E94: NFT volume plummets, California's overreach, FBI meddling, climate change & national security

**Jason Calacanis** (0:00)
All right, everybody, welcome to episode 94 of All-In. This is a summer unprepared episode. There's not much news. We're gonna wing it. With me again, in his golfing cap, the Rain Man himself, David Sacks. You do okay, buddy?

**David Sacks** (0:17)
Yeah, everything's good.

**Jason Calacanis** (0:18)
Yeah, all right.

**David Sacks** (0:19)
I'm kind of annoyed that we're taping on a Wednesday.

**Jason Calacanis** (0:22)
You know, this is a slow news week. It's a slow news week.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (0:24)
Well, that's not why we're taping on a Wednesday, it's because you have to want to go to Burning Man.

**David Friedberg** (0:28)
Well, whatever.

**Jason Calacanis** (0:28)
I mean, listen, everybody has to get their burn on.

**David Friedberg** (0:30)
Sacks, have you ever been to Burning Man?

**David Sacks** (0:32)
Yeah, I've been before.

**David Friedberg** (0:33)
Sacks was at Burning Man?

**Jason Calacanis** (0:35)
Really?

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (0:35)
He was there on Threesome Thursday.

**David Sacks** (0:38)
I've been a couple of times. I think it's a cool experience worth doing once or twice in your life. It's not something I want to do every year, but I know a lot of people do like doing it every year. They're like really into it. I'm not really into it that way, but I think it was a worthwhile experience to go at least once.

**David Friedberg** (0:56)
Chamath, have you been?

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (0:58)
No.

**Jason Calacanis** (0:59)
Friedberg, have you been?

**David Friedberg** (1:01)
I've not been, no.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (1:02)
I have no desire, no.

**David Friedberg** (1:03)
I don't like driving in the car for a long period of time.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (1:06)
By the way, I'll tell you why I don't really have a huge desire to go. I don't really have a huge desire at this point in my life to want to do a ton of drugs.

**Jason Calacanis** (1:18)
That's not just about that.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (1:19)
Really?

**Jason Calacanis** (1:21)
No, really. What it's really about is art.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (1:23)
Are we joking right now?

**Jason Calacanis** (1:25)
If you like art and you like music, it's amazing. It's amazing.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (1:30)
I really like art. I think I actually collect phenomenal art. In fact, I like to go to like Freeze, the Biennale.

**Jason Calacanis** (1:37)
It would blow your mind. No, no, no. You have no idea. The scale of the art there is tremendous. It is extraordinary. And if you're into music...

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (1:44)
Can we just call it what it is? It started out as a festival that did celebrate art and creativity. And over time became mass market. And in order to become mass market, there is still an element of that. But it's a huge party. And I think people should just be more honest that it's super fun. You can really rage for a weekend or for an entire week. And people should enjoy themselves. But let's not like have to put all these labels about how like intellectually superior it is and how you feel like... Bullshit.

**Jason Calacanis** (2:12)
I don't think it's intellectually superior.

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (2:14)
It's okay. It's okay to go and do drugs.

**Jason Calacanis** (2:16)
The thing that's interesting about it is it's really about community. A large number of people get together, they build camps...

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (2:21)
You do drugs in a community.

**Jason Calacanis** (2:23)
No, you've never been. Literally, that's not the vibe there. The vibe is really dancing and creativity and art and community. But anyway...

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (2:31)
So it's like a rave. It's where everybody's on drugs.

**Jason Calacanis** (2:35)
I mean... Sure. I mean...

**David Sacks** (2:37)
With neon.

**Jason Calacanis** (2:38)
With a lot of neon. No, it's kind of...

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (2:41)
Those experiences are the best when you're sober.

**Jason Calacanis** (2:43)
Best. Best. You have to understand that...

**Chamath Palihapitiya** (2:45)
It's the best going to EDC sober.

**Jason Calacanis** (2:47)
I've never been to EDC, but there's a great filter here, which is, you've got to drive 6-7 hours into the desert and you have to survive. You have to bring everything with you and bring everything out. You know, whatever it is, a bathroom, water, food, and it is harsh. I mean, it's 100 plus degrees in the day and it's 40 degrees at night. It's not easy to survive. It's hard.

**David Sacks** (3:07)
It used to be that way. When I went, hold on, when I went, I went with a bunch of guys who had the whole thing wired in and they had these yurts and it was like a whole community and they had running water and a kitchen. And it was basically glamping. It was glamping.