124. Big Tech, Personal Sovereignty & Resisting A Cashless Society / Brett Scott

In Conversation with Nathalie Nahai

In this conversation, I speak with Brett Scott - an author, journalist, economic anthropologist and former financial broker.

Writing on everything from the cashless society, fintech and cryptocurrency, to monetary reform, economic activism, and the politics of tech, Brett’s work has been published in The Guardian, Business Insider, New Scientist, Huffington Post, Wired Magazine and CNN.com, and he regularly appears on TV shows, radio broadcasts and documentaries across the world.

His latest book Cloudmoney: Cash, Cards, Crypto and the War for our Wallets (Penguin/HarperCollins, 2022) explores the battle between cash and digital money, and has been described by the Financial Times as a ‘compelling case against the contactless society’. His previous book, The Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance (Pluto Press, 2013), isß a hands-on guide to financial activism and alternative finance for people who wish to change the financial sector for the better.

Brett also publishes a Substack newsletter called Altered States of Monetary Consciousness, the link for which I’ll provide in the shownotes.

I first met Brett when I interviewed him on the course I curated with Advaya, Seeking Freedom In The Digital Age, and since our conversation so much has accelerated and evolved in the world of technology, finance and AI that I wanted to invite him onto the podcast to explore where we’re going, what the digitisation of finance could mean for us, and how we might reclaim our agency in the face of an increasingly cashless society.

Recorded on 12th September 2023.

WEBSITES

• https://brettscott.substack.com/
• https://alteredstatesof.money/

BOOKS

• https://alteredstatesof.money/brett-scott-books/
• Cloudmoney: Cash, Cards, Crypto and the War for our Wallets
• The Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance