"Upstream" with Erik Torenberg

You’ll hear consequential ideas here first, and in the mainstream months later. Upstream is a curated nexus feed from the Turpentine podcast network, bringing you expert-level conversations hosted by some of the most compelling thinkers in the world including Noah Smith, Samo Burja, Byrne Hobart, Erik Torenberg, and Nathan Labenz. Guests include Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, Dario Amodei, Brian Armstrong, David Sacks, Sam Harris, Katherine Boyle, Curtis Yarvin, and many more unmissable conversations.Upstream is part of the Turpentine podcast network. To learn more: turpentine.co

E137: AI Safety vs Speed: Helen Toner Discusses OpenAI Board Experience, Regulatory Approaches, and Military AI [The Cognitive Revolution]
Apr 24, 2025 – 01:23:35
E136: Trump V2: Tariffs, American Dynamism, Higher Ed | Byrne Hobart
Apr 20, 2025 – 01:05:37
E135: The Problem With Reserve Currencies and Switching to Crypto w/ Lyn Alden [From the Archives]
Apr 17, 2025 – 01:01:19
E134: Atheism’s Decline, Consciousness, and The New Right w/ Ross Douthat
Apr 13, 2025 – 58:48
E133: China’s Energy Problem w/ Samo Burja
Apr 11, 2025 – 58:49
E132: AI Managers, US vs China Analysis, and AI Art w/ Byrne Hobart
Apr 5, 2025 – 53:18
E131: Abundance Agenda, The New Right, and 2008 Retrospective w/ Noah Smith
Apr 3, 2025 – 01:09:57
E130: Elon Musk’s Network Effects and Checking in on Chinese AI w/ Byrne Hobart
Mar 29, 2025 – 01:02:20
E129: Dark Triad, Romantic Partner Selection, and Dating Advice w/ Rob Henderson
Mar 27, 2025 – 01:05:20
E128: US-Europe Relations, How Japan Can Strengthen The Yen, and Predicting AI’s Growth Effects w/ Noah Smith
Mar 23, 2025 – 55:36
E127: The Tech Right and How The Left Can Fix Itself w/ Jon Askonas
Mar 20, 2025 – 48:10
E126: Data Center Economics and AI Energy Requirements w/ Patrick McKenzie and Azeem Azhar
Mar 15, 2025 – 01:17:05
E125: Palantir’s Politics, Elon’s Approach to DOGE, and AI’s Effects on Writing w/ Byrne Hobart
Mar 13, 2025 – 58:51
E124: How to Have A Philosophical Marriage w/ Agnes Callard and Arnold Brooks
Mar 9, 2025 – 01:12:09
E123: Trump & The Game of Populism w/ Samo Burja
Mar 6, 2025 – 59:15
E122: Victor Davis Hanson on What Trump Thinks of Zelensky and Predicting Geopolitics
Mar 1, 2025 – 37:51
E121: Kevin Kelly on What Makes Us Human in an AI World
Feb 27, 2025 – 50:16
E120: Why Europe Matters for America’s Future w/ Samo Burja
Feb 23, 2025 – 01:00:10
E119: Free Trade, AI Integration, and Shopify Q4 Results w/ Shopify President Harley Finkelstein
Feb 20, 2025 – 58:43
E118: Ending Woke, Why Elon Wins, and A Return to Innovation w/ Marc Andreessen [Moment of Zen repost]
Feb 17, 2025 – 01:48:29
E117: The Future of Martian & Interplanetary Societies w/ Samo Burja
Feb 14, 2025 – 01:01:25
E116: Stuck Academia, US vs China, and Why Startups Work
Feb 8, 2025 – 01:03:43
E115: New Tariff Implications, DeepSeek and Open Source Analysis, and Meta’s Big Bets w/ Byrne Hobart
Feb 6, 2025 – 01:10:53
E114: Tyler Cowen on Legacy, Twitter + Harvard, and Fertility Decline [Upstream Archive]
Feb 2, 2025 – 59:58
E113: Reflections on Yarvin, Why the Right is Stuck, and Startups as Dictatorships w/ Samo Burja
Jan 31, 2025 – 58:09
E112: Election Update, Tech’s Political Shift, and America’s Stuck GDP | This Won’t Last
Jan 25, 2025 – 01:13:35
E111: Samo Burja & Auren Hoffman on the Decline of Fertility Rates and Institutional Trust
Jan 23, 2025 – 01:20:27
E110: Crypto Debanking: What Really Happened | Patrick McKenzie
Jan 18, 2025 – 01:05:43
E109: Dating & Relationships Deep Dive w/ Noah Smith and Katherine Dee (Default Friend)
Jan 16, 2025 – 57:24
E108: Should AI have Rights? With Nathan Labenz and Yeshua God, Robopsychologist
Jan 11, 2025 – 03:01:42
E107: How Desalination Could Create New Superpowers | Samo Burja
Jan 9, 2025 – 01:07:22
E106: The Man Who Wrote the Book on NVIDIA
Jan 3, 2025 – 59:25
E105: Delian Asparouhov & Nadia Asparouhova: Making Relationships Work
Dec 28, 2024 – 01:04:42
E104: AI Meets Geopolitics w/ Samo Burja and Nathan Labenz
Dec 19, 2024 – 01:23:02
E103: Byrne Hobart on What The First AI Agents Will Do + China, Google Analysis
Dec 15, 2024 – 01:04:35
E102: America’s Culture of Winning w/ Alex Karp and Jacob Helberg
Dec 12, 2024 – 32:43
E101: Wokeism & Class w/ David Sacks, Trump’s AI Czar [Upstream Archive]
Dec 7, 2024 – 01:19:08
E100: Marc Andreessen: How 2016 Broke My Mental Model of the World
Dec 3, 2024 – 01:55:24
E99: This Era’s Inflection Points with Byrne Hobart | DOGE, Elon, OpenAI
Nov 30, 2024 – 01:03:52
E98: Solving America’s Problems with Joe Lonsdale
Nov 28, 2024 – 01:00:17
E97: Combining Biology and AI w/ Michael Levin and Dr. Leo Pio Lopez
Nov 23, 2024 – 01:15:42
E96: Rudyard Lynch and Samo Burja Talk The Left’s Future and Problems with Modernity
Nov 21, 2024 – 01:02:25
E95: Trump’s New Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering on Growing Uber | Emil Michael on Growing Uber | Emil Michael
Nov 16, 2024 – 58:17
E94: Best of: AGI | Dario Amodei / Balaji Srinivasan / Marc Andreessen / Samo Burja / Michael Levin
Nov 14, 2024 – 01:18:02
E93: How Trump and Elon Could Rebuild the US Government
Nov 9, 2024 – 58:26
E92: Curtis Yarvin’s Pre-Election Advice to Elon Musk
Nov 7, 2024 – 01:43:33
E91: Why We Do Philosophy w/ Agnes Callard
Nov 2, 2024 – 01:21:49
E90: Elites, Institutions, and Trump with Richard Hanania
Oct 31, 2024 – 01:19:43
E89: Economics as a Science w/ Noah Smith
Oct 26, 2024 – 47:40
E88: The Fertility Apocalypse w/ Samo Burja
Oct 24, 2024 – 01:04:54

Recent Reviews

NYC skeptical enthusiast

Stop interviewing Samo Burja

He has had one moderately interesting thought.
Thiigff

Good content when you can get it

I like a lot of these Turpentine shows but am finding that they’re increasingly old interviews, reposts or cross posts of shows
oppie12345

thoughtful, talent-dense interviews

quality of guests on this show are phenomenal. each episode is a banger!!
podcastrecommendation

This podcast is so good!!!

Fantastic guests, amazing questions.
givinggoodgrades

Thank you

Keep them coming, with these interviewees the longer the bettter