Big Ideas: Recent Episodes
Big Ideas
Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) and Patrick Blumenthal (@PatrickJBlum) interview some of the world's leading economists, political scientists, and philosophers to discuss their ideas and what they mean for society, technology, and the economy.
Corporal Dmytro joins New Frontier to discuss his experiences in the Ukrainian military and the ongoing conflict with Russia. Some highlights:
- Firsthand account of the Russian invasion's early days and the chaos of initial combat operations
- Evolution of the conflict from early artillery dominance to drone warfare and trench combat
- Comparison of Ukrainian and Russian military capabilities and adaptations over time
- Impact of Western aid on Ukraine's defensive capabilities and morale
- Realities of frontline combat, including the constant threat of artillery and drone strikes
- Challenges of fighting against numerically superior Russian forces
- Shift in global perception of the conflict's duration and Ukraine's resilience
- Critical role of continued Western financial and military support
Brian Streem joins Patrick Blumenthal (@PatrickJBlum) to discuss building his startup in Ukraine and his thoughts on the conflict. Some highlights:
- Brian's company Vermeer and its vision-based navigation system for GPS-denied environments
- Brian's journey from film production and drone cinematography to defense technology
- The impact of Russian electronic warfare on GPS-dependent systems
- Why Brian decided to move to Ukraine to work on the ground
- The challenges and opportunities of developing defense technology in an active war zone
- Differences between US and Ukrainian defense tech entrepreneurs
- The balance between innovation and immediate battlefield needs in Ukraine
- Brian's perspective on the importance of the Ukraine conflict and its global implications
Marian Tupy (@Marian_L_Tupy) joins Patrick Blumenthal (@PatrickJBlum) to discuss his book Superabundance, innovation, doomerism, and much more. Some highlights:
- Do we already live in an Age of Superabundance?
- Are the values of the Enlightenment getting stronger or weaker?
- Why do we still have so many dormers?
- Why is doomerism seemingly so embraced by elites?
- The power of Malthusian ideas
- Is underpopulation an existential risk?
- Can technology save us from underpopulation?
- What causes resource curses?
- Will we have civilizational collapses in our lifetime?
- How fragile is the world today?
- Are we actually in a Great Stagnation?
- The usefulness of Time Prices
- Should we pause AI?
- Which countries is Marian bullish/bearish on?
Bilal Zuberi of Lux Capital (@bznotes) joins Patrick Blumenthal (@PatrickJBlum) to discuss Tech, Defense, Policy, and everything in-between. Some highlights:
* What Bilal looks for in a founder as a Lux GP
* What makes a great DefenseTech founder?
* How does DoD view Silicon Valley?
* Is DefenseTech in a bubble?
* Immigrant Founders in the Tech Ecosystem
* Tech’s Responsibility to Society
* Should we be pessimistic or optimistic about the world right now?
* Is AI headed towards regulatory capture?
* How Media isn’t actually against Tech
* Bilal’s Request for Startups
Byrne Hobart (@byrnehobart) and Tobias Huber (@TobiasAHuber) join Patrick Blumenthal (@PatrickJBlum) to discuss the future of Artificial Intelligence. They cover:
* Is AI going to kill us? Is AI going to take all of our jobs and cause massive inequality? Is it going to destroy truth?
* Is it better to be a tech incumbent or a startup right now?
* Is the future of software one-time-use?
* What are the consequences of negative mainstream media coverage of AI?
* Will model interpretability increase or decrease over time?
* Will AI be subject to regulatory capture? Will it be over regulated?
* What would the civilizational consequences of an AI ban be?
* What are the realistic trade offs of AI? What turmoil will it cause?
* How should DC approach regulating AI?
* What is the optimistic vision for AI?
* Is China ahead or behind the US in AI progress?
* How should people prepare themselves for AI?
Bill Martin of Raging Capital Ventures (@RagingVentures) joins Patrick Blumenthal (@PatrickJBlum) to discuss his prediction of SVB's collapse and his views on the state of the world. Some highlights:
* How Did Bill Predict SVB’s Collapse?
* His Other Bets and What Happens Next?
* Who Is at Fault for SVB’s Collapse? SVB? The Fed? VCs?
* The Impact of Passive Investing and Woke Capital on the Investment Landscape
* What Are the Lessons for Entrepreneurs and Regulators?
* Should Depositors Lose Their Money?
* Are We Learning Our Lessons from Crises?
* Should the Fed Continue Rate Hikes?
* How Should We Invest in the Current Climate? What’s Safe?
* Growing Tensions with China
* What Would Bill Do If He Was Starting His Career out Today?"
Michael Gibson (@William_Blake) of 1517 Fund joins Patrick Blumenthal (@PatrickJBlum) to discuss his new book, “Paper Belt on Fire: How Renegade Investors Sparked a Revolt Against the University.” They discuss:
- What is the Paper Belt, and Why Should We Light it on Fire?
- The Modern Indulgences of the University System
- What are Alternatives to the College Degree?
- What Can We Learn from the Success of the Thiel Fellowship?
- Which Countries Can America Learn from on Education?
- The Lost Culture of Progress, and How We’ve Given up on Solving Problems
- The Decline of San Francisco
- Is China More Innovative than the US?
- What is America’s Next Frontier?
- Why Doesn’t America Respect Builders Anymore?
You can buy a copy of Michael's new book here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/paper-belt-on-fire-michael-gibson/1141459334
Eli Dourado (@elidourado) and Austin Vernon (@vernon3austin) join Patrick Blumenthal (@patrickjblum) to discuss their recent paper, Energy Superabundance: How Cheap, Abundant Energy Will Shape Our Future. Other topics discussed:
- How Energy Superabundance can Lead us from a Carbon Surplus to a Carbon Shortage
- How did a Scarcity Mindset Take Root in America?
- The Policies that we Need for a Prosperous Century
- The Future of Nuclear Energy
- Building More Rather than Less to Solve Climate Change
- Will China Reach Superabundance Before America?
- How we can Improve Utilities and the American Power Grid
- Is the Government Getting Better or Worse at Funding Innovation?
- How Painful will the Next Decade be?
- How do we Improve Supply Chain Resilience?
- Eli and Austin’s Request for Startups
- What does a World with Superabundance Look Like?
You can read their paper here: https://www.thecgo.org/research/energy-superabundance/
Vitalik Buterin (@VitalikButerin), co-founder of Ethereum, joins Patrick Blumenthal (@PatrickJBlum) to discuss the future of crypto and technology. Topics discussed:
- How is crypto starting to influence mainstream culture and corporations?
- Is crypto positive or negative for nation states?
- How much of crypto is innovation versus regulatory arbitrage?
- Should we be reforming existing institutions to adopt crypto, or forming new ones?
- How is exit possible in 2022? What role could DAOs play?
- Vitalik’s thoughts on the War in Ukraine
- Vitalik’s thoughts on San Francisco after COVID
- Is the world becoming more centralized or decentralized?
- Is civilizational collapse in the next 50 years likely?
- Vitalik’s request for startups
- Vitalik’s thoughts on the future of cities
Eric Cline (@digkabri) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) and Patrick Blumenthal (@patrickjblum) to discuss 1177 B.C. and the late Bronze Age.
Ole Jacob Madsen joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss his book "The Therapeutic Turn" and the rise of therapy culture.
Stephen Hicks (@SRCHicks) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss postmodernism.
Adrian Goldsworthy joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) and Patrick Blumenthal (@patrickjblum) to discuss ancient Rome.
Deirdre McCloskey (@DeirdreMcClosk) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss "innovism" vs. capitalism.
Michael Millerman joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss the relationship between politics and metaphysics.
Patrick Wyman (@Patrick_Wyman) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) and Patrick Blumenthal (@patrickjblum) to discuss communication & mobility throughout history.
Bryan Ward-Perkins joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) and Patrick Blumenthal (@patrickjblum) to discuss late antiquity.
Rod Dreher (@roddreher) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss the culture war.
Collin Hansen (@collinhansen) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss the decline of Christianity in western culture.
Kyle Sammin (@kylesammin) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss American Conservatism.
Alexis Coe (@AlexisCoe) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss George Washington & American History.
James K.A. Smith (@james_ka_smith) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss How (Not) to Be Secular.
Rudyard Lynch (https://www.youtube.com/user/WhatifAltHist) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) and Patrick Blumenthal (@patrickjblum) to discuss alternate history.
Carl Trueman joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.
Matt Riddley (@mattwridley) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) and Laura Deming (@laurademing) to discuss the Evolution of Everything.
Sean Carroll (@seanmcarroll) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) and Laura Deming (@laurademing) to discuss humanism, reconciling science and morality, and the role of physics in evolution.
Geoffrey West joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) and Laura Deming (@laurademing) to discuss scale, exponential growth, and cross pollination in scientific research.
Raghuram Rajan (@GRaghuramRajan) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss his views on growth and sustainable development.
Don Hoffman (@donalddhoffman) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) and Laura Deming (@laurademing) to discuss the Illusion of Reality, Religion, and Morality.
Jonathan Pageau (@PageauJonathan) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss his views on religion and society.
Gary Basin (@garybasin) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss how algorithmic trading crypto works.
John Horgan (@jjhorgan) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss consciousness and the upper limits of science.
Soumaya Keynes (@SoumayaKeynes) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) for this episode to discuss trade. They cover:
- Does trade lead to job loss
- Policies of the Trump administration
- The future of the WTO and the rising trend of protectionism
- Will future administrations become more closed off
- Is the dollar being strong a good thing for the global economy
- Did NAFTA achieve its goals
- Should the WTO have been harder on China
- The importance of the WTO’s dispute settlement system
- The biggest unanswered questions in trade
Samuel Hammond (@hamandcheese) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss welfare policy and neo-medievalism.
Doug Irwin (@D_A_Irwin) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss U.S. trade policy.
Sevilla King (@aqualityx) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Buster Benson (@buster) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss the idea of productive disagreements, Buster's thoughts on nonviolent communication, and conflict theory.
Margaret Peters (@migrationnerd) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss the politics of migration, both in historical periods and in modern times, and why U.S. policy has shifted.
Agnes Callard (@AgnesCallard) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss the weakness of human will and various contradictions of the mind — especially the reconciliation between egalitarianism and meritocracy.
Matt Prewitt (@m_t_prewitt) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss RadicalxChange, the future of nation states and corporations, data privacy, and improving democracy.
Daron Acemoglu (@DrDaronAcemoglu) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss the state of democracy, China's model, charter cities, and why nations fail.
Brian Nosek (@BrianNosek) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) and Laura Deming (@laurademing) to open science, the replication crisis, and incentives in scientific research.
Yuval Levin joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss conservatism, the future of various institutions, and how social media is affecting institutions.
You can find a copy of his new book, "A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream" here: https://www.amazon.com/Time-Build-Community-Recommitting-Institutions-ebook/dp/B07SGQB1NH
Scott Sumner (https://www.themoneyillusion.com/) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss the Fed, historical financial crises, and the economic outcomes of war.
Dinny McMahon (@DinnyMcMahon) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss China's debt, monetary policy, and the future of the Chinese economy.
Frederick Crews joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss the legacy of Freud, why he persists in popularity, and his thoughts on Carl Jung.
Bryan Cutsinger (@BryanCutsinger) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss monetary policy in the U.S. as well as the gold standard.
Jared Bernstein (@econjared) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss the Fed, the biggest lessons in fiscal policy from the past decade, and the financial crisis.
Daniel Kaufman (@ElectricAgora) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss the various problems in philosophy.
Carola Binder (@cconces) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss the policy of the Fed.
Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss how economists have shaped the world.
Ioana Marinescu (@mioana) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss the future of Economic Policy.
John Mearsheimer joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss his views on American foreign policy.
Crispin Sartwell (@CrispinSartwell) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss his views on aesthetics and philosophy.
Massimo Pigliucci (@MPigliucci) joins Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) to discuss his views on Stoicism and how it can help us in our lives.