In this episode of Outside The System, I spoke with Eric Jorgenson, an author and investor, whose latest book is The Anthology of Balaji, a collection of wisdom, ideas, and quotes from technologist Balaji Srinivasan. Balaji is an electrical and chemical engineer, investor (Andreesen Horowitz), and successful entrepreneur, notably in both biotech (Counsyl) and cryptocurrency (Earn.com), which led to him becoming Coinbase's first CTO (post-Earn.com acquisition). The Anthology of Balaji packs a huge punch on a wisdom per word basis and is well worth your time.  

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Timestamps

(3:00) Our shared love for Where Is My Flying Car and how it has influenced Balaji's philosophy

(4:55) The differences and similarites between The Anthology of Balaji and The Almanck of Naval Ravikant. How the books feel like being at a long dinner with Balaji (or Naval) and you're both at your best and are able to get deep but succinct answers to all the questions you've had for them

(7:45) The moral importance of technology and the benefits that come from it

(12:03) When Balaji is wrong, it's because he over-extrapolated instead of under-extrapolated 

(21:08) Tracing the path of technological innovations and how they get adopted

(26:07) Self-measurement devices leading to personalized supplements and nutrition

(30:05) Bro science vs medical science

(41:30) The moral case for innovation. One example: saving people time extends their lifespan

(43:00) The media is incentivized for doom and gloom, so they make technology sound more dystopian and risky instead of a way to literally extend your life and make you powerful

(49:20) Decentralized media (social media) leads to different problems than centralized media

(49:53) How the FDA has lost the plot, and instead of curing diseases, its goal now seems to be to perpetuate itself. If you were designing the FDA from scratch today, it would probably look very different

(53:20) The beauty of the American governmental system and how federalism allows experimentation

(56:30) Discussion on Balaji's book The Network State

(1:00:53) Eric's pitch for making the United States a frontier nation again

(1:02:30) How writing this book influenced Eric personally and professionally

(1:11:42) Getting Eric's podcast Smart Friends on podcasting 2.0 to enable value-for-value

Links & Resources:

Eric's website

Smart Friends, Eric's podcast

Balaji Srinivasan's biography

The Anthology of Balaji by Eric Jorgenson

Where Is My Flying Car by J. Storrs Hall

TFTC Podcast - The Fiat Crisis with Balaji

Nik Bhatia's Outside The System episode about Layered Money

Aleks Svetski's Outside The System episode about the Three Generation Theory of Bitcoin

Elo Health - smart protein and supplements

The Systems Bible

The Network State: How To Start A New Country by Balaji Srinivasan