E41: Balaji on How the Tech Tribe Can Save Our Cities - Part 2

Balaji Srinivasan returns to go deeper into his theory of the Social Lens. Balaji, Erik, and Dan discuss the tactics the Gray tribe can use to create, identify, grow, and scale their power, how the tribal lens maps to geopolitics, the Blue playbook through the last several decades of world history, and more. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/zen

Note: This is an unfiltered discussion that functions as an early draft for an essay and video Balaji plans to release soon.

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) - Episode Preview

(02:20) - You can found a tribe just like you can found a startup

(10:30) - Exit vs Reform

(16:42) - Sponsors: Vanta, NetSuite

(19:05) - Any statement can be problematized

(29:00) - Can you presume societal stability? Not if you’re thinking like a CEO

(34:00) - Strength of network effects

(52:20) - Inequality has decreased

(55:15) - Japanese vs Chinese economic model for innovation

(01:07:45) - Asia is rising, the US is in relative decline

(01:30:15) - How Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Garry Tan respond to Blue or reform it from within

(01:38:00) - The Market for Revolutionaries: Myanmar, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Hong Kong and China

(01:48:00) - Blue is a business model

(01:57:00) - Charity is dependency. Investment is independence.

(02:06:00) - Who defines democracy, and where is the term going?

(02:27:00) - Grays attract the smartest defectors

(02:36:30) - How the Gray territory gets built on land

(02:49:49) - What is the highest belief and ideology of each tribe?

(02:56:00) - Parallels with the Soviet Union and India

(03:15:00) - Mapping the advantages to Blue and Gray

(03:28:50) - How Gray beats Blue for control of cities

(03:33:00) - Gray pride parade

(03:40:00) - Winning the police

(03:50:00) - How the Grays in San Francisco will organize themselves

(03:55:30 - The power of Elon renaming Twitter

(03:57:00) - Small business owners and the working class

(04:00:00) - The CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone) in reverse

(04:17:00) - AI will help expedite the Gray cause

(04:20:00) - Can this really happen?

X / Twitter

@balajis (Balaji)

@dwr (Dan)

@eriktorenberg (Erik)

@MOZ_Podcast

SPONSORS: Beehiiv | Shopify | Vanta | NetSuite

Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox.