Claim◆Video · 17:44 · 2m
You cannot replace SAP by just putting the data in a Postgres database with APIs, because SAP's value lies in the business logic and customization encoded in it, not merely in data storage.
Sema Amble · a16z Podcast
Claim◆Audio · 122:12 — 123:42
The real Machiavelli was not writing a manual for self-serving advancement, but a manual for how a ruler keeps power in order to protect a state and its people — the popular 'Machiavellian' villain is a separate cultural character almost opposite to the actual patriotic author.
Ada Palmer argues that 'Machiavellian'—the self-serving, murderous schemer—is a fictional character that split off from the real Niccolò Machiavelli, a patriot who wrote The Prince as a guide to keeping power in order to protect one's people, not a how-to for personal advancement. ✦ AI generated
Ada Palmer · Dwarkesh Podcast · 2026-06-16 · original ↗
plays this moment only · 122:12 — 123:42
Elicited by
“To close off, do you have some sense of how to think about why Machiavelli’s remembered so differently from not only what he wrote, but why he was writing?”
The real Machiavelli is not about advancing yourself. It’s not a manual for getting ahead. It shouldn’t be shelved next to How to Win Friends and Influence People, because it’s a manual not of how to gain power, but of how to keep power. If you have a government and want it to be stable and protect the people’s lives, do this.
verbatim transcript · starts at 122:12
Transcript · around this moment
122:12– Machiavelli wasn’t Machiavellian
122:12– Machiavelli wasn’t Machiavellian
- ·"Machiavellian" villain is fictional, split from the real author
- ·Real Machiavelli: not a manual for self-advancement
- ·Not shelved like How to Win Friends and Influence People
- ·The Prince teaches how to keep power, not seize it
- ·Goal: stable government protecting people's lives
- ·Written by a patriot, not a self-serving schemer
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