Erik sits down with political scientist Samo Burja (@SamoBurja ) who founded Bismarck Analysis, a consulting firm that analyzes institutions (ranging from governments to companies). He is one of the most interesting and wide-ranging thinkers today. In this episode, they discuss the current state and future state of America, China, Russia, Ukraine, energy, the US dollar, AI, and more.
🎧 THIS PODCAST: https://link.chtbl.com/Upstream
RECOMMENDED SHOWS:
Moment of Zen: @MomentofZenPodcast
The Cognitive Revolution: @CognitiveRevolutionPodcast
TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Episode preview
(02:05) Who’s right: Balaji, Zeihan, or Olson?
(06:18) Why China’s prospects aren’t as bad as Zeihan thinks
(08:46) What have we learned one year out after Ukraine?
(12:12) Future of The U.S. dollar
(14:19) Sponsors: Mercury | Secureframe | MarketerHire
(16:03) Balaji’s Bet
(16:42) Future of America
(21:06) Why Brazil hasn’t panned out
(25:34) Is AI communist and crypto libertarian
(28:37) Evolution of elites
(32:40) Comparing Elon and SBF
(35:12) Economics of automation and AI
(40:28) How intellectual culture has changed
(42:39) America exporting Western values
(46:42) America and China converging
(49:00) Startup cities vs incumbents
(51:54) Samo’s consultancy
(54:35) Samo’s upcoming research interests
TWITTER:
Erik’s Twitter: @eriktorenberg
Samo's Twitter: @samoburja
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