Rufus interviews Jim Rutt on his life journey to becoming chairman of the Santa Fe Institute and a leading pioneer of ‘Game B’. Rutt shares insight into the failures of the Game A financial system. Rufus and Rutt explore the historical context of our ‘Game A’ system and what characteristics a Game B communities need to survive and grow with integrity.

About the episode

In this Life Itself Podcast, Jim Rutt, a complexity thinker and former tech entrepreneur, recounts his early life hitchhiking across America and his journey to becoming a senior figure in Thomson’s internet transition (1992–1999) and Network Solutions’ $15 billion sale in 2000. Rutt details his early awareness of Game A’s unsustainability and bringing his work on complexity science, markets and social systems to the Santa Fe Institute. Rutt details the founding dialogues with Jordan Hall that led to ‘Game B’ a decentralised societal model to replace Game A—a civilisational mode Rutt and Rufus trace back to the treaty of Westphalia. Rutt describes the intensity of ‘willing to die’ spirit necessary for Game B values to take root & the kinds of meditation structures needed for Game B communities to scale together.

Chapters:

* 00:01:55 – Jim’s Childhood and 1976 Hitchhiking Adventures

* 00:16:23 – Leading Thomson’s Internet Transition (1992–1999)

* 00:18:38 – Realizing Game A’s Unsustainability (1994)

* 00:27:00 – Joining the Santa Fe Institute

* 00:29:25 – Uncovering the Monetary-Finance-Business Nexus (2007–2008)

* 00:29:31 – Reflections on Money and the Debt Regime

* 00:35:35 – Planning for an Uncertain Future

* 00:36:38 – The Treaty of Westphalia and Game A’s Foundations

* 01:40:37 – Introducing Game B

* 02:02:20 – Defining Game A and Game B

* 02:19:00 – The Personal-Institutional Spiral and Game B Communities

About the speakers:

Jim Rutt is the former CEO of Network Solutions. The New York Times once referred to him as “the Internet’s bad boy” due to his reputation for creative mischief. He sold Network Solutions at the peak of the Dot Com boom and then went into scientific research. Jim has been affiliated with the Santa Fe Institute since 2002, serving as Chairman from 2009 thru 2012. Since that time he has been spearheading the Game B movement and host of the Jim Rutt Show. “Dividend Money” Everything Jim Learned about money

The Jim Rutt Show: https://www.jimruttshow.com

Substack: Jim Rutt

“Dividend Money” Everything Jim Learned about money

Rufus Pollock is an entrepreneur, activist and author as well as a long-term zen practitioner. He is passionate about finding wiser, weller ways to live together. He has founded several for-profit and nonprofit initiatives including Life Itself, Open Knowledge Foundation, and Datopian. His book Open Revolution is about making a radically freer and fairer information age. Previously he has been the Mead Fellow in Economics at the University of Cambridge as well as a Shuttleworth and Ashoka Fellow. A recognized global expert on the information society, he has worked with G7 governments, IGOs like the UN, Fortune 500s as well as many civil society organizations. He holds a PhD in Economics and a double first in Mathematics from the University of Cambridge.

Jim Rutt: From Dotcom Boom to Game A Collapse