[EXTENDED CONVERSATION] Why Even The Best Engineers Are Afraid Of What’s Coming | Philip Su

Philip Su went from sleeping in his Microsoft office with a sleeping bag to becoming a Meta E9 engineer only to voluntarily step back down to E7 because he missed writing code. Now he’s building his own podcast app while warning that AI might trigger societal collapse within our lifetimes. In this raw conversation, Philip doesn’t hold back: he thinks your career speedrun is setting you up for failure, believes plumbers will be automated faster than you think, and argues that most of us won’t be able to commercially compete with AI within a decade.

But he’s not all doom. He also shares why he still employs a developer despite AI being cheaper, why he thinks the “dog chasing the car” mentality ruins careers, and how wave-particle duality should be freaking us out way more than it does. This one goes deep into AI displacement, the death of the American Dream, consciousness, faith, and why whittling code might be the only thing that matters.

Guest Links:
  / suphilip  
https://molochinations.substack.com/
https://superphonic.fm/

00:01:11 - Why Speed Running Your Career Sets You Up for Failure
00:06:57 - Which Jobs Are Actually Safe from AI?
00:12:55 - Why Companies Will Do More with Less
00:20:41 - The Innovator's Dilemma Applied to Your Career
00:28:35 - The Top 1% Will Earn Everything
00:33:00 - The Good News About AI (Yes, There Is Some)
00:35:41 - Meta vs OpenAI
00:43:40 - Will AI Learn to Be Funny? And Why That Terrifies Philip
00:47:54 - Why You Should Insta-Sell Your RSUs
00:54:05 - Whittling Code or Saving the World from AI?
00:56:03 - Why Philip Built His Own Podcast Player (Superphonic)
01:09:00 - From Christian Faith to Materialist
01:25:45 - Wave-Particle Duality and Consciousness: Why Aren't We Freaking Out?