E66: The Politics of Alex Karp and Palantir, DOGE Breakdown, and AI vs Blogging

This week, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg explore the effects of technological change on media and society, covering topics such as the AI debate, blogging's social impact, AI's influence on search and data, the changing news industry, foreign aid cuts, and the rise of new tech elites.

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Highlights from the Episode:

• AI and Written Content: The comparison is made to how society adapted to blogging, which was initially viewed as disruptive but was eventually incorporated into mainstream media ecosystems.
• Media Evolution and Business Models: "Real news" remains the least lucrative part of the news business due to high fixed costs and difficult monetization.
• On The Washington Post's Strategy: Byrne suggests Bezos might be positioning the Post to serve an underserved audience: center-right libertarians who want economic growth while avoiding both progressive politics and Trumpism.
• Tech Elites and Government: Tech and government used to be more closely intertwined (semiconductor industry, Apollo program) but have diverged.
• Foreign Aid and USAID: Argument that programs like PEPFAR (HIV/AIDS relief) have been highly effective in terms of lives saved per dollar.

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LINKS:

Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co

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