Political and economic shifts from tech and trade

This episode originally appeared on the Network State Podcast. Balaji Srinivasan and Benedict Evans sit down in Singapore for a wide-ranging conversation on the mechanics of disruption. Evans, a former Andreessen Horowitz partner who now writes one of tech's most-read newsletters, argues that the conversation about any technology peaks during the transition—not at 0% or 100% adoption. They cover AI's real capabilities and limits, the politics of technological disruption, why crypto's killer metric is block space, and what smart glasses, elevator attendants, and the elephant graph reveal about how change works. 

Resources:

Follow Benedict Evans on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benedictevans/

Check out Benedict’s Newsletter: https://www.ben-evans.com/newsletter

Follow Balaji Srinivasan on X: https://x.com/balajis

Check out Network State Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@nspodcast

High Output Management: https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove-ebook/dp/B015VACHOK/

eHang: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUTu4_8QznE

The Deep Research Problem: https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2025/2/17/the-deep-research-problem

ARC AGI: https://arcprize.org/arc-agi

Uber and Airbnb didn't sell software: https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2025/3/14/what-kind-of-disruption

AI Use cases: https://www.ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2024/4/19/looking-for-ai-use-cases

Stablecoin surpasses Visa & Mastercard: https://crypto.news/ark-invest-stablecoin-transaction-value-in-2024-surpasses-visa-and-mastercard/

Senate passes stablecoin bill: https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/us-senate-passes-stablecoin-bill-milestone-crypto-industry-2025-06-17/

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