Why Technology Still Matters with Marc Andreessen

[@a16z]

Timestamps! 00:00 - Welcome back! 02:12 - The importance of tech today 05:34 - Historical negativity toward technology 10:13 - The invention of the bicycle 14:01 - Innovation vs status in society 21:57 - Automobile moral panic and red flag laws 26:28 - Balaji’s arc on social networking 29:28 - Surfacing signal from noise 36:10 - The role of timing in innovation 40:04 - Today’s major unlocks 47:51 - Remote work and society reshuffling 53:08 - Changing your mind 57:52 - Retaining a lens of optimism 1:08:58 - What Marc’s excited about 1:13:39 - Bourgeois vs managerial capitalism 1:23:12 - Reform vs starting anew

[@nephiindustries]

Great, thanks so much az16!!

[@themagic8310]

It's always pleasure to hear from Marc.

[@brigadeweb]

3 podcasts in the same day. You're spoiling us.

[@DerDudelino]

Man, such a cool guy. I absolutely love the enthusiasm of Marc Andreesen, which feels genuine despite difficult times in Silicon Valley right now. And I'm with him - I think we are way too fast to judge. People and especially journalists were hammering on Horizon by Meta, even though this might be an early Alpha and they still need a year more or so, to figure out how to basically build a VR open world where sensors track a ton of data but it also looks good. Personally I'd never underestimate someone, that has built one or if you add Instagram two of the biggest social media platforms which wasn't just luck or "because he had money". But really hard work. So I'm more in the "give them some time, try it out, if you like it, use it. If you don't, don't use it" camp.

[@nephiindustries]

It’s always amazing to hear from experts such as Marc on these issues!

[@Textras]

Finding signal from noise is the next major unlock in social networks. Great episode.

[@SandHillRoad]

so stoked seeing Steph as the new a16z podcast host

[@Kingtuttle9000]

She’s great 👌

[@nat.serrano]

Marc knows a lot of interesting facts because he reads a lot, how I wish to have access to his library or at least if he can recommend some obscure history books for me to read

[@abdulal-asaad510]

I have this downloaded and I listen to it time I fee pessimistic. See you at Tech Week 2023

[@justinpfortier]

“I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies: 1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. 2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. 3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.” -Douglas Adams

[@StephSmithio]

I learned so much in this interview! My personal favorite part: the red flag laws (21:57). What was yours?

[@mohitgoyal2980]

Electricity example ! Thinking second order and third order

[@indieBen]

I think it would deserve a succession of blog posts or almost an e-book with all the things he said 😅

[@abdirashidabdi9051]

Followed Marc, since the days of Netscape. I should add really admire not only the genius, he's quite articulate.

[@kryptu]

very insightful views by Marc. Thanks for sharing.

[@d1amonddbw]

Superb! Really enjoyed show.

[@d1amonddbw]

Top Notch! Keep up the Xlnt job. Thanks

[@1ntrcnnctr608]

1:11:47 finally - feels like im waiting for this since 1000s of incarnations. experiment idea: now lets all listen to the same Sound at the same Time n imagine that marvelous Pale Blue Dot w all the wonderful life on it.

[@jonyeazel]

my new favorite podcast. looking forward to this.

[@indieBen]

I must say, Marc is pretty solid ! I am impressed! His brain and knowledge goes super fast but, he is pretty legit 😅😉

[@dannyiskandar]

Amazing

[@ChrisAthanas]

38:11 alchemy is a psychological and spiritual approach to evolving the human condition

[@MassimoTodaro74]

Good luck Steph!

[@NotMe-rn7jm]

great podcast loved it! always great to hear Marc. So insightful!.

[@crazieeez]

Strange how the last 3 years US life expectancy has declined. The rate of suicide went up. Obesity went up. Stress and depression went up. If technology is progressing like it does to produce these results, I think there should be a cause for concern that technology can do harm to society. Often technology has been viewed as a bright light but there are many dark corners of technologies that produce macro effects detrimental to humanity.

[@yes-vy6bn]

life expectancy seems to be bc of government corruption more than anything. first allowing a drug onto the market without proper testing, then mandating people take the virtually untested drug. big pharma didn't even test if the drug could seep into the bloodstream, let alone what the effect of this would be. literal willful ignorance so they could make more money (both the drug companies and the government regulators. though possibly more of a fearful response on the part of the regulators). now of course we have studies from independent researchers finding it seeps into the blood in literally everyone injected, and causes measurable cardiovascular damage (using blood biomarkers they use to see if someone has had a heart attack) in everyone injected too. it's not like this was unpredictable either; moderna had been attempting to make mRNA drugs for years, but literally every single one failed due to toxicity, even the low hanging fruit. moderna was on the verge of bankruptcy when suddenly they were able to sell a drug that wasn't fully tested. this is a scandal orders of magnitude larger than vioxx

[@BloodHassassin]

Did you consider external factors such us COVID?

[@crazieeez]

@@BloodHassassin US life expectancy declined 2 years before COVID hit.

[@ChrisAthanas]

1:07:30 NASA says we can't go to the moon until we figure out the van allen belt problem

[@kurazav]

This is good, real good.

[@rapidsk8]

technology has always existed, it simply evolves

[@planetaryhealthfirstmarsnext]

❤love this!

[@nosaiyare5190]

Been listening to Steph since the hustle & MFM but this is the first time I'm seeing her

[@AdityaJain-nd5ku]

Great podcast! also found a new drinking game: one shot for every 'basically' ;)

[@mattjohnstondev]

great job Steph!

[@oxglowinc.1614]

awesome

[@AndreyAzimov]

Congrats Steph!!! Great podcast!

[@StephSmithio]

Thank you, Mr Andrey!!!

[@vladvrinceanu5430]

@@StephSmithio there is nothing wrong with the timing of these rollouts? i mean. 3 full podcasts in the same day! it's all ok?

[@StephSmithio]

@@vladvrinceanu5430 Intentional! We're back with a bang. 💥 You've got a full week to catch up before we start dropping episodes every Tuesday and Thursday. :)

[@jl6523]

This was excellent

[@DigitalNomadOnFIRE]

Cities are only laid out around cars in the USA. In Europe (and New York City) they're laid our around humans. In parts of Europe also around bicycles, trams, busses and trains. They are already human not car centred. Vast 'stroad' ridden areas of the USA are covered in acres of ugly asphalt, empty parking spaces for that 1 day near Christmas that's very busy. Then sprawling dormitory suburbs with zero commercial buildings (no community, no local shops, no local cafes etc) because of brain deed zoning laws. An absolute hellscape where you're guaranteed to be stuck in traffic in an ugly place that's bad for walking all the time. Either in a tiny city apartment or in a single family home - with no mid scale buildings. Urban planning in the US has been a wasteland for decades, only now is it beginning to improve. Segways (and bicycles) already work in Europe.

[@chrism.1131]

1:09:30 ... What is the "this could change everything" moment Marc was talking about?

[@nbme-answers]

3:02 start

[@lanhuage7209]

Great episode

[@stephentackett4064]

1:09:31 Where can we find out more?

[@hasantarek6521]

awesome job

[@pikiwiki]

Prometheus is also an example of forethought

[@russellsapalmer]

The segway had a future, it became all these e-scooters (Bird, Lime, etc.) and micro-mobility

[@constantinerocky5352]

Is this video for the LPs? Since you lot all in FTX

[@DigitalNomadOnFIRE]

As president when you go in you need an enforcer who will fire any civil servant who doesn't do what's required. The incompetence of politicians stops this happening.

[@bradm8529]

What’s with the Frank Ocean reference at the beginning?

[@jon962-g9w]

Please improve audio quality, this is hard to listen in a noisy environment

[@arndt3203]

U got to understand history/past to see future

[@tuckerbugeater]

the past is full of death and suffering. humans haven't changed their biology.

[@nickm1727]

Technology is a decentralizing and democratizing force, but for some reason these big tech companies and investors all force centralization of power and money. Maybe in 2023 we can cut out all the middle men (investors, corporate people, HR departments, etc), but that is obviously bad news for Mark. These investors are probably getting hit very hard in 2022, so they probably need to pull more money from people and hence why we have these podcasts.

[@flavioguzman]

Wow Steph is here

[@Theloniouspunk1]

Aliens develop an upper-middle class lifestyle and this is why we don't see them in the universe. Love that idea.

[@mustavogaia2655]

I dont now if it is due to every other influencer/analyst somehow regutgitate something Andreessen said somewhere, but most of his intervirews sound repetitive and somehow vacuous.

[@StonedApe420]

Alchemists did succeed. They turned cellulose to gold. And are now attempting to turn millivolts to gold.

[@user-wr4yl7tx3w]

And real estate zoning laws too, especially in your own backyard?

[@tseringnamgyal6662]

Marc Andreessen looks like the character from One Punch Man lol !!!

[@matveyshishov]

What did you see in biotech, Marc, WHAT DID YOU SEE?

[@srourfamily]

Atomic boombs And Pills what funk world

[@ruh6755]

Big fan of yours Steph. Would love to connect. !

[@prosperwilliams]

❤

[@DigitalNomadOnFIRE]

Love A Sixteen Zed. Weird they don't know how to pronounce it...

[@Eggs-n-Jakey]

alchemy lmao, I doubt she meant something past the 20th century, ps Steph is a great interviewer!

[@flinskikun]

He can be an egg on Halloween without any effort.

[@deca12x]

Red flag law of today: KYC requirements for any person receiving crypto coming from a Gov blacklisted protocol

[@investquest4551]

Marc is my favourite hard boiled egg.

[@richban100]

it could be fusion with the gold and lead thing but it could work with ai : /

[@omarreis4394]

This guy speaks very fast. Had to reduce the playback speed..

[@CharlesBrown-xq5ug]

The second law of thermodynamics may be false conventional wisdom. Let's face the possibility of breakeven free energy. The second law of thermodynamics was imposed on us during Victorian England's scientific and religious cultural fascination with steam engines. The second law is behind modern refgeration needing electrical energy to compress the refrigerent to force it to release as waste the heat that it has removed from the refrigerator's service interior in the cooling part of the refrigerent's circulation. There is also discarded heat from mechanical friction and electrical resistance. The total released and discarded heat minus the removed heat equals the electrical input balancing this system's energy but this only shows that energy is conserved even if the energy use is unneeded wasteful or harmful. Refrigeration by the principle that energy is conserved should produce electricity instead of consuming it. It makes more sense that refrigerators should yield electricity because energy is widely known to change form with no ultimate path of energy gain or loss being found. Therefore any form of fully recyclable energy can be cycled endlessly in any quantity. In an extreme case senario, full heat recycling, all electric, very isolated underground, undersea, or space communities would be highly survivable with self sufficient EMP resistant LED light banks, automated vertical farms, thaw resistant frozen food storehouses, factories, dwellings, self contained elevators, safe rooms, and horizontal transports. In a flourishing civillization senario, small self sufficient electric or cooling devices of many kinds and styles like lamps, smartphones, hotplates, water heaters, cooler chests, fans, radios, TVs, cameras, security devices, robot test equipment, scales, transaction terminals, wall clocks, open or ciosed for business luminus signs, power hand tools, ditch diggers, pumps, and personal transports, would be available for immediate use incrementally anywhere as people see fit. Some equipment groups could be consolidated on local networks. If a high majority thinks our civilization should geoengineer gigatons or teratons of carbon dioxide out of our environment, instalations using devices that convert ambient heat into electricity can hypothetically be scaled up do it with a choice of comsequences including many beneficial ones. Energy sensible refrigerators that absorb heat and yield electricity would complement computers as computing consumes electricity and yields heat. Computing would be free. Chips could have energy recycling built in. A simple rectifier crystal can, iust short of a replicatable long term demonstration of a powerful prototype, almost certainly filter the random thermal motioren of electrons or discrete positiive charged voids called holes so the electric current flowing in one direction predominates. At low system voltage a filtrate of one polarity predominates only a little but there is always usable electrical power derived from the source, which is Johnson Nyquest thermal electrical noise. This net electrical filtrate can be aggregated in a group of separate diodes in consistent alignment parallel creating widely scalable electrical power. The maximum energy is converted from ambient heat to productive electricity when the electrical load is matched to the array impeadence. Matched impeadence output (watts) is k (Boltźman's constant), one point three eight x 10^ minus 23, times T (temperature Kelvin) times bandwidth (0 Hz to a natural limit ~2 THz @ 290 K) times rectification halving and nanowatt power level rectification efficiency, times the number of diodes in the array. For reference, there are a billion cells of 1000 square nanometer area each per square millimeter, 100 billion per square centimeter. Order is imposed on the random thermal motion of electrons by the structual orderlyness of a diode array made of diodes made within a slab: -----‐------‐----_____-- Out 🔻🔻🔻🔻 ■■■■■■___ + Out All the P type semiconductor anodes abut a metal conductive plane deposited on the top face of the slab with nonrectifying joins; the N type semiconductor cathodes or common cathode abuts the bottom face. As the polarity filtered electrical energy is exported, the amount of thermal energy in the group of diodes decreases. This group cooling will draw heat in from the surrounding ambient heat at a rate depending on the filtering rate and thermal resistance between the group and ambient gas, liquid, or solid warmer than absolute zero. There is always a lot of ambient heat on our planet, more on equatorial dry desert summer days and less on polar desert winter nights. Focusing on explaining the electronic behavior of one composition of simple diode, a near flawless crystal of silicon is modified by implanting a small amount of phosphorus (N type conductivity) on one side from a ohmic contact end to a junction where the additive is suddenly and completely changed to boron (P type conductivity) with minimal disturbance of the crystal lattice. The crystal then continues to another ohmic contact. A region of high electrical resistance forms at the junction in this type of diode when the phosphorous near the ĵunction donates electrons that are free to move elsewhere while leaving phosphorus ions held in the crystal while the boron donates holes which are similalarly free to move. The two types of mobile charges mutually clear each other away near the junction leaving little electrical conductivity. An equlibrium width of this region is settled between the phosphorus, boron, electrons, and holes. Thermal noise is beyond steady state equlibrium. Thermal noise transients, where mobile electrons move from the phosphorus added side to the boron added side ride transient extra conductivity so the forward moving electrons are preferentally filtered into the external circuit. Mobile electrons are units of electric current. They lose their thermal energy of motion and gain electromotive force, another name for voltage, as they transition between the junction and the array electrical tap. Inside the diode, heat is absorbed: outside the diode, to exactly the same extent, an attached electrical circuit is energized. The voltage of a diode array is likely to be small so many similar arrays need to be put in series to build higher voltage. Understanding diodes is one way to become convinced that Johnson Nyquest thermal electrical noise can be rectified and aggregated. Self assembling development teams may find many ways to accomplish this wide mission. Taxonomically there should be many ways ways to convert heat directly into electricity. A practical device may use an array of Au needles in a SiO2 matrix abutting N type GaAs. These were made in the 1970s when registration technology was poor so it was easier to fabricate arrays and select one diode than just make one diode. There are other plausible breeches of the second law of thermodynamics. Hopefully a lot of people will join in expanding the breech. Please share the successes or setbacks of your efforts. These devices would probably become segmented commodities sold with minimal margin over supply cost. They would be manufactured by advanced automation that does not need financial incentive. Applicable best practices would be adopted. Business details would be open public knowledge. Associated people should move as negotiated and freely and honestly talk. Commerce would be a planetary scale unified conglomerate of diverse local cooperatives. There is no need of wealth extracting top commanders. We do not need often token philanthropy from the top if the wide majority of people can afford to be generous. Aloha Charles M Brown Kilauea Kauai Hawaii 96754

[@PeacefulEmpire]

It was not Prometheus, technology is not the power of Fire, you might find it in Greek Myth with the son of Hera God of Technology and Smith to technical things, I cant pronounce his name correctly right now Epaephastus, he also made a metal net in the space so we could see the secrets of War and Love with Ares and Venus whom cheat on him.

[@LaRa-qv9pi]

Speed down! Jesus!

[@atleticofa]

Bitcoin matters. The rest is noise.

[@danielm.3511]

Marc Andreessen seemed really smart until he praised Elon Musk, now I am unsure what to think of all he said.

[@kurtjensen5798]

I love Marc, but laughed at the Segway explanation.. "we are not going back to horses" he said. Yeah, but has he heard of bikes? Great tech, you get excersize while going somewhere. Almost every city in Europe has bike lanes. Everyone use bikes in Europe, even rich people... america with 30% obesity could use some of that.. but yeah seems US always has to reinvent the wheel, so maybe SegWay is the way to go there..

[@DigitalNomadOnFIRE]

You see the exact same reaction to crypto.

[@vladvrinceanu5430]

wtf something is wrong with content publication. 3 podcasts in a bunch of hours

[@a16z]

We launched 3 to signal the return of the podcast. Moving forward, you can look forward to new episodes every Tuesday and Thursday!

[@mustavogaia2655]

@@a16z Maybe it was not wise - the third one didnt appear for me.

[@JonathanKnegtel]

Can you please ask Marc not to use airpods & get a proper mic!

[@karamthomas777]

Did we actually go to the moon? 🤭

[@krimdelko]

Marc is confused. “Embracing remote work after observing lockdowns”. Disappointing. He says every idea lots of smart people work on (voluntarily) will eventually happen. The inverse holds, too. “Every idea lots of people are forced to work on by government coercion eventually doesn’t happen.

[@DigitalNomadOnFIRE]

US requires cars and for the last few decades has been built around cars, that's why it's a stroad riddled hellscape. Europe doesn't require cars, I've never owned one and wouldn't have one if it were free. Living in a walkable city, cycling, trams, busses, trains are just far better. Cars suck.

[@tuckerbugeater]

You live in a mouse utopia.