E81: David Sacks on his Intellectual and Political journey

"Moment of Zen"

David Sacks is known as a CEO/investor in multiple unicorns, and most recently a media mogul with All-In. In this episode, he sits down with Erik Torenberg to trace his intellectual and political history from his days fighting student activism at Stanford to now. We cover the political and cultural changes in the last 30 years of silicon valley, how the real distinction today is between the college-educated and the not, and how even though 2⁄3 of the country didn’t go to college, their views are not represented in our institutions today. This episode was recorded in December 2022 but is just as relevant today.

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FOLLOW ON X:

@davidsacks

@eriktorenberg (Erik)

@moz_podcast (Moment of Zen)

@TurpentineMedia

LINKS:

Craft Ventures: https://craftventures.com/

All-In Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@allin

Glue.ai: https://glue.ai/

SaaS Grid : https://www.saasgrid.com/

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FOLLOW ON X:

@eriktorenberg (Erik)

@DavidSacks (David)

@moz_podcast (Moment of Zen)

@TurpentineMedia

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TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Intro

(02:11) How did tech become less free speech-oriented?

(03:35) Why is PayPal so woke?

(06:02) Woke Capitalism game

(08:52) Corporations and governments collaborating to censor

(16:22) Tracing political history in Silicon Valley

(20:54) College educated vs. not is the biggest difference in US

Our elite is not democratic

(22:54) Sponsor: NetSuite | Beehiiv

(29:15) Foreign Policy and Realism

(32:28) U.S. Russiaphobia

(36:30) Sponsor: Squad

(38:05) Big Tech Monopolies and Regulation

(41:42) The Future of Silicon Valley and Monopolies

(42:32) Regulating Acquisitions and Startup Ecosystems

(45:39) Censorship and Section 230

(47:17) The Role of Free Speech in Social Progress

(53:52) Institutional Reform and Accountability

(54:56) Elon Musk's Influence on Tech and Media

(1:06:33) The Future of Political and Economic Accountability

(1:19:30) Wrap