Podcast Summary: "A Tour of the Tech Boom — 5 Waves You Need To Understand"

Podcast: Azeem Azhar’s Exponential View
Host: Azeem Azhar
Guest: Packy McCormick (Not Boring Substack)
Date: April 10, 2025

Overview

In this dynamic episode, Azeem Azhar and Packy McCormick embark on a high-energy exploration of the current technology boom, identifying and analyzing five major waves transforming industry and society: AI, the resurgence of building in the physical world (“atoms”), energy infrastructure, the European tech awakening, and the broader compounding effects redefining global economics. Their conversation moves fluidly between macro trends, cultural mindsets, and the implications for individuals seeking meaning in a world awash with new tools and opportunities.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Era of Predictable Exponential Change — “Five Waves”

• AI as the New Platform: Azhar draws a parallel from older tech booms (semiconductors, PCs, software, internet, social/mobile/cloud) to today’s AI revolution, arguing that we're finally seeing a true new platform for both entrepreneurship and value creation (05:33).
  • Quote: “They’ve now got this platform and it's AI, and it’s really electrified things. My life has completely changed.” — Azeem Azhar ([05:33])
• Physical Tech Renaissance ("Atoms" over "Bits"): Both highlight the surge of interest (and startup activity) in “hard tech,” from energy storage to defense to aerospace, reversing years of “bits over atoms” focus.
  • Quote: “Physical, hard things made out of atoms, they have a visceral, tangible quality… It's amazing to see the entrepreneurial community start to care about that.” — Azhar ([01:15])
• Energy Revolution: There’s broad agreement that producing, storing, and distributing electricity efficiently is central to every new tech wave—from AI to EVs, from homes to space launches.
  • Quote: “We want to produce and transmit and store… electricity now and rebuild the economy around electricity and batteries as the animating force. That is incredibly exciting.” — McCormick ([22:08])
• European Reawakening: Azhar narrates a “flippening” in Europe’s attitude to technology and defense, catalyzed by geopolitical shifts, US dependency, and a renewed willingness to “build.”
  • Quote: “There has been a real shift... Sleepy Europe in a six-week period really started to galvanize… That’s why European defense companies have done a real Nvidia this year.” — Azhar ([15:19])
• Compounding Wildcards: From neurotech to biotech to the unknown, both agree that these waves are compounding into something much larger than the sum of their parts.
  • Quote: “I couldn’t tell you where we’re going to be… in a decade from now… It just compounds on each other.” — McCormick ([41:05])

2. AI: Between Exhilaration and Scepticism

• Practical Uses vs. Hype: McCormick shares how AI tools (GPT, Claude) are already transforming work/life, likening them to “Super SaaS,” but voices skepticism about the “godlike” AI narratives ([06:38]).
  • Quote: “AI is the first time that I felt like the curmudgeonly old guy… There’s this call that in two years AI will be God, humans will be worthless… I see no signs of that.” — McCormick ([06:38])
• Human Value in the Age of Abundance: Both stress the importance of self-actualization—“being the best version of yourself”—as automation commoditizes more work.
  • Quote: “It’s like kind of human differentiation and figuring out what you want to get out of all of this, assuming… we have world historical superpowers at our fingertips.” — McCormick ([09:57]), echoed by Azhar ([10:52])

3. Makers vs. Takers: Cultural, Economic, and Personal Implications

• From Taker Culture to Maker Culture: Azhar and McCormick reflect on society’s difficulty turning abundance into opportunity, noting many remain “consumptive takers, not makers” ([12:00]).
  • Quote: “There is something that is not about the technology, that gets in the way, that constructs a sort of consumptive taker, not maker culture.” — Azhar ([00:24], [10:52])
• Activation Energy for Fulfillment: Exploring what drives people to create, McCormick argues there’s no “easy patent answer,” and discusses how wealth, culture, and personal discovery all play roles ([12:00], [13:12]).

4. Geographies, Policy & Infrastructure: The Global Divergence

• US vs. Europe vs. Asia Mindsets: They compare mindset differences regarding risk, infrastructure, and the role of government. Asia’s optimism and Europe’s recent “galvanization” contrast with the US’s entrepreneurial spread.
• Grid Modernization & Energy Entrepreneurship: McCormick spotlights Base Power (Texas) as emblematic of the new wave of vertically integrated, highly innovative, distributed energy startups ([23:32]).
  • Explanation: “Base essentially is your electric company. They install batteries on your home… You sign up, they become your electric provider, they own the battery, you pay a monthly fee, and get lower energy bills.” — McCormick ([25:26])
• The Electricity “Banana” Problem: Azhar uses a memorable metaphor for energy storage and distribution: “We have to think of electrons as bananas that go bad. Bananas get produced rapidly, there aren’t enough people to eat them, and then refrigerators showed up…” ([27:23])

5. Hard Tech, Space, and Nuclear: Building for the Next Era

• Resurgence in Defense Tech: Europe’s pivot is mirrored by a surge in defense-startup energy. Azhar: “Teams need a flag, a goal to run towards.” ([17:54])
• Space Sector Competition: The duo discusses Eric Schmidt taking the CEO seat at Relativity, possible reasons, and the need for “dual launch” so the world isn't dependent on SpaceX ([29:35]).
• Nuclear’s Role in the Mix: Both are “very pro” nuclear, acknowledging both incumbent regulatory barriers and the avalanche-like price drops coming from solar/batteries ([34:43]). Nuclear will likely shrink as a proportion of total energy, but remains vital for reliability, culture, and signaling scientific trust ([36:52]-[38:21]).

6. Future Shock & The Need to Know Thyself

• Societal Dislocation: Technological abundance increases personal agency but also existential challenge—knowing what to do with freedom, wealth, and new tools.
• Tech’s Expanding Frontier: Bio, Neuro, Robots: McCormick hints the next big wave could come from bio and neurotech: “Every kind of smart college kid… [is] working on bio and neuro specifically… I think things are going to get really wild.” ([41:05])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments (with Timestamps)

• On AI’s Runaway Potential
  “We keep discovering new predictable scaling laws and we don’t see a point where this trajectory stops.” — Azhar ([00:00])
• On the Shift to a Maker Mindset
  “Instead of have and have nots, it’s a ‘know thyself and know thyself-nots’, or do and do-nots.” — McCormick ([00:41])
• On Tech’s Tangibility
  “If we start delivering supersonic planes and self-driving cars… that whole thing starts to flip and people can feel what technology is.” — McCormick ([01:25])
• On Cultural Impact of Abundance
  “There is certainly a dog chasing the car situation where it’s like, ‘Alright, we have everything. What now?’” — McCormick ([13:59])
• On European Defense Tech Awakening
  “Rheinmetall is up 100%, Thales up 73%... It is a, you know, teams need a flag.” — Azhar ([17:54])
• On Electrification’s Scope
  “We’re going to use a hell of a lot of electricity. Hopefully some of that’s nuclear, solar, batteries, geothermal…” — McCormick ([40:01])
• On the Future's Uncertainty
  “Tech is going to get so much bigger in a way that I think people… don’t really appreciate…” — McCormick ([40:54])
• On the Next Generation’s Focus
  “Apparently, [the] genius college kids are all working on bio and neuro specifically… so we haven’t even gotten to what we’re going to be able to do with our brains.” — McCormick ([41:05])

Important Segments & Timestamps

• AI Supersedes Crypto as the Main Platform: [05:33] – [07:20]
• Human Differentiation Amid AI Abundance: [09:57] – [12:00]
• Cultural Differences & ‘Affluenza’: [13:12] – [14:36]
• European Tech & Defense Awakening: [15:19] – [18:25]
• Builds in “Atoms” & Infrastructure Gaps: [20:18] – [23:32]
• Exploding US Energy Innovation: [23:32] – [29:15]
• Space Industry & Eric Schmidt at Relativity: [29:35] – [33:08]
• Big Picture on Nuclear vs. Renewables: [34:43] – [39:14]
• The Compounding Future: [40:54] – [42:07]

Conclusion

Azeem Azhar and Packy McCormick invite listeners onto a whirlwind tour of the tectonic shifts underway in technology, energy, defense, and society. Whether debating the magnitude of AI’s impact, the meaning of a new “maker” culture, the new relevance of atomic-age hardware, or the shifting global balance, both agree: the compounding effect of these “five waves” is setting us up for an era of transformation — exhilarating, uncertain, and ripe with opportunity for those willing to become the best versions of themselves.

For more, follow Packy McCormick’s Not Boring (Substack) & Azeem’s Exponential View newsletter.

(All advertisements, intros, and outros have been omitted for clarity.)