Dueling Presidential interviews, SpaceX’s big catch, Robotaxis, Uber buying Expedia?, Nuclear NIMBY

SpaceX’s booster catch matters less as spectacle than as a step toward radically cheaper launch economics. Freeberg cited estimates of ~$90 million current hardware cost, a path toward ~$35 million, ~$1 million propellant and 200-ton payloads, arguing repeated reuse could eventually approach $10 per kilogram.

The proposed Uber–Expedia tie-up can be justified financially even if its product logic is weak. Freeberg modeled roughly $22 billion enterprise value and Expedia EBITDA potentially rising from ~$3 billion to ~$6 billion through cost cuts, while Sacks argued Uber users are unlikely to cross-shop planned travel.

Chamath’s stronger objection is that AI agents could make Expedia’s interface—and similar travel aggregators—far less valuable. He described Perplexity testing agentic checkout that can compare flights and transact directly, arguing Uber could spend $20–30 billion on a front end whose underlying data may eventually be accessed far more cheaply.

The headline that Big Tech is “funding nuclear” is less advanced than it sounds. Chamath said many announced SMR arrangements remain conditional on technology and regulatory approvals, signaling future customers without yet supplying the billions in risk capital required to prove and build the reactors.

The nuclear debate identified local consent as a bottleneck potentially as important as reactor technology. Sacks argued communities may block plants despite economic benefits, while Freeberg argued rising electricity demand will eventually force countries to choose between expanding nuclear capacity and accepting weaker energy-cost competitiveness.

Chamath said Tesla’s self-driving software finally converted him after years of being unimpressed by the company’s cars. After a two-week test he bought a Model S Plaid, said he now uses FSD daily, and identified the software rather than the car’s traditional quality as the decisive selling point.