Invest Like The Best
Episode 339 The Great Founder Theory of History
Invest Like The Best

Episode 339: The Great Founder Theory of History

Invest Like The Best

Episode 339

The Great Founder Theory of History

Samo Burja is the founder of consulting firm, Bismarck Analysis. We cover the common traits of great founders, ideas that have had outsized importance in shaping the world, and the implications of the Great Founder Theory for capital allocators.

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(00:02:52) - (First question) - The core thesis behind the Great Founder Theory

(00:06:40) - Great ideas inevitably being discovered at some point in history 

(00:08:45) - The historic implications of a global adoption of the Great Founder Theory

(00:10:51) - The different possible directions of future trends

(00:17:08) - Distinctions between great founders versus live players  

(00:22:15) - Common misconceptions about what qualifies one as a great founder

(00:24:38) - Noteworthy great founders in the United States

(00:28:34) - Recurring observable traits and common themes of great founders  

(00:31:29) - Using caution when projecting a mythic lens onto great founders 

(00:37:53) - Social technology as the upstream effects of prior material technology

(00:43:32) - Whether or not institutions play a role in propagating the work of great founders   

(00:49:08) - The role of power and differences between owned and borrowed power  

(00:56:51) - Additional ideas that play an outsized role in shaping the world 

(01:01:09) - A differing worldview to his own that he finds interesting

(01:04:53) - Whether or not capital allocators can benefit from the Great Founder Theory 

(01:07:37) - The kindest thing anyone has ever done for him 

The Great Founder Theory of History

Introduction

Patrick
My guest today is Samo Burja. Samo is the founder of consulting firm Bismarck Analysis and has dedicated his life's work to understanding why there has never been an immortal society. His research focuses on the institutions, the founders behind them, how they rise and why they always fall in the end. As you'll hear, Samo has an encyclopedic grasp with history. And his work has led him to some fascinating theories about human progress, the nature of exceptional founders and the future of different societies across the world. Please enjoy my conversation with Samo Burja.

Implications of The Great Founder Theory

Patrick
Samo, your writing has been amongst the most interesting that I've encountered in the last couple of years, just a tremendous variety of ideas and ways of looking at the world and history. One of the overarching things that you're best known for is this lens on history, the called Great Founder Theory. I'd love you to just begin by laying out the core idea here how you came upon the idea and maybe what it opposes, the alternative view of history from the one that you've developed. I'd love to start there and then we'll dive into lots of nooks and crannies together.

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