Rick Rubin was vegan for 23 years
Rubin was a vegan for 23 years, which he now believes was harming his health — illustrating how strongly held beliefs can turn out to be wrong.
Snapshot · The a16z Show
Rick Rubin on AI, Creativity, and The Way of Code
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Jul 1, 2026
Where this was said
Fiction, Poetry, and the Inversion of Reality
At 22:58 · chapter starts 21:10
The conversation takes a philosophical detour when Marc Andreessen asks whether, following Rubin's logic, fiction might actually be more honest than nonfiction — similar to how professional wrestling's admitted artifice can be more truthful than news that claims objectivity. Rubin agrees enthusiastically, extending the idea to poetry: because these forms are open rather than declarative, the reader brings their own truth to the text, and that truth shifts over time. [1] — Rick Rubin "Fiction is more honest. And poetry can be more honest than prose, right? Because open in a way that the person who's taking it in — it's tr…" 20:18 He uses The Way of Code itself as an example — a text that will mean something different to you in a year than it does today. This leads Rubin to a personal confession: he was a vegan for 23 years under the sincere belief it was healthy, and now believes it was killing him — a vivid illustration of how tightly held beliefs can unwind. Alongside nicotine being reframed as neuroprotective and red meat being rehabilitated from villain to health food, Rubin frames these as examples of the half-life of facts in real life.
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