The Network State Podcast

Claire is the founder of Quillette.com, a digital magazine covering tech, culture, and centrist politics. We cover the rise of China, why Australia may indeed be this century's lucky country, and the realist take on American Empire. If you're interested in these topics, you'll be interested in Network School. Apply online at https://ns.com.

Benedict Evans is a former partner at Andreessen Horowitz and runs a newsletter with ~200k subscribers. We discuss smart glasses, amplified intelligence, robot dogs, the decentralization of media, and how AI is disrupting the very concept of user interfaces. If these ideas interest you, we're working on this kind of technology at Network School. You can apply online at https://ns.com.

Jeremy Howard is the creator of fast.ai, perhaps the best way to get a running start in modern deep learning. We talk about AI research, decentralizing education, and funding the world's dark talent. If you're interested in these ideas, especially regarding AI-first education, come to Network School. You can apply online at https://ns.com.

Roon is an OpenAI engineer and prominent figure on X. We spoke about open models, prompting, AI as copilots, the central planning fallacy of AI, crypto as AI's constraint, and why AI still struggles with time-varying domains like markets and politics. If these ideas interest you, this discussion was held live at Network School. You can apply online at ⁠ns.com⁠.

Vitalik Buterin is the co-founder of Ethereum and Zuzalu. We had a fireside chat on the state of Ethereum, defi, prediction markets, AI, biotech, stablecoins, the Abundance Agenda, San Francisco, Zuzalu, and startup societies. If these ideas interest you, this discussion was held live at Network School. You can apply online at ns.com.

Jason Calacanis is the co-host of All-In and one of Silicon Valley's most successful angels. We discuss Network School, startup societies, voting with your feet, and strengthening democratic rights in a digital age. If these ideas interest you, we're building startup societies at Network School. You can apply online at https://ns.com.

Michael Saylor is the creator of the first Bitcoin treasury company, Strategy. He joins Balaji to discuss his new Digital Assets Framework, where he unveils a plan for how the US becomes dominant in digital assets. If these ideas interest you, we're advancing digital assets at Network School. You can apply online at ns.com.

Rudyard Lynch runs the popular YouTube channel WhatIfAltHist. We're both into applied history — namely, studying the past to forecast the future — and everything we spoke about fell under that rubric. We cover alchemy vs technology, left vs right, nature vs nurture, China vs America, communism vs wokeness, and (of course) networks vs states.Our overarching goal with the pod is to learn about the world to build new startup societies. If these ideas interest you, we're putting theory into practice at Network School, so do apply at https://ns.com.

OUTLINE

00:00 - Intro to WhatifAltHist and counterfactual history

03:52 - The idea in alchemy: everyone is competing on vibes

07:12 - Nature/nurture = hardware/software

09:37 - Why the left often wins: equality builds scalable militaries

11:30 - The idea from Balaji that most influenced Rudyard: God, State, or Network?

13:25 - What is the most powerful force in the world: God, State, or Network

20:28 - Only 4% of Democrats marry Republicans

22:24 - The purpose of alchemy: how early alchemy lead to modern tech

33:25 - We have entered the age of the phrase

42:33 - The reading list: genetics books you should read

43:07 - Communism was based on economics denial, wokeness is genetics denial

50:49 - The Vitruvian Man: our moral responsibility to accelerate technology

57:42 - We are on the verge of global instability

1:20:43 - Internet community becomes physical community: The Network School (ns.com)

1:23:08 - Both Soviet and American empires were built on false premises

1:28:16 - Bitcoin is the strongest new identity

1:32:55 - The total military dominance of the Chinese drone armada

LINKS

https://youtube.com/@ns

https://ns.com

Where do you legally set up your DAO or web3 organization? You might check out the Marshall Islands. They recently passed a new bill that's a model for global crypto regulation. The Decentralized Autonomous Organizations Act of 2023 has several major features: it allows DAOs to be set up in 30 days, limits DAO liability for open-source, and makes clear that governance tokens are not securities.

VIDEO

YouTube: https://youtu.be/ojbWm9HqVj0

Joe Lonsdale is one of the most prominent investors in technology. He's the co-founder of Palantir, 8VC, Addepar, and the Cicero Institute — and one of Balaji's longtime friends. We have fun talking about education, longevity, space, and the little matter of completely reforming all governments with the internet.

VIDEO

YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ny93ZjlR93g