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 cover Mike’s recent article about Peter Thiel, his core economic, political, and religious ideas and discuss his legacy. They also debate whether 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. If you’re building a business and need compliance for SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR or HIPAA, head to www.vanta.com/zen for $1000 off.
Moment of Zen is part of the Turpentine podcast network. Learn more: www.turpentine.co

CHECK OUT RELATED EPISODES:
Erik's Upstream interview with David Sacks:
Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e4-david-sacks-on-his-intellectual-and-political-journey/id1678893467?i=1000609099148
Spotify -https://open.spotify.com/episode/6fUUdrqbHuOHB285yKO3tD?si=fJ9pSctmQFCvHch8x598LQ

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


LINKS:
Peter Thiel: The Diversity Myth, A Retrospective, Pirate Wires https://www.piratewires.com/p/peter-thiel-the-diversity-myth-a

Peter Thiel, The New Criterion
https://newcriterion.com/issues/2023/6/the-diversity-myth

René Gerard, I See Satan Fall Like Lightning
https://www.amazon.com.au/See-Satan-Falling-Like-Lightning/dp/1570753199

X:
@micsolana (Mike)
@antoniogm (Antonio)
@dwr (Dan)
@eriktorenberg (Erik)
@MOZ_Podcast

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