This guy is terrifyingly confident in his understanding of things he demonstrably doesn't understand. Dude saw an outrage meme once and thinks he's in on the big secret because one of his friends retweeted it. Success in one domain doesn't mean you're competent to understand every domain
45:51 Wow, just wow. As someone who puts in long hours "not-working" from my home office. All of my co-not-workers and I are very insulted by this casually delivered lie. If "every big company CEO in America" truly believes that anyone working from home isn't working, they're so woefully out of touch that they don't deserve to keep their job.
This was like sitting through an interview with Marie Antoinette in 1785 where she swears vengeance by the state on anyone who criticized her fashion taste. If this is Douthat's idea of bringing enlightened discourse to explain the current state of the nation, then he must love explaining the physics of water to people as they drown.
I can be sympathetic to a lot of what he says, but one thing keeps catching me off guard. Marc seems to desperately want to believe that there don't exist negative side effects to the technologies that Silicon Valley creates. He desperately just wants to be able to ignore them altogether, which would explain why he thinks they don't need any regulation. He was right about one thing, though... These people desperately want to be seen as good people, and the delusion about how altruistic their technologies are is probably a subconscious way to avoid worrying that they might not be good people.
I think everyone with an ounce of introspection has to recognize that whatever idealistic vision that propelled them in their youth, if successful, WILL generate a backlash to it in their old age as the downsides and delusions of that idealism become evident. I saw my father go through this as a veterinarian working in the poultry and swine industry became a reactionary as he grew older when his industry began to be criticized for its factory farms, overuse of pesticides and antibiotics and treatment of animals. As a young man, he thought these science based techniques would help to feed the world cheaply and he could make a good living at the same time. Then within a decade or so in his middle age, his industry began to be seen in a negative light. So he went from hero to villain in a short time and his response was a kind of middle finger to the system. Also, wasn't Musk one of the people sounding the alarm over AI just a few short years ago? I think this all really comes down to money despite Andreesens' protestations that it isn't. One wonders if he and the other Tech bros would have been such eager Democrats had the party retained more of its FDR roots with top tax rates for corporations been at 40 to 50% and individual rates being at 75%+ on the top 10% advocated by Clinton and later Obama. I seriously doubt he would have been on board if that was the case.
I was completely open to hear his perspective until he started confidently talking about special needs programs in schools as a scam with "fake mental illnesses" taking advantage of taxpayers. Yikes!
The problem is your country doesn't see random violence, 400lbs obesity, religious extremism, etc. as clear evidence of mental illness. The rest of the free world does not let it slide..those are serious signs of internal strife bound to make it out on to an innocent victim.
New Hampshire public schools are 75% paid for by (mostly residential) property taxes. As a NH resident paying most of my property tax towards my local public school, I am paying attention to things that drive costs. On average 20% of the enrolled students in NH public schools are in special needs programs. Special education costs are very high and that 20% of the student body costs almost as much as the 80% regular education student body costs. You can find details from the data provided on the NH Department of Education website (www.education.nh.gov/who-we-are/division-of-learner-support/bureau-of-student-support/special-education-data). I believe that there is more than a grain of truth in his perspective.
As a father of two in high school, I completely agree. Thats when he jumped the shark, and then it continues as he describes social security as contempt for the taxpayer. After listening to the whole conversation, it just seems like his new hobby is politics and power. His claim that the #1 thing ceos are concerned about is being a good person seems to be debunked by his own explanation of why he is so enthralled with Trump.
Yep... He's completely lost the plot, using a right-wing talking point as a way to disparage an entire program (which clearly has the potential for abuse, like *any* program...) Elon does exactly the same thing when he pulls out wildly obscure research grants as some kind of overarching example of government "waste" being a colossal issue. (you also might want to ask if he's going to pay-back the *$3B+* for the SpaceX/Artemis program which has _absolutely no chance of success_ )
Oozing smarm from every pore, Andreesen here shows how being a little smart and being lucky enough to be in the right place when the future is invented can give anyone toxic levels of overconfidence. Then, combined with modern weaponized language where every sentence is strengthened with absolute language, he proceeds to assert that all things must, absolutely must, be the way he sees them. Smart people, kind people, thoughtful people don't talk or think like this. No thank you to more of his ilk.
He reveals (and probably doesn't even realize that he exposed himself so nakedly) that he is incredibly uninformed. I expect NYTimes to do better. The Economist or Financial Times would not have allowed such a minor intellect to get away with so many blowhard assertions that are not based in fact.
Agree. I wouldn't call it all luck, he has a specialized set of skills, also. But he seems easily manipulated and very impressionable by talking points of right wing.
Crybabies gonna crybaby Kindness is good between people who know and value each other as individuals. Collectivist notions of kindness are tyranny and social shame it's not real kindness
My my. Aren't we triggered today. Hey here's a thought. This guy and people like Musk and Zuckerberg are enormously powerful, and they have the ear of a new president who just won a landslide. So... maybe this exactly the type of person the NYT podcast should have on. To...like... figure out wtf HE PLANS TO DO!! The days when snowflakes get to cancel people because they don't march in lockstep with your personal ideology are GONE. Oh, and btw, all three of the aforementioned were rock solid Dems quite recently. Wonder what happened there. 😱
My thoughts, too, but I'm glad Douthat interviewed him. It gives one insight into and verifies what we sometimes hear about the "tech bros." The seem to be uninterested in society as a whole and would rather see the emergence of Neo-liberal, Neo-feudal world. His playbook is to hide behind what he considers 1) onerous regulations and 2) governmental heavy-handedness. Sorry Mr. Andreessen, but the bullies don't rule the playground.
This is a very lengthy alternative explanation for a much simpler shift - the tech industry has matured, so it no longer needs government support and doesn't want to pay high taxes on the profits it is now generating.
Yeah. Like come on - it's not like Musk and his ilk are the poor, uneducated masses who got duped by misinformation - they've made millions for years by peddling it. They are billionaires, the had oodles of choices on who to throw their lot in with. It is beyond disengenuous dor them to claim "Oh! I have no agency in this! It was the Dems who made me preemptively kowtow to an authoritarian facsist!" This is all damage control.
It's a race of which billionaire can become the first trillionaire. Elon is off to an early adopter entrepreneur lead but is also currently at war with a powerful teammate; Steve Bannon, at war with his own inner demons, and in various, senseless, revolving internet flame wars. That's too say, he's likely to be the hare who sleeps on his race with the tortoise. Meanwhile, our currency may become so debased that the new tradition we make in 2025 is foregoing the trouble of purchasing toilet paper, in favor of just using the cash.
Ross: Americans like medicare and social security. Marc: That comes off as total contempt for the taxpayer. Ross: But Americans consistently vote in favor of these policies. Marc: [showing total contempt for the taxpayer] Americans aren't exposed to it. They don't have the insight into it.
These guys are so used to getting away with their own ways when they face some hardship they complain like a baby. He tries sound like a thought leader but he is just not..
The contempt in his voice when accusing the left of “contempt for the tax payer”…. Wow. I wanted to walk away feeling more positive feelings for this guy. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. I agree with a number of the critiques abt the left going too far in some instances and being out of touch the last decade or so, but the pull to the middle on the left has been well under way for several years. This comes off as whining, arrogance, and protectionism of their profits. I’m a pro business, free trade, regulation cautious voter. This guy has been radicalized. And he’s suppose to the more normal of the group.
His not-so-subtle use of the term "We" is incredibly telling. This is a classic indication of a shift from an observer/supporter of political views to seeing oneself as wholly part of a "movement" (Trumpism/MAGA in this case), and in his case, one of the privileged "influencers" of power in that sphere. As others have stated, it's clearly a recent discovery that he enjoys and embraces the "celebrity" and implied power that his status now brings, like a nerdy kid who finally gets to hang with the bully crowd and finally feels empowered.
Yup. The "kids" are holding him and the other tech oligarchs to task, and they don't like it. So, here comes the emphasis now on the H1Bs - who they'll be able to push around more.
The people decide if it's a lie, not the guys who convinced half the country that a dementia ridden senile man was running the country, when he wasn't.
I’m a progressive who is a huge fan of capitalism. One of the finer things that continues to thrill me every time is getting a purchase order for something I make. And capitalism has this great feature: it employs accountants to keep track of costs. Except now, Republican capitalists actively seek to sweep costs, such as greenhouse gas emissions costs, for example, under the rug. Republicans are doing a lot more to destroy capitalism than progressives.
A very slick view consistent with Silicon Valley CEO-speak. The bowing to cultural norms at the time was, as evidenced by his own words, cynically done to help make him a lot of money. To his defense, the "radical left" has way overplayed their hand. And he is right about the Biden Administration's initial respose to AI, on balance. But do you blame them for being concerned about national security, given Silicon Valley's inability to police itself? And blaming this whole thing about kids being radicalized in top universities and subverting companies from within is a complete cop-out. There is a reason that they turned on capitalism. We don't get to participate in the spoils, and no, stock options don't do it. And at the end of the day, you're just annoyed that people have started to push back on the unintended consequences of your unfetterred capitalistism.
I used to respect Andreesen. But wow, this interview is terrifying. How could someone who sounds smart support an incompetent bloviating fool? Elon as the greatest entrepreneur of our age? Seriously? He's the luckiest SOB of our age, that I'll agree with. These folks live in a pampered world where they expect their tech 'magic' should rule the world regardless of the resulting ill effects on mental health, climate, or government.
Elon: greatest delusion bullshitter of our age! Elon's superpower is attracting _other_ talented and dedicated people to work on executing his fantasies, and to be fair, it has worked _sometimes_ but Hyperloop, Boring Company, Starship, FSD are some of a litany of delusional failures. The worst part is that for someone apparently "smart", how can he spout completely delusional nonsense as "fact"? Does he know it delusional and is just "playing", or is there a part of him that is completely disconnected from reality? (kind of scary either way!)
I’m glad he was asked about the fact that much of his origin story including what made him rich was rooted in big government programs Specifically, Democrats…I’m also midwestern and went to land grant colleges using student aide … had his rightward shift been the reality at the time he wouldn’t be having this conversation. But because you’re not bowed down to by the masses …. Fuck all that. Because we expect you to pay your fair share of taxes and to be decent corporate citizens smh and let’s not act like Thiel hasn’t been in the background the whole time! Thiel and Curtis Yarvin and their political ideas which this guy mentions in every other interview he does. Now they want authoritarianism for the United States.
If remote workers are not working, that is an indictment of the company employing them. This very same company will also have low productivity by lazily fixing the issue with an RTO mandate
That's what you got from this conversation? You missed the whole AI, Crypto, authoritarian capture and bullying of private institutions, and jumped straight to MSNBC talking points. I hope that Kool-Aid tastes great my guy.
@@kshitijshreyAre you saying "radicalization of our kids" doesn't stand out to you? It doesn't elicit a strong response? Because for the rest of us, I think it does.
@@kshitijshrey Crypto is a predatory pyramid scheme mixed with a speculative casino-mindset, plain and simple. There is absolutely no argument for it's continuing existence. "AI" is a mirage, LLMs are *never* going to be "intelligent", that's another simple fact. LLMs are basically capable parrots that regurgitate language from stored information, they understand *nothing* . From a regulatory perspective, *it's completely self-inflicted* by morons like Sam Altman that consistently scare brain-dead politicians with bogey-man tales about "scary" AI getting out of control. Pure sci-fi bullshit...
@@kshitijshreyWhich of the regulations on AI and crypto strike you as authoritarian and tyrannical? Why? Do you believe there shouldn't be ANY regulations on these technologies? Do you believe they don't have any downsides? What regulations on those technologies are more justifiable and fair, to you?
I'm having a very hard time reconciling his assertion that his primary goal is to be a good person with his support for Trump, and a regime that is most certainly not good for the vast majority of people. Doge and several other programs seem self-serving for elites and counter to the needs and requirements for the vast majority of us.
Does any one listening to this get the impression that it's less of a case of radicalized youth causing the tech bro movement to the right and more of a "hey I'm an old guy now so it's all those damned kids fault, get the fuck off my lawn!" vibe?
No, no! The number one goal of CEOs is to be a good person. Why won’t the evil left just sit back and let them do it as inequality continues to soar?!? 😭😳😭
Another person whose brain has been destroyed by cable news and the internet. He needs to talk with real people, not the people on TV. You would think coming from Wisconsin he would realize this.
"Conceptual genius of our time" followed by RTO is the perfect ad hominem argument against the tech right. WTF. Also nobody serious about tech and not just empty, speculative greed thinks that cryptocurrency is worth the kilowatts wasted figuring out prime factors.
How fragile to not be able to hear his workforce stating their concerns for the tech industry and power writ large…. “I like the deal only when I am the one in charge of it….”
I made it through about three quarters of the interview then couldn’t take it any longer. We tried unfettered capitalism in the late 19th and early early 20th centuries. It was not good for the country, so we broke up the trusts. Much of what Andreessen says echoes the view of the railroad and oil barons of the Gilded Age. They were wrong and so is he.
He has a very limited view of liberals and conservatives. I am amazed and saddened at the terrible experiences that he has encountered. He is so shell shocked that he cannot see things around him. He must think that Project 2025 is a flower garden.
Ross, this wasn't an interview. You stood to one side as obviously nonsensical gibberish was delivered to your audience. It seemed a lot like Andreesen is actually a stupid guy, but I would put my money on greedy and dishonest. Nobody this successful could be so stupid as to truly believe what he was saying. This was a very disappointing product from Douthat and The Times.
How do you expect to make departments efficient without having good workers? Maybe you can dispose of some of those positions entirely, but certainly not all of them!
That was excellent. I wonder whether this is a watershed moment or whether everything will revert/reverse/reset when Gavin Nesom is elected the 48th US President?
How can this be a watershed moment when Republicans barely won the house and barely won the Senate? It's not clear that they've got enough of a majority to get anything serious done, unless every Republican in Congress is willing to bend the knee and give into every one of Donald's demands
I love how half the comments here go to the trope “oh, listen to these guys whine now”, as if we didn’t just suffer through a decade of lefty whining so intense independents broke for Donald freakin’ Trump
This conversation makes me feel sad for Peter Thiel. To me all this was perfectly obvious by 2016 and earlier. In 2016 Peter can see it all happening but he is surrounded by people who just can’t see it. And so on it goes on with the democratic admin becoming increasingly totalitarian literally weaponizing the government justice system systematically and most people are like ‘duh’. Ross just comes off a a normie talking about procedural prattle while the problem is existential.
If you think the "democratic admin becoming increasingly totalitarian literally weaponizing the government justice system systematically", then oh brother, wait for what Trump has in store.
Headline: Billionaire tech mogle bullied by undergrads, gets even
This guy is terrifyingly confident in his understanding of things he demonstrably doesn't understand. Dude saw an outrage meme once and thinks he's in on the big secret because one of his friends retweeted it. Success in one domain doesn't mean you're competent to understand every domain
His success was stealing the idea for Netscape from the State University of Illinois' Mosaic web browser, the school of which he attended.
He has surprisingly bad takes on nearly everything. Some kernels of sanity, but not many.
45:51 Wow, just wow. As someone who puts in long hours "not-working" from my home office. All of my co-not-workers and I are very insulted by this casually delivered lie. If "every big company CEO in America" truly believes that anyone working from home isn't working, they're so woefully out of touch that they don't deserve to keep their job.
Totally agree.
you are always open your own firm and hire these wonderful WFH people
This was like sitting through an interview with Marie Antoinette in 1785 where she swears vengeance by the state on anyone who criticized her fashion taste. If this is Douthat's idea of bringing enlightened discourse to explain the current state of the nation, then he must love explaining the physics of water to people as they drown.
Astute observation.
I can be sympathetic to a lot of what he says, but one thing keeps catching me off guard. Marc seems to desperately want to believe that there don't exist negative side effects to the technologies that Silicon Valley creates. He desperately just wants to be able to ignore them altogether, which would explain why he thinks they don't need any regulation.
He was right about one thing, though... These people desperately want to be seen as good people, and the delusion about how altruistic their technologies are is probably a subconscious way to avoid worrying that they might not be good people.
Name one potentate who did not want to be seen as a good person--irrespective of what they did.
I think everyone with an ounce of introspection has to recognize that whatever idealistic vision that propelled them in their youth, if successful, WILL generate a backlash to it in their old age as the downsides and delusions of that idealism become evident. I saw my father go through this as a veterinarian working in the poultry and swine industry became a reactionary as he grew older when his industry began to be criticized for its factory farms, overuse of pesticides and antibiotics and treatment of animals. As a young man, he thought these science based techniques would help to feed the world cheaply and he could make a good living at the same time. Then within a decade or so in his middle age, his industry began to be seen in a negative light. So he went from hero to villain in a short time and his response was a kind of middle finger to the system. Also, wasn't Musk one of the people sounding the alarm over AI just a few short years ago?
I think this all really comes down to money despite Andreesens' protestations that it isn't. One wonders if he and the other Tech bros would have been such eager Democrats had the party retained more of its FDR roots with top tax rates for corporations been at 40 to 50% and individual rates being at 75%+ on the top 10% advocated by Clinton and later Obama. I seriously doubt he would have been on board if that was the case.
@@charlespolk5221 I think a lot of people respond negatively to criticism, especially when it's coming from people who used to praise you
A fascinating peek into a frighteningly narrow perspective. We are in trouble.
I was completely open to hear his perspective until he started confidently talking about special needs programs in schools as a scam with "fake mental illnesses" taking advantage of taxpayers. Yikes!
The problem is your country doesn't see random violence, 400lbs obesity, religious extremism, etc. as clear evidence of mental illness. The rest of the free world does not let it slide..those are serious signs of internal strife bound to make it out on to an innocent victim.
They are fake mental illness 90% of the time. The reason I know this is every 18-25 year old white woman has a mental illness. You can’t all have it.
New Hampshire public schools are 75% paid for by (mostly residential) property taxes. As a NH resident paying most of my property tax towards my local public school, I am paying attention to things that drive costs. On average 20% of the enrolled students in NH public schools are in special needs programs. Special education costs are very high and that 20% of the student body costs almost as much as the 80% regular education student body costs. You can find details from the data provided on the NH Department of Education website (www.education.nh.gov/who-we-are/division-of-learner-support/bureau-of-student-support/special-education-data). I believe that there is more than a grain of truth in his perspective.
As a father of two in high school, I completely agree. Thats when he jumped the shark, and then it continues as he describes social security as contempt for the taxpayer. After listening to the whole conversation, it just seems like his new hobby is politics and power. His claim that the #1 thing ceos are concerned about is being a good person seems to be debunked by his own explanation of why he is so enthralled with Trump.
Yep... He's completely lost the plot, using a right-wing talking point as a way to disparage an entire program (which clearly has the potential for abuse, like *any* program...)
Elon does exactly the same thing when he pulls out wildly obscure research grants as some kind of overarching example of government "waste" being a colossal issue. (you also might want to ask if he's going to pay-back the *$3B+* for the SpaceX/Artemis program which has _absolutely no chance of success_ )
Oozing smarm from every pore, Andreesen here shows how being a little smart and being lucky enough to be in the right place when the future is invented can give anyone toxic levels of overconfidence. Then, combined with modern weaponized language where every sentence is strengthened with absolute language, he proceeds to assert that all things must, absolutely must, be the way he sees them. Smart people, kind people, thoughtful people don't talk or think like this. No thank you to more of his ilk.
He reveals (and probably doesn't even realize that he exposed himself so nakedly) that he is incredibly uninformed. I expect NYTimes to do better. The Economist or Financial Times would not have allowed such a minor intellect to get away with so many blowhard assertions that are not based in fact.
Agree. I wouldn't call it all luck, he has a specialized set of skills, also. But he seems easily manipulated and very impressionable by talking points of right wing.
Crybabies gonna crybaby
Kindness is good between people who know and value each other as individuals. Collectivist notions of kindness are tyranny and social shame it's not real kindness
My my. Aren't we triggered today.
Hey here's a thought. This guy and people like Musk and Zuckerberg are enormously powerful, and they have the ear of a new president who just won a landslide.
So... maybe this exactly the type of person the NYT podcast should have on. To...like... figure out wtf HE PLANS TO DO!!
The days when snowflakes get to cancel people because they don't march in lockstep with your personal ideology are GONE.
Oh, and btw, all three of the aforementioned were rock solid Dems quite recently. Wonder what happened there. 😱
My thoughts, too, but I'm glad Douthat interviewed him. It gives one insight into and verifies what we sometimes hear about the "tech bros." The seem to be uninterested in society as a whole and would rather see the emergence of Neo-liberal, Neo-feudal world. His playbook is to hide behind what he considers 1) onerous regulations and 2) governmental heavy-handedness. Sorry Mr. Andreessen, but the bullies don't rule the playground.
Sounds like a boomer: "lefty college professors changing kids into marxists" lmao what a stooge
Dude sees Strawman around every corner
It's revealing as to how the mid 2010s looked to a lot of non-Millennials, especially those more on the right.
Thirty years of hearing and giving VC pitches has rendered this once humble programmer a master of hyperbole.
This is a very lengthy alternative explanation for a much simpler shift - the tech industry has matured, so it no longer needs government support and doesn't want to pay high taxes on the profits it is now generating.
The mask slips when he claims that "Donald Trump didn't run the government while he was President". Unhinged.
Yeah. Like come on - it's not like Musk and his ilk are the poor, uneducated masses who got duped by misinformation - they've made millions for years by peddling it. They are billionaires, the had oodles of choices on who to throw their lot in with.
It is beyond disengenuous dor them to claim
"Oh! I have no agency in this! It was the Dems who made me preemptively kowtow to an authoritarian facsist!"
This is all damage control.
In part, but Elon needs gov't subsidies for everything he does... Cars to rockets wouldn't have been his without the gov't
@@talkndrideas I think the space industry has reached the point where the government needs the private contractors more than they need the government.
It's a race of which billionaire can become the first trillionaire. Elon is off to an early adopter entrepreneur lead but is also currently at war with a powerful teammate; Steve Bannon, at war with his own inner demons, and in various, senseless, revolving internet flame wars. That's too say, he's likely to be the hare who sleeps on his race with the tortoise.
Meanwhile, our currency may become so debased that the new tradition we make in 2025 is foregoing the trouble of purchasing toilet paper, in favor of just using the cash.
oh my god when are we going to realise venture capitalists are not thought leaders
Ross: Americans like medicare and social security.
Marc: That comes off as total contempt for the taxpayer.
Ross: But Americans consistently vote in favor of these policies.
Marc: [showing total contempt for the taxpayer] Americans aren't exposed to it. They don't have the insight into it.
Ummmm... Poor Marc Andreesen. From coding a free web browser to scripting a paywalled worldview. Another jaded rich white guy.
These guys are so used to getting away with their own ways when they face some hardship they complain like a baby. He tries sound like a thought leader but he is just not..
The contempt in his voice when accusing the left of “contempt for the tax payer”…. Wow. I wanted to walk away feeling more positive feelings for this guy. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. I agree with a number of the critiques abt the left going too far in some instances and being out of touch the last decade or so, but the pull to the middle on the left has been well under way for several years. This comes off as whining, arrogance, and protectionism of their profits. I’m a pro business, free trade, regulation cautious voter. This guy has been radicalized. And he’s suppose to the more normal of the group.
His not-so-subtle use of the term "We" is incredibly telling. This is a classic indication of a shift from an observer/supporter of political views to seeing oneself as wholly part of a "movement" (Trumpism/MAGA in this case), and in his case, one of the privileged "influencers" of power in that sphere. As others have stated, it's clearly a recent discovery that he enjoys and embraces the "celebrity" and implied power that his status now brings, like a nerdy kid who finally gets to hang with the bully crowd and finally feels empowered.
Am I out of touch? No! It’s the kids that are wrong.
Yup. The "kids" are holding him and the other tech oligarchs to task, and they don't like it. So, here comes the emphasis now on the H1Bs - who they'll be able to push around more.
Yes, the least accomplished generation in the past 100 years is probably wrong.
The guy seems to desperately want to believe that all technology is altruistic and nothing they create has negative side effects
"Elon has the opportunity to go directly to the public". With his lies?
The people decide if it's a lie, not the guys who convinced half the country that a dementia ridden senile man was running the country, when he wasn't.
Raise the taxable minimum on FICA/social security from $176k to keep social security viable longer.
The ravings of a literal Oligarch
Andreessen vanished into a cloud of self delusion a long time ago. Not interested in literally anything that he has to say.
Enjoyed this
I’m a progressive who is a huge fan of capitalism. One of the finer things that continues to thrill me every time is getting a purchase order for something I make. And capitalism has this great feature: it employs accountants to keep track of costs. Except now, Republican capitalists actively seek to sweep costs, such as greenhouse gas emissions costs, for example, under the rug. Republicans are doing a lot more to destroy capitalism than progressives.
A very slick view consistent with Silicon Valley CEO-speak. The bowing to cultural norms at the time was, as evidenced by his own words, cynically done to help make him a lot of money. To his defense, the "radical left" has way overplayed their hand. And he is right about the Biden Administration's initial respose to AI, on balance. But do you blame them for being concerned about national security, given Silicon Valley's inability to police itself? And blaming this whole thing about kids being radicalized in top universities and subverting companies from within is a complete cop-out. There is a reason that they turned on capitalism. We don't get to participate in the spoils, and no, stock options don't do it. And at the end of the day, you're just annoyed that people have started to push back on the unintended consequences of your unfetterred capitalistism.
I used to respect Andreesen. But wow, this interview is terrifying. How could someone who sounds smart support an incompetent bloviating fool? Elon as the greatest entrepreneur of our age? Seriously? He's the luckiest SOB of our age, that I'll agree with. These folks live in a pampered world where they expect their tech 'magic' should rule the world regardless of the resulting ill effects on mental health, climate, or government.
Elon: greatest delusion bullshitter of our age! Elon's superpower is attracting _other_ talented and dedicated people to work on executing his fantasies, and to be fair, it has worked _sometimes_ but Hyperloop, Boring Company, Starship, FSD are some of a litany of delusional failures.
The worst part is that for someone apparently "smart", how can he spout completely delusional nonsense as "fact"? Does he know it delusional and is just "playing", or is there a part of him that is completely disconnected from reality? (kind of scary either way!)
lol
I’m glad he was asked about the fact that much of his origin story including what made him rich was rooted in big government programs Specifically, Democrats…I’m also midwestern and went to land grant colleges using student aide … had his rightward shift been the reality at the time he wouldn’t be having this conversation. But because you’re not bowed down to by the masses …. Fuck all that. Because we expect you to pay your fair share of taxes and to be decent corporate citizens smh and let’s not act like Thiel hasn’t been in the background the whole time! Thiel and Curtis Yarvin and their political ideas which this guy mentions in every other interview he does. Now they want authoritarianism for the United States.
If remote workers are not working, that is an indictment of the company employing them. This very same company will also have low productivity by lazily fixing the issue with an RTO mandate
Just crazy to hear this:""because of radicalication of kids" meaning they have a different opinion than ours, "we decided to support Trump"
That's what you got from this conversation? You missed the whole AI, Crypto, authoritarian capture and bullying of private institutions, and jumped straight to MSNBC talking points.
I hope that Kool-Aid tastes great my guy.
@@kshitijshrey. crypto is for criminals, money works better for everyone else
@@kshitijshreyAre you saying "radicalization of our kids" doesn't stand out to you? It doesn't elicit a strong response? Because for the rest of us, I think it does.
@@kshitijshrey Crypto is a predatory pyramid scheme mixed with a speculative casino-mindset, plain and simple. There is absolutely no argument for it's continuing existence.
"AI" is a mirage, LLMs are *never* going to be "intelligent", that's another simple fact. LLMs are basically capable parrots that regurgitate language from stored information, they understand *nothing* . From a regulatory perspective, *it's completely self-inflicted* by morons like Sam Altman that consistently scare brain-dead politicians with bogey-man tales about "scary" AI getting out of control. Pure sci-fi bullshit...
@@kshitijshreyWhich of the regulations on AI and crypto strike you as authoritarian and tyrannical? Why?
Do you believe there shouldn't be ANY regulations on these technologies? Do you believe they don't have any downsides?
What regulations on those technologies are more justifiable and fair, to you?
This over rich man sounds like a jerk. He thinks he knows better.
I'm having a very hard time reconciling his assertion that his primary goal is to be a good person with his support for Trump, and a regime that is most certainly not good for the vast majority of people. Doge and several other programs seem self-serving for elites and counter to the needs and requirements for the vast majority of us.
Does any one listening to this get the impression that it's less of a case of radicalized youth causing the tech bro movement to the right and more of a "hey I'm an old guy now so it's all those damned kids fault, get the fuck off my lawn!" vibe?
CEOs are all weather vanes. Don’t listen to their beautified justification! The only justification is self interest, period!
23:37 lol. Lmao even. Hilarious, one might even say
Seriously!!
No, no! The number one goal of CEOs is to be a good person. Why won’t the evil left just sit back and let them do it as inequality continues to soar?!? 😭😳😭
48:17 Dripping with contempt for students with disabilities
This is a man who cannot tolerate being challenged.
Another person whose brain has been destroyed by cable news and the internet. He needs to talk with real people, not the people on TV. You would think coming from Wisconsin he would realize this.
The more rich one becomes the more self righteous one is.
I would have liked to know a little more about andreessen's new consumption habits and how they've changed since 2008 or so
"Conceptual genius of our time" followed by RTO is the perfect ad hominem argument against the tech right. WTF. Also nobody serious about tech and not just empty, speculative greed thinks that cryptocurrency is worth the kilowatts wasted figuring out prime factors.
Since this guy keeps defending Russia, does he support Russia conquering Ukraine?
Marc is a legitimate genius. Very interesting.
This guy is so full of shit---it is difficult to listen to.
KING BABY!
How fragile to not be able to hear his workforce stating their concerns for the tech industry and power writ large…. “I like the deal only when I am the one in charge of it….”
Isn’t it ironic that Andreessen’s meek and awkward boyish laugh is so reminiscent of Andrew Yang’s?
Is Ross allowed to follow up on statements? I would like to hear this guy explain in detail about the plan to unleash America's energy reserves.
This dude is gross
A man of much rationalization.
First NYT production I’ve listened to in years that wasn’t slap insane. Bravo for that, I guess.
I made it through about three quarters of the interview then couldn’t take it any longer. We tried unfettered capitalism in the late 19th and early early 20th centuries. It was not good for the country, so we broke up the trusts. Much of what Andreessen says echoes the view of the railroad and oil barons of the Gilded Age. They were wrong and so is he.
please stop calling things “normie” - the attachment to 2010s Reddit lingo has got to go
You're not the boss of me!!!
The comment section of this video is a terrifying journey into the mind of the New York Times reader, and many many paid democratic trolls. 😂😂😂
Dude sounds like hes juicing (mentally) I dunno maybe he just finished his 3rd Macchiato, he has an unappealing voice for a podcast
Yeah, sorta Iike Zuckerberg
He has a very limited view of liberals and conservatives. I am amazed and saddened at the terrible experiences that he has encountered. He is so shell shocked that he cannot see things around him. He must think that Project 2025 is a flower garden.
Ross, this wasn't an interview. You stood to one side as obviously nonsensical gibberish was delivered to your audience. It seemed a lot like Andreesen is actually a stupid guy, but I would put my money on greedy and dishonest. Nobody this successful could be so stupid as to truly believe what he was saying. This was a very disappointing product from Douthat and The Times.
This guy is so much smarter than the people commenting here.
@45:50. Would need to hire better folks to replace dead wood seat warmers? Why
How do you expect to make departments efficient without having good workers? Maybe you can dispose of some of those positions entirely, but certainly not all of them!
Egghead.
This sounds silly...
That was excellent. I wonder whether this is a watershed moment or whether everything will revert/reverse/reset when Gavin Nesom is elected the 48th US President?
Oh My God. You think Gavin Newsom is going to reverse the losses of 2024?
Kool-Aid going crazy.
Newsome is finished
How can this be a watershed moment when Republicans barely won the house and barely won the Senate? It's not clear that they've got enough of a majority to get anything serious done, unless every Republican in Congress is willing to bend the knee and give into every one of Donald's demands
I love how half the comments here go to the trope “oh, listen to these guys whine now”, as if we didn’t just suffer through a decade of lefty whining so intense independents broke for Donald freakin’ Trump
Inflation (and people's poor understanding of how the economy works) is why independents voted for Trump. Not lefties whining on Twitter
This conversation makes me feel sad for Peter Thiel. To me all this was perfectly obvious by 2016 and earlier. In 2016 Peter can see it all happening but he is surrounded by people who just can’t see it. And so on it goes on with the democratic admin becoming increasingly totalitarian literally weaponizing the government justice system systematically and most people are like ‘duh’. Ross just comes off a a normie talking about procedural prattle while the problem is existential.
If you think the "democratic admin becoming increasingly totalitarian literally weaponizing the government justice system systematically", then oh brother, wait for what Trump has in store.
Boers have something of a sixth-sense for the perils of "equity and inclusion" -- perhaps an extra bone in their ear
Thiel isn't exactly a sympathetic character. He was just ahead of the curve on realizing that MAGA could better serve his interests than Democrats