show episodes
 
"
"Moment of Zen"
Series avatar that links to series pageSeries avatar that links to series page

1
"Moment of Zen"

Erik Torenberg, Dan Romero, Antonio Garcia Martinez

Unsubscribe
Unsubscribe
Weekly
 
Every week, Erik Torenberg, Dan Romero, Antonio Garcia Martinez and frequent special guests discuss what's happening in technology, business, politics, and beyond. Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: turpentine.co
  continue reading
 
Upstream is where host Erik Torenberg goes deeper with the world's most interesting thinkers to map the constellation of ideas that matter across tech, culture, and politics. On this season of Upstream, you'll hear from Marc Andreessen, David Sacks, Balaji Srinivasan, Ezra Klein, Joe Lonsdale, Katherine Boyle, and more. Upstream is part of the Turpentine podcast network. To learn more: turpentine.co
  continue reading
 
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. Topics covered: Finance, Venture Capital, Tech, AI, Crypto, and Industry Cycles The Riff is a part of the Turpentine podcast network.
  continue reading
 
A biweekly podcast where hosts Nathan Labenz and Erik Torenberg interview the builders on the edge of AI and explore the dramatic shift it will unlock in the coming years. The Cognitive Revolution is part of the Turpentine podcast network. To learn more: turpentine.co
  continue reading
 
See the world through the eyes of society's greatest rule-breakers. The "Live Players" podcast charts the key individuals shaping our future from first principles across multiple domains: business, politics, philanthropy, and broadcasting from the digital town square Join host Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg as they analyze the mindsets of today's most intriguing business leaders, investors, and innovators through the lens of their bold actions and contrarian worldviews. You'll come away with ...
  continue reading
 
Village Global's Venture Stories takes you inside the world of venture capital and technology, featuring enlightening interviews with entrepreneurs, investors and tech industry leaders. The podcast is hosted by Village Global partner and co-founder Erik Torenberg. Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc/podcast for more.
  continue reading
 
Product Hunt Radio (PHR) is for the product geeks. Each week Ryan Hoover and Erik Torenberg are joined by founders, investors, and product people in the startup community & beyond to chat about products, technology, and the people who make them. Join us and visit Product Hunt (http://producthunt.com) to find the best new products, every day.
  continue reading
 
Once again, Tony Sheng finds himself without a job. This time, he wants to get it right. There are millions of things you could do, but you can only ever do one of those things at a time. It’s not fair. How do you find what you’re really meant to do? So instead of getting a job, he is starting a podcast to find out what everybody else is doing. And whether he should do it too. Honest and playful, Click Here To Apply is a weekly opportunity for Tony to catch up with the most interesting peopl ...
  continue reading
 
The Breaking Into Startups Podcast is a platform where we feature stories of people who broke into tech from non-traditional backgrounds. Curious about how startups work, how to get a job without a degree or what technical and non-technical careers are out there? We have news for you - tech fields are booming and you don’t need the best technical degree in information technology to break in and get a six figure job in technology. Our podcast gives you an inside look at the most disruptive st ...
  continue reading
 
Shilpi and Mike met through Venture for America, a fellowship program that connects recent grads with startups and growth companies in low-cost cities. As fellows, they are attempting to learn the skills and tactics necessary to be successful entrepreneurs. After trading some insights during a 5 week training camp, they moved to their respective cities in the fall of 2013. Shilpi moved to Las Vegas to work for the Downtown Project, and Mike moved to Detroit to work for an internet company, B ...
  continue reading
 
Loading …
show series
 
On today's episode of Live Players, Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg dive into all things nuclear. They cover the historical role of coal and oil in shaping global conflicts, the inevitability of nuclear proliferation, and the challenges of scaling nuclear energy. They also discuss the inevitability of nuclear weapons and Samo proposes a strategy to m…
  continue reading
 
Noah Smith joins Age of Miracles hosts Packy McCormick and Julia DeWahl to discuss the future of nuclear energy as well as other energy sources. Daffy is offering Econ 102 listeners a free $25 for the charity of their choice when they join: https://www.daffy.org/econ102 – Sponsors: GIVEWELL | DAFFY | NETSUITE Have you ever wondered where your donat…
  continue reading
 
In this episode, Erik sits down with Samo Burja, political scientist and founder of Bismarck Analysis. They discuss Samo's term "live player" and today's live players, including Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and George Soros. Make informed decision for high impact donations with GiveWell, which is offering Upstream listeners donation matching…
  continue reading
 
In our 4th episode of The Riff, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss the complex interplay of technology, economic growth, demographics and investment decisions and the socio-technological implications of dating apps on society. They also debate the impact of political leaders' policies on capital markets, focusing specifically on the comparison…
  continue reading
 
Beff Jezos, the anonymous co-founder of the e/acc movement (effective accelerationism) had his identity revealed on Friday night by Forbes reporters. He gives the inside story to Antonio Garcia Martinez, Erik Torenberg, Dan Romero, his e/acc cofounder bayeslord, and The Cognitive Revolution podcast host Nathan Labenz. They discuss anonymity, the me…
  continue reading
 
In this episode, Nathan chats with Josh Albrecht, CTO of Imbue. They discuss how to create agents for reasoning, reliability, and robustness. If you need an ecommerce platform, check out our sponsor Shopify: https://shopify.com/cognitive for a $1/month trial period. RECOMMENDED PODCAST: Every week investor and writer of the popular newsletter The D…
  continue reading
 
Erik Torenberg and Antonio Garcia Martinez sit down with political strategist + former chief adviser to Boris Johnson's right hand Dominic Cummings who is known for architecting Brexit. They discuss whether Brexit actually saved Britain from the far right, the San Francisco homelessness complex, the 2024 election, educational polarization, & more. …
  continue reading
 
In the inaugural episode of the Live Players podcast, Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg dive deep into the concept of a 'live player', a term coined by Samo. He explains a 'live player' as a person who steps away from societal norms, improvises and thinks from first principles, much like successful individuals such as Arnold Schwarzenegger. He emphasiz…
  continue reading
 
In this episode, Nathan chats with Guillermo Rauch, CEO of Vercel, to discuss how AI might shape the future of code, software 2.0, and the open source question in AI. If you need an ecommerce platform, check out our sponsor Shopify: https://shopify.com/cognitive for a $1/month trial period. SPONSORS: Shopify is the global commerce platform that hel…
  continue reading
 
Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg discuss the rise in pseudoscience, the “administrification” in America, the trillion-dollar non-profit sector, and more. Daffy is offering Econ 102 listeners a free $25 for the charity of their choice when they join: https://www.daffy.org/econ102 – Sponsors: GIVEWELL | DAFFY | NETSUITE Have you ever wondered where your…
  continue reading
 
Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg discuss their takes on why liberals become conservatives, diversity in tech, and debrief the OpenAI debacle that happened this past week. – SPONSORS: SHOPIFY | MASTERCLASS | NETSUITE SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every…
  continue reading
 
In this episode, Erik is joined by Byrne Hobart, author of tech and finance newsletter The Diff, to discuss Sam Altman's ousting from OpenAI, Microsoft's role in the story, and the new competitive landscape for AI companies. Make informed decision for high impact donations with GiveWell, which is offering Upstream listeners donation matching up to …
  continue reading
 
Nathan shares his perspective on Sam Altman’s firing from OpenAI, after being a part of the red team for GPT-4 and seeing how the board handled safety concerns. If you need an ecommerce platform, check out our sponsor Shopify: https://shopify.com/cognitive for a $1/month trial period. This is a developing story. This podcast was recorded on 11/21 a…
  continue reading
 
This is a bonus episode for Econ 102 listeners of The Riff with Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg, recorded on Monday night 11/20, discussing the evolving story of Sam Altman’s ousting at OpenAI and new home at Microsoft, what OpenAI's next pivot could look like, the new competitive landscape for the big AI players, and Effective Altruism’s role in t…
  continue reading
 
In our third episode of The Riff, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss the evolving story of Sam Altman’s ousting at OpenAI and new home at Microsoft, what OpenAI's next pivot could look like, the new competitive landscape for the big AI players, and Effective Altruism’s role in this drama. Need Soc 2 compliance? Get 20% off your first year of S…
  continue reading
 
Dan Romero, Antonio Garcia Martinez and Erik Torenberg discuss their takes on Sam Altman's ouster from OpenAI, his legacy, and his comparative significance vis-à-vis figures like Jack Dorsey and Elon Musk. This is a developing story. This podcast was recorded on Sunday Nov 19th at 12pm PST. – SPONSORS: SHOPIFY | MASTERCLASS | NETSUITE SHOPIFY: http…
  continue reading
 
In this episode, Nathan and Erik discuss research out of Google Deepmind suggesting LLMs, Hemant Teneja’s responsible VC commitments, and why now is not the time for an ideological war on AI regulation. If you need an ecommerce platform, check out our sponsor Shopify: https://shopify.com/cognitive for a $1/month trial period. Ep Notes: https://docs…
  continue reading
 
Today on Upstream we’re dropping a special episode of Age of Miracles which dives into the rise and fall of nuclear power in the 20th century, and what we can learn about pushing nuclear into the 21st century. Make informed decision for high impact donations with GiveWell, which is offering Upstream listeners donation matching up to $100. To claim …
  continue reading
 
In our second episode of The Riff, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss the role and influence of companies like OpenAI, AI investment opportunities, the whitespace in the future of social media models, and turning cloud networks into real communities. The Riff is a part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: turpentine.co RECOMMENDED PO…
  continue reading
 
In our first episode of The Riff, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss Byrne's writing for his newsletter The DIff, his biggest influences, and the fall of Sam Bankman-Fried. The Riff is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: turpentine.co RECOMMENDED PODCAST: LIVE PLAYERS Join host Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg as they analyze the …
  continue reading
 
Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg discuss Noah’s travel reflections from Singapore, the recent San Francisco cleanup, and the dystopian routes of progressivism. Daffy is offering Econ 102 listeners a free $25 for the charity of their choice when they join: https://www.daffy.org/econ102 – Sponsors: GIVEWELL | DAFFY | NETSUITE Have you ever wondered wher…
  continue reading
 
In this episode, Nathan interviews Alex Watson, founder and CPO of Gretel AI, about the company's work in synthetic data. They discuss why we need synthetic data, Gretel’s new pre trained tabular LLM that creates synthetic data on a zero shot basis, privacy techniques to prevent LLM memorization, and more. If you need an ecommerce platform, check o…
  continue reading
 
Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg discuss whether San Francisco can be exited or reformed, how to impact local politics, and what it would take to get talented, innovative people to live in the same city. Wherever and whatever you’re selling, get Shopify for $1/month trial period using code https://shopify.com/momentofzen – SPONSORS: SHOPIFY | MASTERCL…
  continue reading
 
Balaji Srinivasan returns to Upstream for an unfiltered conversation about recent events: SBF's conviction and the conflict in the middle east. Make informed decision for high impact donations with GiveWell, which is offering Upstream listeners donation matching up to $100. To claim your match, go to givewell.org ➡️ pick “Podcast” enter "Upstream w…
  continue reading
 
We're joined by John Hayes, CEO and Cofounder of Ghost, a self-driving car startup using multimodal LLMs to solve the autonomous driving problem, that OpenAI just invested $5 million into. If you need an ERP platform, check out our sponsor NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive. SPONSORS: Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell…
  continue reading
 
Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg discuss the new geopolitical dynamics in Asia and the Middle East, why demographics may mean waning conflict, and take a dive into Ireland’s wealth. Daffy is offering Econ 102 listeners a free $25 for the charity of their choice when they join: https://www.daffy.org/econ102 – Sponsors: GIVEWELL | DAFFY | NETSUITE Have …
  continue reading
 
We’re deep diving into OpenAI DevDay with Logan Kilpatrick, Dev Relations Lead at OpenAI. If you need an ERP platform, check out our sponsor NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive. SPONSORS: SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/cognitive for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business…
  continue reading
 
Dan Romero, Antonio Garcia Martinez and Erik Torenberg discuss the US reaction to the Israel-Hamas War. If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta for $1000 off: https://www.vanta.com/zen – SPONSORS: SHOPIFY | VANTA | MASTERCLASS | NETSUITE SHOPIFY: https://shopify.com/momentofzen for a $1/month trial period Sho…
  continue reading
 
Erik is joined by Sam Lessin, General Partner at the early-stage VC firm Slow Ventures, essayist, and former VP of Product at Facebook. Make informed decision for high impact donations with GiveWell, which is offering Econ 102 listeners donation matching up to $100. To claim your match, go to givewell.org ➡️ pick “Podcast” enter "Upstream with Erik…
  continue reading
 
In this episode, Flo Crivello, founder of Lindy AI, joins Nathan to chat about Biden’s executive order, and the state of AI safety. They discuss Flo’s thoughts on the executive order, building AGI kill switches, self driving cars, and more. If you need an ERP platform, check out our sponsor NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive. SPONSORS: Oracle …
  continue reading
 
Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg discuss the state of the economy, whether tech and the VC ecosystem are doing well or facing a 'rolling recession', and unpack assumptions about wealth in the United States. Make informed decision for high impact donations with GiveWell, which is offering Econ 102 listeners donation matching up to $100. To claim your m…
  continue reading
 
Mark Humphries is a Professor of History at Wilfrid Laurier University, where he has published widely on various aspects of Canadian history. We invited Mark to do an episode after he reached out to tell us that hearing about how Nathan fine-tuned GPT-3.5 on GPT-4 reasoning helped him get over some hurdles in his own archival research. In addition,…
  continue reading
 
Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg are joined by Packy McCormick of Not Boring and Julia DeWahl (founder of Antares, ex-SpaceX) to talk about the past, present, and future of nuclear energy. Packy and Julia co-host a new narrative series called Age of Miracles ( If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta for $1000 of…
  continue reading
 
Erik Torenberg sits down with Aaron Ginn, the CEO and co-founder of Hydra Host and the co-founder of the Lincoln Network (now Foundation for American Innovation). They discuss tech and politics, US-China relations, the GPU revolution, and foreign policy predictions. Upstream is proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.…
  continue reading
 
In this episode, Yohei Nakajima, creator of BabyAGI and GP at Untapped Capital, chats with Nathan about the opportunity for AI to strengthen human understanding, AI agents, and his insights on investing in AI projects. If you need an ERP platform, check out our sponsor NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/cognitive. SPONSORS: NetSuite | Omneky NetSuite ha…
  continue reading
 
Anton Troynikov, cofounder of Chroma, joins Nathan Labenz to discuss the importance of keeping the retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) loop in house, what it means for Chroma to be in “wartime” mode right now, and how much of the data going into Chroma has never been in a database before. If you need an ERP platform, check out our sponsor NetSuite…
  continue reading
 
Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg discuss Marc Andreessen’s Techno-Optimist Manifesto (a16z), the last waves of economic innovation, energy advancement, and predict the next wave of productivity gains from private and government-enabled innovation. Daffy is offering Econ 102 listeners a free $25 for the charity of their choice when they join: https://w…
  continue reading
 
Antonio Garcia Martinez, reporting live from Israel, joins Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg to share his firsthand perspective on the ground, discussing the unfolding events, and potential outcomes for Israel and Gaza. If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta for $1000 off: https://www.vanta.com/zen Discussion re…
  continue reading
 
Erik Torenberg sits down with Michael Guimarin, a Silicon Valley operator and educator who helps people hone their information diets, to discuss the divide between institutions and networks and how to shift from consensus to resonance. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/upstream Upstream is a part of th…
  continue reading
 
Trey Kollmer returns to discuss the latest AI research revelations with Nathan Labenz. They explore how new techniques will shave 10% off global compute needs, how analogical prompting beats few-shot prompting, and how compressive historical records can increase LLM memory and retention abilities. If you need an ERP platform, check out our sponsor …
  continue reading
 
Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg continue their analysis of the Israel-Gaza war, against the backdrop of shifting geopolitical power, increasing conflicts, and the end of Pax Americana. They also discuss why Noah expects a China-Taiwan conflict, and the possibility of WWIII. Daffy is offering Econ 102 listeners a free $25 for the charity of their choi…
  continue reading
 
Trey Kollmer joins Nathan Labenz for a roundup of the latest AI research! They discuss Microsoft’s Self-Taught Optimizer (STOP) research and Google’s FreshLLMs, how H100 chips will supercharge development of programs with GPT-4 level compute, LLM representation of space and time, and more! If you're looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponso…
  continue reading
 
Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg discuss the history of Israel, Gaza, and Iran and what happens next in this war on the ground. They also discuss the schism in the public discourse and the downstream political implications in the US. If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta for $1000 off: https://www.vanta.com/ze…
  continue reading
 
Nathan Labenz synthesizes recent research in mechanistic interpretability and AI safety, how top players in the space like Anthropic and OpenAI are addressing them, and jailbreaks like the Calvin and Hobbes one you may have seen online. Nathan's aim is to impart the equivalent of a high school AP course understanding to listeners in 90 minutes. If …
  continue reading
 
In this episode, Nathan is joined by James Yu, Founder of Sudowrite, an AI writing tool.They discuss how James started Sudowrite after using GPT-3 for his own fiction writing, how Sudowrite is able to be a supportive writing partner, and Yu's experience developing its tech stack and working through the backlash he's received. f you're looking for a…
  continue reading
 
Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg record an episode to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas, the moral problems with the leftist ideological response, the complicated geopolitical power dynamics in the Arab world, and how this conflict marks the waning of American power. Daffy is offering Econ 102 listeners a free $25 for the charity of their choic…
  continue reading
 
Dan Romero, Erik Torenberg and Antonio Garcia Martinez are joined by journalist Jacob Siegel to discuss disinformation, the evolving narrative between tech and political power, and geopolitics. This episode was recorded on October 1st, before Hamas' attack on Israel. If you’re looking for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA compliance, head to Vanta fo…
  continue reading
 
Writer and political scientist Richard Hanania is back on Upstream to discuss Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy, the Republican establishment, the sexual revolution, immigration, and his ideological differences with Curtis Yarvin. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/upstream Upstream is a part of the Turpentine pod…
  continue reading
 
In this episode, Nathan sits down with Swyx of Latent Space to chat about AI engineers and tools to check out, competitive dynamics between OpenAI, other foundation model providers, and developers, and if Swyx would wear an AI Horcrux. We also learn that Nathan lived in the same dorm as Mark Zuckerberg back in his college days (and was a late adopt…
  continue reading
 
Economist Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg discuss the legacy and failings of Bernie Sanders’ movement with regards to privatization, student loans, healthcare, and the wealth gap. Daffy is offering Econ 102 listeners a free $25 for the charity of their choice when they join: https://www.daffy.org/econ102 -- Sponsors: GIVEWELL | DAFFY | NETSUITE Have …
  continue reading
 
Loading …

Quick Reference Guide