It seems to be a combination of his academic credibility and interest generated from multiple appearances on JRE, which was also likely sparked in part of he and Rogan's mutual interest in BJJ and MMA. This was previously discussed on HN[0].
I'm not following that whole universe so I guess I missed it, I started following him when it was this little podcast interviewing computer scientists about AI, and now it's this huge thing, and I never figured how it went from A to B.
I have no idea what any of those TLAs mean.
Joe Rogan Experience, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Mixed Martial Arts.