Oppenheimer & the Catastrophe of Communism

This week on “The Ben & Marc Show”, a16z co-founders Ben Horowitz and Marc Andreessen take on the biggest and most important film of the year – Christopher Nolan’s latest blockbuster “Oppenheimer”.

The film – based on the 2005 biography “American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer'' by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin – chronicles the life of the American theoretical physicist, whose direction of the top secret Manhattan Project forever changed the course of world history.

In this one-on-one conversation based on YOUR questions from Twitter, Marc and Ben examine the historical accuracies (and inaccuracies) of Nolan’s epic work, explore in-depth the life of the enigmatic physicist himself, and tackle – from all angles – the social and philosophical aspects of communism, a theme that weighs heavily in the film, as Oppenheimer’s association with party members led to his political downfall.

We hope you enjoy this episode!

Listen to Us!
Apple Podcast: https://bit.ly/3SdsfNt
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3SclPOr

Topics Covered:

00:00 - Show Intro
01:27 - Why Oppenheimer needed a Gen X filmmaker
03:21 - Why Oppenheimer was chosen to lead
06:17 - America's past production machine
10:47 - Declassification of the Venona files
12:21 - The issue with Einstein
14:22 - The catastrophe of communism
21:36 - America's elite class and communism
26:24 - Communism as a religion
27:43 - The prevention of WWIII
33:20 - John von Neumann
38:09 - The rise of anti-communist sentiments
43:33 - Ben's grandfather and McCarthyism
49:50 - What we know now about McCarthy and the Rosenbergs
55:56 - Parallels to modern day China
01:02:26 - Communism's biggest flaws
01:09:24 - Hiroshima, Nagasaki and utilitarian ethics
01:30:30 - Race as a cause for major conflict
01:25:19 - Direct analogy between AI and nuclear technology
01:34:50 - The Bay Area as a hotbed for fringe ideas
01:46:22 - AI and two visions of the future world

#oppenheimer #film #hollywood #history #christophernolan #technology #tech

Resources:
Marc on X:   / pmarca  
Marc’s Substack: https://pmarca.substack.com/

Ben on X:   / bhorowitz  

NY Times: "The Problem With Everything-Bagel Liberalism" by Ezra Klein: ’https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/02/op...

Books mentioned on this podcast (and others you’ll want to check out):
– “Red Decade” by Eugene Lyons https://amzn.to/3OEQMbZ
– “When Reason Goes on Holiday: Philosophers in Politics” by Neven Sesardic https://amzn.to/455zYRv
– "Witness" by Whittaker Chambers https://amzn.to/3OEu0RC
– ”The Great Leap Forward" by Alexander J. Field https://amzn.to/3QlCYV2
– "The Economic Consequences of U.S. Mobilization for the Second World War" by Alexander J. Field https://amzn.to/3Yemsbz
– “The Man From the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann” by Ananyo Bhattacharya https://amzn.to/446SbNf
– “Stalin's War: A New History of World War II” by Sean McMeekin https://amzn.to/47c29zw
– “McCarthy” by Arthur Herman https://amzn.to/3OFKYzc

Stay Updated:
Find us on Twitter:   / a16z  
Find us on LinkedIn:   / a16z  

The views expressed here are those of the individual personnel quoted and are not the views of a16z or its affiliates. This content is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be relied upon as legal, business, investment, or tax advice. Furthermore, this content is not directed at nor intended for use by any investors or prospective investors and may not under any circumstances be relied upon when making a decision to invest in any a16z funds. PLEASE SEE MORE HERE: https://a16z.com/disclosures/