Things you're not meant to say about NPC jobs, robot demos and AI Jesus

Ryan Petersen is the founder and CEO of Flexport, the technology-driven freight forwarder that ranks amongst the top companies exporting ocean freight. In this conversation, Ryan and Scott move through sprawling, but connected territory: including Ryan’s “great man theory” of history, what tariffs are actually doing to global supply chains, and why René Girard’s thinking on role models might hold the unexpected answer to AI alignment.In today's episode, we discuss:• Why Ryan thinks trends are regurgitations of “chauffeur knowledge”• Why America is struggling to follow Rotterdam’s lead in port automation• How prevalent customs fraud is and why it’s impacting 11% of US ocean trade• Why we should heed the historic lessons from the Silk Road and the Black Death plague in today’s interconnected world• What DHL’s billion-dollar IBM disaster teaches us about organizational resistance to tech• Why Ryan thinks the one-person AI company is a fundamentally pointless exercise• The overproduction of elites: how low-status jobs are becoming the best-paid• What Asian industrialization teaches America about exportsReferenced• Amazon• Betty Crocker• ChatGPT• Deloitte• DHL• Flexport• Hyundai• IBM• LBCT• Mike Rowe• Peter Thiel•