The Portal

By Kast Media

The Portal is an exploration into discovery, including conversations with thought leaders. Host Eric Weinstein, Managing Director of Thiel Capital, brings his unique expertise and diverse roster of

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How many episodes does The Portal have?

The podcast currently has 44 episodes available.

Best of The Portal

The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

Number 1: 39: Admission To Sugar Baby U.
One of the pillars of the American Dream has been that of seeing your children go to college. And, for the many families that can't afford the cost of soaring university tuitions, a new controversial institution has arisen to address the problem. That institution is Sugar Baby University, a tuition assistance campaign that attempts to allow attractive young women, and a smaller number of handsome young men, find generous older men to date in the quest to complete a new version of the American Dream by graduating debt free in an era which has made it all but impossible to discharge student debt even in personal bankruptcy since 2005. This year, Sugar Baby University is 'graduating' it's fifth class with thousands of alumni in its network that stretches from coast to coast and includes institutions of higher education from local community colleges to research universities and ivy league colleges. If you know many young graduates, the chances have been increasing that one of them has quietly matriculated in response to the crisis of crushing debt payments. Yet despite widespread awareness of the program on campuses by students and financial aid advisors via word of mouth, the world of Universities and mainstream media news outlets have tacitly given their approval to the campaign by remaining strangely silent as tuitions have continued to climb an unbelievable average of 8-9% per year. In this episode we do not pass judgement on Sugar Baby University, it's parent company 'Seeking Arrangement' or it's spokesperson Kimberly De La Cruz, who is our guest. Rather, we celebrate their openness to discuss the situation, and question, instead, the universities, politicians, media, and the lending industry, who have quietly created the desperate need for this program which they do not openly discuss and prefer not to address at all. We also note that Kimberly is approximately 15 years from the date she took on her own student loans which leaves her still approximately $50,000.00 in debt. We have asked her to start a GoFundMe campaign so that we could make a contribution of $1000 dollars to let her know that we appreciate her honesty in being willing to talk openly about the terrible crisis on which her very business and livelihood now depends. I ask my listeners, who can easily afford it, to simply donate $10 dollars as a simple show of appreciation and solidarity with a woman who I have no doubt would, if it were possible with the wave of a wand, put her own company out of business by making attending college the beginning of a new American Dream, rather than the start of a familiar financial nightmare. If $10.00 is too much, pledge the minimum you can just to send a message of solidarity. The show now gets hundreds of thousands of listens per episode. A small number of contributions will go a long way. Lastly: She's not the one asking for this. I am. And thank you. https://www.gofundme.com/f/em369-no-more-student-loans Thank you to our Sponsors Pitney Bowes: FREE 30-day trial PLUS a FREE 10-pound scale to get started at pb.com/PORTAL Skillshare: 2 free months of Premium Membership at Skillshare.com/PORTAL Four Sigmatic: receive 15% off your order at Foursigmatic.com/PORTAL Blinkist: start your FREE 7 day trial AND get 25% off a Premium Membership and up to 65% off audiobooks https://blinkist.com/portal See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
July 30, 20201h 52min
Number 2: 37: Andrew Marantz - Surfing the Wake of The Woke
New Yorker writer and book author Andrew Marantz and Eric became friends shortly before the 2016 election when Andrew set off to write the first profile of Eric and Geometric Unity, his theory of Physics. Coming from similar ethnic and politically progressive backgrounds they found plenty of common cause. With the rise of Trump, they then found themselves in subtly different places with Andrew more directly concerned with the rise of the Alt-right and Eric convinced that the Alt-right was likely a response to the transformation of the Democratic Party begun under Bill Clinton into a serious threat to National unity. In this conversation from November of 2019 in New York City, they discuss Andrew's theories of the rise of the alt-right and internet trolling as well as the research from his 2019 book Antisocial: Online Extremists, Techno-Utopians, and the Hijacking of the American Conversation. They also explore the contradictions between traditional and woke versions of progressivism and where all of this may be leading the republic. Particularly interesting given the 2019 time of this conversation is the concern with civil unrest and revolution which was shortly to play out in the American street a few months later. Thanks To Our Sponsors Pitney Bowes: FREE 30-day trial PLUS a FREE 10-pound scale - pb.com/PORTAL Skillshare: 2 free months of Premium Membership at Skillshare.com/PORTAL Theragun: Try Theragun RISK-FREE for THIRTY-DAYS - Theragun.com/PORTAL Wine Access: Get $20 off your first purchase of $50 or more - Wineaccess.com/PORTAL See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
July 01, 20203h 14min
Number 3: 34: Zev Weinstein - On Parenting, Boys & Generation Z
This is the first episode of The Portal which was 100% recorded at home, during quarantine, under social isolation. The guest is none other than my own son Zev Weinstein and the recording was timed to straddle his midnight transition from being 14 into being 15 years old. Zev is currently a 9th grader who occasionally posts to his YouTube Channel GenerationZ (https://www.youtube.com/c/GenerationZW) and his Twitter Account @Zev__Weinstein (https://twitter.com/Zev__Weinstein). In this episode, we sit down to discuss history, poetry, COVID19, jewish humor and other issues, as well as the three questions I am frequently asked about on the topic of parenting: A) What is the proper approach to parenting a child whose learning differences are significant? B) Do you have any novel approaches to parenting? C) What is the best way to parent young boys in a world that cannot find a shared positive vision of masculinity worth celebrating? Rather than attempt to answer these questions entirely on my own, I thought it would make sense to bring Zev onto The Portal to discuss them with me in his own distinct voice. I hope you will enjoy this episode in the spirit with which it was recorded, and that you will encourage Zev to speak on issues of Generation Z. They are already quite well equipped to discuss how they view the generations above them in handling the world, whose stewardship they will soon inherit. Thank You to Our Sponsors: Express VPN: Expressvpn.com/portal Pitney Bowes: pb.com/PORTAL Skillshare: Skillshare.com/PORTAL Mack Weldon: mackweldon.com PROMO CODE: portal See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
May 13, 20201h 56min
Number 4: 32: J. D. Vance - American Dreams and Nightmares
It is said that there is not one American dream but many, and few have lived more than JD Vance. Growing up in Appalachia on the border between poverty and the lower working class, JD knew economic fear first hand as well as the cultural devastation of the region's post-coal era. Working his way up, he joined the elite US Marine Corps and entered Yale University to attend the countries most exclusive Law School. Not content to stop there, he found his way to Venture Capital in San Francisco while marrying into a multicultural relationship with a wife of Indian descent, herself supercharged with a dynamism informed by the classic immigrant experience. So it was something of a surprise when JD became a national best selling author with his book Hillbilly Elegy which poignantly tells the tale of growing up in a family under pressure rocked by one of the most difficult economic experiences to be found anywhere in the United states. Eric and JD sit down to discuss the history of coal and politics, the evolving American Left in the era after the demise of organized labor. Through it they discuss the difficulty of finding out footing in the collision and disappointment of so many American dreams which all too frequently remain tantalizingly out of reach for the majority of those who dare to dream them. Thank You To Our Sponsors Lamps Plus is offering up to FIFTY PERCENT OFF HUNDREDS of lights, furniture and décor go to Lampsplus.com/portal SkillShare: Get two whole months of unlimited access to thousands of classes for free at Skillshare.com/portal Athletic Greens: Claim your special offer today of 20 FREE travel packs valued at $79 with your first purchase go to athleticgreens.com/portal See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
April 30, 20202h 19min
Number 5: 31: Ryan Holiday - Conspiracy, Manipulation & other Pastimes
Ryan Holiday is a master manipulator with a cool head, and keen eye for social observation and a big heart. Eric sits down with the Author of "Conspiracy" and tries to get a self-confessed former manipulator and one of the top emerging millennial social analysts to tell us how he unweaves society's artifices to see what is really driving our current moment across many areas. Ryan is a unique voice who uses stoicism to remain intellectually detached but without seemingly succuming to emotional or moral disinterest in the issues of our day. With a background in marketing and media. he has gone beyond mere vice signaling to try to help people see how open they are to having their own media and digital habits weaponized against them. In some ways, one could say that he has migrated from grey-hat mind hacker to a white hat analyst and conversationalist helping us to better understand ourselves using ancient wisdom in a modern moment. This interview was recorded slightly before the quarantining and so is interesting to think of in light of what is about to happen. Thank You to Our Sponsors: Four Sigmatic: foursigmatic.com/portal Personna: Amazing.com/personna and use the code RAZORS25 Blinkist: Blinkist.com/portal Theragun: theragun.com/portal See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
April 23, 20202h 28min