citizens. john donne saw the loss of this as related to the rise in violence competent societies. i see it more as an outcome of our unforeseen constant need for efficiency buying time without knowing what purpose. ..

i'm often asked how i got into this line of work. this peculiar combination of science and storytelling. i love to be able to see before you this evening and say it's all part of my master plan and that i graduated from the scientific telling school. it's not something you really hear about from the guidance counselor.

i think it all boils down to one thing. curiosity. if you've ever spent any time around a 4-year-old you will know that the word why makes up a large portion of their active vocabulary. there may be other aspects of my personality that are also stuck at four years old. that is certainly one of them. i can't stop asking questions. and that habit let me naturally to a career in science where questions are the queen of the realm. and then very naturally onto writing. i get to indulge myself. into the topics that fascinate me so much. at the end of one of those longer projects. if i'm really lucky. i end up in a room like this.

i know you are all curious people also you wouldn't be indoors on a beautiful summer evening. because you are curious. with one of those "why" questions. my interest dates back to my time in graduate school. where i was studying the pollen dispersal and the genetics of the large range for i have gone out and fingerprinted all of the adult trees of a particular species. so i could see how the genes were moving around. and i knew, that something up there out of sight. in the rain forest canopy was

moving pollen around. and because of that tree was a member. i knew that is something. i coerced and a friend of mine into joining me for a couple of weeks. and we hired a local field assistant who is handy with a crossbow. and we spent two weeks and hauling up all manner of insect tracks. we even saw. at any rate that project was a failure. i never did learn what species

was moving pollen around. and i've been looking for ways to chase after it in my work and daily life. ever since. i had been shocked have been shocked and alarmed by the headlines. the highest collapsing mass. but in reading the stories i've also noticed a certain murkiness about her subject. even the experts i heard a noted historian of science been interviewed. and he said that when the settlers from europe arrived at

plymouth and in jamestown they brought them with them. the european and african species. that part was true. then he went on to say if he have it there would've been nothing here to pollinate their crops. i nearly drove off the road. what about the 4,000 species of native bees already buzzing happily around north america. that is not the worst of it. in my office i keep a copy of the reference book. bees of the world. it is a nice hardbound edition. so here in the 21st century we find ourselves in the on position of knowing more about the place who abuse themselves.

the place to start any exploration of the topic is right back with the most basic question of all. what is a bee. it really sums up all of the major components. it's a hippie loss. i b is a hippie wasp. wasps came first. they had been around for millions of years before bees came along. they did so by changing one particular habit, if you are ever being harassed at a picnic and your attackers are swarming over the fried chicken and the steak.

and stealing bits of baloney from your sandwiches do not blame bees. wasps our carnivores. they can take back. i gave up that lifestyle to provision themselves in their children slowly from the product of flowers. and once they made that dietary switch that set them on their own evolutionary pathway and soon their bodies begin to adapt in response developing tube like tons for sipping nectar. in the evolution of finally branched hair. here. is like little feathers.

it sets them on their own pathway. there is a nuance to the story. there are certain ones that are parasitic. and do not bother collecting upon at all. if you want to remember the basics of evolution just remember that they are hippie wasps. they had been with us for at least 120 million years. they made that dietary switch. the time dominated by the dinosaurs. but if you can look past those lumbering beasts for a moment.

you'll see something interesting. conifers and ferns about evolving. if you look look pretty hard in any of these illustrations to find a couple of coming -- crummy looking shrubs. it's not very a very promising landscape for the evolution of an insect that relies solely upon the products of flowers. in the mid- cretaceous. they were still something of a novelty. just beginning to diversify and spread across the landscape. but they were still bit players in the floor that was dominated by kinko's and psych cats. in fact, the sudden rise of the flowering plant in the record has always been something of a mystery suddenly, they are

everywhere. charles darwin, thought of it of a abominable mystery. the sudden appearance of flowering plants. but rarely noted is that in the same letter to a friend of his where he made that famous mystery comment. he also noted the work of a french naturalist that they did indeed evolve rapidly. darwin didn't buy it. he preferred to think that the flowering plants must have evolved slowly and elsewhere. darwin have the bigger reputation.

in his idea has prevailed for decades until people finally realize. that the coat evolution. in insects particularly these have led to the great diversification. to the nearest flower market. but what is less well known is how the rapid diversification flowering plants led in turn to incredible diversity of bees. it ranges from the familiar to the fantastic. like this iridescent threat bait. they can be minuscule like this tiny cuckoo be glued to the site

of a pen or they can be massive. into the colors can range from the simple like this leaf cutter to the showy and even the surprising like of the blue bandit. the beautiful purple one from french guiana. they are indeed fuzzy. they can also be smooth. like the shimmery work could be from south america. and what some may seem a little alarming or at least certain parts of them they can also be in spite of their what can only be described as cute. so the co- evolution of bees and

flowering plants. fifteen different species. we would be here for a long time. let's say we kept going as we had been about ten seconds per be at that time. they get through the world estimated 20,000 species. more species of bees than all of the birds and mammals put together. put that into binge watching perspective it is oddly enough almost exactly the amount of time it would take us to watch every episode of the game of thrones back to back. similar to the game of thrones even if we were to make it all the way to the end.

only a tiny fraction it is entirely possible perhaps even likely that sitting here in downtown portland at foul's. we may be within a few miles of the beast. so the story of bees at least understanding of that story is still very much been written. many people are surprised to learn that they are so diverse. because when we think of them our minds turn immediately to that one is species that we know best. so social and prolific. with the tens of thousands around a single queen. the honeybees are the exception. they are solitary creatures.

building their nest alone in their tunnels. or in hollow twigs. sometimes in stems not to mention snail shells if they can find them. or even cracks in the pavement. many bees are in tiny and hard-to-find so it's not unusual for insights about them to come like old supporters did. lester directed study done by an understanding of the dramatic ways that they had influenced the world around us. i would like to illustrate that with a passage from chapter four of the book. it begins with the british poet. you fellas that play on your flying and physical cellos.

with the plushy and implausible noses. when henry watts called him so blue and gold and he probably wasn't thinking about the visual receptors in the eyes of bees. the prevalence of those in the much pondered bouquet was not a coincidence. they fall right in the middle of the visual spectrum. in the flowers about them. the evolution of petal color. with the plant strategy. they would be exceedingly scarce and not my might not exist in flowers at all. it's also a common b related trait. and while equipment made a fine if unintended when he pined for a beautiful flower garden.

odorous at sunrise. many floral fragrances do surge during the morning hours just as temperatures rise and hungry bees become active. seeking out flowers that had filled with nectar overnight. it's a perfect pollination opportunity. and the right moment to advertise. they may have timed the walk for the moon lit night. he might never have considered and amble through the garden in the first place. since a the majority of blossoms would reek of the flesh smells. they find worthy of poetry. the very shapes a mini flowers can also be traced to bees.

most of the more elaborate flowers. they could be approached from any angle or direction from the same result. a come one come all display. that often draws a crowd. if claude monet had included pollinators in his famous still life. they would've found themselves busy. all attracted to this simple round blossoms. flowers at that diversion from round however it can be more choosy in who they invite. and where they divide -- deposit the pollen. or the lipped tube. bilateral symmetry. it is familiar for the shape of

the human face. one half is a mirror image of the other. for flowers it creates clearly defined size. they require them to enter in a specific way. once that is accomplished. for dabbing pollen. if it was likely to stick to their its intended target. by far the most common colors. they would've found painting pollinators on the yellow irises. they are virtually the only insect capable of getting the job done.

with the upright orientation irises force bees to land on a designated platform. place as one expert describes it to fit the surface of the humble be. they are there to ensure that the beat will deposit it in just the right location on the next iris. it looks at a flower and it boils down. in flowers in turn have altered the bodies in the abilities of their buzzing visitors. look no further than the blossoms of the genes ovaries.

and taken on the very shape and texture of the insect. they go so far as to have that. and they blossom again and again. met technical can botanical term. it requires no further explanation. it doesn't even know they are visiting a flower. it's outrageous. but also a highly specific and effective only among those flowers that look and smell like the right species this example also reveals that there is no

small amount of trickery going on in this nice co- evolutionary relationship. we started off the evening with the question ask by four -year-olds. but it's also worth considering. common of 14-year-old. also a very important question. who cares. why should we care about bees. because people do care they're concerned about the b decline. if you think about it is pretty unusual for impact. let's face it. nobody trusts an xo skillet.

when they need a terrifying go to monster. inspiration in the orthopod. the mere sight from insects. with the disgust also lights up. they believe we've made a special exception for these.

they had waiting antenna. many of them also had been yes -- venomous stingers. even worshiping them. of course we like bees.

since people didn't even understand it. to the agent they were they were also with the source of light. the first writing tablets. in the form of mead. it's no surprise. not to mention such familiar crops as apples. even coffee. it came to us long after the bees. it dates back at least to the middle kingdom of egypt.

where sophisticated clay hives. with seasonal wildfire blooms. and also to the classical mayan time. where they have a good sense to attend royal ladies. with the agreeable trait. they show up again and again throughout recorded history. our connection to bees should not be measured in thousands of years it should be measured in millions. with the evolutionary consequences for our own species. haswell is the peculiar african bird. it comes just from chapter six of the book. and also begins with the quotation the same from the

dutch renaissance. we catch up with the narrative in south africa. i cannot resist going out in the native habitat. i had wondered so long. i will get it right from now on. the wonderful habitat. now, if i were writing a novel this is when i would tell you that a brown bird landed on a nearby tree. chattering excitedly to get my attention.

and an insensate in insensate cry that bird books described as kiki. they would rely on the unique talents. they led hunters to colonies that were larger and more productive than the ones they discovered on their own. they need to be located and breached.

they species on leftovers in scraps. it has resulted in an unusual ability to digest. the b hunters never fail to leave a small portion for their conductor but commonly take care not to leave so much as would satisfy the hunger. it was being whetted wedded by this. it is obliged to commit a second treason. in hopes of a better salary. although no honey guide materialized that afternoon. the habits are commonplace. well-known and immortalized in one of the greatest scientific names of all time. indicator. for over two centuries.

guiding behavior evolved between the bird and another hive raider. it wasn't until the 1980s that a group of a south african biologist pointed out what should've been obvious all along. there almost entirely nocturnal. they don't generally climb trees to the nest. while they have waking hours that do overlap. such limited opportunities for interaction. especially for something so complex. the natural history articles and even the best selling children's book that you can probably find here. finding the real story of honey guide behavior. it goes knocking on doors in an entirely different department.

to track down the origin of the honey guide story i spoke with nutritional anthropologist alyssa crittenden at the university of nevada las vegas who made a remarkable discovery about the people of tanzania. a group still living a traditional hunting and gathering lifestyle and the very landscape the odds are honey guides. this has been known for decades. but alyssa was the first person to ask a basic question how much honeydew they eat. and the answer was surprising. it wasn't just in the occasional sweet treats. they all rested. they look for it every single day. over the course of a year honey made up fully 15% of the harvard

diet. it was far higher than during certain seasons. and higher still for many of the men. they would eat quite a bit of it before they came back to camp. that is interesting in and of itself. but the idea becomes truly powerful and an evolutionary context. alyssa and her colleagues and pose another question. what our ancestors survive in roughly the same way in the same landscape after all even australia. if we been chasing after bee's is a very beginning. they coevolved with us.

scouring the savanna for nests all day long. but for alyssa in her colleagues. the bird as a side note. the real discovery has to do with us. because a story of the human evolution always been a story about brain size. in the brain is what physiologists like to call metabolically expensive. it takes a lot of energy to run it. up to 20% of our daily calories go to something that makes up only 2% of our body weight. if you want to evolve. then you need more fuel. honey, was the most energy rich food in nature. not only that it comes in the form of glucose your body will

transform those things into glucose. one more paragraph. one paragraph only from chapter six. like hunting animals. they provided the ancestors with a rich nutritional reward for completing a complex task. it created a similar impetus. and sharing. as well as tool use in the mastery of fire. other stone implements did indeed lead to efficiencies in killing and butchering. they would allow access to the larger bee nest hidden entries. and while fire may have given us a nutritional boost through cooking it would also have allowed the pacification of honeybees with smoke. if our ancestors did indeed search for honey as regularly as they do today.

in each of these advances would have been accompanied by a huge surge sugary calories. they also contained larva and pollen. as well as protein and micronutrient nutrients. these contributions make a strong case. influence human evolution. helping our ancestors. to bolster their growing brains. and nutritionally outcompete other species. could it be that our sweet tooth led us to bees and honey hoping ultimately to make us who we are. what a tantalizing notion. so if i were giving this talk 100 years ago i would stop now and take your questions. even 50 or 25 years ago i might

not need to say another word. but in the 21st century it is impossible to talk about bees without confronting the challenges that they face. colony collapse disorder. appeared on the scene in 2006. i spoke with the be a scientist today. she helped coin the phrase. and she told me something surprising. over the past several years colony collapse disorder has almost disappeared and now accounts for less than 5%. they continue to lose 30 to 40% of their hides every year. in studies of native wild bees had also shown steep declines

the western bumblebee. virtually extinct. what began of an investigation. no single factor. multiple stress disorder. they had summarized the stressors as the 4p's. parasites that attaches itself to the bodies of bees and is on their the pathogens including a host of viruses and bacteria and

finally poor nutrition. the simple scarcity of flowers in our increasingly industrial farmed and urbanized landscapes. add climate change to the mix. and things get even more complicated. since all of these factors have the potential to interact with one another they can become deadly in a field. the has also been spayed. or a virus that hardly impacts a healthy bee. be. it can kill one already stressed by parasites. a lack of nectar. it boils down. he went on to give me the good news.

and to take action and very specific ways. by providing more flowers in nesting habitats. by reducing pesticide use. and avoiding the long-distance movement of domestic bees in the past pathogens. putting the straightforward ideas can be transformational. and they're already underway on thousands of acres of farmland. one of the most intensively farmed places on earth. and even there with all native habitat gone. it has brought back all kinds of species of bees to the orchard. like the hopeful little sweat be somewhere. a beautiful little sweat be perched. on the yellow gum wheat flour.

but perhaps the best news of all. is and that you don't have to be an expert anyone can do it. you can do it. you can help them with the a window box. you can help them in your backyard. in your garden or on your farm. they choose to plant flowers. it would be pretty unusual. are you familiar with that. even i can't kill. i need more of this in the be guarded in front of my office. i got them at the hardware store.

and before before i could even transfer planet from pot to garden there was bees on there. from one field so to speak and apply it to the field of b restoration if be restoration if you build it, they will come. i will finally take your questions but i first want to conclude this portion of our time together with a short passage from the book. >> i think it's appropriate to end at the beginning because while we may have a long history we are still at the beginning of understanding their fascinating biology. we are still just at the beginning of understanding our dependence on them. this then from the press preface.

there are certain pursuits which if not wholly pull it poetic and true. do suggest a noble and finer relation. they certainly need my help. exploring the history and biology of these essential creatures can transform anyone into enthusiasts in that is the purpose of this book. but i hope you will do more than read it. i hope it makes you want to the street outside if you do, you might find yourself coming down. since the age of three. you two can feel the tickle of

tiny feet. thank you all very much. we do have a bit of rigmarole for questions. if you have a question raise your hand and we will have a microphone presented to you. can you demonstrate. right in front its marvelous. that's for chicken what you can experience. don't be afraid. we have all the way in the front. sorry to make you work so hard.

you didn't mention killer bees. was there every ever such a thing. it is a great question. and what a wonderful example. a biological era. it was made by biologist i should say. it comes to us from brazil in a sense. because all the way over to africa. and there's even an european connection. it has a wide native range. all the way up into southern europe. over that huge geographic span. there are several sub species within that one specie.

they are relatively easy to manage. but in the southern part of africa. it is reported to store more hunting. with massive amounts of honey. it has more to defend. these south african bees. someone biologist have an idea that if you could crossbreed the european sub species. with the great honey maker. maybe you could crossbreed these two. so this was started in laboratory experiments. and taken over to brazil where this was going to go on. so someone left the door open.

and africanized bees. they thought brazil was nice. and they thought argentina was nice. they started to take over and guess what characteristic was dominant. i've heard mixed bags about what happened to the honey making. they are certainly a more aggressive be. it's been moving north ever since. and has reached the southern part of the united states.

the killer bees you find their cell feed chase. self-feeding chase. it's probably because your close to the nest. it has become more aware. we won right here. we had one in the fourth row. could you talk a little bit about the use of navy bees to

supplement honeybee pollination services to diversify the kind of pollination that happens? >> that is beginning to happen. it is beginning to happen. they are black and short of -- sort of shiny. and their wonderful pollinators. with the supplement to the pollination. there are many other examples of coming into play. and one of the greatest ones.

people look to a tiny little town east of the mounds this little town on the way there. where four generations of farmers had been growing alfalfa. not to feed animals but for the seed. in to get an alfalfa seed. it was a bit odd. they are in the p family. the flower pots. when they spread them apart to access the nectar in the pollen they hit it right on the four head.

their horrible pallet pollinators of alfalfa. the farmers in the spelling notice they would receive this little native be. not made of it here but actually from the nichols themselves. which is structured in such a way that the late scatters the same way that it does from the surface of the opal. creating an easy shimmering bands. they must have been wild wowed by that at least i would've been. but what they really notice where that these alkaline beads. and they did the logical thing. they found them messing alongside the river.

but there is a little crust of salt. they thought we can do that. so to sheet washington is the only agriculture thousands of pounds of rock salt. they create habitats. they live the soil. just the right level of moisture that is perfect. they settle and by the thousands and hundreds of thousands. between 18 and 25 nesting

females in those beds. which is the largest aggregation of these ever measured anywhere and a wonderful example of what is possible. now the whole community is involved. even the highway department. knows about these and if you are driving through this rural area. and here is the highway sign. they go right down to 20 miles per hour. in a very standard looking highway sign. my favorite road sign in the world. and that's wonderful advice. slow down. so the flowers. and listen we've a question in the middle if we have a microphone.

my understanding is the only pollinator that can pollinate tomato as a bumblebee. it's the buzzing has something to do with what is that release of the pollen. you can see this i saw today on the tomato right here in portland. so tomatoes along to the nightshade family. and there's a couple of other families of plants have this happen. about 8% of all flowering plants do this. strange. when you think of trying to get our flowers pollinated. they keep it within these chambers of the answer themselves.

accessible only by a tiny hole at one end. and so for a b to get in there and has to stick something inside and try to ply it out. it's a visible experience. with particular bees that can do what they call a buzz pollination. you can see this happen and will come that flower and group group it tightly. and then vibrate at a particular frequency. like a tuning fork. as it does so. causes that pollen chamber to resonate. honeybees can't. but they are one of the best. you can actually see it in here that little c sharp that they buzz when they want to get that pollen out.

it's a marvelous thing to watch. great question. i think we will come to the front and work this direction. here with the microphone. first of all thank you very much is actually not a question i just wanted to let you all know that if anyone would like to see tended 15,000 bees been warned and someone dancing in them. i've a friend who will be doing that on september 8. i'm sure if you would like to come. you could bring it to the tea. very peacefully. and that will swarm all over them in the right conditions. we should all be there. in the middle right there. if we can get the microphone.

bees have a fairly complex communication. in the b communication. it is just a wonderful deep pool of interesting biology. the best study b be in much of what we know is comes to us from honeybees because we study them. for so long. they have remarkable abilities to communicate through what they call a waggle dance. it's a situation where the b that is out foraging can find a good patch of flowers and by moving in certain patterns and showing other bees those patterns communicate a sense of distance and this deception. they can learn by observing

that. scientists had actually watched the dances and marked the bees. of course they are watching the dance with them. and that have gone out and try to find the place. we know it's 600 meters to the north and northwest. they're all of these great ways that they can communicate in that regard. they also had incredible way of communicating with their sense of smell and chemicals and so on. very sensitive to other things. inside a hive where it is all dark. and you're bumping and to all of these other bees. you have to have a pretty sophisticated way to communicate.

and they do a lot of their communication by chemical cues. it controls i'm getting the time signal. we had one more question. and we one right here in the front. he was too cheap to build a garage. we have the massive colony of carpenter bees. where did they learn their trade. aren't they great. so carpenter bees which you have down here.

they don't quite make it as far north as that. i sort of miss them. you don't necessarily miss them if they are nesting in the wood that has been expressed to you. or they look for empty chambers and improve them by chewing and making a large chamber inside a piece of work --dash michael what. or any wood surface. and what they're doing is making a nest cavity. if you see bumblebees in the springtime the queens are down. if you see the wonderful mason bees that are accessing the little hole. they are always looking for something that is dark and empty place. to nest in. and for the carpenter bees they do a lot of home improvement themselves and well actually excavate and then inside the

they store the pollen. your father didn't know he was building a structure. as well as the car. this has been so much fun. and i will answer questions. .. ..

that's okay. i'm happy to be associated with bitcoin we have had a government

monopoly on the money supply for a long time. we have seen no innovation in it and suddenly bitcoin comes along and created a currency for the digital age, and digital currency and credit a global currency for global marketplace and that's a revolution. they figured out how to make digital asset-- assets, so to me it's a journey where i get to see a lot of conferences. i work full-time with my show and the more learned about at the more i realize this is a freedom for-- this is a revolution for people and it's a freedom revolution because i don't think we have taken a bigger step towards freedom in the last 100 years than with

bitcoin because we created something that gives people back financial autonomy. you don't need permission to take purchases. you no longer need a bank account pretty permission to make choices about your life. you have currency the government cannot control and that's exciting especially for countries where you have people leading the country where you have dictators, people starting in the street. bitcoin has been a lifeline for people around the world. >> host: is there a downside to bitcoin? >> guest: for sure, i mean, there's a downside to any tax. tech is neutral. if the people that use it. obviously with any revolutionary tech you will have people that want to use it for their own means to make purchases anonymously and we have to keep in mind that coin is a tiny tiny fraction of the money laundering marketplace, the drug

marketplace come in the vast majority of that is not with the us dollar and you don't see people condemning the us dollar saying we need to ban it because it's a source for terrorists it's also an amazing tool for everyday people the same way that bitcoin is. >> host: what is a block chain. >> guest: the block chain is a particle underpinning bitcoin, it is what makes a comfortable for us to have digital assets that can be reproduced, sort of like a magic ledger that when one person write something down in the ledger it appears in all these different ledgers all of the the world and so what happens is it is the problem-- solves the problem of people making mistakes. if you have all these people who are verifying what you are writing out is correct that it appears simultaneously over the world in yemen account that can't be erased. you can-- it's a great resource

that snout applied to all kinds of different sectors. >> host: how many types of bitcoin are there? >> guest: so, there are lots of different digital currencies. >> host: bitcoin is a brand. >> guest: bitcoin was the original cryptocurrency that created and invented the block chain and a sense then people have used the same block chain technology and created a a lot of different cryptocurrency. >> host: is bitcoin a generic word or like saying chrysler? >> guest: i think it's used often as generic, but it applies to a specific thing, but a lot of people use it as a substitute -- substitute to say cryptocurrency. i think what people are referring to is the block chain revolution or digital currency revolution because there are exciting things coming out not just in bitcoin which is probably the most exciting thing

, but there are lots of cool things being done. >> host: so, how many cryptocurrency's are currently being developed are out there. >> guest: it's hard to know because it's easy for people to create their own currency and to use block chain tech in different ways other than currency so i would say there are thousands at least currencies out there, but the thing with money is that you need a network effect, so people don't use these things as money unless they have a lot of people using them, so there is dominance out there such as bitcoin, bitcoin cash, theory m, so there are a few people go to that are doing very exciting things and then there are lots of really bad ones that no one is looking at and some of them are disingenuous as well so you have to be careful out there.

>> host: it's a marketplace. >> guest: it's a marketplace and at the moment there is very little regulation so it's up to do the individual to take this possibility, not invest more than they are willing to lose. this is a brand-new territory people discovered for the first time, so it's important for people to do due diligence and research. before jumping in with everything they have. i really encourage everyone to ask questions about this. research it. if you don't feel you understand it enough, maybe don't get involved at. it's not primary one. for those that want to understand it and learn more it's a very exciting world and i encourage people to pique their curiosity of it and see without their because it's a really exciting landscape. >> host: is a threat to the sovereignty of nations? >> guest: it could become a potentially. that's why it was initially. if you look at the paper you see a lot of branding back-and-forth in e-mail threads about why it was created and it was created

as a way to circumvent-- circumvent the government control of money. it came back after the government bailout and had government bailing out these big banks and people were disillusioned. what is the government doing with our money. we lose 2% of our money every year with inflation anyway. if you put the money in the bank if you think safe, it's really not work its disappearing every single year. every year you have less of that value so bitcoin came around with people that were angry at the system and bailing out these big banks when they shouldn't be. they should take responsibility for their decisions and so someone came up with this idea, someone who put out this white paper and we don't actually know the real identity. >> host: do you have suspicions? >> guest: i think we all have suspicions, but i don't really like to say anything i think it's important that femininity remains because we idolize

people and we put them on this pedestal and also create social points, for governments to attack or slander and just having them remain anonymous and that will give you freedom and protect your money more than the government is protecting your money and i think it's important to keep that and an enemy. >> host: in your children's book "billy's bitcoin" is that big bad government? >> guest: you can read the analogy into the. bitcoin was more about normalizing that coin. we wrote it at a time when no one was talking about it and any time you did hear anything about it it was about money launderers, the drug dealers having bad people and that's the only time the words would come up. i would go back to australia-- i live in new york now, but i would go back there and talk

about bitcoin and people would say i've never heard of that, so the children's book was an a to normalize the word. it wasn't about saying this is how the tech side works. it's about saying this is something you can use in your everyday life the same way you use the computer or your debit card. you don't need to understand the ins and outs of how it works. you just need to know it's there and there's understanding for how it works and it's very easy to use, so just getting talking about it, greeting a children's book where he gets the money and is able to get away from the school bully. it's a way to introduce from a young age without details they don't need to know about. >> host: here is the book cover "billy's bitcoin" and who is your writing partner? >> guest: jason platt fields, an amazing artist from australia. he now lives in new york, but

he's the artist with the longest-running comic strip in australia. we had a lot of fun putting this together. >> host: thank you for joining us on book tv. >> guest: thank you so much for having me. >> here's a look at authors recently featured on out-- but tv afterwards. includes best-selling nonfiction books and guest interviewers. former military intelligence officer examined cyber warfare and other tactics used by russia to interfere with the 2016th presidential election. comedian and actor looks at race issues in america act retired marine corps lieutenant colonel offered her thoughts on gender bias in military. in the coming weeks on afterwards former education secretary arnie duncan will discuss the successes and failures of schools in america. to local columnist derrick hunter will offer his thoughts on how progressive influence academia, the median pop-culture. this weekend economists weighs in on why democracy around the

world is failing to produce economic growth. >> the most important i think in terms of writing the book was born out of frustration. i write my interest and academic background are in economics, but if you think about the global economy today there are a host of deeply structural long-term problems that the global economy has to contend with and i imagine we'll get to them in a moment, but things like demographic shifts, impact of technology for jobless undercurrent-- underclass, the overhang and incoming inequality something that in my phd was never discussed and now it's the top three big issues on the policy agenda so these are all long-term structural problems and yet the people were carted overseeing the regulatory policy environment are very short-term and i thought this is a mismatch

between the long-term economic public and short-term political frame is something that has not been fully explored and surly i don't the potential solution to this mitch-- mismatch having been explored adequately. >> afterwards airs saturday at 10:00 p.m. and sunday at 9:00 p.m. eastern and pacific on book tv on c-span2. all previous afterwards are available to watch online at book tv.org. [inaudible conversations] >> good evening, everyone. welcome to politics and prose. i'm an event staffer here and for those of you that don't know as much about us it's