Founders aren’t superheroes, says Sam Altman.They may play extreme sports, respond to emails within seconds, and start billion-dollar companies, but they are rarely the product of extraordinary circumstance. In fact, they tend to be solidly upper-middle class, reasonably smart, and with loving parents.
So would Sam fund Peter Parker? What about Bruce Wayne?
Tyler and Sam discuss these burning questions and more, including what’s wrong with San Francisco, Napoleon’s underrated skill, nuclear energy, the greatest invention of the Industrial Revolution, his rant against coworking spaces, UBI and AGI, risk and regret, optimism and beauty, and why venture capitalists don’t have superpowers either.
Follow Sam on Twitter
Follow Tyler on Twitter
More CWT goodness:
Noubar Afeyan on the Permission to Leap
Conversations with Tyler 2020 Retrospective
John O. Brennan on Life in the CIA
Zach Carter on the Life and Legacy of John Maynard Keynes
Jimmy Wales on Systems and Incentives
Edwidge Danticat on Haitian Art and Literature
Michael Kremer on Economists as Founders
Audrey Tang on the Technology of Democracy
Alex Ross on Music, Culture, and Criticism
Matt Yglesias on Why the Population is Too Damn Low
Jason Furman on Productivity, Competition, and Growth
Nicholas Bloom on Management, Productivity, and Scientific Progress
Nathan Nunn on the Paths to Development
Melissa Dell on the Significance of Persistence
Annie Duke on Poker, Probabilities, and How We Make Decisions
Rachel Harmon on Policing
Ashley Mears on Status and Beauty
Paul Romer on a Culture of Science and Working Hard
Adam Tooze on our Financial Past and Future
Glen Weyl on Fighting COVID-19 and the Role of the Academic Expert
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Navigating Life After 40
Teaching Learning Leading K-12
Regenerative Skills
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast
The Mel Robbins Podcast