Byrne Hobart

(01:04) - iMessages in Gemini 3 (10:52) - 𝕏 Timeline Reactions to Gemini 3 (28:29) - 𝕏 Timeline Reactions (01:05:11) - CloudFlare Outage (01:16:16) - Byrne Hobart on the Upsides of Bubbles (01:30:12) - Byrne Hobart is an investor, consultant, and writer, best known for his newsletter "The Diff," which explores inflection points in finance and technology. He is also a partner at Anomaly, a frontier tech investment firm, and co-authored "Boom: Bubbles and the End of Stagnation," published by Stripe Press in November 2024. In the conversation, Hobart discusses the role of financial bubbles in driving innovation, arguing that while often viewed negatively, bubbles can coordinate market participants to overbuild infrastructure, thereby laying the groundwork for future technological advancements. (02:06:34) - Glenn Hutchins, co-founder of Silver Lake Partners and chairman of North Island Ventures, discusses his career trajectory, highlighting his roles at Thomas H. Lee Partners, the Clinton administration, Blackstone Group, and the founding of Silver Lake in 1999. He emphasizes the evolution of private equity, noting key financial innovations like the capital asset pricing model and Black-Scholes option pricing, which enabled the valuation and financing of technology companies. Hutchins also addresses the rapid growth and capital demands of AI infrastructure, comparing it to historical technological shifts, and underscores the importance of strategic investment and adaptability in the face of evolving market dynamics. (02:35:17) - Yogi Goel, founder of Maxima, an enterprise accounting platform, discusses their recent $41 million funding round and how their AI-driven system integrates with existing ERPs to automate financial processes and detect anomalies, aiming to reduce errors and inefficiencies in accounting. (02:40:40) - Sam Jones, CEO and co-founder of Method Security, announced the company's $26 million combined seed and Series A funding from Andreessen Horowitz and General Catalyst. He discussed the increasing use of AI in cyberattacks, emphasizing the need for autonomous systems to enhance cyber resilience. Jones highlighted Method Security's dual-use approach, serving both government and commercial sectors, and shared his background in cyber operations with the U.S. Air Force and experience at Palantir. (02:47:50) - Ali Madani, founder and CEO of Profluent Bio, discusses his background in machine learning and biology, highlighting his PhD from UC Berkeley and his leadership in developing language models for biology at Salesforce. He explains Profluent's mission to make biology programmable by using AI to design bespoke medicines, moving away from traditional random discovery methods. Madani also shares the company's progress, including the development of OpenCRISPR-1, an AI-generated gene-editing protein, and mentions securing $106 million in funding from notable investors like Jeff Bezos. (02:56:08) - Amit Jain, CEO and Co-Founder of Luma AI, announced that the company has raised a $900 million Series C funding round led by Saudi Arabia's state-backed AI firm HUMAIN, valuing Luma AI at over $4 billion. Additionally, Luma AI and HUMAIN are collaborating to build a 2-gigawatt compute cluster in Saudi Arabia, named Project Halo, to train multimodal artificial general intelligence (AGI) models. Jain emphasized the necessity of integrating text, audio, video, and images to develop AI systems capable of understanding and simulating the physical world, highlighting the importance of multimodal models in advancing AI capabilities. TBPN.com is made possible by: Ramp - https://ramp.com Figma - https://figma.com Vanta - https://vanta.com Linear - https://linear.app Eight Sleep - https://eightsleep.com/tbpn Wander - https://wander.com/tbpn Public - https

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 technological advancements, market paradoxes, and historical and modern financial bubbles — from the Manhattan Project to cryptocurrencies — reveal the complex dynamics between innovation, ideology, ambition, and hyper-financialization in a nonpolitical, high-quality conversation among leading and emerging thinkers. Interintellect is a creator platform for intellectual seekers to host salons for the 21st century. Join the conversation at https://interintellect.com . Attend or host salons. Connect with our community of intellectual seekers. For a limited time, members go to all salons for free! --- Highlights from the Episode: Two Types of Bubbles: Extrapolation bubbles predict transformative future changes unlike the past, while mean reversion bubbles project an intensified continuation of past trends. Financial Markets and Risk-Taking: Financial markets can both encourage and inhibit innovation. Talent Allocation: The sectors where talented individuals choose to work—shifting historically from government to the private sector to finance—profoundly shape the direction and nature of society’s major innovations and projects. Different Investment Approaches: George Soros - Identifies momentum and rides bubbles up, then exits when sentiment changes. Bubbles and Progress: Many transformative bubbles involve building multiple things in parallel that wouldn't make sense individually. -- SPONSORS: NetSuite More than 41,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud financial system bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR, into ONE proven platform. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine learning: https://netsuite.com/102 --- LINKS : Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co --- X / TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne) https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

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, the evolving role of the U.S. dollar, and the rise of OpenAI are reshaping global markets, businesses, and the future of artificial intelligence. --- 🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse . --- Highlights from the Episode: Trump's Tariffs and Economic Impact: The recent tariff implementation appeared more spontaneous than strategic compared to earlier Trump administration policies. US-China Trade Relations: Debate over which country has more leverage: China can maintain production without US customers in the short term, but faces demographic challenges long-term. Strategic Industrial Policy: Byrne suggests focusing on industries with national security implications (drones, rare earth processing) rather than attempting to rebuild entire sectors. OpenAI Developments: Discussion of OpenAI's potential open-source strategy and how it might reinforce rather than undermine their business model. White Collar Employment Futures: Byrne explores whether white-collar workers might experience a similar pattern to manufacturing workers as AI adoption increases. -- SPONSORS: NetSuite More than 41,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud financial system bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR, into ONE proven platform. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine learning: https://netsuite.com/102 --- LINKS : Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co --- X / TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne) https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

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 powerful drivers of innovation, with examples from history and present-day trends like AI and crypto, ultimately highlighting the value of embracing risk to shape a transformative future. --- 🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse . --- Highlights from the Episode: Bubbles as coordination mechanisms: Byrne argues that certain bubbles are actually productive forces that help coordinate massive resources toward ambitious technological goals that wouldn't otherwise be achieved. Technological clusters in time : Just as certain industries cluster geographically (finance in NY, film in LA), bubbles create "clusters in time" where talent and capital converge to build related technologies Bitcoin and Crypto Evolution: Byrne traces his early interactions with Bitcoin from skeptical commenter to eventual participant. Bitcoin's resilience after Silk Road shutdown demonstrated it had value beyond illegal markets. Great Stagnation and Risk Aversion: Modern society has become increasingly risk-averse, favoring safety, credentials, and incrementalism over bold innovation. Future Frontiers for Bubbles: From space exploration and Mars colonization to crypto, digital property rights, biotech, life extension, energy innovation, and the emerging frontier where AI and crypto intersect, we are still in the early stages of transformative breakthroughs. -- SPONSORS: NetSuite More than 41,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud financial system bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR, into ONE proven platform. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine learning: https://netsuite.com/102 --- LINKS : Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co Bankless: https://www.bankless.com/podcast/why-bubbles-are-good-byrne-hobart --- X / TWITTER: https://x.com/BanklessHQ (Bankless) https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne) https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

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 entertainment ticketing—offering a wide-ranging and thought-provoking discussion. --- 🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse . --- Highlights from the Episode: US-China Trade Relations: There's an interesting role reversal where China is now championing free trade while the US has become more protectionist. China's Economic Challenges: Demographics are a crucial factor affecting China's economy - an aging population creates financial imbalances. AI's Impact on Work Hierarchy: Contrary to common assumptions, AI might replace senior rather than junior roles. While AI isn't a perfect substitute for mentorship, it provides "synthetic wisdom" without requiring equity stakes. StubHub and Pricing Dynamics: Entertainment businesses operate as "stacks of monopolies" (artists, venues) monetizing layers of perfect competition. AI-Generated Art ("Ghibli-fication"): The massive popularity of Studio Ghibli-style AI image generation demonstrated unexpected demand for AI services. -- SPONSORS: NetSuite More than 41,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud financial system bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR, into ONE proven platform. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine learning: https://netsuite.com/102 --- LINKS : Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co --- X / TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne) https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

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. recessions, political party shifts, China's AI policy, and the broader impact of these developments on Wall Street and Main Street. --- 🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse . --- Highlights from the Episode: Political Brand Leveraging & Business: Byrne discussed how Donald Trump Jr. is leveraging the Trump brand, noting this follows a pattern where relatives of politicians often engage in business dealings that trade on political connections. High-Stakes Career Choices: They analyzed Dustin Moskovitz's departure from Asana, suggesting it may be motivated by existential AI concerns. Existential Risk Perspectives: Byrne distinguished between "hot apocalypse" scenarios (like nuclear war) and "cold apocalypse" scenarios where societal function gradually deteriorates. Twitter/X and Elon Musk: They discussed how Musk has managed to technically restore Twitter's valuation through financial engineering and leveraging connections between his companies. Economic Policy and Tariffs: Extensive discussion of Trump's tariff strategy as a negotiation tactic rather than a permanent policy. Recession Concerns: Byrne explained how markets anticipate economic changes before they appear in employment data, creating apparent disconnects between Wall Street and Main Street indicators. -- SPONSORS: NetSuite More than 41,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud financial system bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR, into ONE proven platform. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine learning: https://netsuite.com/102 --- LINKS : Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co --- X / TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne) https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

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 news industry, foreign aid cuts, and the rise of new tech elites. --- 🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse . --- Highlights from the Episode: AI and Written Content: The comparison is made to how society adapted to blogging, which was initially viewed as disruptive but was eventually incorporated into mainstream media ecosystems. Media Evolution and Business Models: "Real news" remains the least lucrative part of the news business due to high fixed costs and difficult monetization. On The Washington Post's Strategy: Byrne suggests Bezos might be positioning the Post to serve an underserved audience: center-right libertarians who want economic growth while avoiding both progressive politics and Trumpism. Tech Elites and Government: Tech and government used to be more closely intertwined (semiconductor industry, Apollo program) but have diverged. Foreign Aid and USAID: Argument that programs like PEPFAR (HIV/AIDS relief) have been highly effective in terms of lives saved per dollar. -- SPONSORS: NetSuite More than 41,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud financial system bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR, into ONE proven platform. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine learning: https://netsuite.com/102 --- LINKS : Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co --- X / TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne) https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

This week, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg examine why Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway can't be successfully replicated today, analyze Bill Gates's public versus private persona, and consider how economic growth manifests as "premium mediocre" options like Chipotle. --- 🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse . --- Highlights from the Episode: Berkshire Hathaway's Unrepeatable Success : Buffett's empire evolved through historical accidents and unique market conditions that no longer exist—trying to copy it today misses what made it special. The Real Berkshire Advantage : While most focus on Buffett's acquisition strategy, Berkshire's true uniqueness is its fee structure—Buffett aligned his incentives by getting rich alongside shareholders, not from carried interest. Gates's Dual Persona : Bill Gates cultivated a humble public image despite being famously combative at Microsoft, demonstrating how business leaders craft public personas that may differ from their actual management styles. The Problem with Reverse-Engineering : Attempting to copy successful models often fails because you're copying what worked in past conditions rather than the underlying strategic thinking. Premium Mediocre Future : If AI drives 10% GDP growth, we might just get more "Chipotle-fication"—consistently good but not exceptional products available to everyone, rather than technological utopia. -- SPONSORS: NetSuite More than 41,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud financial system bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR, into ONE proven platform. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine learning: https://netsuite.com/102 --- LINKS : Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co --- X / TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne) https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

This week, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss technological inflection points and examine how legal frameworks mask continued globalization despite apparent retrenchment, explores US-China dynamics, analyzes AI industry structure and emerging models, and considers Uber's strategic positioning against autonomous vehicles. --- 🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse . --- Highlights from the Episode: Globalization isn't truly reversing, but adapting through legal structures that help bypass trade barriers (like routing Chinese goods through Vietnam) China's economic model succeeded in early growth stages but faces challenges with an over-leveraged real estate sector and declining population Taiwan remains in a surprisingly stable but tense relationship with China despite rhetoric suggesting imminent conflict The AI industry is evolving beyond simple model providers/applications into specialized layers with different data access advantages Financial engineering works well for known variables but struggles with pure research funding due to fundamental uncertainty Uber faces an existential challenge from autonomous vehicles that initially complement their marketplace but could eventually replace it -- SPONSORS: NetSuite More than 41,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud financial system bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR, into ONE proven platform. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine learning: https://netsuite.com/102 --- LINKS : Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co --- X / TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne) https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

This week, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss the transformative impact of technological advancements, particularly OpenAI's research, Elon Musk’s $97 billion offer to acquire its controlling nonprofit, and the implications for business, jobs, regulation, and Musk's strategies with X and Doja. --- 🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse . --- Highlights from the Episode: Musk made a $97.4 billion offer to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI. Byrne highlighted that while AI research may be slightly lower quality, it's much faster and valuable for quick, preliminary research. Companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft have significant advantages in developing AI agents due to their access to user data. Byrne argues that traditional justifications for sovereign wealth funds (currency management, resource wealth management) don't apply to the US. Discussion of how X/Twitter has changed under Musk's leadership. -- SPONSORS: NetSuite More than 41,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, the #1 cloud financial system bringing accounting, financial management, inventory, HR, into ONE proven platform. Download the CFO's Guide to AI and Machine learning: https://netsuite.com/102 --- LINKS : Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co --- X / TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne) https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

This week, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg explore the impact of technological advancements on markets and businesses, covering topics like global trade tariffs, political populism, AI's evolving role, open-source vs. proprietary models, stock market trends, and Meta’s investments in the metaverse and AR. --- 🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse . --- Highlights from the Episode: Trump's tariff approach (particularly the proposed 25% on Canadian goods) makes sense as a negotiating bluff but is problematic as long-term strategy. Unlike the US dollar system, China's currency has limited international circulation, affecting their global economic influence. The market reaction to DeepSeek's developments affected both direct AI companies and adjacent sectors. Meta's transition to being more capital-intensive (through AI investments) may actually strengthen their competitive position. Companies like Meta have incentives to commoditize some AI capabilities while maintaining proprietary advantages in others. -- SPONSORS: Notion 📝Notion offers powerful workflow and automation templates, perfect for streamlining processes and laying the groundwork for AI-driven automation. With Notion AI, you can search across thousands of documents from various platforms, generating highly relevant analysis and content tailored just for you - try it for free at https://notion.com/upstreampod Vanta: Vanta simplifies security and compliance for businesses of all sizes. Automate compliance across 35+ frameworks like SOC 2 and ISO 27001, streamline security workflows, and complete questionnaires up to 5x faster. Trusted by over 9,000 companies, Vanta helps you manage risk and prove security in real time. Get $1,000 off at https://vanta.com/revolution --- LINKS : Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co --- X / TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne) https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

This week, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss the major disruptions in tech and business driven by AI advancements, examining reactions to DeepSeek's announcements, stock impacts on companies like Nvidia, volatility in AI investments, Meta's Threads, Elon Musk’s influence on X, the role of tech in a politically charged landscape, and how governments could shape industrial strategies to support national champions. --- 🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse . --- Highlights from the Episode: The announcement of DeepSeek's AI model caused significant market reactions, particularly affecting NVIDIA and other AI-related stocks. Hedge funds' risk management practices, which typically involve reducing exposure across related positions during increased volatility, can amplify market reactions and trigger cascading effects across multiple sectors. While DeepSeek demonstrates impressive optimization with limited resources, US companies maintain advantages in hardware and talent depth, positioning them to catch up with increased investment in AI infrastructure. Discussion of Threads vs. X (formerly Twitter) highlighted the importance of network effects. The $100B-500B AI infrastructure project announcement signals a long-term commitment to AI development, with its massive scale potentially deterring competitors and resembling SoftBank's strategy of over-funding to dominate markets. -- SPONSORS: Notion 📝Notion offers powerful workflow and automation templates, perfect for streamlining processes and laying the groundwork for AI-driven automation. With Notion AI, you can search across thousands of documents from various platforms, generating highly relevant analysis and content tailored just for you - try it for free at https://notion.com/upstreampod Vanta: Vanta simplifies security and compliance for businesses of all sizes. Automate compliance across 35+ frameworks like SOC 2 and ISO 27001, streamline security workflows, and complete questionnaires up to 5x faster. Trusted by over 9,000 companies, Vanta helps you manage risk and prove security in real time. Get $1,000 off at https://vanta.com/revolution --- LINKS : Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co --- X / TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne) https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

On this week's episode of The Riff, Erik Torenberg and Byrne Hobart explore the impact of technological change on markets, touching on meme investments, ESG, the rise of meme stocks and coins, Trump’s policies, China’s economic strategies, industrial policy debates, and how these factors could shape the future political and economic landscape. --- 🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse . --- Highlights from the Episode: Trump's recent cryptocurrency launch represents a significant shift in his financial strategy. Meme coins/markets serve as a way to quantify social media competition and turn online engagement into measurable outcomes. China's growth model succeeded in transitioning from low to middle income but faces difficulties reaching high-income status. Japanese 30-year bonds now yield more than Chinese ones, suggesting market expects higher long-term growth in Japan. Bipartisan concerns over TikTok's influence and Chinese ownership, coupled with Trump's reversal on the ban, highlight shifting political coalitions. --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: Check out Modern Relationships , where Erik Torenberg interviews tech power couples and leading thinkers to explore how ambitious people actually make partnerships work. Founders Fund's Delian Asparouhov and researcher Nadia Asparouhova kick off the series with an unfiltered conversation about their relationship evolution. Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1786227593 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5hJzs0gDg6lRT6r10mdpVg YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ModernRelationshipsPod -- SPONSORS: Notion 📝Notion offers powerful workflow and automation templates, perfect for streamlining processes and laying the groundwork for AI-driven automation. With Notion AI, you can search across thousands of documents from various platforms, generating highly relevant analysis and content tailored just for you - try it for free at https://notion.com/upstreampod Vanta: Vanta simplifies security and compliance for businesses of all sizes. Automate compliance across 35+ frameworks like SOC 2 and ISO 27001, streamline security workflows, and complete questionnaires up to 5x faster. Trusted by over 9,000 companies, Vanta helps you manage risk and prove security in real time. Get $1,000 off at https://vanta.com/revolution --- LINKS : Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co --- X / TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne) https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

This week, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg explore the historical paradigms from agrarian to industrial eras and potential future growth, while also addressing challenges in adopting new technologies like AI, institutional constraints at companies like Meta, post-COVID loneliness, the Scandinavian economic model, China's deflation concerns, and structural issues within OpenAI, all through a mix of personal anecdotes and historical insights. --- 🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse . --- Highlights from the Episode: Historically, economic growth rates have increased roughly 10x during major paradigm shifts (from hunter-gatherer to agrarian to industrial economies). Meta (Facebook) invested heavily in content moderation systems but received limited credit for these improvements. The "Loneliness Economy" describes how COVID-19 increased time spent alone at home, allowing digital platforms like DoorDash, which use detailed user behavior data, to optimize services in ways physical businesses cannot. Jensen Huang's background of early hardship and drive, along with NVIDIA's strategic focus on intermediate goods like GPUs rather than consumer products, played a key role in its evolution from a graphics card maker to a leader in AI hardware. OpenAI's shift from a nonprofit to a for-profit structure highlights the massive capital needs of AI development, similar to how American Express's corporate structure challenges went unaddressed until they became critical, illustrating how organizational issues often get deprioritized during rapid growth. --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: Check out Modern Relationships , where Erik Torenberg interviews tech power couples and leading thinkers to explore how ambitious people actually make partnerships work. Founders Fund's Delian Asparouhov and researcher Nadia Asparouhova kick off the series with an unfiltered conversation about their relationship evolution. Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1786227593 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5hJzs0gDg6lRT6r10mdpVg YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ModernRelationshipsPod -- SPONSORS: Notion 📝Notion offers powerful workflow and automation templates, perfect for streamlining processes and laying the groundwork for AI-driven automation. With Notion AI, you can search across thousands of documents from various platforms, generating highly relevant analysis and content tailored just for you - try it for free at https://notion.com/upstreampod Vanta: Vanta simplifies security and compliance for businesses of all sizes. Automate compliance across 35+ frameworks like SOC 2 and ISO 27001, streamline security workflows, and complete questionnaires up to 5x faster. Trusted by over 9,000 companies, Vanta helps you manage risk and prove security in real time. Get $1,000 off at https://vanta.com/revolution --- LINKS : Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co --- X / TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne) https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

How do we escape stagnation and accelerate progress? What if bubbles are actually good? Just asking questions. "They promised us flying cars. All we got was one hundred forty characters." Those were the words of Peter Thiel over a decade ago, lamenting technological stagnation. The character limit has since increased, but his point remains the same: Innovation in the software world of "bits" has accelerated, but progress in the material world of "atoms" has been stubbornly slow, at least in his telling. Economist Tyler Cowen, who popularized the term " Great Stagnation ," argued that we picked all the low-hanging fruit in the early-to-mid 20th century thanks to cheap cultivation of unused land, mass education of a previously uneducated population, and revolutions in transportation, energy, and synthetic materials that could since be only marginally improved at increasingly greater expense and effort. The result has been stagnant wage growth when accounting for price inflation and a failure to realize any revolutionary breakthroughs in energy, transportation, or materials science for decades. But today's guest says there's another underlying reason for the stagnation: a self-defeating cultural and spiritual malaise and pessimism about the future. It manifests itself in the dystopian movies and shows that dominate Hollywood, as well as in the falling prevalence of words associated with progress and the future, and a rise of words associated with caution, worry, and risk found in contemporary literature. Byrne Hobart is the co-author of Boom: Bubbles and the End of Stagnation , which offers a surprising way out of stagnation: embracing the dynamic and chaotic power of bubbles—investment bubbles, big social bubbles, and filter bubbles. Examples range from big, ambitious public investments like the Apollo missions and the Manhattan Project to the rise of bitcoin. Sources referenced: The Great Stagnation by Tyler Cowen Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta: "Real Wage Growth: A View from the Wage Growth Tracker" Financial Times : "Is the west talking itself into decline?" Boom: Bubbles and the End of Stagnation, by Byrne Hobart and Tobias Huber Zach and Liz's Bitcoin documentary <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/articles/forex/121815/bitcoins-pr

This week, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg is joined by Tae Kim, author of The NVIDIA Way, exploring NVIDIA's remarkable journey, culture, and what sets the company apart under Jensen Huang's leadership. --- 🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse . --- Highlights from the Episode: NVIDIA's success stems from its relentless work culture, emphasis on talent cultivation, and ability to execute at high velocity while minimizing internal politics. The company's "rough justice" philosophy in business partnerships, particularly with TSMC, focuses on long-term relationships over short-term gains. Jensen Huang's unique management style includes a flat organizational structure with 60 direct reports and "top five emails" system for real-time company insights. --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: Check out Modern Relationships , where Erik Torenberg interviews tech power couples and leading thinkers to explore how ambitious people actually make partnerships work. Founders Fund's Delian Asparouhov and researcher Nadia Asparouhova kick off the series with an unfiltered conversation about their relationship evolution. Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1786227593 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5hJzs0gDg6lRT6r10mdpVg YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ModernRelationshipsPod -- SPONSORS: 📑 Discover Carta, the innovative end-to-end accounting platform revolutionizing private fund management with streamlined operations and on-demand insights. Experience the new standard at https://carta.com/investors/ --- LINKS : Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co Tae’s newsletter: https://firstadopter.substack.com/ The Nvidia Way: https://www.amazon.com/Nvidia-Way-Jensen-Huang-Making/dp/1324086718 --- X / TWITTER: https://twitter.com/firstadopter (Tae) https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne) https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

This week, Erik Torenberg and Byrne Hobart discuss the pod shop hedge fund model, market cycles, AI pricing models, and the future of AI-generated content, with Byrne offering insights on hedge fund evolution, the current market environment, and AI's impact on entertainment and society. --- 🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse . --- Highlights from the Episode: Pod shop hedge fund model has evolved to focus on delivering uncorrelated returns rather than just beating market indices, with sophisticated risk management and factor-neutral strategies. Current market conditions suggest we may be entering a period where even as companies grow, stock prices may lag due to multiple compression and slower growth expectations. AI pricing models face interesting constraints around liability and human oversight, with potential ceiling prices influenced by existing enterprise software like Bloomberg terminals. --- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: Check out Modern Relationships , where Erik Torenberg interviews tech power couples and leading thinkers to explore how ambitious people actually make partnerships work. Founders Fund's Delian Asparouhov and researcher Nadia Asparouhova kick off the series with an unfiltered conversation about their relationship evolution. Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1786227593 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5hJzs0gDg6lRT6r10mdpVg YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ModernRelationshipsPod --- SPONSORS: 📑 Discover Carta, the innovative end-to-end accounting platform revolutionizing private fund management with streamlined operations and on-demand insights. Experience the new standard at https://carta.com/investors/ --- LINKS: Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co --- X / TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne) https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

There is a counter intuitive school of thought - represented by Tyler Cowen, Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen - which suggests that America, for all its technological innovation, remains trapped by long term economic stagnation. So it’s no coincidence that the Austin based investor, consultant, and writer, Byrne Hobart ’s co-authored new book, Boom , comes with enthusiastic blurbs from Cowen, Thiel and Andreessen. If we are to escape our current stagnation, Hobart explained to me when we met in Austin, then we might welcome economic bubbles such as our current AI craze. To get to a boom, he even seems to suggest, borrowing from the ideas of the great economic historian Carlotta Perez , we may even need to celebrate bubbles. Byrne Hobart is an investor, consultant, and writer. He is the author of The Diff, a daily newsletter covering inflection points in finance and technology. He is also a founding partner at Anomaly, a frontier tech investment firm. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. Keen On is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe

How can economic bubbles be good for the world? Byrne Hobart is a financial analyst known for his newsletter "The Diff" which covers tech, trends and economics. Byrne has been on the periphery of crypto for longer that this podcast has existed In this podcast we discuss the book he has co-authored, Boom: Bubbles and the End of Stagnation, where he makes the case for why human progress has stagnated and why speculative bubbles might be the only way out. ------ 📣 DYDX | UNLIMITED ERA https://bankless.cc/dydx-unlimited ------ 🎬 DEBRIEF | Ryan & David Unpacking the Episode: https://www.bankless.com/podcast/debrief-the-byrne-hobarts-interview ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: 🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://k.xyz/bankless-pod-q2 ⁠ 🦄UNISWAP | BUG BOUNTY PROGRAM https://bankless.cc/Uniswap-Bug-Bounty ⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM ⁠https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 🛞MANTLE | MODULAR LAYER 2 NETWORK https://bankless.cc/Mantle ⁠ 📈 iYield: YOUR FINANCIAL PICTURE, SIMPLIFIED https://bankless.cc/iYield 🗣️TOKU | CRYPTO EMPLOYMENT https://bankless.cc/toku ------ ✨ Mint the episode on Zora ✨ https://zora.co/collect/zora:0x0c294913a7596b427add7dcbd6d7bbfc7338d53f/115?referrer=0x077Fe9e96Aa9b20Bd36F1C6290f54F8717C5674E ------ TIMESTAMPS 0:00 Intro 7:29 Byrne’s Crypto Background 10:13 Bitcoin Inception 28:17 Blockspace Economics 34:20 BOOM Thesis 45:35 The Great Stagnation 1:16:46 Civilizational Risk 1:32:31 Good Bubbles vs Bad Bubbles 1:40:04 Identifying the Next Bubble 1:47:53 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES Byrne Hobart https://x.com/ByrneHobart Boom: Bubbles and the End of Stagnation https://a.co/d/f7m2OG8 The Diff Newsletter https://www.thediff.co/ ------ Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here: https://www.bankless.com/disclosures ⁠

This week, Erik Torenberg and Byrne Hobart discuss AI's economic implications, the rise of passive investing, gambling markets, and Warren Buffett's early investment tactics, examining how technological advancements shape economic metrics, market dynamics, and industry shifts. --- 🙏 Help shape our show by taking our quick listener survey at https://bit.ly/TurpentinePulse . --- Highlights from the Episode: AI's economic impact may follow a J-curve pattern - initially deflationary as it reduces costs, but potentially inflationary later through increased monetization and energy consumption Passive investing's dominance has natural limits, as price discovery requires active trading, suggesting a possible future cyclical pattern between passive and active investing The gambling industry's evolution may parallel historical vice industries, potentially leading to new social norms and self-regulation before government intervention --- SPONSORS: 📑 Discover Carta, the innovative end-to-end accounting platform revolutionizing private fund management with streamlined operations and on-demand insights. Experience the new standard at https://carta.com/investors/ --- LINKS: Byrne’s writing: https://thediff.co --- X / TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ByrneHobart (Byrne) https://twitter.com/TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)