This remains my favorite episode, despite Samo’s squeaky chair and some audio misses. We discuss ideas that have made a profound impact on my thinking, such as narrative hedging, the Bismarckian compromise, and energy leaps. This may sound like it was recorded last week with the insightful observations on energy and geopolitical conflict, but it was actually recorded nearly a year ago, at the end of April, and releasing in the middle of May.
Samo Burja is the founder and president of the consulting company Bismarck Analysis, a Research Fellow at the Long Now Foundation and a Senior Research Fellow in Political Science at the Foresight Institute. He is also the writer of the Bismarck Brief newsletter, linked below.
In this podcast, we discuss the life of Otto Von Bismarck, the political economy of institutions, narratives as a hedge against failure, the coming energy transition, differences between Europe and America, regulation as vengeance, live players, Elon Musk, and the global financial system.
Bismarck Analysis:
https://www.bismarckanalysis.com/#/
Bismarck Brief:
Samo Burja on Twitter:
The Costs of European “Privacy” Regulation:
https://www.nber.org/papers/w30028
EU Artificial Intelligence law:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/05/13/1052223/guide-ai-act-europe/
Great founder theory:
(Classic Episode) Samo Burja: Patterns of Destruction and Structures of Rebirth