Ben Gilbert: belief

Transcript context

…No, no. Friedberg and I weren't besties before All-In. I mean, we knew each other. We were friends, but not besties. I was besties with Sacks and Chamath. Now, Friedberg is the bestie. But he played in the game, obviously. We had just started to develop a friendship. But anyway, that foursome clicked pretty quickly. I think I was a really good interviewer. I had studied interview techniques, and really after doing whatever, I'd done at least 1000 episodes of Twist at that point. I had had Sacks on many times, and Chamath, so I was very comfortable with that. At the poker game, we break chops and I make jokes. Chamath is a great host, and he's very comfortable with each other. Friedberg joined that group and it clicked. I thought maybe this would last 10–20 episodes, but during the pandemic, I think people wanted information. In perspective, I think, that's the thing. I'll tell you, I never expected to be listening to David Sacks talk coming from where he comes from politically and where I come from politically going, that is a good point. That perspective is so helpful in our polarized world today. Yeah. It's very unique. Around the poker table, we all listen to each other and we're friends, but the world does not want us to be friends. In some ways, the world wants us to be enemies. I think about it like the Best of Enemies situation. We debate specific things like Gore Vidal, and who was his adversary? Anyway, there's a great documentary about Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley. They're just two public intellectuals. One was on the left, one was on the right. There's this documentary, Best of Enemies in the '60s. They started debating different political conventions. It was like the most compelling thing on TV.…

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