The Capitalism and Freedom in the Twenty-First Century Podcast

Productivity, Innovation, and the New American Golden Age with Joe Lonsdale

Feb 6, 2025

In this engaging conversation, Joe Lonsdale, founder and managing partner at 8VC and co-founder of Palantir Technologies, delves into his impressive career and innovative ventures. He highlights the transformative potential of generative AI in enhancing productivity across sectors like healthcare. Lonsdale critiques the influence of wokeness in education and tech, advocating for reforms in accountability and governance. He also discusses navigating investment opportunities in AI and the unique challenges faced by the University of Austin, aiming to foster critical thinking and classical virtues.

01:04:53

Creator website

Episode guests

Joe Lonsdale

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

The podcast emphasizes the urgency for political reform in response to systemic corruption and the need for greater accountability in governance.

A critical analysis reveals historical inefficiencies in government bureaucracy, advocating for a reevaluation of regulatory frameworks to enhance transparency.

Investment opportunities in AI, especially within service sectors, are highlighted as the driving force for significant productivity gains in the upcoming decade.

Deep dives

Engagement in Upcoming Elections

The discussion highlights excitement surrounding the upcoming 2024 election, underscoring the significance of various nominees and the opportunity for change. There is a palpable sense of urgency to address prevailing liberalism and authoritarianism, with an emphasis on combating systemic corruption facilitated by NGOs. The conversation mentions that many prominent figures, including those from finance, are now working with political leaders to push for significant reforms in governance and spending. This collective effort signifies a concerted attempt to reshape political discourse and action in favor of more accountability and transparency.

Intro

4min

The Decline of Bureaucracy: Historical Context and Modern Challenges

3min

Navigating AI Investment Opportunities

27min

The University of Austin: A New Paradigm in Education

4min

Confronting Wokeness in Education and Tech

8min

Strategies for Defense and Crime Reduction in the Modern Era

3min

Navigating Wealth Transfer and AI's Role

16min

Jon Hartley and Joe Lonsdale discuss Joe’s career, co-founding Palantir, Addepar, and OpenGov, venture capital investing, defense tech, DOGE, Elon Musk, regulation, and the prospects for generative artificial intelligence.

Recorded on December 12, 2024.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS:

Joe Lonsdale is the founder and managing Partner at 8VC, an early-stage venture capital firm managing over $6 billion in capital. In 2003, he founded Palantir Technologies (NYSE:PLTR), a global software company known for its work supporting US and its allies’ defense and intelligence. Since then, he has founded more than a dozen prominent companies, including Addepar, a wealth management platform with about $5 trillion, and OpenGov, the leading cloud software provider for local governments. He continues to create and scale companies through the 8VC Build program.

As an investor, Joe was an early backer of companies like Anduril Industries, Oculus (acq.FB), Guardant Health (NASDAQ:GH), Oscar (NYSE:OSCR), Illumio, Wish (NASDAQ:WISH), JoyTunes, Blend (NYSE:BLND), Flexport, Joby Aviation (NYSE:JOBY), Orca Bio, Qualia, Synthego, RelateIQ (acq. CRM), Yugabyte, and others.

Joe and his wife Tayler are active in a variety of philanthropic and institutional pursuits. In 2018, they founded the non-partisan Cicero Institute, which crafts and advances policies to promote effective and accountable governance, and is now successfully battling special interests with teams in over a dozen states. In 2021, Joe became the founding chairman of the board of the University of Austin(UATX), a new university dedicated to restoring the pursuit of truth in higher education. He also sits on the board of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute.

Joe, Tayler, and their four daughters live in Austin, TX.

Jon Hartley is the host of the Capitalism and Freedom in the 21st Century Podcast at the Hoover Institution and an economics PhD Candidate at Stanford University, where he specializes in finance, labor economics, and macroeconomics. He is also currently an Affiliated Scholar at the Mercatus Center, a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity (FREOPP), and a Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Jon is also a member of the Canadian Group of Economists, and serves as chair of the Economic Club of Miami.

Jon has previously worked at Goldman Sachs Asset Management as well as in various policy roles at the World Bank, IMF, Committee on Capital Markets Regulation, US Congress Joint Economic Committee, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, and the Bank of Canada.

Jon has also been a regular economics contributor for National Review Online, Forbes, and The Huffington Post and has contributed to The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Globe and Mail, National Post, and Toronto Star among other outlets. Jon has also appeared on CNBC, Fox Business, Fox News, Bloomberg, and NBC, and was named to the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 Law & Policy list, the 2017 Wharton 40 Under 40 list, and was previously a World Economic Forum Global Shaper.

ABOUT THE SERIES:

Each episode of Capitalism and Freedom in the 21st Century, a video podcast series and the official podcast of the Hoover Economic Policy Working Group, focuses on getting into the weeds of economics, finance, and public policy on important current topics through one-on-one interviews. Host Jon Hartley asks guests about their main ideas and contributions to academic research and policy. The podcast is titled after Milton Friedman‘s famous 1962 bestselling book Capitalism and Freedom, which after 60 years, remains prescient from its focus on various topics which are now at the forefront of economic debates, such as monetary policy and inflation, fiscal policy, occupational licensing, education vouchers, income share agreements, the distribution of income, and negative income taxes, among many other topics.

For more information, visit: capitalismandfreedom.substack.com/