Comment by SilverElfin
4 days ago
How did Dwarkesh manage to build a brand that can attract famous people to his podcast? He didn’t have prior fame from something else in research or business, right? Curious if anyone knows his growth strategy to get here.
Seems like he’s Lex without the Rogan association so hardcore liberal folks can listen without having to buy morality offsets. He’s good, and he’s filling a void in an established underserved genre is my take.
I stopped listening to Lex Fridman after he tried to arbiter a "peace agreement" between Russia and Ukraine and claimed he just wanted to make the world "love" each other more.
Then I found out he was a fraud that had no academic connection to MIT other than working there as an IC.
> I stopped listening to Lex Fridman after he tried to arbiter a "peace agreement" between Russia and Ukraine...
Same here. I lost all respect for Lex after seeing him interview Zelensky of Ukraine. Lex grew up in Moscow. He sometimes shows a soft spot for Russia perhaps because of it.
I think its important to include that Lex is laundromat for whatever the guest is trying to sell. Dwarkesh does an impressive amount of background and speaks with experts about their expertise.
His recent conversation with Sutton suggests otherwise. Friedman is a vapid charlatan par excellence. Dwarkesh suffers from a different problem, where, by rubbing shoulders with experts, he has come to the mistaken belief that he possesses expertise, absent the humility and actual work that would entail.
2 replies →
> I think its important to include that Lex is laundromat for whatever the guest is trying to sell.
This is also Rogan's chief problem as a podcaster, isn't it?
Tell me more about these morality offsets I can buy! I got a bunch of friends that listen to Joe Rogan, so I listen to him to know what they're talking about, but I've been doing so without these offsets, so my morality's been taking hits. Please help me before I make a human trafficking app for Andrew Tate!
It amuses me to no end that there are groups in the US that would probably consider both Terence McKenna and Michel Foucault as "far right" conservatives if they were alive and had podcasts in 2025.
Absolutely no way Timothy Leary would be considered a liberal in 2025.
Those three I think represent a pretty good mirror of the present situation.
It has nothing to do with politics.
Fridman is a morally broken grifter, who just built a persona and a brand on proven lies, claiming an association with MIT that was de facto non-existent. Not wanting to give the guy recognition is not a matter of being liberal or conservative, but just interested in truthfulness.
Google search: "lex fridman and mit"
Second hit: https://cces.mit.edu/team/lex-fridman/
2 replies →
Patel takes anticommunism to such an extreme that he repeatedly brings up and speculates (despite being met with repudiation by even the staunchest anticommunist of guests) whether naziism is preferable, that Hitler should have the war against Soviets, that the US should have collaborated with Hitler to defeat communism, and that the enduring spread of naziism would have been a good tradeoff to make.
5 replies →
The episode with Zelensky exposed him as a complete idiot. I can maybe tolerate grifters but fuck the whole 'love and peace bro' act while implying Ukraine should make peace with invaders who have ruthlessly killed civilian men, women, and children.
I wish we stopped giving airtime to grifters. Maybe then things would start looking up in the world.
Overnight success takes years (he has been doing the podcast for 5 years).
People are impressed by his interviews because he puts a lot of effort into researching the topic before the interview. This is a positive feedback loop.
He's the best interviewer I ever found, try listening to his first couple episodes - they're from his dorm or something. If you can think of a similar style and originality in questioning I'd love a suggestion!
Sean Evans. :)
He does deep research on topics and invites people who recognize his efforts and want to engage with an informed audience.
That, plus he's quick enough to come up with good follow-up questions on the spot. It's so frustrating listening to interviews where the interviewer simply glosses over interesting/controversial statements because they either don't care, or don't know enough to identify a statement as controversial. In contrast, Dwarkesh is incredible at this. 9/10 times when I'm confused about a statement that a guest makes on his show he will immediately follow up by asking for clarification or pushing back. It's so refreshing.
Maybe he's an Industry plant
One word.
Consistency.
You can just do things.
Don't stop.