Robert Stark, Dain Fitzgerald, and Adam Mayer discuss the tech exodus out of California. Adam Mayer is a Bay Area based architect and Dain Fitzgerald, also Bay Area based, is a blogger who works on the periphery of tech.
Topics:
Emerging tech hubs and whether we will see a decentralized tech industry
The exodus of legacy companies out of California
San Francisco’s commercial real estate crash
The impact of the exodus on the housing crisis and NIMBY vs. YIMBY debate
The mass closure of small businesses in California and record corporate profits
The implications of remote work on quality of life and privacy issues
Future tech trends in outsourcing and automation, and which jobs will remain lucrative and secure
The global bifurcation of tech and social media
Robert Stark talks to Dutch Youtuber Faust about Dutch politics, economics, and geo-politics. Faust has an English language political channel, a Dutch language channel Dietse Bazuin, and you can follow him on Twitter. Faust is the publisher of an arts and history magazine that is also called Dietse Bazuin.
Jason’s Faustian Futurist as an entry point to the philosophical and political concepts of his non-fiction work
The intimacy in giving the reader a window into the author’s subconscious
The Faustian archetype
The novel’s alternative history timeline set in the 2nd half of the 20th Century with an epilogue of the 21st Century
The theme of reincarnation
The significance of Atlantis in the novel and the empirical archeological evidence of Atlantis
Parapsychologist Gerald Feinberg’s The Prometheus Project, Mankind’s Search for Long-Range Goals
The parapsychological science of Remote viewing
A Prometheist vision beyond the convergence of left and right with a post-capitalist/scarcity outlook, and objective to find the balance between communitarianism and the creative potential of the individual
The limitations of electoral politics and the need to create a technological, cultural, and aesthetic movement The Great Reset and the breakaway civilization
The mass exodus out of major cities and symbolism of the destruction of New York City as the cosmopolis of the West
Jason’s thoughts on the motives behind the woke agenda
Robert Stark and Matt Pegas discuss their trip to the San Francisco Bay Area over the last Labor Day weekend, their past trips in 2018 (extended segment: 20 minutes in), and how the Bay Area relates to Alt-Urbanism and cultural, aesthetic, societal, and Alt-Center political themes from the show.
The “California Houellebecq ”
Thoughts on self-publishing and how the novel Severance is to publishing what the film Sideways is to film critics
The economics of the arts and Delicious Taco’s advice to separate one’s creative endeavors from source of income
The slave morality of work and need for a guaranteed basic income
Delicious Taco’s support for Bernie Sanders, why he’s given up hope on American politics, and advice to focus on building up one’s own wealth
Delicious Taco’s love of birdwatching
The pros and cons of living in LA
Theme of Geomaxxing in Delicious Taco’s Finally, Some Good News and Houellebecq’s Platform
Age gap hysteria and why Delicious Tacos doesn’t need to moralize his proclivities
Working in Hollywood as a development executive
Matt and Robert’s upcoming books, and Delicious Taco’s upcoming book True Love
LA’s class structure City-Data Forum thread on demographic trends of the past decade by city
Immigrant groups in the LA region, including from Mexico, China, Bangladesh, India, Iran, Armenia, various European nations, and more recent community from Uzbekistan
Industry in LA, including entertainment, aerospace, tech, and shipping
Unique LA tropes/archetypes
Contrasting communities that have strong patronage networks with those that are more atomized Poll on hypothetical proposal to base immigration on a local level
America’s neo-tribal future The Double Horseshoe Theory of Class Politics and how that impacts how different demographic groups align politically
Crucial California issues of housing (YIMBYism), energy, water, and infrastructure being neglected by a one party state focused on national issues and a GOP that’s out of touch with younger voters and urban concerns
The degree to which LA’s post pandemic exodus and urban decay is overhyped
New urban development in LA (ex. futuristic complex planned in Beverly Hills) and metro expansions
The debate about education reform,
Robert Stark talks to Matt Forney about the Caucasus region and trends for the 2020s. Matt Forney is an author, journalist and founder of Terror House Press, whose mission is to publish outsider literary fiction, literary nonfiction, and cultural criticism/analysis. You can also follow Terror House publishing on Twitter and Instagram.
Topics:
Matt’s travels to the Caucasus region, living in Georgia for two years, and visiting Armenia
Georgia as an underrated gem, with an affordable but high standard of living, and hub for digital nomads
Geographic locations and mountainous natural beauty
Architecture and urban layout of Tbilisi, Georgia and Yerevan, Armenia
The anti-corruption Rose Revolution in Georgia
The region’s culture, Xenia hospitality culture, crossroad of Europe and the Middle East, and creeping westernization
The region’s cuisine, which is somewhat bland, but Georgian was the most exotic in Soviet Russia
Matt’s travels to Albania and misconceptions about that nation
The historic background leading up to the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
The conflict’s geo-political alliances and implications
Observations of social trends of the past two decades and speculation about the near future
How technology and social developments are leading to greater social atomization
The pandemic’s destruction of small businesses, gig economy, and overall end of normal employment
Why Matt has reservations about the UBI (Martin Goldberg: What Happens If You Get DELETED?)
The corporate gentrification of the internet
The Mancession of the 2008 crash vs. the current Shecession, and implications on gender relations JPMorgan Chase extending billions in loans to minority homebuyers, Yelp’s anti-racist social credit nightmare, and overall unsustainability of woke neoliberalism
Matt’s prediction that Trump will win re-election and populism will align more with the GOP Terror House Press’ upcoming books, including Matt Pegan’s Dragon Day
Robert Stark is joined with San Francisco based architect, Adam Mayer, and Oregon based urbanist commentator, D E C A Y, to discuss urbanist trends that we can expect to see as a result of the pandemic and economic transformation this year.
