How did Axon go from a garage startup and near-bankruptcy to an IPO? CEO Rick Smith traces the pivotal move into policing, proving TASER through relentless field demos and later betting on body cameras and cloud software. Smith and Jason Calacanis examine drones, robots and the future of public safety, including surveillance concerns, data governance and Axon’s bright line: “Any decisions about using force on another person will be made by humans.”

Was affordability, not ideology, behind the midterm backlash? Chamath argues, “The economic reality in America is broken,” as the besties debate war-related inflation, cost-of living, and Trump’s path back through populist priorities and tangible relief. Plus, data center backlash, compute scarcity, AI regulation, the $4T market cap selloff, and OpenAI’s reported solution to the Exponential Time Hypothesis.

Anthropic’s S-1 makes the case that AI demand is still early, highly profitable and capable of creating enormous value across the compute stack. But can power, data centers and capital keep pace? The besties break down Anthropic’s economics, AI’s competition with government borrowing for liquidity, and Google’s $500 billion market-cap drop as investors question search advertising. Plus, the risks of an AI-driven economy and final midterm predictions.