E4: USA vs Europe, Zeihan & Fukuyama, Reforming institutions vs starting new ones, and why we started "Moment of Zen"

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?