#141 – Erik Brynjolfsson: Economics of AI, Social Networks, and Technology

Erik Brynjolfsson is an economist at Stanford. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
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EPISODE LINKS:
Erik’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/erikbryn
Erik’s Website: https://www.brynjolfsson.com/
The Second Machine Age (book): https://amzn.to/33f1Pk2
Machine, Platform, Crowd (book): https://amzn.to/3miJZ76

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OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(08:23) – Exponential growth
(12:51) – Elon Musk exponential thinking
(15:08) – Moore’s law is a series of revolutions
(20:31) – GPT-3
(22:09) – Autonomous vehicles
(29:11) – Electricity
(33:40) – Productivity
(38:47) – Why is Twitter and Facebook free?
(49:03) – Dismantling the nature of truth
(52:24) – Nutpicking and Cancel Culture
(58:39) – How will AI change our world
(1:04:40) – Existential threats
(1:06:33) – AI and the nature of work
(1:12:39) – Thoughts on Andrew Yang and UBI
(1:18:30) – Economics of innovation
(1:24:37) – Effect of COVID on the economy
(1:33:50) – MIT and Stanford
(1:38:23) – Book recommendations
(1:41:28) – Meaning of life