Samo Burja on Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, and George Soros

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 up to $100. To claim your match, go to www.givewell.org ➡️ pick “Podcast” enter "Upstream with Erik Torenberg" at checkout.
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RELATED PODCAST: @LivePlayerswithSamoBurja
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 a deeper understanding of the development of technology, business, political power, culture and more.
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LINKS:
Samo’s Bismarck Brief: brief.bismarckanalysis.com/
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X / TWITTER:
@SamoBurja (Samo)
@eriktorenberg (Erik)
@upstream__pod
@turpentinemedia
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TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Episode Preview
(01:50) What are "live players?"
(05:05) Samo’s worldview
(10:35) Reflections on the energy transition
(15:35) Sponsor: Shopify | Givewell
(18:40) Sam Altman as a live player
(22:25) OpenAI’s culture vs Microsoft’s culture
(25:45) Sam Altman vs Elon Musk vs Peter Thiel
(30:35) Sponsor: Oracle
(31:40) Understanding different perspectives on capitalism
(32:45) The role of live players in society
(37:05) Can we train live players?
(42:20) The evolution of live players
(47:10) Philanthropists as live players: Bill Gates, the Kochs, etc
(54:50) The paradox of open society advocates
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Upstream is a production from Turpentine
Producer: Sam Kaufman
Editor: Graham Bessellieu
For guest or sponsorship inquiries please contact [e-mail]
Music licenses:
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[@danieliusjakutis6451]

Have been listening to MoZ since the day it launched. Thank you Erik for creating turpentine. Really appreciate this new pod on the Live Players thesis. Samo's "Great Founder Theory" manuscript was a fantastic read during lockdown.

[@ferologics]

thanks for the sauce

[@stefaneekenulv419]

I am a Samo fan-boy!
I Love sharp knives

[@drake9581]

Great interview. Like Samo Burja's take on this issue and many others.

[@esotomay21]

Samos thesis: “some people aren’t NPCs. Interesting”

[@ferologics]

sick intro

[@Mac-ku3xu]

So bullish on Kissinger then?

[@rememberme14]

First principle thinking used to be called common sense. If you think you’ve got that, it’s time to stand for what you believe in

[@conradyoung4201]

Trees are the answer

[@onetwokaafour]

I think there are just too few ads. Can you please add some more?