Infinite Loops

Scott Aaronson — Quantumania (EP.240) Oct 31, 2024

My guest today is Scott Aaronson, a theoretical computer scientist, OG blogger, and quantum computing maestro.

Scott has so many achievements and credentials that listing them here would take longer than recording the episode. Here's a select few:

Self-taught programmer at age 11, Cornell computer science student at 15, PhD recipient by 22!
Schlumberger Centennial Chair of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin.
Director of UT Austin's Quantum Information Center.
Former visiting researcher on OpenAI's alignment team (2022-2024).
Awarded the ACM prize in computing in 2020 and the Tomassoni-Chisesi Prize in Physics (under 40 category) in 2018.

… you get the point.

Scott and I dig into the misunderstood world of quantum computing — the hopes, the hindrances, and the hucksters — to unpack what a quantum-empowered future could really look like. We also discuss what makes humans special in the age of AI, the stubbornly persistent errors of the seat-to-keyboard interface, and MUCH more.

I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. For the full transcript, some highlights from Scott’s blog, and bucketloads of other goodies designed to make you go, “Hmm, that’s interesting!” check out our Substack.

Important Links:

Show Notes:

So much reading. So little time.
The problem of human specialness in the age of AI
It’s always the same quantum weirdness
Why it’s easy to be a quantum huckster
Quantum progress, quantum hopes, and quantum limits
Encryption in a quantum empowered world
Wielding the hammer of interference
Scientific discovery in a quantum empowered world
Bureaucracy and blank faces
Scott as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Fifth Science; by ****Exurb1a
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; by Douglas Adams

Danny Crichton — Player of Games (EP.239) Oct 24, 2024

Danny Crichton is a man of many talents. He’s got a background in computer science, has worked in the worlds of foreign policy, was a managing editor at Techcrunch, and now serves as Head of Editorial at Lux Capital.

As Lux’s de-facto games master, Danny also devises their Riskgames: strategic simulations that immerse players in complex scenarios reflecting real-world challenges and dynamics. These games – whose players include senators, major generals, congressmen and, think-tank CEOs – include scenarios like ‘Hamptons at the Cross-Roads’ (that deals with climate change and maritime security) and ‘Powering Up’ (that deals with China’s global EV dominance).

Danny and I discuss the origins of Riskgaming and the lessons he’s learned in high-stakes games with tech founders and government officials. Plus, we riff on our shared Minnesotan roots, and discuss ways to combat the uncertain fog of war in our careers.

I hope you enjoy this insightful conversation as much as I did. For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other goodies designed to make you go, “Hmm, that’s interesting!”, check out our Substack.

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Origins of Riskgaming
The Different Play Styles between Technologists and Policymakers
One-off games vs. Iterative games
The Game Theoretic Foundations of Riskgaming
It’s All About Tough Decisions
Parable of the First Mover Disadvantage
The Importance of Incentives
Why Insurance Companies are Obsessed with Truth in the Market
How AIs Can Cut Through Bureaucratic Slog
How Danny Builds Scenarios
Why Riskgaming Teaches Better Decision Making
Danny’s Thoughts on Intellectual Humility
Danny and Jim’s Minnesotan Heritage
Danny’s experience launching TechCrunch+
Facing the Fog of War
The Importance of Agility
Danny as Emperor of the World

Books Mentioned:

Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid; by Douglas Hofstadter
Left Behind: A New Economics for Neglected Places; by Paul Collier

Yuk Chi Chan — On Rockets, Dog Years & Robotic Space-Snakes (EP.238) Oct 17, 2024

My guest today is the human Swiss Army Knife, Yuk Chi Chan, who has packed more into the last decade than many people do in a lifetime.

Yuk Chi is the founder of Charter Space, the first British space company to graduate from the Techstars Space Accelerator. Before that, he served as an officer in the Singapore army (hmm, so maybe I should have described him as a Singaporean Army Knife) and practiced as a space lawyer (it’s funny how much cooler being a lawyer becomes when you preface it with the word “space”).

Suffice to say, Yuk Chi knows a lot about space. We had a blast discussing how ‘ownership’ of territory really works, why the sector impacts our daily lives FAR more than we think, and the mind-boggling mission of an intrepid robotic space snake.

I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did. For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other goodies designed to make you go, “Hmm, that’s interesting!”, check out our Substack.

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Yuk Chi Chan: The human Swiss Army Knife
The strangely antiquated tools of the space industry
Military training, problem-solving, and reframing the challenge
The single most important trait in a co-founder
Unlearning, cyclical culture, and robotic space snakes
The labyrinthine world of space insurance
Who owns space?
The angry man on Yuk Chi’s shoulder
Why Yuk Chi measures his life in dog years
Space insurance as Zeno’s Paradox
Why the space industry is WAY more ubiquitous than you think
Yuk Chi as emperor of the world
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said; by Philip K. Dick
Ubik; by Philip K. Dick

Dan Shipper — I, Writer (EP.237) Oct 10, 2024

“Ignoring what is obvious incurs a huge cost.

It requires you to go about your day numbing yourself to the reality of who you are and what you want—which is a waste of time for you and everyone around you.

By contrast, admitting what is obvious is freeing and motivating. But it’s terrifying to do it. Sometimes the most obvious truths about ourselves are hard to see because the consequences of those truths seem so dire.”

Those are the opening lines of one of my favourite essays I’ve read in the last year, written by this week’s guest on Infinite Loops - Dan Shipper.

Dan is the Co-founder and CEO of Every, a media company that wants to be an intellectual lighthouse amidst the tempest that is the Age of AI.

Every began life in 2020 as a bundle of digital newsletters (almost like a centralised version of Substack with more of an editorial flourish). These days, it’s blossomed into an ecosystem of colourful newsletters, podcasts, courses, and software products, all oriented around the unpacking of a single question - “What comes next?”

Every is already one of my go-to destinations for all things interesting. It’s less brain food than brain buffet (the kind of buffet that serves fresh blueberry pancakes with real maple syrup).

In our conversation, Dan shares his thoughts on everything from AI companions; his approach to erecting the Every ‘Pyramid’; his playbook for building new media companies; the idea of LLMs as mirrors for humanity; and using content to ‘find your people’.

What I love about him is how candidly and thoughtfully he talks about his journey to discover his own truth. His realisation that he didn’t need to hang up his boots as a writer in order to become a founder is something that particularly hit home for me.

Dan Shipper is also my underdog pick to eventually wrest the title of Infinite Loops Emperor from reigning clubhouse leader Alex Danco. By which I mean to say, this is most certainly not the last time Dan joins us on the show, so you may as well get to know him better.

For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other goodies designed to make you go, “Hmm, that’s interesting!”, check out our Substack.

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Dan’s Superhero Origin Story
Writers as Founders
What Would You Pay To Do?
The Every Pyramid
The New Media Playbook
How To Find Your People
Our AI Mirrors
From Explanation Problems to Engineering Problems
On Intuition
From The Knowledge Economy To The Allocation Economy
The Reluctance To AI Adoption
AI Companions
Dan, The Emperor of The World

Books and Articles Mentioned:

Admitting What Is Obvious; by Dan Shipper
*The Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century; by* Howard Bloom
Against Explanations; by Dan Shipper
The Trial of Socrates; by I. F. Stone
The WEIRDest People in the World; by ****Joseph Heinrich
The Three Musketeers; by Alexandre Dumas

Dr. Gena Gorlin — How to Build a Builder (EP.236) Oct 03, 2024

My guest today is Dr. Gena Gorlin, a psychologist specializing in the unique needs of the ultra-ambitious.

Unlike many in her field. Gena doesn’t aim to simply lift the floor of her clients’ ambitions — she wants to raise the ceiling.

In this episode, she breaks down the “Builder Mindset” - a way of thinking that empowers people to live to healthier, happier, and more fulfilled lives.

Over on our Substack, we dig deeper into Gena’s ideas, exploring the perils of perfectionism, the allure of complacency, and why psychological perfection might be more achievable than you think.

Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Unique Needs of the Ultra Ambitious
Death is the Default
The Rigid Authoritarianism of Your Inner Drill Sergeant
The Sweet, Stagnant Embrace of the Zen Master
Agency & the Enlightenment
Historical Ignorance as a Bottleneck
Human Beings as the Base Unit of Action
Fight, Flight or Freeze
How to Build a Builder
Perfectionism is not Perfect
What to Do When Surrounded by C Players
Persistence, Passion & Personality
Reframing FTW
Gena as Empress of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (A Little) Craziness and (A Lot of) Success in America; by John D. Gartner

Nir Eyal — How To Become An Indistractable Force (EP.235) Sep 26, 2024

“Most people don’t want to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that distraction is always an unhealthy escape from reality.”

My latest guest, Nir Eyal, writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of psychology, technology, and business. Nir previously taught as a Lecturer in Marketing at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford.

In our conversation, Nir gives it to us straight. Distraction is killing us, and stopping us from reaching our full potential. In a world that is constantly conspiring to keep us distracted, Nir provides an alternative: we can take back control. We can regain our agency.

All of these ideas are presented in his book, Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life (co-authored with Julie Li). This book is a clear guide to understanding the psychology behind our impulses and is chock-full of great anecdotes and peer-reviewed studies to help you better manage your time, and your life.

Nir’s framework is not only interesting, it is practical, so I suggest you check out our Substack, where you’ll find the episode transcript and some actionable takeaways. I also encourage you to buy Nir’s excellent book and start applying his strategies to your own life.

I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

What Being Indistractable Is All About
Etymology of the Word Distraction
The Strong Pull of Internal Triggers
The Tyranny of the To-Do List
The Difference Between High Performers and Low Performers
The Dangers of Labelling Ourselves
Using the Psychology of Identity
Using Self-Determination Theory to Diagnose Distraction
The Perils of Snowplow Parenting
Believe the Good Science
Nir as Emperor of the World

Books / Articles Mentioned:

Indistractable; by Nir Eyal (+ bonus content)
Nir’s articles on Timeboxing, Values, FOMO and Wage slavery
Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Self-Reliant, and Better Students for Life; by Peter Gray

Alex Danco — Finding Mystery in the Margin (EP.234) Sep 19, 2024

As the saying goes, only three things in life are certain: death, taxes & Alex Danco.

Armed with sizzling hot takes on the sad death of Twitter likes and a new secret weapon in the form of his catchphrase-turned-episode theme (“Without mystery, there is no margin”), Alex returns for his eighth episode.

Despite our intentional lack of preparation, somehow this ended up as one our most cohesive conversations yet.

As usual, we’ve included links and an episode transcript over on our Substack, where we’ve also made the foolhardy attempt to distil one overriding theme from eight episodes of fiercely unstructured, defiantly unplanned, proudly meandering conversation.

Important Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alex_Danco
Website: https://alexdanco.com/
Previous episode: https://www.infiniteloopspodcast.com/alex-danco-on-self-delusion-sancho-panza-safe-words-seinfeld-ep156/

Show Notes:

What the fuck is going on? & the sad death of Twitter likes
Where are the journalists?
Without mystery, there is no margin
Why aesthetics are underrated
Friction is good, actually
Make things to gain agency
Empowering small firms to access the mysterious margin
Everything is positioning
How to learn effectively
Alex as emperor of the world
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Fifth Science; by Exurb1a
What Works on Wall Street: A Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
The Gervais Principle, Or The Office According to “The Office”; by Venkatesh Rao
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom

Mike Maples, Jr. — How To Become a Pattern-Breaking Founder (EP.233) Sep 12, 2024

Mike Maples, Jr., co-founding partner of the VC firm Floodgate, is the veteran seed investor behind some of the 21st-century’s great success stories, including Twitter, Twitch, and Applied Intuition.

His book, Pattern Breakers (co-authored with Peter Ziebelman), articulates a new model of foundership, one built on the simple premise that transformative startups upend rather than improve current practices.

My company, OSV, is built around my belief that the collapse of the old models presents enormous opportunities to those savvy enough to seize them, so I had a blast quizzing Mike on the nuts and bolts of pattern-breaking foundership, from finding true believers to waging asymmetric war on the status quo.

If Mike’s theory sounds as interesting to you as it did to me, check out our Substack, where we’ve distilled some pattern-breaking insights and shared the episode transcript. I also encourage you to buy Mike’s excellent book.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did!

Important Links:

Pattern Breakers: Why Some Start-Ups Change the Future; by Mike Maples, Jr & Peter Ziebelman
Twitter
Substack (Starting Greatness)
Floodgate
LinkedIn

Show Notes:

Seagull mode: an unexpected founder paradigm
How to wage asymmetric war on the present
Evading the comparison trap
Finding your people: how to build a movement
Why we should continually seek the truth
The customer isn’t always right, but the ones living in the future are
Why disagreeableness is undervalued
How to fix a pitch Franckendeck
Don’t use jargon as a substitute for clear thinking
How to find the true believers
How to live in the future
How founders are like trainspotters
Why wanting to be a founder is a bad reason to start a company
Reading habits of a pattern-breaker
The unreliability of memory
Mike as emperor of the world
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Jonathan Livingston Seagull: A story; by Richard Bach
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations that Transform The World; by David Deutsch
What Works in Wall Street; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
Poor Charlie’s Almanac: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger; by Charles T. Munger

Ben Orlin — Math As Universal Language (EP.232) Sep 05, 2024

As a former quant with six grandkids, my spidey-senses started tingling as soon as I heard about Ben Orlin’s mission to make math fun.

A native of St.Paul, Ben is a math educator and popularizer who is known for his “Math With Bad Drawing” blog and book series. Today’s conversation revolves around his excellent, original new book Math for English Majors: A Human Take on the Universal Language, which reframes math as a language, complete with nouns, verbs and grammar.

Like any mathematician worth his salt, Ben loves games, which he sees as ‘puzzle engines’. No wonder then that our conversation meandered and unfolded like a satisfying puzzle, touching upon rich concepts. We discussed making sense of sampling through fantasy towns where 70% of inhabitants are lawyers (not a town I’d like to be in), threw in a bit of Lewis Carroll to discuss the assumptions built into propositional logic (sometimes it really is turtles all the way down) and pitied the Welsh kids learning how to count (keep listening to know what that means).

I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did! For more thoughts on the episode, the full transcript, and bucketloads of other stuff designed to make you go; “Hmm, that’s interesting!” check out our Substack.

Important Links:

Show Notes:

A Mathematician’s Obsession
The Language of Algebra
What the Tortoise Said to Achilles
The Concrete and the Abstract
Games As Puzzle Engines
We’re not Built to Understand Base Rates
Why We Always Think About Samples Incorrectly
Randomness and Wikipedia Rabbit-holing
Counting in Different Languages
The Concept of Zero
Negatives as the Mathematical Language of Opposites
Mathematical Escape Rooms
Why Is the World Comprehensible?
Discussing Infinity on Infinite Loops
The Deep Mathematics of Music
Ben As Emperor of the World

Books Mentioned:

Math for English Majors: A Human Take on the Universal Language; by Ben Orlin
Math with Bad Drawings: Illuminating the Ideas That Shape Our Reality; by Ben Orlin
Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea; by Charles Seife
Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid; by Douglas Hofstadter
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain; by Oliver Sacks

Gurwinder Bhogal's Guide to Modern Survival (EP.231) Aug 29, 2024

“We have created for ourselves a world that we didn't evolve for.”

Gurwinder Bhogal is, for my money, one of the most independent, original and insightful thinkers you’ll find in our corner of the internet.

He returns to discuss how willpower and good old-fashioned human agency can help us reclaim our mental sovereignty and escape the “constant avalanche of concerns that are being vomited over us through our laptop screens, our phones, our TV screens, and in conversations.”

For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other stuff designed to make you go, “Hmm, that’s interesting!” check out our Substack.

Important Links:

Show Notes:

“We have created for ourselves a world we didn’t evolve for”
The dogged persistence of our stubborn beliefs
Gamification; generational differences in agency
The societal impact of the education system’s changing priorities
How to zombify a population
Skin in the game: Gurwinder’s guide to reclaiming agency
LLMs, bullshit, and the atomization of culture
How to play better games
Willpower is the bottleneck
Gurwinder as emperor of the world
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Why Everything is Becoming a Game; by Gurwinder Bhogal
Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know; by Adam Grant
The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr
The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements; by Eric Hoffer
Why the Mental Health of Liberal Girls Sank First and Fastest; by Jonathan Haidt (After Babel)
America’s Colleges Are Reaping What They Sowed; by Tyler Austin Harper (The Atlantic)
Joe Biden and the Common Knowledge Game; by Ben Hunt (Epsilon Theory)
The Emperor’s New Clothes; by Hans Christian Andersen
Futarchy Details; by Robin Hanson (Overcoming Bias)
The Enlightenment Trilogy; by Jed McKenna
The Weirdest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous; by Joseph Henrich

Julia Sonnevend — Charming! (EP.230) Aug 22, 2024

Professor Julia Sonnevend believes that charm is one of the defining political trends of our era.

In her latest book, she argues that charm will do no less than “shape the future of democracy worldwide,” exploring how it is weaponized by politicians ranging from Jacinda Arden to Kim Jong Un.

In our episode, you will discover why charm has emerged as a political force and how to innoculate yourself when you encounter it in the wild.

Julia and I also dig into the five components of a charming interaction, a tantalizing prospect for those of you who want to dabble in the dark arts yourself…

For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other stuff designed to make you go, “Hmm, that’s interesting!” check out our Substack.

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Why social scientists are scared of charm
The beer test of political leadership
Can charm be manufactured?
How humor affects charm
The five building blocks of charm
Does writing a book about charm make you immune to charm?
Suspicion of seduction
Is personality damaging politics?
The true arbiter of authenticity
How to encourage students to think critically
How global iconic events are constructed
Historical villains & the banality of evil
Charming or not-charming: a speed-round
The transitory nature of the charm offensive
The benefits of taking a moment
Julia as Empress of the World

Bilawal Sidhu — How to Unite Reality With Imagination (EP.229) Aug 15, 2024

As a proud owner of the exceedingly rare “two-digit” designation on CompuServe (the internet’s precursor), I’ve always been an early adopter of new tech.

I was, therefore, particularly excited to speak to Bilawal Sidhu, a one-man corporation whose prolific output outpaces many creators put together.

Since he was 11, Bilawal has been passionate about using cutting-edge tech to create videos that unite reality with his imagination.

He made his bones as a product manager at Google, but after his short-form videos generated millions of views on social media, he decided to go all-in on his creative projects, including this video showing ‘shadow aliens’ invading Miami Mall, which racked up 11M views in 24 hours (!) on TikTok.

Bilawal is also an adept rune-reader in the tech industry — his Creative Digest newsletter and YouTube channel offer insights and analysis on tech and market developments, while his TEDAI podcast broke the recent Helen Toner x OpenAI story.

If you’re a creator curious about the opportunities presented by cutting-edge tech, you’re gonna love this episode.

For the full transcript and bucketloads of other stuff designed to make you go, “Hmm, that’s interesting!” check out our Substack.

Important Links:

Bilawal’s Website (includes links to all social channels)
What Does “Rat Park” Teach Us About Addiction? (Psychiatric Times)

Show Notes:

Aliens at the Miami Mall & the deep fake arms race
How to unite reality with imagination
The three waves of content democratization & the incoming content tsunami
Artisan vs organic content
Creation by proxy
Climbing up the adoption curve
Bilawal’s idea-to-execution creation process
Remix culture & co-creation
Competing visions of an AI-infused feature
Finding an economic model that benefits indie creators
Sovereign AI & being long human creativity
Bilawal as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Fifth Science; by Exurb1a
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; by Douglas Adams
The God Problem: How a Godless Cosmos Creates; by Howard Bloom
The Ultimate Resource; by Julian L. Simon

Luca Dellanna — How to Play (and Win) Long Term Games (EP.228) Aug 08, 2024

When Luca Dellanna speaks, I listen.

Unlike many of the other management, productivity and behavioral gurus out there, Luca is ruthlessly committed to providing actionable, tangible advice that is rooted in the messy, chaotic reality of daily life.

This conversation, my second with Luca, revolves around his excellent new book, Winning Long-Term Games: Reproducible Success Strategies to Achieve Your Life Goals.

Why should you care? Because long-term strategies consistently deliver better results. In other words, being able to identify, play, and win long-term games is, quite literally, the secret to success.

With examples ranging from NASA janitors to Stonehenge spray painters, we discuss how to successfully identify reproducible long-term strategies and how to persuade others to get on board with them.

We also explore how hypotheticals can be an insanely powerful tool for ensuring our short-term actions remain consistent with our long-term goals (and yes, before you ask, my beloved premeditation makes an appearance).

I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did! For more thoughts on the episode, the full transcript, and bucketloads of other stuff designed to make you go; “Hmm, that’s interesting!” check out our Substack.

Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Tale of the Three Bricklayers
Tighten Up Those Feedback Loops
The Perils of Short-Term Thinking
How to Signal Long-Term Intentions
Reproducibility is King
The Mighty Power of the Humble Hypothetical
Concretizing the Abstract
Goldilocks Solutions
Extracting Tangible Benefits From Stratospheric Objectives
Intuition & Luck in Long-Term Games
Risk of Tactic vs Risk of Strategy; Flexible North Stars
Build Your Own Long-Term Company
Tesla’s Risky Success
Luca as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Winning Long-Term Games: Reproducible Success Strategies to Achieve Your Life Goals; by Luca Dellanna
The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous; by Joseph Henrich
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; by Douglas Adams
Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder; by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The Infinite Game: How Great Businesses Achieve Long-Lasting Success; by Simon Sinek

Ateet Ahluwalia — The Many Bosses of a Venture Capitalist (EP.227) Aug 01, 2024

Let me introduce you to the four horsemen of the investment apocalypse:

Fear.

Greed.

Hope.

Ignorance.

Notice anything?

Three of four are emotions.

I’ve long argued that effective investing is far more about emotional control than technical know-how (although the latter certainly helps!) By hook or by crook, the best investors can find a way to tame their pesky emotional impulses and overcome that primal urge to respond impulsively to panic, passion, or pride.

My guest, the razor-sharp Ateet Ahluwalia, is a veteran trader and investor who has spent well over 15 years at the coalface, from trading at Goldman at the dawn of the financial crisis to his current role as founder and managing director of the venture capital firm Island Green Capital Management. As you’ll hear from our conversation, Ateet has built an insanely deep understanding of the emotional constitution required to succeed in finance and venture capital, which informs his approach to risk management, hiring, investing, due diligence, and everything in between.

I hope you enjoy our wide-ranging conversation, whose implications extend well beyond investing. For episode takeaways, a full transcript, and various other goodies, check out our Substack.

Important Links:

The Thinker and The Prover; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
Ateet’s LinkedIn
Island Green Capital Management

Show Notes:

Why Venture Capitalists Should Shun the Glory
“In a changing world, playing it safe is one of the riskiest things you can do."
Risk: Why Size Matters
The Emotional Constraints of Investing
How to Find Out What Someone Really Wants
The Purifying Power of Mistakes
Pick up the Phone!
Being Humbled by the Market
Public vs Private Investing
Why Hit Rates Matter
Assessing the Macro Position
Bullshitting, Question-Dodging, and Other Red Flags
The Many Bosses of the Venture Capitalist
Be a Painkiller
Ateet as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Enlightenment Trilogy; by Jed McKenna
Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist; by Brad Feld & Jason Mendelson
Financial Intelligence: A Manager’s Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Really Mean; by Karen Berman, Joe Knight & John Case
Adventures of a Bystander; by Peter F. Drucker

Audrey Wisch — How to Cultivate Curious Kids (EP.226) Jul 25, 2024

I’ve always tried to encourage curiosity in my three children and now six (!) grandchildren. My kids often reminisce about my default response to their childhood questions: pointing to the bookshelf that flanked our sofa and saying, “look it up in there!”

Luckily, natural curiosity was never lacking in our household. Over the years, however, I have become increasingly frustrated when I hear about the stultifying, rote, curiosity-killing nature of our education system.

It was a pleasure, therefore, to speak to Audrey Wisch, an impressive young founder who, after witnessing first-hand how kids’ curiosity was being crushed, decided to do something about it. She left Stanford University to build Curious Cardinals, a personalized service that matches children with university mentors. What started as a pandemic project has grown into something much bigger - Audrey and her co-founder were named to the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 List in education, and Curious Cardinals has now delivered over 20,000 hours of mentorship to over 2,000 kids.

As you’ll hear in our conversation, Audrey’s approach to education is a breath of fresh air, focusing on agency and empowerment, meeting kids where their interests lie, and harnessing the benefits of technology.

I hope you enjoy our conversation! For the full transcript alongside bucketloads of other stuff designed to make you go; “Hmm, that’s interesting!” check out our Substack.

Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Classroom: Disengaging, Uninspiring and Regurgitating
The Chicken Nugget Strategy: Learning Through Interests
Are Attention Spans Shortening?
Why Mentors Matter
Rose, Bud, Thorn: How to Design an Effective Mentorship Session
The Perks of Proximity
The RBG Approach to Disruption
Against a One-Size-Fits-All Approach
Curiosity, Lifelong Learning & Openness to Change
Shakespeare on Snapchat
The Changing Role of Memory
Prompting via Socratic Iteration; Tapping into the Why
How Audrey Became Interested in AI
Why the College System Restrains K-12 Progress
Hiring for the Output vs Hiring for the Input
Audrey as Empress of the World
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness; by Jonathan Haidt
Paper Belt on Fire: How Renegade Investors Sparked a Revolt Against the University; by Michael Gibson

Matthew Ball — Into The Metaverse (EP.225) Jul 18, 2024

Matthew Ball is the CEO of Epyllion, which makes angel investments, provides advisory services, and produces television, films, and video games.

He’s also a Venture Partner at Makers Fund, Senior Advisor to KKR, Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company, and sits on the board of numerous start-ups.

Matthew is one of the sharpest and most original thinkers on the future of media and the Internet (i.e. The Metaverse). The fully revised and updated edition of his bestselling book "The Metaverse: Building the Spatial Internet" releases next week.

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Into The Metaverse
AI and The Metaverse
‘AI Can Bend the Laws of Physics’
Human Engineering and the Human Brain
Screens and Education
The Reflexivity of AI Doomerism
The Salvation of the ‘TV Species’
From Passive Media to Active Media
‘What’s An Appropriate Simulation?’
‘We Don’t Outlaw Fire, We Train Firemen’
Applying the Precautionary Principle
Media and the Metaverse: Three Stages of Competition
The Enduring Value of Taste
Hardware and AI: The Vergence-Accommodation Conflict
The Emperor of the Metaverse
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Metaverse: Building the Spatial Internet; by Matthew Ball
The Streaming Book; by Matthew Ball
The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous; by Joseph Henrich

Nat Eliason — Crazy, Crypto, Confidential (EP.224) Jul 11, 2024

Nat Eliason is a writer with a keen interest in writing about challenging and revealing things. His debut book, Crypto Confidential: Winning and Losing Millions in the New Frontier of Finance (out July 9th, 2024), charts his personal odyssey into Crypto’s Get-Rich-Quick underbelly.

Nat joins the show to discuss the highs and lows of the cryptocurrency market, the lessons learned from his financial adventures, the psychological effects of bubbles, crypto’s cutting-edge developments, and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Making A Lot of Money, As Fast as Possible
The Peer Pressure of Crypto Markets
The Psychological Effects of Diamond Hands
Signs of Peak Speculation
How Bitcoin Has Carried the Crypto Story
Ethereum’s Innovations
The Emergence of Stablecoins
What Makes USD A Reserve Currency?
The Crazy Anonymity of Crypto Projects
The Two Options of Getting Into Crypto
Imagining the Money Pile
What Nat Couldn’t Keep in the Book
Nat’s Next Career as a Novelist
Nat as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Influence; by Robert Cialdini

Noor Siddiqui — A Thiel Fellow’s Guide to Having Healthy Babies (EP.223) Jul 04, 2024

Noor Siddiqui is currently building Orchid, a reproductive technology company that measures genetic predisposition to disease and provides embryo screening for couples going through IVF.

Noor joins the show to discuss the ambitious culture of the West Coast, getting into the Thiel Fellowship, her personal reasons for starting Orchid, the sacred act of reproduction and why it must be made safe, her belief in children as the future, and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Ambitious Culture of San Francisco
The East Coast Aversion to Risky Ambition
The Intimate Origin Story of Orchid
What Orchid Has Built
The History and Controversy Around Reproductive Technology
Surprising Aspects of Orchid’s Technology
Benefits of Saliva Testing
Making Our Own Genetic Luck
Noor’s Predictions for the Field
Advances in Embryonic Freezing
Why Noor Values Clear Writing
Noor as Empress of the World
MORE!

Books/Essays Mentioned:

What You Can't Say; by Paul Graham
Secrets (from Zero To One); by Peter Thiel

The Fourth Way - Mastering The Self (EP.222) Jun 27, 2024

The Fourth Way is a pseudonymously run Youtube channel and Twitter page dedicated to the path of psychological and spiritual growth and self-improvement. Built around the philosophy of two thinkers - George Gurdjieff and Peter Ouspensky - the ultimate aim of the Fourth Way is “to assist individuals in achieving a higher state of consciousness and self-awareness which can lead to a more fulfilling and meaningful existence.”

Tune in to this week’s episode to learn about the four ways of being; how to befriend your centers; the keys to the universe; and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Memetic Alchemy
Introducing The Fourth Way
The Best Time To Start Is Now
The Four Ways of Being
Waking Sleep
Befriending Your Centers
Keys To The Universe
The Law of Octaves
Indoctrination as Hypnosis
The Fourth Way Curriculum
The Search for Mystery
Don’t Forget To Self-Remember
Life Is Movement
A Pitch for The Fourth Way
Don’t Go With The Flow
The Fourth…Emperor Of The World

Books Mentioned:

The Fourth Way; by Peter Ouspensky
In Search of the Miraculous; by Peter Ouspensky
Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson; by ****George Gurdjieff
In Search of Being: The Fourth Way to Consciousness; by George Gurdjieff
The Struggle of the Magicians; by George Gurdjieff
Siddhartha; by Herman Hesse
The Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean; by Thoth The Atlantean

Mona Sobhani — A Neuroscientist’s Journey From Materialism to Beyond (EP.221) Jun 20, 2024

Mona Sobhani, Ph.D. is a cognitive neuroscientist, researcher, and author. In 2022 she published her first book, Proof of Spiritual Phenomena: A Neuroscientist's Discovery of the Ineffable Mysteries of the Universe, which documents her “transformation from diehard materialist to open-minded spiritual seeker.”

Mona joins the show to discuss blowing open the box of materialism, why anecdotes are scientifically underrated, what she learned from studying decades of research into psi-phenomena, how quantum science is transforming the way we think about consciousness, and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Mona’s Twitter
Proof of Spiritual Phenomena: A Neuroscientist's Discovery of the Ineffable Mysteries of the Universe; by Mona Sobhani
Cosmos, Coffee & Consciousness (Mona’s Substack)
Life Will Be the Death of Me Podcast with Chelsea Handler (Ep. 19): People on the Other Side with Laura Lynne Jackson
Infinite Potential: The Life & Ideas of David Bohm
Prophetic AI

Show Notes:

Mona’s Journey Beyond Materialism
Anecdotes are Scientifically Underrated; Research Into Psi Phenomena
How Mona Deals With Her Colleagues’ Skepticism
The Persuasiveness of Personal Experience
Psychic Phenomena & the Scientific Method
Blowing Open the Box of Materialism
How Quantum Science is Transforming How We Think About Consciousness
Transcendent Technology
Psychedelics as a Bridge
What’s Next for Mona
Bringing Humanity Back Into Science
Mona as Empress of the World
MORE!

Books & Articles Mentioned:

Proof of Spiritual Phenomena: A Neuroscientist's Discovery of the Ineffable Mysteries of the Universe; by Mona Sobhani
The Radical Ideas of Psychedelic Research 2.0 (Pt.1; Pt.2); by Mona Sobhani
Many Lives, Many Masters: The true story of a prominent psychiatrist, his young patient and the past-life therapy that changed both their lives; by Dr. Brian Weiss
The New Inquisition: Irrational Rationalism and the Citadel of Science; by Robert Anton Wilson
Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy; by Michael Polanyi
The Two Cultures; by C. P. Snow
The Fabric of Reality: Towards a Theory of Everything; by David Deutsch
The work of Dean Radin
The Common Basis of Memory and Consciousness: Understanding the Brain as a Write-Read Head Interacting With an Omnipresent Background Field’ by Joachim Keppler
How To Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence; by Michael Pollan
What the Tortoise Said to Achilles; by Lewis Carroll

Ellen Fishbein — Make Art, Not Noise (EP. 220) Jun 13, 2024

Described by David Perell as “like Rick Rubin for writing,” Ellen Fishbein is an author and writing coach and the founder of Altamira Studio, an independent publisher specializing in short-form books. She joins the show to discuss how traditional publishing disrespects intelligent readers, her advice for aspiring authors, what she’s learned from Shakespeare’s sonnets, and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Caves of Altamira
The New Book Deal
Using Shakespeare’s Sonnets as a Writing Guide
The Author’s Compass
The Storytelling Magic of Herman Hesse
Zero to One & Writing as Personal Communication
How Traditional Publishing Disrespects Smart Readers
How the Legacy Publishing System Results in Regression to the Mean
AI in the Writing Process
Cutting Out the Middle Man
Muse By Mail
Advice for Aspiring Authors
Writing Coaching & Working with Big Publishers
Ellen as Empress of the World
MORE!

Books, Articles & Films Mentioned:

The New Book Deal; by Ellen Fishbein
Future of Publishing: 10 High-Conviction Views; by Ellen Fishbein
What makes Zero to One a masterpiece; by Ellen Fishbein
Have you found your “bible”?; by Ellen Fishbein
ASK ARISTOTLE; by Vishal Sharma and William Jaworski
MEMES MAKE MILLIONS; by Jason Levin
SPACEFARING: A contribution to Earth’s archives; by Ellen Fishbein
The Glass Bead Game; by Hermann Hesse Hesse's
Demian: The Story of a Boyhood; by Hermann Hesse
Siddharta; by Hermann Hesse
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future; by Peter Thiel with Blake Masters
What Works on Wall Street: A Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
How to Retire Rich: Time-Tested Strategies to Beat the Market and Retire in Style; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
Cave of Forgotten Dreams; Directed by Werner Herzog

John A. Paulos — Avoiding Innumeracy (EP. 219) Jun 06, 2024

Professor, Mathematician and Writer John A. Paulos joins the show to discuss math education, the power of puzzles, cognitive biases, and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Why Do People Hate Math?
The Power of Posing Problems with Counterintuitive or Shocking Results
Using Everyday Examples to Understand Math Concepts
Systems Designed to Take Advantage of Innumeracy
People’s Ignorance of Randomness and Random Samples
The Strange Power of Anchoring Bias
Tradeoffs between Probability and Plausibility
The Prisoner’s Dilemma & Math Anxiety
Improving the Monty Hall Problem
Designing an Ideal Intro Math Course
The Big Brother Aspect of Nudging
John as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Innumeracy - Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences; by J.A. Paulos
A Mathematician Plays the Stock Market; by J.A. Paulos
A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper; by J.A. Paulos
Statistics; by D.A. Freedman, R. Pisani, and R.A. Purves
Thinking Fast and Slow; by Daniel Kahneman

Chris Wilcha — Flipside (EP.218) May 30, 2024

Chris Wilcha is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and commercial director.

His latest film, Flipside, which is co-executive produced by Jim and presented in association with Infinite Films (among others), opens in select US theaters tomorrow (May 31st, 2024).

An ode to creative failure, abandoned projects, and rekindled passion, Flipside premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival to rave reviews. Here’s the full description:

“When filmmaker Chris Wilcha revisits the record store he worked at as a teenager in New Jersey, he finds the once-thriving bastion of music and weirdness from his youth slowly falling apart and out of touch with the times. FLIPSIDE documents his tragicomic attempt to revive the store while revisiting other documentary projects he has abandoned over the years. In the process, Wilcha captures This American Life icon Ira Glass in the midst of a creative rebirth, discovers the origin story of David Bowie’s ode to a local New Jersey cable television hero, and uncovers the unlikely connection between jazz photographer Herman Leonard and TV writer David Milch. This disparate collection of stories coheres into something strange and expansive—a moving meditation on music, work, and the sacrifices and satisfaction of trying to live a creative life.”

Important Links:

Flipside; a film by Chris Wilcha
32 Sounds; a film by Sam Green

Show Notes:

An Ode to Abandoned Projects
How Flipside Got Made
When Filmmaking Gets Personal
Taking the Big Swings
Bringing the Film to Life in the Editing Room
"Life can only be understood backwards, but we must live it forwards”
Meeting Uncle Floyd
Working With Judd Apatow & the Coen Brothers; Balancing Art & Commerce
Stylistic Choices & Following Your Obsession
How Jim Got Into Music
The Changing Landscape of Documentary Filmmaking
How the Creative Industries Compare to Wall Street
Chris’ Favourite Unmade Documentaries
Chris as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Bridget Phetasy — Comedy is Dead, Long Live Comedy (EP.217) May 23, 2024

“PHETASY IS a movement disguised as a company. We just want to make you laugh while the world burns.”

Bridget Phetasy is an entrepreneur, writer, podcast host, political commentator, burgeoning media mogul, and standup comedian. Over the past few years, her media company - Phetasy - has become an outlet for 100s of hours of social commentary filtered through her sharp and spiky worldview.

She joins the show to discuss the comedic temperature in America today; the role of comedy in contemporary society; humour as a weapon; and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Comedy as Dissidence
Post-Trump Comedy
America’s Comedic Temperature
A Tipping Point For Comedy
Does The Rubber Band Snap Back?
The Atomization of Culture
The Coddling of the American Mind
Fighting Political Peer Pressure
The Anti-fragility of Normie-ville
“Capitalism Always Wins”
The Pendulum Swings
The Cyclical Nature of Moral Panic
Luxury Beliefs
Humor as a Weapon
The Societal Utility of Comedy
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Trickster Makes This World: Mischief, Myth, and Art; by Lewis Hyde
Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in It; by Thomas de Zengotita
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community; By Robert D. Putnam

Porter Braswell — Building the Future of Leadership (EP.216) May 16, 2024

Porter Braswell is the Founder and CEO of 2045 Studio, an exclusive network for accomplished professionals of color.

Porter is also the Co-founder and Executive Chairman of the career advancement platform Jopwell, the host of the Harvard Business Review podcast Race at Work, and the author of two books, including 2019’s Let Them See You.

Porter joins the show to discuss how 2045 Studio is harnessing community to empower professionals of color to succeed, how to establish trust within a community, what he learned from Magic Johnson’s mentorship, and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Significance of 2045
Bridging the Inclusion Gap
Networks, Community & the Clubhouse
The Opportunity To Be in the Majority
Building the Right Kind of Partnerships
The Importance of Human Capital
Socratic Problem-Solving
How to Establish Trust Within a Community
The 2045 Approach to Networking
Councils & Relationship-Building
Surprising Lessons From Foundership
Leveraging the Community
Magic Johnson’s Mentorship & the Advantages of the Athletic Mentality
Why Porter Writes
“Wouldn't it be so cool if I could always feel like I belong?”
2045’s Long-Term Vision
Porter as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Let Them See You: The Guide for Leveraging Your Diversity at Work; by Porter Braswell
Yes, You Can: The Secrets Revealed for How to Get into and Succeed at America's Top Universities and Colleges; by Porter Braswell
The Intelligent Investor; by Benjamin Graham

Grant Mitchell — The Potential of AI Drug Repurposing May 09, 2024

Grant Mitchell is a seasoned entrepreneur, operator, and investor in the areas of health, technology, and machine learning. He is currently the co-founder and CEO of Every Cure, where he uses AI to research rare diseases and conduct drug repurposing.

Grant joins the show to discuss the use of AI in rare drug research, the role of translational scientists, neglected knowledge, and MUCH MORE!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Organizational Problem in Pharma
The Power of Biomedical Knowledge Graphs
The Traditional Pharma Approach to Drug R&D
Risks in the World of AI-driven Drug Discovery
The Limits of AI for Medical Use
Biology’s ‘Ignorome’
The Role of Translators
Every Cure’s Typical Supporters
Neglected Latent Knowledge
Grant as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books/Essays Mentioned:

The AI Revolution; by Tim Urban (Wait But Why)
Ikigai - The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life; by Héctor García & Francesc Miralles

Jimmy Soni — The Courage of Creative Risk (EP.214) May 02, 2024

Author and friend-of-the-show Jimmy Soni returns to discuss the future of publishing, the changing world of book marketing, the courage of creative risk, and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Why Traditional Publishing is in Stasis
A Case of Broken Incentives
The Changing World of Book Marketing & the Case for Patience
Talent Spotting & Creative Risk
The Challenge of Self-Publishing
Experiment, Experiment, Experiment
Taylor Swift, Michael Jordan, and the Courage of Trying Something New
Don’t Be Trapped by the Opinions of Others
Jimmy as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Founders; by Jimmy Soni
A Mind at Play; by Jimmy Soni & Rob Goodman
What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
Invest Like The Best; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
How To Retire Rich; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
Atomic Habits; by James Clear
Psychology of Money; by Morgan Housel
The Obstacle is the Way; by Ryan Holiday
Trust Me, I'm Lying; by Ryan Holiday
The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics; by Daniel James Brown
You Are a Badass; by Jen Sincero
11/22/63; by Stephen King

Arjun Khemani — The Hunt for Better Problems (EP. 213) Apr 25, 2024

Arjun Khemani is a 17-year-old writer and podcaster who dropped out of high school to help lead support at Airchat, the social network co-founded by Naval Ravikant.

As the host of the Arjun Khemani podcast, Arjun has spoken to a wide range of guests including David Deutsch, David Perell and Naval Ravikant. His Substack, Progress Good, “serves as a defense against the anti-Enlightenment tradition, exploring progress, rationality, and optimism.”

Arjun joins the show to discuss why education should be voluntary, the moral case for selfishness, the pessimism of ultimacy and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Arjun’s Twitter
Progress Good (Arjun’s Substack)

Show Notes:

The Myth of the Good Old Days
The Citadel of Science
Generational Warfare
Why Education Should Be Voluntary
Misunderstanding Money
Escaping the Altruism Trap: the Case for Selfishness
Coercion & Moral Righteousness
The Pessimism of Ultimacy
The Hunt for Better Problems
Arjun’s Leap Into the Unknown
Reimagining Education
What’s Next?
Arjun as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

One Summer: America 1927; by Bill Bryson
The New Inquisition: Irrational Rationalism and the Citadel of Science; by Robert Anton Wilson
The Road to Serfdom; by Friedrich Hayek
The Lessons of History; by Will & Ariel Durant
Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behaviour; by David R. Hawkins
Deschooling Society; by Ivan Illich

Eddy Elfenbein — On Crossing Wall Street (EP. 212) Apr 18, 2024

Eddy Elfenbein is an OG finance blogger, ETF manager, and FinTwit legend, with over 25 years of experience working in and around Wall Street.

Eddy joins the show to discuss the story behind his longtime blog - Crossing Wall Street (CWS), the origins of his famous Buy List, his ETF journey, his philosophy as an investor, and much more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Origins of a Wall Street Blogger
Bypassing the Gatekeepers
Eddy’s Buy List
Many Paths to Stock Market Success
The Last Sustainable Edge in Public Markets
The Great Truths of Investing
Stocks Don’t Know You Own Them
The Market and the Casino
Debating Academic Finance
Major League Buy List
Down with Perma-Bears
Unpacking ETFs
The Next Avatar of Market Intelligence
The Moat of the Stock Picker
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
THE MISBEHAVIOR OF MARKETS: A Fractal View of Financial Turbulence; by Benoit Mandelbrot and Richard L Hudson
Stocks for the Long Run; by Jeremy Siegel
The Myth of 1926: How Much Do We Know About Long-Term Returns on U.S. Stocks?; by Edward F. McQuarrie
Fama and French Three Factor Model Definition: Formula and Interpretation (Investopedia)

Anna Gát — We Digress (EP. 211) Apr 10, 2024

Friend-of-the-show Anna Gát returns to discuss… well… pretty much everything!

On April 13th, O’Shaughnessy Ventures and Interintellect are co-hosting a Future of Publishing event at the beautiful Pratt Mansion in NYC.

We’re bringing together established publishers, online writers, new publishing houses, journalists, technologists, authors and more to rethink and reimagine how ideas are spread in our changing world. Confirmed speakers include Coleman Hughes, Tara Isabella Burton, Tamara Winter, Sahil Lavingia and many more!

Here’s the best part - we want YOU to be there! To buy in-person tickets and for more information on live-streaming, scheduling, speakers, and more, just follow this link.

We hope to see you there!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Shock of Losing a Parent
Interintellect & the Post-Tribe Internet
How to Facilitate Better Conversations
Surprising Salons
Faker Spotting & the Temptations of Power
Avoiding Audience Capture
The Humanness of Casablanca
Greatness, Co-Creation & Doing the Work
Misconceptions About Leadership
The Personality of Language
What’s Next for Anna
Cities as Ideas
Anna as Empress of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity; by David Graeber and Wengrow
Adventures of a Bystander; by Peter Drucker
Mating; by Norman Rush
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York; by Robert A. Caro
Power vs. Force; by David R. Hawkins
Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
The Number Sense: How the Mind Creates Mathematics; by Stanislas Dehaene
Embers; by Sándor Márai
The Hunger Games; by Suzanne Collins

Visakan Veerasamy — Expanding Our Possibility-Space (EP. 210) Apr 04, 2024

The inimitable Visakan Veerasamy returns for a characteristically wide-ranging discussion…

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Life as a Dad
A Conversation With David Deutsch
Change, Courage, Curiosity & Creativity
Possibility Space & the Problem of Wretchedness
A Good Blog Post Can Change the World
The Outdated Language of Counterculture
Colliding Our Reality Tunnels
Imperfection Breeds Creativity
We Are Co-Creators
Status Quo Soldiers
The Power of Noticing
Visa as Emperor of the World
MUCH more!

Books & Articles Mentioned:

Friendly Ambitious Nerd; by Visakan Veerasamy
Introspect; by Visakan Veerasamy
status quo soldiers lose in the long run; by Visakan Veerasamy
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
The Thinker and The Prover; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
Leonardo Da Vinci; by Walter Isaacson
Ninety-five Theses; by Martin Luther
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; by Lewis Carroll
The News: A User’s Manual; by Alain de Botton
Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man; by Marshall McLuhan
Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behaviour; by David R. Hawkins
How I Accidentally Started The Sixties; by Howard Bloom
One Summer: America 1927; by Bill Bryson

Brendan McCord — AI and the Philosophy of Technology Mar 28, 2024

Brendan McCord is the founder of Cosmos Institute — a non-profit dedicated to exploring the intersection of AI and philosophy.

Brendan joins the show to discuss Cosmos’ origins, the pursuit of philosophy as a technologist, the different schools of thought in AI, complex adaptive systems and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Genesis of the Cosmos Institute
Philosophy as a Quixotic Pursuit
The Man of the System Dilemma
Existential Risk & Scenario Agnosticism
The AI Schools of Thought
The Religious Nature of the E/Acc Movement
What Tocqueville Can Teach Us About AI
The Philosophy-to-Code Pipeline
“Cars ignited the Sexual Revolution” and Other Unexpected Occurrences
The Best Systems are Adaptive
Heterogeneity & Resilient Systems
Open Source and the US-China Situation
Automation, Augmentation & Open-Ended Generation
The Underrated Nuance of Russian Realism
Cinematic Visions of the Future
Great Talent & the Risk of the Tasmanian Devil
Brendan as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Murray Rothbard, “For A New Liberty”
David R. Hawkins, “Power vs. Force”
Jung Chang, “Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China”
Jung Chang, “Mao: The Unknown Story”
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, “The Gulag Archipelago”
Arthur Koestler, “Darkness At Noon”
Adam Smith, “The Theory of Moral Sentiments”
Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”
Lewis Carroll, “What the Tortoise Said To Achilles”
Eliezer Yudkowsky, “Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality”
Marc Andreessen, “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto”
Alexis De Tocqueville, “Democracy in America”
'Pericles's Funeral Oration' quoted in Thucydides’ “History of the Peloponnesian War”.
Plato, “Theaetetus”
Plato, “The Republic”
Nietzsche, “The Gay Science”
C.P Snow, “The Two Cultures”
Elinor Ostrom, “Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action”
James M. Buchanan, "Freedom in Constitutional Contract: Perspectives of a Political Economist”
Iain M. Banks, “Consider Phlebas” (Culture Series #1)
Chen Qiufan and Kai-Fu Lee, “AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future”
Christopher Buckley, “Thank You for Smoking”
John Stuart Mill, “On Liberty”

Alex Komoroske — Complex Adaptivity All The Way Down (EP. 208) Mar 21, 2024

Alex Komoroske has spent his career studying, writing about, and working in complex adaptive systems. He has published multiple essays on topics like Schelling points in organizations, why debate should be collaborative, and how to ensure resilient growth in harsh environments. Alex has also worked as a product manager and in corporate strategy at Google and Stripe.

Alex joins the show to discuss how to escape busyness, why heroism is overrated, the different types of magic, and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Parable of the Builder & the Gardener
Against Heroism
Noise is Good
Complex Adaptivity All the Way Down
Information Flow, Context Switching and Luck Surface-Area
Escaping Busyness
Paradigm Shifts & the Importance of Uncertainty
The Self-Transcending Mindset
The Power of Compression & The Virility of Memes
Order From Chaos
The Iterative Adjacent Possible
Saruman & Radagast Magic
The Illusion of Certainty
Alex as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books and Articles Mentioned:

The Magic of Acorns; by Alex Komoroske
The Sarumans and The Radagasts; by Alex Komoroske
The Iterative Adjacent Possible; by Alex Komoroske
Crossing the Bridge of Nihilism; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
Adult Development Primer; by Dimitri Glazkov
The Mower against Gardens; by Andrew Marvell
Being There; by Jerzy Kosinski
Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment; by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony & Cass R. Sunstein
Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century; by Howard Bloom
Zorba the Greek; by Nikos Kazantzakis
Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny; by Robert Wright
The Fifth Science; by Exurb1a
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction; by Christopher Alexander

Cedric Chin — Accelerating Business Expertise (EP. 207) Mar 14, 2024

Cedric Chin is a writer, researcher and operator whose Commoncog newsletter is dedicated to finding useful, practical ways to accelerate business expertise. He joins us to discuss some of the most potentially transformative concepts he’s uncovered, from the business expertise triad to naturalistic decision making.

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Commoncog’s Rabbit-Holing Origins
The Business Expertise Triad
Quality Engineering & Process Control
The Effectiveness of Naturalistic Decision Making
Expectancy, Intuition & Investing
How to Stay Open-Minded
Trial & Error, Knowledge Shields & the Power of Reading
Protocols & Pattern-Matching
Cedric as Emperor of the World
MUCH more!

Books and Articles Mentioned:

The Tricky Thing About Creating Training Programs; by Cedric Chin
The Business Expertise Series; by Cedric Chin
The Oxford Handbook of Expertise; edited by Paul Ward, Jaan Maarten Schraagen, Julie Gore and Emile Roth
Accelerated Expertise; by Robert R. Hoffman, Paul Ward, Paul J. Feltovich, Lia DiBello, Stephen M. Fiore and Dee H. Andrews
The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success; by Will Thorndike
Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon; by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr
Understanding Variation: The Key to Managing Chaos; by Donald Wheeler
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations that Transform the World; by David Deutsch
The Hound of the Baskervilles; by Arthur Conan Doyle
What Works on Wall Street: The Classic Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time; by Jim O’Shaughnessy

Devon Eriksen — Theft of Fire (EP. 206) Mar 07, 2024

Devon Eriksen always wanted to be a writer. As a child, he was persuaded to abandon his aspirations in favor of a career in software engineering. Two decades later, he retired to finally fulfil his ambition to write imaginative hard-science fiction in the vein of authors like Asimov, Heinlein and Niven. He self-published his first novel, Theft of Fire, last year to an excellent reception.

Devon joins the show to discuss why his book incorporates alien technology, the role of patronage in the digital era, his unusual approach to obtaining feedback, and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Centralization & Institutional Corruption
The Evolving Nature of Resource Constraints
Why Theft of Fire Features Alien Technology
The Musk Dynasty
Architects vs Gardeners
Editing, Feedback & Beta-Readers
Audience Capture & Disagreeableness
“Money is a measure of fu*ks given”
Patronage & Intellectual Property in the Digital Era
Permissionless Writing
How to Become a High-Agency Character
Devon as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books and Articles Mentioned:

Theft of Fire; by Devon Eriksen
The Ultimate Resource; by Julian Simon
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress; by Robert A. Heinlein
The Population Bomb; by Paul R. Ehrlich
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; by Robert M. Pirsig
The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr

Jacqueline Novogratz - Manifesto for a Moral Revolution Feb 29, 2024

Jacqueline Novogratz is the founder of Acumen, a nonprofit impact investment fund “changing the way the world tackles poverty by investing in companies, leaders and ideas.”

As well as founding Acumen in 2001, Jacqueline is a public speaker and best-selling author. She also sits on multiple philanthropic boards. Her latest book Manifesto for a Moral Revolution, “reveals 12 leadership practices for anyone eager to build a better world.”

Jacqueline joins us to discuss how to create a high-trust society, the difference between moral righteousness and moral leadership, why the opposite of poverty is dignity, and MUCH more.

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Acumen’s Origins
A People-First Theory of Change
Emerging Entrepreneurship in Africa
Social Return on Investment and the Rise of Microfinance
How to Create a High Trust Society
The Blue Sweater
The Path to Moral Leadership
Defining Win-Win
Solar Lights, the Adjacent Possible and the Rejection of Cynicism
What Jacqueline is Most Excited For
Jacqueline as Empress of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World; by Jacqueline Novogratz
Manifesto for a Moral Revolution: Practices to Build a Better World; by Jacqueline Novogratz

Rupert Sheldrake — On Scientism, Morphic Resonance and the Extended Mind (EP. 204) Feb 22, 2024

Rupert Sheldrake is a biologist and author of 9 books and over 100 scientific papers. A critic of what he sees as the scientific establishment’s dogmatic dedication to materialism, he is perhaps best known for his theory of “morphic resonance,” via which information and activity can be transferred across space and time. Rupert joins the show to discuss being branded a heretic, how to test for telepathy, his advice for young scientists, and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Rupert’s Website
Rupert’s Banned TED Talk
The Science Delusion; by Rupert Sheldrake
A New Science of Life; by Rupert Sheldrake
Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals; by Rupert Sheldrake
Is The Sun Conscious?; by Rupert Sheldrake (Journal of Consciousness Studies)

Show Notes:

The Apostate of Scientism
The Origins of Scientism
How to Achieve a Phase Change in the Sciences
Testing for Telepathy & Incentivizing Intuition
Structural Resistance to Panpsychism
When Science Gets Personal
Loosening the Grip of Determinism
Advice for Young Scientists
Rupert as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books & Articles Mentioned:

The Science Delusion; by Rupert Sheldrake
New Science of Life; by Rupert Sheldrake
Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home: And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals; by Rupert Sheldrake
Is The Sun Conscious?; by Rupert Sheldrake
The New Inquisition: Irrational Rationalism and the Citadel of Science; by Robert Anton Wilson
Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters; by Steven Pinker
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature; by Steven Pinker
Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change Our Minds and Shape Our Futures; by Merlin Sheldrake
The End of Faith; by Sam Harris
The Fifth Science; by Exurb1a
What the Tortoise Said to Achilles; by Lewis Carroll
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; by Robert M. Pirsig
The (Mis)Behaviour of Markets: A Fractal View of Risk, Ruin and Reward; by Benoit B. Mandelbrot & Richard L. Hudson
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions; by Thomas Kuhn

Rob Henderson — Troubled (EP. 203) Feb 20, 2024

Friend-of-the-show Rob Henderson returns to discuss his powerful, moving and important debut book, Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class (published TODAY). We discuss Rob’s experience of the American foster care and adoption system, the life-changing impact of the military, the rise of Luxury Beliefs, the benefits of standardized testing, and MUCH more.

Important Links:

Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class (Amazon)
The SAT is a pathway to more college diversity, not less; by Rob Henderson (The Boston Globe)
Rob Henderson: Lessons I Learned the Hard Way; by Rob Henderson (The Free Press)
Rob’s Substack
Rob’s Twitter

Show Notes:

Foster Care, Adoption & Social Mobility
Structural Origins of the Foster System
Why Early-Life Stability is Underrated
How Ideas Can Change Outcomes
The Life-Changing Impact of the Military
Young Male Syndrome
The Role of Intelligence in Governing Outcomes
The Benefits of Standardized Testing
Yale, Luxury Beliefs & the Rise of Identity Politics
Are Luxury Beliefs a Political or Class Phenomenon?
Trickle-Down Meritocracy
Technology, Assortive Mating & Social Mobility
Is the Overton Window Shifting on Campus?
Rob as Emperor of the World

Books and Articles Mentioned:

Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class; by Rob Henderson
The SAT is a pathway to more college diversity, not less; by Rob Henderson (The Boston Globe)
Rob Henderson: Lessons I Learned the Hard Way; by Rob Henderson (The Free Press)
Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society; by Nicholas A. Christakis
Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010; by Charles Murray
Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World, by Tyler Cowen and Daniel Gross
A Suitable Boy; by Vikram Seth
The Son Also Rises; by Gregory Clark

Alec Stapp — Progress is a Policy Choice (EP. 202) Feb 15, 2024

Alec Stapp is the co-founder of the Institute for Progress, a non-partisan innovation policy think tank aiming to “accelerate scientific, technological and industrial progress while safeguarding humanity’s future.” He joins the show to discuss how to achieve change in the age of lobbying, why bipartisanship is underrated, why US immigration policy is so slow-moving and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Reimagining the Think Tank
Progress is a Policy Choice
Bipartisanship is Underrated
Achieving Progress via Reframing
Achieving Change in the Age of Lobbying
Moonshot Projects and Incremental Change
Ways to Enact Change Within Existing Institutions
Governmental Embrace of Technology
Reducing NIMBYism
The Barbell Approach to Policy
The Washington Mindset
Reasons to be Optimistic
Lessons From Other Countries
Why Hasn’t Immigration Policy Changed?
Alec as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books and Articles Mentioned:

Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better; by Jen Pahlka
The Proceduralist Fetish; by Nicholas Bagley
The housing theory of everything; by Sam Bowman, John Myers & Ben Southwood

Rohit Krishnan — Demystifying AI (EP. 201) Feb 08, 2024

Essayist, tinkerer, and author Rohit Krishnan returns to discuss his book, Building God: Demystifying AI for Decision Makers. Important Links:

Strange Loop Canon (Rohit’s Substack)
Building God: Demystifying AI for Decision Makers
Rohit’s Twitter

Show Notes:

Demystifying AI
AI as a Fuzzy Processor
Complexity & Determinism
The Flash Crash Scenario
Regulating AI
Open Source, Closed Source & Big Brother
Carving Through Bureaucracy
Socially Adapting to AI Disruption
The Centaur Model
Integrated Information Theory & Consciousness
Big Tech in the AI Era
Are We Running Out of Data?
Rohit as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Building God: Demystifying AI for Decision Makers; by Rohit Krishnan

Jim O’Shaughnessy — Turning the Tables (EP. 200) Feb 01, 2024

For this milestone 200th (yes, TWO HUNDREDTH) episode of Infinite Loops, regular guest and Infinite Media head Liberty RPF joins writer & researcher Ed William to turn the tables on Jim O’Shaughnessy. Stay tuned for Jim’s dream podcast guests, his advice to parents, a diabolical spin on his trademark closing question, and MUCH more! Important Links:

Infinite Loops Substack

Show Notes:

Episode One: Tequila With Ramp Capital
Taking Inspiration From My Dinner With Andre
Would the Show Be Different if Monetized?
“I would be doing this if I wasn’t pressing publish”
Jim’s Definition of a Successful Episode
Nerves & Jim’s Appearance on Oprah
Infinite Loops as a Serendipity Engine
The Infinite Loops Team
Jim’s Dream Guests
Controversiality & Being Distinctive
Jim’s Relationship With His Grandchildren
We Are Winners of the Cosmic Lottery
Why Aren’t There More History-Focused Episodes?
The Jim O’Shaughnessy Guide to Productivity: Silence, Journalling & Keeping Things Simple
Advice to Parents
What Has Jim Changed His Mind On in the Last 12 to 24 Months?
Advice to Young People Who Doubt the American Dream
When Will We See An Updated What Works on Wall Street?
What Would a World of Abundance Look Like?
Jim’s Favorite Poem
Jim as EVIL Emperor of the World
MORE!

Episodes Mentioned:

Ramp Capital and Super Mugatu (Ep.01)
Brian Muraresku (Ep. 57)
David Rhoiney (Ep. 99)
Will Storr (Ep. 122)
Alex Danco (latest episode) (Ep. 156)
Brian Roemmele (latest episode) (Ep. 168)
Julie Fredrickson (Ep. 181)
Ben Westhoff (Ep. 189)
Guy Spier (Ep. 197)

Books & Poems Mentioned:

The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name; by ****Brian Muraresku
How to Retire Rich: Time-Tested Strategies to Beat the Market and Retire in Style; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
Invest Like the Best: Using Your Computer to Unlock the Secrets of the Top Money Managers; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
What Works on Wall Street: The Classic Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr
Fentanyl, Inc.: how rogue chemists are creating the deadliest wave of the opioid epidemic; by Ben Westhoff
One Summer: America 1927; by Bill Bryson
To His Coy Mistress; by Andrew Marvell
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock; by T. S. Eliot

Lisa Wehden and Minn Kim — America is Open For Business (EP.199) Jan 25, 2024

Lisa Wehden and Minn Kim are the founders of Plymouth Street, which guides talented individuals through the US immigration process. Its aim is to accelerate innovation through faster and more transparent immigration services. Lisa & Minn join the show to discuss the pitfalls of the current system, how Plymouth Street is injecting agency into the immigration process, the importance of storytelling, and MUCH more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Origins of Plymouth Street
Problems With the Current US Immigration System
Expanding Access to the O-1 Visa
High-Skilled Immigration as a Bipartisan Issue
The Importance of Storytelling
From Anecdotal to Empirical; Coalition Building
Injecting Agency Into the Immigration Process
Scaling with Technology
The Emotional Toll of the Immigration System
Building the Right Team & Breaking Bad News
Dealing With Negative Externalities
Is America Open for Business?
Augmenting Plymouth’s Offering
Remote Work vs In-Person
What’s Next?
Lisa & Minn as Emperors of the World

Books Mentioned:

The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (a Little) Craziness and (a Lot Of) Success in America; by John Gartner

Alice Albrecht — On Creativity, Connection & Convergence (EP.198) Jan 18, 2024

Alice Albrecht is the founder and CEO of re:collect, a company dedicated to “enhancing human intelligence by augmenting memory, perception, and synthesis utilizing AI.” Alice started her career in psychology and academia, obtaining a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from Yale University. She joins the show to discuss how to become more creative, why she believes that nothing is true, how to boost evolution and MUCH more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

Augmenting Human Creativity
Collection Does Not Always Lead to Recollection
Using re:collect to Connect Information
How to Increase Your Creativity
Different Phases of Creativity
How AI Fits Into the Picture
Harnessing Our Attention
AGI & ASI
Boosting Evolution
re:collect’s First Order Effects
Nothing is True
Convergence, Divergence & Collective Intelligence
re:collect in Seven Years’ Time
From Academia to Entrepreneurship
Alice as Empress of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
The Fabric of Reality: Towards a Theory of Everything; by David Deutsch
The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous; by Joseph Henrich

Guy Spier — Wealth, Wisdom & Enlightenment (EP.197) Jan 11, 2024

Guy Spier runs the Aquamarine Fund, an “investment partnership closely modeled on the original Buffet Partnerships.” He is also a podcast host, YouTube creator, author of The Education of a Value Investor and the host of the annual investment gathering VALUEx. He describes his life’s project as “a quest for wealth, wisdom and enlightenment.” Guy joins the show to discuss the differences between Switzerland and the US, how to unlock the British class system, what he learned from Warren Buffett, and MUCH more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Differences Between New York, Switzerland & Paris
Exploring the Dark Underbelly of New York Nightlife
Psychedelics, Guns & Regulation
The Advantages of Swiss Democracy
Don’t Short the United States
The Branding Skill of the Royal Family
Unlocking the Rules of the Class System
Life Paths & Premeditation
Luck, Opportunity & Non-Canonical Science
Jim’s Music Taste
Mathematical Shenanigans
Guy as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us about Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence; by Michael Pollan
The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (a Little) Craziness and (a Lot Of) Success in America; by John Gartner
Write It Down, Make It Happen: Knowing What You Want and Getting It; by Henriette Anne Klauser
Invest Like The Best; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
Outside, the Sky is Blue: The story of a family told with searing honesty, humour and love; by Christina Patterson

Jared Dillian — How To Live a Stress-Free Financial Life (EP.196) Jan 04, 2024

Jared Dillian is a writer, strategist, financial expert, public speaker, and author of four books, including No Worries: How To Live a Stress-Free Financial Life (out this month!). He joins us to discuss why you should never loan money to your friends or family, why the FIRE movement is a fast track to a miserable life, the hidden costs of being cheap, and MUCH more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

From Coast Guard, to Wall Street, to Writer
“I am not in the money business—I am in the happy business”
The Awesome Portfolio
Stop Worrying About Small Financial Decisions
The Biggest Financial Decisions You Will Ever Make
Keep Your Finances Separate From Your Partner; Never Loan Friends or Family Money
To Make Money, You Have to Want Money
Generational Attitudes to Money
Being Wealthy vs Being Rich
Blowing Up Your Identity
Improving Financial Education
Why Investing Should Be Hard
The Hidden Costs of Being Cheap
Why People Are Scared of Entrepreneurship
The Worst Financial Decision Jared Has Ever Made
Jared as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

No Worries: How To Live a Stress-free Financial Life; by Jared Dillian
Those Bastards: 69 Essays on Life, Creativity, and Meaning; by Jared Dillian
All The Evil of This World; by Jared Dillian
Street Freak: Money and Madness at Lehman Brothers; by Jared Dillian
Rich Dad Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not!; by Robert T. Kiyosaki
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People; by Stephen R. Covey

George Mack — The Game of Life (EP.195) Dec 28, 2023

Writer, marketer, entrepreneur, and master of mental models, George Mack, returns to discuss the top 0.1% of ideas he’s ever come across, from treating life as a video game to spotting high-agency individuals. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Treating Life as a Video Game
Finding the Important Metrics
Embrace Momentum; Embrace Constraints
How to Spot High Agency People
How to Increase Your Agency
The Mack Meditation & Silence as Alpha
Why Pessimism vs Optimism is the Wrong Debate
The Future of Media
What is Ignored by the Media but will be Studied by Historians?
The Reddit to Facebook Continuum
George’s Most Midwit Opinion
Randomness & Feeding the Algorithm
How to Retain Curiosity
George as Emperor of the World

Books Mentioned:

The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (a Little) Craziness and (a Lot Of) Success in America; by John Gartner
Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown
What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
The Secret; by Rhonda Byrne
Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid; by Douglas Hofstadter
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations that Transform the World; by David Deutsch

Eric Jorgenson — on Publishing, Progress & Reinventing the Playbook (EP.194) Dec 21, 2023

Eric Jorgenson is (deep breath) an author, investor, writer, podcast host, online course creator, and the CEO of Scribe Media (breathe out). He joins the show to discuss the death of the marketing department, the changing nature of business-to-creator economics, the most impactful thing he learned from Balaji, the future of the publishing industry, and MUCH more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

A Guide to Creator Economics
The Death of the Marketing Department
Creator x Business Partnerships
Why Some People Are So Reluctant to Embrace the New Playbook
How to Become More Open-Minded
The Anthology of Balaji & the Curation-Author Effect
How to Cultivate Good Taste & the Rise of Curation
What Balaji Taught Eric About Technology
How Eric Became CEO of Scribe
Why Does Big Publishing Continue to Hold So Much Influence?
Helping the World Make Great Books
The Future of Books
Eric as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness; by Eric Jorgenson
The Anthology of Balaji: A Guide to Technology, Truth, and Building the Future; by Eric Jorgenson
What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
Invest Like the Best; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch

Arkady Kulik — Bridging Science & Entrepreneurship (EP.193) Dec 14, 2023

Arkady Kulik is a founding partner of rpv, a deep tech venture fund that aims to “drive tangible advancements in the well-being of humankind” by focusing on early, scientifically intensive ventures. He has over 15 years of experience in the IT sector as a C-level executive, a master’s degree in physics, and an MBA from INSEAD. Arkady joins the show to discuss how to evaluate a deep tech deal, why more scientists don’t become entrepreneurs, the ultimate goal of science, the two types of human motivation, and MUCH more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

Judging Investments by Their Technology Readiness Level
Bringing Scientific Expertise Into Venture Capital
Scorecards & Dealbreakers: How rpv Analyzes a Deep Tech Opportunity
Spotting the Early Red Flags
How rpv Deploys Scientific Due Diligence
Providing Feedback & Educating the Industry
Self-Censorship, Ideology & the Scientific Method
Why Don’t More Scientists Become Entrepreneurs?
The Ideal Composition of a Deep Tech Founding Team
Science’s Ultimate Goal
Taking Progress for Granted
The Two Types of Human Motivation
How Neurotech Can Benefit Humanity
Why Arkady is Less Bullish on Quantum Computing
Incoming Deep Tech Developments
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Survive & Thrive: Entrepreneurship Frameworks That Work; by Paul Kewene-Hite
The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves; by W. Brian Arthur
One Summer: America 1927; by Bill Bryson

Alex Lieberman — On Voice, Unicorns & Intrinsic Motivation (EP.192) Dec 07, 2023

Alex Lieberman is the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Morning Brew, the cofounder of Storyarb and the host of 60 Second Startup & Founder’s Journal. Alex joins the show to discuss why hiring a Voice Editor contributed to Morning Brew’s success, how to spot a writing unicorn, how he learned to follow his intrinsic motivation and MUCH more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Rise of Morning Brew
Finding Morning Brew’s Voice
Finding the Writing Unicorn
Writing Nature vs. Writing Nurture
Corporate Speak vs. Online Speak
The Power of Self-Awareness
Interviews & Talent Spotting
Ideating, Doing & Premeditating
Following the Intrinsics
Finding Your Zone of Genius
Building Storyarb
Alex as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

What Works on Wall Street, Fourth Edition: The Classic Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
The Adweek Copywriting Handbook: The Ultimate Guide to Writing Powerful Advertising and Marketing Copy from One of America's Top Copywriters; by Joseph Sugarman
The Tao Te Ching; by Laozi
The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable Success; by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman & Kaley Klemp
The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human, and How To Tell Them Better; by Will Storr
Burn Rate: Launching a Startup and Losing My Mind; by Andy Dunn

Venkatesh Rao & Tim Beiko — The Summer of Protocols Nov 30, 2023

Tim Beiko, who runs the core protocol meetings for Ethereum, teams up with writer and consultant Venkatesh Rao to discuss their “Summer of Protocols” research program. This initiative brought together 33 researchers with a wide range of expertise to investigate protocols across several domains. Join us for an in-depth exploration of protocols: understanding what they are, their importance, why they can go wrong, and much more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

Why We Should Care About Protocols
Protocols, Narratives & World-Building
The Three Preconditions of a Protocol
"Civilization progresses by increasing the number of actions we can do without thinking about them.”
When Protocols Go Wrong
More Protocols = Less Agency?
Workplace Safety & Protocol Complexity
How to Build Good Protocols; Building Protocol Literacy
Why Aren’t More People Talking About Protocols?
How to Encourage Protocols-First Thinking
Protocols Have Long Timelines
Protocols in Fiction
Protocol Hunting In Silico
Determinism, Open Environments & Evolution
How to Hack Protocols
Agility Isn’t Always the Answer
Memory: The Most Valuable Asset in a Civilization
Next Steps & How to Learn More
MORE!

Books & Essays Mentioned:

The God Problem: How a Godless Cosmos Creates; by Howard Bloom
Hope Runners of Gridlock; by Simon de la Rouviere
High Rise; by J.G Ballard
The Drowned World; by J.G Ballard
The Drought; by J.G Ballard
A Burglar's Guide to the City; by Geoff Manaugh
The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering; by Frederick Brooks
In the Beginning Was the Command Line; by Neal Stephenson
Slow Ideas; by Atul Gawande
Nakatomi Space; by Geoff Manaugh
Base Layers And Functional Escape Velocity; by Vitalik Buterin

Will Schoder — On Curation, Consumption & Compression (EP.190) Nov 23, 2023

Will Schoder is a video essayist who explores a diverse range of topics including psychology, meaning, re-enchantment, metamodernism, mortality, and satire. Initially known for his short-form videos, his latest series is a trilogy of fascinating long-form deep dives into the nature, foundations, and secrets of happiness. Will joins the show to share his insights on the evolving significance of curation, the future of the creator economy, how to obtain deep happiness and MUCH more. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Short-Form vs Long-Form Videos
The Righteous Mind
The Internet as Liberator; the Rise of Curation
Pushback & Pop Culture
YouTube & the Rise of the TikTok Style
Navigating the Attention Economy
The Future of the Creator Economy
Will’s Hero’s Journey
Finding Deep Happiness
Compression, Genetics & Environment
Education vs. Entertainment
The Free Energy Principle
Filter Failure
Will as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion; by Jonathan Haidt
One Summer: America 1927; by Bill Bryson
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business; by Neil Postman
The Shallows: How the Internet Is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember; by Nicholas Carr
Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown
Happiness: A Very Short Introduction; by Daniel M. Haybron
The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being; by Daniel M. Haybron
All The Light We Cannot See; by Anthony Doerr
How To Change Your Mind; by Michael Pollan

Ben Westhoff — Fentanyl, Inc. (EP.189) Nov 16, 2023

Ben Westhoff is a best-selling investigative journalist focusing on culture, drugs, and poverty. Ben’s book Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Created the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic was the culmination of a four-year investigation into the worst drug crisis in American history, an investigation that included Ben making an undercover visit to Chinese drug factories. His latest book, Little Brother: Love, Tragedy, and My Search for Truth tells the story of Ben’s search for his little brother’s killer. Ben is currently working on a documentary, Antagonist, about naltrexone, an opioid treatment medicine that some have called a “wonder drug.” Ben joins the show to discuss the failure of the War on Drugs, the role played by Big Pharma, how he speaks to his children about drugs, what most Americans misunderstand about poverty, and MUCH more. Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Worst Drug Crisis in World History
How China and Fentanyl Are Connected
Why Can’t the USA Stop This?
The Failure of the War on Drugs; Better Solutions
Vivitrol: a Wonder Drug?
Finding Better Ways to Care For the Vulnerable
Free Markets & Big Pharma
How Ben Speaks to His Children About Drugs
Innovation & Stigmatization
How Harm Reduction Can Help
What Has Happened to San Francisco?
Could Decriminalization Work?
Ben’s Hunt For His Little Brother’s Killer
What Most Americans Misunderstand About Poverty; How Listeners Can Help
How Ben’s Documentary Can Help
Ben as Emperor Of The World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Created the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic; by Ben Westhoff
Little Brother: Love, Tragedy, and My Search for Truth; by Ben Westhoff
Original Gangstas: Tupac Shakur, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and the Birth of West Coast Rap; by Ben Westhoff
Thank You For Smoking; by Christopher Buckley

Roon — On Shape Rotators, AGI & Tenet (EP.188) Nov 09, 2023

AI researcher, memelord extraordinaire, and techno-optimist Roon joins the show to discuss coming up with the shape rotator vs. wordcel meme, what an AGI world could become, and why Tenet is Christopher Nolan’s best movie. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Shape Rotators Vs. Wordcels
Why AGI is Possible
AI in Science Fiction
AGI Future #1: Neuralink Third Impact
AGI Future #2: Simulation Theory
AGI Future #3: Dumb Matter
AGI Future #4: Balrog Awakened
AGI Future #5: Ultra Kessler Syndrome
AGI Future #6: The Tragedy of Taiwan
AGI Future #7: For Dust Thou Art
AGI Future #8: CEV Super Intelligence
Why Tenet is Christopher Nolan’s Best Movie
Roon as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History; by Howard Bloom
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom
The God Problem: How a Godless Cosmos Creates; by Howard Bloom
William Blake vs the World; by John Higgs
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; by Douglas Adams

Katherine Dee — On Attention, Astroturfing and the Nostalgia Trap (EP.187) Nov 02, 2023

Katherine Dee is a writer, journalist, and internet culture reporter. A contributor to publications such as UnHerd, Tablet, and Blaze Media, she is also the proprietor of the Default Wisdom Substack, where she writes about a wide range of topics, including internet history and culture, digital communities, millennial nostalgia, and online fandom. Katherine joins the show to discuss why you’re never leaving Twitter, how to escape the nostalgia trap, whether it’s possible to heal our attention spans, and MUCH more! Important Links:

Default Wisdom
Why You’re Never Leaving Twitter; by Katherine Dee
Everything I Know About Elite America I Learned From ‘Fresh Prince’ and ‘West Wing’; by Rob Henderson

Show Notes:

Origin Story
Why You’re Never Leaving Twitter
Art & Journalism in the Attention Economy
Class, Wealth & Status
How to Heal Our Attention Span
Escaping the Nostalgia Trap
Technology, Cultural Lag & Barriers to Entry
Astroturfing vs. Organic Momentum
Katherine as Empress of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr
Class: A Guide Through the American Status System; by Paul Fussell
The novels of Donna Tartt
The novels of Easton Ellis

Derek Sivers (Part Two) — Just Do The Thing [BONUS EPISODE] (EP.186) Oct 26, 2023

The inimitable Derek Sivers returns for Part Two of our conversation. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Curiosity Starts With Dissatisfaction
Defining Things By Their Opposites
Counterbalancing Our Biases
How To Reframe Your Problems
Still Too Soon To Tell
Alternate Pasts & Alternate Futures
The Choice You Commit To Is The Best Choice
Just Do The Thing
What Next?
Derek As Emperor Of The World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Anything You Want; by Derek Sivers
Hell Yeah Or No; by Derek Sivers
How To Live; by Derek Sivers
Your Music And People; by Derek Sivers
William Blake vs the World; by John Higgs
The God Problem: How a Godless Cosmos Creates; by Howard Bloom
The Selfish Gene; by Richard Dawkins
Awaken The Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Life; by Tony Robbins
The Enlightenment Trilogy; by Jed McKenna
What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies; by Tim Urban

Derek Sivers (Part One) — How to Become a Picasso [BONUS EPISODE] (EP.185) Oct 24, 2023

Over the years, Derek Sivers has been a musician, circus performer, computer programmer, author, public speaker, and entrepreneur. In the 2000s, he sold his business, CD Baby, for $22 million and gave the proceeds to charity. Derek has optimized his life “for creating and learning” and spends as much of his time as he can (often 12 hours a day, 6 days a week) passionately pursuing his interests. Known for his ability to compress complex ideas into succinct insights, he has written four books and is currently working on his fifth. This conversation was so much fun that Derek immediately asked to return for a sequel, which we will be releasing this Thursday (26 October). Stay tuned! Important Links:

Website
Twitter
There’s No Speed Limit
Ideas Are Just A Multiplier Of Execution
The Thinker and The Prover
Keep It Simple, Stupid (Infinite Loops Substack)

Show Notes:

Don’t Be AC/DC. Be Miles Davis.
Does It Have To Be This Way?
Rebranding Laziness
Time Is A Multiplier
From Idea To Execution
Useful Not True
When Simple Gets Hard
How Derek Found Agency By Accepting Blame
Cultivating Insatiable Curiosity
More!

Books Mentioned:

Anything You Want; by Derek Sivers
Hell Yeah Or No; by Derek Sivers
How To Live; by Derek Sivers
Your Music And People; by Derek Sivers
Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
The Two Cultures; by C.P. Snow
Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There; by Lewis Carroll
The Cosmic Trigger trilogy; by Robert Anton Wilson
The Time Paradox: The New Psychology of Time That Will Change Your Life; by Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd
Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know About Global Politics; by Tim Marshall
Au Contraire!: Figuring Out the French; by Gilles Asselin and Ruth Mastron
Watching the English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour; by Kate Fox

John Fio — The Wizard & The Warrior (EP.184) Oct 19, 2023

John Fio is an inventor and entrepreneur who has bootstrapped four products that have collectively generated hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue. He joins the show to discuss why ideas are harder than execution, what he learned from being Justin Bieber’s intern, what most people get wrong about Kanye West, why magic is real, and what the success of Barbie and Taylor Swift can tell us about the future. Enjoy! Important Links:

Show Notes:

From Bieber’s Intern to Moon Pals
Ideas Are Harder Than Execution
Kickstarting Gravity Blankets
How to Have a Good Idea
Kanye West & the Creative Process
The Wizard & the Warrior
Magic is Real
Social Situations Are a Departure From the Truth
Moon Pals, Barbie, Taylor Swift & the Dawn of a New Paradigm
Long Tails, Curation & Good Taste
John as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism, by Howard Bloom.
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
The Two Cultures; by C.P. Snow

James Pethokoukis — The Conservative Futurist (EP.183) Oct 12, 2023

James Pethokoukis is a policy analyst, official CNBC contributor, and Dewitt Wallace Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He is also the creator and writer of the Faster, Please! newsletter, which is dedicated to “discovering, creating, and inventing a better world through technological innovation, economic growth, and pro-progress culture.” James joins the show to discuss his new book, The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised. Important Links:

Show Notes:

What Happened to America?
Up Wing vs. Down Wing Thinking
AI as a General Purpose Technology; Regulatory Capture
Technological Proficiency & Problem Solving
How to Reframe Tomorrow
“Be Like the Blade of Grass”
Green Shoots of Optimism
AI as a Lifelong Learning Instructor
We Are the Economy
Three Policies That Could Change the Future
James as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised; by James Pethokoukis
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (a Little) Craziness and (a Lot Of) Success in America; by John Gartner
The Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision Of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom

Bojan Tunguz — From Physicist to Grandmaster (EP.182) Oct 05, 2023

Bojan Tunguz is a senior systems software engineer at NVIDIA, quadruple Kaggle grandmaster, former top 10 Amazon reviewer, and former physicist. He joins the show to discuss the problems that LLMs can’t solve, the speed of AI progress, why he homeschools his kids, how to win Twitter, and more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

Becoming a Kaggle Grandmaster
Hyper-Competitive Learning
From Physics to Data Science
How Natural Language Processing Has Evolved
The Problems That LLMs Can’t Solve
The Future of the Centaur Model
AI as a Creativity Extender
Why Bojan is Homeschooling His Kids
The AI Feedback Flywheel
How Quickly Will Different Sectors Be Transformed By AI?
Disruption vs. Destruction
Is AGI possible?
AI Use Cases: Mental Health & Elder Care
How to Win Twitter
Why Bojan Became a Top 10 Amazon Reviewer
Bojan’s Favorite Books
Bojan’s Current Side-Project
Bojan As Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Lolita; by Vladimir Nabokov
The work of Haruki Murakami
The work of Milan Kundera
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature; by Steven Pinker
Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition have Failed; by James Scott

Julie Fredrickson — “Circumstances change. Humanity doesn't. Plan accordingly.” (EP.181) Sep 28, 2023

Julie Fredrickson is a former founder and the Managing Partner of Chaotic Capital, an “early stage fund for companies that adapt our lives and systems to the opportunities that chaos brings.” She joins the show to discuss the Great Weirding, becoming a playable character, how the market provides a muse, the power of preparation, and more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

Julie’s Origin Story
The Difference Between Hippies and Tech
“Circumstances change. Humanity does not. Plan accordingly.”
The Great Weirding
The Myth of the Perfect Past
How to Become a Playable Character
The Weirdo Lighthouse
The Power of Showing Up
How Julie Assesses Founders
Talent Doesn’t Matter
The Market is the Muse
“In the beginning, there was the word”
Preference Falsification vs. Revealed Preferences
Julie’s Revealed Preferences
“Prepare, and the opportunity will come”
Silicon Valley Is an Idea, Not a Place
The Open-Source Ethos
Julie as Empress of the World

Books Mentioned:

Bad Predictions: 2000 Years of the Best Minds Making the Worst Forecasts; by Laura Lee
The History of the Peloponnesian War; by Thucydides
Republic; by Plato
American Cycles of History: According to the Fourth Turning Generational Theory and The Boomer Soul 1946-2022; by William H. Van Marter Jr.
William Blake vs the World; by John Higgs
Julie, or the New Heloise; by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The End of History and the Last Man; by Francis Fukuyama
The Peripheral; by William Gibson
Neuromancer; by William Gibson
The Fifth Science; by Exurb1a
The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human, and How To Tell Them Better; by Will Storr
Class: A Guide Through the American Status System; by Paul Fussell
What Works on Wall Street: The Classic Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
Singularity Sky; by Charles Stross
Marxism and Modernism; by Eugene Lunn
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom

Danny Miranda — Attracted to the Light (EP.180) Sep 21, 2023

Danny Miranda’s ambition is to sell out Madison Square Gardens for a live edition of his podcast. Now, on episode 402 (and counting), he is getting closer to that goal every week. He joins the show to discuss the art of interviewing, why he’s attracted to the light, his favorite questions, and more. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Fancy a phone call? The power of human interaction
What Danny has learned from 397 podcasts
The Art of Interviewing
Finding “the thing”
How has Danny changed deciding his aim was to sell out Madison Square Garden?
Danny’s research process
“I’m attracted to the light”
When did things go wrong?
Podcasting as idea collecting
In-person vs Zoom
The ability to speak to anyone in the world
Danny’s favorite questions
The different types of podcast
Why podcasts are like the printing press for audio
The importance of connection
What will podcasting look like in 2034?
Always Be Closing
Danny as emperor of the world
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

How to Win Friends and Influence People; by Dale Carnegie
Hidden Genius; by Polina Marinova Pompliano
The Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
Jim’s “Exploring the Dark” Reading List:

Meditations; by Marcus Aurelius
Heart of Darkness; by Joseph Conrad
The Human Animal: A Personal View of the Human Species; by Desmond Morris
Exploring the Shadow: Understanding and Addressing the Dark Side of the Human Psyche; by John C. Friel and Linda D. Friel (Article)
Man's Search for Meaning; by Viktor E. Frankl
The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious; by Carl Jung
Memories, Dreams, Reflections: An Autobiography; by Carl Jung
Beyond Good and Evil; by Friedrich Nietzsche
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil; by Philip Zimbardo
Meeting the Shadow: Hidden Power of the Dark Side of Human Nature; edited by Connie Zweig and Jeremiah Abrams

Dror Poleg — The Future of Work Sep 14, 2023

Dror Poleg is an author, speaker, and researcher investigating technology’s impact on the way people work, live, and invest. He joins us to discuss the relationship between AI and remote work, how cities are going to change, the internet’s role as a matching engine, and MUCH more! Important Links:

Dror’s Website
Dror’s Twitter
Our Great Reshuffle Series
The Once and Future Liberalism; by Walter Russell Mead
The Great Online Game; by Packy McCormick

Show Notes:

The relationship between AI & remote work
How remote work & AI will change our cities
What cities will succeed in the new world?
Remote work vs. Back to the office
Uncertainty & the death of the “job”
How to cure zero-sum thinking
The economy doesn’t need us all to be ambitious
How work is going to change
How AI will transform professions’ scalability; the internet as a matching engine
How Dror uses AI
Unbundling ideas from execution
The value of Twitter
The tragedy of the uncommon
The great online game
UBI & the need for new social systems
Dror as emperor of the world.
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Rethinking Real Estate: A Roadmap to Technology’s Impact on the World’s Largest Asset Class; by Dror Poleg
After Office: A Survival Guide For Cities, Humans And Companies; by Dror Poleg
The Longer Long Tail: How Endless Choice is Creating Unlimited Demand; by Chris Anderson

Trung Phan & Rob Henderson — Apocalypse Now (EP.178) Sep 07, 2023

Our previous episode with Trung & Rob included the bombshell reveal that Rob had never watched Apocalypse Now. Nearly one year later, Rob and Trung make their triumphant return to the show to discuss the themes of the film, the lessons aspiring creators can draw from its troubled production history, the role of the Vietnam War in American cinema, and a whole lot more. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Rob’s homework assignment
The two endings of Apocalypse Now
Coppola’s disastrous production process
Should Willard have taken Kurtz’ place?
Draft dodgers: fear of death, or fear of social judgment?
Different perspectives of American Empire
The memory industry: Vietnam in film
When condemning backfires
The thin veneer of civilization
Willard’s moral injury
Is pacificism sustainable?
Art as a response to social conditions
Telling the story vs romanticizing it
Be careful what you wish for: The McKenna take
When Jim was Jedpilled
When Rob was Jedpilled
The creative process: feeding the black box, becoming the vessel, and summoning the muse
George Lucas’ version of Apocalypse Now
Cut scenes and time travel
Trung & Rob as Emperors of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Enlightenment Trilogy; by Jed McKenna
Heart of Darkness; by Joseph Conrad
The Lucifer Principle; by Howard Bloom
Howard Bloom hierarchies
The Sympathizer; by Viet Thanh Nguyen
The War of Art; by Steven Pressfield
Moby-Dick; by Herman Melville
The Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
The Creative Act: A Way of Being; by Rick Rubin

Films, TV Shows & Podcasts Mentioned:

Apocalypse Now; directed by Francis Ford Coppola
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse; directed by Fax Bahr, George Hickenlooper & Eleanor Coppola
The Vietnam War; directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick
Platoon; directed by Oliver Stone
The Wolf of Wall Street; directed by Martin Scorcese
Wall Street; directed by Oliver Stone
The Social Network; directed by David Fincher
Born on the Fourth of July; directed by Oliver Stone
The Deer Hunter; directed by Michael Cimino
A Clockwork Orange; directed by Stanley Kubrick
Patton; directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Full Metal Jacket; directed by Stanley Kubrick
Saving Private Ryan; directed by Steven Spielberg
The Godfather & The Godfather Part II; directed by Francis Ford Coppola
The Matrix; directed by the Wachowskis
Rick and Morty
Do We Get To Win This Time?
Tetragrammation with Rick Rubin

Frederik Gieschen — On Agility, Agreeableness, Alchemy & the Arena Aug 31, 2023

"Who is America’s best-known banker? That would be Jamie Dimon. But who is the richest? That would be Andy Beal, with an estimated net worth of $9 billion." Friend-of-the-show Frederik Gieschen joins us for an impromptu conversation about his article on the life and work of Andy Beal, the richest banker in America. Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Arena, the Maze, and the Labyrinth
Why do myths endure?
“You can’t do a good deal with a bad person”
America’s richest banker: the Andrew Beal story
Agreeableness, contrarianism, and accountability
Thinking like a banker vs. thinking like an investor
The random buzz generator: How to fight linear thinking
The alchemy of success
Bubbles: When heterogeneity becomes homogeneity
“The higher you rise in a hierarchy, the less good the information you get.”
Deterministic vs. probabilistic thinking
The difference between being an investor and being in the investing business
The return of Andrew Beal
The importance of agility
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Cosmic Trigger trilogy; by Robert Anton Wilson
Aesop’s Fables; by Aesop
Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art; by James Nestor
The Professor, the Banker, and the Suicide King: Inside the Richest Poker Game of All Time; by Michael Craig
What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life; by Alice Schroeder

Dr. Julie Gurner — Ultra Successful (EP.176) Aug 24, 2023

Dr. Julie Gurner is a doctor of psychology and executive performance coach to top percentile executives, primarily in finance and technology. She is also the proprietor of the Ultra Successful newsletter, which delivers a weekly challenge pulled from global business leaders and designed to ”help you unleash your power.” Dr. Gurner joins the show to discuss the merits of being unreasonable, why your business should not be your identity, why niceness is overrated, and more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

Dr. Gurner’s origin story
How forensic psychology experience can help executive coaching
Leaning into the 1%
Why psychological tests are flawed
The common traits of successful founders
High performance & bottlenecks
Why your business should not be your identity
Data vs. emotion
How Dr. Gurner applies her strategies in her own life
Don’t be nice
Be unreasonable
Social validation is not important
How can you improve someone’s communication skills?
How Dr. Gurner would teach executive coaching
The “no Plan B” mentality
Can high energy be detrimental?
How to unpack charisma
How to turn down work
Dr. Gurner’s greatest satisfaction
How has leadership changed in the last 20 years?
Dr. Gurner as Empress of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Art of War; by Sun Tzu

Todd Goodwin — “Revelation is not Resolution” (EP.175) Aug 17, 2023

Board Certified hypnotist & Goodwin Hypnosis founder Todd Goodwin joins us for his second appearance to discuss why we should treat the mind like a garden, why revelation is not the same as resolution, why labels can be counterproductive, and much more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Treating the symptoms vs treating the cause
Gardening the mind
“Revelation is not resolution”
Why aren’t hypnosis & NLP more popular?
Could Todd’s work be filmed?
Why labeling conditions can be counterproductive
Clearing the emotional charge from traumatic memories
Top-down vs. Bottom-up solutions
Hypnosis as a way of reclaiming agency
How we are shaped by childhood experiences
Why we need a more compassionate criminal system
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Healing Back Pain; by John E. Sarno

Luca Dellanna — On Survival, Signals & Success (EP.174) Aug 10, 2023

Why is hard work a form of laziness? Why should we be wary of short-term success? How can imagining parallel worlds help us make better decisions? Author, management advisor, and researcher Luca Dellanna joins us to discuss these questions and more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Ergodicity: survival is king
Why sample size matters
The two types of competitors
Teaching by signaling
The parallel worlds approach to decision-making
Racing to the bottom
Why working hard can be a form of laziness
The three things managers should prioritize
Why desiring change isn’t enough
Fighting avoidance with actionable small steps
“Mixed values produce mixed results”
Thinking by writing
What Luca has learned from living in multiple countries
Luca as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder; by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
Ergodicity: Definition, Examples, And Implications, As Simple As Possible; by Luca Dellanna
The Control Heuristic: The Nature of Human Behavior; by Luca Dellanna
100 Truths You Will Learn Too Late; by Luca Dellanna
Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu

Luca Dellanna — On Survival, Signals & Success (EP.174) Aug 10, 2023

Why is hard work a form of laziness? Why should we be wary of short-term success? How can imagining parallel worlds help us make better decisions? Author, management advisor, and researcher Luca Dellanna joins us to discuss these questions and more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Ergodicity: survival is king
Why sample size matters
The two types of competitors
Teaching by signaling
The parallel worlds approach to decision-making
Racing to the bottom
Why working hard can be a form of laziness
The three things managers should prioritize
Why desiring change isn’t enough
Fighting avoidance with actionable small steps
“Mixed values produce mixed results”
Thinking by writing
What Luca has learned from living in multiple countries
Luca as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder; by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
Ergodicity: Definition, Examples, And Implications, As Simple As Possible; by Luca Dellanna
The Control Heuristic: The Nature of Human Behavior; by Luca Dellanna
100 Truths You Will Learn Too Late; by Luca Dellanna
Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu

Jack Butcher — Reality is the Boss (EP.173) Aug 03, 2023

Designer, entrepreneur and Visualize Value founder Jack Butcher joins us for his second appearance on the show to discuss how to get closer to reality, the differences between the US & the UK, whether vision can be taught, and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

Jack’s origin story
Productizing Visualize Value
Ideas vs experience
Fighting fear with experience
Differences between the US & the UK
“The buck stops here”
“The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit”
How to transcend language
Can you teach vision?
The internet as a variance amplifier
How to communicate clearly
Get closer to reality
Jack’s Twitter X Logo
Jack as emperor of the world
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (a Little) Craziness and (a Lot Of) Success in America; by John Gartner
The Illuminatus! Trilogy; by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea
The Psychology of Money, by Morgan Housel
Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment; by Jed McKenna

Dan Runcie — The Future of Music (EP.172) Jul 27, 2023

Dan Runcie is the Founder of Trapital, a company focused on music, media, and entertainment. Trapital’s output includes a podcast, weekly newsletter, and deep-dive essays breaking down trends in the music industry. Dan joins us for his second appearance on the show to discuss how AI will transform the music industry, whether the age of the superstar is over, how artists become billionaires, and MUCH more! Important Links:

Dan’s Twitter
Trapital
Dan’s first appearance on the show

Show Notes:

Can the music industry embrace AI?
What will happen to music when AI gets better?
Will some genres be quicker to adapt than others?
How streaming algorithms are improving
Are AI playlists the death of DJs?
How artists can game the algorithm
How artists can use the music industry’s Pareto distribution
Artists become millionaires selling music, and billionaires selling product
Will we see the end of record companies?
Will Bowie Bonds die?
Are we going to see the end of the superstar?
Ads & audiences
Spotify vs YouTube vs TikTok
Can newcomers displace the incumbents?
Will the streamers dominate podcasting?
What’s next?
Dan as Emperor of the World
MORE!

Dr. William Zeng — Towards a Quantum Future (EP.171) Jul 20, 2023

Dr. William Zeng is founder and President of the Unitary Fund, a non-profit dedicated to developing the quantum ecosystem to benefit the most people. He previously led initial development of Rigetti Computing’s quantum cloud platform, and is co-inventor of the Quil quantum instruction language. He was named to Forbes’ 30 under 30 in the Science category for his work on quantum computing. Dr. William was one of the first recipients of an O’Shaughnessy Fellowship, which is a one-year program for ambitious people who want to build something great. Fellows receive a $100,000 grant and access to OSV’s network of founders, investors and experts to support them in bringing their projects to life. Dr. William is using his fellowship grant to study how emerging quantum technologies can explore foundational questions in quantum mechanics. Important Links:

Show Notes:

An introduction to quantum computing
Regular computers vs quantum computers
The impact of simulating quantum systems
How quantum computing can transform risk analysis
What does a quantum world look like?
Encryption & risk
The benefits of an open-source ecosystem
Wigner’s Friend experiments, agency & objective reality
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
“Technology is an integration of body and mind”
The laws of physics
What’s next?
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival
The science fiction of Greg Egan
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
Historical Ontology; by Ian Hacking

Jack Raines — The Authentic Path (EP.170) Jul 13, 2023

Jack Raines is an online writer and LinkedIn provocateur, whose newsletter Young Money has already amassed 30,000 readers. Jack joins the show to discuss the importance of travel, the upsides of authenticity, risk, luck, and much, much more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

Jack’s origin story
Optionality and opportunity costs
Hostel hopping
The healthy life
Grindset and hustle culture
LinkedIn pranks
Slamming the door on opportunities
Work culture and the Great Reshuffle
The luck of being alive today
Crypto skepticism
Quantifying risk
Jack’s three favourite places in the world
The default path is not your destiny

Richard Craib — How to Open Source Finance (EP.169) Jul 06, 2023

Richard Craib is the Founder & CEO of Numerai, a new kind of hedge fund where data scientists around the world collaborate to predict equity returns using artificial intelligence. Richard joins the show to discuss Numerai’s origins, how it embraces the spirit of open source, why it has its own cryptocurrency and MUCH more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

The genesis of Numerai
How and why Numerai gives away its dataset
Getting users to put skin in the game
How Numerai scores users; becoming comfortable with the process
Size limits & leverage
Reactions to Numerai
Numerai’s cryptocurrency
How Numerai differs from Quantopian
Data, optimization & LLMs
“Monopolize intelligence, monopolize data, monopolize money, and decentralize the monopoly”
What could go wrong?
Numerai’s relationship with its data scientists
Could Numerai’s model work in any other industries?
What could go wrong?
“Life is long”
MORE!

Brian Roemmele - The Wisdom Keeper (EP.168) Jun 29, 2023

The scientist, researcher, analyst, connector, thinker, and doer Brian Roemmele joins us for his second Infinite Loops appearance to discuss the decline of wisdom and how we can save it, why LLMs are the modern version of Plato’s cave, we need locally run AI models and MUCH more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

Why LLMs are the modern version of Plato’s cave
AI as Promethean fire
Why we need locally run AI models
AI use cases & the Nedd Ludd story
The decline of wisdom
Creating a wisdom keeper
Loneliness & abandonment
“How To Have A Conversation With Your Local Documents”
History is written by the victors; using wisdom to define our future
The tragedy of lost knowledge
You are loved and you are not alone
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

Cycles: The Science of Prediction; by Edward R. Dewey and Edwin F. Dakin
The Iliad; by Homer
The Odyssey; by Homer
The Epic of Gilgamesh
The Bible
The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size; by Tor Norretranders
The Hero with a Thousand Faces; by Joseph Campbell

Dr. Pippa Malmgren — Why Leadership Has Gone Wrong (EP.167) Jun 22, 2023

Dr. Pippa Malmgren is an economist, founder, keynote speaker & award-winning author. She served President George W. Bush as Special Assistant to the President and on the National Economic Council. She was responsible for financial market issues during the Enron crisis, and was responsible for assessing terrorism risks to the economy after 9/11. She has also advised the US Cabinet. Dr. Pippa’s most recent book, the Infinite Leader, won the International Press Award for the Best Book on Leadership for 2021. Dr. Pippa joins the show to discuss why leadership has gone wrong, what she thinks of the recent UFO news, why we’re already in World War III, and a whole lot more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

Why leadership has gone wrong
Worldbuilding & the difference between management and leadership
Why leaders always stay too long
Balancing trust vs truth
Confidence vs competence
Balance, surfing & Taoism
Numbers, stories & UFOs
Reality belief systems: "It's not only stranger than we think, it's stranger than we can think.”
How psychedelics impact how we understand reality
What Pippa would include in her leadership academy
Bailouts, inflation & CBDCs
We are already in World War III
Creating a hug movement
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Infinite Leader: Balancing the Demands of Modern Business Leadership; by Chris Lewis & Dr. Pippa Malmgren
The Leadership Lab: Understanding Leadership in the 21st Century; by Chris Lewis & Dr. Pippa Malmgren
Signals: How Everyday Signs Can Help Us Navigate the World's Turbulent Economy; by Dr. Pippa Malmgren
Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life; by Rory Sutherland
Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders; by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
The Rig Veda
Prometheus Rising; by Robert Anton Wilson
Wholeness and the Implicate Order; by David Bohm
Orthodoxy; by G. K. Chesterton

mgren is an economist, founder, keynote speaker & award-winning author. She served President George W. Bush as Special Assistant to the President and on the National Economic Council. She was responsible for financial market issues during the Enron crisis, and was responsible for assessing terrorism risks to the economy after 9/11. She has also advised the US Cabinet. Dr. Pippa’s most recent book, the Infinite Leader, won the International Press Award for the Best Book on Leadership for 2021. Dr. Pippa joins the show to discuss why leadership has gone wrong, what she thinks of the recent UFO news, why we’re already in World War III, and a whole lot more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

Why leadership has gone wrong
Worldbuilding & the difference between management and leadership
Why leaders always stay too long
Balancing trust vs truth
Confidence vs competence
Balance, surfing & Taoism
Numbers, stories & UFOs
Reality belief systems: "It's not only stranger than we think, it's stranger than we can think.”
How psychedelics impact how we understand reality
What Pippa would include in her leadership academy
Bailouts, inflation & CBDCs
We are already in World War III
Creating a hug movement
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Infinite Leader: Balancing the Demands of Modern Business Leadership; by Chris Lewis & Dr. Pippa Malmgren
The Leadership Lab: Understanding Leadership in the 21st Century; by Chris Lewis & Dr. Pippa Malmgren
Signals: How Everyday Signs Can Help Us Navigate the World's Turbulent Economy; by Dr. Pippa Malmgren
Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life; by Rory Sutherland
Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders; by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
The Rig Veda
Prometheus Rising; by Robert Anton Wilson
Wholeness and the Implicate Order; by David Bohm
Orthodoxy; by G. K. Chesterton

Ethan Mollick — How AI Changes Everything (EP.165) Jun 15, 2023

Ethan Mollick is an Associate Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he studies and teaches innovation and entrepreneurship. He also leads Wharton Interactive, an effort to democratize education using games, simulations, and AI. When Ethan started his Substack One Useful Thing in November last year, he was planning on writing about a different management paper every post. Then, in Ethan’s words, the arrival of ChatGPT turned him from “an AI-skeptic to an AI-believer.” Over the last few months, Ethan has been explaining the rapid developments in the AI industry, documenting how he has incorporated AI into his teaching, and providing practical guides to how we can use AI in our daily lives. Important Links:

Show Notes:

From AI skeptic to AI believer
AI is already disruptive
Unexpected AI use cases
AI is not a search engine
Prompt crafting is not the future
Is the centaur model the future?
How will AI impact education?
Will AI accelerate entrepreneurship?
The politics & geopolitics of AI
How to get unique results using AI
Using AI to explore liminal spaces
Speed-running the adoption curve
Can you teach curiosity?
The complex relationship between corporations and AI use
We have agency over our future
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology; by Raymond Kurzweil
The Iliad; by Homer

Chen Qiufan — AI 2041: 10 Visions of Our Future (EP.164) Jun 08, 2023

Chen Qiufan (AKA Stanley Chan) is an award-winning science fiction writer, screenwriter, creative producer, and columnist. He is the president of the World Chinese Science Fiction Association and the founder of the content development studio Thema Mundi. Chen joins the show to discuss his latest novel, AI 2041: Ten Visions for the Future, which he co-wrote with former Google China president Kai-Fu Lee. Part science fiction, part science forecasting, over ten short stories AI 2041 imagines the different ways, good and bad, that AI will impact our society. The central thesis? AI will transform our lives, but we remain masters of our fate. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Qiufan’s sci-fi influences
When did the third wave of AI begin?
Why is modern sci-fi so dystopian?
How AI is going to impact education
Hidden biases & the objective function
Deep fakes & narrative collapse
Accelerationism, balance & Daoism
Do we need real jobs?
Happiness is a byproduct
Living in a post-scarcity society
What’s next?
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future; by Kai-Fu Lee & Chen Qiufan
Bullshit Jobs: A Theory; by David Graeber
Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek; by Manu Saadia
Waste Tide; by Chen Qiufan

Todd Goodwin — Hypnosis: Separating Myth From Reality (EP.163) Jun 01, 2023

Todd Goodwin is the founder of Goodwin Hypnosis, a hypnosis center based in North Carolina. He is a Board Certified Fellow of the National Guild of Hypnotists, a designation earned by only one in every 500 hypnotists. As well as working with thousands of clients since opening Goodwin Hypnosis in 2007, Todd has co-facilitated hypnosis certification courses, created a book and accompanying 30-day hypnosis system designed to stop people from smoking, and given numerous presentations on hypnosis to physicians, students, and medical staff. Todd joins the show to discuss some of the common myths & misconceptions around hypnosis. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Hypnosis in our everyday lives
Why isn’t hypnosis more widely used?
“I don’t want someone in my head”
“I can’t be hypnotized”
Targeting the root causes of behavior
Tension between the conscious & the unconscious
How secondary gains can obstruct progress
How to clear root fear
Using language to elicit change
Be curious about yourself; remember that you are worthy of love
MORE!

Books Mentioned:

Healing Back Pain; by John E. Sarno
Influence: Science and Practice; by Robert Cialdini
Frogs into Princes: Neuro Linguistic Programming; by Richard Bandler and John Grinder

Nat & Martha Sharpe — The Conflict between Agency & Community (EP.163) May 30, 2023

Nat & Martha Sharpe have been a creative team for over a decade. Nat was a film school graduate and Martha a storytelling enthusiast. They fell in love while filming a musical parody of "Beowulf" with their friends. After another comedy and two documentaries, they started having children. Focus shifted from art to survival. Together, they learned to code, got off food stamps, and traveled around America in an RV. Today, Nat and Martha homeschool their 5 kids and are eager to explore alternative education, expand their comfort zones, and—as always—make movies. Nat & Martha were the first recipients of an O’Shaughnessy Fellowship, which is a one-year program for ambitious people who want to build something great. Fellows receive a $100,000 grant and access to OSV’s network of founders, investors and experts to support them in bringing their projects to life. Nat & Martha are using their fellowship grant to study and make documentary films of alternative childhood education schools. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Nat & Martha’s origin story
How education is connected to community
“Kids want to survive, they want to thrive, they want to learn”
Education vs indoctrination
Screen time isn’t the problem & why unschooled children become entrepreneurs
The magic blue bus
Finding the others
What caused the rise in helicopter parenting?
The conflict between agency & community
It can be hard to give people money
Learning by doing; in-demand learning
How can we monetize the best teachers in the world?
How AI is going to transform education
What’s next?
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

One Summer: America, 1927; by Bill Bryson

Jason Crawford — The Roots of Progress (EP.162) May 25, 2023

Jason Crawford is the founder & president of The Roots of Progress, a nonprofit dedicated to establishing a new philosophy of progress for the 21st century. Jason has written well over 100 essays on the history of technology and the philosophy of progress, and given numerous talks and interviews on the same. He joins the show to discuss whether humans deserve progress, how to make progress cool, the two types of optimism, and more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

Why do we need progress studies?
Are humans conditioned to resist progress?
Increasing the burden of safety
What the Roots of Progress is seeking to achieve
How can we make progress cool?
Pessimism of the intellect; optimism of the will
Do we deserve progress?
Progress & politics
Steelmanning the case against progress
How can we defend against bad actors?
Calibrating our approach to risk
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

Frankenstein; by Mary Shelley
Erewhon; by Samuel Butler
Darwin Among The Machines; by Samuel Butler
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
The Ultimate Resource; by Julian L. Simon
The Collapse of the Common Good: How America's Lawsuit Culture Undermines Our Freedom; by Philip K. Howard
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; by Douglas Adams
The Jungle; by Upton Sinclair
One Summer: America, 1927; by Bill Bryson

David Pinsof — Everything is Bullshit (EP.161) May 18, 2023

David Pinsof is an evolutionary social scientist and a co-creator of the game Cards Against Humanity. He holds a PhD in Psychology from UCLA, where he studied the evolutionary origins of political bullshit, and has written a handful of academic papers, one of which has been cited 152 times and another of which was quoted in the New York Times. David is the author of the ‘Everything Is Bullshit’ Substack, which aims to poke holes in the stories we tell ourselves. He joins the show to discuss why happiness & morality are bullshit, the difference between bullshit & lying, why we conceal the status monkey, and more! Important Links:

David’s Twitter
David’s Substack; Everything is Bullshit
Cards Against Humanity
The Execution Hypothesis; by Richard Wrangham
Discordianism
Our podcast with George Mack
Our podcast with Will Storr

Show Notes:

What is bullshit?
The difference between bullshitting and lying
Why moralizing is bullshit
Concealing the status monkey
The origins of Cards Against Humanity
How are status games changing?
Why happiness is bullshit
Happiness as a status symbol
How can we escape bullshit?
Why we’re driven by negative emotions
How to become more positive
The role of humor in calling out bullshit
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

On Bullshit; by Harry G. Frankfurt
Propaganda; by Edward Bernays
Influence: Science and Practice; by Robert Cialdini
The Moral Animal: Why We Are The Way We Are; by Robert Wright
The Status Game: On Social Position and How We Use It; by Will Storr
The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History; by Howard Bloom
Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
Happy; by Derren Brown
Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
Gödel, Escher, Bach; by Douglas Hofstadter

Dylan O’Sullivan — Essayful (EP.160) May 16, 2023

Dylan O’Sullivan is a writer and media specialist based in Cork, Ireland. Dylan’s work has been published in magazines such as The Spectator and Areo. He is also the creator of Essayful, a Substack dedicated to becoming “a new home for writing.” Following his participation in David Perell’s Write of Passage course last year, Dylan joined us as an intern at O’Shaughnessy Ventures. He joins the show to discuss the problem with traditional education, the blurry border between fiction & nonfiction, how AI is going to impact writing, why Ireland has such cultural influence, and more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

Losing the O’s
The collapse of the old institutions
An introduction to Essayful
"There's nothing new under the sun.”
The blurry border between fiction & nonfiction
Rebuilding the Tower of Babel
A book as a living thing
How is AI going to impact writing?
Why Dylan took Write of Passage
Why are academic papers so hard to read?
Why does Ireland have such cultural influence?
What’s next?
More!

Books Mentioned:

Old God’s Time; by Sebastian Barry
Unflattening; by Nick Sousanis
The Island of Saints and Scholars; Sean McMahon
Ulysses; by James Joyce

John Sills — The Human Experience (EP.159) May 11, 2023

After starting his career on a market stall in Essex, John Sills has spent the last twenty-five years working to make the world a better place for customers. John is the Managing Partner at the customer-led growth company The Foundation, and his writing has also been featured in publications such as The Guardian and Management Today. He joins the show to discuss his thought-provoking and timely new book The Human Experience: How to make life better for your customers and create a more successful organization. Important Links:

Show Notes:

John’s time working on an Essex market stall
Human vs functional customer experience
What’s blocking the human experience?
Why do leaders stay away from the frontline?
Escaping Vogonization
Does the human experience scale?
The benefits of starting from first principles
Why companies should empower their staff
The link between curiosity, creativity & customer experience
Why aren’t companies changing & why aren’t more startups disrupting?
Are frictionless customer experiences desirable?
The myth of customer loyalty
Tech upgrades & immersion
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Human Experience: How to make life better for your customers and create a more successful organization; by John Sills
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom
The Customer Copernicus: How to be Customer-Led; by Charlie Dawson
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; by Douglas Adams

Billy Oppenheimer — On Curiosity, Creativity & Conceptual Ancestors (EP.158) May 04, 2023

Billy Oppenheimer is a researcher for Ryan Holiday. He is also known for his viral long-form tweets and Six at 6 on Sunday newsletter. Billy is insatiably curious. He is a master at drawing lessons from anecdotes from the worlds of sports, music, comedy, business, and more. He joins the show to discuss how to cultivate good taste, whether everything is a remix, why he learns through introjection, and a whole lot more. Important Links:

Six at 6 on Sunday
Billy’s Twitter
Billy’s website
Our episodes with David Senra (1, 2)
'A Bicycle of the Mind' - Steve Jobs on the Computer
Our episode with Edward Rooster
To His Coy Mistress; by Andrew Marvell
Kubla Khan; by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Show Notes:

Focus on doing the thing
SIX at 6’s origin story
Learning through introjection
Developing taste & cultivating curiosity
“People don’t have ideas, ideas have people”
How Billy practices his scales
Fiction vs non-fiction
Repetition, repetition, repetition
Should we study more failures?
Process compounds
“Care, but don’t care too much”
Has anyone succeeded without persistence?
Conceptual ancestors
Everything’s a remix
Taste, tools, markets & feedback
Finding your pain points
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

Trust Me, I'm Lying; by Ryan Holiday
Psychology of Money; by Morgan Housel
Atomic Habits; by James Clear
The Immortality Key : The Secret History of the Religion with No Name; by Brian C. Muraresku
Reality Hunger; by David Shields
The Power of Myth; by Joseph Campbell & Bill Moyers
Cloud Atlas; by David Mitchell
The Great Gatsby; by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Da Vinci Code; by Dan Brown

Jimmy Soni & Liberty RPF — Unleashing the Future of Publishing (EP.157) Apr 27, 2023

Friend-of-the-show (and new O’Shaughnessy Ventures team member) Liberty RPF joins Jim and fellow friend-of-the-show Jimmy Soni to discuss the current state of the publishing industry and the new opportunities emerging for current and aspiring authors. Important Links:

Show Notes:

How has the publishing industry changed?
Reinventing the audiobook
The living book
Towards new book pricing models
Why the traditional publishing industry is becoming unsustainable
The tragedy of unwritten books
A rejection from a traditional publisher is meaningless
What do traditional publishers do well?
The importance being invested in the success of a product
Leveraging AI & other tools in the writing process
Why the publishing industry is successful
Increasing the power of individual creators
Change, prestige & disruption
Playing the right kind of status games
Aligning quality with meritocracy
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Founders; by Jimmy Soni
A Mind at Play; by Jimmy Soni & Rob Goodman
Rome's Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar; by Jimmy Soni & Rob Goodman
What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
Invest Like The Best; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds; by David Goggins
The Psychology of Money; by Morgan Housel
The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich; by Tim Feriss
Harry Potter; by J. K. Rowling
Reality Hunger; by David Shields
$100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No; by Alex Hormozi
The Status Game: On Social Position and How We Use It; by Will Storr

Alex Danco — On Self-Delusion, Sancho Panza, Safe Words & Seinfeld (EP.156) Apr 20, 2023

Alex Danco returns for his seventh (yes, SEVENTH) appearance on Infinite Loops to discuss, as usual, pretty much everything other than the topics we had prepared in advance. This week, we discuss: The two types of lawyers, what Alex learned from reading Don Quixote, Elon the Reply Guy, the psychology of Seinfeld, the best Wall Street Movies, and much more. Important Links:

Show Notes:

The two kinds of lawyers
Medicine, placebo, Don Quixote & theatre
Heroes, villains & main characters
Elon the Reply Guy
Safe words, scams & narrative collapse
Self-deception is multiplayer
The psychology of Seinfeld
To what extent are great innovations already baked into the systems?
Margin Call: The two schools of thought
The best Wall Street movies
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Theory And Practice Of Gamesmanship Or The Art Of Winning Games Without Actually Cheating; by Stephen Potter
Don Quixote; by Miguel de Cervantes
The Fifth Science; by Exurb1a
The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr
The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History; by Howard K. Bloom
Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships; by Eric Berne
Mendel's Dwarf; by Simon Mawer
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine; by Michael Lewis
The Bonfire of the Vanities; by Tom Wolfe
The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron; by Peter Elkind & Bethany McLean

Gurwinder Bhogal — Certainty is the Death of Thought (EP.155) Apr 13, 2023

Gurwinder Bhogal is a writer and programmer who writes about the myriad ways in which technology and psychology conspire to fool us and how we can withstand the covert assault on our senses. Gurwinder is known for his epic Twitter ‘Megathreads’ which set out a series of powerful concepts for understanding the world. He joins the show to discuss our tendency to narrativize information, how to overcome the bandwidth tax, why Wikipedia is the world’s largest source of misinformation, and MUCH more! Important Links:

Megathread: Feb 7, 2020 (53,000 likes)
Megathread: Feb 11, 2022 (62,000 likes)
Megathread: March 18, 2023 (most recent)
Gurwinder's Substack
Gurwinder's Twitter
The Toxoplasma of Rage

Show Notes:

Megathreads & the Woozle effect
AI, the Encyclopedia Disinformatica, and cultivating a garden of Mithridates
Capturing the nuance between dishonesty and lying
The Toxoplasma of Rage
Overcoming the bandwidth tax
Brandishing the golden hammer; why we can’t comprehend large numbers
Tribalism & intersubjectivity
The purity spiral
Are we facing a lost generation?
We are programmed to like complex explanations
Narrativizing information
“Certainty is the death of thought”
Climbing the thinking ladder
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Fifth Science; by Exurb1a
Talking to Strangers; by Malcolm Gladwell
Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies; by Tim Urban

Ed Latimore — The Difference Between Being Liked and Being Respected (EP.154) Apr 06, 2023

This week, we’re delighted to welcome Ed Latimore back for his second Infinite Loops appearance.

Ed is a best-selling author, former professional heavyweight boxer, competitive chess player, Physics graduate, father, and husband. He joins us to discuss stoicism, progress & pain, demonstrating authenticity, being liked vs. being respected, and a whole lot more. Important Links:

Show Notes:

New child; new house; new book
How Ed’s new book has developed
Humor and progress
Understanding addiction
Being liked vs being respected
“Stoicism found me”
Is progress possible without pain?
“Humans are very bad at the future”
Demonstrating authenticity
Being cast as a father figure
What’s next for Ed
Ed’s three step process for self-improvement
“I don't think any situation has ever gotten worse because someone has good manners.”

Books Mentioned:

The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs who Shaped Silicon Valley; by Jimmy Soni
The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance; by Josh Waitzkin
Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds; by David Goggins
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life; by Mark Manson

Edward Rooster — I Did My Best. I Gave My All. I Was Here. (EP.153) Mar 30, 2023

Edward Rooster is one of our favourite writers. His themes include the future, mythology, time and history. He has written two books, Box of Stars and Harvest, and he is currently working on a third. Edward joins the show to discuss embracing uncertainty, avoiding becoming Icarus, unsticking yourself from time, and MUCH more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Days Dad Started Over: Why Edward started writing
Edward’s book writing process
Unsticking yourself from time
Sources of storytelling inspiration
Embracing uncertainty
Avoiding the content trap
The ‘create you own adventure’ approach to writing
[Finding inspiration in music]
Storytelling & common knowledge
Writing as found art
Not as much matters as we think it does
How can we avoid becoming Icarus?
Editing; Editors
The opportunities of generative AI
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

Stray Reflections; by Jawad Mian
Box of Stars; by Edward Rooster
Harvest; by Edward Rooster
Retrieve; by Edward Rooster
What Works on Wall Street: A Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
Cloud Atlas; by David Mitchell
The Great Gatsby; by F. Scott Fitzgerald
American Gods; by Neil Gaiman
Reality Hunger; by David Shields
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; by Robert Pirsig
Looking Backward; by Edward Bellamy

Venkatesh Rao — The Art of Gig (EP.152) Mar 23, 2023

Venkatesh Rao is a writer, consultant, and author. He has been writing about indie consulting for years and has recently published The Art of Gig, Volumes 1 & 2, which together take an in-depth look at the gig economy. Venkatesh joins the show to discuss tragic luck, becoming slightly nonsensical, the advantages of mediocrity, and a whole lot more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

Origins of The Art of Gig
Paycheck People
Learning how to take risks
Is there a risk-taking gene?
The case for fixed-point futurism
Finding meaning
Personality types, narrative, and becoming a courageous thinker
Don’t get tragically lucky
Generational agency
Sparring, pressure and meaning-making
Be slightly nonsensical
Teaching others to appreciate randomness
Towards infinite games; be mediocre
Understanding divergentism
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Art of Gig: Volumes 1 & 2; by Venkatesh Rao
The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich; by Tim Feriss
Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself; by Daniel H. Pink
The Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story For Work and Life; by Paul Millerd
Tempo: timing, tactics and strategy in narrative-driven decision-making; by Venkatesh Rao
The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By; by Dan P. McAdams
Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life As Play and Possibility; by James Carse
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity; by David Allen

Ananyo Bhattacharya — John von Neumann: The Man from the Future (EP.151) Mar 16, 2023

Ananyo Bhattacharya is the author of The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann, a brilliant biography of one of the most prolific and influential scientists to have ever lived. He joins the show to discuss von Neumann’s contributions to quantum physics, game theory, the Manhattan Project, and much more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

How did John von Neumann even exist?
Would von Neumann’s discoveries have happened without him?
The Martians of Hungary
The migrant mentality
Innovation in the face of extinction
Science, genius & the herd mentality
Von Neumann’s contribution to quantum physics
Game theory, Minimax and zero-sum games
von Neumann: quant in the streets; romantic in the sheets
The eccentricity of brilliance
Von Neumann and the Manhattan Project
The godfather of the open-source movement
Von Neumann as a project manager
How writing the book changed Ananyo’s understanding of von Neumann
Ananyo’s next projects
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann; **by **Ananyo Bhattacharya
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom
Theory of Games and Economic Behaviour; by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern

Michael Breitenbach — On Crypto, AI & Cynicism (EP.150) Mar 09, 2023

Michael Breitenbach is Senior Vice President within the Chief Investment Office at Bank of America Global Wealth and Investment Management, where he is responsible for leading development of quantitative infrastructure and machine learning models for evaluating both internally and externally covered investment offerings. He is also the man behind an extremely popular anonymous Twitter account that many of you will be familiar with (see if you can guess which one…) Michael joins the show to discuss the FTX fallout, the current state of the crypto industry, the rise of AI compliance, and MUCH more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

FTX: grift or systemic failure?
The decline of old media
AI compliance & regulation
Crypto: use cases, privacy & regulation
The end of privacy
Dealing with new and better problems
Scale vs anti-scale
Cynicism can be a comparative advantage
Against binary thinking
Time binding & cultural evolution
Consider taxation

Books Mentioned:

The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Art of Disruption; by Sebastian Mallaby
Time-Binding: The General Theory; by Alfred Korzybski

Visakan Veerasamy - On Creativity, Introspection & Being a Good Reply Guy (EP.149) Mar 02, 2023

Visakan Veerasamy is a prolific thinker, writer & creator. As well as being the author of the books ‘Introspect’ and ‘Friendly Ambitious Nerd’, he is known for weaving huge, interconnected Twitter threads and for his mission to build “the greatest social graph of friendly, ambitious nerds that the world has ever seen.” Important Links:

Show Notes:

The origins of Friendly Ambitious Nerd
“The most heroic thing you can do is not hate yourself”
Confronting the minotaur
Introspection & Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
Overriding human OS
Humor is the cure
How to demonstrate the power of humor
Dealing with judgment & criticism
Responding to requests for help
Enforcing a no-assholes rule
"Focus your time and energy on what you want to see more of”
“School is bullshit”
Question defaults & screw around
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

Friendly Ambitious Nerd; by Visakan Veerasamy
Introspect; by Visakan Veerasamy
The Science of Storytelling; by Will Storr
The Status Game: On Social Position and How We Use It; by Will Storr
The Hero with a Thousand Faces; by Joseph Campbell
Shantaram; by Gregory David Roberts
The Art of War; by Sun Tzu
The Tao Te Ching; by Laozi
The Lord of the Rings; by J. R. R. Tolkien

David Senra & Liberty RPF — Unleashing the Scenius (EP.148) Feb 23, 2023

Friends-of-the-show David Senra & Liberty RPF return for a characteristically wide-ranging conversation. Enjoy! Important Links

Show Notes:

David’s lunch with Sam Zell
Optimizing for freedom
Information can build a fortune
Persist, persist, persist
Burning the ships
Customising education
Where are the Teddy Roosevelt’s of today?
Embracing our evangelical side
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see”
Fighting fear of technological development
Is anything truly ‘new’?
"Properly understood technology is just a better way to do something”
Towards positive sum games
How to cultivate voluntary engagement
Unleashing the scenius
Finding better explanations
Risk-taking and the origins of the USA
The explore and create framework
Read biographies
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

Am I Being Too Subtle?: Straight Talk From a Business Rebel; by Sam Zell
The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey; by Candice Millard
Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill; by Candice Millard
Cinema Speculation; by Quentin Tarantino
Christopher Nolan: The Iconic Filmmaker and His Work; by Ian Nathan
The WEIRDest People in the World; by Joseph Henrich
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future; by Peter Thiel
The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie; by Andrew Carnegie
All I Want To Know Is Where I'm Going To Die So I'll Never Go There: Buffett & Munger - A Study in Simplicity and Uncommon, Common Sense; by Peter Bevelin
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness; by Eric Jorgenson
Enzo Ferrari 2018: Power, Politics and the Making of an Automobile Empire; by Luca Dal Monte
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
One Summer: America, 1927; by Bill Bryson

Dwarkesh Patel — Podcasting, Talent & Innovation (EP.147) Feb 16, 2023

Dwarkesh Patel is the host of The Lunar Society podcast, where he interviews scientists, historians, economists, intellectuals, & founders about their ideas. He also writes about tech, progress, talent, science, and the long-term over at his Substack. Dwarkesh has been described as “one of the best young podcasters alive”, and his Substack has been praised by the likes of Jeff Bezos, Paul Graham and Tyler Cowen. Important Links:

Show Notes:

How to become a better podcaster
The importance of curiosity
Disagreement & problem solving
“Computer programs are written by humans for other humans to read, and only incidentally for computers to execute”
The difference between podcasting & essay writing
Investing in public and private companies; human OS
Premeditation & decision-making
The mystery of the miracle year
How much innovation is baked into the cake?
How to cultivate young talent
AI & education
The importance of intellectual market makers
Scouting talent as buying options
Interviewing Sam Bankman-Fried
Effective altruism & virtue signalling
If you do everything, you will win

Books Mentioned:

The Years of Lyndon Johnson; by Robert Caro
What Works on Wall Street: A Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve; by Lenora Chu
Outliers: The Story of Success; by Malcolm Gladwell
One Summer: America, 1927; by Bill Bryson
The Lessons of History; by Will & Ariel Durant
The Story of Civilization; by Will & Ariel Durant
Fallen Leaves: Last Words on Life, Love, War, and God; by Will Durant

David Ha — AI & Evolution: Learning to do More with Less (EP.146) Feb 09, 2023

David Ha is the Head of Strategy at Stability AI, and one of the top minds working in AI today. He previously worked as a research scientist in the Brain team at Google. David is particularly interested in evolution and complex systems, and his research explores how intelligence may emerge from limited resource constraints. He joins the show to discuss the advantages of open-source models, modelling AI as an emergent system, why large language models are bad at maths and MUCH more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

Why David joined Stability AI
The advantages of open-source models
We cannot predict the inventions of tomorrow
Making memes with generative AI
The centaur approach to AI
An introduction to large language models
The relationship between complex systems and resource constraints
Large language models are bad at maths
Modelling AI as an emergent system
Understanding different perspectives
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective; by Kenneth Stanley and Joel Lehman

Jesse Michels — American Alchemy (EP.145) Feb 02, 2023

Jesse Michels is an investor at Thiel Capital and the creator and host of ‘American Alchemy’, a Youtube channel dedicated to highlighting the most heretical thinkers and ideas of our time. He joins the show to discuss the transmission theory of consciousness, whether mushrooms are aliens, the reawakening of the Boomers and MUCH more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

The modern-day Robert Anton Wilson
Why Jesse started American Alchemy
The transmission theory of consciousness
Why mushrooms may have catalysed human civilisation
Paradigm shifts and heretical thinking
Are mushrooms aliens?
Nixon, psychedelics & brainwashing
The reawakening of the Boomers
AGI, qualia & quantum physics
AI, learned helplessness & Twitter
The power of curiosity
Reality is a compressed version of something much larger.
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date; by Samuel Arbesman
The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size; by Tor Norretranders
Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid; by Douglas Hofstadter
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
The Immortality Key : The Secret History of the Religion with No Name; by Brian C. Muraresku
The New Inquisition: Irrational Rationalism and the Citadel of Science; by Robert Anton Wilson
How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression and Transcendence; by Michael Pollan
Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties; by Tom O’Neill
Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream; by David McGowan
Prometheus Rising; by Robert Anton Wilson
Quantum Psychology: How Brain Software Programs You & Your World; by Robert Anton Wilson
The Cosmic Trigger trilogy; by Robert Anton Wilson
Communion: A True Story; by Whitley Strieber

Mark Nelson — Nuclear Power: Change the Memes, Change the Future (EP.144) Jan 26, 2023

Mark Nelson is the Managing Director of Radiant Energy Group, a consultancy which advises governments, nonprofits and industry about nuclear energy. He joins the show to discuss Chernobyl the memes vs Chernobyl the molecules, introducing nuclear festivals, adopting an abundance mindset, and a whole lot more. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Why does the nuclear industry have a confidence problem?
Electricity deaths vs nuclear deaths
Chernobyl the memes vs Chernobyl the molecules
How do we create better nuclear memes?
Bureaucracy and the precautionary principle
Steelmanning the case against nuclear power
Recency bias, human OS and high visibility events
The story of Three Mile Island
Introducing nuclear festivals
Wind and solar is not essential for the grid
Take memes seriously
Disambiguating nuclear weapons from nuclear power
Tying financial needs with energy needs
Escaping Mad Max
How can we encourage an abundance mindset?
Bipartisan enthusiasm for nuclear power
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch

Sam McRoberts — The Grand Redesign (EP.143) Jan 19, 2023

Author, CEO of VUDU Marketing and digital nomad Sam McRoberts returns for his second appearance on Infinite Loops. This week, Sam and Jim discuss Sam’s latest book ‘The Grand Redesign’. Part science-fiction, part operating manual for upgrading human OS, ‘The Grand Redesign’ touches on a number of recurring Infinite Loops themes, and is available for free online (see ‘Important Links’ section below). Important Links:

The Grand Redesign
Sam’s Twitter
Sam’s Substack
The Thinker and The Prover
Tinkered Thinking’s winning entry to our ‘White Mirror’ competition

Show Notes:

Why Sam wrote the book
Is the Watcher a reliable narrator?
Interfering with complex systems
An overview of Social OS
Why we need White Mirror
The kindness pledge
Incentives and the Cobra Effect
How do we break the Shannon limit?
Jim’s movie idea
Improving the political and legal system
The opportunities of AI
Optimising our system for flourishing
Finding the hidden geniuses
Sam’s solutions; reaching the tipping point
Sam’s hopes for the book
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Grand Redesign; by Sam McRoberts
The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr
Prometheus Rising; by Robert Anton Wilson
House of Cards: Psychology and Psychotherapy Built on Myth; by Robyn Dawes
The Lessons of History: by Will Durant and Ariel Durant
Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown
The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future; by Kevin Kelly

Cliff Asness — FTX, Hedge Funds and the Value Spread (EP.142) Jan 12, 2023

Cliff Asness is the Founder, Managing Principal and Chief Investment Officer at AQR Capital Management. Prior to co-founding AQR Capital Management, he was a Managing Director and Director of Quantitative Research for the Asset Management Division of Goldman, Sachs & Co. Cliff joins the show to discuss FTX, AMC , why hedge funds aren’t hedging, the role of index funds and a whole lot more. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Cliff’s take on FTX and crypto
The AMC saga
HODL and the MOASS
Finding the right media format for substantive investment conversations
Thoughts on the value spread
“We don’t want a world where markets are perfect”
Hedge funds aren’t hedging
The role of index funds
Never override a model
“Study statistics and stick to your principles”

Books Mentioned:

What Works on Wall Street: A Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time; by Jim O’Shaughnessy

Ben Tossell — Opportunities in AI (EP.141) Jan 05, 2023

Ben Tossell writes Ben’s Bites, a daily newsletter on AI that’s read by over 15,000 others from Google, a16z, Sequoia, Amazon, Meta and more. He previously founded Makerpad, a no-code education side which was acquired by Zapier in March 2021. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Ben’s journey into AI
The importance of ease of use
How AI will impact our lives
Ben’s hackathon
Balancing originality and usefulness
Why Ben is wary of providing strategic advice
Achieving ground-up change with AI
Interaction between the AI industry and the governments
How Ben wants AI to be used
Following your curiosity
Making the world more competitive
MUCH more!

O’Shaughnessy Ventures is Here (EP.140) Jan 01, 2023

We’ve landed. After 3 months of stealth mode, sneak-peeks, and surprise announcements, we have finally hit launch day. In this special episode of Infinite Loops, hosted by Patrick O’Shaughnessy, Jim chats through the rationale behind founding OSV, the positive impact he wants it to have on the world, and the ways you can get involved. Important Links:

Show Notes:

The origins of OSV
Why OSV does not invest third parties’ money
The story of Jim’s investment in Stability AI
What has surprised Jim the most about the world of AI
What OSV will look like on 1 January 2023: the four verticals
Assembling the OSV team
OSV’s objective function
Where the majority of Jim’s energy will be directed
How you can get involved with OSV

Tom Morgan & Brett Andersen — Intimations of a New World Worldview (EP.139) Dec 29, 2022

Tom Morgan returns for his third appearance on Infinite Loops with Jim, Infinite Loops’ own Ed William and special guest Brett Andersen, an evolutionary psychology PhD student at the University of New Mexico. We discuss the implications of the ideas presented in Brett’s fantastic essay ‘Intimations of a New Worldview’, whether the rise of anti-heroes is a challenge to Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, the influence of conscious vs unconscious design, and much more. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Objective vs subjective morality
Complexity as a precondition
Biological complexification
Complexification and social selection
Relevance realisation
Jordan Peterson’s ‘Maps of Meaning’ and the metamyth
The optimal path and the process of creation
The cognitive purpose of supernatural beliefs
Mapping a response to the meaning crisis
Quantum entanglement and consciousness
Practical implications of Brett’s theory
Cultural evolution
Conscious vs unconscious design
There is an underlying flow of things
Breaking Bad and the Hero’s Journey
Slack vs tension
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

Meaning in Life and Why It Matters; by Susan Wolf
The Romance of Reality: How the Universe Organizes Itself to Create Life, Consciousness, and Cosmic Complexity; by Bobby Azarian
The Life of the Cosmos; by Lee Smolin
Evolution's Arrow: the direction of evolution and the future of humanity; by John Stewart
Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny; by Robert Wright
The Mating Mind: How Sexual Choice Shaped the Evolution of Human Nature; by Geoffrey Miller
Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief; by Jordan Peterson
Zombies in Western Culture: A Twenty-First Century Crisis; by John Vervaeke
Principia Mathematica; by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell
The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World; by Iain McGilchrist
The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous; by
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom
Life Finds A Way: What Evolution Teaches Us About Creativity; by Andreas Wagner
Tao Te Ching; by Laozing

Brom Rector — Investing in Psychedelics (EP.138) Dec 22, 2022

Brom Rector is the founder of Empath Ventures, a VC fund that in invests in early-stage psychedelics startups. Prior to founding Empath, Brom sent several years as a portfolio manager and quantitative researcher. Brom joins the show to discuss the current state of the psychedelics industry, the lessons learned founding a VC fund, the differences between psychedelics and cannabis, and a whole lot more. Important Links:

Show Notes:

How Brom became interested in psychedelic investing
Psychedelics and the mental health epidemic
Depoliticising psychedelics
Empath Ventures’ business model
How we can scientifically improve psychedelics
The influence of hippie culture
A contrarian view on Big Pharma
The potential benefits of ibogaine
The differences between cannabis and psychedelics
Do some people not react to psychedelics?
Brom’s thoughts on microdosing
Lessons learned from founding a VC company
The benefits of Rule 506(c)

Books Mentioned:

How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence; by Michael Pollan
Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection; by John E. Sarno MD

Johnathan Bi — René Girard and the Philosophy of Innovation (EP.137) Dec 15, 2022

Ahead of the release of the next episode of his lecture series on René Girard, Johnathan Bi returns for his second appearance on the show. He and Jim discuss Girard, prestige, innovation, AI, and much more. Enjoy! Important Links:

Show Notes:

The Girardian notion of prestige
What proof is there for mimesis?
The difference between mimesis and status signalling
Philosophical critiques of Girard
Girard on innovation
Historical understandings of innovation
A conversation between a pessimist and an optimist
AI, progress and the panopticon
Could we ban innovation?

Books Mentioned:

The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr
The Alchemy of Finance; by George Soros
The Laws of Imitation; by Gabriel Tarde
When These Things Begin: Conversations with Michel Treguer; by René Girard
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
The Invention of Improvement: Information and Material Progress in Seventeenth-Century England; by Paul Slack
Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future; by Peter Thiel

Rohit Krishnan — Unleashing Curiosity (EP.136) Dec 08, 2022

Rohit is a VC and essayist who writes fascinating, thought-provoking essays on complexity, progress, innovation and technology over at Strange Loop Canon. He joins the show for a second time to discuss the lessons learned from the FTX meltdown, why there isn’t a philosophy of business, creating an AI picture book, and a whole lot more. Important Links:

Show Notes:

What can VCs learn from FTX?
FTX, hubris and good manners
“Don’t let anyone push you into a decision that you don’t want to make”
Signing up to the right narratives
Why you can’t beat the market
Why isn’t there a philosophy of business?
Markets, desire and innovation
How AI allows us to talk to machines in our language
The complexities of the AI sentience debate
How AI unlocks new outlets for creativity
The need for positive stories
The three components of innovation
“Curiosity is a shit starter”
Finding new ways to create community
Openness and experimentation
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

What Works on Wall Street: A Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom
Unflattening; by Nick Sousanis
Slouching Towards Utopia: An Economic History of the 20th Century; by Brad DeLong
American Gods; by Neil Gaiman
Lessons: A Novel; by Ian McEwan

Julia Bonafede — A Deep Dive into Deep Reinforcement Learning (EP.135) Dec 01, 2022

Julia is the co-founder of Rosetta Analytics Inc, “an alternative asset manager that is pioneering the use of advanced artificial intelligence to build and actively manage liquid investment strategies.” Prior to co-founding Rosetta, Julia served as President of Wilshire Consulting and was a member of Wilshire’s Board of Directors and Consulting Investment Committee. Julia joins the show to take a deep dive into deep reinforcement learning and Rosetta’s pioneering work using AI as the basis of its investment strategies. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Julia’s journey from Wilshire to Rosetta
Defining deep reinforcement learning
AI and non-linear thinking
Using adaptive models
Overcoming the human need for ‘why’
Pitching deep reinforcement learning models to new investors
Telling positive stories about AI; improving our discourse
“Wake up and look for the joy”; “overcoming fear is the biggest barrier to success”

Books Mentioned:

What Works on Wall Street: A Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time; by Jim O’Shaughnessy
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy - What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous with Destiny; by William Strauss and Neil Howe

Liberty RPF — On Creation and Curation (EP.134) Nov 24, 2022

Creator and curator Liberty RPF returns for his second appearance on Infinite Loops. He and Jim discuss the art of curation, the opportunities and risks of AI, the curse of creativity, the future of learning, and MUCH more!

Lulu Cheng Meservey — Going Direct: What Founders can learn from K-Pop, Crypto, and the Early Christians (EP.133) Nov 17, 2022

Title: Description: Lulu Cheng Meservey is the Chief Communications Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Activision Blizzard. She joins Infinite Loops to provide us with a masterclass in communications for startups. A must-listen for current and aspiring founders. Important Links: • Lulu’s Twitter • Lulu’s Substack Show Notes: • Why people write hit pieces • The insurgency framework • How to access your audience’s neural real estate • How to develop a spontaneous elevator pitch • Tips for becoming better at reading the room • Speak directly and take the hits • Defining business objectives • Learning from other industries • Personalising your message • Overcoming resistance to the unknown, what Christianity can teach us about comms • Escaping corporate jargon • How comms resembles rugby • Taking ownership of comms • Moving to a new model of comms • “Don’t let things happen to you. Go and happen to things.” Books Mentioned: • The Network State: How To Start a New Country; by Balaji S. Srinivasan • The Hero with a Thousand Faces; by Joseph Campbell

Tinkered Thinking: White Mirror (EP.132) Nov 10, 2022

“With enough curiosity, self-confidence is irrelevant.” Tinkered Thinking is a writer, artist, author and creator. He is also the worthy winner of our ‘White Mirror’ competition. His writing includes a series of ‘Lucilius Parables’, short stories dispersed throughout time and space designed to help readers reconceptualise their experience of being alive. He joined the show to discuss writing, technology, curiosity, optimism and MUCH more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

The origin of Lucilius
Why write short stories?
Fear and human nature
Technology, progress and optimism
Where is the positive poetry of today?
The momentum metric
How to rebrand Guatemala
White Mirror
Choose your disposition
The power of curiosity
The question as a concept
Hope grows foolish with no doing

Books Mentioned:

The Lucilius Parables, Volume I; by Tinkered Thinking
The Lucilius Parables, Volume II; by Tinkered Thinking
The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory; by Brian Greene
The Fifth Science; by Exurb1a
Foundation; by Isaac Asimov
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; by Bob Pirsig
The Beginning of Infinity; by David Deutsch
Language in Thought and Action; by S.I. Hayakawa
Screw the Zoo: Escape From Your Cage, Free Your Mind, and Take Over the World; by Sam McRoberts
Unflattening; by Nick Sousanis
Atomic Habits; by James Clear
The Power of Habit; by Charles Duhigg
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; by Douglas Adams
The Egg; by Andy Weir
The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James
Awakening: Conversations with the Masters; by Anthony De Mello
Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment; by Jed McKenna

Edward Slingerland: Trying Not to Try (EP.131) Nov 03, 2022

Edward Slingerland is a University Scholar and Professor of Philosophy at the University of British Columbia. He has authored a number of books, including ‘Trying Not to Try’ and ‘Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization’. He joins the show to discuss the paradox of effortless action, the history of Chinese philosophy, the benefits of alcohol, and a whole lot more. Important Links:

Show Notes:

The paradox of trying not to try
Western equivalents to wu-wei
The difference between wu-wei and flow
How to cultivate wu-wei
How technology makes it harder to find wu-wei
Why were Confucianism and Daoism so successful?
Utilitarianism, China and the panopticon
The right amount of rationality, choking
Shutting down the prefrontal cortext
The evolutionary origins of our love of alcohol
The power of psychedelics
Ecological niches, cooperation, creativity and honesty
An alternative model of honesty
Stop pushing so hard, go walk in the woods

Books Mentioned:

Trying Not to Try: The Ancient Art of Effortlessness and the Surprising Power of Spontaneity; by Edward Slingerland
Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization; by Edward Slingerland
The Dao De Jing; by Laozi
The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr
The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better; by Will Storr
The Master and His Emissary; by Iain McGilchrist
Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To; by Sian Beilock
The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name; by Brian C. Muraresku

Jeremiah Lowin — Make Original Mistakes (EP.130) Oct 27, 2022

Jeremiah Lowin is the founder & CEO of Prefect, a dataflow automation company. Jeremiah joins Jim for his second appearance on Infinite Loops to discuss executing, storytelling, artificial intelligence and, of course, puns. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Slack, puns and the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Planning, executing and the story of Prefect in 2022
Why naming things is a superpower
If you can’t pivot, you’re dead
Make original mistakes
AI, storytelling, deep fakes and open source

Books Mentioned:

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; by Douglas Adams
What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
The Beginning of Infinity; by David Deutsch

Herbert Lui — Creative Doing (EP.129) Oct 20, 2022

Herbert is a writer and editorial director who has been writing online since he was 15. He is the editor of 'The World According to Kanye' and has written for publications such as Forge, TIME and Quartz. Herbert joins the show to discuss his book 'Creative Doing: 75 Practical Exercises to Unblock Your Creative Potential in Your Work, Hobby, or Next Career', and to share some practical, actionable methods of harnessing the creative impulses that lie inside us all. Important Links:

Show Notes:

“Think less; do more”
Adapting to social media
“Don’t make the bad the enemy of the good”
“Doing is thinking”
The strongest case for thinking over doing
The role of the subconscious in the creative process
The Madman and the Judge
What initial steps can an aspiring creator take?
Is there such a thing as natural creativity?
“Quality is a word smart people use to procrastinate”
Unifying the Madman and the Judge
Why do societies try to crush creativity out of people?
Why we are all creative

Books Mentioned:

Creative Doing: 75 Practical Exercises to Unblock Your Creative Potential in Your Work, Hobby, or Next Career; by Herbert Lui
Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective; by Kenneth O. Stanley and Joel Lehman
The Love Song of J. Alfred Profrock; by T.S. Eliot
The I Ching
Tao Te Ching; by Laozi
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; by Robert M. Pirsig

Emad Mostaque — The Future of AI (EP.128) Oct 18, 2022

Emad Mostaque is the founder and CEO of Stability AI, the company behind Stable Diffusion. Emad joins Stability AI’s recently announced Executive Chair of the board of directors Jim O’Shaughnessy to discuss the future of AI, the benefits of open source software, and much more. Important Links:

Show Notes:

The open vs closed AI debate
How will open AI lead to better outcomes for AI safety?
How will AI allow us to to solve previously unsolvable problems?
How AI can transform education
AI and storytelling
What is ‘clean’ data?
Can AI technology increase IQs across the entire world?
The future: optimism, pessimism, jobs, AI alignment and the panopticon
Why closed AI is a bad business model
Anticipating and defending against future problems
What two ideas would you like to give everyone in the world?

Books Mentioned:

The WEIRDest People in the World; by Joseph Henrich

David Senra — Pick The Right Heroes (EP.127) Oct 13, 2022

“To get me stop, they’re going to have to pry the microphone out of my cold dead hand”. Hot on the heels of his hugely popular appearance on ‘Invest Like The Best’, David Senra joins a marathon episode of Infinite Loops to discuss obsession, education, optimism, podcasting, and so much more. Unsurprisingly, this one is not to be missed. Important Links:

Show Notes:

David’s grandfather, refugees, and risk-taking
Why reading history raises our ambition
Obsession and genetics
Why founders are the most important people in the world
Our failing education system
“To get me to stop, they’re going to have to pry the microphone out of my cold dead hand”
“Don’t do anything that somebody else can do”
Societal responses to change, predicting the future
The benefits of small teams
“Plan B should be to make plan A work”
Optimism, risk and the bridge of nihilism
Why you need to start a podcast
“History doesn’t repeat, human nature does”
AI and art
The internet is the greatest variance amplifier in history
“You can’t fake passion”
Infinite networks
Luck, burnout, learning and excuses
“Don’t be surprised if your best idea comes 30 to 40 years into your career”
The blueprint for a great day
Pick the right heroes

Books Mentioned:

Am I Being Too Subtle?: Straight Talk From a Business Rebel; by Sam Zell
The Sugar King of Havana: The Rise and Fall of Julio Lobo, Cuba's Last Tycoon; by John Paul Rathbone
The Hypomaniac Edge: The Link Between (A Little) Craziness and (A Lot of) Success in America; by John D. Gartner
One Summer: America, 1927; by Bill Bryson
Reluctant Genius: The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell; by Charlotte Gray
Born of this land : my life story; by Chung Ju-yung
Shoe Dog; by Phil Knight
Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power; by James McGrath Morris
Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company; by Andrew S. Grove
Time to Make the Donuts: The Founder of Dunkin Donuts Shares an American Journey; by William Rosenberg
Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration; by Ed Catmull
The Tao Te Ching; by Laozi
My Life & Work - An Autobiography of Henry Ford; by Henry Ford
One from Many: VISA and the Rise of Chaordic Organization; by Dee Hock
Zanies: The world’s greatest eccentrics; by Jay Robert Nash

Liz Wallenstein + Dr Michael Donnino — The Mind-Body Connection (EP.126) Oct 06, 2022

Dr Michael Donnino is the founder/director of the Psychophysiologic Research Group, and the first person in the country to complete a residency/fellowship program leading to board certification in internal medicine, emergency medicine, and critical care. Liz Wallenstein is a licensed mental health counselor who has trained in, among other areas, the methodology of ‘TMS Mind Body-Connection’. Liz and Dr Michael join the show to discuss the profound influence of Dr John Sarno on their lives, and the potentially transformational power of ‘Mind-Body’ therapies. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Introductions to Dr. Sarno
The relationship between our emotional and physical reactions
Reasons to be hopeful
Emotions and conditioning
A response to the sceptics
The societal costs of chronic pain
Mental health: moving beyond diagnostic labels
Long COVID and mind-body syndrome
The future of psychophysiological research
What does the medical community think of mind-body syndrome?
Doing the inner work that’s needed to heal
The future of mind-body treatments
The importance of sincerity

Books Mentioned:

Your Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma; by Bessel van der Kolk;
Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine; by Candace Pert
Healing Back Pain; by John E. Sarno
The Screwtape Letters; by C.S. Lewis
The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr
The Great Pain Deception: Faulty Medical Advice Is Making Us Worse; by Steve Ozanich
Anatomy of an Illness: As Perceived by the Patient; by Norman Cousins

Kyla Scanlon — Cultivating Vibes (EP.125) Sep 29, 2022

The brilliant Kyla Scanlon returns for her second appearance on Infinite Loops. As well as being a prolific creator, curator and writer, Kyla is the founder of the financial education company Bread. Kyla joins the show to discuss the vibecession, her plans for Bread, the creator economy, and much more. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Losing control of the meme
Everything is vibes
Inflation is a tax
Are vibes top-down or bottom-up?
Making complicated information fun
The importance of having thick skin
The benefits of free markets
Do governments have vibes?
How do you cultivate good vibes?
The creator economy
Bread's mission
Education is broken
Advice for upcoming content creators
Against credentialism
Open AI vs closed AI
How can you change your models?
What is your favourite medium?
What would be the most surprising development over the next 12 months?

Books Mentioned:

The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics; by Gary Zukav
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom

Trung Phan + Rob Henderson — Talking Television (EP.124) Sep 22, 2022

Is this the greatest crossover event in history? Fresh from their individual appearances on Infinite Loops, Trung Phan and Rob Henderson join forces to discuss TV, film, and why Rob still hasn’t seen Apocalypse Now. Important Links:

Show Notes:

Hearts of Darkness: one of the craziest stories in Hollywood history
The beginning of TV’s golden age
Breadth or depth? The two paths to prestige TV
What TV can teach you about elite America
The two ways of watching prestige TV
How TV shows program us
The decline of event TV
Recurring themes and HumanOS
Succession and signalling
The Great Reshuffle and Substack
The 70s: one of the worst American decades of all time
What will TV be like in 10 years’ time?
Challenge yourself with art
Broaden your content horizons

Books Mentioned:

Heart of Darkness; by Joseph Conrad
Unflattening; by Nick Sousanis
The Iliad; by Homer
The Odyssey; by Homer
The Da Vinci Code; by Dan Brown
Infinite Jest; by David Foster Wallace

TV Shows and Films Mentioned:

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse
Apocalypse Now
The Shield
The Godfather
The Sopranos
Seinfeld
All In The Family
The Wire
The Simpsons
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Mad Men
Game of Thrones
The West Wing
Roseanne
Power Rangers
The O.C.
Breaking Bad
Better Call Saul
The Truman Show
Back to the Future
I Love Lucy
Succession
Will and Grace
Severance
House of Cards
Stranger Things
Office Space
Euphoria
Avengers: End Game
Top Gun Maverick
The Office
Parasite

Nick Gillespie — The Lou Reed of Libertarianism (EP.123) Sep 15, 2022

Nick Gillespie is the host of the Reason Interview and an editor at large at Reason. Nick is one of the most interesting libertarian thinkers in America, and has been described by the New York Times as being to libertarianism “what Lou Reed is to rock ‘n’ roll, the quintessence of its outlaw spirit". Important Links:

Show Notes:

Is libertarianism dead?
Saying what you think
The case for rational optimism
Labels and empathy
President Nixon, the Great Reshuffle, Bitcoin
Bureaucracy and responsiveness
The rapidly changing world
Prohibition and legalisation
Why America does not have enough immigration
The enfranchising power of social media
Obscenity and moral panics
Empathy with the dispossessed
And MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix What’s Wrong with America; by Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch
The Rational Optimist; by Matt Ridley
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy; by Douglas Adams
The Population Bomb; by Paul Ehrlich
The Beginning of Infinity; by David Deutsch
Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy; by Joseph Schumpeter
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom
One Summer: America, 1927; by Bill Bryson
The War on Alcohol; by Liza McGirr
Immigration and Freedom; by Chandran Kukathas
The Illuminatus! Trilogy; by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea
What It Means to be a Libertarian: a Personal Interpretation; by Charles Murray
Raising PG Kids in an X-Rated Society; by Tipper Gore
Ulysses; by James Joyce
The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr
Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown

Will Storr—The Status Game (EP.122) Sep 08, 2022

Will Storr is an award winning journalist and author. His book ‘The Status Game’ transforms our understanding of human nature by demonstrating how our unconscious desire for status ultimately drives our behaviour. Important Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wstorr?s=21&t=ZdtIqP9eE3_a5qZocDjEXQ
Website: https://willstorr.com
The Science of Storytelling: https://www.thescienceofstorytelling.com

Show Notes:

Will’s origin story
The strange case of David Irving
The fundamental nature of status games
The Stanford prison experiment and dominance games
The status games played by cults
Luxury beliefs
Why we are all moral hypocrites
The importance of being funny
Social status and socioeconomic status
Human OS and the education system
How status seeking leads to the “very best of human nature”
The murderous nature of reputation destruction
The post WW1 humiliation of Germany
Loaded magazine
Finding the true reason behind seemingly crazy beliefs
The value of religion
Trading status
Spreading humility
Why we could be wrong about our closest beliefs

Books Mentioned:

The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science; by Will Storr
The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History; by Howard Bloom
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom
The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous; by Joseph Henrich
The Science of Storytelling; by Will Storr
Slaughterhouse-Five; by Kurt Vonnegut
Selfie: How We Became so Self-Obsessed and What It’s Doing to Us; by Will Storr
The Status Game: On Social Position and How We Use It; by Will Storr

Vitaliy Katsenelson—Soul In The Game (EP.121) Sep 01, 2022

Vitaliy Katsenelson is the CEO of a value investment firm IMA, author of two books on investing, and a recently published non-investing book named “Soul In The Game”. Known for his uncommon common sense, Forbes magazine called him "The New Benjamin Graham." Vitaliy loves to read, listen to classical music, play chess, and write about life, investing, and music. Important Links:

Blog: https://contrarianedge.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/vitaliyk
Twitter: https://twitter.com/vitaliyk
IMA: https://imausa.com/
Favorite classical music website: https://myfavoriteclassical.com/
“The Gateway Drug to Classical Music” Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1tfsohjLty6IK2b2B8AGE0

Show Notes:

Coming to America from Soviet Russia
How movies shape perception
Two frameworks to understand the mind
Programming yourself with the words you use
The Thinker and the Prover
Abracadabra—I create as I speak
Four modes of communication
Not letting an idea become your identity
Writing about both sides of the argument
Reality is nuanced
Depersonalize your arguments
A mathematical formula to determine outcomes
Table cloth model of investing
Event, Judgement, Reaction framework
Reframing your worries away
Is the USA still the best place to be for talented people?
Elon Musk’s distinctiveness
Favorite classical composers
Opera as a plunger for the writer's block
Introducing kids to classical music
The best financial advice Vitaliy ever got
Can money buy happiness?
Experiencing self vs. remembering self
Traveling is an antidote for monotony
Going outside your myopic circles
“The Gateway Drug to Classical Music” playlist
And MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

Soul In The Game; by Vitaliy Katsenelson
Think Again; by Adam Grant
Influence; by Dr Robert B. Cialdini
The Wealthy Barber; by David Chilton
Gödel, Escher, Bach; by Douglas Hofstadter
How to Win Friends & Influence People; by Dale Carnegie

Dennis McKenna—Rebooting Yourself with Psychedelics (EP.120) Aug 25, 2022

Dennis McKenna is the founder of the McKenna Academy and has conducted research in ethnopharmacology for over 40 years. He is a founding board member of the Heffter Research Institute, and was a key investigator on the Hoasca Project, the first biomedical investigation of ayahuasca. Important Links:

McKenna Academy: https://mckenna.academy/
ESPD 55 (Ethnopharmacologic Search for Psychoactive Drugs): https://espd55.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DennisMcKenna4
ICEERS (International Center for Ethno-botanical Education, Research, and Service): https://www.iceers.org/

Show Notes:

ESPD 55 conference
Goals of the McKenna Academy
How psychedelics affect our relationship with nature
Bridging the gap between ancestral and moderns scientific knowledge
Psychedelics on the safety scale
Nixon’s war against drugs
Fear of persecution in the medical community
LSD being really responsible for the birth of modern neuroscience
DMT reopening the door to clinical research
Using psilocybin for end of life applications
Psychedelics are not just “band-aids”
Dissipation of knowledge among indigenous tribes
Reality hallucination
Therapeutic utility of psychedelics
Future of psychedelic research
Making psychedelics more accessible
Protecting endangered plants
Forming alliances with indigenous communities

Books Mentioned:

The Immortality Key; by Brian Muraresku
How to Change Your Mind; by Michael Pollan
Psychology and Alchemy; by Carl Jung

David Perell—Write to Find Yourself (EP.119) Aug 18, 2022

David Perell is prolific writer and online educator, who runs a writing school called “Write of Passage”. David also hosts the “The North Star Podcast” featuring interviews with writers, athletes, and entrepreneurs. Important Links:

Website: https://perell.com/
Writing School: https://writeofpassage.school/
Friday Finds Links: https://perell.com/friday-finds-links/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/david_perell

Show Notes:

Origins of “Write of Passage”
Writing leads to thinking
David’s ever expanding portfolio
Live the life that you teach
Applying lessons from Disneyland to a writing course
Four Seasons of writing education
Ana’s success with David’s course
Writing as a career transition
Average course cohort age
Building a personal monopoly
Advice for an aspiring creator
Dive into the work of the people you admire
Managing fear of creating in public
The network age
Building a product for high-schoolers
Finding your tribe on the internet
Going against the trend with long-form essays
Checklists and prescriptions
The cover band strategy for investing
Building an internet native education system
Schools stifling creativity
The Never-Ending Now

Books Mentioned:

Zero to One; by Peter Thiel
One Summer: America, 1927; by Bill Bryson
The Status Game; by Will Storr
Invest Like the Best; by Jim O'Shaughnessy

Shreyas Doshi—Making of a Great Leader (EP.118) Aug 11, 2022

Shreyas Doshi is a startup advisor who has formerly worked in the product teams of tech firms like Stripe, Twitter, Google, Yahoo. He regularly writes about product, strategy, org psychology, leadership, and life! Important Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/shreyas
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreyasdoshi

Show Notes:

Shreyas’s childhood
Operating with the owner mindset
The LNO framework
Getting good at leveraging time
The antithesis principle
Having a great manager
Individual vs. group decision making
“Apple Pie” positions
Beware of certainty theater
Social media: A global intelligence network
Minimizing your opportunity costs
The issue with following the rubric
Lessons from school at the workplace
Learning to unlearn
Tao Te Ching on leadership
Being an invisible leader
Tight vs. weak grip
And MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Science of Storytelling; by Will Storr
The Status Game; by Will Storr
Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu

Alex Danco—Where the Circle Begins, or Ends (EP.117) Aug 04, 2022

Our recurring guest (who rarely recurs these days), Alex Danco, comes back for his sixth appearance on Infinite Loops! Important Links:

Show Notes:

Our planned, but unplanned conversations
Pink Floyd were philosophers
From Heraclitus, to Lao Tzu, to Gita, to Deutsch
Where does decision making come from?
Projection 101
Can you versus can’t you read people’s mind
Jim throwing big fancy words like “Phylogenetic inertia”
Corn: The apex predator
Self-serving nature of memetic theory
The Mirror Philosophy
What is a “creator”?
Communication theory by Gregory Bateson
The Founding Murderer
Consequences of eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge
"The most entertaining outcome is the most likely.”
Hot media vs. Cool media
The Wire, and dumb Stringer
The state of accreditation
Balancing mystery with transparency
Knowing pop culture as a status symbol
And MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Science of Storytelling; by Will Storr
The Status Game; by Will Storr
Happy; by Derren Brown
The Selfish Gene; by Richard Dawkins
Steps to an Ecology of Mind; by Gregory Bateson
War and Peace; by Leo Tolstoy

Johnathan Bi — Girard, Desire, and Modernity (EP.116) Jul 28, 2022

Johnathan Bi started out getting trained in Mathematics, and then eventually went on to study Philosophy and Computer Science at Columbia. He hosts a lecture series on René Girard’s Mimetic Theory and is also a founding member of Lonsdale Investment Technology. Important Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnathanBi
Lecture series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qu6vBebwwg
Website: https://johnathanbi.com/
Lonsdale Investment Technology: https://www.longterm.com/

Show Notes:

Becoming pessimistic with age
Humiliation always comes back to bite you
How Jonathan got introduced to Buddhism and Girard
Why Jonathan left academia
The driving human emotion
Has modernity ignored the “spirit”?
Girard’s apocalyptic predictions
Wild, wild west of capitalism
The mystery with the discovery of the skull
What does eugenics say about science?
Science becoming dictatorial
Buddhism figuring out the inner telescope
Physical vs. metaphysical desires
Mimesis in asset valuation
Price to magic ratio
Nietzsche's will of power
Is delusion bad?
Can internet lead to greater violence?
“The Buddhist Solution”
Girard—A rescuer of spirit
And MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Status Game; by Will Storr
The Struggle for Recognition; by Axel Honneth
Sapiens; by Yuval Noah Harari
The Science of Storytelling; by Will Storr
The Origin of Species; Charles Darwin
Untimely Meditations; by Friedrich Nietzsche

Dan McMurtrie — On Markets and Policy (EP.115) Jul 21, 2022

Dan McMurtrie is the Portfolio Manager at Tyro Partners, an asset management firm for institutions and HNWIs; and the General Partner at Anchorless Bangladesh, an early stage venture fund focused on Bangladeshi startups. Links:

Dan’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/SuperMugatu
Tyro Partners: https://www.tyropartners.com/
Anchorless Bangladesh: https://www.anchorless.vc/
Coolworks: Jobs in Great Places: https://www.coolworks.com/

Show Notes:

Are we in the schadenfreude part of the market cycle?
Going back to the fundamentals
Solving the agency problem
Taking concentrated beta risk
Having clarity around your goals
The behavioral risk in investing
Do not get married to your investment thesis
It’s always you vs. you
Investing is about understanding other people's mistakes
Societal costs of stablecoins being unstable
Compatibility of social media and representative democracy
Issues with the current US Govt. administration
Number one existential risk for US currently
Risks of information overload
Improving education about commerce
Dopamine manipulators
Leadership vs. Stakeholder management
America vs China for policy changes
US legal immigration system
And MUCH more!

George Mack — Marketing, Mental Models, and Technology (EP.114) Jul 14, 2022

Description:George Mack is a creator who writes about the intersection of mental models, marketing, and technological tools and tactics. His marketing agency “Multiply” has helped grow some of the fasted growing businesses in the world backed by VCs like Stripe, YC, Sequoia, and LVMH.

George’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/george__mack
George’s newsletter: https://emailoctopus.com/lists/6d23df04-dff2-11ea-a3d0-06b4694bee2a/forms/subscribe
Multiply Marketing: https://www.multiply.marketing/

Show Notes:

Specific knowledge and technology
Rise of TikTok
Bringing people closer to tech
Regulation slowing down tech innovation
High agency filters
A self-made teenage billionaire?
New forms of education
Word of mouth 2.0
The best marketer doesn’t look like a marketer
Elon’s 21 second pause
Optimizing for luck
The smart friend razor
Superpower in being weird
How to build a porn site
Assess others to assess yourself
The issue with personality tests
Advice to the young

Books Mentioned:

Zero to One; by Peter Thiel
Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
The Bhagavad Gita

Ian Cassel — All Great Things Start Small (EP.113) Jul 07, 2022

Ian Cassel is the founder of MicroCapClub, a community where hundreds of investors have discussions on US and Canadian microcap companies. They also help you become better investors with educational content covering investing strategies, intelligent fanatic CEOs, great investors, and more. Ian is also Founder and CIO at Intelligent Fanatics Capital Management, whose goal is to own the smallest, most illiquid, least institutionally owned, misunderstood businesses that are run by intelligent fanatics.

Ian’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/iancassel
MicroCapClub: https://microcapclub.com/
Intelligent Fanatics Capital Management: https://if.capital/

Show Notes:

Microcaps are boons for quants
How Ian fell in love with microcaps
Managing other people’s money
Advantages and risks of microcap investing
Profitability, scarcity, and great stories
The top-down and bottom-up investment framework
Not being limited by minimum market caps
Being a hands-on investor
Turnovers in microcap portfolios
PE taking over microcap firms
Increasing the flywheel of serendipity
Preparing to be effortless
Not getting into arguments with people with made up minds
Being honest about your investment approach
The “mute” button hack
Identifying bad management
Importance of base rates
Educating about microcaps
Optimism beats pessimism
Do macroeconomic factors really matter?
What is chasing you?

Books Mentioned:

The Psychology of Money, by Morgan Housel
The Tao Jones Averages, by Bennett Goodspeed

Paul Millerd — The Pathless Path (EP.112) Jun 30, 2022

After working at McKinsey and getting an MBA from MIT, Paul Millerd was succeeding well on a path that “made sense”. However, things started changing when he had a health crisis, which ended up with him embarking on a pathless path. Since 2017, he’s been tinkering with multiple side-hustles, writing newsletters, creating podcasts, traveling, and helping others join the pathless path.

Paul’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/p_millerd
Paul’s newsletter: https://boundless.substack.com/
‘The Pathless Path’ book: https://think-boundless.com/the-pathless-path/

Show Notes:

Having fun paying bills
Jumping off your fitness landscape
The first few years of being self-employed
Connecting with the subconscious self
Internet as an off-ramp
How to stir up curiosity
Lessons from DJing
The social construct of retirement
Internet economy requires showing up daily
Design for liking your life
Tinkering
Embracing laziness
Luxury of doing what you want
The shift from cynicism to optimism
Societal progress over the last decades
What’s next for Paul?

Books Mentioned:

The Pathless Path; by Paul Millerd
The Body Keeps The Score; by Bessel van der Kolk

David Chilton — The Wealthy Barber (EP.111) Jun 23, 2022

Dave Chilton is a Canadian author, investor, and a venture capitalist who has appeared on television in the Canadian version of Dragons’ Den. In 1989, he released his book ”The Wealthy Barber” which went on to sell an astonishing two million copies in Canada. You can follow Dave on Twitter at https://twitter.com/wealthy_barber and buy his book at https://www.amazon.com/THE-WEALTHY-BARBER/dp/B000SAI072 Show Notes:

How Dave met Jim
Signs of curiosity
“The Wealthy Barber” TV show
Twitter as a global intelligence network
Capital Camp and Rethinking Private Equity
Getting good at taking criticism
Dave’s approach to writing “The Wealthy Barber”
The decline in business travel
Starting new businesses at 60
Helping out authors with book publishing
“The Chilton Method” web-series
Power laws in podcasting
Inviting Jim’s kids to Infinite Loops
How to react if your passport gets pickpocketed
Living in the moment
Building a healthy relationship with your kids
The natural love for trivia
Collecting art
Anecdotal info in the world of big data
Still using a Blackberry

Books Mentioned:

The Wealthy Barber; by Dave Chilton
What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
Invest Like the Best; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
Psychology of Money; by Morgan Housel
The Immortality Key; by Brian Muraresku

Meb Faber — Two Quants Walk into a Bar (EP.110) Jun 16, 2022

Meb Faber is co-founder and the Chief Investment Officer of Cambria Investment Management, author of multiple books, and host of “The Meb Faber Show” podcast. You can follow Meb on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MebFaber and know more about him and his work at https://mebfaber.com/ Show Notes:

Replicating the Yale endowment
Why investors won’t follow advice
Importance of writing down your investment plan
The challenges of buy and hold
Learning from your losses
Out of favor strategies
A dividend strategy without dividends
The branding issue with buybacks
Harsh book reviews
Investing in international markets
Are we in an expensive downtrend?
Stated vs. Actual preference
Not betting on merely sentiment
Robinhood with an educational spin

Trung Phan — On Smart Threads and Dumb Memes (EP.109) Jun 09, 2022

Trung T. Phan is a creator in the tech, business, and media space. His Twitter threads are full of knowledge and humor, and he also co-hosts the “Not Investment Advice” podcast. Follow Trung on Twitter at https://twitter.com/TrungTPhan and subscribe to his newsletter at https://trungtphan.com/subscribe/ Show Notes:

Trung’s Vietnamese origins
Humor in your talent stack
Asymmetric returns of creating content online
The power of memes
Getting a CFA
Going back to writing movie scripts
Succeeding in the creator economy
How to acquire people’s attention
Creating content on LinkedIn and Facebook
The importance of traveling
Donald Trump’s popularity in SE Asia
History is not black or white
Steve Jobs with the Picasso
How a Microsoft guy catalyzed the iPad
Musk’s space meeting with Bezos
Not letting complacency set in
Putting historical dates into perspective
Structuring speech to persuade
Jim not dissing Plato
Making Ted Lasso likable in 157 seconds
And MORE!

Books Mentioned:

The Status Game; by Will Storr
The Beginning of Infinity; by David Deutsch
Virus of the Mind; by Richard Brodie
The Republic; Plato

Jimmy Soni — Make Things, and Be Playful (EP.108) Jun 02, 2022

Jimmy Soni is an author whose work focuses on people who create and build interesting things—whether theories, carousels, or companies. His books include “The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley”, “A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age”, and more! You can follow Jimmy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jimmyasoni and go through his work on https://jimmysoni.com/ Show Notes:

The joy of curiosity
How memes spread
The Great Reshuffle
How internet changed the publishing industry
Parallels between early days of PayPal and Bitcoin
Money as an information system
Appreciating the micro-level decisions
Three new things about Elon
The Elon Effect
How the PayPal founders brought the best out of people
The unknown names who were critical to PayPal
Claude Shannon’s financial decisions
Wealth is a byproduct of the devotion to the craft

Books Mentioned:

The Founders; by Jimmy Soni
A Mind at Play; by Jimmy Soni
Virus of the Mind; by Richard Brodie
The Sovereign Individual; by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg
What Works on Wall Street; Jim O'Shaughnessy

Peter Saddington — Love of Learning (EP.107) May 26, 2022

Peter Saddington is a man of many talents. He’s a software developer, founder, author, VC, and writes “The Agile VC” newsletter which covers Inside Startups, Venture Capital, and Life! You can connect with Peter on Twitter at https://twitter.com/agilepeter and subscribe to his newsletter at https://theagilevc.substack.com/ Show Notes:

Being exceptionally useful
Holding nothing close to the vest
Mastering the inner self
Peter’s childhood
Financial future of our world
Antifragility of Bitcoin
Mining cryptocurrencies
Infinite Loop’s NFT journey
The future of NFTs
How Peter got censored on YouTube
The rise of Substack
Jim’s business ideas for the new world
The unfair advantage of a physical connection
Fixing your house before fixing the world
Most important skills to have for a young person
Manifestation is about taking action

Ben Hunt — Preserving the Physical Metaverse (EP.106) May 19, 2022

Ben Hunt is the creator and primary author of Epsilon Theory, and co-founder and CIO at Second Foundation Partners. Epsilon Theory is a newsletter that examines markets through the lenses of game theory and history. Over 100,000 professional investors and allocators across 180 countries read Epsilon Theory for its fresh perspective and novel insights into market dynamics. You can follow Ben on Twitter at https://twitter.com/EpsilonTheory and read Epsilon Theory here: https://www.epsilontheory.com/ Show Notes:

Neurolinguistic hard reset
Ben’s days at Harvard
Why Klaus Schwab is a raccoon
Human beings are social animals
How language impacts and limits us
The cost of the Metaverse
How the nudging state is rewiring us
Does narrative follow price, or is it the inverse?
Traders respond to stories everyday
How technology can fight the nudging state.
NOAH: An ark of stories on the blockchain

Books Mentioned:

The WEIRDest People in the World; by Joseph Henrich
How the Irish Saved Civilization; by Thomas Cahill

Brian Feroldi — Spreading Financial Wellness (EP.105) May 16, 2022

Brian Feroldi is the author of the book “Why Does The Stock Market Go Up?: Everything You Should Have Been Taught About Investing In School, But Weren't”. His mission statement is “To Spread Financial Wellness”, and he does exactly that in this episode of Infinite Loops! You can connect with Brian on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BrianFeroldi and get his book from Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Why-Does-Stock-Market-Everything/dp/1735066168/ Show Notes:

Brian’s first exposure to the stock market
The power of mission statements
Personal finances over investments
Paying off your mortgage early
Finding high-quality companies
(Business) Momentum investing
Brian’s Investment Checklist
Importance of narratives in investments strategies
99% of great investing is doing nothing
On being wrong, and learning from mistakes
DCA’ing into index funds
Capitalism is brutal
Knowing Tom Engle

Books Mentioned:

Why Does The Stock Market Go Up?; by Brian Feroldi
The Tao Jones Averages; Bennett W. Goodspeed
How To Retire Rich; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
The Intelligent Investor; by Benjamin Graham
The Psychology of Money; Morgan Housel
Just Keep Buying; Nick Maggiulli

Tracy Alloway — Understanding Financial Crises (EP.104) May 12, 2022

Tracy Alloway is the co-host of the Odd Lots podcast and a managing editor at Bloomberg Markets. You can follow Tracy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/tracyalloway and listen to her podcast here: https://open.spotify.com/show/1te7oSFyRVekxMBJUSethH Show Notes:

Financial crisis hindsight
Being obsessed with risk and systemic stability
Historical parallels to the crisis of ‘08
Macro vs. micro bullshitting
Why people refuse to say “I don't know”
Victorian chicken bubble
Tales of forensic accounting
NFTs being used to launder money?
NFTs’ path to success
Insights from collapse of previous civilizations
Understanding the Human OS
Fair Wages for Robots
Praise for Citi’s Matt King and Credit Suisse’s Zoltan Pozsar

Nick Maggiulli — Just Keep Buying (EP.103) May 05, 2022

Nick Maggiulli is a financial educator, author of the blog “Of Dollars and Data”, and the newly released book “Just Keep Buying: Proven Ways To Save Money And Build Your Wealth.” In this episode, we talk with Nick about the robust empirical research that has gone behind the insights and ideas presented in his new book! You can follow Nick on Twitter at https://twitter.com/dollarsanddata and buy his book at https://ofdollarsanddata.com/justkeepbuying/ Show Notes:

Coming up with title of the book
The save-invest continuum
Is buying a house a good investment?
Debt: Good or bad?
On being shaped by our experiences
One path the wealth creation?
2020 vs 2021 as an investment year
Handling emotions during a bear market
Importance of diversification
The ideal asset allocation
The Great Reshuffle
The argument against stock picking
Negative yield bonds
Lump sum vs. DCA
Index investors or momentum investors
Life as a growth, and value stock

Books Mentioned:

Just Keep Buying; by Nick Magguilli
Security Analysis; Benjamin Graham
The Intelligent Investor; Benjamin Graham
Influence; by Robert Cialdini

William Green — Lessons for Life and Investing (EP.102) Apr 28, 2022

William Green is a journalist and author of the book “RICHER, WISER, HAPPIER: How the World's Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life.” — a book that draws on hundreds of hours of interviews with many of the world’s super-investors to demonstrate that key insights for building wealth apply to life as well. You can follow William on Twitter https://twitter.com/williamgreen72 and get his book at https://www.amazon.com/Richer-Wiser-Happier-Greatest-Investors/dp/1501164856 Show Notes:

From Journalism to Investing
Obsessiveness required to play and win a game
Behavioral biases
Role of patience in investing
Stoicism, and dealing with uncertainty
Reading authors like Henry James
Saying YES to serendipity
Being present in the moment
Delaying gratification
“When I fall, I shall rise”
Getting out of your own way
Staying away from the games that don't suit you
How body posture can affect you psychologically
Giving pleasure to your creator
Not knowing the truth

Books Mentioned:

Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World's Greatest Investors Win in Markets and in Life; by William Green
Happy: Why More Or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown

10-K Diver — Finance For Everyone (EP.101) Apr 21, 2022

As Chamath Palihapitiya put it back in April 2021, 10-K Diver is “one of the best fintwit accounts on Twitter.” 10-K Diver loves breaking down complex financial topics and helping people understand them via engaging Twitter threads. You can follow 10-K Diver on Twitter at https://twitter.com/10kdiver and read all his threads at https://10kdiver.com/twitter-threads/ Show Notes:

Curating aggressively
Is there a long term plan?
Reasoning from the first principles
Volatility tax
Do markets have a memory?
Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE)
Mental models for investing
Premeditating
Jim’s GIF game
Is it a Lindy or a turkey?
The ‘Money Concepts’ show
Benefits and pitfalls of leverage
What’s next for the 10-K diver?

Books Mentioned:

Reminiscences of a Stock Operator; by Edwin Lefèvre
Happy; by Derren Brown

Morgan Housel — The Best Story Wins (EP.100) Apr 14, 2022

Morgan Housel comes back for his second episode and Infinite Loops’ 100th episode! Morgan is a financial writer and author of the bestselling book “Psychology of Money” — having sold more than a million copies worldwide! You can follow Morgan on Twitter at https://twitter.com/morganhousel, and read his blog at https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/ Show Notes:

Morgan’s role at Collaborative Fund
Marketing that isn’t “forced”
Good product is good marketing
When perception becomes reality
Feedback to Morgan’s book
The power of stories
Understanding finance vs. Experiencing it
Writing is thinking
Not a great age for middlemen
Promises of crypto
Should volatility be considered as risk?
Morgan’s next book
Disconnect between the ideal and the practical
Change in Morgan’s life after his book’s success
Happiness is not about money
Raising children into great adults
Interviews should be conversations, not interrogations
On luck and humility

Books Mentioned:

Psychology of Money; by Morgan Housel

Dr. David Rhoiney — “Designed to Fit Out” (EP.99) Apr 07, 2022

Dr. David Rhoiney is a Robotic Surgeon, but his talent stack also includes being a cryptologist, financial educator, writer, public speaker, web developer, former Division One Basketball player and sprinter, and more! Phew... However, he did not come from a background of privilege. He started out homeless, and the only bread winner of his struggling family from a very young age. So how did he change his life? One word: Perseverance. Dr. David is now on the path of helping others change their own lives, and shares one of most inspiring stories we have heard till date. We are grateful to be able to share his life's journey with you. Hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did. You can contact Dr. David on Twitter at https://twitter.com/FiSurgi and subscribe to his newsletter at https://surgifi.substack.com/ Show notes:

David’s childhood
Managing to stay away from Foster care
Going through a GI bleed
An academic turnaround
Becoming a submariner
Four years of cryptology
Getting into medical school
Introduction to financial literacy
Origins of SurgiFi
On always being kind and helpful
David’s Talent Stack
Advice to the young
Motivating people to learn
Never going back to poverty
Being an autodidact
Poverty is NOT chosen
Ideas to improve financial literacy in the world

Douglas A. Boneparth — Building the Web 2.0 to 3.0 Bridge (EP.98) Mar 31, 2022

Douglas A. Boneparth is the President at Bone Fide Wealth, Founder at CryptoDrip, and co-author of the book ‘Millennial Money Fix’.

Follow Douglas on his Twitter at https://twitter.com/dougboneparth, CryptoDrip at https://twitter.com/cryptodripxyz and know more about Bone Fide Wealth here: https://bonefidewealth.com/ Show Notes:

Writing a book with your spouse
"Killing your darlings"
Humor as a marketing strategy
Generating leads with Twitter and SEO
Scaling a financial planning business
Demystifying financial jargon
Dealing with the 2020 crisis
Doug's introduction to Bitcoin
The Web 2.0/Web 3.0 bridge
Crypto Drip: A coffee-based NFT collection
Trusting the trust-less system
Gamestop-AMC saga
Responsibilities of a fiduciary
Earning the Right to Invest
How NOT to suck on Twitter

Books Mentioned:

The Millennial Money Fix; by Douglas A. Boneparth and Heather Boneparth

Steve Begleiter — Private Equity, Poker, and Military History (EP.97) Mar 24, 2022

Steven Begleiter is a Managing Director of Flexpoint Ford. Prior to joining Flexpoint Ford in 2008, Steve was a Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns & Co. He is also a professional Poker player who claimed the 6th place in World Series of Poker 2009, winning $1.59M Show Notes:

Culture at Bear Stearns
The liquidity crisis that ended Bear Stearns
Evolution of Financial Services
Importance of having a ‘thesis’ for your investments
The Rise of Private Equity
Where is PE headed to?
Investing lessons from a Poker career
Role of luck in life and Poker
Psychology at the poker table
How micro-expressions can give your game away
Historical perspective to the Russia-Ukraine crisis
Importance of reading military history

Jake Taylor — Getting Better at Decision Making (EP.96) Mar 17, 2022

Jake Taylor is the CEO of Farnam Street Investments and author of the book ‘The Rebel Allocator’, a book that help readers make better investment and business decisions. You can find Jake on Twitter at https://twitter.com/farnamjake1 and get his book from https://www.amazon.com/Rebel-Allocator-Jacob-Taylor/dp/173268832X Show Notes:

Iron Law of Economic Survival
Trade-offs between profit and brand
Capturing intangible value
Products as signalling devices
Journalytic — Getting better at decision making
Reducing the friction around journalling
Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey
Shortening the brain’s feedback loop
The Great Reshuffle
The Thinker and The Prover
Cheng versus Ch'i
Plato’s cave analogy for business decision making
What makes a good decision maker?

Books Mentioned:

The Rebel Allocator; by Jake Taylor
The Wealthy Barber; by Dave Chilton
The Nature of Value; by Nick Gogerty
The Genius of the Beast; by Howard Bloom
Happy; by Derren Brown

Alex Danco — What is Web 3.0 All About? (EP.95) Mar 10, 2022

Our recurring guest Alex Danco of Spotify, err.. Shopify returns to Infinite Loops for his fifth appearance to discuss all things Web 3! Follow Alex on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Alex_Danco and read his essays at https://alexdanco.com/ Show Notes:

Was it un-Canadian for Canada to pass the Emergency Act?
Was the MAGA movement monarchist?
Social meaning of NFTs
What NFTs are not
Catholicism — The original blockchain
Code that can make commitments
Wallets are the new web browsers
What really is censorship
Blockchains tell you what to ignore
Porting from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0
NFTs as human readable format of a smart contract
Why gamers end up as good decision makers
How to identify an extremely online person

Rohit Krishnan — Ideas for the Future (EP.94) Mar 03, 2022

Rohit Krishnan is a VC and essayist who writes the ‘Strange Loop Canon’ newsletter in which he tries to understand the ever increasing complexity of our world. You can follow Rohit on Twitter at https://twitter.com/krishnanrohit and subscribe to his newsletter at https://www.strangeloopcanon.com/ Show Notes:

Douglas Hofstadter’s Strange Loop
Memory as an unreliable narrator
Are we seeing a decline in eccentricity?
The Great Reshuffle
We need more Thiel-style patrons
Why do big companies suck at innovation?
Importance of failure
Reducing the cost of failure
Universal Basic Income/Dividend
Maximizing EV vs. Maximizing hit rate
Are governments inefficient?
Fragility of jobs
World in 2050

Books Recommended:

Gödel, Escher, Bach; by Douglas Hofstadter
I Am a Strange Loop; by Douglas Hofstadter
The Misbehavior of Markets; by Benoit Mandelbrot and Richard L. Hudson

Sam McRoberts — Screw the Zoo (EP.93) Feb 24, 2022

Title: Description:Sam McRoberts is the CEO of VUDU Marketing, an SEO agency and author of the book ‘Screw the Zoo’, a book that helps you “escape from your cage, free your mind, and take over the world.” You can contact Sam on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Sams_Antics and get his book at https://screwthezoo.com/ Show Notes:

Life as a digital nomad
Role of video games in children’ education
The Great Unwashed
Running an SEO consultancy
Jed McKenna — A fictional character?
Being kind to everyone
Importance of curation in social media
Bot infestation in Twitter
Free will vs. Nature of reality
Surrender comes after enlightenment, not before
Memory as a latticework
Shannon Limit
Love as detachment
Perseverance and survivorship bias
The Original Sin
Another dark age?
To mute, or to block?
Virtual Reality and Robots
Psychedelics

Books Recommended:

The Beginning of Infinity; by David Deutsch
Cloud Atlas; by David Mitchell
Screw the Zoo; by Sam McRoberts

Rick Doblin and Amy Emerson — Demystifying Psychedelics (EP.92) Feb 17, 2022

Rick Doblin in the Founder and Executive Director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). MAPS is a leading organization in the USA supporting psychedelic and marijuana research since 1986. You can follow Rick on his Twitter at https://twitter.com/RickDoblin. Amy Emerson is the CEO of the MAPS Public Benefit Corporation (MAPS PBC), a wholly-owned subsidiary of MAPS. You can learn more about MAPS and donate at https://maps.org/ Show Notes:

Rick’s journey from Construction to Psychedelics
How Amy met Rick and started working together
How psychedelic research was hampered for decades
MDMA therapy for police officers and Navy Seals
Cultural shift in the perception of psychedelics
Has internet made it easier or difficult to spread propaganda?
Legitimate concerns agains advancements in psychedelic research
MDMA: A euphoric, or psychedelic?
Man-made vs. Natural psychedelics
Psychedelics are NOT magic cure-all pills
MDMA treatment for childhood trauma?
Alternative forms of treatment like sound therapy, VR, hypnotism
Why donate to MAPS

Books Mentioned:

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; by Ken Kesey
Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge; by Jeremy Narby
How to Change Your Mind; by Michael Pollan
The Immortality Key; by Brian Muraresku
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance; by Robert M. Pirsig
The Body Keeps the Score; by Bessel van der Kolk
Happy; by Derren Brown
The Beginning of Infinity; by David Deutsch

Lily Francus and Jesse Livermore — Understanding Financial Bubbles (EP.91) Feb 14, 2022

Lily Francus is a risk theorist and a quantitative researcher at Moody’s. She is also the author of the ‘Midnight on the Market Momentum’ newsletter. Find Lily on her Twitter at https://twitter.com/nope_its_lily and read her newsletter at https://nopeitslily.substack.com Jesse Livermore is an OSAM research partner and a recurring guest at Infinite Loops. You can connect with him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Jesse_Livermore and read more about his work at http://www.philosophicaleconomics.com/ Show notes:

Why all the recent focus on bubbles?
How the era you grow up in shapes your investment philosophy
Intrinsic and Extrinsic value
How leverage impacts pricing
What is a bubble? And how to identify if you’re in one
Role of uncertainty in arbitraging
What makes a bubble pop
How bubbles set a new floor price
Do we have enough short sellers?
Time arbitrage
Information arbitrage in a hyper-connected world
Are we currently in a financial bubble?
Implications of pseudonymity
Is there a free will?

Zachary Resnick — Bitcoin SV, Music, and Poker (EP.90) Feb 10, 2022

Zachary Resnick is the Managing Partner and co-founder at Unbounded Capital, a trumpet player and composer, and a poker enthusiast. We speak with Zach about:

Scaling issues with BTC
Why isn't Bitcoin SV the prominent Bitcoin?
The best use-cases for Bitcoin SV
Can Bitcoin SV survive a govt. attack?
Jazz music, Poker, and much more!

Follow Zachary on his Twitter at https://twitter.com/TrumpetisAwesom and know more about Unbounded Capital at https://unboundedcapital.com/

Dave Nadig — Decoding the Metaverse (EP.89) Feb 03, 2022

Dave Nadig is the CIO & Director of Research for ETF Trends and ETF Database. However, our conversation with Dave takes a curious turn and instead of ETFs, we end up discussing about:

• Tokenizing everything

• Left vs. Right brain thinking

• Working on the limitations of Web 3.0

• Role of psychology in asset valuation

• And MUCH more!

Follow Dave on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DaveNadig and know more about ETF Trends at https://www.etftrends.com

Louisa Nicola — Neuroscience for Your Physical & Financial Health (EP.88) Jan 27, 2022

Louisa is a Neuroscientist & Neurophysiologist, and a performance advisor to pro athletes, teams & portfolio managers. Our discussion with Louisa includes:

The origin of Neuro Athletics
Goal setting done right
How light and melatonin affects sleep
Impact of sleep on your cognitive abilities
Ice baths, sauna, performance myths
And MUCH more!

Know more about Louisa’s firm “Neuro Athletics” at www.neuroathletics.com.au and read her newsletter at https://neuroathletics.substack.com

Sahil Lavingia — From Web 2.1 to Web 3 (EP.87) Jan 20, 2022

In this episode of Infinite Loops we have Sahil Lavingia with us. Sahil is the founder and CEO of Gumroad, and author of the book “The Minimalist Entrepreneur”.

The rise, and fall, and rise of Gumroad
Physical vs. Digital Communities
Befriending ‘volatility’
Applications of Web 3
And MUCH more!

Follow Sahil on Twitter at https://twitter.com/shl and buy his book from Amazon at amzn.to/2ZnIGOl

Tren Griffin — Welcome to the Tren-verse: Stories on Life and Business (EP.86) Jan 13, 2022

Tren Griffin returns to what is his third appearance on Infinite Loops — with a series of stories on business, investing, and life!

Why Gates didn’t write an autobiography
How “rude” QnAs can be helpful
Having a purpose in life
Keeping business separate from the personal
And MUCH more!

Follow Tren on Twitter (https://twitter.com/trengriffin) and read his blog at: https://25iq.com/

Frederik Gieschen — Learning and Failing in Public (EP.85) Jan 06, 2022

Frederik is the author of the “Neckar’s Insecurity Analysis” newsletter where he writes about great investors, innovators, masters of the inner game. We talk about:

Trying to “fit in”
The Great Reshuffle
Destroying your ideas and starting afresh
Synthesizing knowledge
And MUCH more!

Follow Frederik on Twitter at https://twitter.com/NeckarValue and subscribe to his newsletter at neckar.substack.com

Thomas J Bevan — Avoiding the Middle Ground (EP.84) Dec 30, 2021

Thomas J Bevan is an author and essayist. He pens The Commonplace newsletter which includes workshops on writing, movie reviews, and essays on life. We talk about:

Starting a commonplace
Striking a balance between the physical and digital
Not defining growth with metrics
The Soaring 20s Social Club
And MUCH more!

Follow Thomas on Twitter at https://twitter.com/thomasjb3van and subscribe to his newsletter at https://thomasjbevan.substack.com/

Nicholas Gruen — Rethinking Democracy with Juries (EP.83) Dec 27, 2021

Nicholas Gruen is a widely published policy economist, entrepreneur and commentator. He has advised Cabinet Ministers, sat on Australia’s Productivity Commission and founded Lateral Economics and Peach Financial. We discuss:

Fast foodification of Democracy
Isegoria, or equality of speech
Pros and Cons of a citizen jury
How citizen juries help in nuanced policy discussions
Using philanthropy for political experiments
And MUCH more!

Follow Nicholas on Twitter at https://twitter.com/NGruen1 and read his essays at https://clubtroppo.com.au

Lisa Feldman Barrett — Why does the brain exist? (EP.82) Dec 23, 2021

Lisa is a Neuroscientist, psychologist, and author of the books "Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain" and "How Emotions are Made". We talk about:

How expressing your emotions can help you control them
Why democracy might not be great for brain's body budgeting
Brain myths that deserve to die
The replication crisis in Psychology
And MUCH MORE!

Follow Lisa on Twitter at https://twitter.com/LFeldmanBarrett and know more about her research and writings at https://lisafeldmanbarrett.com/

Diane Macedo — The Sleep Fix (EP.81) Dec 16, 2021

Diane Macedo is a news anchor at ABC News and author of the newly-released book "The Sleep Fix". Diane helps us understand many sleep disorders and their solutions, and other topics like:

Are 'Insomnia' and 'Sleep deprivation' the same?
Sleep efficiency
Journaling to help you sleep
How effective are sleep aids?
And MUCH more!

Follow Diane on Twitter at https://twitter.com/dianermacedo and purchase her book at https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/thesleepfix

Erik Hoel — Exploring Consciousness (EP.80) Dec 13, 2021

Erik Hoel is a neuroscientist and an author. Erik often writes about the intersection of humanities and science, and his debut novel "The Revelations" is a tale of science, murder, and consciousness. Our discussion with Erik includes topics like:

Are humans really "conscious"?
Different theories of consciousness
Neural pruning in babies
How emotions drives scientific progress
Accepting the flaws in each of us
And MUCH more!

Follow Erik on his Twitter at https://twitter.com/erikphoel and read more about his work at https://www.erikphoel.com/

Jay Sanguinetti — Neuro Technologies to Enhance Cognition (EP.79) Dec 09, 2021

Jay is a scientist in Tucson, AZ. He was trained in philosophy, neuroscience, and cognitive psychology, and completed his Ph.D. at the University of Arizona on the neural processes of conscious and unconscious visual perception. Our discussion with Jay includes topics like:

Using ultrasound to cure depression
Power of placebos
Mindfulness practices
Dealing with Complex Adaptive Systems
And MUCH more!

Follow Jay on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JaySanguinetti and read more about his research on his website: https://www.jaysanguinetti.com/

Jesse Livermore — Future of Money, Education, and Health (EP.78) Dec 06, 2021

Jesse Livermore (pseudonym), a Research Partner at OSAM, is back to Infinite Loops for his second appearance to talk about:

Payments in the Metaverse
Crypto regulation
Incentives of governments vs. corporations
Rise of online education
Universal Basic Income

Follow Jesse on Twitter (https://twitter.com/Jesse_Livermore), and check out his writing here http://www.philosophicaleconomics.com/.

Matt Clifford — The Rise of Modernity (EP.77) Dec 02, 2021

Matt is the Co-founder & CEO at Entrepreneur First, and Co-founder & NED at Code First Girls. We talk with Matt about:

Internet in an era of "dampened variance"
Increasing democratic participation
Bull and Bear case for creativity
What Matt looks for in people before investing
Role of geography in entrepreneurship
And MUCH more!

Follow Matt on his Twitter at https://twitter.com/matthewclifford and subscribe to his newsletter at http://tib.matthewclifford.com/

Ana Lorena Fabrega — Gamification of Learning (EP.76) Nov 25, 2021

Ana is a former teacher, an edu-preneur, and the Chief Evangelist at Synthesis School. We have a very intriguing discussion with Ana around:

Idea and implementation of Synthesis School
Increasing engagement and ownership among students
Problems with the traditional education system
How schools crush creativity
Beginning of the end of the existing educational system
And MUCH more!

Follow Ana on Twitter at https://twitter.com/anafabrega11, subscribe to her newsletter at https://afabrega.com/newsletter, and try out the Synthesis experience at https://synthesis.is/oshag

Kyla Scanlon — When Financial Education Meets Entertainment (EP.75) Nov 18, 2021

Kyla Scanlon is known for her humorous videos on social media platforms like TikTok and Twitter, covering topics like monetary policy, crypto, economics, etc. Our discussion with Kyla revolves around:

Building your CV online
Financial Education in 2021
Web 3.0 and Bitcoin
Supply-chain Crisis
Importance of the analog in the digital era
And MUCH more!

Follow Kyla's TikTok at https://www.tiktok.com/@kylascan, and subscribe to her newsletter around the nuances of human behavior at https://kyla.substack.com/

Tom Morgan — All you Need is Love? (EP.74) Nov 11, 2021

Tom Morgan, Director of Communications & Content at The KCP Group, joins us for his second appearance at Infinite Loops to discuss:

The trillion-to-one ratio of attention
"Love" as a compass for growth
Religions and Traditions
Enlightenment vs. Adulthood
And MUCH more!

Follow Tom on his Twitter at https://twitter.com/tom_morganKCP and read his brilliant essays at https://thekcpgroup.com/insights

Rory Sutherland — Effective Communication: Jesters & Saints (EP.73) Nov 04, 2021

Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group, joins us for an almost unprecedented third appearance on Infinite Loops. Our discussion with Rory centers on:

The marketing of Saint Paul and religious leaders.
Humor as a vehicle for effective messaging.
The advantages and drawbacks of remote work.
“Category” vs. “brand” advertising.
And MUCH more!

Follow Rory on Twitter at twitter.com/rorysutherland and get his must-read book 'Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life' from Amazon.com

LibertyRPF — The Great Reshuffle & Decline of Gatekeepers (EP.72) Oct 28, 2021

LibertyRPF is an anonymous Twitter account researching and writing his fascinating insights on Substack. Our discussion with LibertyRPF revolves around:

The Decline of Gatekeepers
Why Liberty started his newsletter
Liberty’s investment process
The role of social media in society
And MUCH more!

Follow LibertyRPF on Twitter (https://twitter.com/libertyrpf) and read his work here: https://www.libertyrpf.com/

Max Arbitrage — Technological Advancements in Healthcare (EP.71) Oct 21, 2021

Max Arbitrage (pseudonym) is a doctor who is great at deconstructing complex health related issues and ideas down to the layman's understanding. We discuss:

mRNA vaccine technology
Medical Insurance in the USA
Increasing abstraction in the world
Importance of non-information and focus
And MUCH more!

Follow Max on his Twitter at https://twitter.com/max_arbitrage!

Alex Danco — On Social Hierarchies [BONUS EPISODE] (EP.70) Oct 18, 2021

Our recurring guest, Alex Danco, returns to Infinite Loops for his fourth appearance to discuss:

Books on social hierarchies
Expensive in time vs. money
Schooling in Canada vs. the USA
The Great Reshuffle
Long term impact of COVID
And MUCH more!

Follow Alex on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Alex_Danco and read his amazing essays at https://alexdanco.com/

Robert Plomin — How DNA Makes Us Who We Are (EP.69) Oct 14, 2021

Robert Plomin is a psychologist and geneticist best known for his work in twin studies and behavior genetics. He is also the author of several books on genetics, including "Blueprint: How DNA Makes Us Who We Are". Our discussion with Robert revolves around:

Evolution of Behavioral Genetics
Role of IQ in relationships
How valuable are expensive schools?
Genetics of criminal behavior
The flaw with most parenting books
And MUCH more!

Read more about Robert Plomin here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Plomin and buy his book "Blueprint" here: https://www.amazon.com/Blueprint-How-Makes-afterword-Press/dp/0262537982/

Tim Urban — Live on Twitter Spaces [BONUS EPISODE] Oct 11, 2021

This episode is a recording of a special live conversation we had with Tim Urban of Wait But Why on Twitter Spaces! After a discussion with Jim, we had a QnA session with the audience as well. Our discussion revolves around:

The Wait But Why book
The Great Filter
Left vs. Right ideologies
Twitter as an intelligence network
Live Q&A session

Follow Tim on Twitter at https://twitter.com/waitbutwhy and read his popular blog here: https://waitbutwhy.com/

Kevin Zatloukal — Machine Learning And Its Applications (EP.68) Oct 07, 2021

Kevin is a Computer Scientist, part-time lecturer at Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, and research partner at OSAM. Our discussion with Kevin revolves around:

What is Machine Learning (ML)?
Biases in ML algorithms
Application of ML in medicine, markets, and sports
Parallels in Fantasy Sports and Investing
And MUCH more!

Follow Kevin on his Twitter at https://twitter.com/kczat and read OSAM's research articles at: https://osam.com/Commentary

Perth Tolle — Investing in Freedom (EP.67) Sep 30, 2021

Perth Tolle is the Founder at Life + Liberty Indexes. Their indexes focus on human rights, economic freedoms, emerging markets, etc. In this episode, we talk about:

Wall Street titans on China
Freedom-weighted index funds
Different countries on the freedom scale
Freedom stocks — Overvalued or undervalued?
Problems with US's mainstream media
and MUCH more!

Follow Perth on her Twitter at https://twitter.com/Perth_Tolle and know more about Life + Liberty Indexes here: https://www.lifeandlibertyindexes.com/

Tobias Carlisle — Philosophy of the Markets (EP.66) Sep 23, 2021

Tobias is founder and managing director of Acquirers Funds LLC, where he also serves as portfolio manager of the firm's deep value strategy. He is also author of the books "The Acquirer's Multiple " and "Deep Value". Our discussion with Tobi revolves around:

Stock market fall of early 2021
Valuing digital businesses
Quantitative and Value Investing
Learning from ancient philosophers
Separating the message from the messenger
And MUCH more!

Follow Tobias on his Twitter at: https://twitter.com/Greenbackd and know more about Acquirers Funds here: https://acquirersfunds.com/

Adam Robinson & Bill Brewster — Disproving Your Thesis (EP.65) Sep 16, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops, we have not one but two phenomenal guests: Adam Robinson and Bill Brewster! Adam is the co-founder of "The Princeton Review," an author, a rated chess master, and advisor to hedge funds. Bill is the host of "The Business Brew" podcast, a long-form podcast focusing on how investors can improve their decision making. We talk about:

Choosing your words carefully
How reliable are memories?
Chess: Intuitive or Rational?
Managing the Shannon Limit
Walking with the data
and much more!

Learn more about Adam on his website: https://iamadamrobinson.com/ and listen to Bill's podcast here: https://www.podpage.com/the-business-brew/

Rob Henderson — Evolution of Social Hierarchies (EP.64) Sep 09, 2021

In this edition of Infinite Loops, we spoke with Rob Henderson. Rob is a veteran and a PhD candidate in Psychology, at the University of Cambridge. We talk about:

Growing up in foster care and overcoming a "tough" childhood
Role of a military stint in early adulthood
Luxury beliefs
Role of media in shaping identities
America's export of cultural ideas
and MUCH more!

Follow Rob on Twitter at https://twitter.com/robkhenderson and read his essays about the many aspects of human behavior here: https://www.robkhenderson.com/

Packy McCormick — The Great Online Game (EP.63) Sep 02, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops, we speak with Packy McCormick, author of the Not Boring newsletter. We discuss many aspects of the Great Reshuffle like:

UBI with crypto
Designing new money
How to increase crypto adoption
Will NFTs go mainstream?
Future of work and workspaces
And MUCH more!

Follow Packy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/packyM and subscribe to his newsletter at https://www.notboring.co/

Chris Williamson — Embracing Your Weirdness (EP.62) Aug 26, 2021

Chris Williamson is the host of the Modern Wisdom podcast, a YouTuber, TEDx Speaker, and an ex-professional Party Boy! We have a wide ranging discussion with Chris in this episode of Infinite Loops, including topics like:

The need to explore different ideas
Impact of The Great Reshuffle
Genetic Behaviorism
Cultural difference in US vs UK
Getting good at 'Networking'
And a LOT more!

Follow Chris on his Twitter here: https://twitter.com/ChrisWillx and listen to his podcast on his YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIaH-gZIVC432YRjNVvnyCA

Tom Morgan — Curation in the Age of Information Abundance (EP.61) Aug 19, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we have Tom Morgan with us. Tom is the Director of Content and Communications at the The Knall/Cohen/Pence Group and a stellar knowledge curator. We speak about:

Following your interests
Operating in complex adaptive systems
Winner-take-all effects in the creator economy
Rethinking 'Education'
Flaws in binary thinking
And a LOT more!

Follow Tom on his Twitter here: https://twitter.com/tomowenmorgan and read his articles at: https://thekcpgroup.com/resources

Massimo Marinelli — Premier League Economics & Sports Investing (EP.60) Aug 12, 2021

Marinelli is an Executive Board Member at Aser Ventures, the majority owner of Premier League team Leeds United Football Club. Massimo is also on the Leeds United Board of Directors. In this episode, we speak about: · The economics of soccer and the Premier League · Aser’s decision to invest in Leeds United · Differences in EPL & NFL finances · COVID's impact on sporting events · Merchandising and Social Media in sports · The role of content in sport finances · And a LOT more! Know more about Massimo here: https://aser.com/aser/massimo-marinelli-to-join-leeds-united-board-of-directors/

Linda Lebrun — The Substack Economy (EP.59) Aug 05, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we speak with Linda Lebrun, Director of Finance & Investing Writer Recruitment at Substack. We talk about:

Writing and earning on Substack
Going from 'Platform owning people', to 'People owning platforms'
The end state of publishing
Tips for new writers
Getting good at cold outreach
And a LOT more!

Follow Linda on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/SubstackLinda and kick start your own Substack here: https://substack.com/investing-and-business

Johnny Nelson — Past, Present, and Future of Social Media (EP.58) Jul 29, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we speak with Johnny Nelson, @generativist, on the state of Social Media and the Internet. We discuss about:

Managing your attention
Algorithms: Good or bad?
Censorship on social media
What will make people adopt a new social platform?
Is history an accurate predictor of the future?
And a LOT more!

Follow Johnny on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/generativist and read his essays here: https://generativist.falsifiable.com/

Brian Muraresku — Unravelling History's Best Kept Secret (EP.57) Jul 22, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we speak with Brian Muraresku, New York Times Best Selling author of "The Immortality Key: the Secret History of the Religion with No Name". We discuss:

Role of women in early Christianity
Mysticism of the ancient wine
The political war on drugs
The rise of Archeochemistry
Classical education in the 21st century
And a LOT more!

Know more about Brian and his work from his website: https://www.brianmuraresku.com/ and follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BrianMuraresku

Dan Rasmussen — Crises Investing (EP.56) Jul 15, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we speak with Dan Rasmussen, founder and CIO of Verdad Advisers. We discuss:

Bubbles vs. Crises
Investing in Emerging Markets
Identifying when "value investing" works, and when it doesn't
Theory vs. Practice
And a LOT more!

Follow Dan on Twitter at https://twitter.com/verdadcap and learn more about Verdad Advisers here: https://verdadcap.com/

Denise Shull — Making Intuition Work For You (EP.55) Jul 08, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we speak with Denise Shull, a Performance and Strategy advisor and Founder at The Rethink Group. We talk about:

Role of emotions in trading and investing
Could Daniel Kahneman be wrong?
Imprinting and Emotional Granularity
Standing up for yourself (Denise vs. Billions)
And a LOT more!

Follow Denise on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DeniseKShull and learn more about The Rethink Group here: https://therethinkgroup.net/

Rory Sutherland — Behavioral Science, Marketing, and Persuasion (EP.54) Jul 01, 2021

Rory Sutherland, Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group, comes back for his second appearance at Infinite Loops! We discussed various marketing strategies and behavioral tics, including:

In-group vs. Out-group
Fractal nature of behavioral science
Pricing heuristics
"Woke" persuasion
Barbra Streisand effect, Canada, And a LOT more!

Follow Rory on Twitter at twitter.com/rorysutherland and get his must-read book 'Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life' from Amazon.com

Alex Danco — Everyone's Job is World Building (EP.53) Jun 24, 2021

As our recurring guest, Alex Danco of Shopify returns to Infinite Loops for the third time! We talk about:

Age of Scarcity vs. Abundance
Everyone's job is World Building
Early days of the Internet
'The Office' — and it's parallels with the real world
Hierarchies in corporate and cultural America
and a LOT more!

Follow Alex on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Alex_Danco and read his amazing essays at https://alexdanco.com/

Litquidity — Up Close with the Meme King of Wall Street (EP.52) Jun 17, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we unravel the mystery around the Meme King of Wall Street — Litquidity Capital! We talk about:

Meme-ing: As a finance insider and outsider
Wall Street's culture
Current state of financial education
Growing the "Liquidity" brand
Elon Musk's meme game
And a LOT more!

Follow Litquidity on Twitter at https://twitter.com/litcapital and sign up for their newsletter at: https://execsum.co/

Jack Butcher — Productizing Value (EP.51) Jun 10, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Jack Butcher, creator of Visualize Value — "The operating system for value creators". We talk about:

Journey from employment, to consulting, to entrepreneurship.
Productizing yourself
Building a brand
Overcoming fear and imposter syndrome
Process vs. Goals
And a LOT more!

Follow Jack on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jackbutcher and get Visualize Value products from https://shop.visualizevalue.com/

Luke Burgis — What Drives Human Desire? (EP.50) Jun 03, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Luke Burgis, author of the book 'Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life'. We talk about:

Needs vs. Desire
The current state of social media
'Celebristan' and 'Freshmanistan'
How to identify fake "experts"
Scapegoating and Mimetic Violence
And a LOT more!

Follow Luke on Twitter at https://twitter.com/lukeburgis and get his newly-released book 'Wanting' from: https://lukeburgis.com/wanting/

Michael S. Falk — A Passionate Advocate For Economic Growth (EP.49) May 27, 2021

For this episode of Infinite Loops, Michael S. Falk, CFA and partner at the Focus Consulting Group joins us. We talk about:

Different careers in Finance
Succession Planning
Michael's books on sustainable economic growth
ALS
Luck, Resilience, Gratitude, and a LOT more!

Follow Michael on Twitter at https://twitter.com/MSFalk and get his books from Amazon at: https://www.amazon.com/Get-Work-Future-Michael-Falk/dp/1704375827

Tren Griffin — Flipping The Script (EP.48) May 20, 2021

In this unique episode of Infinite Loops, Tren Griffin returns to the podcast, but this time as the co-host. Tren asks Jim a series of thought-provoking questions that cover topics like (Jim got a few questions to Tren as well):

The importance of asking "why"
Treating failures as lessons
How writing helps in detecting blind-spots in your thinking
Courage, and to go all-in!
Munger, Buffett, Gates, Jobs, and A LOT more!

Follow Tren on Twitter (https://twitter.com/trengriffin) and read his blog at: https://25iq.com/

Paul Craven — Behavioral Science & Decision Making (EP.47) May 13, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Paul Craven, an expert in behavioral biases and decision making. In this conversation we discuss:

What behavioral science is
Building trust and relationships
Temporal discounting and reframing
Managing emotions in investing
Surviving is winning
And A LOT more!

Follow Paul on Twitter (https://twitter.com/CravenPartners) and his website https://www.paulcraven.com/

Jeremiah Lowin — Embracing Uncertainty (EP.46) May 06, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops, we speak with Jeremiah Lowin, CEO at Prefect. In this conversation we cover:

Overcoming inertia
When information challenges your beliefs
Choosing the right words for expression
Narratives and decision-making
Building a culture that appreciates uncertainty
And A LOT more

Follow Jeremiah on Twitter (https://twitter.com/jlowin), and learn more about Prefect at https://www.prefect.io/

Jesse Livermore – What Now? (EP.45) Apr 29, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with OSAM Research Partner Jesse Livermore (pseudonym). In this conversation we chat:

MMT and valuations
Bitcoin: Bull & Bear Cases
Transactional valuation
Intrinsic valuation
Managing future crises
And MUCH more

Follow Jesse on Twitter (https://twitter.com/Jesse_Livermore), and check out his writing here (http://www.philosophicaleconomics.com/).

Daniel Jeffries – Questioning Everything (EP.44) Apr 22, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Daniel Jeffries, futurist and author. Daniel’s newest book is Mastering Depression and Living the Life You Were Meant to Live. In this conversation we chat:

The multiverse
Why Dan wrote his newest book
Mimetic desires and human behavior
Questioning everything
And MUCH more

Follow Daniel on Twitter (https://twitter.com/Dan_Jeffries1), check out his writing (https://medium.com/@dan.jeffriescheck), and find his new book here.

Howard Lindzon – The Larry David of Finance (EP.43) Apr 15, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Howard Lindzon, Founder & General Partner at Social Leverage, and Founder of StockTwits. In this conversation we chat:

Why Howard is Larry David
The reasons he launched a SPAC
How SPACs differ from Venture Capital
His thoughts on FinTech & Crypto
And MUCH more

Follow Howard on Twitter (https://twitter.com/howardlindzon), and check out his website (https://howardlindzon.com/)

Joe Weisenthal - Rapid Fire (EP.42) Apr 08, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops, we spoke with Joe Weisenthal, Executive Editor of Digital News at Bloomberg. In this fun and thought-provoking conversation we chat: • NFTs • Bitcoin Believers and its viability • MMT • Robinhood • And MANY more sensitive subjects Follow Joe on Twitter (Twitter.com/thestalwart).

Bill Brewster – Asking Tough Questions (EP.41) Apr 01, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Bill Brewster, investor and host of The Business Brew podcast. In this conversation we covered:

How Bill’s investment career took shape.
The tragic story of Bill’s relative.
Important questions on Robinhood.
Investor education.
Gambling vs. Investing.
And MUCH more.

Follow Bill on Twitter (https://twitter.com/BillBrewsterSCG) and check out Bill’s podcast (https://www.podpage.com/the-business-brew/)

Josh Wolfe - Inventing The Future (EP.40) Mar 25, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Josh Wolfe, co-founder and managing partner at Lux Capital. In this conversation we covered:

The acceleration of technological change.
Inflation, the dollar, and crypto.
Macro and geopolitical risk.
Lux’s portfolio companies
And MUCH more

Follow Josh on Twitter (https://twitter.com/wolfejosh) and check out Lux Capital (https://luxcapital.com/)

Alex Danco - Makes A Scene (EP.39) Mar 18, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Alex Danco of Shopify. In this wide-ranging discussion we cover:

How to create a scene
Great scenes and movements from history
The Canadian startup market
The Pepsi/Coke blind taste test
And MUCH more

Follow Alex (https://twitter.com/Alex_Danco) on Twitter, and read his blog here http://alexdanco.com/ .

Anna Gat – Learning Through Discussion (EP.38) Mar 11, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Anna Gat, Founder and CEO of Interintellect. In this conversation we covered:

Power of conversation
The Salons that Anna runs
The importance of framing
Communication differences in genders
Fostering human connection
And MUCH more

Follow Anna on Twitter (https://twitter.com/TheAnnaGat) and check out Interintellect (www.Interintellect.com)

Max Arbitrage – Healthcare, Investing & Biology (EP.37) Mar 04, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with the man behind anonymous Twitter account Max Arbitrage. Max is an investor, entrepreneur, and top mind in the health care industry. In this conversation we covered:

Game theory and modern markets
Deterministic vs. probabilistic thinking
Max’s entrepreneurial ventures
Fixing what sucks in an industry
The perils of status games
And MUCH more

Follow Max on Twitter (https://twitter.com/max_arbitrage).

Lily Francus – Options, Passive & Speculation (EP.36) Feb 25, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops, we spoke with Lily Francus, an independent quantitative researcher and creator of the NOPE indicator. In this conversation we covered:

Lily’s dive into the world of options
Her popular whitepaper and subsequent NOPE indicator
The power of Twitter for networking and insights
Retail participation in the options markets
GameStop madness
And MUCH more

Follow Lily on Twitter (https://twitter.com/nope_its_lily) and check out her writing (https://nopeitslily.substack.com/).

Polina Marinova – The Profile (EP.35) Feb 18, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops, we spoke with Polina Marinova, founder, and author of The Profilenewsletter, which covers the masters and experts within various industries. In this conversation we covered:

Polina’s decision to leave Fortune
The business aspect of content creation
Lessons learned from profiling the greats
How The Profile has evolved over time
Developing an alter ego
And MUCH more

Follow Polina on Twitter (https://twitter.com/polina_marinova) and check out her newsletter (https://readtheprofile.com/).

Naufal Sanaullah – Macro, Psychology & Charity (EP.34) Feb 11, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Naufal Sanaullah, Chief Macro Strategist at EIA All Weather Alpha Partners. In this wide-ranging discussion we cover:

How Naufal navigated markets at the start of COVID-19.
Leveraging Twitter for mentorship
The Momentum Factor and Goldman’s Baskets
Positive and negative impacts of the internet
Naufal’s charitable work
And much more.

Tim Urban - Exploring Ourselves (EP.33) Feb 04, 2021

In this episode we spoke with Tim Urban, founder and writer at Wait But Why? In this super episode Jim and Tim discuss: • The story of us • Managing and taming our biases • Flat earthers and how we’re no different • Overcoming our outdated mental hardware • and MUCH more. Follow Tim on Twitter (Twitter.com/waitbutwhy) and check out his site (waitbutwhy.com)

Jason Zweig – Psychology, History & Writing (EP.32) Jan 28, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Jason Zweig of The Wall Street Journal, where he writes his famous The Intelligent Investor column. Jason is also the author of Your Money and Your Brain, and the editor of the revised edition of Benjamin Graham''s The Intelligent Investor. In this discussion we cover:

The power of writing to learn.
Why humans never learn from their mistakes.
Jason’s path into markets out of college.
The lessons we can learn from the past.
And much more

Follow Jason on Twitter (https://twitter.com/jasonzweigwsj) and check out his website (https://jasonzweig.com).

Mayor Francis Suarez – The Miami Elevator Pitch (EP.31) Jan 21, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Francis Suarez, Mayor of Miami. In this wide-ranging discussion we cover:

The mass business migration to Miami
Leveraging Twitter as a public official
The elevator pitch for moving to Miami
Why the Mayor is so optimistic about Miami’s future
Jim and Jamie’s post-episode discussion
And much more

Follow Mayor Suarez (https://twitter.com/FrancisSuarez) on Twitter.

Dan Runcie – The Business of Hip-Hop & Music (EP.30) Jan 14, 2021

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Dan Runcie, author of the popular newsletter Trapital, which focuses on hip-hop business trends. Our conversation covers:

Apple vs. Spotify
Music as an investment asset
Unique revenue streams for innovative artists
The economics of hip-hop
Opportunities for artists in Tiktok and other new apps
And MUCH more

Follow Dan (https://twitter.com/RuncieDan) on Twitter, and check out his newsletter https://trapital.co/.

Brian Roemmele – The Intelligence Amplifier (EP.29) Dec 31, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Brian Roemmele, aka “The Voice Expert”. Our long and in-depth conversation covers:

The rise of Voice systems like Alexa
The future of voice, AI, and knowledge
Brian’s exciting invention
Intelligence Amplification
And MUCH more

Follow Brian (https://twitter.com/BrianRoemmele) on Twitter, and check out his website http://voicefirst.expert/.

Pete Weishaupt – The Golden Age for Creators (EP.28) Dec 24, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Pete Weishaupt. Our conversation with Pete covers:

Starting an e-commerce business
Running cheap experiments
How to leverage Twitter
Behavioral economics
And much more

Follow Pete (https://twitter.com/peteweishaupt) on Twitter, and read his blog herehttps://maverickmedia.substack.com/.

Alex Danco – Shopify, SPACs & Status (EP.27) Dec 17, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Alex Danco of Shopify. In this wide-ranging discussion we cover:

Alex’s first 6 months at Shopify
Social Capital & SPACs
How Twitter has changed status networks
The rise of e-commerce
Can Founders Lie?
And much more

Follow Alex (https://twitter.com/Alex_Danco) on Twitter, and read his blog here http://alexdanco.com/ .

Tren Griffin- Escaping Gravity (EP.26) Dec 03, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Tren Griffin, Senior Director at Microsoft and author of the popular business and investing blog 25iq . In this wide-ranging discussion we cover:

Base rates and ‘escaping gravity’
Living a rewarding life.
Entrepreneurship and risk-taking
The importance of becoming an ‘Editor’
And much more

Follow Tren (https://twitter.com/trengriffin) on Twitter, and read his blog here 25iq.

Josh Brown & Brian Portnoy – “How I Invest My Money” (EP.25) Nov 19, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Josh Brown & Brian Portnoy, authors of the newly released book How I Invest My Money. In this discussion, we cover:

How Brian and Josh invest personally.
Highlighted stories from some of the 25 contributing authors.
The concept of “Funded Contentment”
How money can be wielded as a weapon
Behavioral biases and money
Roasting Jamie… and much more

Follow Josh (https://twitter.com/ReformedBroker) and Brian (https://twitter.com/brianportnoy) on Twitter, and their new book here How I Invest My Money: Finance Experts Reveal How they Save, Spend, and Invest.

Michael Batnick – The Irrelevant Investor (EP.24) Nov 05, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Michael Batnick, Director of Research at Ritholtz Wealth Management. In this conversation, we cover:

Michael’s journey to Ritholtz Wealth Management
His terrible experiences in the insurance industry
Breaking into finance
How the Ritholtz Wealth Management business has grown
And much more

Follow Michael on Twitter at https://twitter.com/michaelbatnick , and find his blog here The Irrelevant Investor.

James Clear – Constructing Habits & Systems (EP.23) Oct 22, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with James Clear, author of the bestselling book Atomic Habits. In this fascinating discussion, we cover:

Maintaining habits amid COVID-19
The importance of time horizons
Writing as an antidote to confusion
The steps for forming atomic habits
And much more

Follow James on Twitter at https://twitter.com/JamesClear , and find his book here Atomic Habits.

Annie Duke – How to Decide (EP.22) Oct 15, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Annie Duke, former professional poker player, decision-making expert, and best-selling author. Her latest book is How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices, which was released this week. In this conversation, we cover:

COVID-19 and decision-making
Resulting and the 2016 election
What drove Annie to write her new book
Writing as a powerful tool for testing your knowledge
And MUCH more.

Follow Annie on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AnnieDuke , and find her new book here https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0593418484?tag=randohouseinc13176-20.

Adam Townsend (Pt. 2) – The Sale (EP.21) Oct 08, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we invited Adam Townsend back on to speak exclusively about Sales, and why it is so important. In this conversation, we cover:

Extreme salesmanship
What you cannot learn from Sales books
The sales we don’t even realize we’re making
The right and wrong approaches to selling
And MUCH more.

Follow Adam on Twitter at https://twitter.com/adamscrabble .

Brent Beshore – Boring Businesses, COVID-19, and Doing Better (EP.20) Sep 24, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Brent Beshore, CEO and Founder of Permanent Equity. In this conversation, we cover:

What Brent has learned since making his first deal.
How COVID-19 has impacted the businesses in Brent’s portfolios
The importance of time horizons
The lasting changes from COVID-19
Finding the right partners and teams in business

You can follow Brent on Twitter (https://twitter.com/BrentBeshore) and learn more about Permanent Equity here (https://www.permanentequity.com/about-our-firm)

Ron Howard – The Past, Present and Future of Entertainment (EP.19) Sep 10, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with legendary actor, documentarian, Co-Founder of Imagine Entertainment, and academy award winning director Ron Howard. In this wide ranging discussion, we cover:

The pressure and thrill of directing a Beatles documentary
How the movie industry has evolved, and the impact of COVID-19
How documentaries differ from traditional movie making
The future of entertainment and how streaming changes things
And MUCH more

Enjoy!

Phil Pearlman: Westerners Discuss the Tao (“Don't Suck”) (EP.18) Sep 03, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Phil Pearlman. We discuss:

What Phil has learned from studying the Tao
The narratives you tell yourself
The most important rule: Don’t suck
How marketing & finance has evolved over Phil’s career
And MUCH more…

Follow Phil on Twitter (https://twitter.com/ppearlman) to stay up to date on all of his exciting projects.

Tyrone Ross: Giving Back, Empowerment, and Gratitude (EP.17) Aug 20, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Tyrone Ross. We discuss:

Tyrone’s inspiring journey
Empowering youth through financial literacy
The power of gratitude
Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies
And MUCH more…

Follow Tyrone on Twitter (twitter.com/tr401) to stay up to date on all of his exciting projects.

Rory Sutherland: Human Behavior, Innovation, and Alchemy (EP.16) Jul 23, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Rory Sutherland, Author of Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life, and Vice-Chairman of Ogilvy Group UK. We discuss:

The relationship between marketing and innovation.
Human psychology and behavioral economics.
The importance of framing.
“Stated” preferences and “Revealed” preferences

Follow Rory on Twitter (https://twitter.com/rorysutherland) and check out his books here (https://www.amazon.com/Rory-Sutherland/e/B07L3WRSWM?ref_=dbs_p_ebk_r00_abau_000000)

Bronwyn Williams: Self Sovereignty, Futurism, and The State (EP.15) Jul 09, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Bronwyn Williams. We discuss:

What being a ‘futurist’ means
Accelerating trends as a result of COVID-19
Geopolitics and the African continent
Technology and economic development
The future of governance

Follow Bronwyn on Twitter (https://twitter.com/bronwynwilliams) and check out her website here (https://whatthefuturenow.com/)

Anthony Pompliano: Building a Brand, Moats, and Bitcoin (EP.14) Jul 02, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Anthony Pompliano. We discuss:

Building a personal brand and business
The Bitcoin landscape
Moats and innovation
The power of Twitter for networking
And much more…

Follow Pomp on Twitter (https://twitter.com/APompliano) and check out his website here (https://www.youtube.com/c/AnthonyPompliano)

Adam Townsend: Wall Street, Policy, and Wealth Generation (EP.13) Jun 25, 2020

In this super episode of Infinite Loops, we spoke with Adam Townsend. We discuss:

Adam’s illustrious career on Wall Street
Wealth extraction
Extreme salesmanship
Adam’s COVID-19 blog
Chinese foreign and domestic policy
And MUCH more…

Follow Adam on Twitter (https://twitter.com/adamscrabble) and check out his website here (https://www.adamtownsend.me/).

Chris Sommers - Adventures at Sea (EP.12) Jun 18, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Chris Sommers, CEO at Unhedged. We discuss:

Sailing the world for 4 years without knowing how to sail
Chris’ experience at Greenlight Capital
Shorting Lehman’s stock in 2008
And much more…

Follow Chris on Twitter (https://twitter.com/QuisitiveInvest) and learn more about Unhedged here (https://www.unhedged.com/).

Chris Sommers - Adventures at Sea (EP.12) Jun 18, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Chris Sommers, CEO at Unhedged. We discuss:

Sailing the world for 4 years without knowing how to sail
Chris’ experience at Greenlight Capital
Shorting Lehman’s stock in 2008
And much more…

Follow Chris on Twitter (https://twitter.com/QuisitiveInvest) and learn more about Unhedged here (https://www.unhedged.com/).

Eric Jorgenson: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant (EP.11) Jun 04, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Eric Jorgenson, Product Strategist at Zaarly, and author of the Almanack of Naval Ravikant. We discuss:

Who is Naval Ravikant?
The key lessons from Naval’s writing and career
What made Eric want to write this book?
Wealth, happiness, and leverage
And much more…

You can follow Eric on Twitter (https://twitter.com/EricJorgenson ) and learn more about his new book here (https://www.navalmanack.com/).

Ed Latimore: Lessons from Boxing, Sobriety, and Building Mental Fortitude (EP.10) May 28, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Ed Latimore, a former professional heavyweight boxer (13-1-1) and full-time author that writes about getting sober, forgiveness, and self-improvement. We discuss:

The path to sobriety and lessons learned
Ed’s extraordinary boxing career
What Ed dubs the ‘manosphere’
The importance of transparency and grit
And much more…

You can follow Ed on Twitter (https://twitter.com/edlatimore ), and follow his writing at (https://edlatimore.com/).

Christie Hamilton: Institutional Investing, Due Diligence During COVID-19, and Advocacy (EP.09) May 21, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Christie Hamilton, Head of Investments at the $2 billion Children’s Health Medical Center of Dallas. We discuss:

Misconceptions about institutional investing
The importance of transparency
Due diligence during COVID-19
The traits of a good mentor and mentee
And much more…

You can follow Christie on Twitter( https://twitter.com/ROIChristie ), and can donate to Children’s Health here (https://www.childrens.com/get-involved/donate)

Dan McMurtrie: Pandemic Investing, Venture Capital, and Frontier Markets (EP.08) May 07, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Dan McMurtrie, Founder & CEO of Tyro Partners, and Partner at Anchorless Bangladesh. In this in-depth discussion, we cover:

Disastrous double dates
Navigating uncertain markets in a COVID-19 world
Succumbing to behavioral biases in volatile times
The investment opportunity in frontier markets
Companies that Anchorless is working within Bangladesh
The future of asset management

You can follow Dan on Twitter( https://twitter.com/SuperMugatu ), and learn more about Anchorless here (https://www.anchorless.vc/)

Chris Arnade: Seeking Respect in Backrow America (EP.07) May 01, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops, we spoke with Chris Arnade, author of the bestselling book Dignity: Seeking Respect in Backrow America. We discussed:

Why Chris left Wall Street to document ‘back row America’.
How Wall Street has changed over the years
Why Chris’s work triggers certain crowds of people
The importance of McDonald's to American communities
The lessons he’s learned from traveling around America’s lower-income communities.
And more…

If you’d like to order Chris’ book, you can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Dignity-Seeking-Respect-Back-America/dp/0525534733

Morgan Housel – The Psychology of Money (EP.06) Apr 23, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Morgan Housel, a Partner at the Collaborative Fund. Our conversation covered:

The content of Morgan’s upcoming book
Whether money is the ‘last taboo’
Money as a hierarchal system
What shapes the role of money in different societies
Investor psychology and self-inflicted problems

If you’d like to pre-order Morgan’s book, you can find more information here: https://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Money-Timeless-lessons-happiness/dp/0857197681

Michael Green: Evolving Market Structures and COVID-19 (EP.05) Apr 09, 2020

In this episode of Infinite Loops we spoke with Michael Green, Partner & Chief Strategist at Logica Capital Advisers. In a wide-ranging discussion that could have lasted the rest of the day, we covered:

The passive narrative, and its impact on market structure.
Vanguard and Blackrock’s lobbying efforts.
Target Date Funds and their increasing dominance.
COVID-19 and the government’s response.
The power of language.
Michael’s recent paper: Policy in a World of Pandemics, Social Media, and Passive Investing (linked below)

And much more. You can find Michael’s paper here: https://www.logicafunds.com/policy-in-a-world-of-pandemics

Liz Hall - An Outsider’s Perspective (EP.04) Mar 26, 2020

Our guest this week is Liz Hall, an investor who burst onto Financial Twitter with a hundred tweet thread on her ‘hot takes’ in finance. In this episode, we discuss:

Her unique background and introduction to investing.
The power of narrative and emotion in investing.
The importance of dispassionate analysis.
Capital allocation.

And much more. You can find Liz’s super thread here: https://twitter.com/LAForeverHall/status/1205981236960714754?s=20

Madelaine D’Angelo - Quantifying the Art Market (EP.03) Mar 12, 2020

Our guest this week is Madelaine D’Angelo, Co-founder and CEO of Arthena, the first quantitative investment firm for art assets. The firm uses hundreds of thousands of data points to identify the factors (artist, year of creation, gallery displays, etc.) that are predictive of future returns. In this wide-ranging conversation, Jim, Jamie, and Madelaine discuss:

Value & Momentum factors in the art market.
Arthena’s models.
The problems with repeat sales data.
Portfolio construction and exit strategy.
The nuances of investing in art assets.
Biggest misconceptions about art investing.

For more information, check out https://arthena.com/ .

Jim Chanos – Financial Frauds and Manias: Past, Present, Future (EP.02) Feb 27, 2020

Our guest this week is renowned short-seller Jim Chanos, founder, and president of Kynikos Associates. Over the course of his long and successful career, Jim has publicly bet against companies like Enron, which Barron’s deemed the “market call of the decade, if not the past 50 years.” While many know him for these famous shorts, fewer know that Jim is also a passionate historian, and is a firm believer in the notion that history can act as a useful guide for investors today. In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss:

How Jim started his career in finance
The Mississippi Bubble
How past financial frauds and manias can be useful for modern investors
Tesla
Lessons from the Great Financial Crisis
Jim’s financial history course at Yale and Wisconsin
Theranos

And much, much more… we hope you enjoy.

Behind the Curtains: Ramp Capital and Super Mugatu (EP.01) Nov 25, 2019

In this episode, we sit down with two of the most prominent anonymous accounts on Financial Twitter, Ramp Capital and Super Mugatu. Enjoy this wide ranging conversation, and peak behind the curtain of anonymous Twitter.

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