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This week on Upstream, Erik Torenberg and Samo Burja discuss the economic, political, and cultural implications of colonizing Mars and the Moon, discussing space treaties, potential Martian and Earth societal divergence, and the technological advancements driving humanity's future as a multi-planetary species.
Today, we're re-releasing an episode from 2023 where Erik Torenberg sits down with physicist and startup founder Steve Hsu on topics including the ideological shift in academia, the impact of AI on labor, China's technological advancements and geopolitical position, and the global fertility decline.
Erik Torenberg and Byrne Hobart discuss the implications of recent tariffs, the impact of AI advancements like DeepSeek, Meta's investments in VR and AI, stock market dynamics, and differing perspectives on open-source AI models.
![E114: Tyler Cowen on Legacy, Twitter + Harvard, and Fertility Decline [Upstream Archive]](https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/37c89dfe-debb-11ef-b391-1fae6650835e/image/778dcc54eff086ec92142d529a4e87a5.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress "E114: Tyler Cowen on Legacy, Twitter + Harvard, and Fertility Decline [Upstream Archive]")
Tyler Cowen discusses his book on the greatest economists of all time, evaluates the contributions of macroeconomics, and touches on topics such as stagnation, AI, fertility, and the future of academia and societal trends.
In this episode, Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg discuss Curtis Yarvin's recent New York Times interview.
This week on Upstream, we’re sharing Keith Rabois, Kevin Ryan, Logan Bartlett, and Zach Weinberg’s discussion of the 2025 post-election landscape centered on Trump's victory.
Samo Burja and Auren Hoffman discuss various topics including the Great Founder Theory, the decline of trust in elites, falling fertility rates, and the importance of exceptional individuals in shaping history and future societal structures.
Today on Upstream, we’re releasing an interview between Erik Torenberg and Patrick McKenzie.
This week on Upstream, we’re releasing an episode of Econ102. Erik Torenberg and Noah Smith talk with Katherine Dee (@default_friend) about dating in the 21st century, differences in dating markets, the impact of feminism, technology's influence on cultural creativity, societal shifts, and the state of online subcultures.
This week on Upstream, Nathan Labenz explores the fascinating and controversial realm of AI consciousness with robo-psychologist Yeshua God.
Erik Torenberg and Samo Burja discuss the advancements in desalination technology, its current applications, and potential to address global water scarcity. They explore the technological and economic feasibility of large-scale desalination projects and their implications on geopolitics and environmental resilience.
Author Tae Kim joins Erik Torenberg and Byrne Hobart to discuss his book 'The NVIDIA Way,' highlighting CEO Jensen Huang's transformation of Nvidia into a tech giant, the company's unique culture, and Nvidia's crucial strategic decisions.
Varda Space founder Delian Asparouhov and writer Nadia Asparouhov get surprisingly candid about what makes their relationship work - from their chaotic first date to how they've built a life together while pursuing ambitious work.
Today on Upstream, we’re releasing an episode which originally aired on The Cognitive Revolution, a podcast from the Turpentine Network. Samo Burja and Nathan Labenz discuss AI's impact on geopolitics, scientific progress, and economic strategies, emphasizing the importance of AI science, the risks of weaponizing AI, and the future of industrial and energy policies in the U.S. and China.
This week on Upstream, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss the potential of AI agents in tech support, economic impacts of passive investing, historical financial strategies of Warren Buffett, and the implications of tariffs and technological developments in national wealth.
Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir, and Jacob Helberg, discuss AI-enabled warfare, the importance of taking clear ethical stances, the evolution of Silicon Valley culture, and the integration of tech innovation into governmental defense systems at the Hill and Valley Forum in Washington, DC.
![E101: Wokeism & Class w/ David Sacks, Trump’s AI Czar [Upstream Archive]](https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/70d9cade-b45c-11ef-9415-074ef91a9991/image/20b1afaf84854e5947cd56751aa8753f.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress "E101: Wokeism & Class w/ David Sacks, Trump’s AI Czar [Upstream Archive]")
In this 2023 conversation between Erik Torenberg and David Sacks, they discuss David’s new role as Donald Trump's AI and crypto czar, the shift towards censorship and wokeness in Silicon Valley, particularly at companies like PayPal and Twitter, and the broader implications for free speech, public debate, and the future of liberalism.
Following Marc Andreessen's great conversation with Joe Rogan that introduced millions to his philosophical and political thinking, we wanted to share our in-depth discussion with Marc on Upstream from late 2022. This interview goes deeper into his intellectual evolution and quest to understand how the world really works, covering everything from how 2016 broke his mental model of politics, to his analysis of how billionaires get captured by elite institutions.
This week on Upstream, Byrne Hobart discusses the potential impacts of the Department of Government Efficiency, insights from leaked OpenAI emails, Trump's and Elon Musk's policies and their economic implications, and the future of prediction markets in organizational decision-making.
This week on Upstream, we’re releasing a conversation between Erik Torenberg and Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Palantir and founder of the Cicero Institute, discusses his solutions for American healthcare, education, crime, homelessness, and inequality, emphasizing the need for accountability and nonpartisan approaches.
This week we’re releasing an episode from the Cognitive Revolution, Nathan Labenz interviews Professor Michael Levin and Dr. Leo Pio Lopez about their groundbreaking research integrating multiple biological datasets using advanced AI techniques to predict new disease links, and discusses broader implications for AI in biology and future technologies.
Today on Upstream, Rudyard Lynch and Samo Burja discuss the aftermath of the U.S. presidential election, the decline of French influence in Africa, the psychology of modernity, and the potential future of free versus controlled internet.
Emil Michael, formerly the Chief Business Officer of Uber, talked to Erik Torenberg and Jesse Genet about the most intense moments during Uber's meteoric rise. Its been reported that he's on the short list of Trump's picks for US Secretary of Transportation.
This week, we’re featuring discussions with Dario Amodei, Balaji Srinivasan, Marc Andreessen, Michael Levin, and Samo Burja on AGI scaling laws, AI safety, and AI development, exploring themes such as the evolution of AI, economic implications, and philosophical aspects of intelligence.