word in for you that you were, you had agreed to have this conversation with me. So bonus points along the way. Thank you. But we were pointed out, maybe if you could give us just, we should have started with this a little highlights on the population itself, the, of Electra. Yeah, uh, Electra is a population of right around 2,800 people. We're halfway in between Oklahoma city and Dallas. I mean, we're just a little kind of blip in the road, but we're exactly halfway in between both those. So we're close to Wichita Falls, Texas, if you're familiar. Right. So are you looking for like, um, what, uh, is there a business there manufacturer? Uh, our hospital is our largest, uh, provider. We were an oil boom town, you know, and then when the oil took a hit, so did our little town. So we've, we've went down considerably from when my husband and I went to school here. So, um, considerable drop in population, but a lot of people that live here, they, uh, commute back and forth to like Wichita Falls or to Vernon, Texas and, and work, it's cheaper to live here than, you know, you can get like a three bedroom, two bath house here for about $80,000. Right. So how many school districts, um, would you say the library serves, um, is there just one? Yeah. We just serve one. I mean, if, if people from Iowa Park want to come over, they're only like, uh, 15 miles outside of Electra. If people in Iowa Park want to come over and get a card, we kind of let them do that and we're pretty laid back. So, um, we like to be helpful in any way that we can. Very good. Well, thank you so much for your time. I think.


I've been waiting for you, Mr. Bond. It's the worst way to start the video. Uh, you guys know, me and Hi-Rez, we go way back. I have, uh, worked with Hi-Rez a ton on this channel with games like Paladins, games like Smite, when recently we took a look at the Avatar characters. Well, guess what? Hi-Rez, if I'm addicted to playing fun video games, Hi-Rez is addicted to putting free games on the Switch, and they nailed it, again, with Rogue Company. 60 FPS, buttery smooth to play on Switch, as well as everywhere else, but y'all know me. I play my games on Nintendo consoles. I can't do a game like this alone. I need my buddies, I need my boys, I need my backup. I can't go down in a fight and not have Spawn Wave to get me back up. Isn't that right, buddy? I'm here. Somebody's gotta leave the team. I'll do it. And if you drop the ball, we also have, uh, RGT85. I probably will be of no help whatsoever. You are gonna be of no help. Speaking of addicted, since I got this about a week ago, I haven't put it down. I played like an hour a day. The proof is in the pudding, eight hours and 13 minutes. Oh, just a cheeky 198 kills. Yeah, so we should, uh, we should be able to finish this up and then Kevin is jumping after that. Yeah, we'll knock out this victory real quick and then we'll, uh, he can jump in on the next victory. You know what's interesting? I never get the gun immediately. Really? What do you get usually first? Uh, depends on the abilities. On this chick, I get Life Drain, but I usually go for armor right away. A lot of the, uh, the secondary guns like can tear, rip and tear pretty quick. Oh, no, behind, behind, behind, get him, Daddy Duck. Good. Oh, Daddy Duck. You champion. Oh, down. Easy. Good night. All right. Well, it's 3v3. No more lives. I'm out. I'm on my way, Daddy Duck. We got him. Get it, Daddy Duck. Get him. Get him. Oh. What, we lost? Oh, we had him. We're out. If I didn't have to reload, we would have won. We didn't have the objective. That came down to the wire. Oh, well, we'll get him this time. Yeah, of course we will. Well, I didn't expect us to lose the first round, admittedly, since we are going to win this game. But yeah, we're going to win. Oh, I thought I was going to roll back inside. I am going to throw this so I can see if they're coming. Oh, oh, oh, I didn't know you could open that, but okay. Just die anyway. Yeah, they can open that side. Daddy Duck is down though. Daddy Duck, I got you my, my Duck, my sweet Duck. Good night. Irene. I got him. It's 2-1. We can make this. We can make this work. Oh, yeah. I mean, we're winning. I already said we're winning. I didn't think we would be 2-down before we won, but. That's killer. Get him. Get him. Oh, easy. They're out of lives? Yeah, we kind of, we kind of ran over them a little bit there. I downed one and I'm down. Actually, we have lives. Never mind. We have, we have so many lives. I'll just bleed out guys. See ya. Wouldn't want to. See ya. Keep forgetting I can roll to reload. Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want that life? Were you holding onto that at all? Can I take this one too? Do you mind if I take that? Are you using this life? I'll just, I'll just take the round. Yeah, I figured I just, I just wrapped that round up. I mean, Kevin's waiting. If you, if you guys didn't mind, I thought I just killed the last four real quick. Oh, I'm sorry guys. Did you want that? He just blew them both up. I halo plasmagranated him. I stuck him. That was pretty awesome actually. Yeah. I'm glad that I recorded that. That? That went well. We came back. We were down 2-1. I said we were going to win. I don't lose. I haven't lost yet. Oh, I was really hoping I'd top the team. I had 30 kills. You might be asking, when does the game launch for free? I don't know. It's currently top secret apparently, but for now, it's in closed beta launch. Well, you can purchase one of the founders packs between Starter Standard and Ultimate Edition to Play Road Company now. The free to play version will be available after the closed beta period ends. For us, the founders, players like me, we're sort of testing this out and rocking and rolling a little bit in advance to make sure there's no bugs or any glitches for when it goes live. I personally haven't seen any because the game is flawless. So if you want to check the game out, there'll be a link down below. I'd really appreciate it. There is currently 12 rogues to play as. Each have their own unique passives and ultimate abilities. There'll be more rogues coming along down the line. 60 FPS over 50 weapons and gadgets. It's a game that looks great, plays so buttery smooth. There's a lot of strategy behind the demolition mode and just a lot of action in the strikeout mode. So yeah, I dare to say a little bit for everyone, assuming you like shooting people. If so, a little bit for everyone. I really love the game. Let's get back to it. Kevin. What? You're in. Yeah. Are you excited? I don't know yet. I have no idea what to expect. I don't even know what we're... Look guys, I'm gonna be honest here. I have no idea what's going on. What's up, buddy? Not in a close-up.  You can probably get me up. Oh, you hear her. Oh, you hear her. And we have the objective. We are a dream team, guys. John, I'm down again. Can you possibly come to me? Oh, I'm coming. I'm coming. Okay, I got one down. There's two of them, four of us, and we have a life. If they defeat us, we deserve to lose without this. We got him. We got him. Okay, cool. I'm right here. You're good. You're good. You're good. Too easy. Guys, we make a killer team. We're gonna do this video. We got to form some kind of squad phase rogue clan or something. Do we gotta get the streamer house and everything, too? Can we? Can we all move into one big house? What would we call it? The spawn house? I mean, if we have to. The spawn tree house. I mean, that might give people the wrong idea of what it is. Oh, that's a grenade. Oh, no. Oh, no. It's mine. Oh. I tried to throw it to you down, and it came back. I got you. I got you. No, I don't. No, I don't got you. Come and get me with that. Oh, that's two. Oh, gosh. I'm down if anyone can get me up. I'm going to sneak behind this corner. I would not do it there. I would not do it there. I would not do it there. Oh, no. Oh, no. No. It's all you, Kev. Oh, yeah, we're screwed. Your first game, clutch, 4v1. You know what I mean? The greatest is that they were all, like, crowded around, and Kevin just chucked a grenade up, and it just blew. That is not what happened.  Sprayin' up the guts. I got one, and one's pretty hurt. Yeah, he's real hurt. I'm out. Kill leader. You see that? You see that? You see that? Too easy. Right behind you guys. They're behind you. Behind you. Too easy. Too easy. Stay down. Stay down. Why are you getting up? Stay down. Stay down. Up behind you guys again. Yep, yep, yep. Damn it. Stay down. Stay down. I'm not worried about you.  That was there around right there. Close game. Close game. Do you guys get any extra skins for your weapons? I have, like, this orange one that's pretty cool. Yeah, with the full pack that you buy, you get a set of skins. You get a character skin for Lancer, which I really like. Some other things, too. I can't remember.  I downed two, got one, got two. Editor, please leave that in. Editor, leave it out. No. No. Don't listen to Kevin. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Did you guys want those lives? Were you holding onto those? Sorry. I get a little cocky when I play this game. See ya. I told you we'd win that. I forgot to pick, but they gave me someone I hadn't played, so that's fine. This is my favorite map. Yeah, we've been playing the other map this whole time. Now I'm thinking about it. This is good. This is my favorite map. I love this one. I'm moving up and getting behind him. I've got a reload, but I'm still behind. Nice. I'll hold him off on this side. They're moving up. Yeah, you think you can take Fire Rounds? I don't think so, bud. These guys are not nearly as good as the last ones. No, these guys are really good. We've just gotten better. I like that answer a lot more.  Come and go. Oh, I got him hard with some. Oh yeah, just light him up, boys. Don't worry about it. One coming in down there. Oh, he's right next to me. Throwing Nades. John's behind him. I got him. One other side on my side right here.  It should go down Depending. Oh, there's a lot in there Got a couple down. I think nice. You're crushing. Okay. Get me up Kev. Nope. No, mind Sorry, it's okay. Sorry I'm glad I've been playing well tonight You can go down. That's fine one more. Are they we got flaked That's cool. It's cool. It's cool. I got you. I got you. I got you. Get back in the fight.  I hear you. I know I need the perk for faster revives. I'm coming for backup coming behind you I'm still trying to hold this point. Yeah, I'm still holding it. All right. We got it good. I was distracting I was all over the place. Yeah, this was a little closer, but we still got this and done. There it is It was more it was more than likely me. Great job. I feel like everyone shone tonight Sean that's not a word shined everyone shined tonight. Well, wait, you know, it's funny And I'm not even making this up my screen wave contact I asked him. Do you have the talking points for hi res because I'm playing the game right now and I need him And he writes back. I just shot you you flamethrower He was in the game. My contact was in the game. I don't know who he was. All right guys, that's it I actually had a ton of fun. I'm so glad I we won actually we won a lot I was worried that wouldn't happen like with last time. I did one of these if you want to watch me play the game I'm live on twitch right now.  All right guys Thanks so much. Thank you for watching. Whatever. Bye


Thank you for your generosity chairman. I'm trying to see do I recognize anybody here, but let me see if we can Look at something of the experience in the retrofitting of the Irish building stock and maybe also even try Little dangerously perhaps to look to look ahead But firstly to to remind us of the authorities vision and mission We see Ireland as a recognized global leader in sustainable energy and Making the distinction as always a society that is fully engaged in the Sustainable energy agenda and an economy that is fully exploiting the the opportunities global opportunities in these solutions and then the authorities mission is to help in this process of of transformation a a society based on stable any structures technologies and practices and In executing that mission There are three priorities in our work and energy efficiency where our focus today Is is first implementing the strongest possible energy efficiency actions But in parallel with this Accelerating the development and adoption of low-carbon energy technologies to exploit our magnificent renewable energy resources and While doing all of this Developing the the enterprises bringing together the actors that are needed in order to bring this to pass Um It's it's probably for this audience to to put the case for efficiency There may be a degree of redundancy, but I think it's no harm to Recognize the extent of the of the challenge This is the wedge diagram for the international energy agency the world energy outlook Where we're here looking at the emissions and it has somehow become Somehow less fashionable to refer to the climate imperative, but I think we do need to remind ourselves that the emissions Unlike a lot of these Y-axis this does start at zero and we're looking at kind of current emissions and the business as usual projection and Then what's involved in turning that down to levels that may be compatible with the continuation of our civilizations So the time scale here is over 40 40 years and these actions There's an a menu of strategies and what's I suppose important for us today Is that more than half of these are in the efficiency area and then you have? Others of the technologies Available This is a diagram which my my colleagues give out to me for showing because they feel it's a little indulgence of me Sanky diagram, but it is a very powerful summary of the whole of our Irish Whole of our energy economy because what we what we see here is on the left-hand side the inputs and On the outside on the right-hand side the the outputs and it's it serves to remind us How heavily dependent we still are on oil and gas and that situation is going to isn't going to try change radically in The short to medium term on the right-hand side, of course we see the functions Which this energy is used and we also see the the waste the waste streams and the size of the transport factor is Is a is a reminder to us that we're not dealing with the full agenda today? Tiny little thing up there in the top right-hand side You have contrasting Over the last 20 years the level of EU dependency on imported Energy and the Irish one where of course we're hovering a little below 90% dependent on imported energy So we have a challenge the minister has touched on the The the the gap that a better energy is now addressing in our targets for 2020 you're familiar with the 2020 Commitments on greenhouse gas emissions on energy Conservation and on renewables, but on the central one the energy efficiency the gap that remains to be addressed and as the minister said the Programs now designed to meet or indeed slightly exceed that gap Another analysis which many of you will have seen before is the one which we carried out a couple of years ago with the McKinsey consultants and this marginal cost Batement of carbon emissions on the y-axis We have the abatement cost per ton of CO2 equivalent and on this we have the the impact the abatement potential and While this is not Intended to describe a rank order of measures because while we of course Need to look at efficiency measures, but in in parallel We also need to look at the measures that are going to make the big impact in meeting the demands over the over the longer term this does highlight of course that the the Retrofit activities are all concentrated in this area of negative societal cost and Bear in mind that this Curve this particular one is based on a fuel cost of 60 US dollars per barrel So what current fuel prices a lot more is down below that line? So all of that is in a way reminders The benefits of energy efficiency are are legion The minister has highlighted many of them the The idea for instance one of the ones which are perhaps not always adequately factored into our Investment decisions the reduced energy infrastructure costs We have mechanisms for looking at investment in In utility growth for instance in building new power plants and so on but the kind of investment that the Minister and the government is making now in efficiency is also delivering Major benefit and that's not often seen as I suppose an infrastructural investment The better energy program the Ambition of a million building upgrades across all of the sectors offer really huge Benefits to Ireland and to the occupiers of those buildings in other words the citizens The the aims of the program And the way I put this first one is that it's not so much the the buildings that we need to focus on but it is the The people who use those buildings and enabling them to be more energy efficient Recognizing that some of the technical improvements that we will that will be delivered will deliver benefits Which are not only an energy that we will hear about a rebound factor so that some of the Benefits are taken in improved comfort which will also we see health benefits and so on as a major issue of protecting the energy poor and reducing the this anomaly where in the past the tendency was to provide support to the those Facing challenges of energy afford affordability which enabled Them to buy the most expensive fuel and to burn it with the least efficiency These programs are designed to Address that that anomaly The employment one is something which we will Be hearing about the energy security environmental performance, of course but today is particularly about things like the Supply chain skills the business models so in other words in building market-based programs, which Also compared with the programs that we described last year We have a much clearer. I think a single brand bringing a plethora of individual programs which might have made great sense to to us, but maybe didn't make as much sense to those at whom the programs were targeted and We recognizing that we're going to hear a lot today about new ways of financing finance activity but Let us for a moment just pause to think of the Requirements that we're putting on those who are to carry out this work because really we're looking to a new industry to emerge The construction industry has gone through a pretty traumatic experience and maybe there's Some degree you know a lack of sympathy and associate almost associating construction the construction industry with the problems that we face and We need an efficient construction industry and if an industry that can deliver on the targets that we're Describing We need construction also as an engine for economic growth and that industry needs to have the capacity to develop the necessary skills to invest in innovation and R&D and to come up with new business models so that Minister quoting John Fitzgerald the hassle factor is a thing of the past the idea that people are struck with terror at the prospect of builders Arriving in their homes We the industry needs to to rethink its model So that recognizing that working in someone's a living room is a very different situation from working on a green field site some of the achievements today bringing bringing together the the predecessor programs and problems of the last of last couple of years you can see that the numbers are Really a very substantial and the benefits are several and reminding that People employed of course are also Contributing to to the economy We published late last year a road map 2050 series of road maps and there are three more shortly to be published but one on residential energy efficiency Looked at paths. It's these are not plans But they're scenarios different ways of getting to the kinds of of targets which there is international consensus are required decarbonizing the energy systems around the globe the these diagrams which are More easily seen on our on our website map different pathways to Taking down the average Dwelling energy intensity beyond the 2020 objectives right down to to very low levels and these are average figure over the whole building stock the old whole residential building stock and Not just a not the just the new build of course Some of the challenges faced in in the program in better energy homes There the the kind of level that is being Achieved not just in the Irish programs, but other retrofit programs internationally is probably only Of the order of about half of what the optimal level of improvement would be would be indicated and This brings one of the the big challenges that we're addressing today and we'll hear I think some of the international experience from the international energy agency as well as from Britain and from Germany a Comprehensive whole building approach being being needed and the the models would would indicate that About a 5% of the stock being Improved annually now I put a quote there From an American source saying that and this was a global a recent global survey saying no Jurisdiction is currently reaching even 2% per annum. That's not true. This country is is close to twice that figure and perhaps it's for that reason that in 10 days time I think The Alliance for saving energy in Washington DC will award Ireland It's international award for retrofit activity because I think the Irish the retrofit programs have Attracting international interest In on the non-domestic side in better energy workplaces Again significant investment is being is being made there and significant Savings are being achieved and the minister mentioned the figure the grant support of 11 and a half million this year This this will Leverage an investment of a 50 about 50 million euro In this kind of work and I just take a couple of examples from recent recent years There's an example there in Eli Lilly and and can sale taking an energy efficient design project Realizing 600,000 Euro in annual energy savings and the payback on that investment in two years and the Green Isle Green Isle Foods Example is a heat recovery project in refrigeration Generating Recovering the heat from the fridge fridge processes now providing all the hot water requirements for for cleaning and Reducing the gas requirement by over 80 percent the scale of savings to be achieved in the The industrial and business sector is really Extraordinary and There is I suppose a degree of frustration that Let's say at the experience minister pointed to the savings 10% savings in year one with our experience in going say to 2,000 small small businesses and people don't seem to have the time to to implement these kind of these kind of savings the the experience of the large in industry energy network forces is is a is a great one And that's again one which has attracted international interest Very substantial savings at the cumulative Savings we're seeing the and companies that have been engaged in this now in this operation for Close to 15 years are achieving about 40 percent Savings year-on-year ratcheting further savings on on really excellent performance earning Ireland a reputation as a place for leadership in this area and Generating business We when you were with us minister we Mentioned the case of the PM group winning two very substantial contracts recently Overseas for bringing this the expertise learned here elsewhere Now the the challenge And the kind of responses I think the really interesting Developments we're going to hear about some of these today as as the market gears up for these these opportunities And to address the challenge that the pro-farm government places before this whole area With the engagement now of the energy utilities with the emergence of of a business involved in drawing together energy savings and starting to Look at the opportunities for for trading these and in energy energy markets As we see new businesses emerge new escows We're very keen to see an increase in escrow activity and the commercial involvement of that area Horizontal diversification in the way companies take on new kinds of roles or transfer transform themselves from say building contractors into A new kind of integrated deliver service deliveries and some of the most exciting things and maybe here in Crow Park it's Appropriate to refer to the 10k initiative there's 10,000 jobs GA initiatives working through GA clubs and a number of pilots now underway Building on the the enthusiasm and commitment that communities can bring to changing the current situations So a lot of our of the work that we'd be hearing about is moving from the current situations of grants and self-financing and perhaps a degree of fragmented delivery to Situation where with the new financing offer options we're talking about With the market in the driving place in this and a much more integrated delivery that issue of delivery in order to deliver on the Really ambitious very Mascale challenge and also to tackle the deeper the more ambitious retrofit we see lots of Developments being required and of course the current phase Very very important one in putting the the codes and standards and building the competence in an industry So they can take on a take on this challenge the quality issue. Of course. It is central the technical standards The these targets are ambitious they they must prove successful The customer experience has to be a positive one now surveys Towards the end of day would be hearing of some of the experience here, which is which is very positive, but I would Remind as an escaped academic Minister, maybe I'd be allowed to remind that there is also need for research in this area to underpin the these these developments The one-stop shops the kind of things that say be in queue is pioneering there in the west of Dublin the packaging of measures so the in the short term very attractive measures are coupled with the things which call for Longer payback periods and we're hearing a lot about the finance options. So I would conclude by Reiterating that this is an important activity. There is great opportunity for for fresh thinking for joining up the actions of industry and business of the various agencies and of government We've got to do it right There's an unfortunate experience in the building industry to a thing when there is sudden change There's building failure. That's why I keep emphasizing this matter of doing things properly doing things with competently and with proper standards and there is a lots more work because the dual challenge of building scale and Building depth Are very challenging, but the rewards will be great and Last year. I are previously certain. I've used this quote from the New York Times Next-grade industry will be energy technology But a second bite that may be particularly relevant today Quotation from Time magazine a recent issue. This may sound too good to be true. It's the US of course, maybe has a Learning curve on this one. The US has a renewable energy resource that is perfectly clean Remarkably cheap surprisingly abundant and immediately available. This miracle juice goes by the distinctly boring name of energy efficiency And the illustration below is a carbon positive industrialized dwelling from Japan a lifetime carbon positive. Thank you very much


Ladies and gentlemen hunt. It's a great honor. Thanks for trying with my last name. It's a great honor to be back I missed last year unfortunately, but I have spoken almost every year here I think and interestingly I think it's the first time as an Austrian Austrian economist that I actually get a speaker about economics So let's see how that goes. Probably I'll go back to history next next year Let's start by as competitive as we economists are Let's start by taking fold with another Austrian Austrian economist Of course, I'm only at war from the shoulder of giants. You all know that But let me take some issue with the giant Friedrich August von Hayek Now poor old Hayek has got quite some kicking here already. So let me try to soften the blow a little bit He may have just been the innocent victim of a law of nature that you all know Rothbard's law If you don't know Rothbard's law, it states that people in particular economists tend to specialize the thing. They are worst at now as an even a Tiny dwarf on the shoulder of giants. Let me try to critically improve upon that law a little bit. I Think we have to generalize it a bit to make it a better fit for Hayek and I propose a generalization of Rothbard's law and That's Economists tend to get the most mainstream acclaim for the things. They are worst at I Think that's old through for almost every case. So I think it's a good to sound generalization Hayek is most famous as one of the biggest new liberals and a strong influence on the older liberals And the older liberals are known for the greatest thinkers on competition and in particular they assume That competition is the essence of a market economy Now I think that that thought is dangerously misleading Of course, you have all learned from Hans Hoppe that competition can't be a good per se It's all about who is competing about what and as Hans has put it much more eloquently than I can Frequently, it's the competition of crooks competing about how to best defraud and plunder all of us But Hayek's argument is not an ethical one. It's an epistemological one And I'll try to dissect the epistemology of competition a little bit his most famous lecture on the topic is Competition as a discovery procedure, of course, hence my tongue-in-cheek title of this talk I simply don't buy it and let's start with reading some of Hayek's thought so I don't like to read when speaking but I think it's best to decide him As his writing not in the same chronological order, but let's see Hayek writes in this or He spoke in this famous speech which was led a little written down Competition is important only because and in so far as its outcomes are unpredictable And on the whole different from those that anyone would have been able to consciously strive for and Then he gives famous examples in sporting events Examinations the awarding of government contracts or the best out of prices for poems not to mention science It won't be patently absurd to sponsor a contest if he knew in advance who the winner would be Therefore, I wish now to consider competition systematically as the procedure for discovering facts Which if the procedure did not exist would remain unknown or at least would not be used Now examples are great to understand something, but there's always a big risk with examples They can be analogies that are misleading and I think that's the case here So that's like the first slide is softest criticism. Let's look at the examples sport events Now I think if Austrian soccer fans really would be watching soccer because they wanted to find out If the team is winning they would long have given up watching soccer matches in Austria because they almost never win So I don't buy it. That's the reason in particular sport events are games So they are not means to an end. They are ends in themselves We enjoy competing with other people in games and we enjoy watching other people compete if we have ties to them If there's some shared identity if you're rooting for them, that's fun. It's a common experience. I get it I usually don't engage in it, but at least I get it. I don't get the discovery thing here in sport events And of course in games and there I think is something is leading in the analogy What is the defining feature of a game? It's rules and usually it's arbitrary rules. Everyone gets the same goal It tends to be an arbitrary goal. Of course It can be who's the fastest it can be a beauty contest and the beauty contest as a race are Two example of the same category and and the thing of course how he refers to And I think they're very very far away. What a market is about It's not about one rule that we get and I think that lends to some Misunderstanding of Hayek here now one of the harshest criticism he gets from the mainstream is even though he's such an important thing Come competition. It sounds awfully like some new new Darwinist thought and that of course is politically incorrect and impossible To think along these lines. I think there's a misunderstanding about what evolutionary theory teaches, but Hayek is at least guilty in providing some bad analogies that lead along the line now the bigger misunderstanding about Darwinism is that's about survival of the fittest in a Wrong kind of meaning in that the fittest is a kind of physical fitness That's an objective criterion and that the fittest means it's a maximization along one line Which of course is not at all what happens in evolution in evolution We have adaptations and acceptations that usually emerge in Uncovered ecological niches, so it's a process of differentiation It's not an arbitrary red race about who is the fittest the fastest the strongest the mightiest and Usually it's not a binary category. It's marginal marginally higher propensity to have surviving children or descendants And usually you get that by finding a new niche that Is that has been empty that hasn't been yet filled and I think it lends itself to an approach to Market processes, but it's not the way that with these particular examples you start thinking along And of course obviously it leads to hold the whole wrong idea of monopoly theory And I think Rothbard is based here and really figuring out what it's all about. It's this wrong conception of competition in thinking like It's very artificial that something is unique about the company They shall all be alike and compete who's the cheapest for example one arbitrary rule Which comes from materialistic thinking of course that it's all about being either the cheapest or the most profitable like Keeping the most money to yourself Which of course can be we are free to do so, but it's nothing deterministic in human action that leads us To follow that and the examples Rothbard of course gives gifts for that kind of Monopoly see because he's like if you look at an industry and you say oh the company has a large market share It's probably a monopoly. It's the same as claiming that the corner store has a monopoly at the corner It's based at Of course if you have differentiation everyone has a kind of unique monopoly We are all one person unique We offer unique products and services and we are free to discriminate as consumers and savers and So I think it's this whole line of thinking about the market as a flat earth Field for competing similar people on similar grounds along similar lines that led to this whole industry of Competition policy and competition law and competition theory And again, there's a bit high is it fold in being imprecise and somehow wrong about the actual entrepreneur What the entrepreneur is like many of his texts make it seem like an entrepreneur discover something That's already there. It's just really good at looking at things and finding something new whereas Mises I think he has the much sound understanding of it It's the promoter now, of course the term promotion hasn't aged that well now It's mainly marketing but what he meant is from the Latin Promovance someone who really brings about something new. It's not that it's there And no one has seen it usually those kind of businesses fail where you assume that I know one is seeing it it's actually changing Something and bringing it about and that gets missed in this idea of competition and now interestingly someone with practical experience and investment and Entrepreneurship has exactly came come to the same conclusion. I was Peter Thiel First in his notes on startups and then in his book zero to one That's exactly his experience. What he writes and I cite him is competition is overrated Competition may be a thing that we are taught and they do unquestioningly Maybe you compete in high school Then more tougher competition in college in grad school and then the red rays in the real world and what he says Is the really valuable businesses are actually monopoly businesses? Of course not in the sense of having a privilege But they are the last movers who create value that can be sustained over time instead of being eroded away by Competitive forces. That's what usually in the son of work. You call a mode You want to find something that you are uniquely capable of providing? And you don't just want to copy of course cop. There's nothing bad about copying It's what he calls the one-to-n kind of entrepreneurship Of course once people know what's a smartphone You can try to provide them with smartphones and then it's a kind of see who gets the largest market share But coming up with the new concept and idea is the much more important innovative process and That really hasn't or that the mental model of competition is misleading. It's like looking at the competition And usually it's not a good idea as an entrepreneur It's better to focus on what you are uniquely capable of providing and doing rather than looking at what everyone else is doing And in the symptom, I think you can see it in underdeveloped economies Let me give you the example that you see many places on the planet We see like five melon stands next to each other and now this I think wrong approach to the market would say, oh great a sixth one a sixth melon stand will be more competition and Five are better than one. So it's more market competition more markets And I think that's untrue. Usually it's nothing bad about having a fifth or sixth melon stand As an almost occupation But it's a symptom of an economy and society that differentiation hasn't happened that much And usually there are reasons for that. It's the symptoms of interventionism It's people not being able to build up something new people not being able to descend in a meaningful way And trying out something new Because differentiation of course takes time and it takes Monetary integration and useful protocols to cooperate in a more complicated differentiated structure And if you don't see that if you see like everyone doing the same or the kind of bazaar economy that we tend to see now Sometimes as tourists like everyone tries to sell you the same thing and that just compete on the price Looks like a great competition No, of course, there's a symptom of failing markets of interventionism in market of very short-term orientation Usually very high time preference who gets away with scamming the most of figuring out how you can scam the most The naive tourists that new ones will come those that been there They've learned the experience and let's wait for the next cruise ship to come and try our luck and you So I think it's this whole wrong conception about markets That gets it all wrong the other way There is another reason why competition is not always good and that has led to a lot of confusion among Economists in particular seemingly proudest economists and that's the aspect that they tend to call network goods Which I think is an inflated concept of course But there's one crucial insight from reality is a lot of our preferences of course Depend on what other people prefer as well and we learn from other people and we like to do things with other people And of course that I enjoy this conference depends very much on you enjoying the conference And it would make no sense whatsoever that each of one would start now competing With our hundred property and freedom societies here and everyone enjoying being the king like Hans Because of course there's a natural monopoly in being Hans-Hermann Hoppe So it's it's no way an improvement to see that as a kind of competition emerging Of course a conference is a network good in that sense But I think it's an inflated term for something that should be obvious for anyone and it leads to things like Looking at Facebook and claiming oh Everyone has to be in Facebook in order for it to be a valuable service. So it must be a public utility It's a natural monopoly and whatever kind of term you want to invent to publish your economics paper and What actually happens? I think Is that way it's like when they the least cool and the most idiotic people China Facebook it's like oh everyone else is already there And who are the least cool most idiotic people economists sometimes so when the economists enter Facebook It's like oh everyone is already there and they don't see that they enter it exactly at the moment in history When Facebook is losing market share because your parents are already already in Facebook.  It sucks so much and so hard And then of course you go on so you see it as a problem Exactly at the moment when it disappears as a problem It's never been a problem to begin with and I think it comes from this lack of really like Real experience and understanding what it's about why some preferences are Shared references and why there's a lot of intersubjective coordination along our preferences and I think some Networks are more important than others and I consider even Catalaxy what Mises and Hayek called extended order of cooperation the market Obviously is a network phenomenon. So I I don't think it makes much sense and there's this argument like going around Oh, we can't be sure that socialism in every possible flavor. We can imagine will fail Maybe it hasn't been tried hard enough Let's compete with the market economy and try again and again and again And somehow we then can discover finally why the market is maybe superior or not And I think it's the same fallacy. It's like you won't improve You won't find anything out anything by separating a network that has to be a network By like cutting off people usually by coercion from this network claiming that oh I have to figure out if it won't work better So this as crazy as like have a government instituted many of a thousand different Facebooks that are government mandated for every preference and every kind of filter bubble gets its own protected space and safe space To be in so I think you see there's lots of Potentially very misleading ways you can go from very simple examples, which are wrong and wrong analogies And I think it's worse than that. It's not just a scientific misconception It's actually a cover-up. It has turned into a cover-up more than discoveries There's nothing that we can really find out by pursuing that line of thought I think it has become a cover-up story and let me tell you why that's the case If we use let's start again with the simplest thing you look at a sports event and It's a great story. It's a great cover story What our sports event the cover story for for someone to organize it you need organized? Oh great That means we need committees of people organizing things. Oh great. That means we need functionaries But I mean someone has to decide on the rule. How do you define a woman in women's sport? you need really like Certified functionaries being able to figure out the rules that you're all competing without that there won't be a competition So the whole idea of organized Competition of course lends itself to a class of functionaries that are now competition experts and competition functionaries trying to figure out how to better compete And even worse now the next example or third example was like prices awards handing out prices and Now I think There's there's a gaping floor here, of course Hayek was the recipient of such a price and I'd find it quite ridiculous to assume that like People were looking All around the world who is the best economists to find and then it was a miraculous discovery And they found Hayek and they gave him the price and it was just a discovery process now not saying not claiming that that I was a shill or anything But I think it makes much more sense to look into prices and what they may be a cover-up for And more generally the big question is of course who pays for the price who hands out the price and and you can't just be That formalistic as Hayek sometimes is just looking at the formal part of something Gido talked about that the legal structures the formal structure and look look at the intent of it And of course it feels great handing out prices. That's the good thing about philanthropy Everyone loves that everyone wants to be Bill Gates and handing out millions and billions to people and get all the acclaim So by handing out prices I think the biggest goal that you reach as a Functionary is you got to feel like a Renaissance patron And you get to patronize scientists and poets and literates and you can bask in Baccalaureate of all the people you give prices to and Of course, let's look at the Nobel Prize, which quite obviously a cover-up This fake price and and to admit I mean Hayek was really one giving the best acceptance speech yet It was an acceptance speech of I think it's a better idea to hand out that price Which I think is the best way to Deal with receiving a price like that Why did he get the price now? Of course some conspiracy theories this all satire with all the head that is claim Also conspiracy. I think it makes much more sense to see like who was funding the price the Swedish central bank What is their most likely aim to? institutionalize economics as a scientific Discipline akin to physics and engineering with all the prestige it comes along and you if you read what Nobel Wrote about the price you can see him are turning in the grave. That's exactly what he did Well, he would never have agreed to handing out prices to social scientists because I mean he rightfully Was very about their methodological soundness because most really are pseudo scientists and are just abusing the cover of science for Very worldly interests So I think that's the main intention of the price Why did Hayek get it? I think it makes best sense to look at who else got it gonna Murdoel the welfare state or the Teletarian from Sweden and at the time it seemed like a very extreme guide to receive a Nobel Prize So it makes a lot of sense if you need a cover-up story to be a very neutral body Handing out prices of course never to extremists as there's no what prices are for You got to find someone from the other part of the spectrum to show how neutral you are how it's all about the science Of course and the facts would speak for themselves and that stuff we got a trust in So I think it's it's much more likely to think along these ways Of course, you can consider that a conspiracy theory But then I mean let's entertain the other thought and I think it's absurd like Assuming that there was a worldwide search for the most peaceful guy on the planet and Miraculously, they discovered this immaculate person of color in Washington DC with the audacity to hope Doesn't make sense a discovery procedure. It's rather looks like a cover-up procedure, right? so I think this example really doesn't hold that well and Of course, what's the most important cover-up story and that's the basis of how all the liberalism is perceived as competition as a rationale for interventionism as always Stay looking for reasons to intervene someplace and it's also brought Oh, we should have a company there that's doing that and compete there And why don't we have someone competing in that field? It's it's this whole full process Of propping up something of course it lends itself to infant industry Argument of favoritism of every kind and function is thinking about who should compete in which industry and which field and it's really ridiculous And that of course explains why the famous neoliberals like Walter Liebman one of the originators of the term in his agenda of liberalism he He proposed measures such as Tristic inheritance taxes steeply graduated income taxes and the financing of public work projects and he cited approvingly Keynes Of course everything to increase competition Because that's apparently what markets are all about And I'd say it's a flawed story Competition bring more business. That's a very Keynesian thought in itself like functionaries politician thinking about more business That's Keynesianism in its essence someone thinking about more business who's living of course of the results of that business and just wants to Plunder the cattle he's farming essentially But Hayek was right on one thing on in this particular speech So he realized something and I think that's quite important when you look for the more we need more competition That's why we do economic policies that lead to more business because more business is great And and the merchants will be forever thankful for our great foresighted policies Hayek observes that the high growth rate is more a sign of bad policies in the past than of good policies in the present Why is that the case?  Oh, you'll have suddenly five and ten melon stands and it's a great thing But it's not like oh, we got more business by Have having such a competitive policies is just all the interventionism and flawed and blundering in the past That's have led to all this upside potential for growth and more business and And Well, of course politicians arguing for more competition. I mean how ridiculous can you get it's like? prostitutes arguing for more virginity Sorry That analogy, but they are good analogies and they're bad analogies, of course So obviously competition policies in oxymoron What is there less competitive than politics? It's exactly based on the idea There's no one should compete that it should be model monopoly providers So it's really ridiculous if you look at it and of course it explains a lot of that Mainstream economics models like the perfect Competition all that sounds great. Yeah, that's gonna have perfect competition, which of course an illusion It's the equilibrium model. That's called perfect competition. What does perfect competition mean? No change no entrepreneurship No money by everything. That's interesting about economics.  It's not catalectics. It's castrolactics Why is castration I mean it's the sign of the slave of the cattle that you're farming and I think that's what it's about Actually that kind of oh, we got to have more business And that's how you it arrive at these thoughts Of course, it all is a cover-up to overlook the essence the real essence of the market And it's consumer and saver sovereignty Sovereignty of people to say no to being castrated branded as cattle or whatever You would say it's no determinism We are all free to discriminate as sovereign consumers or savers and not follow deterministically and go for the cheapest offer or The same offer for everyone that will Eventually end up like a competition competition end result is of course the one the best company gets all the Consumers and then of course that then socialism wouldn't look that extreme because it's already happened That was the Marxist idea and of course is very closely aligned to the kind of thought the competition means like one big fish Eating all the other fish because one company will remain and survive on the planet and then we just have to change The the stockholders which just move it on to everyone Yeah, that's like the idea how without wire lens you'd have socialism of course based on a pleasure thinking And no basis in reality What else is it a cover-up? Of course the whole distorted market structure that we are living in the green new deals The competition for subsidies That's all competition. Of course. We are not socialists. Of course. We're not planning anything. We are offering market incentives And then you've got to compete like flooring peanuts to the monkeys come up now with some green technology you guys I'm throwing out the peanuts Compete for it. And that's our market economy in the European Union throwing out peanuts to get a green Economy job course we mean much more business for every one of you Consumers don't go for it. Then we have all the subsidies here and all the credit You can ask for and unfortunately it really In Austria I experienced a daily a startup Sometimes really just means competing for subsidies is figuring out how to fill out the forms to compete for subsidies Sometimes they are called prices. Sometimes they are preferred credit But it's a very artificial and interventionist thing this kind of competing for the price From the emperor or no doubt the bureaucracy that's handing it out and another idea It leads to is of course the world is flat Level playing field of globalism. It's like competition as a level playing field. How crazy can you be? The reality of course is a rocked landscape and that's a great thing about a market and it's differentiation It has to be a rocked landscape where we are free to say no and that's where you have our niches and not a one-size-fits-all solution Where the one big globalist? conglomerate now gets it to give it out to everyone and you don't even pay it for free Because it's such such great scaling solution and epistemologically It leads or it's a sign of nihilism. I think and you hear it a lot like let the market decide Of course there's something good about it, but I think something dangerously misleading It can be a sign of relativism a sign of nihilism. I'm saying I have no clue Let's not argue about it. Let's just let the market decide if socialism is better than capitalism And I would warn against this kind of relativism. Of course the good thing about let the market decide is No one should have the power to impose anything Anything, but I think we have a duty to be honest and saying when we think that something is stupid Fraud looks fraudulent or looks like a scam Or it's only there because of subsidies and so on and it's not a sustainable business model I think there's a moral duty to call out those Competitors and not just say let the market decide It So I Mean I mentioned the phrase like don't argue build and there's something great about it Of course, we are all tired of the political bickering, but the don't argue build Get something entirely wrong and I recommend those people using the line to read Hans Hoppe The real argumentation ethics and figure out it can't be the opposite Can't be don't argue but build can be don't just argue maybe But building necessitates of course to use resources in a different way Then they have been used without that you can't build It necessitates to have a different idea about what the world should look like and how the resources should be Employed and of course, that's the essence of argumentation if I use my vocal chords to express a different idea dissenting idea. It's usually just a step before Using other resources to express different ideas about how things should go and should work out So it can't be the opposite and real building always necessitates a kind of dissent And that's why this kind of nihilism is like oh, let's not argue because you could hurt the feelings of that person there Let's all agree on everything I I think that's that's like the level playing field of idiots where no one disagrees and everyone goes along It's it's not even worth discussing. It's not even worth arguing because it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all ideas don't matter it's just a Matter of who's more successful in the competition and I think that's the most dangerously misleading idea here Let me I think I have a little bit more time because quite a spacious speaking slot I'll try to give you some some insights from an industry. I've been watching for quite a while I Happened about it quite early on and I've Be become a bit of an industry inside I'd say and that's the crypto field the crypto currency sector and What I've seen as a lot of This narrative competition as a cover-up story and let me explain how that happens now Usually if you say Let the market decide and the new and competition is great and more competition is better Usually you mean that the new entrant on the market is great because it's new That's what you mean by if you have a new company you you don't want to say okay I don't think it's a good idea. Let's just say oh, it's new. It must be that's great That's more competition and I think of course that you have like intrinsically kind of progressivism built in And I don't think that's usually true If you look at something and you realize oh crypto currency, I've never heard about it. It's entirely new That's fantastic. I got to be early It's a very very misleading approach to investing and it usually will go wrong because if it's so new to you it means you have no clue Because most innovation is not an invention most innovation is to your recombination of things So if it's really new to you you have missed decades of Inventions and technological progress and Bitcoin the first contender of course was a recombination of fairly old inventions There was nothing entirely new about it if it was all new to you it meant you had no clue And of course for some it was a very great Horristic which usually doesn't work but those who entered Bitcoin because they thought oh, it's new. I have no clue It must be something great. I can be early. They lost everything usually Because then of course something else that's newer comes along and since Bitcoin 23,000 Newer and China crypto currencies have come along so 23,000 possibilities to be early again The average expected value of course is largely negative. I'm not saying the old-world Projects of course there's a lot of experimentation and that's what's invention is about but why are they? Stole the script of currency and I think one of the reasons is competition as a cover-up story and even here Hayek has Contributed a misleading thought that it's one of his most famous booklets or papers to denationalization of money Now he was brilliant in the inside that you've got to separate the money and the state brilliant inside very important And I really like the paper because it's very unusual for an economist It's like not him saying how the work should be and because he understands everything It's like he's thinking if I was an entrepreneur. How would I do it? That's wonderful. I think it was mostly wrong his paper, but for all for the right reasons Still of course, why is he wrong? And I think there's something about technological How technological innovation process works? Hayek thought that international businesses will become impossible to the fiat monies Because you have the currency risk And then of course he thought there's a problem You've got to have a competition for a solution And for maybe a company will come up with a right way to offer something better But what he's looking here is a protocol Innovation and it usually does not happen that way that it's a start of the figures out a new protocol And then got to reap all the benefits by becoming a unicorn That's not how new technologies usually into the markets Usually the early start of the new technology don't get to reap the benefits of the introduction of the new technology That's a harsh lesson to take There's nothing bad in being start-up and trying out something new of course, but it's not how innovation usually works So it's not one company offering a one-size-feets-all solution usually it's more of a discovery process and What was the solution it was of course derivatives and hedging the whole financialization Which you can say is a market solution to an interventionist problem But of course this kind of competition that came up with a solution to a problem created by interventionism Is a great cover-up for the financialization and the beneficiaries of the intervention and the monetary distortions in the first place so the comic it has become a great story What was that the actual? Potentially on the premier solution And it works in a sense, but it's a very unjust distribution of The premiums of the country on effect and so on So it's an early side of distortion if you have monetary distortion You can't count on a competition it gets even worse because of course you don't have a level playing field You can talk all the much about a level playing field a new Horistic and the new structure enters and that's what we see in venture capital and venture formation Once you realize that of course that the sound is kind of liquidity You want to go for is real productivity like you solve a problem for consumers the liking it The exchanging value in return. That's great. That's the sound basis that what we like about markets But once you have a distorted monetary structure, of course gradually without people realizing it this whole protocol gets distorted and The liquidity that becomes important may be exit liquidity like just finding new retail investors Never mind if there's never any sustainable productivity never mind if there's no real problem. You're going to solve Let's just figure out who are the idiots to sell our venture to or let's figure out how to get How else get liquidity a new credit line a new investor a new subsidy And so on and so on so of course once that kind of liquidity that interventionist liquidity becomes Overwhelming you can't claim that the competition for liquidity and the discipline of the market really leads to a reading out of Companies wasting resources. No, it can enhance and increase the amount of companies competing about new ways to waste our resources and that's actually What's happening? I think I think a large part not all of those a large part of those 23,000 Cryptocurrency are actually nothing but regulatory arbitrage to compete for retail liquidity Posted on the thing that people want to save of course and they figured out Wow big car was a big story And if I missed it, I try to find find something where I can be early again And you have the token instrument That's a kind of pseudo equity without having any claim to any dividends or any claim in any share of the business Many of these projects are really sound ways to try to experiment with new technology But they are in the different in the wrong sectors like people being pushed into speculation By the interventionism is destroying the monetary protocol that leads to an inflated need for new And the shiny In order to find someone else who hasn't heard about it that you can exit to and liquidate it And of course with interest rate manipulation It's ever worse because it's ever further in the future where the potential Productivity may lie and you have ever larger promises of utopian solutions Which usually happen don't happen that way technology usually doesn't happen that way that one Enterprise offers a protocol innovation that people understand immediately and then pay money for Usually it's a sector-wide change where Companies are riding waves of adoption and helping people preach the gap to a new technology and helping figure out How you can use that? And so on and of course money Has the essential network effect where more competition is not a good per se and let me side hands hoppe who in 1990 Already wrote the notion of competition between monies as a contradiction in object Strictly speaking a monetary system with rival monies of freely fluctuating exchange rate is still a system partial barter riddled with the problem of requiring double coincidences of wants in order for some exchanges to take place the Existence of such a system is Dysfunctional of the very purpose of money competitive monies are not the outcome of free market actions But are invariably the result of coercion of government-imposed obstacles placed in the path of rational economic conduct So I think that's absolutely true. It was a very prophetic remark I think in correcting some of high-ex approaches to competition which Goes a bit along the line that Rothbard already tried to correct That competition in the good sense can only be about access To the market privileged access and the impossibility to access a new market or the impossibility to say no To a provider. That's the real crucial dangerous kind of monopoly But it doesn't tell us anything about how a market should be structures and how many companies should be in which arbitrary industry That's really very very misleading Now let me conclude. I I think it's a flawed way to look at markets This way is a globalized level playing field. I I think it's This idea which has been popularized a bit in the US that there is a sucker born every minute And now we got to compete to kick the sucker into our goal and monetize him as quickly as possible because someone else We'll be there for the new sucker.  They all competing try to get the new sucker emerging and I Think that's the reasons what that's one of the reason why big corporations are becoming woke and It's the reason they don't want to miss out on any sucker no matter what is his her or their pronoun They just got to catch every sucker possible and that's his flawed idea of competition It's like one-size-fits-all thing for global audiences that of course are very colorful and diverse But of course just the diversity that's breached by certain gatekeepers That you orient yourself. So I think there's an intrinsic reason that I don't think it's that ideological it's really about not losing any kind of sucker you could milk for your flawed business idea in a distorted market and I'm happy to agree with keto that The essence of the problem is a wrong dichotomy as the usual dichotomy between the market the competitive market and Society and the state on the other side and it's like my competition is Disimportant field. That's of course is the wrong line We all learn from Rothbard what the real line is there's coercion on the one side That's the market in society on the other side And there's no reason to believe that there's more competitiveness in the non-corrosive sector actually my anecdotal experience Is all the other way around? Who are the more the most petty? Competitive people they are in bureaucracies They're in government funding universities and I who gets to teach which hours on which curriculum he gets to get what certificate and what price It's careerists. That's the kind of competition. Why career comes from Carlos. That's the chariot in the race That's exactly that.  Oh, you're very competitive in doing that And then my experience is you find that kind of career is usually in the distorted Interventionist coercive structures and it's really crazy to think that it's like when when scientists compete for third party Grants, that's the market. It's like a third party grants. Usually our government subsidies prices Credit you name it, but if they cooperate, oh, that's a market failure because cooperation can only happen In this fear of government where they openly share their ideas where they work on open source projects, for example Now that's crazy and in particular in this industry I'm a bit aware of the technological change mostly happens in the open source parties like people intrinsically Motivated to try out something new having leisure to not compete That's actually one of the essences of invention having leisure not to be forced to run along with everyone else in a stupid red race Because you are free to dissent you are free to say no you're free to discriminate and cooperate with anyone you like and Not just take any sucker as a customer because that's Opposedly supposedly how the market is working. Thank you for your patience