E18: Marc Andreessen on AI, Religion, SF, Longevity, and the NPC Meme
"Upstream" with Erik Torenberg
The Orb in Las Vegas
Antonio: The Orb in Las Vegas is one of the coolest things we've ever built, like build more arms. He says he didn't know it was possible to have a screen that size. Antonio: I'm tempted to ask what does this mean for democracy, but I can't with a straight face.
Marc Andreessen of Andreessen Horowitz sits down with Erik Torenberg and his Moment of Zen co-hosts Dan Romero and Antonio Garcia Martinez to discuss AI, religion, San Francisco politics, Eric Voegelin, and life extension. Subscribe to Moment of Zen: https://link.chtbl.com/moz
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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.
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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
LINKS:
Check out Upstream's first interview with Marc, about Marc's Intellectual Education :
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0bYfnuju3PhHFtSGgiMmoz?si=ecLDCrn_TLaYa7Bh8Q50qg
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marc-andreessen-on-his-intellectual-journey-the-past/id1678893467?i=1000605668194
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
TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Episode preview
(02:30) The evolution of human entertainment from epic poetry to NPC Tiktoks
(07:50) Violence is a choice
(12:00) True democracy mandates military service as a virtue
(16:05) Sponsor: NetSuite
(17:22) Can San Francisco be fixed?
(28:03) Marc's empirical argument for AI
(31:45) Where Sam Harris gets it wrong
(35:35) Eric Voegelin's concept of Immanetizing the Eschaton
(41:40) What happens to religion after AI
(48:54) What would Nietzsche say?
(49:44) LLMs are already the subject of a religious war
(53:28) What comes after liberalism
(01:03:03) Based on Zuck's recent PR success, are alpha males back?
(01:07:23) Men’s tailoring and the stripping of masculinity
(01:09:50) Is Twitter’s influence the real world? Alana Newhouse on MOZ: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmgtPetHBVw&t=349s
(01:13:25 ) Is Left vs Right the central conflict of our time?
(01:18:30) Life extension
TWITTER:
@pmarca (Marc)
@eriktorenberg (Erik)
@upstream__pod.
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