Twitter: @MoZ_Podcast | YT: @MomentofZenPodcast

Episodes

Dec. 27, 2022

Moment of Zen E1 w/ Marc Andreessen on SBF/FTX, Twitter, and Open AI/…

Moment of Zen is a weekly podcast where Dan Romero (Farcaster), Antonio Garcia Martinez (Spindl), and Erik Torenberg (Village Global/On Deck) discuss the latest in tech, business, and culture.

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Dec. 30, 2022

E2 w/ Marc Andreessen on Elon, Nietzsche, and America's Thousand Year…

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...

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Jan. 8, 2023

E3 w/ Amjad Masad on AGI as religion for nerds, history as a series o…

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, …

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Jan. 14, 2023

E4: USA vs Europe, Zeihan & Fukuyama, Reforming institutions vs start…

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 are...

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Jan. 21, 2023

E5 w/ The Realignment on Silicon Valley & DC, Trump vs DeSantis, and …

Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) and Marshall Kosloff (@makosloff) of The Realignment (@therealignment) join Moment of Zen's Dan Romero (@dwr), Antonio Garcia Martinez (@antoniogm) and Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) for a discussion on tech, politics, and media 0:00 intro 2:00 Political and class …

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Jan. 29, 2023

E6: The AI moment, AI vs crypto: a heated debate with Amjad Masad, Fl…

Amjad Masad (@Amasad), Flo Crivello (@Altimor) and Nathan Labenz (@Labenz) join us for a heated debate on the AI moment, Crypto in an AI world, and a comparison of AI and crypto's relative value.

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Feb. 4, 2023

Low vs High Culture, legacy vs new institutions, WWE, & Lex Fridman w…

Our friends Aarthi Ramamurthy and Sriram Krishnan join us this week as special guests

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Feb. 12, 2023

E8: Why is ChatGPT so woke, the arc of tech is centralization, and ex…

Brian Chau (@psychosort) joins us to discuss why ChatGPT is woke, how the arc of tech is centralization, and mental models for politics.

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Feb. 19, 2023

E9: Modern cold wars with China and Russia, the new right, and tech's…

We speak with Noah Smith about our modern cold wars with China & Russia, the new right, and tech’s cultural & political shifts.

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Feb. 26, 2023

E10: Disenfranchised men, AI Doomerism, and the Problems with Effecti…

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 I...

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March 5, 2023

America as a culture exporter, Egalitarianism eats the world, and why…

"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.

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March 11, 2023

E12: Effective Accelerationism and the AI Safety Debate with Bayeslor…

Anonymous founders of the Effective Accelerations (e/acc) movement Bayeslord and Beff Jezoz 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 …

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March 18, 2023

How SVB Unraveled and Whether Crypto Can Fix Finance with Byrne Hobart

Byrne Hobart joins Antonio, Dan, and Erik to discuss SVB, finance, and crypto. We record our interviews with Riverside. Go to https://bit.ly/Riverside_MoZ + use code ZEN for 20%.

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March 21, 2023

E14: Balaji’s bet [Emergency Episode] - Financial Crisis 2.0, Digital…

Balaji Srinivasan tells us why he is making a $1M BTC prediction and discusses the banking collapse. (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 …

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March 25, 2023

E15: Nic Carter on Balaji's Bet, Operation Chokepoint 2.0, and the Fe…

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 …

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April 1, 2023

E16: AI open letter debate, "pausers", and what we're all scared of w…

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 …

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April 7, 2023

E17: Mike Solana on SF Politics, Tech & Media fights, Tik Tok policy,…

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 …

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April 14, 2023

E18: How to pick markets, why NFTs matter, what "disinformation" is a…

Dan and Erik discuss picking markets, NFT's, disinformation, and Fentanyl.

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April 22, 2023

E19: Michelle Tandler on how to fix San Francisco

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.

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April 28, 2023

E20: On Founders, Seriousness, and American Dynamism

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.

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May 6, 2023

E21: Ben Smith of Semafor on tech-media hostility, and the past, pre…

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 …

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May 14, 2023

E22: Twitter’s new CEO, Elon’s strategy vs Sam Altman’s strategy, Lib…

Dan and Erik discuss how Elon got coded right-wing, why liberals are more depressed than conservatives, crime and prisons.

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May 19, 2023

E23: Liel Leibovitz on Israel and US politics, the Palestinian confli…

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 …

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May 26, 2023

E24: Mike Solana on Twitter under Elon, Sam Altman's PR strategy, pol…

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.

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