Podcast Summary: The Realignment – "Why Electricity Is Eating the World: How the Electric Tech Stack Will Dominate the 21st Century"

Episode 567 | August 14, 2025
Guests: Sam D’Amico (Impulse Labs), Noah Smith (No Opinion, Substack)
Hosts: Marshall Kosloff

Main Theme & Overview

This episode explores the thesis that the world is entering a new industrial transformation driven by what the guests call the “electric tech stack”—the convergence of advanced batteries, motors, power electronics, computing, and hardware. Arguing that "electricity is eating the world" as profoundly as software did in the 2010s, the conversation delves into how this transformation reshapes everything—from kitchen appliances to warfare—while examining China’s lead in the domain, the implications for American policy and industry, and the cultural and political challenges of scaling these technologies domestically.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What is the Electric Tech Stack?

[00:00–06:38]

• Sam D’Amico: Founder of Impulse Labs, explains his journey from consumer electronics (e.g. Google Glass, Oculus) to reinventing stoves using high-powered batteries and software control. His company partners with major appliance brands to embed electric tech stack innovations in mainstream products.
  • "We build the highest performance stove in the market... It's all really cool. You can boil cold water super quickly... It's software defined and software controlled." (Sam, 02:03)
• The electric tech stack is fundamentally about:
  • Batteries (especially lithium-ion)
  • Motors (with new permanent magnets)
  • Power Electronics (faster, smaller, more capable switches)
  • Embedded Computing

2. Why is this a Paradigm Shift?

[06:38–13:04]

• Noah Smith positions the electric tech revolution as the third pillar alongside AI and biotech.
  • "There are two ways you can make something move: combustion... or pushing electrons through a wire. For most of the 20th century, both coexisted. Now, electricity is taking over places where only combustion used to work." (Noah, 08:13)
• Advancement Timeline:
  • Late 90s–2000s saw breakthroughs in battery density, permanent magnets for motors, and power electronics, allowing electric methods to surpass combustion in many areas.
• Real-World Impacts:
  • Ukraine’s use of consumer-grade drone tech in warfare, and 2020 Portland protests where battery-powered leaf blowers were repurposed for activism, signal how ubiquitous and democratized (and powerful) electric tech has become.

3. Electrification as 'Eating the World'

[13:04–22:03]

• Drawing analogy to Marc Andreessen’s "Software is Eating the World" essay:
  • Sam: "Electricity is eating the world because it's the only form of energy controllable by software. Software will use energy and control energy in the ways that work naturally, which is inexorably electricity." (Sam, 15:33)
• Key Point: The defining trait of electrified devices (e.g., Tesla vehicles, drones, advanced appliances) is not just power, but that all their operation is "software-defined", allowing for new abstractions and radical flexibility.
• Transition is not just about climate or culture wars; the electric tech stack often outperforms combustion and other aging paradigms on pure technical grounds.

4. China’s Advantage and the Geopolitical Stakes

[22:03–34:35]

• Noah: "China has collectively realized the importance of the electric tech stack... becoming what some people have called the first electrostate." (Noah, 22:30)
• Unlike past eras where manufacturing sectors (TVs, cars, drones) were completely separate, the electric tech stack enables companies like BYD to rapidly scale across domains using a common technology base.
  • Example: "Xiaomi is a phone company and they're competing with Tesla on cars." (Noah, 24:06)
• China’s manufacturing ecosystem is unique: supply chains, engineering talent, and automation co-located, with a culture of rapid prototyping and cross-domain learning.
  • Sam: "In China... you get an engineering team that knows how to build the products when you go and sign one of them up... That is not something that exists in the United States today." (Sam, 30:00)
• This structural advantage, plus aggressive subsidies and integration, creates a global challenge for American industry. Without embracing industrial policy, the US risks permanent disadvantage.

5. Policy, Culture Wars, and the Urgency for Action

[34:35–50:11]

• American policymakers mostly lack first-hand understanding of China’s transformation. The guests argue that "banning" Chinese EVs is a short-term solution that could lead to complacency.
  • Sam: "You have to figure out how to go before you can tweet. People don't know what China's been up to... we are in the midst of a fundamental step change." (Sam, 35:44)
• Compromise solutions: Letting Chinese firms build in the US (like Japanese auto companies did), with robust safeguards against spying and sabotage, to foster domestic tech clusters and supplier networks.
  • Noah: "The obvious solution is simply let China make the cars here and sell them to Americans here... if we had a war with China, we could nationalize them." (Noah, 43:03)
• Technological safeguards (chain of trust, secure assembly, business intelligence practices) can manage cybersecurity risks, as major US companies already do in global manufacturing.

6. What Should America Do?

[47:37–54:15]

• Noah’s Policy Prescription:
  • Recognize the electric tech stack as fundamental to 21st-century power, on par with AI and biotech.
  • Commit to integrated industrial policies: subsidies (e.g. for battery plants, rare earths), protectionism, competitive clustering zones, and workforce retraining.
  • "The electric tech stack is one of the core technologies... We don't have a choice. We can't just call it climate stuff, wave it away and destroy it." (Noah, 49:10)
• Sam’s Entrepreneurial Call to Action:
  • Large, ignored markets (e.g. appliances) can create pull for onshoring capacity and tech skills.
  • The financial ecosystem (public & private) must step up to regard the electric tech stack as foundational.
  • Rebuild the integration between engineers and factories—cultural and regulatory barriers (zoning, housing, attitudes toward manufacturing) must be reformed.
  • "There are four key technologies that will define the 21st century. We invented all of them, and we currently don't produce enough of them, and we need to fix that." (Sam, 54:00)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "The world really changed. Electricity is just much more powerful."
  — Noah Smith, [11:17]
• "Electricity is eating the world because it's the only form of energy that is controllable by software."
  — Sam D’Amico, [15:33]
• "If we let culture wars convince us that the electric tech stack is fantasy, we're doomed... because this stuff is for real."
  — Noah Smith, [25:45]
• "You have to figure out how to go before you can tweet. People don't know what China's been up to."
  — Sam D’Amico, [35:44]
• "The electric tech stack is one of the core technologies, along with AI and maybe biotech, that is going to make this century. And we have to compete. We don’t have a choice."
  — Noah Smith, [49:10]
• "We invented all of them, and we currently don’t produce enough of them, and we need to fix that."
  — Sam D’Amico, [54:00]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Introduction to Electric Tech Stack & Sam’s Work
  [00:00–06:38]
• Physics and History of Electrification
  [06:38–13:04]
• ‘Electricity is Eating the World’ Thesis
  [13:04–22:03]
• China’s Advantage in the Electric Tech Era
  [22:03–34:35]
• Policy Options: Ban, Regulate, or Compete?
  [34:35–47:37]
• What Should America Do? Strategic Policy and Entrepreneurial Action
  [47:37–54:15]

Conclusion

This episode provides a sweeping, yet grounded, analysis of how and why the electric tech stack is poised to transform the global economy and geopolitics, not just for climate but as the new backbone of technological power. The guests urge American policymakers, technologists, and entrepreneurs to recognize the scale of the challenge and opportunity, and to act as if the fate of the coming century depends on mastering these four key technologies—because, as they compellingly argue, it does.