E24: Mike Solana on Twitter under Elon, Sam Altman's PR strategy, political polarization, and The Culture War's evolution

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

(02:00) On what Mike Solana would say to Congress about AI

(09:30) Contrasting Zuck, Brian Armstrong, and Sam Altman’s approach to regulation

(15:28) Recommendation: Upstream

(15:53) Sponsor: Secureframe

(17:50) AI doomerism is just marketing for big AI 

(26:25) Elon’s wins and losses so far as Twitter CEO

(39:05) Taylor Lorenz Mythology

(41:40) Twitter’s regime change // How the tables have turned. Muahahaha.

(45:30) 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

(1:24:00) Social media and depression follow up

(1:28:00) Is half of Gen Z non-straight?

(1:32:00) Ellen Pao

(1:34:30) Is Pirate Wires conservative media? (No)

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