#499 – Gary Gallagher: American Civil War, Slavery, Lincoln, Grant & Lee
Gary Gallagher is a historian of the American Civil War.
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Transcript:
https://lexfridman.com/gary-gallagher-transcript
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EPISODE LINKS:
Gary’s UVA page: https://history.virginia.edu/people/gary-w-gallagher
Gary’s Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_W._Gallagher
The Confederate War (book): https://amzn.to/4yletel
The Union War (book): https://amzn.to/3QT1jED
Lee and His Generals in War and Memory (book): https://amzn.to/4fdrbD5
Causes Won, Lost, and Forgotten (book): https://amzn.to/4wFxk1X
The Myth of the Lost Cause and Civil War History (book): https://amzn.to/4vsAogU
The Great Courses – The American Civil War: https://bit.ly/4gDX3mQ
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OUTLINE:
(00:00) – Introduction
(00:07) – Sponsors, Comments, and Reflections
(08:36) – What caused the Civil War?
(18:33) – Slavery
(46:07) – Lincoln
(1:01:03) – Grant vs Lee
(1:09:57) – Could the Civil War have been avoided?
(1:19:23) – The bloodiest war in US history
(1:36:31) – How the Confederate Army could’ve won
(1:57:05) – Key battles of the Civil War
(2:20:07) – Best and Worst Presidents
(2:34:06) – Robert E. Lee
(2:53:40) – The most important battle of the Civil War
(3:03:51) – The final showdown of the Civil War – Grant vs Lee
(3:26:10) – Lost Cause and Confederate Monuments
(3:43:37) – Extreme political division in US
Is A.I. Eating the Labor Market? + The Latest on the Pentagon, OpenClaw and Alpha School
This week, the economist Anton Korinek joins to break down how artificial intelligence is driving volatility in the job and stock markets. Then, the battle between the Pentagon and Anthropic is getting even more tense. Anthropic now has until 5:01 p.m. Eastern time on Friday to accept the military’s demands over the terms of a contract, or the Trump administration will retaliate by invoking the Defense Production Act and designating the company a “supply chain risk.” We discuss this change, as well as two other updates on OpenClaw and Alpha Schools.
Guest:
Anton Korinek, economist studying the impact of A.I., at the University of Virginia.
Additional Reading:
Pentagon Gives A.I. Company an Ultimatum
Summer Yue’s OpenClaw post
‘Students Are Being Treated Like Guinea Pigs’: Inside an AI-Powered Private School
Parents Fell in Love With Alpha School’s Promise. Then They Wanted Out
The 2028 Global Intelligence Crisis
When Does Automating Research Produce Explosive Growth?
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How a Trade War With China Could Become a Hot War
Tension between the US and China has been building for some time. But so far this has been limited to issues of trade. The US has imposed tariffs on China. It's imposed restrictions on technology exports. In turn, China has imposed some of its own tariffs, and also limited the export of things like rare earth metals. But historically speaking, many hot wars have their roots in some kind of trade-related tensions between nations. So the risk exists that a trade war one day becomes a hot war. So how does this happen, and how can it be avoided? On this episode, we speak with Dale Copeland, a professor of international relations at the University of Virginia. He discusses his theories of trade, and we discuss his most recent book, A World Safe for Commerce: American Foreign Policy From the Revolution to the Rise of China, which specifically discusses the prospect for an outright US-China confrontation.
Only Bloomberg.com subscribers can get the Odd Lots newsletter in their inbox, plus unlimited access to the site and app. Subscribe at bloomberg.com/subscriptions/oddlots
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Mitu Gulati on Whether Trump Could Restructure US Debt
US Treasuries are the most important market in the world. With some $29 trillion outstanding, they create the benchmark that informs basically every other type of borrowing. Any changes to how the bond market works would be a massive deal. But lately, there's been a lot of chatter about how the Trump administration could radically restructure and refinance the US debt under the so-called "Mar-a-Lago Accord." In this episode, we speak with University of Virginia law professor Mitu Gulati about how far the administration could go to legally reform this huge and important market. We also talk about how to buy Greenland and whether Trump could make a few billion by collecting on some old loans from allies.
Read more:
One Way for Trump to Find a Few Extra Trillion Dollars
The Stories We Tell Ourselves About Bonds
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593: The Real-World Impact of Cross-Disciplinary Data Science Collaboration
Jon welcomes Professor Philip Bourne, Founding Dean of the School of Data Science at the University of Virginia to discuss his biomedical data science research, the importance of open-source and open-access within the industry and the data science skills you need to succeed today.
In this episode you will learn:
• Why Philip founded a School of Data Science [6:08]
• How computing and data science have evolved across academic departments [15:55]
• The improvements needed in higher education [26:44]
• The most important data science skills for academia and industry and the 4+1 model [36:49]
• Philip’s biomedical data science research and its fascinating practical applications [43:24]
• The essential roles of open-source code and open-access publishing in data science [1:01:27]
Additional materials: www.superdatascience.com/593
Here’s How Messy a Russian Bond Default Could Be
There’s a big question over whether Russia will be able (or willing) to make payments on billions of dollars it’s borrowed from investors given its current situation. Not only does the country have a history of previous major defaults, but some of its outstanding bonds are also structured kind of strangely. On this episode of the Odd Lots podcast, Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal speak with University of Virginia law professor Mitu Gulati and University of North Carolina's Mark Weidemaier. They describe how odd some Russian bonds are and what might happen after default.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mitu Gulati and Ugo Panizza on Haiti’s Odious Post-Colonial Debt
Nearly 200 years ago, the colonialist French power granted independence to Haiti. But it did so under the brutal condition that it pay 150 million francs in exchange for its freedom. This was a staggering sum that imposed a staggering imposition on the Haitian economy. And there's good reason to believe that that initial debt contributed to the ongoing poverty in the country. On this episode, we speak with law professor Mitu Gulati and economist Ugo Panizza about this odious debt, the significance of this burden, and the ongoing efforts for Haiti to obtain reparations.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Bringing AI Up to Speed with Autonomous Racing w/ Madhur Behl - #494
Today we’re joined by Madhur Behl, an Assistant Professor in the department of computer science at the University of Virginia.
In our conversation with Madhur, we explore the super interesting work he’s doing at the intersection of autonomous driving, ML/AI, and Motorsports, where he’s teaching self-driving cars how to drive in an agile manner. We talk through the differences between traditional self-driving problems and those encountered in a racing environment, the challenges in solving planning, perception, control.
We also discuss their upcoming race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Madhur and his students will compete for 1 million dollars in the world’s first head-to-head fully autonomous race, and how they’re preparing for it.
How Money Became A Form Of Social Media
There are many similarities between cryptocurrencies and social networks. And the rise of payment apps like Venmo make the link between payments and social media explicit. But this convergence between money and social media goes back a long time. On this episode, we speak with Lana Swartz, a media studies professor at the University of Virginia, about her book, New Money: How Payment Became Social Media.
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How money and payments have become social media
Verge editor-in-chief Nilay Patel talks to Lana Swartz, assistant professor of media studies at the University of Virginia about her new book New Money: How Payment Became Social Media.
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Three Sovereign Debt Experts Explain How The World Can Instantly Bring Aid To Emerging Markets
The economic crisis will result in an extraordinary amount of pain for emerging markets. In addition to the health disruption, the global economic collapse means that in many cases, exports have come to a standstill. So how can poorer countries be helped right now? On this episode, we speak with three experts in the field of sovereign debt. Lee Buchheit is formerly at Cleary Gottlieb and is considered to be the world’s foremost expert on sovereign debt law and restructurings. Mitu Gulati is a professor at Duke University School of Law and Ugo Panizza is a professor at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. The three have been working throughout the crisis to help put together a comprehensive aid plan for EMs. They talk to us about what it would look like, and why moving it forward has proven to be so difficult.
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What Diner's Club Card Reveals About the Nature Of Money
We use money everyday, but it's rare to actually think about what money is or what it represents. And in fact many of the people who are the closest to it -- academics, traders, etc. -- understand it the least. On this week's episode of Odd Lots, we talk to Lana Swartz, an Assistant Professor at the University of Virgnia in the department of media studies. We discuss why money can be understood as a form of media, and specifically we talk about her work on Diner's Club, the original charge card.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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