Exponent is a podcast about tech and society hosted by Ben Thompson and James Allworth

Ben Thompson is the author and founder of Stratechery, a blog about the business and strategy of technology. You can follow him on Twitter @benthompson.

James Allworth is the co-author with Clay Christensen of How Will You Measure Your Life and a writer for the Harvard Business Review. You can follow him on Twitter @jamesallworth.

Episode 068 — Binary Backdoors

Ben and James discuss Apple versus the FBI.

Links

  • James Allworth: The U.S. has Gone F&*%ing Mad — Medium
  • James Allworth: How the Apple/FBI Fight Risks the Whole U.S. Tech Industry — Harvard Business Review
  • Ben Thompson: Apple, The FBI, and Security — Stratechery
  • Radley Balko: Surprise! Controversial Patriot Act Power Now Overwhelmingly Used in Drug Investigations — The Washington Post
  • Exclusive: Apple CEO Tim Cook Says iPhone-Cracking Software ‘Equivalent of Cancer’ — ABC News
  • More Support for Justice Department Than for Apple in Dispute Over Unlocking iPhone — Pew Research Center
  • Solid Support for Apple in iPhone Encryption Fight: Poll — Reuters
  • Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Government Surveillance — YouTube

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Episode 067 — Weighing and Voting

Ben and James discuss the mistakes made by Zenefits, when to challenge regulation, and the problem with short-term thinking.

This podcast was recorded before the Apple/FBI news broke; we currently plan to cover that next week.

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Episode 066 — You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know

Ben and James discuss winner-take-all dynamics and its implications for advertising, bubble talk, and venture capital. Plus, what Facebook and Marc Andreessen got wrong about Free Basics and India.

This episode is sponsored by Wunder Capital. Make a good investment and do good at the same time through Wunder Capital’s solar investment opportunities. Create an account for free at WunderCapital.com/exponent.

Links

  • Ben Thompson: The Reality of Missing Out — Stratechery
  • Leslie Picker and Peter Eavis: Deal Shows Investors Are Willing to Make a Blind Bet on Uber — The New York Times
  • Mike Isaac: Delivery Start-Ups Face Road Bumps in Quest to Capture Untapped Market — The New York Times
  • Ben Thompson: Unicorns — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: It’s Not 1999 — Stratechery
  • Mark Cuban: The Pre-Cognitive Anti-Trust Violation:How the Decimation of the IPO Market Has Hurt the Economy and Worse — Blog Maverick
  • Fred Wilson and Dan Primack via Mark Suster: Why Uber Should Go Public — Both Sides of the Table
  • Kurt Wagner: Marc Andreessen Offends India Defending Facebook’s Free Basics. (Yes, the Country.) — Recode
  • Mark Zuckerberg: Free Basics Protects Net Neutrality — The Times of India
  • Om Malik: Nothing is Free, Not Even Facebook Free Basics — Om.co

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Episode 065 — Competing Against Non-Consumption

Ben and James discuss Apple earnings, Twitter’s troubles, and whether or not the Internet is over-rated.

This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/exponent.

Links

  • Ben Thompson: Apple’s Good Earnings, Apple is Not a Services Company — Stratechery Daily Update
  • Paul Carsten: China Smartphone Glory Days Are Over as Apple, Xiaomi Face Tough Times — Reuters
  • Ben Thompson: How Facebook Squashed Twitter — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Twitter Follow-up — Stratechery Daily Update
  • Ben Thompson: Twitter’s Marketing Problem — Stratechery
  • James Allworth and Ben Thompson: Check Facebook Time — Exponent
  • Ben Thompson: Speech and Abuse on the Internet — Stratechery Daily Update
  • Ben Thompson: Twitter and What Might Have Been — Stratechery
  • Paul Krugman: Paul Krugman Reviews ‘The Rise and Fall of American Growth’ by Robert J. Gordon — The New York Times

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Episode 064 — Disrupting Trump

Ben and James discuss the Donald Trump and inequality, then FANG, Aggregation Theory, and Disruption.

This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/exponent.

Links

  • Michael Brendan: How an Obscure Adviser to Pat Buchanan Predicted the Wild Trump Campaign in 1996 — The Week
  • John Gruber and Phil Schiller: Live From WWDC 2015, with Special Guest Phil Schiller — The Talk Show
  • Ben Thompson: The FANG Playbook — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Netflix and the Conservation of Attractive Profits — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Netflix Goes Global — Stratechery Daily Update
  • Ben Thompson: What Clayton Christensen Got Wrong — Stratechery

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Episode 063 — Driving Into the Future

Ben and James discuss the future of cars and transportation.

This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent.

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Episode 062 — Give Some to Get Some

Ben and James discuss Paul Graham’s essay on inequality and the politics of technology.

This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent.

Links

  • Ben Thompson: A Politics for Technology — Stratechery
  • Paul Graham: Economic Inequality — Stratechery
  • Ezra Klein: A Top Venture Capitalist Thinks Startups are Causing Inequality. He’s Wrong. — Vox
  • Noam Scheiber and Patricia Cohen: For the Wealthiest, a Private Tax System That Saves Them Billions — The New York Times
  • Gregory Ferenstein: The Unusual Politics of Silicon Valley, Explained — Vox

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Episode 061 — OpenAI and Strategy Credits

Ben and James discuss OpenAI’s new mission and what it says about capitalism. Or is it just a strategy credit that we are reading too much into?

This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent.

Links

  • Ben Thompson: “Yep, broken.” — Twitter
  • James Allworth: Is OpenAI Solving the Wrong Problem? — Harvard Busines Review
  • Introducing OpenAI — OpenAI
  • Steven Levy: How Elon Musk and Y Combinator Plan to Stop Computers From Taking Over — Backchannel
  • Ben Thompson: OpenAI, Artificial Intelligence and Data, Data and Recruiting — Stratechery Daily Update
  • Ben Thompson: TensorFlow and Monetizing Intellectual Property — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Strategy Credit — Stratechery

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Episode 060 — Beyond Disruption

Ben and James discuss when disruption theory is useful — and when it isn’t.

Note: We apologize for some mic fuzz issues on this podcast.

This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent.

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Episode 059 — Fashion in PC Gaming

Ben and James discuss PC Gaming and the fascinating way in which it monetizes, leading to a wide-ranging discussion about how business has changed because of the Internet.

This episode is sponsored by Wealthfront. See recommended portfolios and get up to $15,000 managed for free by visiting Wealthfront.com/Exponent.

Links

  • Chris Dixon: Lessons From the PC Video Game Industry — Medium
  • Jared Sinclar: Saving the iPad — JaredSinclair.com
  • Ben Thompson: Grantland and the (Surprising) Future of Publishing — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: TensorFlow and Monetizing Intellectual Property — Stratechery
  • Justin Williams: The Chicken or the iPad Pro — Medium
  • Ben Thompson: Games and Good Enough — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Venture Capital and the Internet’s Impact — Stratechery
  • Ben Thompson: Selling Feelings — Stratechery

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