Stoking Techno Optimism for California’s Future

California feels like it’s standing on a knife edge right now with limitless technological promise on one side, stubborn political gridlock on the other. So I called up Sanjana Friedman, a writer at Y Combinator who was previously at Pirate Wires writing about SF local politics, to to talk about the future. The result is a fast‑moving, wildly fun conversation that left me more bullish on the Golden State than when we started.

In just under an hour we cover into SF City Hall absurdities, the nonprofit maze around homelessness, and the widening gap between political rhetoric and street‑level results. Then we zoom out to explore how AI is already reshaping creative work, why biotech could be California’s next great boom, and why the media desperately needs to stoke a new wave of techno‑optimism instead of doom‑scroll nihilism. If you’ve ever wondered whether California can really be “so back,” this episode makes the case and then some.

Watch the interview here → 👇️ 

You can also find the interview at the links below wherever you like your content. There’s also some short highlight clips to YouTube as well.

• YouTube 

• X

• Spotify

• Apple Podcasts

See you in the future.