Charles C. Mann - Americas Before Columbus & Scientific Wizardry

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Charles C. Mann is the author of three of my favorite history books: 1491 . 1493 , and The Wizard and the Prophet . We discuss: * why Native American civilizations collapsed and why they failed to make more technological progress * why he disagrees with Will MacAskill about longtermism * why there aren’t any successful slave revolts * how geoengineering can help us solve climate change * why Bitcoin is like the Chinese Silver Trade * and much much more! Timestamps (0:00:00) -Epidemically Alternate Realities (0:00:25) -Weak Points in Empires (0:03:28) -Slave Revolts (0:08:43) -Slavery Ban (0:12:46) - Contingency & The Pyramids (0:18:13) - Teotihuacan (0:20:02) - New Book Thesis (0:25:20) -…