E37: Mike Solana on Peter Thiel, the Ideal Presidential Candidate, and Culture War Losers

"Moment of Zen"

Mike Solana joins Erik Torenberg, Dan Romero, and Antonio Garcia Martinez to track the rise and ‘vibe shift’ away from the woke industrial complex, from social media algorithms and anon accounts, to media disruptions like Substack and Gawker. They discuss Peter Thiel's economic, political, and religious ideas and discuss his legacy. They also debate if the left really has lost control of culture or whether we’re just more siloed in 2023, and which GOP candidates draw on upstream intellectual ideas. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/zen

Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co

We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com.

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Episode Preview

(05:25) Behind the scenes of Mike’s Peter Thiel interview

(13:00) Mike’s hypothesis behind the waves of woke culture dominance since 1995 until today

(15:36) Sponsors: Vanta, NetSuite

(17:41) What explains the vibe shift away from identity politics today, if it is actually in decline.

(25:51) Substack materially changed the discourse, i.e. Richard Hanania

(29:32) The Feminist Critique of Snow White discourse on TikTok

(31:50) Anon accounts

(33:37) Has culture changed or are we just more siloed?

(36:00) Hunter Biden discredits mainstream culture on the left and the right

(39:27) The rise and (maybe?) fall of DEI in tech

(41:47) Thiel's stance on economics, science and technology, politics, and faith

(45:33) Is Thiel's religious argument based on a misread of the bible?

(52:43) Do the neo-Nietzscheans actually have a constituency?

(55:18) Which GOP nominees, if any, are influenced by intellectual movements?

(1:01:31) How do intellectual ideas actually drive political power in the US?

(1:03:31) What do people want in a political candidate

(1:05:13) Autoerotic self-pardoning

(1:08:00) Is Thiel backing away from the anti-woke cause

(1:14:35) World War meme

(1:15:30) Thiel's legacy

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