Marc Andreessen on Learning to Love the Humanities | Conversations with Tyler

Like the frontier characters from Deadwood, his favorite TV show, Marc Andreessen has discovered that the real challenge to building in new territory is not in the practicalities of learning a trade, but in developing a savviness for what makes people tick. Without understanding the deep patterns of human behavior, how can you know what to build, or who should build it, or how? For Marc, that means reading deeply in the humanities: “I spent the first 25 years of my life trying to understand how machines work,” Marc says. “Then I spent the second 25 years, so far, trying to figure out how people work. It turns out people are a lot more complicated.”
Marc joined Tyler to discuss his ever-growing appreciation for the humanities and more, including why he didn’t go to a better school, his contrarian take on Robert Heinlein, how Tom Wolfe helped Marc understand his own archetype, who he’d choose to be in Renaissance Florence, which books he’s reread the most, Twitter as an X-ray machine on public figures, where in the past he’d most like to time-travel, his favorite tech product that no longer exists, whether Web will improve podcasting, the civilization-level changes made possible by remote work, Peter Thiel’s secret to attracting talent, which data he thinks would be most helpful for finding good founders, how he’d organize his own bookstore, the kinds of people he admires most, and why Deadwood is equal to Shakespeare.
Transcript and links: conversationswithtyler.com/ep...
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[@thechocolatemonster3392]

We live in an incredible time! These two having a conversation 💛

[@zes3813]

no such thing as incx or attacx ofilterx or lx or etc, cepuxuax, do, be, say, can do, be, sy an ynmw an dnya s perfx

[@alecmaclaughlin]

Tyler seems to be really enjoying this conversation!!

[@zes3813]

wr

[@dfcg2958]

What an enjoyable discussion.

[@alchemist_one]

Best opening question ever! 😂

[@anandpwc]

Marc is an incredibly intelligent person.

[@deersakamoto2167]

30:30 monetizing podcasts using Web3 vs traditional ads, merch, superchats

[@jinettew.3192]

Fab.

[@gregorytoews8316]

It's very discouraging to notice that we haven't developed the capabilities to prevent ourselves behaving and thinking like medieval alchemists. Like them, we think the list of unknown unknowns has become short enough not to bite us in the ass.

[@ConanXin]

就像他最喜欢的电视剧《Deadwood》中的边疆人物一样，马克·安德森（Marc Andreessen）发现，在新的领域进行建设的真正挑战不在于学习贸易的实用性，而在于培养对人的本质的敏感度。如果不了解人类行为的深层模式，你怎么能知道要建立什么，或者谁应该建立，或者如何建立？对马克来说，这意味着深入阅读人文科学。马克说："我花了我生命中的前25年，试图了解机器如何工作。然后我花了第二个25年，到目前为止，试图弄清楚人是如何工作的。结果发现人要复杂得多。" 马克与泰勒一起讨论了他对人文科学和其他方面不断增长的欣赏，包括他为什么没有去更好的学校，他对罗伯特·海因莱因（Robert A. Heinlein）的反面看法，汤姆·沃尔夫（Tom Wolfe）如何帮助马克理解他自己的原型，他选择在文艺复兴时期的佛罗伦萨成为谁，他重读最多的书，Twitter作为公众人物的X光机，他最想在过去的哪里进行时间穿越。他最喜欢的不再存在的科技产品，网络是否会改善播客，远程工作带来的文明层面的变化，彼得·蒂尔(Peter Thiel)吸引人才的秘诀，他认为哪些数据对寻找优秀的创始人最有帮助，他将如何组织自己的书店，他最崇拜的人的类型，以及为什么《Deadwood》等同于莎士比亚。

[@OOCASHFLOW]

Wish you would have challenged him more seems like you do that more with some guests than others

[@okey5818]

I think there was no point. Marc is clearly BSing all the time.

[@taylorc2542]

A White rural Midwesterner who is a shining light on the world is exactly who should be having a large family. His Hororwitz story is exactly right; having kids early makes you a astly better person.

[@mustavogaia2655]

I think Rogan's case is a bad example. Apparently he didnt leave youtube to the the lack of opportunity to monetize the podcast, but for possible interference from Yt on the content. I am quite certain that if Rogan just linked superchat/donations to the podcast he would make even more money that spotify gave him. It would be a different podacst though. He might be not entirely idealist, but hte option for spotify came from lack of opportunity, but for fear of interference and the outstanding chance to get $100mil without asking for it from the audience. And Rogan1s example apart, how long would it take for intetrnet people to get convince that microtransactions suck. Yes, people will freely donate money, but buying/paying for things on internet is quite an ask as most os content suck. So, the key is content quality. For instance, I wouldnt watch this interview if I had to pay for it or I would ask my money back - there is not a lot of content on it.

[@ntandemassive5858]

would you pay .50 cents ?

[@mustavogaia2655]

@@ntandemassive5858 nope, especially if it was prior to watching it. But consider that if this podcast - and many others went to other "paywalled" platforms, I would not follow it. Using the - atrocious - Spotify app to watch rogan is already an chore. I follow this and others channel because I can easily listen to them at 2x an catch the good meaty 10 minutes of every 60 minutes released. It is not Tyler's or any other host. It is just not worthy. for instance, can you remember the last three videos/podcast episodes that had 30minutes of good info in 1 hour? Try this: skip the first 10% of any interview and check what you'd have lost? It is mostly small talk. Yes, it is amazing that we can have people like Andreessen on YT, but, lets be honest here, point to three major subjects in this interview presented in a unique way.

[@oldgold6464]

@@mustavogaia2655 are you generally ok with watching ads prior to viewing a youtube clip ?

[@mustavogaia2655]

@@oldgold6464 yes. the only thing that bothers me with the ads, it that, albeit people talk anout the algo knowing everything about you, the ads were never about things I would be interested at.

[@LCRedemption]

The responses on Web 3.0 were complete BS.

[@ryanmckennaonline]

"At one point, everybody was on Yahoo mail." Were they? I think I've maybe known a handful of people in my lifetime that used Yahoo mail, haha. Fun listen. Thanks 👍

[@thechocolatemonster3392]

I think this was true once upon a time. Especially outside the US where there was no AOL.

[@-3td4rtgaeas]

I think so. After AOL and before Gmail.

[@gregorytoews8316]

Got my first e-mail address in early 00s - Yahoo. It's still the only one I use.

[@aceyage]

Marc Andreessen is a crypto grifter. Does not deserve to have this much money, power and ears. #taxem90percent