Getting a correct learn on expertise billionaires can typically be difficult, however Samo Burja lately sketched out a “few fundamentals” about three of the extra distinguished ones: Tesla CEO Elon Musk, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and expertise investor Peter Thiel.
Burja, president of political threat consultancy Bismarck Evaluation, shared his ideas in a Wednesday episode of the Stay Gamers podcast. He describes “stay gamers” as individuals who step away from norms, improvise, and assume from first rules and says such people are instrumental in stopping societal stagnation.
Burja stated that upon listening to the frequent knowledge, Altman’s response may be “sure, and,” whereas Thiel’s could be “no, however.” As for Musk, Burja stated, “I don’t assume Elon’s even listening.”
Altman, he stated, will “see the place the passion and vitality lies, and it’s like, ‘Okay can we harness this and even additional develop it, even develop this and push it someplace actual.’ He sees cryptocurrencies, and he’s like, what about…a coin for the world that adjustments the world financial system to organize for the post-scarcity future.”
He cited Worldcoin, which Altman cofounded a couple of years in the past. The concept behind the startup is that folks will be capable to show their personhood in a web based world that might be quickly be overrun by AI bots. They’ll do that by scanning their irises utilizing a shiny metallic orb. Whenever you’re scanned, verified, and onboarded, you’re given some proprietary crypto tokens, additionally referred to as Worldcoins. Later the system might turn into a technique to implement common fundamental earnings, an concept that may achieve traction if AI results in large-scale unemployment. Worldcoin, maybe not surprisingly, has sparked widespread privateness issues.
Musk and making Tesla work
As for Musk, Burja continued, “Elon’s perspective is so first-principles-driven that whereas he does acknowledge what’s fashionable and never and might work with it, his selections as to what to do subsequent should not tied in any respect to the mainstream however are following, I don’t know, like a expertise tree chart derived from fundamental physics or his favourite science fiction story.”
Musk, he stated, will go straight into an trade that’s broadly thought of hopeless, too crowded, or too mature—reminiscent of electrical automobiles or house—“however have it work this time.”
To make one thing like Tesla succeed as Musk did, he stated, “you would need to consider it not phrases of automobile corporations, however the uncooked vitality potential of batteries…the batteries maintain getting higher, so logically ultimately a automobile firm would work.”
Musk offered insights into how he thinks about physics and engineering in a current episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast, saying: “Physics is simply deepening one’s perception into how actuality works. Then there’s engineering, which is inventing issues which have by no means existed…As soon as you determine the foundations of the universe…you’ll be able to then construct applied sciences which might be actually virtually limitless.”
As for Thiel, Burja continued, “Thiel’s query is ‘How is the mainstream flawed and what can we do about it to make it right?’ Which makes him an ideal expertise investor—an ideal technologist, but in addition an ideal investor.”
Thiel, he stated, “is extraordinarily good at noticing when the frequent consensus is right or flawed for mainly dangerous causes—and I do embody right right here—the place everytime you assume that even when persons are directionally making the best wager for the flawed causes, there’s some, you realize, monetary alpha there, there’s some risk of discovering that distinction.”
Thiel, a conservative libertarian who’s donated closely to right-wing politicians, is thought for making daring swings on uncommon concepts. He was satisfied nicely earlier than most individuals that funds would go digital and Bitcoin would take off, and he wrote a $500,000 test to a Harvard scholar on one thing referred to as “Thefacebook.”