With this release, we try something a little different on The Portal. We begin an initiative to search for ways to feature members of the vibrant Portal sub-communities as part of the podcast itself, by requesting that listeners send in their questions around the prompt: “Mass media, markets, and human malware.” The questions that came in were interesting and enlightening, and we hope that you may find the answers similarly useful. We look forward to hearing your feedback on this new … [Read more...] about 38: Mass Media, Markets, and Human Malware: A Portal Q&A
The Portal Podcast
37: Andrew Marantz – Surfing the Wake of The Woke
New Yorker writer and book author Andrew Marantz and Eric became friends shortly before the 2016 election when Andrew set off to write the first profile of Eric and Geometric Unity, his theory of Physics. Coming from similar ethnic and politically progressive backgrounds they found plenty of common cause. With the rise of Trump, they then found themselves in subtly different places with Andrew more directly concerned with the rise of the Alt-right and Eric convinced that the Alt-right was likely … [Read more...] about 37: Andrew Marantz – Surfing the Wake of The Woke
36: Dark Matter, Black Matters and All That Jazz
Stephon Alexander is a first class jazz musician as well as a first rate physicist and a professor at Brown University. As the New President of the National Society of Black Physicists, Eric sits down with Stephon over a good deal of wine to discuss particles, politics, blackness and STEM, and other matters as they look back on the last decade of their friendship and their sprawling discussions across music, politics, mathematics, physics and beyond. Thank You to Our … [Read more...] about 36: Dark Matter, Black Matters and All That Jazz
35: Balaji Srinivasan – The Heretic & The Virus
Investor Balaji Srinivasan is a highly original thinker in Silicon Valley on Biotech to Blockchain and everything in between. Most recently, he was quite early in warning us about the Coronavirus and was ridiculed for his efforts by many in the world of institutional sense-making. That is before people realized he was not wrong, but simply early. In this episode Eric talks to Balaji on the topic of what it was like to see the future before it arrived and what his crystal ball … [Read more...] about 35: Balaji Srinivasan – The Heretic & The Virus
34: Zev Weinstein – On Parenting, Boys & Generation Z
This is the first episode of The Portal which was 100% recorded at home, during quarantine, under social isolation. The guest is none other than my own son Zev Weinstein and the recording was timed to straddle his midnight transition from being 14 into being 15 years old. Zev is currently a 9th grader who occasionally posts to his YouTube Channel GenerationZ. and his Twitter Account @Zev__Weinstein. In this episode, we sit down to discuss history, poetry, COVID-19, Jewish humor, and … [Read more...] about 34: Zev Weinstein – On Parenting, Boys & Generation Z
33: Josh Wolfe – The Mind Financing The Future
Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital is a leading mind in the current wave of venture capitalists making waves. While aware of each other for some time, in this episode Josh sits down with Eric for their first meeting. Together the two explore various topics from comparing notes on their encounters with Jim Watson of DNA fame, to talking about what society gets wrong and how to see that as a source of opportunity. It is frequently asked what makes a great venture capitalist. This … [Read more...] about 33: Josh Wolfe – The Mind Financing The Future
