Justin Rezvani is the founder and CEO of Zion. In this interview, we discuss completing Ironman, his near-death experience, recovery and perspectives, and motivations for building a new business. Justin explains his vision to enable creators to own distribution and the future of social media.
00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:21 Getting fit the hard way: overweight to Ironman
00:11:36 The day I died; seeing another version of me; brain surgery
00:22:24 Impacts; risks; recovery
00:30:41 A new approach to living: preparing to be at peace at death
00:40:14 The vision to enable creators to own distribution
00:53:31 A social platform that can’t cancel a community
01:03:58 The future of social media: censorship, hate, algorithms
01:15:18 The failures of legacy social media platforms
“It’s the worst parts of us that sometimes are displayed on these centralised networks because it’s driven by these algorithms, and I do think that the algorithms don’t know the difference between love and hate because they’re not humans; they just know the difference between high engagement and low engagement and virality.”
— Justin Rezvani
Justin Rezvani is the founder and CEO of Zion. In this interview, we discuss completing Ironman, his near-death experience, recovery and perspectives, and motivations for building a new business. Justin explains his vision to enable creators to own distribution and the future of social media.
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Not many of us walk through life thinking any day could be our last. But most live as though we have unlimited tomorrows. We leave dreams unfulfilled, arguments unresolved, our attention diverted to the wrong priorities. For those who experience death, but live to tell the tale, it is a pivotal event that leads to a refocused life.
And for those who do get a second chance, they tend to grab opportunities as they arise. Justin came through a near-death experience and traumatic rehabilitation. Once recovered he seized the chance to use Bitcoin to remake social media. Better for creators, and users, for the curation and protection of online discussion and for the development of communities.
The issues with current centralised platforms are obvious to all at the moment. Business models are incentivised to capture attention, not to nurture civil debate. The digital town square has turned into a digital bear bit. And yet censorship has turned into a blunt instrument open to abuse. The rule book needs rewriting.
Bitcoin, decentralised identification and other technology offer an opportunity to provide creators ownership of the distribution. Communities will no longer be tied to a platform. There will always be aggregators of content, but creators and their audience will now have the flexibility to move across a decentralised internet if and when they choose or require.
