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Back to It's not AI Doom, It's a Fourth Turning, with Michael Arrington.

Which Two Books Will Michael Arrington Never Forget?

Michael Arrington says two books made such a huge impression on him that he will never forget them. One is Guns, Germs and Steel. The other is The Fourth Turning.

He reads constantly, mostly fiction for fun, and he has read many nonfiction books. Arrington thinks Guns, Germs and Steel was published in the early 90s. He calls it an incredible book about how humans form teams. If people were all the same color, Arrington says, they would still find something to hate about each other, and the book explains sports team loyalty. The Fourth Turning is a little bit sad, but Arrington says it seems very accurate. He thinks the book was published in 97 or 98. Arrington thinks one of the authors passed away, and he says the other author recently did an update.

Delphi host Tommy asked Michael Arrington whether the world is in the fourth turning right now. The pattern Delphi host Tommy put to him is a change every hundred years, in four 20-year segments: a stretch when everything is great and institutions are valued, then a breakdown, then a reset.

Transcript

It's not AI Doom, It's a Fourth Turning ·

The Delphi Podcast

More from this episode

  1. Is China Actually Crushing It Right Now?Delphi host Tommy assumes China is crushing it, from robotics to ghost cities, because so much emphasis on GDP means building a city counts as all new GDP.
  2. Why Is a Loving Machine Dictator the Best Hope?Delphi host Tommy asked whether Dario and Sam Altman should run a foundation that decides the rate of progress in artificial intelligence.
  3. Does Michael Arrington Think Sam Altman Is Evil?Michael Arrington said he has known Sam Altman a long time.
  4. How Did Arrington Capital Hire a Psychopath?Michael Arrington says Arrington Capital once had a psychopath on the team.
  5. How Did TechCrunch Start After a Sale Paid Almost Nothing?Michael Arrington started TechCrunch in 05 after quitting a job and taking a year off.
  6. Why Did Steve Jobs Sell All His Apple Stock?Michael Arrington said Steve Jobs sold all of his Apple stock from the merger that brought him back.
  7. Why Live Each Day Instead of Political Doom?Michael Arrington says politics feels meaner than the 90s, and the way through the fear is to live each day rather than sink into doom.

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