Sarah C. M. Paine - WW2, Taiwan, Ukraine, & Maritime vs Continental Powers
10/04/23 • 144 min
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I learned so much from Sarah Paine, Professor of History and Strategy at the Naval War College.
We discuss:
how continental vs maritime powers think and how this explains Xi & Putin's decisions
how a war with China over Taiwan would shake out and whether it could go nuclear
why the British Empire fell apart, why China went communist, how Hitler and Japan could have coordinated to win WW2, and whether Japanese occupation was good for Korea, Taiwan and Manchuria
plus other lessons from WW2, Cold War, and Sino-Japanese War
how to study history properly, and why leaders keep making the same mistakes
If you want to learn more, check out her books - they’re some of the best military history I’ve ever read.
Watch on YouTube, listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript.
Timestamps
(0:00:00) - Grand strategy
(0:11:59) - Death ground
(0:23:19) - WW1
(0:39:23) - Writing history
(0:50:25) - Japan in WW2
(0:59:58) - Ukraine
(1:10:50) - Japan/Germany vs Iraq/Afghanistan occupation
(1:21:25) - Chinese invasion of Taiwan
(1:51:26) - Communists & Axis
(2:08:34) - Continental vs maritime powers
Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe
I learned so much from Sarah Paine, Professor of History and Strategy at the Naval War College.
We discuss:
how continental vs maritime powers think and how this explains Xi & Putin's decisions
how a war with China over Taiwan would shake out and whether it could go nuclear
why the British Empire fell apart, why China went communist, how Hitler and Japan could have coordinated to win WW2, and whether Japanese occupation was good for Korea, Taiwan and Manchuria
plus other lessons from WW2, Cold War, and Sino-Japanese War
how to study history properly, and why leaders keep making the same mistakes
If you want to learn more, check out her books - they’re some of the best military history I’ve ever read.
Watch on YouTube, listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Read the full transcript.
Timestamps
(0:00:00) - Grand strategy
(0:11:59) - Death ground
(0:23:19) - WW1
(0:39:23) - Writing history
(0:50:25) - Japan in WW2
(0:59:58) - Ukraine
(1:10:50) - Japan/Germany vs Iraq/Afghanistan occupation
(1:21:25) - Chinese invasion of Taiwan
(1:51:26) - Communists & Axis
(2:08:34) - Continental vs maritime powers
Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe
Previous Episode
George Hotz vs Eliezer Yudkowsky AI Safety Debate
George Hotz and Eliezer Yudkowsky hashed out their positions on AI safety.
It was a really fun debate. No promises but there might be a round 2 where we better hone in on the cruxes that we began to identify here.
Watch the livestreamed YouTube version (high quality video will be up next week).
Catch the Twitter stream.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast platform. Transcript here.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.dwarkeshpatel.com
Next Episode
Grant Sanderson (3Blue1Brown) - Past, Present, & Future of Mathematics
I had a lot of fun chatting with Grant Sanderson (who runs the excellent 3Blue1Brown YouTube channel) about:
Whether advanced math requires AGI
What careers should mathematically talented students pursue
Why Grant plans on doing a stint as a high school teacher
Tips for self teaching
Does Godel’s incompleteness theorem actually matter
Why are good explanations so hard to find?
And much more
Watch on YouTube. Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or any other podcast platform. Full transcript here.
Timestamps
(0:00:00) - Does winning math competitions require AGI?
(0:08:24) - Where to allocate mathematical talent?
(0:17:34) - Grant’s miracle year
(0:26:44) - Prehistoric humans and math
(0:33:33) - Why is a lot of math so new?
(0:44:44) - Future of education
(0:56:28) - Math helped me realize I wasn’t that smart
(0:59:25) - Does Godel’s incompleteness theorem matter?
(1:05:12) - How Grant makes videos
(1:10:13) - Grant’s math exposition competition
(1:20:44) - Self teaching
Get full access to Dwarkesh Podcast at www.dwarkesh.com/subscribe
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