Marc Andreessen

And then, quite frankly, part of this is the old idea of creative destruction, which is like, okay, If you're open AI or whatever, whatever you were doing last week is no longer good enough. But by the way, that's the way of the world. You have to get better. These things are all races. You have to evolve.

And then, quite frankly, part of this is the old idea of creative destruction, which is like, okay, If you're open AI or whatever, whatever you were doing last week is no longer good enough. But by the way, that's the way of the world. You have to get better. These things are all races. You have to evolve.

And so this is also a very big motivating catalyst for a lot of the current companies to really sharpen their game and get more aggressive.

And so this is also a very big motivating catalyst for a lot of the current companies to really sharpen their game and get more aggressive.

The Sputnik moment metaphor comes from the first Cold War, the 20th century Cold War between the US and the USSR. And a lot of your listeners are too young to remember that. I grew up at least in the tail end of that. I remember it quite clearly as a kid. It was still going hot for the first 18 years of my life.

The Sputnik moment metaphor comes from the first Cold War, the 20th century Cold War between the US and the USSR. And a lot of your listeners are too young to remember that. I grew up at least in the tail end of that. I remember it quite clearly as a kid. It was still going hot for the first 18 years of my life.

I remember in high school in the 1980s, literally thinking there was a good chance that we were all going to die at a nuclear holocaust. The whole nuclear weapons thing, tensions ran super high during the 80s. There's a great TV show called The Americans that recreates what it was like at that time. And like, it was tense. Things were not good.

I remember in high school in the 1980s, literally thinking there was a good chance that we were all going to die at a nuclear holocaust. The whole nuclear weapons thing, tensions ran super high during the 80s. There's a great TV show called The Americans that recreates what it was like at that time. And like, it was tense. Things were not good.

And then basically, right, the USSR peacefully collapsed in one of the more amazing twists and turns of history in 1989. And the Cold War never became hot, but it was pretty intense. And then there was this very aggressive rivalry between the US and the USSR through that period. And that rivalry was military in many ways, including proxy wars all over the world. But that rivalry was also economic.

And then basically, right, the USSR peacefully collapsed in one of the more amazing twists and turns of history in 1989. And the Cold War never became hot, but it was pretty intense. And then there was this very aggressive rivalry between the US and the USSR through that period. And that rivalry was military in many ways, including proxy wars all over the world. But that rivalry was also economic.

And many, many Western experts insisted for decades that communism was better than capitalism. And inevitably, American economics textbooks as late as the 1980s said that inevitably the Soviet economy would win because state planning, central planning was clearly better than the messy process of capitalism. And so there was this massive economic battle playing out.

And many, many Western experts insisted for decades that communism was better than capitalism. And inevitably, American economics textbooks as late as the 1980s said that inevitably the Soviet economy would win because state planning, central planning was clearly better than the messy process of capitalism. And so there was this massive economic battle playing out.

Then there was an ideological battle playing out, which was basically freedom and democracy. Critique the West however you want. Western hallmarks of freedom and democracy and free speech and so forth against the Soviet totalitarian system. The thing about that, though, was that economies were just simpler in those days and technology was simpler.

Then there was an ideological battle playing out, which was basically freedom and democracy. Critique the West however you want. Western hallmarks of freedom and democracy and free speech and so forth against the Soviet totalitarian system. The thing about that, though, was that economies were just simpler in those days and technology was simpler.

And so the main outputs of the USSR in that era were basically wheat and steel, which is to say basic agriculture exports and then basic raw materials exports, oil, relatively simple commodities. And by the way, part of the reason the USSR lost is because the U.S. raced way ahead on technology, particularly the computer. Starting in the 1970s, the computer took off.

And so the main outputs of the USSR in that era were basically wheat and steel, which is to say basic agriculture exports and then basic raw materials exports, oil, relatively simple commodities. And by the way, part of the reason the USSR lost is because the U.S. raced way ahead on technology, particularly the computer. Starting in the 1970s, the computer took off.

The Soviet system, the Soviet communist centrally planned system was unable to build their own computer industry. And that meant that they were ultimately doomed basically the minute the microprocessor was invented. And it just took about 20 years for that to play out. But anyway, there was a technological fight that also happened.

The Soviet system, the Soviet communist centrally planned system was unable to build their own computer industry. And that meant that they were ultimately doomed basically the minute the microprocessor was invented. And it just took about 20 years for that to play out. But anyway, there was a technological fight that also happened.

So the dynamic between the US and China is similar in many ways, but not completely the same. Neil Ferguson and others have talked about US versus China as Cold War 2.0. There's competition along each of those dimensions. There's very different worldviews. There's very different political systems, very different economic systems.

So the dynamic between the US and China is similar in many ways, but not completely the same. Neil Ferguson and others have talked about US versus China as Cold War 2.0. There's competition along each of those dimensions. There's very different worldviews. There's very different political systems, very different economic systems.