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"The Riff" with Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg

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.  

The Riff is a part of the Turpentine podcast network.

Recent Episodes

April 24, 2025

E71: Risk Taking, Contrarianism, and Growth [Byrne on Interintellect]

In this episode, Byrne Hobart joined Matjaž Leonardis in Austin for an Interintellect salon — a platform for 21st-century intellectual discourse—to discuss his new book Boom: Bubbles at the End of Stagnation , exploring how t...
April 17, 2025

E70: OpenAI’s Open Source Strategy, Volatility & Tariffs, and Automation’s Consequences w/ Byrne Hobart

This week, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg explore how technological advancements, policy shifts like Trump's tariffs and U.S. industrial policy, the re-industrialization of America, the influence of institutions like Harvard...
April 10, 2025

E69: Good vs Bad Bubbles, Stagnation, and Bitcoin [Byrne on Bankless]

In this episode of The Riff , we are releasing a conversation Byrne Hobart had on the Bankless podcast about Byrne's book Bitcoin, exploring the provocative idea that speculative Bubbles—while sometimes destructive—can be pow...
April 1, 2025

E68: Chinese Free Trade, AI Managers, and Why AI Art is Art

This week, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss the transformative impact of technological change on global trade, AI’s disruption of senior roles, the debate over AI-generated art, and market dynamics—particularly in live...
March 25, 2025

E67: Hidden X-Risk, Network Effects of Elon’s Empire, and American Hegemony

This week, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg explore Donald Trump Jr.'s financial leverage of the Trump brand, Dustin Moskovitz's shift toward AI existential risks, Elon Musk's strategic decisions with Twitter, potential U.S. r...
March 11, 2025

E66: The Politics of Alex Karp and Palantir, DOGE Breakdown, and AI vs Blogging

This week, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg explore the effects of technological change on media and society, covering topics such as the AI debate, blogging's social impact, AI's influence on search and data, the changing new...