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Today on Upstream, we’re releasing an episode which originally aired on The Cognitive Revolution, a podcast from the Turpentine Network. Samo Burja and Nathan Labenz discuss AI's impact on geopolitics, scientific progress, and economic strategies, emphasizing the importance of AI science, the risks of weaponizing AI, and the future of industrial and energy policies in the U.S. and China.
This week on Upstream, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss the potential of AI agents in tech support, economic impacts of passive investing, historical financial strategies of Warren Buffett, and the implications of tariffs and technological developments in national wealth.
Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir, and Jacob Helberg, discuss AI-enabled warfare, the importance of taking clear ethical stances, the evolution of Silicon Valley culture, and the integration of tech innovation into governmental defense systems at the Hill and Valley Forum in Washington, DC.
![E101: Wokeism & Class w/ David Sacks, Trump’s AI Czar [Upstream Archive]](https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/70d9cade-b45c-11ef-9415-074ef91a9991/image/20b1afaf84854e5947cd56751aa8753f.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress "E101: Wokeism & Class w/ David Sacks, Trump’s AI Czar [Upstream Archive]")
In this 2023 conversation between Erik Torenberg and David Sacks, they discuss David’s new role as Donald Trump's AI and crypto czar, the shift towards censorship and wokeness in Silicon Valley, particularly at companies like PayPal and Twitter, and the broader implications for free speech, public debate, and the future of liberalism.
Following Marc Andreessen's great conversation with Joe Rogan that introduced millions to his philosophical and political thinking, we wanted to share our in-depth discussion with Marc on Upstream from late 2022. This interview goes deeper into his intellectual evolution and quest to understand how the world really works, covering everything from how 2016 broke his mental model of politics, to his analysis of how billionaires get captured by elite institutions.
This week on Upstream, Byrne Hobart discusses the potential impacts of the Department of Government Efficiency, insights from leaked OpenAI emails, Trump's and Elon Musk's policies and their economic implications, and the future of prediction markets in organizational decision-making.
Today on Upstream, Rudyard Lynch and Samo Burja discuss the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election, the decline of French influence in Africa, the psychology of modernity, and the potential future of free versus controlled internet.
Emil Michael, formerly the Chief Business Officer of Uber, talked to Erik Torenberg and Jesse Genet about the most intense moments during Uber's meteoric rise. Its been reported that he's on the short list of Trump's picks for US Secretary of Transportation.
In this episode of Upstream, Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg discuss how Trump's victory signals a new alliance between right-wing politics and tech industry leaders like Elon Musk while exploring the challenges and opportunities of reforming government institutions through technological innovation.
In this episode, Erik and Yarvin discuss media, power, and what Elon should do with Twitter.
In this episode, Erik sits down with Agnes Callard, a philosopher and essayist who specializes in ancient philosophy, ethics, and Socratic communication.
Richard Hanania joins Erik Torenberg to discuss his upcoming book on elite human capital, the future of American politics, and his evolving views on culture war issues.
Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg tackle the shift in economic research from empirical studies to "big think" theories, critically examine Acemoglu's work on institutions and AI's impact on jobs, and debate the future of economics as a science.
This week on Upstream, Erik Torenberg and Samo Burja explore the global demographic crisis, examining plummeting fertility rates worldwide and their potentially catastrophic implications for humanity's future.
In this episode, Dr. Michael Levin, Distinguished Professor of Biology at Tufts University, joins Nathan Labenz of The Cognitive Revolution Podcast to discuss embodied minds, his research into limb regeneration and collective intelligence, cognitive light cones, and much more.
Bryan Johnson joins Antonio Garcia Martinez and Erik Torenberg to discuss the deeper spiritual beliefs behind the "Don't Die" movement in the face of AI and the inadequacy of human clock speed.
This week on Upstream, we revisit a 2023 conversation between Jacob Helberg, Delian Asparouhov, Christian Garrett and Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril Industries and Oculus VR where they discuss the intersection of Silicon Valley and U.S. defense technology.
In this episode of Upstream, Erik Torenberg interviews Patrick McKenzie (patio11) about the intricacies of the financial system, focusing on banking, money laundering, and regulatory compliance.
This week on Upstream, we’re featuring a discussion between Samo Burja, Rudyard Lynch and Erik Torenberg about the inherent differences between civilizations and their impact on history and politics.
Erik Torenberg is joined by Noor Siddiqui, founder and CEO of Orchid, to explore groundbreaking advancements in reproductive technology, especially the world's first whole genome embryo screening.
This week on Upstream, we’re dropping the first episode of Logan Bartlett, Keith Rabois, Kevin Ryan, and Zach Weinberg's newest podcast This Won’t Last.
This week, Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg are joined by Dario Amodei, CEO and Co-founder of Anthropic
In this episode of Upstream, Erik Torenberg sits down with Eoghan McCabe who opens up about his journey entering Silicon Valley, leading Intercom, shifting company culture, and becoming politically engaged.
In this episode of Upstream, we’re releasing an interview from 2021 with Marc Andreessen, Sriram Krishnan, and Aarthi Ramamurthy. They discuss the higher education system's inefficiencies, high costs, and lack of competition, and explore innovative education models including cohort-based learning and unbundling education components.