WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.437 Palanteer we talked a lot about different philosophy that you you do 00:00:03.520 --> 00:00:06.797 teach us and talked about dialectics and one of the animating dialectics is you 00:00:06.880 --> 00:00:10.637 know between pessimism and optimism and what's the best case for an optimistic 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:14.557 view for the United States right now >> you know America 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:17.597 uh produces 00:00:17.680 --> 00:00:21.437 crazy outside the norm people that are 00:00:21.520 --> 00:00:23.117 driven 00:00:23.200 --> 00:00:26.877 um we're not constrained the way other 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:30.557 cultures are by um intergenerational 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:33.357 risktaking. So, I mean, it's proverbial. 00:00:33.440 --> 00:00:35.997 You're allowed to fail here. It's a 00:00:36.080 --> 00:00:39.357 benality, but it's it really is true. 00:00:39.440 --> 00:00:44.477 We push responsibility in all contexts. 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:48.877 Uh generally to people who um are first 00:00:48.960 --> 00:00:51.037 generation achievers. 00:00:51.120 --> 00:00:55.197 Um so that is very different than um 00:00:55.280 --> 00:00:59.277 other cultures. Um perhaps there's some 00:00:59.360 --> 00:01:02.477 good and bad facts around that, but we 00:01:02.560 --> 00:01:06.797 really do reward outside the uh 00:01:06.880 --> 00:01:09.517 traditional you could the short version 00:01:09.600 --> 00:01:12.077 be outside the box thinking whatever the 00:01:12.160 --> 00:01:15.997 box means. Um more than other cultures. 00:01:16.080 --> 00:01:20.477 Um we have a deep and very very 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:21.997 successful 00:01:22.080 --> 00:01:25.997 culture of um sophisticated 00:01:26.080 --> 00:01:28.557 uh technical accomplishment especially 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:30.957 on the west coast born out of 00:01:31.040 --> 00:01:34.477 universities but then financed 00:01:34.560 --> 00:01:36.077 um 00:01:36.160 --> 00:01:40.637 uh in a way in which there is at least 00:01:40.720 --> 00:01:45.517 as much alignment as humanly possible between entrepreneur and investor. 00:01:45.600 --> 00:01:49.437 They're obviously not always complete alignment and we on the entrepreneurial 00:01:49.520 --> 00:01:52.397 side. [laughter] You're you've been on both sides, but 00:01:52.480 --> 00:01:54.797 there there obviously issues there. The 00:01:54.880 --> 00:01:57.357 tech community on the west coast of 00:01:57.440 --> 00:02:02.477 America is more important than all other communities combined in the world. 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:04.157 That's kind of rolls off the lips 00:02:04.240 --> 00:02:06.717 easily, but we forget 00:02:06.800 --> 00:02:10.237 um how important that is. We still are a 00:02:10.320 --> 00:02:12.637 beacon for the most talented people in 00:02:12.720 --> 00:02:14.717 the world to come here. 00:02:14.800 --> 00:02:18.557 um our educational institutions 00:02:18.640 --> 00:02:20.957 uh and in our general culture of 00:02:21.040 --> 00:02:22.637 cooperation 00:02:22.720 --> 00:02:26.317 um one one of the most 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:28.957 valuable and least read books partly 00:02:29.040 --> 00:02:31.757 because I'm not sure it's in English is 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:35.837 um this book by Pleaser who was a um a 00:02:35.920 --> 00:02:37.597 philosophical anthropologist which is a 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:43.197 way of saying he was talking about uh structures that are precultural that 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:47.757 impact human behavior was about how America 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:51.037 allows you to choose the community you're in, but then the rules of that 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:54.077 community apply to you. So in Europe, 00:02:54.160 --> 00:02:56.717 for example, the state decides which 00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:01.677 church, what synagogue, what mosque is actually real. Like when you start a 00:03:01.760 --> 00:03:05.357 company here, you start your own culture. Um, and then I think all of 00:03:05.440 --> 00:03:09.117 these things cascade together. So if you're sitting in any part of the world 00:03:09.200 --> 00:03:13.117 and you want to do do something interesting, your number one choice 00:03:13.200 --> 00:03:14.877 right now 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:17.757 without a good choice number two is to 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:21.437 come to the US and build it. Um and I 00:03:21.520 --> 00:03:25.517 would say on top of everything else for all the class issues we have in this 00:03:25.600 --> 00:03:28.157 country we are very forgiving of 00:03:28.240 --> 00:03:30.477 successful people. You know, [laughter] 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:34.557 it's uh in most cultures success could 00:03:34.640 --> 00:03:36.797 land you in a very first generational 00:03:36.880 --> 00:03:39.837 success is very dangerous. 00:03:39.920 --> 00:03:42.717 Um and I I that's just a limited list. I 00:03:42.800 --> 00:03:45.517 I think America 00:03:45.600 --> 00:03:47.357 and then like if you wanted to to do a 00:03:47.440 --> 00:03:49.757 simple reductionist version of this, you 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:52.957 could say, well, why why are almost all 00:03:53.040 --> 00:03:54.637 software products in the enterprise 00:03:54.720 --> 00:03:59.837 context built in one part of the world? 00:03:59.920 --> 00:04:01.357 It's very hard to answer the question, 00:04:01.440 --> 00:04:04.317 but it is true. And if you went to any 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:07.117 country besides the US and said, could 00:04:07.200 --> 00:04:09.837 we have 10% of that? They would do 00:04:09.920 --> 00:04:11.997 really anything to have it. But it's a 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:15.917 mystery how we continue to do this. Um, 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:20.957 and so we're so successful at this that 00:04:21.040 --> 00:04:22.717 we don't even notice it. And then we're 00:04:22.800 --> 00:04:24.317 very focused on the things we're less 00:04:24.400 --> 00:04:27.997 successful at like um making our 00:04:28.080 --> 00:04:31.597 highways and schools and other things run 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:34.637 our healthcare system. We can go back. 00:04:34.720 --> 00:04:36.877 You can go do a diagnostic on what on 00:04:36.960 --> 00:04:39.037 why and there'd probably be disagreement 00:04:39.120 --> 00:04:42.637 between us on the why. But it is true 00:04:42.720 --> 00:04:47.757 that we're just the best in the world at a certain set of things and we're not 00:04:47.840 --> 00:04:49.277 the best in the world at others. And 00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:53.757 we're very focused in America on that 00:04:53.840 --> 00:04:57.357 and that obfuscates 00:04:57.440 --> 00:05:00.157 um that without you know I don't I had a 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:01.917 slight advantage that I spent so much 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:04.717 time abroad that when you kind of 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:08.237 reimigrate back to America you see these 00:05:08.320 --> 00:05:10.877 things in a more wondrous way than maybe 00:05:10.960 --> 00:05:13.597 if you're you're looking at some of the 00:05:13.680 --> 00:05:19.040 things that really are below the say European standard.