Culture & Code – Episode Summary

Episode: "Can America Continue Its Bull Run?"

Hosts: Rei Inamoto & Tara Tan
Date: November 12, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of Culture & Code unpacks whether America can maintain its economic and technological "bull run" amidst global turbulence and the rise of AI. Tara and Rei analyze historical cycles of growth and upheaval, drawing parallels to today’s bridge period—marked by significant technological innovation alongside political, economic, and social disruptions. Drawing from recent events (notably Nvidia’s DC summit), they question what the future holds for American innovation, work, and global competition, especially vis-à-vis China.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Historical Cycles of Technological & Economic Growth

• Bridge Periods and Technological Booms:
  Tara explains the concept of "bridge periods"—often 30-40 years of turbulence between industrial revolutions, sparking massive social change and technology advances.
  • “[The bridge] are periods, you know, if we look at modern history, it's between 35 to 40 years. The bridge. I call periods of…social, political, and economic turbulence. But that's where a lot of the tech progress happened and the invention happened.” — Tara (04:23)
• GDP Growth & Industrial Revolutions:
  Using her own historical data graph, Tara tracks US economic booms:
  • Agrarian Era → First Industrial Revolution (Europe-centric)
  • US Tech Boom: 1870–1915 (Second Industrial Revolution: infrastructure, steam engine)
  • Post-Wars Tech Acceleration: 1950 onwards (Information Age)

2. Are We in a New Bridge Period?

• Current Signs of Turbulence:
  The hosts agree the 2020s resemble historical ‘bridge’ periods:
  • “We're probably in or close to the bridge. If you look around…the world right now, we are in quite a lot of political, social, economic turbulence. And we are also seeing a lot of technological innovation…” — Tara (05:31)
  • Massive invention happening in AI, robotics, transportation, echoing waves of past disruption.
• Job Displacement & Work Evolution:
  Tara relates history’s automation anxiety to today’s:
  • “When the industrial revolutions happen, people were put out of work…machines automated, a lot of jobs. Cars remove[d] that. Machines and factories replace[d] the very agricultural way of living…” — Tara (08:05)

3. The Future of Work

• “Portfolio Careers” Instead of Traditional Jobs:
  • “I believe that the term that you're looking for is a portfolio career…you have a handful of things that you do, and it's a portfolio career versus one track…” — Tara (13:52)
  • Majority will have to adapt to less stable, more freelance and gig-based models.
  • “We have to adapt to maybe like an early version of it is a gig economy. But maybe one of the consequences that we will see out of this bridge period is the work or the jobs as we know them may change quite, quite drastically.” — Rei (13:24)
• Growing Disruption & Layoffs:
  Host observations on recent layoffs across tech and retail (Amazon, Walmart) signify the labor market’s volatility.

4. Corporate Uncertainty & AI’s Mixed Results

• Despite investments, AI’s returns for many companies remain underwhelming:
  • “Companies that invested in AI are not seeing the return as much as they thought…over the past year or two, whatever they invested, they may not be seeing returns…” — Rei (17:31)
• Many CEOs are only piloting AI; widespread adoption is still early (18:24).

5. America, China, and Global Tech Power

• The Rare Earths Dilemma:
  • “America has basically relinquished manufacturing from the U.S.…what's hard to do is the refining…that refining process is horrible…it's like back breaking, environmentally harming work…China took it on.” — Tara (21:34 – 22:59)
  • China dominates both mining (69%) and refining (90%) of rare earth minerals essential for modern tech; US lags far behind (24:03).
• Nvidia, the New “Apollo Moment,” and Geopolitics:
  • “Jensen Huang talks about, oh, we are in the Apollo moment without necessarily mentioning China specifically. But that's exactly what he was talking about…back in the 1960s it was the US against Russia…now it's the US against China.” — Rei (25:01)
  • While the US holds “software, the IP, the big…cloud companies,” China controls the “manufacturing, the industrialization…batteries or materials” (26:12–26:36).
  • The hosts predict the US/China tech and trade contest will shape the next 70 years.

6. Cultural Parallels & Differences

• Tara’s experience:
  • “I actually think that Americans…Americans and China. Chinese are very similar in terms of personality…their sense of humor and their outgoingness and their sort of way of being. It's actually quite similar.” — Tara (29:01–29:17)
• Rei adds: differing formality:
  • “Europeans and Japanese are a little bit more similar…more like structure, formality, tradition…” — Rei (29:59)

7. How to Navigate the Bridge Era

• Mindset for Uncertainty:
  • “Everyone's job is to stay nimble…whether you are a wartime CEO or a peacetime CEO…that's kind of the mindset that, you know, we have to come in.” — Tara (20:37)
  • “Instead of having wishful thinking…going into knowing the bridge period can be turbulent and can be a little bit bumpy. Knowing that, I think would help us at least be ready for the bumpy ride.” — Rei (33:40)
• Prepare for a Long Bridge:
  • “It's probably more like 20 years, if I were to be very honest.” — Tara (33:24)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On personal adaptation:
  “As me personally, as an investor, my job is to just stay on top of all of this and understand where the world is heading and…and technologies are needed in the future. Like that's my mandate. Really.” — Tara (21:15)
• On the “bull run” stakes:
  “I think, whether America continues its bull run…next five to seven years or 10 years would be absolutely critical…for the next 70 years.” — Tara (26:36–26:59)
• On optimism and realism:
  “That's a true definition of optimism. Right. Like, you're actually quite an optimist. Realist. I don't know what the term is, but there you go.” — Tara (34:11)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Timestamp | |-----------------------------------------------|------------| | Tara explains "bridge" theory | 03:42–04:23| | Are we entering a new bridge period? | 05:31–06:49| | The evolution of work: portfolio careers | 13:45–14:09| | AI disruption not delivering expected ROI | 17:27–18:13| | Rare earths: US vs. China | 21:34–24:03| | The new tech Cold War, Nvidia, & policy | 25:01–28:43| | Cultural similarities between US & China | 29:00–30:14| | How to survive a bumpy 20-year “bridge” | 33:24–34:11|

Episode Tone

Reflective, analytical, candid—Tara and Rei dissect macroeconomic shifts through both historical and deeply personal lenses. There's a note of realism blended with cautious optimism, urging listeners to prepare and adapt rather than pine for a return to stability.

For those who missed the episode:
This is a deep dive into history’s lessons for today’s innovation battles, America’s competitive prospects in tech, the shifting shape of work, and why being nimble, honest, and adaptive is the smartest strategy as we navigate a new—and possibly long—“bridge” period.