Actually After Hours #3: Finding the Tail with Dwarkesh Patel

Matt Reardon, Arden Koehler, and Huon Porteous sit down with Dwarkesh Patel to find out how you become a world-famous (among tech intellectuals) podcast host at 23. We also discuss how 80k would have advised 21-year-old Dwarkesh and 80k strategy more broadly.

You can check out the video version of this episode on YouTube at https://youtu.be/H5px6CQTe8o

Topics covered:

• How did Dwarkesh start landing world-class guests?
• Why is Bryan Caplan such an easy get?
• How does Dwarkesh think about ideological labels?
• Dwarkesh explains his pivot towards AI
• Do intellectuals matter for progress?
• Was Microsoft or the Gates Foundation more impactful?
• Do biographies ever matter more than their subjects?
• How would 80k have advised young Dwarkesh?
• What does motivate people in government and what should motivate people in government?
• Should do-gooders seek power?
• Should 80k advice always aim at the tails?
• Are people just layering their simple political memes onto the AI debate?
• How do you boost people’s agency?
• How do we feel about self-perceived entrepreneurs?
• What’s the tradeoff between having the right initiative and having the right ideas?
• How does 80k’s advice deal with AI timelines?  
• Are 80k users self-selected for not being the highest potential people?
• Should you assume that everyone can make it to the extreme tail?
• In how many areas should 80k have detailed advice?
• What happened to the EA brand?