Carnegie Endowment 37d ago

Theo Baker is no ordinary college senior. His student newspaper articles brought down Stanford’s president. Now he’s written a book about the making of the young tech elite. How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University reveals the “Stanford within Stanford”—the unofficial pipeline linking Silicon Valley investors to top students. It’s a pathway to power unlike any other, fueling the AI gold rush and remaking Stanford itself. Theo joins Jon Bateman on The World Unpacked to debate the deeper meaning of Stanford’s tech ties. Is it a normal and necessary part of capitalism, or a devil’s bargain corrupting education? And what does Stanford’s story say about other civic institutions fighting for their souls as AI eats the world? Like and subscribe to our channel: https://bit.ly/38sljlH Find the episode transcript and streaming audio, and get the show direct to your inbox, here: https://carnegieendowment.org/podcasts/the-world-unpacked/is-silicon-valley-corrupting-stanford Host: Follow Jon on X: https://x.com/JonKBateman Guest: Theo Baker: https://x.com/tab_delete Chapters: 00:00 Intro 03:20 Exposing Stanford’s President 08:42 The Stanford “Hangers-On” 12:34 Inside Stanford’s Elite Circle 14:05 The Secret Class At Stanford 16:39 Why VCs Target Teenagers 21:14 The “High Agency” Mindset 29:18 “Just A Little Fraud” 40:39 Stanford’s Faustian Bargain 49:25 Is Elite College Worth It? 51:52 The War On Fun At Stanford 54:58 Final Thoughts & What’s Next The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace generates strategic ideas and independent analysis, supports diplomacy, and trains the next generation of international scholar-practitioners to help countries and institutions take on the most difficult global problems and advance peace. Visit our website: https://carnegieendowment.org/ Follow us on X: https://x.com/CarnegieEndow Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carnegieendow/ Like and subscribe to our channel: https://bit.ly/38sljlH