#17 - Alex Horowitz (Part 1)

Alex Horowitz is the Chief of Staff at Eight Sleep, a technology company in New York City that specializes in developing & manufacturing smart mattresses. Previously he was a debt underwriter at Goldman Sachs, where he worked with some of the world’s largest tech companies. 4:10 - 10:25 ~ What goes into being a modern-day Public Company CEO 10:25 - 17:10 ~ “Hope” in environments with fewer resources and opportunities (“The Wire” example); Capitalism vs. Socialism 17:10 - 25:10 ~ Presenting ideas in groupthink (“robot”) political duopoly culture 25:10 - 30:22 ~ Russian bot accounts and online hacking methods (Renee DiResta) 30:22 - 33:52 ~ The social media platform overlords; Facebook’s responsibility 33:52 - 39:52 ~ The responsibility we have to take for ourselves on social media 39:52 - 49:22 ~ How do we teach social media use in broader culture; the free speech danger of left-wing bias on social media platforms; misinformation on social media; James Damore & Google 49:22 - 53:52 ~ How social platforms predict culture change and then profit off of it; the dilemma of censoring far right figures 53:52 - 1:09:52 ~ The de-platforming of former Evergreen State College Professor Bret Weinstein; Censorship; The protected status of organizations to operate freely; precedent-setting & Hobby Lobby 1:09:52 - 1:13:52 ~ Net Neutrality and more discussion on Bret Weinstein 1:13:52 - 1:25:22 ~ “Ideas” as a protected class; the treacherous concept of offsetting misinformation with misinformation; discussing the KKK as an extremist group that could dangerously leverage internet to spread ideology 1:25:22 - 1:36:32 ~ Traditional liberalism vs. Leftism; Personal responsibility with social media content consumption 1:36:32 - 1:41:22 ~ Moore’s Law and the runaway train of social media on our culture; The moral dilemma of “ceding power” for the greater good 1:41:22 - 1:56:41 ~ Government control and how governments don’t give back power they take (the tradeoff of civil liberties); Trade-offs Americans have made over the past 20 years including topics like September 11th, The Patriot Act, & Stellar Wind (Snowden); our willingness to give up freedoms for certain things in return 1:56:41 - 2:08:11 ~ Civil Liberties & The Pandemic; Society’s mentality towards the Pandemic; Discussing the theory that “the cure is worse than the virus;” Masks 2:08:11 - 2:16:11 ~ The desperate people who are “over” the Pandemic because of economic hardship; Masks in a restaurant logic; Personal accountability with masks; The politicization of masks (Trump & Biden Supporters; Fauci) 2:16:11 - 2:28:41 ~ Unbiased Science as a source for mask policy; Anti-Vaxxers and the problem they may pose towards ending of the Pandemic 2:28:41 - 2:39:21 ~ The value of b