E18: Inauguration talk, breaking down the $1.9T stimulus, the case for recalling Gavin Newsom & more

Friedberg said a Climate Corp data scientist copied the company’s nitrogen-model code onto a thumb drive and was intercepted by the FBI at the airport while taking it to the Chinese government. Wray’s 2020 FBI data gives that anecdote scale: nearly half of roughly 5,000 active counterintelligence cases involved China. (FBI)

Facebook sent Trump’s suspension to its new Oversight Board, backed by a $130 million trust, effectively making a private body the appeals layer for a global speech platform. Alternatives discussed included universal standards, First Amendment-like protections and common-carrier regulation. (The Oversight Board)

Friedberg’s most concrete policy proposal was to redirect part of the $160 billion COVID-response budget into modular biomanufacturing rather than near-term testing and protective gear. He estimated 500,000-liter plants at a few hundred million dollars and claimed 10% of that budget could produce vaccines for the country within 30 days. (Congress.gov)

Sacks said every company he had invested in was struggling to hire across engineering, sales, marketing and HR while granting options to those workers. He called this “entrepreneurial labor”: employees sharing ownership, with the real divide becoming access to the new economy rather than founders versus everyone else.

Political arguments had strained the hosts’ friendship enough that Sacks said he was “starting to hate” Jason, prompting Chamath to organize a reconciliation dinner. They agreed to repeat the dinner at least quarterly so podcast conflict would not overtake their real-world relationships.

At recording, Newsom-recall organizers said they had collected about 1.2 million signatures against a requirement of roughly 1.5 million valid signatures, with about 2 million viewed as a safer target. The hosts tied the campaign to pandemic restrictions, vaccine-rollout complaints and fears that California was becoming less hospitable to innovation. (latimes.com)