Moment of Zen

Writer, VC, and podcaster Nic Carter joins us to talk about Balaji's bet, Operation Chokepoint 2.0, and the Fed's financial crisis. We record our interviews with Riverside. Go to https://bit.ly/Riverside_MoZ + use code ZEN for 20%. Check out the debut of Erik's new longform interview podcast Upstream. This coming season features interviews with Marc Andreessen (Episode 1 is live now), David Sacks, Ezra Klein, Balaji Srinivasan, Katherine Boyle, and more. Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/3z8TldL Spotify: bit.ly/40letd0 Podcast Info: (0:00) Intro (3:00) Reflections on Balaji episode  (10:00) Coinbase and SVB (14:00) Sponsors (15:00) Operation chokepoint 2.0 (16:45) We find out the reason for Antonio’s circumcision (25:00) Crypto banking crisis (36:00) How much of crypto is new? (38:40) Main benefits of crypto  (47:20) Finance is politicized  (55:00) Defining a CDBC (1:02:00) Nic’s biggest crypto beef (1:07:30) Nic’s take on Balaji’s bet (1:12:30) Why crypto should vote republicans next election (1:19:30) We’re in a financial crisis caused by the fed (1:20:30) Our options for addressing the crisis (1:27:00) If we were kings for a day how we’d solve it (1:28:50) Nic would rather cut rates than raise rates (1:30:00) AI is the U.S.’s main hope More shownotes and reading material released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ Thank you Secureframe for sponsoring (Use "Moment of Zen" for 20% discount) and Graham Bessellieu for production.

Balaji Srinivasan tells us why he is making a $1M BTC prediction and discusses SVB, the financial crisis, the digital devaluation of the USD, and what comes next.  Check out the debut of Erik's new longform interview podcast Upstream. This coming season features interviews with Marc Andreessen (Episode 1 is live now), David Sacks, Ezra Klein, Balaji Srinivasan, Katherine Boyle, and more. Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/3z8TldL Spotify: bit.ly/40letd0   (8:00) What happened with SVB     (15:00) Constructive debate     (59:00) Where we agree and where we disagree     (1:07:00) If the U.S. implodes, there’s no where else to go     (1:18:00) Responding to critics     More shownotes and reading material released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ We record our interviews with Riverside. Go to https://bit.ly/Riverside_MoZ + use code ZEN for 20% Thank you Secureframe for sponsoring (Use "Moment of Zen" for 20% discount) and Graham Bessellieu for production.

0:00 Intro 0:45 Sponsors 1:28 Dan’s story with SVB 6:00 Byrne intro (Check out Thediff.co) 7:00 How Byrne identified SVB’s insolvency 15:30 How banking works 22:10 Fractional reserve banking 27:00 Banking on-chain 32:00 Understanding illiquidity 46:00 Housing market 53:00 How much can crypto recreate the financial system? 1:08:00 Crypto is financial system for digital native world 1:15:25 Are we at the end of (financial) history? 1:20:00 Finance is never solved

Anonymous founders of the Effective Accelerationist (e/acc) movement @Bayeslord and Beff Jezoz (@BasedBeff) join Erik Torenberg, Dan Romero, and Nathan Labenz to debate views on AI safety. We record our interviews with Riverside. Go to https://bit.ly/Riverside_MoZ + use code ZEN for 20%. (3:00) Intro to effective accelerationism (8:00) Differences between effective accelerationism and effective altruism (23:00) Effective accelerationism is bottoms-up (42:00) Transhumanism (46:00) "Equanimity amidst the singularity" (48:30) Why AI safety is the wrong frame (56:00) Pushing back against effective accelerationism (1:06:00) The case for AI safety (1:24:00) Upgrading civilizational infrastructure (1:33:00) Effective accelerationism is anti-fragile (1:39:00) Will we botch AI like we botched nuclear? (1:46:00) Hidden costs of emphasizing downsides (2:00:00) Are we in the same position as neanderthals, before humans? (2:09:00) "Doomerism has an unpriced opportunity cost of upside" More shownotes and reading material released in our Substack:https://momentofzen.substack.com/ Thank you Secureframe for sponsoring (Use "Moment of Zen" for 20% discount) and Graham Bessellieu for production.

"If you can't compete on history, compete on philosophy" We record our interviews with Riverside. Go to https://bit.ly/Riverside_MoZ + use code ZEN for 20%. Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MomentofZenPodcast. (0:00) Intro   (13:00) Why knowing history makes you a better entrepreneur   (20:00) Christianity’s moral innovations   (29:00) America as culture exporter   (37:00) Consumer culture and social progressivism   (50:00) Egalitarianism eats the world   (1:04:48) Equality of Opportunity vs Equality of Outcome   (1:12:00) Equality of Opportunity IS Equality of Outcome   (1:17:00) Wokeness isn't recedingMore shownotes and reading material released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/Thank you Secureframe for sponsoring (Use "Moment of Zen" for 20% discount) and Graham Bessellieu for production.

(2:15) Replika caused Amjad to downgrade his view of humanity (3:15) Some men are down bad (5:15) Should we bring back monogamy? (8:15) If you’re not a top man, you’re screwed (phew) (13:00) Thought experiment (16:40) Antonio brings up Israel again (drink!) (18:15) “You don’t know what life is until you birth a child and bury a parent” (19:15) Unintended policy side effects (25:25) How to solve population crisis (27:45) WTF happened in 1971? (29:15) High and low time preference (35:15) Dating app preferences (39:00) Group narcissism (41:25) Groups that inbreed focus more on kinship (45:15) AI doomerism (50:45) from New Atheism to SJ to EA to AI Safety (1:00:15) Antonio calls out Eliezer Yudkowski (1:00:45) Criticizing Utilitarianism/Effective Altruism (1:10:15) Jesus vs Nietzsche (1:10:45) Bronze Age Pervert (1:13:15) Antonio recommends converting to Judaism (1:14:30) Why is EA so popular in Silicon Valley? (1:18:10) Why are EA just normie liberals (1:19:00) EA’s importance (1:24:15) The right way to think about alignment (1:27:15) Robert Conquest’s second law (1:30:15) Entryism (1:33:45) is right wing EA a thing?More shownotes and reading material in our brand new Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ Thank you Secureframe for sponsoring (Use "Moment of Zen" for 20% discount)

(0:00) intro (1:50) sponsor (2:15) What determines a country’s success (6:00) Chinese collapse? (8:35) Why does Ukraine matter? (13:30) Can America be isolationist? (20:20) Are we in a Cold War with China? (25:45) Unpacking the new right (35:44) The future of wokeness (41:40) How Noah finds meaning in life (petting rabbits) (44:20) Noah defends his liberalism (53:00) American cope (57:00) Why American infrastructure sucks (1:01:00) Fake liberals (1:06:30) Why California is a one-party state (1:15:00) Tech’s political shift (1:20:00) Noah’s advice to tech people

(1:00) Why is ChatGPT woke? (6:23) DAN (do anything now) (12:20) Who cares if chatGPT is a little woke? (16:00) OpenAI is just protecting themselves (23:00) Why is it so bad that chatGPT is a little woke? (27:00) Why not compete with openAI directly? (33:00) Why pluralism instead of truthism? (40:00) How can pluralism win? (42:00) Polarization is good (51:00) The arc of technology is centralization (1:12:30) Reconciling contradictions (1:21:40) Explaining The Cathedral (1:32:00) Why politics matters for techWatch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MomentofZenPodcastSubscribe to our newsletter: https://momentofzen.substack.com/

(0:00) Intro (1:10) Sponsor (Secureframe) (3:10) Has Aarthi always been more based than Sriram? (6:40) Attribution (10:10) Legitimacy (14:30) Brokenism vs Institutionalism (19:40) Attention as influence (26:00) Should Twitter eliminate trending topics? (28:30) Antonio’s cultural elitism (32:00) Low vs High culture (41:50) Who are the elites? (51:10) WWE & Kayfabe (1:01:45) Lex Fridman (1:11:10) Andrew Huberman (1:19:00) Bryan Johnson (1:21:00) Lindy (1:24:00) Against a la carte beliefs Thank you Secureframe for sponsoring (Use "Moment of Zen" for 20% discount) and Rob Perla, Natalie Toren, and Molly Mielke for production/art direction.  The Cognitive Revolution, AI podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Waii0i1bBFY  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-cognitive-revolution/id1669813431 Twitter: @moz_podcast @sriramk (Sriram) @aarthir (Aarthi) @Dwr (Dan) @Antoniogm (Antonio) @Eriktorenberg (Erik)

0:00) Preview of the debate (0:30) Sponsor (1:00) Nathan introducing our new upcoming AI podcast, The Cognitive Revolution (3:45) Flo’s take on the AI moment and AGI (8:20) Amjad’s take on the AI moment (15:00) Is chatGPT a step function change? (23:45) AI’s effect on coding (34:40) Amjad believes AI is underhyped (35:00) Bounties (53:15) What AI companies should VCs invest in? (57:30) Antonio/Flo pre-debate (1:00:15) “All knowledge work will be automated in 20 years” (1:01:00) Antonio’s AI skepticism (1:05:20) the inflection point is a jump in generality (1:06:00) Who will capture value, incumbents or startups? (1:14:30) Segue into AI and crypto (1:20:00) Flo’s crypto skepticism (1:23:40) Antonio and Flo HEATED DEBATE (1:26:30) Dan tries to calm everybody down (1:27:00) Dan’s crypto perspective (1:29:30) Antonio’s crypto perspective (1:31:50) Amjad’s Bitcoin maximalist view (1:34:55) Amjad’s hilarious rant on crypto ponzis (1:38:00) Dan and Amjad debate Bitcoin/Ethereum (1:40:00) AI vs Web 3 brawl (1:52:32) Amjad’s AI predictions

(0:00) intro   (2:00) Political and class realignments   (14:35) Trump vs DeSantis   (24:10) Future of both political parties   (27:55) Would Saagar ever get involved in politics?   (32:00) Differences between Silicon Valley and DC   (35:20) There will never be another Trump   (38:30) Media’s impact on politics   (54:40) Antonio thinks we stopped recording and goes off   (56:00) who the f*** is Chuck Todd?   (57:10) How media is evolving   Sponsored by Secureframe, produced by Rob Perla

(0:00) intro and sponsor   (1:20) introductions (who the f are we?)   (3:00) Antonio introduction   (5:12) Dan introduction   (6:50) Farcaster   (10:10) Erik introduction   (12:30) the life of the mind vs the life of the founder   (16:00) Being in the arena as a requisite to comment   (18:30) Why is the podcast named “Moment of Zen”?   (20:20) Erik is the Johnny Appleseed of group chats   (23:30) Group chat culture   (26:55) Reforming institutions vs building new ones   (29:30) Antonio’s intellectual evolution   (30:40) Europe is behind, but Antonio prefers it   (31:40) Antonio feels like a teetotaler who runs a bar   (32:50) LARPs   (34:00) Explaining Fukuyama   (37:50) What’s the best functioning institution today?   (39:10) Richard Hanania   (42:30) We don’t have a grand unifying projects anymore   (45:00) Should the China threat be the unifying narrative?   (48:05) Taiwan   (49:56) Explaining Zeihan   (1:00:20) When shit hits the fan, what country do you flee to?   (1:02:40) Why doesn’t Prince Harry get a paternity test?   (1:04:00) Europe vs America   (1:08:20) Dan is bullish on Europeans, bearish on Europe   (1:11:20) “Everything except the startup scene is better in Europe”   (1:15:19) Why is the US public sector so much worse?   (1:21:35) Why are we doing this show?   (1:22:32) “How about we just don’t get canceled?”   (1:23:55) Teasing upcoming guests   (1:24:34) Erik’s favorite ex-convict?

(0:00) - Antonio’s circumcision (1:20) - The future of Replit (6:30) - The future of coding (9:46) - The Steve Jobs Blackpill (12:00) - Will AGI lead to the death of humans? (18:13) - AGM thinks AGI dystopia is bullshit, religion for nerds (21:12) - Why is there a human need for “end of times” theory? (23:20) - Climate science is unsettled (25:55) - AGM swears he has no idea who Curtis Yarvin is (Who is Curtis Yarvin? - editor) (26:25) - Dan wrestles with the guilt of bringing another human into this cold, ugly world (27:00) - Amjad’s counter-narrative to the AGI dystopia narrative (29:30) - How can AI become consciousness if we don’t know what consciousness is? (32:15) - “AGM do you want to share your story with an AI girlfriend?” (32:58) - Amjad’s Palestinian background and his identity crisis (37:00) - Redpill moments (39:17) - The media never lies (40:35) - Russel Conjugation (41:50) - Comparing Islam and Judaism (43:44) - Judaism isn’t about faith, it’s about practice (51:00) - Transhumanism vs Ludditism (51:50) - Was The Unabomber a left-wing or right-wing nut? (55:15) - Ludditism never works, you can’t roll technology back (57:00) - Antonio’s redpilling (58:30) - Raising a family with or without religion (1:04:40) - Dismissing religion is the classic midwit meme (1:07:20) - History is a series of conspiracies (1:15:00) - Modern day true conspiracies (1:21:05) - “Are the frogs gay?” (1:22:50) - Why does truth matter? (1:30:40) - Prediction Markets (1:36:30) - The only places where truth matters: wars, elections, and markets

(00:00) - Intro (1:00) - Unpacking the famous SBF quote (4:00) - Introducing Joe Henrich’s “WEIRD” (6:15) - Introducing Tom Holland’s “Dominion” (7:10) - Nietzsche’s criticism of Christianity (8:45) - Christianity’s inversion of morality (11:40) - Is Wokeness the logical conclusion of Christianity? (15:00) - The Christ narrative as the central narrative (16:20) - Are there any alternatives to WEIRD - Is WEIRD taking over the world? (17:20) - Antonio’s circumcision (20:30) - Why we can’t have Nietzschian morality in TV shows (24:30) - Kanye, Trump, Elon (26:30) - Introducing James Burnham and the rise of professional managerial class (31:30) - How Elon is a threat to the PMC (34:00) - Can other countries resist WEIRD? (38:30) - What would Balaji say about the case for America? (41:50) - Balaji’s Network State (43:20) - is social media going to fragment? (46:35) - America is consistent with the process of evolution 48:20 - We need more cleaving of the elites Thanks to Secureframe for being our first sponsor. Sign up at secureframe.com and mention "Moment of Zen" for 20% off

(0:00) All-in Tribute (1:15) What happens to SBF? FTX = Enron + Theranos (5:00) History of collapses in crypto (8:10) DeFi/Web3 actually works (11:35) Redemption arc for SBF/Caroline? Comparing with other frauds (15:37) In an alternate universe, what could FTX have become? Steelmanning FTX the business (22:30) What’s going to happen to Twitter? (24:20) How would we advise Elon? (25:20) Is controversy good for Twitter? (26:10) The killer app for Twitter is to dunk on your enemies (26:40) Bull case for Twitter (34:00) Tech civil war? The fight for free speech (40:15) Future of AI - open vs closed? (45:10) Intersection of AI and crypto (53:00) Role for gov’t regulation (58:50) 2023 Predictions Dan Romero: www.twitter.com/dwr Antonio Garcia Martinez: www.twitter.com/antoniogm Erik Torenberg: www.twitter.com/eriktorenberg Marc Andreessen: www.twitter.com/pmarca Thanks to Rob Perla and Molly Mielke for production