Balaji Srinivasan, author of The Network State and co-founder of Counsyl, talks to Erik Torenberg about his past and future predictions, the future of the left and right, and why tech will never be able to escape politics.
CLIPS PLAYLIST: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEK9Wx_NiDzqZYSq2DDt45g
PODCAST INFO:
Upstream Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1678893467
Upstream Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0bYfnuju3PhHFtSGgiMmoz
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Moment of Zen https://www.youtube.com/@MomentofZenPodcast
The Cognitive Revolution: https://www.youtube.com/@CognitiveRevolutionPodcast
TIMESTAMPS:
(0:00) Preview of episode
(2:30) Why are the scariest words in the English language “Balaji was right”
(7:06) When to reform vs start a new institution
(9:50) Are ideas weapons?
(14:36) Sponsors
(17:00) You don’t start with a tech company anymore, you start with a tech community
(20:48) Internet nationalism
(24:04) What "political" means
(28:22 ) Activist movements are like “pump and dumps”
(32:22) What the sovereign individual misses
(44:19) Bitcoin is still the flag of technology
(49:03) Democrats will move to the right on immigration
(1:01:46) Tech America vs Woke America
(1:02:35) Why are tech people so woke?
(1:08:47) The left will flip on diversity
(1:13:34 ) The left is shifting from wokeism to statism
(1:21:00) Bitcoiners will take over the right wing party
(1:27:30) Elon
SOCIAL LINKS:
Erik’s Twitter: @eriktorenberg
Balaji’s Twitter: @balajis
Podcast Twitter: @Upstream__Pod
Erik’s Substack: eriktorenberg.substack.com
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