"Moment of Zen"

Erik and Dan are joined by special guest Mike Solana, Editor-in-Chief of Pirate Wires (https://www.piratewires.com/) to discuss the recent AI congressional hearings, political polarization, Elon’s reign at Twitter, and much more. RECOMMENDED PODCAST: Upstream Podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/Upstream YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UpstreamwithErikTorenberg LINKS: Mike Solana's Interview with Grimes (https://www.piratewires.com/p/base-reality-an-interview-with-grimes-6b3) Dan's sci-fi book recommendation: Delta-v by Daniel Suarez TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Preview of episode (01:44) On what Mike Solana would say to Congress about AI (08:30) Contrasting Zuck, Brian Armstrong, and Sam Altman’s approach to regulation (15:09) Recommendation: Upstream (15:35) Sponsor: Secureframe (16:05) AI doomerism is just marketing for big AI (26:25) Elon’s wins and losses so far as Twitter CEO (38:57) Taylor Lorenz Mythology (41:40) Twitter’s regime change // How the tables have turned. Muahahaha. (45:00) What we’d do if we were Twitter CEO (51:00) Evolution of polarization (59:00) Silver lining of polarization (1:05:00) Distinguishing Elon’s antics from his philosophy (1:14:00) Trump feels more familiar in 2023 vs. 2016 (1:18:00) The right is adopting woke tactics (1:22:00) Social media and depression follow up (1:24:00) Is half of Gen Z non-straight? (1:28:00) Ellen Pao (1:34:30) Is Pirate Wires conservative media? (No) Please support our sponsors: Secureframe - Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/ Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year.

Journalist and author Liel Leibovitz joins Antonio and Erik for a deep discussion that “solves all outstanding Israel issues once and for all.” They discuss what’s going on with Israeli and US politics, Israel’s foundational choice ahead, and why wokeness is not penetrating Israel. LINKS: Liel’s writings for Tablet: https://www.tabletmag.com/contributors/liel-leibovitz RECOMMENDED PODCASTS: Upstream with Erik Torenberg: https://link.chtbl.com/Upstream Unorthodox from Tablet: https://www.tabletmag.com/tags/unorthodox TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode preview (02:06) Askhenazi vs Sephardic (03:14) Universalism vs Particularism (14:28) Sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire (36:08) Christian vs Jewish notions of Justice (48:28) Liel’s political evolution (51:42) Palestinians vs Israelis (59:53) Abraham Accords - Obama vs Trump approach to Israel (1:06:00) What do the left vs right of Israel believe? (1:11:00) What does Netanyahu want (1:15:02) Liel is Long-term bullish, short-term bearish on Israel (1:18:00) Israel isn’t dependent on U.S. anymore (1:28:27) What would Liel’s smartest critic say about this conversation (1:33:52) Future of America / Israel relationship TWITTER: @MOZ_Podcast @liel (Liel) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @antoniogm (Antonio) More shownotes released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ Please support our sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire - Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/ Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year. Secureframe has just released Secureframe Trust, a new product that lets you showcase your organization's security posture to build customer trust. - MarketerHire: https://marketerhire.com/moz MarketerHire is one of my favorite resources for growing startups looking to hire marketers. With 1000s of pre-vetted marketers across a dozen roles, whether you need help with growth, marketing, SEO, lifecycle, content, or any other aspect of growth marketing strategy. Over 5,000 companies already use MarketerHire to hire expert marketers on demand, ranging from top venture-backed startups to the most well-known Fortune 500s. Go to marketerhire.com/moz and use code MOZ to get your $1,000 credit for your first hire.

Dan and Erik discuss how Elon got coded right-wing, why liberals are more depressed than conservatives, crime and prisons. LINKS: Patrick Collison interviews Sam Altman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1egAKCKPKCk RECOMMENDED PODCAST: Upstream with Erik Torenberg: https://link.chtbl.com/Upstream TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode preview (01:48) Twitter’s new CEO and Elon (8:00) When did Elon become right-wing coded? (14:00) Contrasting Zuck and Elon (15:28) Sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire (17:26) Contrasting Elon and Sam Altman (22:00) Elon’s quest to increase “net truth” (28:00) AI race / live players (30:45) Accountability within private vs public sector (33:00) Facebook bull case (39:30) Jonathan Haidt’s anti-facebook case (44:00) Why depression is on the rise (50:00) Why liberals are more depressed than conservatives (58:00) Living in America is higher variance (1:05:00) Different approaches to curbing crime TWITTER: @MOZ_Podcast @eriktorenberg (Erik) @dwr (Dan) More shownotes released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ Please support our sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire - Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/ Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year. Secureframe has just released Secureframe Trust, a new product that lets you showcase your organization's security posture to build customer trust. - MarketerHire: https://marketerhire.com/moz MarketerHire is one of my favorite resources for growing startups looking to hire marketers. With 1000s of pre-vetted marketers across a dozen roles, whether you need help with growth, marketing, SEO, lifecycle, content, or any other aspect of growth marketing strategy. Over 5,000 companies already use MarketerHire to hire expert marketers on demand, ranging from top venture-backed startups to the most well-known Fortune 500s. Go to marketerhire.com/moz and use code MOZ to get your $1,000 credit for your first hire.

Ben Smith is the co-founder of Semafor and author of the forthcoming book Traffic joins Erik Torenberg and Antonio Garcia Martinez for a discussion about the hostility between tech and media, what digital media startups got wrong, analysis of institutions like The New York Times, and what the future of media holds. Also, check out the debut of Erik's long-form interview podcast Upstream. He most recently interviewed Joe Lonsdale and David Sacks. Subscribe here: https://link.chtbl.com/Upstream REFERENCES: Ben's new book: Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral Semafor: https://www.semafor.com/ TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (3:00) Ben Smith’s book “Traffic” 8:00 Buzzfeed’s cultural impact (10:00) Regrets around the Steele Dossier (15:00) Sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire (16:30) Objectivity vs subjectivity in journalsim (20:00) Left wing vs right wing journalism (25:20) Tech media (29:00) Cambridge Analytica bullshit (33:00) Buzzfeed Uber controversy (36:30) Tech and media fall out (49:30) The root of tech vs media dissonance (1:05:00) Free speech (1:12:00) “The book is a eulogy to a rotting corpse that got what was coming to it” (1:15:30) Ads vs subscription (1:20:00) Future of media TWITTER: @MOZ_Podcast @semaforben (Ben) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @antoniogm (Antonio) More shownotes released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ Please support our sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire - Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/ Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year. - MarketerHire: https://marketerhire.com/moz MarketerHire is one of my favorite resources for growing startups looking to hire marketers. With 1000s of pre-vetted marketers across a dozen roles, whether you need help with growth, marketing, SEO, lifecycle, content, or any other aspect of growth marketing strategy. Over 5,000 companies already use MarketerHire to hire expert marketers on demand, ranging from top venture-backed startups to the most well-known Fortune 500s. Go to marketerhire.com/moz and use code MOZ to get your $1,000 credit for your first hire. Thank you Graham Bessellieu for production.

Katherine joins Erik, Antonio, and Dan to discuss the hidden forces that shape founders, major divides in tech, and whether she should join our show as a cohost. Check out Erik's long-form interview podcast "Upstream with Erik Torenberg" wherever you get your podcasts. He most recently interviewed Joe Lonsdale, David Sacks, and more. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (5:00) Fatherhood and founders (10:00) What is “Seriousness” (13:39) Sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire (16:00) Elon (20:30) Software and hardware (26:30) Are founders psychologically off? (35:00) SpaceX and Starship (43:00) Where would Steve Jobs be today? (48:00) Twitter and Substack (1:07:00) Florida is a COVID phenomenon, not a ZIRP phenomenon (1:17:00) Can we pressure Katherine join Moment of Zen as the fourth cohost? (1:18:00) Sending kids to Catholic school TWITTER: @MOZ_Podcast @KTmBoyle @eriktorenberg @dwr @antoniogm More shownotes released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ *Please support our sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire* - Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/ Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year. - MarketerHire: https://marketerhire.com/moz MarketerHire is one of my favorite resources for growing startups looking to hire marketers. With 1000s of pre-vetted marketers across a dozen roles, whether you need help with growth, marketing, SEO, lifecycle, content, or any other aspect of growth marketing strategy. Over 5,000 companies already use MarketerHire to hire expert marketers on demand, ranging from top venture-backed startups to the most well-known Fortune 500s. Go to marketerhire.com/moz and use code MOZ to get your $1,000 credit for your first hire. Thank you Graham Bessellieu for production.

San Francisco advocate Michelle Tandler (@michelletandler on Twitter) joins Erik and Dan to discuss how Twitter has impacted her life, the state of SF politics, and how she would address the homeless crisis in San Francisco. This episode is a great companion to Episode 17 with Mike Solana, another passionate advocate for fixing the city of San Francisco. Michelle is a founder and writes a newsletter at notesfromthefront.substack.com. Also, check out the debut of Erik's long-form interview podcast Upstream. He most recently interviewed Joe Lonsdale and David Sacks. Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/3z8TldL Spotify: bit.ly/40letd0 REFERENCES:  Sam Quinones' book - Dream Land: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-True-Americas-Opiate-Epidemic-ebook/dp/B00U19DTS0 Sam Quinones' book - The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth https://www.amazon.com/Least-Us-Tales-America-Fentanyl-ebook/dp/B0932RRNVL/ Matt Taibbi’s book - Hate Inc. https://www.amazon.com/Hate-Inc-Todays-Despise-Another/dp/1682194078/ TIMESTAMPS: (0:00) Episode preview (03:45) Michelle’s friend group (10:00) Twitter shapes the real world (13:00) Trump derangement syndrome (15:00) Sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire (17:00) Reading the news (21:00) The war on drugs (37:30) How to fix SF (49:00) History of media polarization (58:00) Michelle’s three point plan if she were mayor (1:14:00) Should Michelle run for office? (1:20:00 )Twitter reshaping politics TWITTER: @MOZ_Podcast @michelletandler (Michelle) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @dwr (Dan) More shownotes released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ Please support our sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire - Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/ Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year. - MarketerHire: https://marketerhire.com/moz MarketerHire is one of my favorite resources for growing startups looking to hire marketers. With 1000s of pre-vetted marketers across a dozen roles, whether you need help with growth, marketing, SEO, lifecycle, content, or any other aspect of growth marketing strategy. Over 5,000 companies already use MarketerHire to hire expert marketers on demand, ranging from top venture-backed startups to the most well-known Fortune 500s. Go to marketerhire.com/moz and use code MOZ to get your $1,000 credit for your first hire. Thank you Graham Bessellieu for production.

Dan and Erik discuss picking markets, NFT's, disinformation, and Fentanyl. Also, check out the debut of Erik's new long-form interview podcast Upstream. This coming season features interviews with Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, Ezra Sacks, David Sacks, Katherine Boyle, Joe Lonsdale, and more upcoming. Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/3z8TldL Spotify: bit.ly/40letd0 TIMESTAMPS: (0:00) Preview of episode (0:45) Crypto in a bear market (8:00) How to pick markets (16:45) Sponsors - Secureframe | MarketerHire (17:57) Why do NFTs matter (47:00) Disinformation (1:00:00) Social media fragmentation (1:09:00) Biggest U.S problems (1:12:00) How to fix the Fentanyl program TWITTER: @MOZ_Podcast @eriktorenberg (Erik) @dwr (Dan) More shownotes and reading material released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ Please support our sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire - Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/ Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year. - MarketerHire: https://marketerhire.com/moz MarketerHire is one of my favorite resources for growing startups looking to hire marketers. With 1000s of pre-vetted marketers across a dozen roles, whether you need help with growth, marketing, SEO, lifecycle, content, or any other aspect of growth marketing strategy. Over 5,000 companies already use MarketerHire to hire expert marketers on demand, ranging from top venture-backed startups to the most well-known Fortune 500s. Go to marketerhire.com/moz and use code MOZ to get your $1,000 credit for your first hire. Thank you Graham Bessellieu for production.

Our guest this week is Mike Solana, founder and editor-in-chief of Pirate Wires (Piratewires.com). We discuss the broken local politics of San Francisco, tech and media fights, how we should handle Tik Tok,and why AI enthusiasts are losing. We record our interviews with Riverside. Go to https://bit.ly/Riverside_MoZ + use code ZEN for 20%.  Also, check out the debut of Erik's new long-form interview podcast Upstream. This coming season features interviews with Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, Ezra Sacks (all live already), David Sacks, Katherine Boyle, Joe Lonsdale, and more upcoming. Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/3z8TldL Spotify: bit.ly/40letd0 TIMESTAMPS: (0:00) Antonio’s EA rant (2:12) Local SF politics is changing (18:10) Tech vs. Media (26:30) Sponsors: Secureframe and Riverside (28:00 )Why does SF hate tech? (31:00) How to win over California (38:00) Institutionalist vs. anti-institutionalist (55:50) Taylor Lorenz (1:01:30) Tik Tok (1:03:40) Why Solana isn’t a libertarian anymore (1:07:55) Why is the onus on billionaires instead of government (1:14:20) Dan swears off Peter Zeihan (1:16:00) Anti-tech tech podcasts (1:18:20) AI criticism is coming from within tech (1:19:50) Aella (1:21:30) AI safety debate (1:32:00) What Solana is motivated by TWITTER: @MOZ_Podcast @micsolana (Mike) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @dwr (Dan) @antoniogm (Antonio) More shownotes and reading material released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/  Thank you to Secureframe for sponsoring (Use "Moment of Zen" for 20% discount) and Graham Bessellieu for production.

Anton Troynikov of Chroma, Flo Crivello of Lindy AI, and Nathan Labenz of Waymark and co-host of The Cognitive Revolution podcast join Erik Torenberg for a timely debate on the issues raised in the AI open letter which advocates for a 6-month pause on AI system trainings. Dan and Antonio will be back next week. 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, Balaji Srinivasan, Ezra Sacks, David Sacks, Katherine Boyle, and more.  Links: Open letter: https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments/ Scott Aronson blog post: https://scottaaronson.blog/ Timestamps: (3:00) Explanation of the AI open letter (3:50) Anton’s skepticism of the open letter (7:00) Flo’s skepticism of the open letter (13:00) Nathan’s support for the open letter (15:39) Sponsors (20:00) Differences between Flo and Anton’s positions (30:00) GPT4 is still dangerous (38:00) Luddites/“Pausers” are on the wrong side of history (42:00 )Why not pause 6 months? (50:00) Anton and Flo debate robotics (56:00) What we’re all scared of with AI (1:21:00) Is there asymmetric risk with pausing or not pausing? Twitter @MOZ_Podcast @atroyn (Anton) @labenz (Nathan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @altimor (Flo) 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.

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