The Generalist

Mario Gabriele•thegeneralist.substack.com

“The future is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed.” The Generalist Podcast brings you weekly conversations with the people who live in these pockets of the future – visionary founders, prescient investors, and original thinkers. Each episode is designed to introduce you to new ideas, technologies, and markets and help you prepare for the world of tomorrow.

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Episodes

Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity: Lessons from AI, Pandemics, and Nuclear Threats | Toby Ord (Author of "The Precipice")

How close are we to the end of humanity? Toby Ord, Senior Researcher at Oxford University’s AI Governance Initiative and author of The Precipice , argues that the odds of a civilization-ending catastrophe this century are roughly one in six. In this wide-ranging conversation, we unpack the risks that could end humanity’s story and explore why protecting future generations may be our greatest moral duty. We explore: • Why existential risk matters and what we owe the 10,000-plus generations who ca...

Jun 24, 2025•1 hr 19 min

Are We Alone In The Universe? Sara Seager on Exoplanets, Venus, and the Hunt for Alien Life (Astrophysicist and Planetary Scientist at MIT)

Why search for life beyond Earth? For MIT astrophysicist and MacArthur Genius Fellow Sara Seager, it’s not just a scientific question—it’s a deeply human one. Like creating art or studying philosophy, the search taps into our primal curiosity about who we are and whether we’re alone. Sara is a pioneer in the field of exoplanets: planets that orbit stars other than our Sun. Her early work was met with skepticism. Today, she’s one of the most respected voices in the field, with discoveries that ha...

Jun 17, 2025•1 hr 7 min

Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading | Nadia Asparouhova (Writer and Researcher)

Some ideas spread like wildfire. Others vanish before they take root—too strange, too threatening, too forgettable. In this episode of The Generalist, I sit down with Nadia Asparouhova, author of Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading , to explore the category of “antimemes”: ideas that actively resist being remembered or shared. Drawing from science fiction, epidemiology, and her own unusual cognitive wiring, Nadia maps the shadowy terrain of information that doesn’t want to be shared. W...

Jun 10, 2025•1 hr 19 min

Creating Stars in a Bottle: The Race to Commercialize Fusion Energy | Vinod Khosla & Bob Mumgaard

While the world fights over chips, one company is building the power supply to run them all. In this episode of The Generalist, I'm joined by Bob Mumgaard, CEO and co-founder of Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), and Vinod Khosla, legendary venture capitalist and founder of Khosla Ventures. With over 800 employees and $2 billion in funding, CFS has accelerated the timeline for commercial fusion from being perpetually "30 years away" to potentially just a few years out. If CFS succeeds, it will u...

Jun 03, 2025•55 min

The Semiconductor Century with Chris Miller (Author of “Chip War”)

What really determines success in the age of AI? Is it better models or broader reach? Chris Miller, author of the bestselling book Chip War , explains how semiconductors have become the strategic center of gravity for global power, economics, and innovation. As a professor at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, Chris has spent nearly a decade studying how chips are reshaping geopolitics and why they're essential to understanding everything from military capabilities to artificial intellige...

May 27, 2025•1 hr 4 min

How Anduril Is Reimagining the Defense Industry: Faster Tech, Ethical AI, and a New Kind of Deterrence | Trae Stephens (Co-Founder & Executive Chairman, Anduril)

What happens when you apply Silicon Valley’s speed and innovation to reinvent defense technology? Trae Stephens, co-founder of Anduril, is running that experiment in real-time. His company creates software-driven, hardware-enabled autonomous systems designed to transform national security capabilities amid growing global tensions. In today's episode, Trae and I dive deep into the ethics of warfare, technology's evolving role in national defense, the complexities of Great Power conflict with Chin...

May 20, 2025•1 hr 27 min

The Substack Playbook: Inside The $650M Platform Rewriting Media, Trust, and Creator Economics | Chris Best & Hamish McKenzie (Co-Founders)

In a world where attention is fragmented and algorithms rule the content landscape, Chris Best and Hamish McKenzie are taking a radically different approach with Substack. Rather than chasing clicks, Substack focuses on a simple yet powerful idea: creators should own their work and make money directly from their audience through paid subscriptions. With over 5 million paid subscriptions and tens of millions of active readers, Substack has turned this model into a transformative force in media. I...

May 06, 2025•1 hr 26 min

Lessons from 20 Years of Venture Capital: Roelof Botha (Managing Partner and Steward at Sequoia Capital)

In this episode, Roelof Botha shares lessons from his 20 years in venture capital at Sequoia, discussing how to anticipate the future, assess opportunities, and avoid irrational exuberance. The conversation covers psychological biases, the importance of long-term thinking, Sequoia's culture, and the firm's approach to investing in companies from idea to IPO and beyond. Botha also touches on AI's impact, the US's position in the AI race, and the need for fiscal discipline.

Apr 29, 2025•1 hr 21 min

Shrinking the Gap Between Sci-Fi and Sci-Fact: Josh Wolfe (Co-Founder of Lux Capital)

Josh Wolfe is a co-founder of Lux Capital, where he funds the kinds of ventures that change everything: think gene-edited pig organs and technology that lets you “record” smells. His approach? Relentless curiosity. He reads dozens of newspapers daily to identify patterns, always staying a few steps ahead. In this episode of The Generalist, Josh shares how his firm backs companies that don’t just predict the future, but create it. In our conversation, we explore: • The revolutionary development o...

Apr 15, 2025•1 hr 27 min

How AI Will Enhance Human Potential, Not Replace It: Reid Hoffman

Science fiction has long warned of AI's dark side. Think: Robots turning against us, surveillance, and lost agency. But in this episode of The Generalist, Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and AI pioneer, shares a more hopeful future. His book Superagency argues for AI optimism, grounded in real-world experience. We talk about how AI can fuel creativity and how to ensure technology works for us, not the other way around. We explore: • Why Reid wrote Superagency —and his belief that AI leads t...

Apr 08, 2025•1 hr 15 min

Introducing The Generalist Podcast

Welcome to The Generalist – a podcast about the future brought to you by Mario Gabriele. This isn’t your typical innovation podcast. Each week, we go beyond the headlines and into the minds of the founders, investors, and thinkers who are building tomorrow’s world. From AI to space exploration, nuclear fusion to new media, stablecoins to semiconductors, these are the people living in the future today. In just 60 minutes each episode, we’ll dive into the ideas, technologies, and strategies that a...

Mar 31, 2025•2 min

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