Samo Burja (@SamoBurja), founder of Bismarck Analysis, joins Erik for this episode. You can find him on Medium at medium.com/@samo.burja.

In this episode they discuss:

- Why certain societies flourish while others decay

- Where Samo stands on the nature versus nurture debate

- Why he has “yet to hear a satisfying description of human social life”

- The lessons we can learn from places like Singapore

- The difference between the view of government as resource for the people versus the view of people as resources for the government

- Why he’s skeptical of happiness research as it relates to countries

- Why neither Obama nor Trump were inevitable

- The future of China, the US, and globalization

Thanks for listening — if you like what you hear, please review us on your favorite podcast platform.

Check us out on the web at villageglobal.vc or get in touch with us on Twitter @villageglobal.

Venture Stories is brought to you by Village Global, is hosted by co-founder and partner, Erik Torenberg and is produced by Brett Bolkowy.