Erik sits down with political scientist Samo Burja ( @SamoBurja  ) who founded Bismarck Analysis, a consulting firm that analyzes institutions (ranging from governments to companies). Samo is one of the most interesting and wide-ranging thinkers today. In this episode, they discuss the current state and future state of America, China, Russia, Ukraine, energy, the US dollar, AI, and more. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/UPSTREAM

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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

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Episode preview

(03:05) Who’s right: Balaji, Zeihan, or Olson?

(07:18) Why China’s prospects aren’t as bad as Zeihan thinks

(09:46) What have we learned one year out after Ukraine?

(13:12) Future of The U.S. dollar

(15:19) Sponsors: Secureframe

(17:03) Balaji’s Bet

(17:42) Future of America

(22:06) Why Brazil hasn’t panned out

(26:34) Is AI communist and crypto libertarian

(29:37) Evolution of elites

(33:40) Comparing Elon and SBF

(36:12) Economics of automation and AI

(41:28) How intellectual culture has changed

(43:39) America exporting Western values

(47:42) America and China converging

(50:00) Startup cities vs incumbents

(52:54) Samo’s consultancy

(55:35) Samo’s upcoming research interests

TWITTER:

Erik’s Twitter: @eriktorenberg

Samo's Twitter: @samoburja

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