Balaji Srinivasan joins Nathan Labenz to discuss polytheistic AI and AI gods, human-AI symbiosis, and how AI will be controlled. Moment of Zen is sponsored by Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period. This episode is a feed drop of one of Turpentine's biggest shows, The Cognitive Revolution, where Nathan Labenz and Erik Torenberg interview builders on the edge of AI and explore its dramatic shift over the next decades. Listen and subscribe everywhere you get your podcasts: https://www.cognitiverevolution.ai/ _ We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. – SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | NETSUITE | MASTERCLASS BEEHIIV Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen NETSUITE: http://netsuite.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and download your own customized KPI checklist. MASTERCLASS: https://masterclass.com/zen get two memberships for the price of 1 Learn from the best to become your best. Learn how to negotiate a raise with Chris Voss or manage your relationships with Esther Perel. Boost your confidence and find practical takeaways you can apply to your life and at work. If you own a business or are a team leader, use MasterClass to empower and create future-ready employees and leaders. Moment of Zen listeners will get two memberships for the price of one at https://masterclass.com/zen – Sign up for our newsletter to receive the full shownotes: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ –  TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) - Episode Preview (06:07) - Evolution of AI Systems (09:39) - Challenges of AI Robustness (29:54) - Intersection of AI and Politics (52:14) - Regulation (52:44) - Slippery slope of precedent setting (54:00) - Role of AI in political chaos (01:05:39) - AI's future as amplified intelligence (01:13:00) - Polytheistic model of AI (01:32:00) - Role of AI in Habitat Degradation (01:38:22) - Difference between AI existential threat and economic disruption (01:40:19) - Impact of cryptography on public infrastructure (02:07:40) - Role of tribalism in AI

Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg dive deep into the concept of a 'live player', and compare and contrast three prominent live players: Peter Thiel, Sam Altman, and Elon Musk—discussing their impacts, motivations, and differing views on societal change. This episode is a feed drop of our newest show at Turpentine, Live Players, where Erik and Samo analyze more of the mindsets of today’s most intriguing business leaders, investors, and innovators through the lens of their bold actions and contrarian worldviews. You’ll come away with a deeper understanding of the development of technology, business, political power, culture and more. Listen and subscribe everywhere you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/liveplayers. – SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | VANTA | MASTERCLASS | NETSUITE BEEHIIV Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen VANTA: https://www.vanta.com/zen for $1000 off Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at: https://www.vanta.com/zen MASTERCLASS: https://masterclass.com/zen get two memberships for the price of 1 Learn from the best to become your best. Learn how to negotiate a raise with Chris Voss or manage your relationships with Esther Perel. Boost your confidence and find practical takeaways you can apply to your life and at work. If you own a business or are a team leader, use MasterClass to empower and create future-ready employees and leaders. Moment of Zen listeners will get two memberships for the price of one at https://masterclass.com/zen NETSUITE: http://netsuite.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and download your own customized KPI checklist. – Sign up for our newsletter to receive the full shownotes: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ – TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Introduction (00:57) The Role of Conventions in Society (02:08) The Rarity of 'Live Players' and Their Impact (04:38) The Importance of Historical Knowledge (09:29) Reflections on Energy Transition (14:22) Discussion on Sam Altman and OpenAI (21:31) Comparing Live Players: Sam Altman, Elon Musk, and Peter Thiel (21:54) Sponsors: Shopify, Vanta (24:24) Comparing Live Players Cont. (30:12) The Importance of Live Players in Innovation and Change (34:47) Sponsors: MasterClass, NetSuite (38:28) The Evolution of Live Players Over Time (42:55) The Transition from Capitalism to Philanthropy (51:06) The Paradox of Open Society Advocates

Beff Jezos, the anonymous co-founder of the e/acc movement (effective accelerationism) had his identity revealed on Friday night by Forbes reporters. He gives the inside story to Antonio Garcia Martinez, Erik Torenberg, Dan Romero, his e/acc cofounder bayeslord, and The Cognitive Revolution podcast host Nathan Labenz. They discuss anonymity, the media, and the role of journalism in our society. Sell and grow with Shopify: Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen – SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | VANTA BEEHIIV Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen VANTA: https://www.vanta.com/zen for $1000 off Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at: https://www.vanta.com/zen – Sign up for our newsletter to receive the full shownotes: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ –  X / TWITTER: @bayeslord  @basedbeffjezos @dwr (Dan) @antoniogm (Antonio) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @moz_podcast @TurpentineMedia – RECOMMENDED PODCAST: Live Players With Samo Burja Join host Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg as they analyze the mindsets of today’s most intriguing business leaders, investors, and innovators through the lens of their bold actions and contrarian worldviews. Think: Elon, Sam Altman, Peter Thiel, George Soros and more. You’ll come away with a deeper understanding of the development of technology, business, political power, culture and more. LIsten and subscribe everywhere you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/liveplayers – LINKS: Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/emilybaker-white/2023/12/01/who-is-basedbeffjezos-the-leader-of-effective-accelerationism-eacc/?sh=5b172e3a7a13 PirateWires article: https://www.piratewires.com/p/thot-police-forbes-has-doxed-beff -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:45) Binance (07:25) Antonio joins (10:05) Beff is face doxxed (11:45) The inside story (13:55) Sponsor: Shopify (15:50) How did Beff's identity get revealed by these reporters? (22:55) Why should journalists get to decide who gets to be anon? (26:35) Beff's academic background in quantum computing (28:55) Why Beff started the anon account (31:15) Sponsor: Vanta, MasterClass (33:40) How Beff bootstrapped his anon account (38:55) What's next for e/acc (44:05) Overcentralization of AI (46:25) Where the alpha is (56:25) Decels and the rebellion (01:02:45) Why is big tech so bad & 2024 elections (01:04:55) AI Leaderboards (01:07:45) Crypto and AI crossover (01:12:25) Decentralizing the AI supply chain (01:18:25) Hardware & Extropic technology (01:23:25) Utility of e/acc (01:28:55) What is the e/acc gospel (01:40:20) What is the near term for AI?

Erik Torenberg and Antonio Garcia Martinez sit down with political strategist + former chief adviser to Boris Johnson's right hand Dominic Cummings who is known for architecting Brexit. They discuss whether Brexit actually saved Britain from the far right, the San Francisco homelessness complex, the 2024 election, educational polarization, & more. Sell and grow with Shopify: Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen – SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | VANTA | MASTERCLASS BEEHIIV Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen VANTA: Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at: https://www.vanta.com/zen MASTERCLASS: https://masterclass.com/zen get two memberships for the price of 1 Learn from the best to become your best. Learn how to negotiate a raise with Chris Voss or manage your relationships with Esther Perel. Boost your confidence and find practical takeaways you can apply to your life and at work. If you own a business or are a team leader, use MasterClass to empower and create future-ready employees and leaders. Moment of Zen listeners will get two memberships for the price of one at https://masterclass.com/zen – Sign up for our newsletter to receive the full shownotes: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ –  X / TWITTER: @Dominic2306 (Dominic) @antoniogm (Antonio) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @moz_podcast @TurpentineMedia -- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: LIVE PLAYERS Join host Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg as they analyze the mindsets of today’s most intriguing business leaders, investors, and innovators through the lens of their bold actions and contrarian worldviews. You’ll come away with a deeper understanding of the development of technology, business, political power, culture and more. LIsten and subscribe everywhere you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/liveplayers. - TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:19) Introduction (04:57) Inspiration for Brexit (13:00) Extreme parties in US vs UK  (15:46) SPONSOR: VANTA (16:41) Francis Fukuyama’ and Walter Kaufmann on liberalism (22:05) European wokeness explosion (26:48) The fix SF movement (31:08) SPONSOR: VANTA (32:46) SF homeless industrial complex (34:05) Techies in politics (38:29) Elon and Israel (40:56) SPONSOR: MASTERCLASS (41:49) Israel’s PR will never win in the west (52:42) New elitism (59:15) Appealing in the 2024 election (01:10:24) Abortion laws (01:00:13) British royals (01:24:26) Educational and political polarization (01:35:02) A reformed republican Party (01:39:41) Can we fix SF?

Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg discuss their takes on why liberals become conservatives, diversity in tech, and debrief the OpenAI debacle that happened this past week. – SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | MASTERCLASS | NETSUITE Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen MASTERCLASS: https://masterclass.com/zen get two memberships for the price of 1 Learn from the best to become your best. Learn how to negotiate a raise with Chris Voss or manage your relationships with Esther Perel. Boost your confidence and find practical takeaways you can apply to your life and at work. If you own a business or are a team leader, use MasterClass to empower and create future-ready employees and leaders. Moment of Zen listeners will get two memberships for the price of one at https://masterclass.com/zen NETSUITE: http://netsuite.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and download your own customized KPI checklist. – Sign up for our newsletter to receive the full shownotes: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ –  X / TWITTER: @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @moz_podcast @TurpentineMedia – RECOMMENDED PODCAST:  Every week investor and writer of the popular newsletter The Diff, Byrne Hobart, and co-host Erik Torenberg discuss today’s major inflection points in technology, business, and markets – and help listeners build a diversified portfolio of trends and ideas for the future. Subscribe to “The Riff” with Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg: https://link.chtbl.com/theriff – RECOMMENDED PODCAST: LIVE PLAYERS Join host Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg as they analyze the mindsets of today’s most intriguing business leaders, investors, and innovators through the lens of their bold actions and contrarian worldviews. You’ll come away with a deeper understanding of the development of technology, business, political power, culture and more. LIsten and subscribe everywhere you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/liveplayers. – TIMESTAMPS: h/t @zohaibaallii on YouTube (00:43) New Argentinian president and rise of global populism (06:21) The appeal of populist leaders to the working class (15:07) Policy differences between Biden and Trump administrations (24:11) Does Trump poses a threat to democracy? (30:55) Is the political right or left has been more authoritarian? (36:53) Corporate "norms" under Biden vs Trump (43:45) Predictions on 2024 presidential election (50:33) Recap of the OpenAI / Sam Altman saga (01:00:00) The "feminine" nature of the OpenAI situation (01:10:30) On diversity and inclusion (01:22:20) On inequality between groups in society (01:25:20) Aspirations vs. reality of equality

Dan Romero, Antonio Garcia Martinez and Erik Torenberg discuss their takes on Sam Altman's ouster from OpenAI, his legacy, and his comparative significance vis-à-vis figures like Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk. This is a developing story. This podcast was recorded on Sunday Nov 19th at 12pm PST. We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. – SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | MASTERCLASS | NETSUITE Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen MASTERCLASS: https://masterclass.com/zen get two memberships for the price of 1 Learn from the best to become your best. Learn how to negotiate a raise with Chris Voss or manage your relationships with Esther Perel. Boost your confidence and find practical takeaways you can apply to your life and at work. If you own a business or are a team leader, use MasterClass to empower and create future-ready employees and leaders. Moment of Zen listeners will get two memberships for the price of one at https://masterclass.com/zen NETSUITE: http://netsuite.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and download your own customized KPI checklist. – Sign up for our newsletter to receive the full shownotes: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ –  X / TWITTER: @dwr (Dan) @antoniogm (Antonio) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @moz_podcast @TurpentineMedia – TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (00:14) Napoleon and the power of memes (02:05) The Intricacies of Coups in Latin America (02:59) The Role of Microsoft in OpenAI (03:33) Analyzing Sam Altman's Influence in Silicon Valley (05:12) The Potential Fallout from OpenAI Controversy (05:51) The Battle of EA vs e/acc  (05:59) Sam Altman's Impact on Silicon Valley (07:42) The Future of OpenAI (08:38) The Legal Complexities of OpenAI's Structure (12:26) The Influence of Elon Musk and Microsoft on OpenAI (15:20) Sponsor: Shopify (16:44) The Future of AI and OpenAI (33:55) The Role of Energy in Computing (34:30) Sponsors: MasterClass | NetSuite (36:00) The Game of Capital and Access to Compute (38:12) Predicting the Future of OpenAI (40:30) The Betting Odds on Sam Altman's Future (43:00) The Challenges of Leading OpenAI (48:50) Discussing Sam Altman's Background and Achievements

Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg discuss whether San Francisco can be exited or reformed, how to impact local politics, and what it would take to get talented, innovative people to live in the same city. Wherever and whatever you’re selling, get Shopify for $1/month trial period using code https://shopify.com/momentofzen – SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | MASTERCLASS | NETSUITE Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen MASTERCLASS: https://masterclass.com/zen to get two memberships for the price of one. Learn from the best to become your best. Learn how to negotiate a raise with Chris Voss or manage your relationships with Esther Perel. Boost your confidence and find practical takeaways you can apply to your life and at work. If you own a business or are a team leader, use MasterClass to empower and create future-ready employees and leaders. Moment of Zen listeners will get two memberships for the price of one at https://masterclass.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and download your own customized KPI checklist. – Sign up for our newsletter to receive the full shownotes: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ –  X / TWITTER: @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @moz_podcast @TurpentineMedia – RECOMMENDED PODCAST:  Every week investor and writer of the popular newsletter The Diff, Byrne Hobart, and co-host Erik Torenberg discuss today’s major inflection points in technology, business, and markets – and help listeners build a diversified portfolio of trends and ideas for the future. Subscribe to “The Riff” with Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg: https://link.chtbl.com/theriff RECOMMENDED PODCAST: LIVE PLAYERS Join host Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg as they analyze the mindsets of today’s most intriguing business leaders, investors, and innovators through the lens of their bold actions and contrarian worldviews. You’ll come away with a deeper understanding of the development of technology, business, political power, culture and more. LIsten and subscribe everywhere you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/liveplayers. –  TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (00:02:23) SF is back  (00:05:08) SF can be cleaned up pretty fast (00:08:47) Who runs for office? (00:16:07) Sponsor: Shopify (00:17:43) You can buy a city (00:25:11) Elites don’t move (00:28:57) Analyzing the success of charter city state movements (00:34:34) Sponsor: MasterClass | NetSuite (00:36:13): Can we get people to move to SF and change the city? (00:44:30) Tech is politically absent at the local level (00:50:45) Talent wants to agglomerate (00:57:00) Educational challenges

Dan Romero, Antonio Garcia Martinez and Erik Torenberg discuss the US reaction to the Israel-Hamas War. If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta for $1000 off: https://www.vanta.com/zen We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. – SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | VANTA | MASTERCLASS | NETSUITE Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen VANTA: https://www.vanta.com/zen Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at: https://www.vanta.com/zen MASTERCLASS: https://masterclass.com/zen get two memberships for the price of 1 Learn from the best to become your best. Learn how to negotiate a raise with Chris Voss or manage your relationships with Esther Perel. Boost your confidence and find practical takeaways you can apply to your life and at work. If you own a business or are a team leader, use MasterClass to empower and create future-ready employees and leaders. Moment of Zen listeners will get two memberships for the price of one at https://masterclass.com/zen NETSUITE: http://netsuite.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and download your own customized KPI checklist. – Sign up for our newsletter to receive the full shownotes: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ –  X / TWITTER: @dwr (Dan) @antoniogm (Antonio) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @moz_podcast @TurpentineMedia –  TIMESTAMPS : (00:00) Episode Preview (00:05) What would be different if Trump were in office? (09:10) Information and misinformation sources from the war (12:36) Sponsor: Shopify | Vanta (17:30) Apple’s Slack rebellion (19:26) Paul Graham (20:56) Trusting reported deaths (24:22) Does Israel even care about the West? (32:57) Sponsor: Masterclass | NetSuite (37:15) Living in the society of spectacle (39:15) Showy narcissism (38:50) The psychoanalysis of narcissism (42:00) The irredentist philosophy (43:39) The underlying sentiment that Israel shouldn't exist (45:40) There is no international community (49:40) Palestinians never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity (52:20) US support for Israel 15 years from now (55:00) Will Hamas be eliminated? (58:00) It seems like Israel's got it all worked out (01:01:00) Just ban TikTok

Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg are joined by Packy McCormick of Not Boring and Julia DeWahl (founder of Antares, ex-SpaceX) to talk about the past, present, and future of nuclear energy. Packy and Julia co-host a new narrative series called Age of Miracles ( If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta for $1000 off: https://www.vanta.com/zen SUBSCRIBE TO AGE OF MIRACLES: Podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/ageofmiracles | YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@age-of-miracles We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. – SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | VANTA | NETSUITE Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at: https://www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and download your own customized KPI checklist. – Sign up for our newsletter to receive the full shownotes: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ –  X / TWITTER: @packym (Packy) @juliadewahl (Julia) @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @moz_podcast @TurpentineMedia –  TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:46) Why the interest in nuclear energy? (05:45) Why does energy matter? (09:10) Greta Thunberg and environmentalism as religion replacement (12:08) Why France got it right in the 70s (14:48) Sponsors: Vanta and NetSuite (17:04) Myth-busting: nuclear waste and disasters (22:33) Why has the anti-nuclear movement been so potent? (26:46) Breaking down the incentives at play in regulation and the free market (39:00) How do you change the perception and safety?  (47:50) The opportunities to build in the nuclear space (56:50) Applying Elon’s frameworks to building in the nuclear space (01:00:45) Safety culture and accountability (01:08:20) Opportunity for SMR companies from Microsoft and congress (01:10:20) Are we overestimating nuclear’s impact versus other energy sources? (01:16:05) Capital markets and idea maze problem (01:23:00) How to get involved in opportunities in nuclear if you have no background

Antonio Garcia Martinez, reporting live from Israel, joins Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg to share his firsthand perspective on the ground, discussing the unfolding events, and potential outcomes for Israel and Gaza. If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta for $1000 off: https://www.vanta.com/zen Discussion recorded on October 22, 2023.  We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. – SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | VANTA | NETSUITE Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at: https://www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and download your own customized KPI checklist. – NEW SHOW FROM TURPENTINE: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics –  Sign up for our newsletter to receive the full shownotes: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ – TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:40) Antonio’s describes traveling to the south of israel (06:10) How Israel is unifying and mobilizing (09:05) Hostage situation sentiments (12:14) Sponsors: Vanta | NetSuite (19:05) Antonio’s predictions (28:00) What happens next in Gaza (36:00) What’s happening in the North with Hezbollah? (37:30) How the Israeli secular left do not understand the Western left’s reaction (40:30) The biblical echoes of the double standards placed on Israel (46:05) Intra-Israel civil war (52:40) Can there be a happy ending here?

Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg discuss the history of Israel, Gaza, and Iran and what happens next in this war on the ground. They also discuss the schism in the public discourse and the downstream political implications in the US. If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta for $1000 off: https://www.vanta.com/zen We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. – SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | VANTA | NETSUITE Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at: https://www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and download your own customized KPI checklist. – Sign up for our newsletter to receive the full shownotes: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ –  X / TWITTER: @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @antoniogm (Antonio) @moz_podcast @TurpentineMedia – SELECT LINKS: -Wikipedia : List of Jewish Nobel Laureates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_Nobel_laureates - Book: Rise and Kill First https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rise_and_Kill_First - Iranian Agent - Robert Malley Spy Ring story https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/iran-spy-ring-robert-malley-lee-smith & Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/06/rob-malley-iran-security-clearance-investigation/ -Econ 102 episode where Noah Smith discusses the War in Israel and economic causes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FW1coCYfapA -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (03:50) Israel, Gaza and Mood affiliation (07:55) The New York Times front page (13:00) The schism in the current thing (15:30) Moral equivalence in this conflict (19:00) Inconsistencies on the far left (23:00) History of the conflict and borders (25:00) Thanks to our sponsors: Vanta, NetSuite (27:00) Why are Jews so successful and disliked? (36:00) Argumentative Jews (40:00) Going deeper into the historical roots (45:45) Understanding Israel, Iran, and neighbors' nuclear programs (57:10) Would Palestinian economic prosperity solve this conflict? (01:06:00) Biggest concerns (01:10:00) Israel's next move (01:15:45) Pendulum swing back to Trump?

Dan Romero, Erik Torenberg and Antonio Garcia Martinez are joined by journalist Jacob Siegel to discuss disinformation, the evolving narrative between tech and political power, and geopolitics. This episode was recorded on October 1st, before Hamas' attack on Israel. If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta for $1000 off: https://www.vanta.com/zen We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. – SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | VANTA | NETSUITE Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at: https://www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and download your own customized KPI checklist. – Sign up for our newsletter to receive the full shownotes: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ – X / TWITTER: @jacob__siegel (Jacob) @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @antoniogm (Antonio) @moz_podcast @TurpentineMedia – TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:48) Jacob on Balaji’s Gray - Red - Blue tribe framework (03:38) How to make the Gray tribe inspiring (06:30) E/acc and tech with grandeur (08:27) Abundance agenda vs administrative state (14:20) Bernie Sanders (15:55) Sponsors: Vanta | NetSuite (18:10) Elon Musk relationship with Obama-era Whitehouse (22:28) Private markets vs Government subsidized innovation (24:00) Ideal balance between protectionist policies and free markets (29:45) Jacob on Israel over-leveraging its tech sector (36:00) Tracing the narrative of tech and democratic political power (42:30) Hybrid warfare since 2014 (46:20) Antonio joins the conversation (51:00) Gamergate as a pivotal event (01:03:00) Plato’s cave reflections of American domestic political neurosis (01:08:40) Ukraine, Russia, and Biden’s strategic logic (01:18:30) Can there be a happy ending in Israel? (01:24:00) The threat of Iran (01:34:30) US should end the Israeli Subsidy (01:45:00)The fight over the soul of the nation (01:51:00) Predicting the future of Israel in 30-40 years

Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg talk about the ongoing border crisis, the history of immigration to the US, and the case for and against immigration. If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta for $1000 off: https://www.vanta.com/zen – SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | VANTA | NETSUITE Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at: https://www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and download your own customized KPI checklist. – RECOMMENDED PODCAST: LIVE PLAYERS Join host Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg as they analyze the mindsets of today’s most intriguing business leaders, investors, and innovators through the lens of their bold actions and contrarian worldviews. You’ll come away with a deeper understanding of the development of technology, business, political power, culture and more. LIsten and subscribe everywhere you get your podcasts: https://link.chtbl.com/liveplayers. – Sign up for our free newsletter to receive full shownotes with book and article recommendations: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ – X / TWITTER: @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik Torenberg) @moz_podcast @TurpentineMedia – TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:31) The American dream (05:37) Why does Elon Musk care about what's happening at the border? (10:44) The history of immigration in the US (13:30) H1-B visas and temporary protected status (18:04) Sponsors: Vanta | NetSuite (19:37) Immigration under Clinton, Bush, Obama, and Trump (20:02) Sponsors: Vanta & Netsuite (24:51) No place for nuance (28:21) Asylum seeking (31:38) Current state: complete failure (37:15) Arguments for and against immigration (45:04) Polling on immigration issue (49:01) Basic rule of law (56:18) Fringe theory: the great replacement theory (59:21) Dan’s proposal: voter ID (01:03:13) Does a country have a right to determine its demographics? (01:12:02) Do immigrants assimilate? (01:21:39) Pro-immigration but anti gentrification (01:25:11) Is it feasible for Balaji's gray tribe to take back San Francisco? (01:33:20) Dan’s optimistic take on a potential deal (01:35:31) Immigration and innovation

Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg talk about their intellectual evolution, why San Francisco is back, and the ideas finding new momentum because of the thorny politics in tech the last few years. If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta for $1000 off: https://www.vanta.com/zen – SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | VANTA | NETSUITE Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at: https://www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and download your own customized KPI checklist. – Sign up for our newsletter to receive the full shownotes: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ – SELECT LINKS: Dan’s reference: the most interesting new city project in San Francisco: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/business/land-purchases-solano-county.html James Portnoy, Founder of Barstool, going on the offensive against a Washington Post reporter writing a hit piece: https://deadline.com/2023/09/barstool-sports-owner-dave-portnoy-confronts-washington-post-reporter-1235554436/ Most important blog: Scott Alexander’s https://slatestarcodex.com/ which is now Astral Codex Ten https://www.astralcodexten.com/ Curtis Yarvin: https://www.unqualified-reservations.org/, https://graymirror.substack.com/ – X / TWITTER: @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik Torenberg) @moz_podcast @TurpentineMedia – TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (05:00) Why San Francisco’s Network Effects, like Twitter, is futile to leave (Network Effects are a bitch) (13:40) Tech reclaiming a political voice (15:30) Sponsors: Vanta | NetSuite (17:40) Media losing ground after taking too many shots during the last administration (20:35) Mood affiliation & social justice policies in tech companies (23:05) In this economy? (30:41) Balaji Srinivasan (34:25)The Borg (39:10) Social Supply Chain (40:21) Curtis Yarvin (59:40) Bring your whole self to work (01:03:00) The clear pill: winning by losing (01:10:00) Good ideas, bad UI (01:16:35) Newspapers are a mood affiliation business (01:19:24) Right and Left wing, who loses in the long arc of history? (01:26:30) Dan’s thinking around the next successful candidate (01:33:05) Threshold for changing your thinking

Dan Romero, Antonio Garcia Martinez, and Erik Torenberg sit down with Professor Walter Russel Mead, an American academic, author, WSJ- and Tablet-contributor, and podcast host to discuss the shape of the next era after our information age. Moment of Zen is part of Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. TIMESTAMPS: (01:00) Episode Preview (03:30) What is the American Crisis right now? (08:00) New social model for the information age (11:24) Sponsors: Vanta | NetSuite (16:30) A(brahamic) bomb and revolutionary change in human society (22:40) Has religion peaked or is the world getting more religious? (28:00) Who believes in happy endings? (30:30) Israel vs. American Jews (33:00) Israeli-Palestinian conflict still matters, just not to Israelis in power (36:40) Characterizing American foreign policy (45:00) Nation states vs Network States h/t Balaji (54:20) Defining the next era of Post Liberalism (1:01:00) Populists, Plutocrats, Technocrats, and the Intelligentsia (1:11:00) Israel’s future and what’s at stake (1:24:00) Could California be Republican again? (1:30:00) Golda Meir and female power (1:33:50) Arafat and a jasmine-scented night in Gaza LINKS: -What Really Matters podcast: https://www.tabletmag.com/podcasts/what-really-matters -Walter Russell Mead, The A(braham) Bomb: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/abraham-bomb-via-meadia-walter-russell-mead -Antonio Garcia Martinez, Among the Protestors: https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/among-the-protesters-antonio-garcia-martinez -Go back and listen to our Moment of Zen episodes with Tablet’s Editor in Chief Alana Newhouse (E29), Nadia Asparouhova (E26) and Liel Leibovitz (E23) X / TWITTER @wrmead (Walter) @WRMpod (What Really Matters) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @antoniogm (Antonio) @dwr (Dan) @moz_podcast (Moment of Zen) SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | Vanta | NetSuite Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at https://www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/ZEN and download your own customized KPI checklist.

Balaji Srinivasan returns to go deeper into his theory of the Social Lens. Balaji, Erik, and Dan discuss the tactics the Gray tribe can use to create, identify, grow, and scale their power, how the tribal lens maps to geopolitics, the Blue playbook through the last several decades of world history, and more. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/zen Note: This is an unfiltered discussion that functions as an early draft for an essay and video Balaji plans to release soon. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) - Episode Preview (02:20) - You can found a tribe just like you can found a startup (10:30) - Exit vs Reform (16:42) - Sponsors: Vanta, NetSuite (19:05) - Any statement can be problematized (29:00) - Can you presume societal stability? Not if you’re thinking like a CEO (34:00) - Strength of network effects (52:20) - Inequality has decreased (55:15) - Japanese vs Chinese economic model for innovation (01:07:45) - Asia is rising, the US is in relative decline (01:30:15) - How Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Garry Tan respond to Blue or reform it from within (01:38:00) - The Market for Revolutionaries: Myanmar, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Hong Kong and China (01:48:00) - Blue is a business model (01:57:00) - Charity is dependency. Investment is independence. (02:06:00) - Who defines democracy, and where is the term going? (02:27:00) - Grays attract the smartest defectors (02:36:30) - How the Gray territory gets built on land (02:49:49) - What is the highest belief and ideology of each tribe? (02:56:00) - Parallels with the Soviet Union and India (03:15:00) - Mapping the advantages to Blue and Gray (03:28:50) - How Gray beats Blue for control of cities (03:33:00) - Gray pride parade (03:40:00) - Winning the police (03:50:00) - How the Grays in San Francisco will organize themselves (03:55:30 - The power of Elon renaming Twitter (03:57:00) - Small business owners and the working class (04:00:00) - The CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone) in reverse (04:17:00) - AI will help expedite the Gray cause (04:20:00) - Can this really happen? X / Twitter @balajis (Balaji) @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @MOZ_Podcast SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | Vanta | NetSuite Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at https://www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/ZEN and download your own customized KPI checklist.

Balaji Srinivasan joins Erik Torenberg and Dan Romero on the Moment of Zen podcast to share his new theory of the Tribal Lens, why cognitive territories will gain increasingly more power than land-defined territories, why the US is no longer a beacon in the world, and Balaji strategy to fix San Francisco. Make sure you're subscribed to https://link.chtbl.com/moz to get notified when we release Part 2. Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. TOPICS DISCUSSED: (00:00) Episode Preview (07:50) Cloud Cartography: If you don't control the cognitive territory. you don't control the lands (13:30) Sponsors: Vanta, NetSuite (17:30) Why people don't take the internet seriously? (22:30) The US is not a nation state (23:45) A civilization state (25:17) Why Americans should learn about India's history / India and the US are converging (30:50) Why a civil war doesn't seem realistic to people now (38:55) Where else should a talented person move? (41:35) Asia is the new global center, (47:10) Internet first, not America first (01:01:45) Software vs. Hardware (01:05:45) Elon and the Grey Strategy (01:16:40) Israel is looking away from the US for partners (01:19:00) The Tribal lens integrates both domestic and foreign politics (01:21:00) Will blue always win?  (01:23:43) Making sense of the China meltdown story (01:34:55) How to fix San Francisco (01:50:30) Irrationality is an advantage (01:57:00) Building gray turf (02:03:00) Mapping the blues, reds, and grays in San Francisco (02:05:20) Dan and Erik debrief X / Twitter @balajis (Balaji) @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @MOZ_Podcast SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at https://www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/ZEN and download your own customized KPI checklist.

On this episode, Erik Torenberg and Dan Romero analyze what Vivek Ramaswamy’s rise in the polls really means, where he goes from here, and we air Erik’s full interview with Vivek from this spring. Vivek discusses his transformation from founder to candidate, his views on Silicon Valley, his concept of meritocracy, depoliticizing corporations, and lays out his policy proposals. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/zen Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. TOPICS DISCUSSED: (00:00) Episode Preview (02:23) What is the excitement about Vivek really about? (05:00) Why don’t democrats nominate business people? (06:28) Who is Vivek’s constituency? (08:18) What happens in a world where Trump doesn’t exist? (10:20) Immigration stance differences between Trump and Vivek (14:57) Vivek’s anti woke platform vs DeSantis’ anti woke legislations (16:50) Vivek as a right wing Elizabeth Warren Civility (19:15) Is there a way for a republican to be cool? (22:45) Republicans want an attack dog (24:00) 2028 and beyond (29:55) Interview: When Vivek set his sights on running for president (36:20) Vivek’s presidential platform: Affirmative action, Climate, Fed, Drug crisis (44:11) Where Vivek overlaps/differs with Silicon Valley: free speech, DEI, SVB (51:20) How Vivek conceptualizes a meritocracy (58:00) How to remove politics from corporations (01:05:32) Silicon Valley should empathize more with the rest of the country? (01:16:35) Defining “woke” (01:22:40) What’s it like to run a presidential campaign X / Twitter @VivekGRamaswamy (Vivek) @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @MOZ_Podcast SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | Vanta | NetSuite Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/ZEN and download your own customized KPI checklist.

Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg discuss what is exciting in Crypto right now, covering friend.tech, Farcaster’s updates, PWAs, superchain 2a, and infrastructure improvements for more use cases. If you’re building a business and need compliance for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA, head to www.vanta.com/zen for $1000 off. Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co TOPICS DISCUSSED: (00:01:36) How Dan is building Farcaster (00:02:39) Using Ethereum is expensive (00:04:14) Crypto and climate change (00:07:49) Dan's take on the buzzy new friend.tech (00:12:27) Friend.tech's smart use of a PWA + impressive growth (00:17:11) Coinbase has its own blockchain now (00:21:47) Are SPACs worse than Crypto's scammy retail stuff (00:24:21) Chamath and accountability (00:30:24) How will crypto get to a billion users? (00:39:11) The case for Farcaster and the future of social media (00:52:25) How much value can be captured by subscaled social networks? (00:56:51) Why we'll see startups move away from venture-backed business models (00:59:26) Most successful media company of the past decade (01:03:59) Crypto's regulations are a gray cloud over financial innovation (01:08:08) Opportunities to expand upside for people, from businesses to UBI (01:09:12) Crypto is not politicized (01:14:40) Genetics and IQ (01:24:04) The Sam Harris + Ezra Klein Charles Murray debate (01:32:48) Why this is the next major culture war issue RELATED EPISODES: Upstream w/ Erik Torenberg ft/ Sam Harris Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0DeR2VZOjpnE9pQ9b3Om9S?si=u662cEDUTt6D27D09Jnk0w Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e10-sam-harris-on-populism-polarization-and-his-beef/id1678893467?i=1000614749192 Upstream with Erik Torenberg ft/ Ezra Klein Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/36vTPPcpisMVXSgq9bnj1w?si=WEysQWc4RouTxd1hzNl1iw Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e3-ezra-klein-on-supply-side-progressivism-polarization/id1678893467?i=1000607892890 SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | Vanta | NetSuite Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Vanta Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/ZEN and download your own customized KPI checklist.

Mike Solana joins Erik Torenberg, Dan Romero, and Antonio Garcia Martinez to track the rise and ‘vibe shift’ away from the woke industrial complex, from social media algorithms and anon accounts, to media disruptions like Substack and Gawker. They discuss Peter Thiel's economic, political, and religious ideas and discuss his legacy. They also debate if the left really has lost control of culture or whether we’re just more siloed in 2023, and which GOP candidates draw on upstream intellectual ideas. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/zen Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (05:25) Behind the scenes of Mike’s Peter Thiel interview (13:00) Mike’s hypothesis behind the waves of woke culture dominance since 1995 until today (15:36) Sponsors: Vanta, NetSuite (17:41) What explains the vibe shift away from identity politics today, if it is actually in decline. (25:51) Substack materially changed the discourse, i.e. Richard Hanania (29:32) The Feminist Critique of Snow White discourse on TikTok (31:50) Anon accounts (33:37) Has culture changed or are we just more siloed? (36:00) Hunter Biden discredits mainstream culture on the left and the right (39:27) The rise and (maybe?) fall of DEI in tech (41:47) Thiel's stance on economics, science and technology, politics, and faith (45:33) Is Thiel's religious argument based on a misread of the bible? (52:43) Do the neo-Nietzscheans actually have a constituency? (55:18) Which GOP nominees, if any, are influenced by intellectual movements? (1:01:31) How do intellectual ideas actually drive political power in the US? (1:03:31) What do people want in a political candidate (1:05:13) Autoerotic self-pardoning (1:08:00) Is Thiel backing away from the anti-woke cause (1:14:35) World War meme (1:15:30) Thiel's legacy SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | Vanta | NetSuite Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/ZEN and download your own customized KPI checklist.

Antonio Garcia Martinez is back from his travels, and joins Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg to dive into his current theory of ‘The End of History’. They also discuss the cancellation of intellectual figures like Richard Hanania, contrast the political situation in Israel with political polarization in the states, and discuss liberalism vs. religion. Towards the end, they talk about social media, crypto, Elon vs Zuck, and Sam Bankman-Fried. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/zen Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (02:13) Elon Musk vs. Dustin Moskovitz (05:00) Decarceration in SF (07:53) What problems should we focus on for the biggest impact? (12:05) Waiting for Antonio and reflecting on his conversion (15:30) Moment of Zen: Who’s listening and why?  (18:00) Behind the scenes at Turpentine network (19:43) Updates: Spindl and Antonio’s travels to France and Israel (21:27) Sponsors: Vanta | NetSuite (26:04) Mapping the left and the right in Israel vs in the US (34:15) End of history (37:10) Is Richard Hanania canceled? (39:50) The new Right (41:35) Liberalism LARPing (43:20) LindyMan (44:50) The movies (46:40) Why hasn’t there been new religions? (52:20) Christian vs Jewish narrative (56:08) Is Modernity a death cult? (57:10) How do we fix the birth rate? (01:04:40) Updates: Farcaster and Dan’s take on how we usher in a new era for social media (01:08:00) Crypto infrastructure companies (01:13:00) The underrated impact of Apple’s app store  (01:15:10) What our interest in Elon Musk vs. Mark Zuckerberg at the Coliseum reveals about us (01:18:10) The story about SBF (01:20:00) Shkreli season (check out In The Arena) LINKS: Bruno Maçães, History Has Begun: https://www.amazon.com.au/History-Has-Begun-Bruno-Macaes/dp/1787383016 Patrick Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Liberalism-Failed-Politics-Culture/dp/0300223447 Dara Horn, People Love Dead Jews: https://www.amazon.com/People-Love-Dead-Jews-Reports/dp/B09CFYVY3F/ X: @antoniogm (Antonio) @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @MOZ_Podcast SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | Vanta | NetSuite Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/ZEN and download your own customized KPI checklist.

Alex Kaplan shot to fame on Twitter last week for his thread on the LK-99 superconductor, and why it has the potential to be the most important physics discovery of our lifetime. Today he joins Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg to dig deeper into the LK-99 saga and its broader implications: why the material is so hard to replicate, the citizen journalist aspect and the democratization of science, condensed matter physics, a call for scientific ambition, and more. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/zen TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:13) Introduction to Alex Kaplan, and how his superconductor tweet took over the internet (03:32) Why is the LK-99 compound so difficult to replicate? (06:52) The breakdown of superconductor properties (diamagnetism vs. superconductivity) (10:44) How does one even go and invent a new material? (13:53) Tracing the drama of how Lee, Kim, and Kwon published their papers (15:06) Sponsor: NetSuite (16:15) Cont. story of Lee, Kim, and Kwon (19:25) Andrew and Iris live-tweeting their replication efforts (22:08) The citizen journalist aspect (24:21) The democratization of science (25:41) Condensed matter physics (29:38) What’s most exciting about the LK-99 discovery (32:08) Observing the tangible impacts of virality on Twitter (34:23) The (im)precise process of creating the LK-99 compound (35:57) What are the implications, if LK-99 is a real superconductor? (42:06) What if superconductors made more efficient quantum computers? (44:03) A potential Kardashev scale civilization (45:23) The most interesting thing about the LK-99 saga for Alex (46:49) Comparable physics discoveries to the LK-99 (49:18) Alex's request for scientific ambition: where should we be looking? LINKS: Alex’s viral X / Twitter Thread: https://twitter.com/alexkaplan0/status/1684044616528453633  LK-99 Paper (submitted by Kwon): https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12008  LK-99 Paper (submitted by Lee and Kim): ​​https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12037  X / TWITTER: @alexkaplan0 (Alex) @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @moz_podcast SPONSOR: Beehiiv | Shopify | Vanta | NetSuite Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at https://www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months.

Economist and writer Noah Smith returns to the podcast to talk to Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg about housing, politics, land use, and policing in California and beyond. Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more at www.turpentine.co or email [email protected] TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:07) Antonio is the Dennis Rodman (01:42) Noah’s new podcast with Turpentine: Econ 102 (02:05) The left and right version of “it’s time to build” i.e. Ezra Klein vs Marc Andreessen (04:50) California skewed political identities (07:00) California vs Texas GOP stance on immigration (09:30) Should Gary Tan strategize from the left or the right, structurally (11:11) Can the Asian block become a machine in SF? In California? (12:50) Is LA better run than SF? (17:40) What’s the best-run city in the US (20:58) Sponsor: NetSuite (22:15) Best format for affordable housing in cities (26:30) California is a class society based on land (28:40) House-rich progressives in California (31:00) Prop 13, property tax, and SALT debates (39:30) The tide of YIMBYism (51:10) Effective building in Japan (58:00) YIMBY movement in SF lost because of crime (59:00) The future of San Francisco (01:09:00) Policing (01:16:00) WWII and the atom bomb (01:22:00) Will patriotism come back? (01:25:00) Biggest misconception about Japan? LINKS: Noah's Substack https://www.noahpinion.blog/ Book Recommendation on Prop 13: Golden Gates https://www.amazon.com/Golden-Gates-Fighting-Housing-America/dp/0525560211 X / TWITTER: @noahpinion (Noah) @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @moz_podcast SPONSORS: Beehiiv: Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months.

Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz returns to discuss his recent essays on AI, violence, and much more including: San Francisco, mandatory military service, Voegelin, and life extension. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/zen Check out our other interviews with Marc: Moment of Zen E1: on SBF/FTX, Twitter, and Open AI/Chat GPT Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0smJY3xJXFhVsL0cX2BtVf?si=89cfd3ddc0434eb0 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moment-of-zen/id1661672738?i=1000591411124 Moment of Zen E2: on Elon Musk, Nietzsche, and America's Thousand Year Empire Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0qzUqkt0rCIfVsbUw7eZ77?si=1f7eec7bc1954380 Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moment-of-zen/id1661672738?i=1000591713971 TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode preview (01:26) The evolution of human entertainment from epic poetry to NPC Tiktoks (06:50) Violence is a choice (11:00) True democracy mandates military service as a virtue (20:00) Can San Francisco be fixed? (31:00) Marc's empirical argument for AI (34:45) Sponsor: NetSuite (35:45) Where Sam Harris gets it wrong (39:37) Eric Voegelin's concept of Immanetizing the EschatonWhat happens to religion after AI? (52:50) What would Nietzsche say? (54:00) LLMs are already the subject of a religious war (01:03:30) What comes after liberalism (01:11:20) Men’s tailoring and the stripping of masculinity (01:13:50) Is Twitter’s influence the real world? (01:17:20) Is Left vs Right the central conflict of our time? (01:22:28) Life extension TWITTER: @pmarca (Marc) @dwr (Dan) @antoniogm (Antonio) @eriktorenberg (Erik) LINKS: Marc Andreessen, Fighting https://pmarca.substack.com/p/fighting Marc Andreessen, Why AI Will Save The World. https://pmarca.substack.com/p/why-ai-will-save-the-world Eric Voegelin, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Voegelin Book: Regime Change by Patrick J. Deneen https://www.amazon.com/Regime-Change-Toward-Postliberal-Future/dp/0593086902 SPONSOR: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | VANTA | NETSUITE Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. -SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen -Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at https://www.vanta.com/zen -NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months.

Writer and technologist Eugene Wei joins Dan, Erik and Antonio to talk about Twitter, Threads, and his views on remote work. We reference Eugene's writing a lot on the podcast and mentioned his recent piece, How to Blow Up a Timeline in last week's MoZ episode with Mike Solana (see links below). Listeners, if you're looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: netsuite.com/zen Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: turpentine.co We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. LINKS REFERENCED: Eugene Wei, How to Blow Up a Timeline https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2023/7/6/how-to-blow-up-a-timeline American Prometheus https://www.amazon.com/American-Prometheus-Triumph-Tragedy-Oppenheimer/dp/0375726268 TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode preview (01:03) Algorithm switch at Twitter (07:10) What Eugene would do as Twitter’s CEO (11:30) Signal to noise ratio in social media (22:00) Threads (37:35) Sponsor: NetSuite (38:50) LinkedIn (47:00) Improving Twitter: Ranked follower feed, restoring aristocracy, reversing war on Substack (1:10:00) Incumbents vs upstarts in social media (01:14:40) Graph portability (01:20:00) Centralization vs Decentralization of the space (01:25:00) UI analysis of Twitter vs. Discord vs. Slack vs Threads (01:30:00) Impact of Slack and minimizing meetings on the workplace (01:35:00) The downstream costs of remote work (01:49:30) Why tech is the worst industry to model out the effects of remote work (01:51:00) Office layout and productivity TWITTER: @eugenewei (Eugene) @dwr (Dan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @antoniogm (Antonio) @moz_podcast SPONSOR: Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen NETSUITE: NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months.

Fan favorite Mike Solana, Editor in Chief of Pirate Wires, joins Erik, Dan, and Antonio this week to discuss Meta’s Threads, status, and the future of social media. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/zen Moment of Zen is a part of the Turpentine podcast network. To learn more about talent and partnerships: www.turpentine.co We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode preview (01:20) Threads vs Twitter (08:30) Who’s using Threads? (14:40) Threads evolving into something else (21:13) Threads’ growth (23:30) Elon and Substack (29:45) Ads on Twitter/Facebook (33:45) Fragmentation (36:05) Journalists (37:10) Telepath (38:00) Twitter since 2016 (39:00) What the next election will feel like online (42:00) Future of social media (45:00) Whose status was affected (50:50) Distribution on Twitter vs Threads (53:22) Politics on social media (57:45) “Thetaverse” (01:00:03) What  Elon should do now? (01:04:34) How Zuckerberg’s image has changed (01:07:20) Final predictions LINKS: Zuckerberg Wages War https://www.piratewires.com/p/pirate-wires-twitters-final-boss (https://www.piratewires.com/p/pirate-wires-twitters-final-boss) How to Blow Up A Timeline by Eugene Wei https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2023/7/6/how-to-blow-up-a-timeline (https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2023/7/6/how-to-blow-up-a-timeline) TWITTER: @micsolana (Mike) @MOZ_Podcast @eriktorenberg (Erik) @antoniogm (Antonio) @dwr (Dan) SPONSOR: BEEHIIV | SHOPIFY | VANTA | NETSUITE Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at https://www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months.

In this episode, Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg discuss the Supreme Court's affirmative action decision, legacies and college athletes, the administrative state, and the right's victory in the courts. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics TIMESTAMPS: (0:00) Affirmative Action ruling (9:00) Affirmative Action hurts Asians (15:00) California as a case study (19:00) Downsides of Affirmative Action (23:30) Why not class based affirmative action? (28:00) Let’s get rid of legacies too (30:00) Why Dan is not a fan of Harvard (36:00) Gay rights and abortion (45:00) The right won the courts (51:30) Chris Caldwell’s “Age of Entitlement” (56:00) Dismantling the administrative state (1:05:00) Steelmanning the case for Affirmative Action TWITTER: @MOZ_Podcast @eriktorenberg (Erik) @dwr (Dan) SPONSORS: Please support our sponsors: Beehiiv: Shopify: NetSuite: Secureframe Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "MOZ" for 20% off your first three months. -Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen - NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. - Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/ Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year.

Alana Newhouse, the Editor in Chief of Tablet Magazine, joins Erik and Antonio on this week's episode. Avid listeners will recall that Alana's essays about Brokenism have influenced many heated discussions on Moment of Zen. Here Alana goes deeper into unpacking our present moment, institutionalism vs anti-institutionalism, distrust, Judaism and spirituality, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/UPSTREAM Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: Turpentine.co We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode preview (04:00) Insitutionalists vs Anti-Institutionalists or Left vs Right? (07:25) What is the Borg? What are their values? (13:00) Skepticism of government (16:30) Sponsor: Secureframe (21:00) Untangling particular religious impulses, faith vs practice (30:56) Misinformation (32:39) Jewish notion of justice vs Christian notion of justice (37:08) Who is 'The West' now? (45:00) Divesting from current American institutions (52:00) Tech and religion (59:00) How Antonio got upsold on Judaism (01:01:00) American Jews a decade ago and now (01:07:00) Americans need to imagine a new world instead of stagnating (01:15:00) Saudi Arabia's Realignment (01:22:00) Revisiting the crux of the divide WEEKEND READING Brokenism by Alana Newhouse, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/brokenism-alana-newhouse Disinformation by Jacob Siegel, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/guide-understanding-hoax-century-thirteen-ways-looking-disinformation Us and Them by Liel Liebovitz, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/zionism-liel-leibovitz The Moses Option by Antonio Garcia Martinez, https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/the-moses-option Walter Mussell Read, The Arc of a Covenant https://www.amazon.com/Arc-Covenant-United-States-Israel/dp/0375414045 TWITTER: @alananewhouse @tabletmag @MOZ_Podcast @eriktorenberg (Erik_ @antoniogm (Antonio) SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | NetSuite Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen NetSuite (http://netsuite.com/zen) NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months.

Katherine Boyle and Mike Solana join Erik, Dan, and Antonio to discuss whether a liberal arts degree is worth it and how to save San Francisco. Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. To learn more: turpentine.co We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. a16z Podcast: https://future.com/a16z-podcast/ The a16z podcast is a lighthouse for current and future founders, breaking down the most important trends in technology. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (04:30) Recapping the first Moment of Zen fight (07:00) Is a Liberal Arts degree worth it? (010:30) The siren song of The Social Network (14:00) Finance vs Tech in the 2010s (15:35) Sponsor: Secureframe (16:40) 4 out of the 5 people on this episode got a liberal arts degree (21:00) Are elite schools still worth it? Are middle tier colleges worth it? (29:00) Are CS degrees necessary? (31:00) Zero sum: college vs vocational school (42:00) Mike Solana’s political future in San Francisco (44:45) How tech failed SF (46:40) How to talk about drug dealers, drug addicts, and recreational drug use (51:30) Wealth in SF, geographically (1:01:00) Housing (1:0400) Fentanyl will be a key issue in the upcoming election (1:08:00) Dangerous memes, aspirations, and not accepting market realities LINKS: Season of the Witch by David Talbot: https://www.amazon.com/Season-Witch-Enchantment-Terror-Deliverance/dp/1439108242 Base Reality by Mike Solana: https://www.piratewires.com/p/base-reality-an-interview-with-grimes-6b3 TWITTER: @KTmBoyle (Katherine) @micsolana (Mike) @MOZ_Podcast @eriktorenberg (Erik) @antoniogm (Antonio) @dwr (Dan) SPONSORS: Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen NetSuite (http://netsuite.com/zen) NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Secureframe (https://secureframe.com/) Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year.

Today, we have a special bonus episode: a discussion between Marc Andreessen, the co-founder of Andreessen Horowitz, and Anton Troynikov, founder of AI database company Chroma. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/zen. This conversation originally took place on Twitter Spaces, where Anton and Marc talked about Marc's recent, provocative essay, Why AI Will Save The World. Marc explains why AI will not destroy the world but instead may save it. Towards the end of the discussion, Marc takes questions from a select audience of entrepreneurs and builders in AI. Given how much we've talked about AI and the various doomer debates on Moment of Zen, we felt that this conversation was too good to be missed. We're so thrilled that Marc, Anton, and a16z allowed us to republish it here. Both Marc and Anton have been on Moment of Zen before (see LINKS) Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. To learn more: www.turpentine.co TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:39) Anton asks Marc why he wrote this essay now (02:30) Recap of AI History over last 80 years (04:05) Hysteria, paranoia, doomerism (06:00) Intelligence is the fundamental building block (09:47) Precautionary principle and nuclear technology debate (13:52) Recommendation: a16z podcast (14:43) Sponsor: Secureframe (16:04) The AI Race (18:00) China’s national strategic priority (22:53) Cold War dynamics (23:20) What should the government do? (24:00) Analogy Period: 2nd Industrial Revolution (33:51) AI hype cycle, speculation, investment (38:38) Problems AI can solve (50:00) Questions from audience members, including Beff Jezos + Amjad Masad SPONSOR: Beehiiv | Shopify | Vanta | NetSuite | Secureframe Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Vanta Are you building a business? If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta. Achieving compliance can actually unlock major growth for your company and build customer loyalty. Vanta automates up to 90% of Compliance work, getting you audit-ready in weeks instead of months and saving 85% of associated costs. Moment of Zen listeners get $1000 off at https://www.vanta.com/zen NetSuite ( http://netsuite.com/zen ) NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Secureframe ( www.secureframe.com ) Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOMENT OF ZEN during your demo to get 20% off your first year.

Nadia joins Erik, Dan and Antonio to debate the different movements in tech and determine what they should be doing to achieve the impact they want to have. Nadia is a tech researcher (nadia.xyz.) and the author of Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software. Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. To learn more: Turpentine.co If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (01:03) New Podcast recommendation: In The Arena (01:28) Why it’s important to break down the elite camps and their worldviews (02:51) Elite bracket breakdown (10:00) Technooptimism, AI, and regulation (12:08) Davos mindset versus revolutionaries (13:00) Why doesn’t tech support the arts? (15:00) Sponsor: Secureframe (17:00) Tech needs to tell a better story (21:42) Where does Elon fit into this framework? (23:13) Institutionalists vs anti-institutionalists (Elon, Sachs, Sam Altman, Thiel, Vijaya)  (35:00) How does the tech worldview enter politics and public stewardship successfully? (39:00) Is Twitter an institution? (42:00) Antonio’s depressing statement (48:30) How the desire for high status in a digital world has affected local philanthropy (55:44) Who are the most high status people in the world? High status education? (01:04:00) Building parallel institutions (01:08:00) Nadia discusses her article about GitHub (01:15:00) What do American intellectuals get? Experts? Substackers? (01:17:00) Idea machines TWITTER: @nayafia (Nadia) @MOZ_Podcast @eriktorenberg (Erik) @antoniogm (Antonio) @dwr (Dan) SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | NetSuite | Secureframe Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months Shopify ( https://shopify.com/momentofzen ) for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen NetSuite ( http://netsuite.com/zen ) NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. Secureframe ( https://secureframe.com/ ) Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year. More shownotes released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/

Dan and Erik discuss Apple's upcoming release, VR, the debt deal, nuclear energy and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode preview (02:11) Apple headset (12:27) iOS vs Android (15:57) Sponsor: Secureframe (16:49) What Clayton Christensen got wrong (23:50) VR compared to crypto (29:00) What's the future of VR (38:55) Reflecting on Facebook's bets on crypto and VR (52:41) Closed vs open ecosystems LINKS: https://patrickcollison.com/pollution Please support our sponsors: Beehiiv | Shopify | NetSuite | Secureframe Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months -Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen -NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. - Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/ Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year.

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. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. LINKS: Mike Solana's Interview with Grimes (https://www.piratewires.com/p/base-reality-an-interview-with-grimes-6b3) Dan's sci-fi book recommendation: Delta-v by Daniel Suarez TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Preview of episode (01:44) On what Mike Solana would say to Congress about AI (08:30) Contrasting Zuck, Brian Armstrong, and Sam Altman’s approach to regulation (15:09) Recommendation: Upstream (15:35) Sponsor: Secureframe (16:05) AI doomerism is just marketing for big AI (26:25) Elon’s wins and losses so far as Twitter CEO (38:57) Taylor Lorenz Mythology (41:40) Twitter’s regime change // How the tables have turned. Muahahaha. (45:00) What we’d do if we were Twitter CEO (51:00) Evolution of polarization (59:00) Silver lining of polarization (1:05:00) Distinguishing Elon’s antics from his philosophy (1:14:00) Trump feels more familiar in 2023 vs. 2016 (1:18:00) The right is adopting woke tactics (1:22:00) Social media and depression follow up (1:24:00) Is half of Gen Z non-straight? (1:28:00) Ellen Pao (1:34:30) Is Pirate Wires conservative media? (No) Please support our sponsors: Beehiiv | Shopify | NetSuite | Secureframe Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months -Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen -NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. - Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/ Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year.

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 is not penetrating Israel. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. Walter Russell Mead, historian, pundit, and author is encyclopedic about politics, culture, and history from immigration to religion, literature to finance. Mead is one of our favorite guests on Moment of Zen. He also has his own show called What Really Matters, a new podcast from Tablet Magazine (whose editor in chief, Alana Newhouse, was also on our show). Every week on What Really Matters, Mead and deputy editor Jeremy Stern analyze the revolutionary changes upending American life and connect them to larger trends. Go to tabletmag.com/podcasts/what-really-matters or subscribe to What Really Matters with Walter Russell Mead on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. LINKS: Liel’s writings for Tablet: https://www.tabletmag.com/contributors/liel-leibovitz RECOMMENDED PODCASTS: Upstream with Erik Torenberg: https://link.chtbl.com/Upstream Unorthodox from Tablet: https://www.tabletmag.com/tags/unorthodox TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode preview (03:06) Askhenazi vs Sephardic (04:14) Universalism vs Particularism (15:28) Sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire (37:08) Christian vs Jewish notions of Justice (49:28) Liel’s political evolution (52:42) Palestinians vs Israelis (1:00:00) Abraham Accords - Obama vs Trump approach to Israel (1:07:00) What do the left vs right of Israel believe? (1:12:00) What does Netanyahu want (1:16:02) Liel is Long-term bullish, short-term bearish on Israel (1:19:00) Israel isn’t dependent on U.S. anymore (1:29:27) What would Liel’s smartest critic say about this conversation (1:34:52) Future of America / Israel relationship TWITTER: @MOZ_Podcast @liel (Liel) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @antoniogm (Antonio) Please support our sponsors: Beehiiv | Shopify | NetSuite Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen -NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months.

Dan and Erik discuss how Elon got coded right-wing, why liberals are more depressed than conservatives, crime and prisons. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. LINKS: Patrick Collison interviews Sam Altman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1egAKCKPKCk RECOMMENDED PODCAST: Upstream with Erik Torenberg: https://link.chtbl.com/Upstream TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode preview (02:48) Twitter’s new CEO and Elon (9:00) When did Elon become right-wing coded? (15:00) Contrasting Zuck and Elon (16:28) Sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire (18:26) Contrasting Elon and Sam Altman (23:00) Elon’s quest to increase “net truth” (29:00) AI race / live players (31:45) Accountability within private vs public sector (34:00) Facebook bull case (40:30) Jonathan Haidt’s anti-facebook case (45:00) Why depression is on the rise (51:00) Why liberals are more depressed than conservatives (59:00) Living in America is higher variance (1:06:00) Different approaches to curbing crime TWITTER: @MOZ_Podcast @eriktorenberg (Erik) @dwr (Dan) More shownotes released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ Please support our sponsors: Beehiiv | NetSuite | Secureframe | MarketerHire Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months - NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. - Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/ Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year. Secureframe has just released Secureframe Trust, a new product that lets you showcase your organization's security posture to build customer trust. - MarketerHire: https://marketerhire.com/moz MarketerHire is one of my favorite resources for growing startups looking to hire marketers. With 1000s of pre-vetted marketers across a dozen roles, whether you need help with growth, marketing, SEO, lifecycle, content, or any other aspect of growth marketing strategy. Over 5,000 companies already use MarketerHire to hire expert marketers on demand, ranging from top venture-backed startups to the most well-known Fortune 500s. Go to marketerhire.com/moz and use code MOZ to get your $1,000 credit for your first hire.

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 like The New York Times, and what the future of media holds. Also, check out the debut of Erik's long-form interview podcast Upstream. He most recently interviewed Joe Lonsdale and David Sacks. Subscribe here: https://link.chtbl.com/Upstream REFERENCES: Ben's new book: Traffic: Genius, Rivalry, and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral Semafor: https://www.semafor.com/ TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (4:00) Ben Smith’s book “Traffic” (9:00) Buzzfeed’s cultural impact (11:00) Regrets around the Steele Dossier (16:00) Sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire (17:30) Objectivity vs subjectivity in journalsim (21:00) Left wing vs right wing journalism (26:20) Tech media (30:00) Cambridge Analytica bullshit (34:00) Buzzfeed Uber controversy (37:30) Tech and media fall out (50:30) The root of tech vs media dissonance (1:06:00) Free speech (1:13:00) “The book is a eulogy to a rotting corpse that got what was coming to it” (1:16:30) Ads vs subscription (1:21:00) Future of media TWITTER: @MOZ_Podcast @semaforben (Ben) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @antoniogm (Antonio) More shownotes released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ Please support our sponsors: Beehiiv | Shopify | Secureframe | MarketerHire Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months -Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen - Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/ Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year. - MarketerHire: https://marketerhire.com/moz MarketerHire is one of my favorite resources for growing startups looking to hire marketers. With 1000s of pre-vetted marketers across a dozen roles, whether you need help with growth, marketing, SEO, lifecycle, content, or any other aspect of growth marketing strategy. Over 5,000 companies already use MarketerHire to hire expert marketers on demand, ranging from top venture-backed startups to the most well-known Fortune 500s. Go to marketerhire.com/moz and use code MOZ to get your $1,000 credit for your first hire. Thank you Graham Bessellieu for production.

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. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (5:00) Fatherhood and founders (10:00) What is “Seriousness” (13:39) Sponsors: Secureframe | MarketerHire (16:00) Elon (20:30) Software and hardware (26:30) Are founders psychologically off? (35:00) SpaceX and Starship (43:00) Where would Steve Jobs be today? (48:00) Twitter and Substack (1:07:00) Florida is a COVID phenomenon, not a ZIRP phenomenon (1:17:00) Can we pressure Katherine join Moment of Zen as the fourth cohost? (1:18:00) Sending kids to Catholic school TWITTER: @MOZ_Podcast @KTmBoyle @eriktorenberg @dwr @antoniogm *Please support our sponsors: Beehiiv | Shopify | NetSuite | Secureframe | MarketerHire* Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months -Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen -NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. - Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/ Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year. - MarketerHire: https://marketerhire.com/moz MarketerHire is one of my favorite resources for growing startups looking to hire marketers. With 1000s of pre-vetted marketers across a dozen roles, whether you need help with growth, marketing, SEO, lifecycle, content, or any other aspect of growth marketing strategy. Over 5,000 companies already use MarketerHire to hire expert marketers on demand, ranging from top venture-backed startups to the most well-known Fortune 500s. Go to marketerhire.com/moz and use code MOZ to get your $1,000 credit for your first hire. Thank you Graham Bessellieu for production.

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. This episode is a great companion to Episode 17 with Mike Solana, another passionate advocate for fixing the city of San Francisco. Michelle is a founder and writes a newsletter at notesfromthefront.substack.com. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  REFERENCES:  Sam Quinones' book - Dream Land: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic https://www.amazon.com/Dreamland-True-Americas-Opiate-Epidemic-ebook/dp/B00U19DTS0 Sam Quinones' book - The Least of Us: True Tales of America and Hope in the Time of Fentanyl and Meth https://www.amazon.com/Least-Us-Tales-America-Fentanyl-ebook/dp/B0932RRNVL/ Matt Taibbi’s book - Hate Inc. https://www.amazon.com/Hate-Inc-Todays-Despise-Another/dp/1682194078/ TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode preview (04:45) Michelle’s friend group (11:00) Twitter shapes the real world (14:00) Trump derangement syndrome (16:00) Sponsors: Secureframe (18:00) Reading the news (22:00) The war on drugs (38:30) How to fix SF (50:00) History of media polarization (59:00) Michelle’s three point plan if she were mayor (01:15:00) Should Michelle run for office? (01:21:00 )Twitter reshaping politics TWITTER: @MOZ_Podcast @michelletandler (Michelle) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @dwr (Dan) Please support our sponsors: Beehiiv | Shopify | NetSuite | Secureframe | MarketerHire Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months -Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen -NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. - Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/ Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year. - MarketerHire: https://marketerhire.com/moz MarketerHire is one of my favorite resources for growing startups looking to hire marketers. With 1000s of pre-vetted marketers across a dozen roles, whether you need help with growth, marketing, SEO, lifecycle, content, or any other aspect of growth marketing strategy. Over 5,000 companies already use MarketerHire to hire expert marketers on demand, ranging from top venture-backed startups to the most well-known Fortune 500s. Go to marketerhire.com/moz and use code MOZ to get your $1,000 credit for your first hire. Thank you Graham Bessellieu for production.

Dan and Erik discuss picking markets, NFT's, disinformation, and Fentanyl. Also, check out the debut of Erik's new long-form interview podcast Upstream. This coming season features interviews with Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, Ezra Sacks, David Sacks, Katherine Boyle, Joe Lonsdale, and more upcoming. Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts: bit.ly/3z8TldL Spotify: bit.ly/40letd0 We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics TIMESTAMPS: (0:00) Preview of episode (1:45) Crypto in a bear market (9:00) How to pick markets (17:45) Sponsors - Secureframe | MarketerHire (18:57) Why do NFTs matter (48:00) Disinformation (1:01:00) Social media fragmentation (1:10:00) Biggest U.S problems (1:13:00) How to fix the Fentanyl program TWITTER: @MOZ_Podcast @eriktorenberg (Erik) @dwr (Dan) More shownotes and reading material released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/ Please support our sponsors: Beehiiv | Shopify | Secureframe | MarketerHire Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months -Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen - Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/ Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOZ during your demo to get 20% off your first year. - MarketerHire: https://marketerhire.com/moz MarketerHire is one of my favorite resources for growing startups looking to hire marketers. With 1000s of pre-vetted marketers across a dozen roles, whether you need help with growth, marketing, SEO, lifecycle, content, or any other aspect of growth marketing strategy. Over 5,000 companies already use MarketerHire to hire expert marketers on demand, ranging from top venture-backed startups to the most well-known Fortune 500s. Go to marketerhire.com/moz and use code MOZ to get your $1,000 credit for your first hire. Thank you Graham Bessellieu for production.

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 our interviews with Riverside. Go to https://bit.ly/Riverside_MoZ + use code ZEN for 20%.  We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics TIMESTAMPS: (0:00) Antonio’s EA rant (2:12) Local SF politics is changing (18:10) Tech vs. Media (26:30) Sponsors: Secureframe and Riverside (28:00 )Why does SF hate tech? (31:00) How to win over California (38:00) Institutionalist vs. anti-institutionalist (55:50) Taylor Lorenz (1:01:30) Tik Tok (1:03:40) Why Solana isn’t a libertarian anymore (1:07:55) Why is the onus on billionaires instead of government (1:14:20) Dan swears off Peter Zeihan (1:16:00) Anti-tech tech podcasts (1:18:20) AI criticism is coming from within tech (1:19:50) Aella (1:21:30) AI safety debate (1:32:00) What Solana is motivated by TWITTER: @MOZ_Podcast @micsolana (Mike) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @dwr (Dan) @antoniogm (Antonio) More shownotes and reading material released in our Substack: https://momentofzen.substack.com/  SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months -Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen Thank you to Secureframe for sponsoring (Use "Moment of Zen" for 20% discount) and Graham Bessellieu for production.

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 a 6-month pause on AI system trainings. Dan and Antonio will be back next week. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen Check out the debut of Erik's new longform interview podcast Upstream. This coming season features interviews with Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, Ezra Sacks, David Sacks, Katherine Boyle, and more.  We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. LINKS: Open letter: https://futureoflife.org/open-letter/pause-giant-ai-experiments/ Scott Aronson blog post: https://scottaaronson.blog/ TIMESTAMPS: (3:00) Explanation of the AI open letter (3:50) Anton’s skepticism of the open letter (7:00) Flo’s skepticism of the open letter (13:00) Nathan’s support for the open letter (15:39) Sponsors (20:00) Differences between Flo and Anton’s positions (30:00) GPT4 is still dangerous (38:00) Luddites/“Pausers” are on the wrong side of history (42:00 )Why not pause 6 months? (50:00) Anton and Flo debate robotics (56:00) What we’re all scared of with AI (1:21:00) Is there asymmetric risk with pausing or not pausing? TWITTER: @MOZ_Podcast @atroyn (Anton) @labenz (Nathan) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @altimor (Flo) SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | Netsuite | Secureframe Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months -Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen -NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. -SecureFrame: www.secureframe.com Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOMENT OF ZEN during your demo to get 20% off your first year.

Writer, VC, and podcaster Nic Carter joins us to talk about Balaji's bet, Operation Chokepoint 2.0, and the Fed's financial crisis. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics Podcast Info: (0:00) Intro (3:00) Reflections on Balaji episode  (10:00) Coinbase and SVB (14:00) Sponsors (15:00) Operation chokepoint 2.0 (16:45) We find out the reason for Antonio’s circumcision (25:00) Crypto banking crisis (36:00) How much of crypto is new? (38:40) Main benefits of crypto  (47:20) Finance is politicized  (55:00) Defining a CDBC (1:02:00) Nic’s biggest crypto beef (1:07:30) Nic’s take on Balaji’s bet (1:12:30) Why crypto should vote republicans next election (1:19:30) We’re in a financial crisis caused by the fed (1:20:30) Our options for addressing the crisis (1:27:00) If we were kings for a day how we’d solve it (1:28:50) Nic would rather cut rates than raise rates (1:30:00) AI is the U.S.’s main hope SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | Netsuite | Secureframe Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months -Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen -NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. -Secureframe (www.secureframe.com) Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOMENT OF ZEN during your demo to get 20% off your first year.

Balaji Srinivasan tells us why he is making a $1M BTC prediction and discusses SVB, the financial crisis, the digital devaluation of the USD, and what comes next. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics   TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (08:00) 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 where else to go (1:18:00) Responding to critics   SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | Netsuite | Secureframe Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months -Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen -NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. -Secureframe (www.secureframe.com) Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOMENT OF ZEN during your demo to get 20% off your first year.  

Byrne Hobart joins Antonio, Dan, and Erik to discuss SVB, finance, and crypto. We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (00:45) Sponsors (01:28) Dan’s story with SVB (06:00) Byrne intro (Check out Thediff.co) (07:00) How Byrne identified SVB’s insolvency (15:30) How banking works (22:10) Fractional reserve banking (27:00) Banking on-chain (32:00) Understanding illiquidity (46:00) Housing market (53:00) How much can crypto recreate the financial system? (1:08:00) Crypto is financial system for digital native world (1:15:25) Are we at the end of (financial) history? (1:20:00) Finance is never solved SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | Secureframe Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months -Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen -Secureframe (www.secureframe.com) Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOMENT OF ZEN during your demo to get 20% off your first year.

Anonymous founders of the Effective Accelerationist (e/acc) movement @Bayeslord and Beff Jezoz (@BasedBeff) join Erik Torenberg, Dan Romero, and Nathan Labenz to debate views on AI safety. We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode preview (03:00) Intro to effective accelerationism (08:00) Differences between effective accelerationism and effective altruism (23:00) Effective accelerationism is bottoms-up (42:00) Transhumanism (46:00) "Equanimity amidst the singularity" (48:30) Why AI safety is the wrong frame (56:00) Pushing back against effective accelerationism (01:06:00) The case for AI safety (01:24:00) Upgrading civilizational infrastructure (01:33:00) Effective accelerationism is anti-fragile (01:39:00) Will we botch AI like we botched nuclear? (01:46:00) Hidden costs of emphasizing downsides (2:00:00) Are we in the same position as neanderthals, before humans? (2:09:00) "Doomerism has an unpriced opportunity cost of upside" SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | Secureframe Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months -Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen -Secureframe (www.secureframe.com) Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOMENT OF ZEN during your demo to get 20% off your first year.

"If you can't compete on history, compete on philosophy". We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro   (14:00) Why knowing history makes you a better entrepreneur  (21:00) Christianity’s moral innovations  (30:00) America as culture exporter  (38:00) Consumer culture and social progressivism  (51:00) Egalitarianism eats the world  (1:05:48) Equality of Opportunity vs Equality of Outcome  (1:13:00) Equality of Opportunity IS Equality of Outcome  (1:18:00) Wokeness isn't receding SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | Secureframe Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months -Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen -Secureframe (www.secureframe.com) Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOMENT OF ZEN during your demo to get 20% off your first year.

Replit founder Amjad Masad joins Erik Torenberg, Dan Romero, and Antonio Garcia Martinez to talk about disenfranchised men, intellectual movements, problems with effective altruism and AI doomerism. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. (00:00) Episode preview (02:15) Replika caused Amjad to downgrade his view of humanity (03:15) Some men are down bad (05:15) Should we bring back monogamy? (08:15) If you’re not a top man, you’re screwed (phew) (13:00) Thought experiment (16:40) Antonio brings up Israel again (drink!) (18:15) “You don’t know what life is until you birth a child and bury a parent” (19:15) Unintended policy side effects (25:25) How to solve population crisis (27:45) WTF happened in 1971? (29:15) High and low time preference (35:15) Dating app preferences (39:00) Group narcissism (41:25) Groups that inbreed focus more on kinship (45:15) AI doomerism (50:45) from New Atheism to SJ to EA to AI Safety (01:00:15) Antonio calls out Eliezer Yudkowski (01:00:45) Criticizing Utilitarianism/Effective Altruism (01:10:15) Jesus vs Nietzsche (01:10:45) Bronze Age Pervert (01:13:15) Antonio recommends converting to Judaism (01:14:30) Why is EA so popular in Silicon Valley? (01:18:10) Why are EA just normie liberals (01:19:00) EA’s importance (01:24:15) The right way to think about alignment (01:27:15) Robert Conquest’s second law (01:30:15) Entryism (01:33:45) is right wing EA a thing? SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | NetSuite | Secureframe Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months -Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen -NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. -Secureframe (www.secureframe.com) Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOMENT OF ZEN during your demo to get 20% off your first year.

We speak with Noah Smith about our modern cold wars with China & Russia, the new right, and tech’s cultural & political shifts. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com. RECOMMENDED PODCAST: The HR industry is at a crossroads. What will it take to construct the next generation of incredible businesses – and where can people leaders have the most business impact? Hosts Nolan Church and Kelli Dragovich have been through it all, the highs and the lows – IPOs, layoffs, executive turnover, board meetings, culture changes, and more. With a lineup of industry vets and experts, Nolan and Kelli break down the nitty-gritty details, trade offs, and dynamics of constructing high performing companies. Through unfiltered conversations that can only happen between seasoned practitioners, Kelli and Nolan dive deep into the kind of leadership-level strategy that often happens behind closed doors. Check out the first episode with the architect of Netflix’s culture deck Patty McCord. https://link.chtbl.com/hrheretics TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) intro  (01:50) sponsor  (02:15) What determines a country’s success  (06:00) Chinese collapse?  (08:35) Why does Ukraine matter?  (13:30) Can America be isolationist?  (20:20) Are we in a Cold War with China?  (25:45) Unpacking the new right  (35:44) The future of wokeness  (41:40) How Noah finds meaning in life (petting rabbits)  (44:20) Noah defends his liberalism  (53:00) American cope  (57:00) Why American infrastructure sucks  (01:01:00) Fake liberals  (01:06:30) Why California is a one-party state  (01:15:00) Tech’s political shift  (01:20:00) Noah’s advice to tech people SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | NetSuite | Secureframe Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝 to https://Beehiiv.com and use code “MOZ” for 20% off your first three months -Shopify: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US. And Shopify’s the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy’s, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one e-commerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you’re selling, Shopify’s got you covered. With free Shopify Magic, sell more with less effort by whipping up captivating content that converts – from blog posts to product descriptions using AI. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/momentofzen -NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen  NetSuite provides financial software for all your business needs. More than thirty-six thousand companies have already upgraded to NetSuite, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform ✅ NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and defer payments of a FULL NetSuite implementation for six months. -Secureframe (www.secureframe.com) Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention MOMENT OF ZEN during your demo to get 20% off your first year.