From this episode
Recommended books
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
Author:
Anne Lamott
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ā¢ An essential volume for generations of writers young and old. The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of this modern classic will continue to spark creative minds for years to come.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ā¢ An essential volume for generations of writers young and old. The twenty-fifth anniversary edition of this modern classic will continue to spark creative minds for years to come. Anne Lamott is "a warm, generous, and hilarious guide through the writerās world and its treacherous swamps" ( Los Angeles Times ). āSuperb writing adviceā¦. Hilarious, helpful, and provocative.ā ā The New York Times Book Review For a quarter century, more than a million readersāscribes and scribblers of all ages and abilitiesāhave been inspired by Anne Lamottās hilarious, big-hearted, homespun advice. Advice that begins with the simple words of wisdom passed down from Anneās fatherāalso a writerāin the iconic passage that gives the book its title: āThirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that heād had three months to write. It was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm around my brotherās shoulder, and said, āBird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.āā
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A Theory of Justice
Author:
John Rawls
āA milestone in political and moral philosophy, as groundbreaking as the theories of Bentham and Kant and arguably the most important and influential piece of contemporary philosophy of the last century.ā āThe Guardian The principles of justice that Rawls set forth in this book are those that free and rational people would accept in an āoriginal positionā of equality. In this hypothetical situation, which corresponds to the state of nature in social contract theory, no one knows their place in society; their class or social status; their fortune in the distribution of natural assets and abilitiesātheir intelligence, strength, and the likeāor even their conception of the good.
āA milestone in political and moral philosophy, as groundbreaking as the theories of Bentham and Kant and arguably the most important and influential piece of contemporary philosophy of the last century.ā āThe Guardian The principles of justice that Rawls set forth in this book are those that free and rational people would accept in an āoriginal positionā of equality. In this hypothetical situation, which corresponds to the state of nature in social contract theory, no one knows their place in society; their class or social status; their fortune in the distribution of natural assets and abilitiesātheir intelligence, strength, and the likeāor even their conception of the good. Deliberating behind this āveil of ignorance,ā people naturally determine their proper rights and duties. Thus, as Rawls writes, āeach person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override.ā Incorporating the ideas of Rousseau, Kant, Emerson, and Lincoln, Rawlsās theory is as powerful today as it was when first published in 1971. For more than half a century, A Theory of Justice has been taught and debated, celebrated and translated into more than thirty languages. This revised edition includes changes, discussed in the preface, that Rawls considered to be significant, especially to the discussions of liberty and primary social goods.
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World Eaters: How Venture Capital is Cannibalizing the Economy
Author:
Catherine Bracy
Longlisted for the Porchlight Business Book Award for Current Events & Public Affairs Longlisted for the Non-Obvious Book Award 2025 A Next Big Idea Book Club March 2025 Must-Read An urgent and illuminating perspective that offers a window into how the most pernicious aspects of the venture capital ethos is reaching all areas of our lives, into everything from healthcare to food to entertainment to the labor market and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The venture capital playbook is causing unique harms to society.
Longlisted for the Porchlight Business Book Award for Current Events & Public Affairs Longlisted for the Non-Obvious Book Award 2025 A Next Big Idea Book Club March 2025 Must-Read An urgent and illuminating perspective that offers a window into how the most pernicious aspects of the venture capital ethos is reaching all areas of our lives, into everything from healthcare to food to entertainment to the labor market and leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The venture capital playbook is causing unique harms to society. And in World Eaters , Catherine Bracy offers a window into the pernicious aspects of VC and shows us how its bad practices are bleeding into all industries, undermining the labor and housing markets and posing unique dangers to the economy at large. VCās creates a wide, powerful wake that impacts the average consumer just as much as it does investors and entrepreneurs. In researching this book, Bracy has interviewed founders, fund managers, contract and temp workers in the gig economy, and Limited Partners across the landscape. She learned that the current VC model is not a good fit for the majority of start-ups, and yet, there are too few options for early stage funding outside of VC dollars. And while there are some alternative paths for sustainable, responsible growth, without the help of regulators, there is not much motivation to drive investors from the roulette table that is venture capital. World Eaters is an eye-opening account of the ways that the values of contemporary venture capital hurt founders, consumers, and the market. Bracyās clear-eyed debut is a must-read for fans of Winners Take All , Super Pumped , and Brotopia, an appealing āinsider / outsiderā perspective on Silicon Valley, and those who are fascinated to look under the hood and learn why the modern economy is not working for most of us.
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Episode overview
Leading the Future, a super PAC whose funders include the founders of companies like Palantir and OpenAI, is spending millions of dollars this election cycle, and a considerable amount of that money is going toward attack ads against Alex Bores ā even though Bores himself used to work for Palantir.
Bores is a New York state assemblyman who is running for Congress to represent New Yorkās 12th District. His campaign includes an extensive A.I. policy platform, including demands for A.I. companies to be more transparent about safety, and an idea for an āA.I. dividendā that would redistribute some of the profits of A.I. companies to the public. So his race has turned into a central battleground over the future of the A.I. industry and who has the power to shape it.
In this conversation, we discuss how Bores went from working for Palantir to running a campaign that would regulate the A.I. industry, the major issues he thinks A.I. policy needs to address, and his response to the attacks against him.