Chapter 1: What are the key highlights from Davos this year?
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Are we dumber than we used to be? Maybe. Or maybe we're just wrong about what it means to be smart.
Chapter 2: How did President Trump's remarks impact the mood at Davos?
Our brains evolved for social interactions. You know, so when you're like talking to your friend next to you in the math class, that is actually what our brains are for. This week on Explain It to Me from Vox, our crisis of stupid and how to get our brains back. New episodes Sundays, wherever you get your podcasts. Today's number, $43. That's the cost of a hot dog at Davos, where I am.
Ed, I like to think that every place is like a human, and the more successful an event, the sexier it is. And this place has the sex appeal, Ed, of a Marriott lobby. The only way you get anyone hard here is you tell them you can introduce them to the Saudi delegation.
Is the Saudi delegation there?
Oh, yeah. There's a lot of people from the kingdom here. Yeah. You know who's not here? Is the people who are benefiting from threats to invade a block of ice is the Chinese. There aren't that many Chinese people here.
Who do people most want to hang out with? Like I remember you were saying on your Instagram that certain people have different colors, which represents your status, like on your badge.
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Chapter 3: What was the significance of Mark Carney's speech?
Like who's the highest status, most high value type of individual at Darbus?
You're giving the PG-13 version of what I said. Essentially, whenever mammals congregate, there's gonna be a hierarchy. And the way you sniff the butt of other mammals here at Davos is you look at the color of their badge.
There's like vendor badges, partner badges, which means you paid your way in, nonprofit badges, which means they tolerate your wokeness to pretend that, you know, Davos is full of people who are like, claim to be socialists and then have to peace out in their talk about income inequality to catch a helicopter.
Are you part of this group? Where do you stand in this?
Yeah, I was just saying, wait, is that me? Is that me? Wheels up at 9.30, just in case you were wondering. But I'm very concerned about the climate. This is our planet. Yeah. Anyways, back to me.
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Chapter 4: How is the current global order perceived by leaders at Davos?
So, and the ultimate badge is a white badge. And I figured out what it's like to be a woman because first people look you in the eyes and then they look at your chest to see what kind of badge you have. And a white badge is the equivalent of big tits. That's what I figured out here. People look me in the eyes and like, oh, I think I know him. I think he's that weirdo.
And then they'll look at my badge and they're like, I love your content.
Oh, so you've got a good badge. What's your badge?
I got the white badge. I'm all access because- And what does the white badge mean? It's just like your VIP? I don't know what it means. It means that you're in the main Congress- Friends with Larry Fink? Yeah, I think that's what it means.
Chapter 5: What are the implications of Trump's foreign policy on the U.S. relationship with Europe?
It means you're in the main Congress hall and you're not one of the satellites roaming around. It's, I was last year, I know you want to know about this. I was last year in 1999. I don't know. I peaked very early. And then I went to, I've just figured out what happened, why I've been invited back in 26 years.
I went, Klaus Schwab, who was the chairman and founder of the World Economic Forum, invited me to have lunch with him at his new office in the hills of Zurich. And I went up there and I'm like, Jesus Christ, this is like a bomb lair. And I wrote about it and said, no nonprofit should have an office that nice.
And someone from WEF, the World Economic Forum, emailed me and said, Klaus did not appreciate those comments. Did not get invited back for 26 years. And then the year he steps down, I get invited back. So anyways, I'm back at Davos. Do you want to know the difference between the vibes between 99 and 2025 or 2026, is that what you were trying to ask? Please.
Chapter 6: How do political leaders view the future of globalization?
Well, in 1999, it was about the internet. In America, Bill Clinton gave the biggest speech when I was here the last time, and it was about kind of cooperation and alliances, and also competition, consumerism, using a lot of Cs. And now it's about AI, and the biggest speech was, again, from the President of the United States, but it's about
chaos and coercion, and I would argue with a smattering of corruption. I've sat next to the guy from Binance last night. Chang Peng Chao. Yeah, he got pardoned by President Trump for, and now his kids are in, anyway. So things have changed dramatically. The tone and the vibe, I would say that generally speaking in 99, everyone kind of wanted more. It was more optimistic.
Now everyone's sort of like, I hope it doesn't get worse. Meanwhile, everyone's making a lot of money. I had, I was at a dinner. I spoke at the BlackRock dinner and they had, I don't know if it's off the record.
Chapter 7: What role does the EU play in the current geopolitical landscape?
Anyways, they had a bunch of AI masters in the universe and everyone, every startup here. In 99, I was pitching everyone on my startups. And now everyone's literally like, come to the E&Y house and learn about my AI platform that's helping optimize the workflow for manufacturing companies. I mean, it's just, everyone has an AI startup.
It feels very reminiscent of 99 on a business level in terms of the hype cycle, which is different as America's role in the world and how people perceive our role in the world. But anyways, I'm here.
Well, we're going to keep on unpacking this. I'm going to get us started with this episode. We are going to be talking about Davos this week. So the World Economic Forum, as we are just discussing, convened in Davos last week, and this time people were actually paying attention. Unlike many recent years, the conference has been dominating headlines.
Top political and tech leaders have all gathered in one place. President Trump has obviously made a splash. walking back two earlier positions on Greenland. He ruled out the use of force to acquire Greenland, and then he walked back tariff threats against European countries standing in the way.
Chapter 8: What are the potential consequences of America's economic policies?
That, of course, sent markets rallying in the US. In addition to Trump's speech, which covered everything from relations with Europe to his affordability plans, the conference also featured remarks from From Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney, which we will get into, also France's President Emmanuel Macron, who is wearing a strange pair of glasses, and EU President Ursula von der Leyen.
In total, nearly 65 heads of state and government attended, alongside some of the most powerful figures in tech and finance, including Jensen Huang, Jamie Dimon, Satya Nadella, and others. Scott, we've been getting a vibe check from you. I think the first thing I would point out and get your reaction to, it seems like this year was a uniquely big year for Davos.
You know, this happens every year, and usually it's like, you know, maybe one or two headlines in the news, and you see maybe a clip of someone talking about it. But it seems like this was a really big deal in a way that it hasn't been in the past. And in fact, we have verified this by just looking at the search interest in Davos.
It has already doubled that of last year and five times that of 2022. Search interest in the World Economic Forum has almost doubled as well. compared to last year. For whatever reason, maybe Trump, everyone cares a lot about Davos this year.
It's actually important, which is kind of surprising because I think a lot of people have been saying over the past few years that these kinds of conferences don't matter anymore. Suddenly, this one seems to.
Yeah, so first of all, it's easy to be cynical about the World Economic Forum, Azamai, and Davos, but I think this kind of stuff is actually important because It gets people together who speak. And I think when you look someone in the eyes and you get to know them, you're less likely to shitpost them or raise terror. I don't know. I think it's good that people get together and talk at this level.
Even the guy who wrote Davos Man, which is... basically kind of shitposting the people that are here. They invite him. They're comfortable with that. So what you're talking about, Davos isn't about the content. It's about having access to the crowd and the people, as is our most good conferences. It's all about the people, not the content. They do a reasonable job with the content.
I think it's fine. The way I, I don't know, a decent litmus test for how crowded an event is, is the hotel room rates. And as you can see from the background here, I'm in the equivalent of a Swiss Days Inn. This is not luxury. They don't even offer a lunch. I've been living off cereal, no joke. And it's 2,200 Swiss francs a night. So what is that, about 2,500 or $3,000?
And if Trump gives another speech, the dollar, this will probably be $11,000 by tomorrow. So, look, it is packed. The energy is high, but the vibe is like the world order is fraying. And it feels... You know, it just feels insecure. There's just a lack of... optimism, and it doesn't feel like anyone's stepping into the void.
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