The Joe Walker Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Inside Humanity's Infinite Improbability Drive - Matt Ridley Aug 10, 2020

Show notes

Matt Ridley is an author, journalist, biologist, and businessman. His books have sold over a million copies.
Show notes
Selected links
•Follow Matt Ridley: Website | Twitter
•How Innovation Works, by Matt Ridley
•The Origins of Virtue, by Matt Ridley
•Zero to One, by Peter Thiel
•Born Standing Up, by Steve Martin
•The Innovator's Dilemma, by Clayton Christensen
•'The Use of Knowledge in Society', essay by Friedrich Hayek
•Bad Blood, by John Carreyrou
•The Great Stagnation, by Tyler Cowen
•The Rise and Fall of American Growth, by Robert Gordon
Topics discussed
•When did Matt first come to understand the disturbing notion of selfish gene theory? 8:55
•How did Matt, a biologist, become so interested in innovation? 16:20
•The infinite improbability drive. 20:30
•What's the difference between innovation and invention? 24:05
•What do most people (wrongly) believe about how innovation works? 25:48
•Why innovation relies on collaboration. 33:53
•Innovation is the child of freedom. But what amount or types of freedom are sufficient to underpin innovation? 40:35
•Why does innovation thrive in fragmented political systems? 46:39
•Does unfettered economic freedom tend irresistibly towards monopolies? 50:37
•Antitrust enforcement: have we been doing enough? 1:02:44
•The relationship between uncertainty and innovation. 1:05:58
•Frauds and visionaries. 1:14:20
•Uncertainty and economics. 1:15:26
•Are we in the midst of a Great Stagnation? 1:26:40
•Can we escape stagnation? 1:40:30

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Radical Uncertainty - Mervyn King Aug 08, 2020

Show notes

Mervyn King was Governor of the Bank of England from 2003 to 2013.
Show notes
Selected links
•Follow Mervyn King: Website
•Radical Uncertainty, by Mervyn King and John Kay
•The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, by John Maynard Keynes
•'Debt deflation: Theory and evidence', paper by Mervyn King
•The End of Alchemy, by Mervyn King
•Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, by Don Watson
•The Poverty of Historicism, by Karl Popper
•Obliquity, by John Kay
•'Truth and Probability', essay by Frank Ramsey
•Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers, by Cheryl Misak
Topics discussed
•Why did Mervyn choose to study economics at Cambridge? 11:06
•Keynes' General Theory. 17:41
•Debt-deflation. 23:58
•When Mervyn met Ben. 29:20
•Was Mervyn caught off guard by the Global Financial Crisis? 31:40
•Does stability lead to instability? 38:18
•The stability heuristic. 41:43
•What is radical uncertainty? 49:54
•How technology creates radical uncertainty. 1:04:57
•Why has the economics profession overlooked radical uncertainty -- and when did this blindspot begin? 1:13:10
•Narratives. 1:25:18
•What does it mean to be rational? 1:31:21
•Speculative bubbles. 1:40:25

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The Doyen Of Economics Podcasting On Death, Lockdown, And The Art Of Socratic Dialogue - Russ Roberts Jul 22, 2020

Show notes

Russ Roberts is an economist and the host of EconTalk.
Show notes
Selected links
•Follow Russ Roberts: Website | Twitter
•EconTalk
•Macroeconomic Patterns and Stories, by Ed Leamer
•Fooled By Randomness, by Nassim Taleb
•Systemic Risk of Pandemic Via Novel Pathogens -- Coronavirus', paper by Joe Norman, Yaneer Bar-Yam, and Nassim Taleb
•'To philosophize is to learn how to die', essay by Montaigne
•How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life, by Russ Roberts
Topics discussed
•When and how did EconTalk begin? 8:55
•Has interviewing over 750 people made Russ a better or more effective person? 13:59
•How to really understand an idea. 32:00
•What has Russ learned from Nassim Taleb? 35:43
•The Precautionary Principle. 42:03
•The lockdown dilemma. 48:38
•The Precautionary Principle again. 1:11:52
•Is Russ afraid of death? 1:18:49
•What has Russ done to improve his craft as an interviewer? 1:27:18
•Where was Russ born and what did his parents do? 1:48:21
•Why did Russ study economics? 1:49:52
•Narrative economics. 1:51:13
•Who are the most important economists for non-economists to know? 1:57:12
•How does Russ think about what he does? 2:02:31
•Vipassana meditation. 2:06:26
•When would Russ recommend economics as an undergraduate degree? 2:17:18
•Adam Smith's distinction between being loved and being lovely. 2:21:14

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The Life and Times of a Thoroughly liberal Prime Minister - Malcolm Turnbull Apr 24, 2020

Show notes

Malcolm Turnbull was Australia's 29th Prime Minister.
Show notes
Selected links
•Follow Malcolm Turnbull: Website | Twitter
•A Bigger Picture, by Malcolm Turnbull
•Malcolm's speech at the 2010 Deakin Lectures
•Malcolm's speech at the 2010 BZE Stationary Energy Plan launch
•'Condolence on the Death of Robert Hughes', 2012 speech by Malcolm Turnbull
•Malcolm's 2015 speech challenging Tony Abbott's leadership
•The Fiery Chariot, by Lucille Iremonger
•Reflections on the Revolution in France, by Edmund Burke
•The Case for Conservatism, by Quintin Hogg
•The Reluctant Republic, by Malcolm Turnbull
•Fighting For the Republic, by Malcolm Turnbull
•Constitutional Advancement in a Frozen Continent: Essays in honour of George Winterton
•'An Alternative Republic Proposal', Anne Twomey's 2015 article in the ALJ
•Skin in the Game, by Nassim Taleb
•Antifragile, by Nassim Taleb
Topics discussed
•Which of Malcolm's speeches is he most proud of? 9:52
•Malcolm's childhood. 12:51
•Burkean Conservatism. 20:20
•How do governments know when they're reforming too quickly or too slowly? 26:11
•Resolving the core tension in the Australian Republican Movement. 42:59
•Same-sex marriage. 48:48
•The Minority Rule. 52:19
•Is the Liberal Party philosophically tenable? 59:35
•How does Malcolm assess prospective tech investments? 1:04:24
•Malcolm's intellectual shift on China. 1:07:19
•Malcolm's struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts. 1:11:42
•Antifragility. 1:15:48

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How To Put The Economy Into A Coma - Chris Edmond & Steve Hamilton Apr 01, 2020

Show notes

Chris Edmond and Steve Hamilton are Australian economists.
Show notes
Selected links
•Follow Chris Edmond: Website | Twitter
•Follow Steve Hamilton: Website | Twitter
•'A Rush Back to 'Normal' Would Be the Blunder of the Century', WIRED's interview of Larry Summers
•'Impact of non-pharmaceutical interventions to reduce COVID-19 mortality and healthcare demand', Imperial College London paper by Neil Ferguson et al
•'How the recession we have to have can be sharp but short', The Australian Financial Review article by Steve Hamilton and Stan Veuger
•'Coronavirus: payroll subsidy will save the economy', The Australian article by Chris Edmond and Bruce Preston
Topics discussed
•What happens to an economy when non-essential workers are told to stay home? 9:22
•The false choice between health and economic outcomes. 20:53
•How long do lockdowns need to last? 36:39
•Are Australia's lockdowns hard enough? 43:46
•What does pandemic-appropriate fiscal stimulus look like? 46:29
•Is this the end of surplus fetishism? 59:45
•JobKeeper. 1:06:44
•Will Australia see further rounds of stimulus? 1:19:21
•Is the financial economy healthy? 1:22:33
•Which one piece of advice would Steve and Chris give to the Australian Government? 1:26:26

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The Price Of Uncertainty - Chris Joye Mar 26, 2020

Show notes

Chris Joye is Founder and Co-Chief Investments Officer at Coolabah Capital Investments. He is also a Contributing Editor with The...

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How An Italian Town Conquered Coronavirus - Andrea Crisanti Mar 25, 2020

Show notes

Andrea Crisanti is a Professor of Microbiology at the University of Padua. He is part of the research team that eradicated coronavirus in Vo, a town in northern Italy.
Show notes
Selected links
•Follow Andrea: Website
•Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus dashboard
•Data on testing by country
•Marc Lipsitch's 18 March STAT article
Topics discussed
•The Italian crisis. 8:22
•Why has Lombardy become an epicentre of coronavirus? 9:50
•How does the situation in Veneto compare to that in Lombardy? 11:06
•How did Andrea become involved in the Vo experiment? 11:51
•What is the process for identifying infection people in Veneto? 17:20
•What is the R0 for asymptomatic people? 20:25
•What is the strategy employed at Vo? 24:32
•Is there still time for Australia and the US to implement the strategy used at Vo? 25:21
•Does the Vo strategy need to be implemented in full in order to be successful? 28:05
•Why have some Asian countries been better at controlling the virus than Western countries? 28:47
•Is the Vo strategy scalable? 29:43
•How should we think about the prospects of future waves of the virus? 30:34

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A (New) Darwinian Left - Peter Singer (Live in Melbourne) Mar 18, 2020

Show notes

Peter Singer is the world's most influential living philosopher.

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In The Foothills Of A Pandemic - Yaneer Bar-Yam Mar 09, 2020

Show notes

Yaneer Bar-Yam is a physicist and the founding president of the New England Complex Systems Institute.
Show notes
Selected links
•Follow Yaneer: Website | Twitter
•Endcoronavirus.org
•Dynamics of Complex Systems, by Yaneer Bar-Yam
•Making Things Work, by Yaneer Bar-Yam
•'Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)', research by Max Roser and Hannah Ritchie
•Powers of Ten YouTube video
•'An Introduction to Complex Systems Science and Its Applications', 2019 paper by Alexander Siegenfeld and Yaneer Bar-Yam
•'The Architecture of Complexity', 1962 paper by Herbert Simon
•'Science and Complexity', 1948 paper by Warren Weaver
•'More is Different', 1972 paper by Phil Anderson
•Scale, by Geoffrey West
•Johns Hopkins University coronavirus interactive map
•'Systemic Risk of Pandemic via Novel Pathogens -- Coronavirus: Note', January 2020 note by Nassim Taleb, Yaneer Bar-Yam, and Joe Norman
•The Square And The Tower, by Niall Ferguson
•'Long-range interaction and evolutionary stability in a predator-prey system', 2006 paper by Erik Rauch and Yaneer Bar-Yam
•'Transition to Extinction', 2016 article by Yaneer Bar-Yam
•'Nonpharmaceutical Interventions Implemented by US Cities During the 1918-1919 Influenza Pandemic', 2007 paper by Howard Markel et al
•'Strategies for mitigating an influenza pandemic', 2006 paper by Neil Ferguson et al
•Join the fellowship of the doers: necsivolunteers@gmail.com
Topics discussed
•Yaneer's background and parents. 11:39
•Powers of Ten. 12:06
•Highlights from Yaneer's time as an MIT student. 15:29
•The role of chance in our lives. 21:28
•What is "complexity"? 25:42
•Complex systems. 30:23
•Emergence. 37:06
•Phase transitions. 44:26
•Self-organization. 49:48
•Universality. 55:12
•Applying complex systems science to the Arab Spring. 1:03:13
•Taking stock of the coronavirus epidemic. 1:12:47
•What is the current best estimate for th...

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Coronavirus, Covert Influence, And Cold War II - Kevin Rudd Feb 20, 2020

Show notes

Kevin Rudd was Australia's 26th Prime Minister and is the President of the Asia Society Policy Institute.
Show notes
Selected links
•Follow Kevin: Website | Twitter
•Mike Pence's Hudson Institute Speech (October 4, 2018)
•'The Sources of Soviet Conduct', 1947 article by "X" (George Kennan)
•Henry Kissinger's talk at Bloomberg's New Economy Forum (November 21, 2019)
•'Chinese Communist Party Influence at Australian Universities', lecture by Clive Hamilton
•'High Tide? Populism in Power, 1990 - 2020', report by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change
•'Going to Extremes: Politics after Financial Crises, 1870 - 2014', paper by Manuel Funke, Moritz Schularick, and Christoph Trebesch
•'The Complacent Country', article by Kevin Rudd
Topics discussed
•Wuhan. 3:56
•What has the coronavirus revealed about the limits of the CCP's competence? 4:30
•Is the CCP underreporting coronavirus figures, as it did for SARS figures in 2003? 6:57
•Are China and the US in a new cold war? 8:44
•Would a new cold war have any hidden upsides? 11:56
•Chinese influence in Australian universities. 13:51
•How should Australia deal with Chinese influence? 17:58
•Cross-cultural communication between China and the West. 23:40
•How does the Left reformulate itself in the face of electoral defeats around the world? 27:51

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