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"Moment of Zen"
E41: Balaji on How the Tech Tribe Can Save Our Cities - Part 2
Sep 10, 2023
04:27:03
Balaji Srinivasan, a tech expert, discusses the Social Lens theory and tactics for the Gray tribe. They explore creating, identifying, growing, and scaling power. They discuss geopolitical mapping, Blue playbook, network effects, inequality, Japanese vs Chinese economic models, decline of the US, response of tech giants to Blue, market for revolutionaries, charity vs investment, and democracy definition.
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Quick takeaways
- The Gray Tribe aims to challenge the dominance of the Blue Tribe by leveraging their talent and intelligence.
- Blue's business model involves using their resources and access to government funding to drive political change and fund causes aligned with their ideology.
- The divide between blue and red Americans has become as significant as the division between North and South Korea.
- By building digital tribes and communities, individuals can collectively fund and organize meetups, creating physical manifestations of their online presence.
- The Gray Tribe not only possesses talent that blues fear but also holds the potential to disrupt traditional power structures.
- To establish long-term control over San Francisco, the Gray Tribe envisions building a serious political machine.
Deep dives
The Rise of Gray Tribe Values
The network effects of San Francisco and California are strong, but that doesn't mean their dominance is guaranteed. Crypto has decentralized globally, and while SF maximists remain, global technologists are challenging their narrative.
The Reversal of Historical Trends
History is running in reverse in many aspects. The rise of Asia and the decline of the West in terms of GDP and dominance is a significant trend. Income tax, banking systems, and global power dynamics have all experienced transformative shifts.
Navigating the Path to Success
While the network effects of SF and California are powerful, they are not insurmountable. The challenge is to turn the tide and leverage the resources available to win back dominance. Embracing both decentralization and centralization is key to establishing a successful gray tribe and challenging the prevailing blue ideology.
Blue’s Business Model: The Strategy of Political Arbitrage
The blue political business model involves engaging in political arbitrage, where they identify and support groups that have political power or utility. This strategy involves siding with these groups against those who have excessive political power relative to their social status or media distribution. Examples include the shift from supporting the working class to supporting women, minorities, and the LGBTQ+ community. Blue's business model is driven by a doctrine where the state has replaced worship of God, and they use philanthropists and government funding to back political entrepreneurs who aim to gain control of large sums of money and ultimately seize political power.
The Power and Influence of Political Entrepreneurs
Political entrepreneurs, similar to market entrepreneurs, identify political opportunities and receive investments of political capital to gain influence and seize political power. The most successful political entrepreneurs can become presidents, prime ministers, or rulers of countries. Examples include figures like Aung San Suu Kyi, Viktor Orban, and Hamid Karzai, who received Western resources to try to establish pro-Western governments. However, not all political entrepreneurs are successful, and their ideology may shift over time.
The Blue Business Model in Action
Blue's business model involves using their resources and access to government funding to drive political change and fund causes aligned with their ideology. This includes financing initiatives related to homelessness, climate change, and social justice. They create a complex system of bureaucracy and intermediaries that enables the flow of funds while maintaining deniability and allowing for easy reallocation. The scale of money and political power at their disposal far exceeds that of market entrepreneurs, giving them significant influence and control over government budgets.
The Growing Divide Between Blue and Red Americans
The divide between blue and red Americans has become as significant as the division between North and South Korea. Blue Americans do not consider red Americans as fellow Americans, and their priorities and concerns differ dramatically. The blue business model is supported by a sophisticated infrastructure that funnels money from government budgets and philanthropists towards funding the next generation of activists. Red Americans perceive themselves as being harmed by this approach, leading to an increasing polarization between the two groups.
Gray Tribe: The Defectors from Blue
The Gray Tribe is comprised of the best of the Blue Tribe, including defectors from blue organizations such as Peter Thiel, Paul Graham, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg, and more. The Gray Tribe has taken talent from the Blues, from entrepreneurs to professors to journalists, and is now poised to recruit politicians and build a shadow government. Gray is threatening to Blue because it possesses the best of Blue's talent and intelligence.
The Rise of Tribal Governance
By building digital tribes and communities, individuals can collectively fund and organize meetups, creating physical manifestations of their online presence. These tribes can then work towards taking territorial control, marking their territory by crowdfunded initiatives such as community centers, statues, and meaningful activities. This tribal governance challenges the traditional political system, giving ordinary people agency and allowing for alternative leadership and decision-making.
The Power of Gray: Disrupting the Status Quo
The Gray Tribe not only possesses talent that blues fear, but also holds potential to disrupt traditional power structures. Gray's expertise in math, programming, and technology grants them an advantage over blue, as many blues lack these skills. Additionally, Gray's alignment with openness, decentralization, and the network state further challenges the dominance of blue institutions and paves the way for innovative alternatives.
Gray Tribe takes back San Francisco through strategic networking
The Gray Tribe, characterized by its cloud power and network-based strength, aims to reclaim control over San Francisco from the Blue Tribe. With the realization that they are in a social war with Blue, Grays focus on daily wins, identifying key metrics such as meetups, square footage, and membership to gauge their progress. They build relationships with the police, donating to the police benevolent union, organizing banquets, and recruiting police sympathizers from tech companies. Gray Tribe members strategically purchase or lease buildings in close proximity to concentrate their influence and form a stronger community. Through crowdfunding and decentralized efforts, Grays establish a sense of identity, and anyone can don a Gray T-shirt to signal their affiliation. These tactics aim to build social, financial, and physical connections to counteract Blue's control over the city and take back territory.
Gray Tribe focuses on gray symbols to mark their influence
The Gray Tribe adopts gray symbols and conducts 'smoke tests' in the form of physical signs or logos that signify Gray influence in San Francisco. These signs are strategically placed and expected to experience resistance and opposition from Blue Tribe members. The Gray Tribe tracks the success or failure of these symbols, signaling their control over specific streets or buildings. They are willing to admit defeat when faced with opposition, adjusting their strategies accordingly. Additionally, Gray Tribe members focus on fostering strong relationships with the police force, actively supporting and engaging with policemen. By emphasizing memberships, meetups, and banquets with police, Gray Tribe aims to bridge the gap between cloud power and physical territory in the city.
Building a gray political machine for long-term control
To establish long-term control over San Francisco, the Gray Tribe envisions building a serious political machine. They recruit ex-military personnel sympathetic to the Gray cause, forge connections between police and the tech community through events and hiring initiatives, and actively participate in the political landscape of the city. By fostering relationships and close collaboration with the police and supporting their needs, Gray Tribe members not only gain their support but also build a sense of cooperation between different power structures. Furthermore, crowdfunding and decentralized efforts are key to creating a sense of unity and identity among Gray Tribe members as they work towards their goal of reclaiming control over the city.
The Gray Pride Parade: Taking Back Control
The podcast episode explores the idea of the gray tribe in San Francisco reclaiming their territory and taking back control from the blue establishment. One key point is that grays need to start by acquiring and controlling certain streets and blocks, gradually expanding their influence. This involves parallel scaling of the business model, with gray tribe members buying up property and becoming financially invested in the land. The success of gray-controlled zones would be measured by the ability to enforce law and order and create safe spaces for small businesses. The podcast emphasizes the need for gray tribes around the world to unite and support this movement, as it signals a challenge to the blue ideology and establishment.
Challenging the Blue Ideology and Government
The podcast discusses the resistance and pushback that the gray tribe can expect from the blue establishment and government. It highlights the importance of having sympathizers at the state and federal level who can block executive orders and actions against the gray movement. Additionally, it emphasizes the need for gray tribes to form alliances with other tech capitals globally, gaining support for their cause. The podcast also suggests that if the gray model succeeds in San Francisco, it can be replicated in other strongholds of blue ideology, leading to a demoralizing loss for the blue establishment. Lastly, it underlines the need for an aggressive approach, one that challenges the state and federal governments, potentially leading to a sovereign city of San Francisco or other unforeseen outcomes.
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
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