Harvard

16 statements across 14 episodes · 4 bullish · 5 bearish · 7 people on the record · first statement Apr 17, 2021 by David Friedberg · across every show →

Everything said about Harvard, oldest first

Apr 17, 2021 neutral
Insight
David Friedberg: Institutions function like organisms driven to endlessly expand
“Institutions to me are like any living organism. They want to grow. And so, you know, every government wants to add laws, spend more money, grow its budget. Every company wants to have more power, grow its top line. Even every university, Harvard's endowment w…”
David Friedberg Apr 17, 2021 ▶ 1:07:22 E29: Coinbase goes public, direct listings vs. IPOs, unions & more with Bestie Guestie Brad Gerstner
Jun 30, 2022 positive
Assertion Partly supported
Friedberg: Harvard study combined X-ray imaging and AlphaFold to map nuclear pore complex
“What this team at Harvard did that they published two weeks ago is a really groundbreaking, extremely detailed view of the entire nuclear comp, nuclear pore complex, Around the nucleus of the cell by combining both x-ray imaging and alpha fold.”
David Friedberg Jun 30, 2022 ▶ 1:30:30 E85: SBF's crypto bailout, Zendesk sells for ~$10B, buyout targets, US diplomacy, AlphaFold & more
Jan 6, 2023
Prediction Held up
Sacks predicts Supreme Court will strike down university affirmative action policies
“I think the majority will rule to strike down these policies That really discriminate against Asian Americans, and I think they're the last group in America where it seems to be okay to discriminate against, and I think the Supreme Court is gonna find that unc…”
David Sacks Jan 6, 2023 ▶ 3:51 E110: 2023 Bestie Predictions!
Jan 20, 2023 positive
Assertion Supported
Friedberg: Harvard study demonstrates epigenetic data loss drives mammalian aging
“I was going to talk about this really fantastic paper on the, one of the driving forces of aging, as demonstrated by a team from Harvard, In collaboration with many others on epigenetics and the loss of data integrity and epigenetics really being the core driv…”
David Friedberg Jan 20, 2023 ▶ 1:34:38 E112: Is Davos a grift? Plus: globalist mishaps, debt ceilings, TikTok's endgame & more
Jul 1, 2023
Assertion Supported
Chamath: 43% of white Harvard admits are athletes, legacies, or donor kin
“The National Bureau of Economic Research did a study in 2019 that they published, and what they found was that 43%, so 43% of white students admitted to Harvard were athletes, Or legacy students, or children of faculty and staff, or had a relative that were do…”
Chamath Palihapitiya Jul 1, 2023 ▶ 36:25 E135: Wagner rebels, SCOTUS ends AA, AI M&A, startups gone bad, spacetime warps & more
Oct 20, 2023 neutral
Assertion Supported
Calacanis: Ken Griffin pressured Harvard to support Israel after $500M in donations
“Citadel's Ken Griffin, who's donated more than a half a billion dollars to Harvard, placed a call last week to the head of Harvard and asked the university to come out in support of Israel.”
Jason Calacanis Oct 20, 2023 ▶ 43:46 E150: Israel/Gaza escalating or not? EU censorship regime, Penn donors revolt, GLP-1 hype cycle
Dec 16, 2023 negative
Prediction Held up
Chamath: Claudine Gay probably won't be Harvard president in a year
“She probably won't be in that job in a year from now, or, you know, she kind of muddles along and in two or three years, she quote unquote retires to spend more time with her family.”
Chamath Palihapitiya Dec 16, 2023 ▶ 1:29:04 E157: Epic legal win, OpenAI's news deal, FCC targets Elon, the limits of free speech & more
Dec 29, 2023 negative
Assertion Supported
Chamath: Harvard undergraduate applications dropped 17%
“I think Harvard applications were down 17% already.”
Chamath Palihapitiya Dec 29, 2023 ▶ 1:14:25 E159: The Bestie Awards! Recapping the best and worst of 2023
May 3, 2024 neutral
Assertion Supported
Friedberg: Most foundational CRISPR patents are held by Broad Institute
“The main original foundational patents, which are now mostly held after a lot of litigation by the Broad Institute, which is, you know, there's this kind of joint patent arrangement with the Broad and MIT and Harvard.”
David Friedberg May 3, 2024 ▶ 1:03:19 Sheryl Sandberg, plus open-source AI gene editing explained
May 3, 2024 negative
Opinion
Chamath: Elite universities consist mostly of privileged, over-coached students
“You see them at Columbia, Harvard. There are these specific Berkeley, UCLA that are bastions of privileged kids for the most part. These are extremely elite institutions that typically Allow in kids that have been coached their entire lives to get into those s…”
Chamath Palihapitiya May 3, 2024 ▶ 44:42 Sheryl Sandberg, plus open-source AI gene editing explained
Aug 23, 2024 negative
Opinion
Chamath: Harvard is not known for anything beyond its questionable elite status
“I'm not sure Harvard is really known for anything other than for being quote unquote elite, but even that's questionable now.”
Chamath Palihapitiya Aug 23, 2024 ▶ 18:37 Massive jobs revision, Kamala wealth tax, polls vs prediction markets, end of race-based admissions
Aug 23, 2024 positive
Opinion
Sacks: Virginia Tech is better than Harvard due to less DEI ideology
“I mean, I think probably Virginia Tech is better than Harvard. And the reason is because they're less infected with the whole woke DEI ideology that now pervades these like top schools.”
David Sacks Aug 23, 2024 ▶ 26:45 Massive jobs revision, Kamala wealth tax, polls vs prediction markets, end of race-based admissions
Mar 19, 2025
Assertion Contradicted
Bessent: Ivy League degree counts have barely changed since the 1950s
“The number of degrees awarded, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, probably hasn't changed very much since the 19 fifties.”
Scott Bessent Mar 19, 2025 ▶ 19:20 The Shocking Truth About DC Spending & Corruption - Scott Bessent
Apr 19, 2025 negative
Assertion Supported
Friedberg: Harvard charged 69% administrative overhead on federal research grants
“So at Harvard, you know what the administrative overhead was up until Feb. 15th? 69%.”
David Friedberg Apr 19, 2025 ▶ 48:15 Trump vs Harvard, Nvidia export controls, how DEI killed Hollywood with Tim Dillon
May 21, 2025
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Gracias: Harvard student dropped out with two classes left for DOGE
“He is in, he's in my son's class at Harvard. He dropped out of Harvard with two classes left.”
Antonio Gracias May 21, 2025 ▶ 11:11 Antonio Gracias: DOGE updates, Voter fraud, Finding 'Big Balls' | All-In Live from Miami
Sep 29, 2025 bullish
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Eli Lilly employs 4,200 PhD scientists, matching MIT and Harvard combined
“We currently have about 4200 PhD scientists at Lilly. By the way, it's about the same as MIT and Harvard combined.”
Dave Ricks Sep 29, 2025 ▶ 10:37 Inside the GLP-1 Gold Rush: Eli Lilly CEO on New Breakthroughs, Addiction & Mental Health, Pricing
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