Conversations with Tyler15 Kesä 2022

Marc Andreessen on Learning to Love the Humanities

Like the frontier characters from Deadwood, his favorite TV show, Marc Andreessen has discovered that the real challenge to building in new territory is not in the practicalities of learning a trade, but in developing a savviness for what makes people tick. Without understanding the deep patterns of human behavior, how can you know what to build, or who should build it, or how? For Marc, that means reading deeply in the humanities: "I spent the first 25 years of my life trying to understand how machines work," Marc says. "Then I spent the second 25 years, so far, trying to figure out how people work. It turns out people are a lot more complicated."

Marc joined Tyler to discuss his ever-growing appreciation for the humanities and more, including why he didn't go to a better school, his contrarian take on Robert Heinlein, how Tom Wolfe helped Marc understand his own archetype, who he'd choose to be in Renaissance Florence, which books he's reread the most, Twitter as an X-ray machine on public figures, where in the past he'd most like to time-travel, his favorite tech product that no longer exists, whether Web will improve podcasting, the civilization-level changes made possible by remote work, Peter Thiel's secret to attracting talent, which data he thinks would be most helpful for finding good founders, how he'd organize his own bookstore, the kinds of people he admires most, and why Deadwood is equal to Shakespeare.

Read a full transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video.

Recorded April 14th, 2022

Other ways to connect

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram
Follow Tyler on Twitter
Follow Marc on Twitter
Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu
Subscribe at our newsletter page to have the latest Conversations with Tyler news sent straight to your inbox.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(288)

Bruno Maçães on the Spirit of Adventure

Political scientist Bruno Maçães has built a career out of crossing the globe teaching, advising, writing, and talking to people. His recent book, born out of a six-month journey across Eurasia, is on...

26 Syys 201857min

Michele Gelfand on Tight and Loose Cultures

Michele Gelfand is professor of psychology at the University of Maryland and author of the just-released Rule Makers, Rule Breakers: How Tight and Loose Cultures Wire Our World. In her conversation wi...

12 Syys 201856min

Claire Lehmann on Speaking Freely

Claire Lehmann is the founding editor of Quillette, an online magazine dedicated to free thought and open inquiry. Founded in 2015, the magazine has already developed a large and growing readership th...

29 Elo 201847min

Michael Pollan on the Science and Sublimity of Psychedelics

Michael Pollan has long been fascinated by nature and the ways we connect and clash with it, with decades of writing covering food, farming, cooking, and architecture. Pollan's latest fascination? Our...

15 Elo 201859min

Michelle Dawson on Autism and Atypicality

Perhaps no one else in the world more appreciates the challenges facing a better understanding of autism than Michelle Dawson. An autistic herself, she began researching her condition after experienci...

1 Elo 201853min

Vitalik Buterin on Cryptoeconomics and Markets in Everything

At the intersection of programming, economics, cryptography, distributed systems, information theory, and math, you will find Vitalik Buterin, who has managed to synthesize insights across those field...

18 Heinä 201852min

Juan Pablo Villarino on Travel and Trust

Travel writer Juan Pablo Villarino had visited 90 countries before making the trek to exotic Arlington, Virginia for this chat with Tyler. Amazingly enough, this recording marked his first trip to the...

3 Heinä 20181h 1min

Elisa New on Poetry in America and Beyond

Elisa New believes anyone can have fun reading a poem. And that if you really want to have a blast, you shouldn't limit poetry to silent, solitary reading - why not sing, recite, or perform it as has...

20 Kesä 201854min