Chip Stock Investor Podcast The Luddites Were Right: What History Tells Us About AI (With Jacob Goldstein)
Apr 3, 2026
Jacob Goldstein, podcast host and business historian, unpacks parallels between the Luddites and modern AI. He discusses job displacement versus long‑run gains, political and local backlash, regulatory capture, the commodification of software, and whether AI marks a factory‑style shift in software production.
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Model Government Involvement As A Key Investment Risk
- Expect government involvement in AI as cloud and data centers look like utilities and attract regulation.
- Goldstein advises investors to model regulatory risk, since antitrust and infrastructure rules can create barriers or rents.
Past Tech Waves Ultimately Boosted Broad Prosperity
- Past computing and internet waves increased broad prosperity even if initial productivity gains were hard to measure.
- Goldstein cites the 1990s internet boom as an example where wages and government finances improved alongside tech growth.
Big Productivity Gains Produce Concentrated Losers
- Technological gains create winners and losers; redistribution or policies are needed to ease short-term pain.
- Goldstein references the China Shock and David Autor's work showing localized persistent harm despite overall gains.
