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Greg Lukianoff, President of FIRE: Free Speech

Greg Lukianoff
Greg Lukianoff
President & CEO
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
January 2, 2024
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Transcript

Greg Lukianoff is the President and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). He’s also a bestselling author of several books, including The Coddling of the American Mind and most recently The Canceling of the American Mind.

On this episode of World of DaaS, Auren and Greg delve into the current state of cancel culture. Greg reveals surprising stats on which schools are the best and worst for free speech in 2024 and breaks down the escalating levels of shoutdowns and violence observed on campuses in 2020 and 2021.

Beyond campus dynamics, the discussion expands to the broader significance of the situation in academia and what the value of a degree should be in the workforce. Greg advocates for a shift in focus from degrees as a metric of value, and talks about what smart companies are looking towards for alternative hiring criteria. Auren and Greg also explore of the origins of cancel culture in 2014, tying in historical lessons on censorship and highlighting the interplay between free speech and the contemporary culture of safetyism.

World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph & Flex Capital. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.

You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Greg Lukianoff on X at @glukianoff.

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Joe Lonsdale: 8VC GP and Palantir Cofounder

Joe Lonsdale is a co-founder of a number of amazing companies, including Palantir, Addepar and OpenGov, and he’s a cofounder of the University of Austin. He’s also the founder and managing partner of the venture firm 8VC, and he’s invested in some incredible companies, including Oculus, Anduril, Wish and Flexport.

In this episode of World of DaaS, Auren and Joe engage in a thought-provoking discussion on optimism and pessimism, technological progress, and reforming society at the most basic levels. Joe shares his vision for revolutionizing American healthcare, emphasizing the need to fix a broken system without sacrificing innovation. Auren and Joe also explore the challenges within higher education, unpacking surprising statistics about administrator-to-student ratios and contemplating the evolving nature of meritocracy.

As a cofounder of Palantir, Joe has unique insight into the defense industrial complex, and he and Auren delve into the intersection of defense, geopolitics, and technology. Joe makes predictions about the future of defense innovation, and speculates on the emergence of new unicorns in the sector. The episode concludes with a challenging, contrarian take on entrepreneurship, where Lonsdale redefines the qualities required to be a founder and questions some of the conventional wisdom about starting companies. 

World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph & Flex Capital. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.

You can find Auren Hoffman on X at @auren and Joe Lonsdale on X at @JTLonsdale

December 19, 2023

Peter Thiel: Science, Society, Stagnation

Peter Thiel was the co-founder and CEO of PayPal, the first investor in Facebook, and co-founder of Palantir Technologies. He’s the founder and managing partner of the venture capital firm Founders Fund, and the author of Zero to One, one of the best business books of all time.

In this episode, Auren and Peter dive deep on venture capital, scientific stagnation, AI, tech start-ups, and more. Peter shares his compelling theory for why scientific progress has slowed down dramatically in the last decades, and explains how that’s affected start-ups and investing. 

Auren and Peter also survey the global economic landscape and discuss why the US and China have outperformed the rest of the world's economies by such a wide margin. Peter breaks down the conclusions from his book The Diversity Myth and explains why “competition is for losers.”

World of DaaS is brought to you by SafeGraph & Flex Capital. For more episodes, visit safegraph.com/podcasts.

You can find Auren Hoffman on Twitter at @auren and Peter Thiel on Twitter at @peterthiel.

October 3, 2023