Category Archives: Silicon Valley

Round Table Discussion on Urbanist Trends for the 2020s

Adam Mayer, aesthetics, Architecture, California, Cities, coronavirus, Culture, DECAY, Economics, John C. Portman Jr, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Malls, Mass Transit, New Urbanism, New York, Oregon, Portland, Postmodernism, Reno, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Silicon Valley, Skyscrapers, Suburbia, Urbanism, Zoning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Topics:

Whether the outdoor dining trend is permanent
The Retail apocalypse, with a decline in small businesses and foot traffic
The remote work exodus and The Rise of Work-From-Home Towns
How the urban exodus could be beneficial for the creative class
Interior Urbanism as a reaction to urban decay
Why we will see less skyscrapers and mega projects in the 2020s
The new suburbanism: learning from past mistakes by Retrofitting Suburbia
Ski Lodge urbanism: rustic charm with urban amenities
The Missing Middle trend
The need for pragmatic zoning reform, political polarization of the issue, and why YIMBYs sometimes push too far
Dead malls being re-purposed(ex. Horton Plaza)
Why Every City Feels the Same Now: Glass-and-steel monoliths replaced local architecture
Whether we’ll see a shift away from 2010s minimalism towards a regional kitsch aesthetic(ex. Rustic Industrial)
Building fire resilient communities
Whether mass transit will remain viable and Kamala Harris’ husband’s involvement in a NIMBY lawsuit to stop the subway under Beverly Hills
Conclusion that we will see a population and economic shift to 2nd tier cities but not the total demise of cities
Adam’s upcoming blog on missing middle infill

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Robert Stark talks to Ron Unz about America’s Fall

2020 Riots, American Culture, American Exceptionalism, Banking, Black Lives Matter, California, capitalism, censorship, China, Class, College, coronavirus, Corporate Welfare, Corporations, Culture, demographics, Donald Trump, Economics, education, Elections, Globalization, Healthcare, Immigration, income inequality, Joe Biden, Media, Millennials, Multiculturalism, Neoliberalism, Oligarchy, Peter Turchin, Political Correctness, Politics, Race Relations, Ron Unz, Silicon Valley, Wall Street, War, Wealth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark talks to Ron Unz about how the pandemic exposed America’s deep-seated corruption and how we might witness the nation’s fall. Ron Unz is a theoretical physicist, and editor of the Unz Review, and a past candidate for California Governor in the 90’s and more recently for  US Senate.

Topics:

Recap of Ron’s Top Issues in past California U.S. Senate Race
The Unz Review as a big tent of important, interesting, and controversial opinions from both the left and right
The abysmal handling of the public health crisis
The looting of the treasury by politically connected corporations under the CARES ACT bailout and loan guarantees
How America could lose it’s status as the World’s Reserve currency, which would expose how poor Americans have become
The irrationality of our nation’s leaders provoking a conflict with Russia and China
The end of meritocracy and Culture of Corruption in the US
The iconoclastic cultural revolution as a product of our elite universities
The debt crisis and siphoning off of wealth from our economy
The contrast of America’s inefficiency with China’s handling of the pandemic and infrastructure projects
Woke Capital
Why California has avoided the worst of the civil unrest impacting much of the nation
Tech Censorship: how The Unz Review was banned from Facebook and de-ranked from Google
Ron’s thoughts on the motives for tech censorship

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Robert Stark talks to Anatoly Karlin about the Gray Tribe

Alt Center, Anatoly Karlin, Andrew Yang, Asian Culture, Basic Income, California, censorship, Class, conformity, coronavirus, Corporations, Culture, Dain Fitzgerald, Donald Trump, Economics, Elections, Elon Musk, Futurism, Human Bio Diversity, IQ, Jeffrey Epstein, Joe Biden, Leftism, Neoliberalism, Oligarchy, Personality Types, Peter Turchin, Political Correctness, Politics, Psychology, Radical Center, Rationalism, Science, Scott Jackisch, Silicon Valley, Transhumanism

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and co-host Dain Fitzgerald talk to Moscow based Unz Review columnist Anatoly Karlin about the Gray Tribe political sphere and other current events. Follow Anatoly and Dain on Twitter.

Topics:

Anatoly’s article No Country for Gray Tribesmen
Gray Tribe themes in Andrew Yang’s The War on Normal People
Scott Alexander’s original article on the Gray Tribe
Slate Star Codex and Silicon Valley’s War Against the Media
Hypothetical profile of a Gray Tribesman (against woke culture, rejects blank slatism, corona-virus hawk, but accepts climate science)
Unique environment that allowed the Coffee Salons of Western Europe to emerge
Coffee Salon Demographics 
CEOs: the Bamboo Ceiling vs. the Madras Floor
Why White Centrists have the highest in-group bias
The Double Horseshoe Theory of Class Politics
California Isn’t the SJWtopia of Right-Wing Fantasies
Enclaves for the intelligent but poor
Woke Austerity: Chevron diversity ratio to improve as layoffs progress
Is Woke Left outliving usefulness to economic elite?
Mask Compliance as IQ/Personality Test
Chances of an effective corona-virus vaccine by next year

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Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter,  Instagram, Stark Truth TV, and novel Journey to Vapor Island


Robert Stark interviews Republican Socialist Candidate for Kansas Senate Brian Matlock

addiction, Basic Income, Brian Matlock, capitalism, Conservatives, coronavirus, Corporations, Despair, Donald Trump, Economics, Elections, Environment, Free Trade, Globalization, Healthcare, Immigration, income inequality, Neoliberalism, Politics, Republican Party, Silicon Valley, social capital, Socialism, Suicide, US Prison System, Wealth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark talks to Kansas GOP Senate candidate Brian Matlock who is running as a Republican Socialist. Check out Brian’s campaign website and follow him on Twitter.

Topics:

Why Brian is running as a Republican Socialist
Politics inspired by the communitarian ethic of small-town America
The GOP socialist tradition going back to the Abolitionist Radical Republicans
A locally administered job guarantee
UBI as a supplement but not a replacement for a decent standard of living
The CARES ACT Corporate takeover
Modern Monetary Theory (one person’s spending is another person’s income)
The need for regulation of big tech
Agriculture policy of moving away from corporate industrial farming
The Nation’s crisis of despair
How neoliberalism creates conditions that breed reactionary politics and petty culture wars
The primary election on August 4th

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Robert Stark talks to Logo Daedalus about America’s Promethean Aesthetics

1980's, aesthetics, American Culture, Archeofuturism, Architecture, arcology, Art, Art Deco, capitalism, Christianity, Cities, Class, Communism, Conservatives, Culture, Dallas, David Lynch, demographics, Disneyland, Donald Trump, Economics, Elon Musk, Europe, Futurism, Globalization, Hipsters, Historic Preservation, History, Jean Baudrillard, Kanye West, Las Vegas, Logo Daedalus, Malls, Matt Pegan, Matthew Pegas, Media, Mid-Century Modern, Mormonism, Neoliberalism, Neon, New Urbanism, New York, Oligarchy, Philosophy, Politics, Postmodernism, Religion, Retro Futurism, Science Fiction, Silicon Valley, Skyscrapers, Sweden, technology, The Perfume Nationalist, Traditionalism, Travel, Twin Peaks, Urbanism, Utah, Utopia, Wealth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and Matt Pegan talk to Logo Daedalus to analyze the Promethean themes throughout American history in regards to culture and aesthetics. Logo is the author of Selfie, Suicide: or Cairey Turnbull’s Blue Skiddoo and you can follow him on Twitter.

Topics:

Online Trad subculture as a search for authenticity within the Simulation
Embracing America as a theme park
Archeofuturism: progress fused with nostalgia
How cultural elitism can contradict economic elitism and vice versa
Popularity of Neoclassical architecture in 19th Century America, The Soviet’s later adoption of Neoclassical architecture, and Art Deco as the pinnacle of archeofuturism in early 20th Century America
The Minimalist architectural trend of the 2010s, focus on functionality, Puritanical origins, and popularity in the Silicon Valley
Logo’s experience living in New York, notable architectural sites, and it’s state of decay
Neo-Trad architectural fad
What Internet Memes Get Wrong About Breezewood, Pennsylvania
Finding political symbolism in architecture
Celebrity Futurism
The ironies of Trump’s aesthetics
Mormonism as a manifest of America’s Promethean Spirit
How modern America started at the Chicago World’s Fair
The early Electric Park and Freedomland U.S.A. Theme Parks
Utopian Societies in 19th Century America and Utopianism through accessing the capital to build rather than politics


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Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter,  Instagram, Stark Truth TV, and novel Journey to Vapor Island


Robert Stark talks about the symbolic vs. material causes of our Nation’s political turmoil

2020 Riots, aesthetics, Alt Center, American Culture, Architecture, Baby Boomers, Bernie Sanders, Black Lives Matter, capitalism, censorship, Cities, Class, Corporations, Culture, demographics, Donald Trump, Economics, Historic Preservation, History, Immigration, income inequality, Joe Biden, Joel Kotkin, Leftism, Los Angeles, Marxism, materialism, Matt Pegan, Matthew Pegas, Middle Class, Millennials, Morality, Neoliberalism, New Urbanism, New York, Political Correctness, Politics, Race Relations, Radical Center, Silicon Valley, Skyscrapers, social capital, Socialism, Suburbia, SWPL, Urbanism, Wealth, Zoning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark is joined with Matt Pegan to discuss issues relating to Robert’s Unz Review article, The Real Wealth Gap:
The intergenerational wealth gap, the housing crisis, and how “BLM vs. MAGA” poisons the discussion on every issue.

Topics:

The material vs. symbolic factors of our current political turmoil
The material based critique of woke ideology and limitations of a purely material based outlook
Comparing data on the racial wealth gap with the generational wealth gap
Millennials’ screwed economic status, the appeal of Bernie’s campaign, and an overall failure to invest in future generations
More on the motivation of corporate support for woke causes
The iconoclastic nature of neoliberalism to erase history and conceal power
Political symbolism in architecture(ex. statues, skyscrapers, single family homes, and public spaces)
Christopher Lasch’s The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy
Fox News host Lara Logan compares up-zoning to agenda of Antifa
Woke urbanist thought vs. the material benefits of YIMBY polices for millennials
Whether this new generation of urban flight to the suburbs will sustain the power of Woke neoliberalism

 

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Round Table discussion on the long term ramifications of the Pandemic

2020 Riots, Anatoly Karlin, Asia, Black Lives Matter, Brazil, California, China, Cities, Class, coronavirus, Corporations, Crime, Culture, Dain Fitzgerald, demographics, Donald Trump, Economics, England, Hong Kong, Immigration, India, Joe Biden, Peter Turchin, Police, Police Brutality, Police Corruption, Police State, Political Correctness, Politics, Rachel Haywire, Russia, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Social Justice Warriors, Suburbia, Urbanism

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark is joined with Moscow based Unz Review columnist Anatoly Karlin and Bay Area based blogger Dain Fitzgerald who has written for Spliced Today, Rachel Haywire’s Trigger Warning, and . Follow Anatoly and Dain on Twitter.

Topics:

Going back to Anatoly’s initial predictions on the pandemic from February
The short term modest economic recovery due to the stimulus but not sustainable long term
How the pandemic has been neglected due to the rallies
Spike after re-opening and limits of quarantine capital
Asia’s hard lockdown vs the West’s potential epidemic yo-yo of cyclical lock downs
Peter Turchin published a paper in 2010 predicting political, economic and social instability would peak in 2020
Protests overseas as American Cultural Imperialism
The culmination of the Great Awokening
How conservatives are naive to think that wokeness only thrives under prosperity
Whether woke capital really is a deliberate plan to subvert class consciousness
How de-funding police might be purely symbolic but, if true, we’ll see more private security and gated communities
The oncoming urban exodus due to remote work, the pandemic, economics, and rising crimes rates
Fertility and Immigration trends
UK may grant refugee status to residents of Hong Kong
Breaking of the Chimerica arangement?
Biden’s advantage as a perceived return to normalcy
Speculating which nations will fare the best economically and containing the pandemic

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Robert Stark interviews Mark Mollineaux about Georgism & Urbanism

aesthetics, Architecture, Class, Disneyland, Economics, Georgism, income inequality, Mark Mollineaux, Mass Transit, Middle Class, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Singapore, Suburbia, Taxation, Urbanism, Wealth, Zoning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark talks to Mark Mollineaux about Georgist economic theory and its implications on urbanism. Mark is the host of The Henry George Program hosted by Stanford University’s Radio. Follow the show on Twitter.

Topics:

Ideological roots of Georgist thought
Georgist view on property ownership
How to better incentivize efficient land usage
How Georgism can facilitate better urbanism and prevent sprawl
The difference between a land value tax and general property tax
How a land value tax relates to zoning regulation
Concerns for land foreclosures
The issue of the middle class being forced to invest all their income into real estate
The Singapore Land Authority
The concept of having a local currency tied to the cost of living
Bay Area Housing Crisis
Disneyland as an urban model

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Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, and novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark and Matthew Pegas talk about Urbanist observations from trip to San Diego

1980's, 80's music, aesthetics, American Culture, Andrew Yang, Architecture, Basic Income, Calexit, California, Cities, Class, Culture, demographics, Economics, Environment, Erasure, Historic Preservation, History, Immigration, John C. Portman Jr, Los Angeles, Malibu, Malls, Matthew Pegas, Mexico, Middle Class, Music, Politics, Postmodernism, San Diego, Santa Barbara, Silicon Valley, Skyscrapers, Suburbia, SWPL, Travel, Urbanism, Wealth, Wilderness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and Matthew Pegas talk about their recent trip to San Diego and their observations on cultural and urbanist trends.

Topics:

San Diego’s reputation as a smaller, cleaner, nicer version of LA and its unique attributes
The layout of the city with a centralized downtown near the waterfront surrounded by suburban sprawl
San Diego and Orange County among the largest areas of upper middle class sprawl in the nation
Politics of San Diego as a historically Republican stronghold that has trended Democratic in recent years
Demographics of San Diego and how they relate to overall CA trends
The most stereotypical American City located in CA while the State is culturally drifting apart from the rest of the Country
After decades of suburban sprawl, San Diego eyes big shift to dense development
The historic Gaslamp Quarter which is the one section that feels truly urban
Horton Plaza: Will this PoMo wonderland in San Diego be saved?
Architect Jon Jerde’s inspiration for Horton Plaza from Ray Bradbury’s “The Aesthetic of Lostness” extolling the virtues of getting “safely lost”
Wealthy beach community La Jolla and it’s village layout
The importance of investing in communal places that the public can enjoy, particularly in wealthy areas
Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve
The Victorian Hotel del Coronado
Friendship Park at the US/Mexico Border and political symbolism of the border wall
The Inland Empire
Heavenly Action by Erasure, the soundtrack of the trip with a message that friendship, love, and positivity can conquer anything

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Checkout Robert Stark’s Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, Stark Truth TV, and novel Journey to Vapor Island




Robert Stark talks to Rachel Haywire about her Campaign for President

alienation, Alt Center, American Culture, Anarchism, Andrew Yang, Art, Aspergers Syndrome, Basic Income, censorship, Class, Corporations, Culture, Donald Trump, Drugs, Economics, Elections, Futurism, Globalization, Healthcare, Independent Political Candidates, Italian Futurism, Leftism, Music, National Futurism, Rachel Haywire, Radical Center, Silicon Valley, social capital, Social Isolation, social status, Spree Shootings, The New Reaction, Transhumanism, Wealth, Zoltan Istvan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark talks to Rachel Haywire about her campaign for President under the Transhumanist Party. You can register here to vote for her in the Transhumanist primaries. Rachel is a musician, event producer, writer, model, and is currently the CEO of Avant Design, a new agency focused on bringing a unique aesthetic to both tech and media.

Topics:

Trans-humanist policies: neuro engineering, cybernetic implants, and radical life extension
The wealthy gatekeepers in Trans-humanism
Crypto-currency for specialized healthcare
Funding for MDMA and LSD as therapeutic remedies
The political ideology of beyond the center
Thesis on the restraint of mental freedom
Funding for the transgressive arts and giving artists a greater role in the economy
Rachel’s book The New Art Right
National Futurism and creating nations of the mind
An end to imperialistic global trade policies
An end to credentialism
Greater awareness and support for neuro diversity
The deplatforming of political dissidents and center right gate keepers
A UBI of 2k/per month, funded by taxing Woke Capital and an end to overseas intervention and mass incarceration
Releasing a music track about running for President

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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings, Stark Truth TV, and his novel Journey to Vapor Island