"Moment of Zen"
Erik Torenberg, Dan Romero, Antonio Garcia Martinez
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Why Urban Centers Outlast Empires | Samo Burja
Today on Moment of Zen, Erik Torenberg and Samo Burja explore cities as civilization's most enduring institutions, examining their political dynamics, technological evolution, and role as interfaces…
AI and The War for Your Attention | Antonio Garcia Martinez and Chris Hayes from the a16z Podcast
Today on Moment of Zen, we're excited to cross post a conversation from the newly revamped a16z podcast featuring Antonio Garcia Martinez and MSNBC's Chris Hayes exploring how AI-generated content is…
Why China and America are Creating the Same Ruling Class | Samo Burja
Today on Moment of Zen, Erik Torenberg and Samo Burja explore how China's elite universities are creating a ruling class similar to America's, with student activism and credentialism reshaping both…
Hardware Wars | Samo Burja
Today on Moment of Zen, Erik Torenberg and Samo Burja explore AI hardware dominance, US-China semiconductor competition, automation's economic impacts, and strategic industrial policy for maintaining…
Singapore: The City-State Strategy That Worked | Samo Burja
Today on Moment of Zen, Erik Torenberg and Samo Burja examine Singapore's transformation from poor post-colonial state to wealthy financial hub through Lee Kuan Yew's strategic governance,…
The Real Reason Civilizations Collapse | Samo Burja
Today on Moment of Zen, Erik Torenberg talks with Samo Burja on "long history" - the thesis that human civilization is far older than believed, with complex societies predating agriculture by…
Is Nuclear Proliferation Inevitable? | Samo Burja
Today on Moment of Zen, Erik Torenberg talk with Samo Burja on nuclear weapons proliferation, energy geopolitics, and his "nuclear accelerationist" argument that widespread nuclear capability is…
The Future of Media with Noah Smith and Chris Best, CEO of Substack
Today on Moment of Zen, we're airing a conversation with economist Noah Smith and Substack CEO Chris Best discussing the evolving media landscape. They dive into whether Twitter's dominance is…
Are Dynasties Better Than Meritocracies?
Samo Burja and Erik Torenberg examine how dynastic succession can outperform meritocratic systems. The discussion analyzes successful family-controlled enterprises like the New York Times, Samsung,…
The Middle Class Myth and China’s Future with Noah Smith
Today on Moment of Zen, Erik Torenberg and Noah Smith debunk the myth that globalization destroyed America's middle class, showing wages actually grew during hyperglobalization. It examines the…
What If Rome Had Industrialized? | Samo Burja
Today on Moment of Zen, Erik Torenberg and Samo Burja examine "failed" industrial revolutions throughout history, particularly Rome's sophisticated water-powered manufacturing, standardized…
Can Japan Survive Its Demographic Crisis? | Samo Burja
Today on Moment of Zen is a conversation I had with Samo Burja back in January 2024 on Japan's existential demographic crisis, analyzing how collapsing fertility rates and population aging threaten…
India-Pakistan Conflict Explained | Samo Burja
Today on Moment of Zen is a conversation I had with Samo Burja about the intricate historical, military, and cultural dimensions of the India-Pakistan conflict, and how these nuclear neighbors…
The Bureaucracy War: Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar and Senator Mike Lee (UT) - Hill & Valley Forum 2025
Today on Moment of Zen, we're sharing a conversation about defense innovation bureaucracy reform recorded at this week's Hill & Valley Forum in Washington D.C. In this session, Palantir, CTO…
Energy, Education, Deregulation with David Friedberg, Shaun Maguire, and Todd Young at the Hill & Valley Forum
Today on Moment of Zen, we're sharing a conversation about rebuilding American manufacturing recorded at this week's Hill & Valley Forum in Washington D.C. Senator Todd Young is joined by Shaun…
US-China AI Race, with Anthropic, ScaleAI, & AI Fund Founders
Today on Moment of Zen, we're sharing a conversation from the 2024 Hill and Valley Forum with the founders of Scale AI, Anthropic, and AI Fund on the urgent race between the U.S. and China in AI…
The Myth of Automatic Progress | Samo Burja
Today's episode is a conversation I had with Samo Burja in 2019 about why civilizations collapse, how functional institutions are built, and what makes some societies flourish while others decay. We…
Ross Douthat on Tech's Religious Awakening, AI, and Transhumanism
In this episode of Moment of Zen, New York Times columnist Ross Douthat joins Erik Torenberg to discuss his new book "Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious," making the case that institutional…
Will India Become a Global Superpower? | Samo Burja
Erik Torenberg and Samo Burja examine India's trajectory as the world's most populous nation, tackling India's surprising demographic decline, delayed industrialization due to bureaucratic…
Who Controls China When Xi Jinping Is Gone? | Samo Burja
Erik Torenberg and Samo Burja dive deep into how Xi Jinping is shaping China's society today and its place in the world. They discuss Xi’s firm hold on power, his connections with different political…
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"Moment of Zen" has published 140 episodes since December 2022, covering topics in Business, Business News.
"Moment of Zen" is currently dormant with new episodes weekly. Average episode length is 1h 14m.
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