American Optimist
@AmOptimistShow
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Learn. Build. Inspire. Official Account of @JTLonsdale's American Optimist podcast 🎙📺 NEW EPISODES: https://t.co/Xyd50Ribve
Joined December 2022
NEW: BBC panel melts down after @JTLonsdale explains the significance of Greenland and a "frontier mindset." . Wait till the end 🤣
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"The people in Iran have already proven they are willing to take every risk . because they have nothing more to lose." . Episode 85 with Crown Prince @PahlaviReza and @JTLonsdale . Linked in bio 📺🎙
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"History has proven to all of us that, ultimately, totalitarian systems cannot survive." . Crown Prince @PahlaviReza & @JTLonsdale discuss the power dynamics in Iran and why the regime is more fragile than many realize.
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Sanctions on the Iranian regime are not sufficient, says Crown Prince @PahlaviReza. There needs to be a parallel campaign of "maximum support" for the Iranian people. Episode 85 @JTLonsdale
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Secret police & illegal bio labs — some of China's activities inside the US that Chairman Gallagher's Committee on the CCP has helped uncover. @JTLonsdale & @RepGallagher discuss US policy toward China, TikTok, economic decoupling & more. Ep 72 out now:
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NEW: @JTLonsdale explains how the progressive Left set up a billion-dollar money laundering scheme that makes the mafia look like petty criminals. Your tax dollars are being funneled to pro-Hamas, anti-American NGOs all over the country. @RubinReport @RubinReportShow
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"Their new religion doesn't identify as a religion." . ". this is a very terrible, weird cultish religion where there is no forgiveness." . @JTLonsdale on @SquawkCNBC this morning discussing the campus culture wars.
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"The classroom itself should be somewhere where young people can speak freely and take intellectual risk." . @nfergus explains how @uaustinorg is building a culture of academic freedom and risk-taking. Ep 74 @JTLonsdale: .
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Andrew Ross Sorkin: "So you would short Washington D.C. real estate?" . Joe Lonsdale: "I hope so!" . NEW: @JTLonsdale on joining @elonmusk's Dept of Government Efficiency and attacking government waste. "I would love to be involved . I'm very passionate about these issues."
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The full conversation between @JTLonsdale and Dr. Alex Karp @PalantirTech $PLTR #Palantir. Learn how his iconoclastic views on software, talent, patriotism & innovation have been proven right over the years, plus what they mean for the future. And don't miss the bobcat cameo!
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"I want more Elon Musks and I want less gangs from Central America." . NEW: @JTLonsdale with @MariaBartiromo this morning @MorningsMaria
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Raj Bhakta is best known as the founder of WhistlePig. But he's also known for riding an elephant across the Rio Grande to highlight our open borders 😂. He's a one-of-a-kind personality with whiskeys to match, and talks with @JTLonsdale about reinventing the industry (again).
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NEW EPISODE: The full conversation between @GillVerd (aka @BasedBeffJezos) and @JTLonsdale . Timestamps: .(00:00) Intro .(02:36) Guillaume's story .(10:04) The culture at Google.(14:07) Understanding e/acc .(20:34) How e/acc measures progress.(27:28) Why culture & narrative
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"The government should be afraid of us, not us of them. We need to take back power for the people.". @JTLonsdale 🇺🇸🇺🇸 Go vote!
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"There were multiple times when Spitzer almost took out PayPal. if he had succeeded, we would not have Tesla. we would not have SpaceX.". "It's very easy to break the innovation economy." . @JTLonsdale on @SquawkCNBC this morning with @JoeSquawk
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"To believe that America is a great evil. is a luxury belief." . 📺🎙 Episode 4 with Bari Weiss
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"I took him on. and I whooped his ass.". Ken Langone is a legendary investor, founder & philanthropist. But most importantly, he's a fighter. When Eliot Spitzer abused his power, others ran. But not Ken. He protected his friend's honor — and won!. Ep 91 out today @JTLonsdale
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"There's over a dozen ridiculous DEI things and they can't find enough female construction workers. ". @JTLonsdale explains how DEI is killing the $39B CHIPS Act and why our country can't build.
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FLASHBACK: Baby-faced @JTLonsdale calling his shots 12 years ago, before helping to build giant companies in each of the industries mentioned. "We're in the middle of an Industrial Revolution. It's going to transform nearly every major industry. It's going to create a huge
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Episode 65 in full!. @JTLonsdale and @pmarca on the case for AI optimism, as part of @uaustinorg's 2023 Forbidden Courses.
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How is AI augmenting software engineers? Will it replace or commoditize certain roles?. @JTLonsdale sits down with @dserota, co-founder & CEO of @JoinTerminal, to talk tech hiring trends & the global competition for talent.
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"A lot of people who are successful they're really cowardly. You'd think you make more money and you'd be like Elon and just say what you think. That's not how 98% of these guys work." . NEW: @JTLonsdale sits down with @Codie_Sanchez
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The Chinese Communist Party was operating a secret police station in the heart of NYC to harass & intimidate people on US soil!. @RepGallagher's Committee is exposing these violations of US sovereignty and educating the public.
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Episode 102 in full on @X. @JTLonsdale talks with @sgblank — serial entrepreneur, Stanford professor, and godfather of the lean startup movement. They cover the secret history of Silicon Valley, SpaceX vs NASA, execution vs innovation, radical ideas for the Pentagon, and more.
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"In the last 24 hours, we lifted 138,000 people out of poverty." . Every day for the past 25 years, every newspaper in the world could have carried this story. Bjorn Lomborg contrasts global progress vs. the legacy media narrative. Episode 79 @JTLonsdale & @BjornLomborg
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"I don't think it's that hard to stop. I think it requires the courage for a small number of us to speak up." . More from @JTLonsdale on @SquawkCNBC today
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"If we had stood up and walked out, and were like, 'F**k this; you guys are wasting our time,' chances of them investing would have been much higher." . Dr. Alex Karp & @JTLonsdale on navigating Silicon Valley in the early days of #PLTR $PLTR
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He dropped out of college at 19 and turned $25k into a $3 billion restaurant empire. Then the government almost destroyed it. Ep 97: @JTLonsdale with Jimmy John Liautaud posted in full on @X. (00:00) Episode Intro .(01:40) Launching the first Jimmy John's store.(05:05) How
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America is a frontier nation. It's ingrained in our story and psyche. But too many people have started to believe the lie that our frontier days are over — that we've reached our limits, and the only thing left is to fight over what remains. Don't belive the lie. Don't fall for
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Nuclear waste — and how and where to store it — is often cited as a reason against expanding the use of #nuclear power. But what if we could re-use nuclear waste? . That's exactly what @oklo's Aurora reactor can do. Co-Founder & CEO @jakedewitte explains.
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NEW: @JTLonsdale with @willcain on how DOGE is already impacting DC. "DOGE is infused throughout this administration. When you see them turning off crazy foreign aid . nonsense stuff all over the world that are against our values. These are DOGE-like things happening
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"Two things work well for me: loyalty and patience. My average holding is 42 years." 🤯. Legendary investor & Home Depot co-founder Ken Langone explains his investment philosophy and how he became the largest individual shareholder in $LLY. Ep 91 @JTLonsdale
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"Crypto is on the pro-liberty side. People who are naturally authoritarian, they are going to be against crypto." . @JTLonsdale with @MariaBartiromo
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If you want to understand what's happening inside Iran today, check out the full interview:.
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"World War II is a great example. our government was more competent . that was when we hired some of the very best innovators in the world.". "Back then, you had to take pretty hard tests to run things in government. The Left decided these tests were racist. ". NEW:
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"One side represents merit and competence. and the other side, DEI and harassment. You have Elon on one side. and the other side is people who. frankly are against us.". NEW: @JTLonsdale with @LizClaman earlier today
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"There are a couple trillion dollars we need to cut. "[Like]1919-1920, it'd be great if there was a small recession because we cut so much, but then 'Boom' there's a crazy ten years of growth.". NEW: @JTLonsdale on @SquawkCNBC
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"The path that @PalantirTech and @SpaceX created. is now opening a path for new companies like @Saronic and @epirus. A lot of us are hoping there's a revolution coming where we do put in more competition. where we shock the bureaucracy." . @JTLonsdale at the 2024 Reagan
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"You can make governments a lot more efficient, a lot more effective. ". @JTLonsdale & @ZacBookman on @SquawkCNBC discussing the $1.8B @OpenGovInc acquisition. OpenGov shows that with the right software, culture, and persistent leaders, you can make a big difference in any
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"What are the very best engineers in the world doing? . Basically none of those best engineers have been going into the top [defense] primes for the last 20 years." . @JTLonsdale on the opportunity — and moral imperative — to innovate in defense. @8vc @anduriltech @epirus
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Ep 105 out now on @X!. @JTLonsdale sits down with @mbrendan1, founder & chair of @cosmos_inst. Harnessing AI for freedom vs control; doomsayers vs e/acc; training "philosopher builders"; why LLMs can't reason; and more. (00:00) Episode intro.(02:04) Submarines to building AI
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NEW: Palantir co-founder @JTLonsdale joins @willcain to break down the AI investment stack and explain the significance of the Stargate Venture.
BREAKING: Trump to announce $100 billion private sector investment led by OpenAI, Softbank, and Oracle, $ORCL, for AI infrastructure; Stargate Venture to invest up to $500 billion over four years, starting with Texas data center.
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.@Jon_Hartley_: if you had one recommendation for DOGE what would it be? . @JTLonsdale: "We need to have a transparent process driven by technology for every regulation to have to fight for its life every X years. " . ". that would stop this cancerous growth of infinite
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“We may be facing some macro headwinds, but the AI stuff is real.”. @JTLonsdale this morning on @SquawkCNBC discussing $PLTR's latest earnings and the impact of AI on the wider economy. #PLTR
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From sleeping in their offices to building a $300 million business, the story behind Elon and Kimbal Musk's first startup.
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"The real problem in the West. is elements in our own countries that do not want us to succeed. the adolescent egos of the woke university crowd is not an alternative governing philosophy for any society." . @JTLonsdale with Prime Minister @stephenharper . A reminder of
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"The only way you can do this is with extreme boldness. people who are ready to go to war for our country and actually change things.". NEWS: @JTLonsdale with @MariaBartiromo on DOGE, Trump's picks, and what it will take to reform DC.
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DAY ONE: take a chainsaw and cut the broken stuff. DAY TWO: create processes that naturally cut regulations and keep government small. NEW: @JTLonsdale joins the @theallinpod to talk @DOGE, markets, defense tech, and more.
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Curing cancer, eliminating diseases, reprogramming cells to help 80-year-olds feel like they're 30 -- could it all be possible in our generation?. Episode 1 with biotech pioneer Dr. Rick Klausner
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"The problem right now is that we're oftentimes spending a million or three million dollars. to stop something that's very cheap, and you can't do that at scale." . Just now: @JTLonsdale at today's Hill & Valley Forum on the challenges of asymmetric warfare & the importance of
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Scott Bessent — Trump's pick for Treasury Secretary — is one of the top macro investors of our time. @TotemMacro was mentored by Bessent and explains some of the concepts and frameworks that made him an elite investor.
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The AI boom is real, and that's a good thing for society. @JTLonsdale explains why on CNBC this morning, plus his take on why software matters more than ever in national defense. #palantir $PLTR
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"These EU regulators think they run the world. it's disgusting. The Left media doesn't like it when people can platform people. and go around them, and that's what Elon is doing.". @JTLonsdale with @MariaBartiromo on the reaction to @elonmusk's conversation w/ Pres. Trump.
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"These kids have never heard the other arguments, they're not open to hearing other arguments, they don't believe there are other arguments. We're training our best and brightest, supposedly, in these schools to be cowards.". @JTLonsdale with @LizClaman earlier today on the
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Was $PLTR the original DOGE for national defense?. @JTLonsdale: PLTR was "inspired by seeing the government waste tens of billions on technology solutions that were not based on how you actually build technology solutions. [a reaction to] big defense contractors with giant
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"From the top down, truth itself is at risk in American higher education." . Founding President Pano Kanelos powerfully explains the crisis in academia and why this is the moment for @uaustinorg. Episode 74:
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"If you meet Albert Einstein versus a top physics professor, you're going to have no idea which one is Einstein. You can't really appreciate a talent unless you're within two standard deviations of it.". @JTLonsdale w/ @ShaanVP on what it takes to find & hire the best talent.
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Is there a tension between a classical education and STEM? . How should we think about the role of higher education in the 21st century? . Pano Kanelos, Founding President of @uaustinorg, explains the UATX approach. Ep 74 @JTLonsdale:
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"Our culture has gotten way too negative. It's very easy to criticize the man in the arena. Let's all try to be the man in the arena." . @JTLonsdale yesterday on @SquawkCNBC describing the type of culture they're building at @uaustinorg
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"I don't think people realize how much degrowth means darkness. if we have a no-growth world, that is a world full of war." . A new conversation between @balajis and @JTLonsdale just dropped 🔥🔥
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"This is an exciting time in our history; our economy should be growing at twice the rate. For years, decades, [we've] seen this '4th branch' of govt, this sclerotic bureaucracy permanently in charge. This 'branch' of govt is cocky. these departments in DC are set up to
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"This is a mistake people make. patience is a virtue, but the right type of patience." . "You actually should be impatient most of the time." . Heterodox wisdom from @JTLonsdale on @AaronWebman's new podcast.
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"The way that you keep peace and not have war with China is you make sure we stay stronger." . A must-see two minutes of @JTLonsdale at the @upfrontvc Summit torching Google's anti-American stance on defense, and explaining why @8vc and others are stepping up to ensure peace
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"The social responsibility [of entrepreneurs] is keep out the socialists.". More highlights from @JTLonsdale and @balajis on his Network State podcast.
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"Our thesis is that we have to swing the pendulum back towards freedom to innovate.". @GillVerd & @JTLonsdale explain why the most regulated industries, like healthcare, are the most dysfunctional, and why we can't let that happen to AI.
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"Every single family has up to $7,500 of a refundable tax credit to go to a school of their choice." . @GovStitt with @JTLonsdale on passing one of the strongest #schoolchoice programs in the country.
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"It's so important not to offend people that we don't allow truth to win. "All the kids coming to university should get practice being offended. they need to learn that it's okay to be offended." . @JTLonsdale with real estate pioneer Ethan Penner.
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"I don't think you know what work is until you're uncomfortable." . Episode 2 with Ashton Kutcher
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The Chevron doctrine gave "politically motivated" judges the ability to "rubber stamp lawlessness by bureaucrats.". If you want to understand the significance of the recent Loper decision, here's Leonard Leo explaining everything wrong with Chevron. Ep 80 @JTLonsdale
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Uber: ~$100 billion paid out to drivers.Taxis: ~$100 million . Innovation and competition > taxi cartel . Episode 78 with @JTLonsdale & @emilmichael
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"If you want to make a million dollars, it's not about how you invest your money, it's about how you invest your time." . @JTLonsdale with @ShaanVP on @myfirstmilpod
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"That's scary. we shouldn't be able to beat the [defense] primes by 10X. But guess what — we can right now because they're not using the best engineers.". @JTLonsdale joined @MariaBartiromo to talk defense investing and how @epirus is blowing away the legacy primes in new
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"If I'm being asked to evaluate somebody for a job. I like to take them to a meal, and I love to watch how they interact with a waiter or the busboy." . Ken Langone explains the leadership qualities he looks for in potential hires. Ep 91 @JTLonsdale
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Augmenting doctors & nurses with AI can improve outcomes. The evidence is clear. But there’s a reactionary Luddite force pushing against many forms of AI disruption. Don't fall for it - accelerate!. @JTLonsdale with @LizClaman
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"Just in the next 15 years, Africa is already the majority of the world's working population." 🤯 . Fascinating conversation on the future of Africa with one of the continent's great entrepreneurs & investors @iaboyeji . Episode 41:
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"We don't build ships like we used to in America. but fortunately you can build [thousands of] small ships. you can give them autonomous abilities and you can augment our Navy, make it a few times as powerful." . @JTLonsdale with @MariaBartiromo on the future of the Navy and
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"Misinformation" is often just inconvenient facts for the Left. @JTLonsdale with @JackieDeAngelis @BrianBrenberg @RiggsReport earlier today. As Joe explains, the Left funnels billions of taxpayer dollars to NGOs that will do its dirty work, like trying to censor free speech.
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Thanks to new management (@elonmusk) we're now able to post full episodes on Twitter. First up, @jtlonsdale's recent conversation with Airbnb co-founder @jgebbia. Learn about his love for pranks, the unlikely origins of Airbnb, his new startup @Samara & more!
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STEM education is the backbone of the innovation economy. Yet at many schools, it's become stodgy and outdated. What should STEM courses look like in the 21st century? . Dr. David Ruth, Dean of STEM at @uaustinorg, and @JTLonsdale discuss.
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"Minimum wage is a destroyer of the free market." . Jimmy John has turned sandwich makers into millionaires. We asked for his take on minimum wage, and he didn't hold back.
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"Our civilization is going to die if we don't fix this. ". @JTLonsdale with @Ravarora1 on losing merit & competence in government — and how to get it back.
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Many people know Andrew Yang from his 2020 Presidential run, but few know about his entrepreneurial roots. Thread 👇
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"All sorts of AI in logistics have completely changed the commercial world. none of that technology right now is in the DoD [Department of Defense]." . At the Hill & Valley Forum, @JTLonsdale calls out the Pentagon's "protectionist" approach.
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"We spend more money to service the debt. than we spend on our military. It can't go on forever, and when it ends it's going to be ugly." . Ken Langone and @JTLonsdale discuss the U.S. macro outlook and how to address the debt crisis.
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Elon Musk: "I'd rather be optimistic and wrong than pessimistic and right."
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Great entrepreneurs find gaps in the market — and seize the moment. Raj explains the origins of WhistlePig and the hilarious inspiration behind its name.
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Russia can build 500 large Shahed drones per month. China can build 100k small drones per month. U.S. can build dozens of short-range defensive missiles per month. @andylowery & @JTLonsdale on the urgent need for counter-drone innovation like @epirus high-power microwave.
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"They're smart enough to know it doesn't work. But it gives them power." . NEW: @Codie_Sanchez asks @JTLonsdale to explain price controls.
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"The way we're learning to kill the bad guys with software, combined with munitions, is completely different than we've ever done before." . NEW: @JTLonsdale at @HudsonInstitute today with @MorganOrtagus, @SenTomCotton & @ssankar
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How did a little-known startup win over the U.S. military's top generals? . @tylerscriven and @JTLonsdale reflect on the early days of Palantir $PLTR #PLTR
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The Radical Left that "values virtue signaling over competence & not offending people over the truth — breaks things in the world. It breaks things in Britain. It breaks things in California.". @JTLonsdale's full 8-minute showdown on BBC's Newsnight. CA wildfires, Elon Musk vs
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U.S history is our nation's worst subject. Only 13 percent of U.S. eighth-graders are “proficient” in U.S. history, according to the NAEP. When students don't learn history, as @coldxman explains, they'll believe the worst kind of lies. Episode 89 @JTLonsdale
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"It takes a long time to Tweet from Mars" 😂 @JTLonsdale @elonmusk. Ep 55 w/ Nathan Mintz @mintz4assembly drops this week. We cover autonomy, a new space age & how he's attracting some of the top engineering talent, first @Epirus and now @spartanradar.
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