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Explore every episode of the podcast Infinite Loops

Dive into the complete episode list for Infinite Loops. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.

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TitlePub. DateDuration
Annie Duke — Why We Make the Wrong Decisions (Ep. 296)08 Jan 202601:45:13

Annie Duke — former professional poker player, decision strategist, and bestselling author — joins us for a deep conversation about why smart people so often make bad decisions.

Annie explains why misinterpretation is more dangerous than misinformation, why data is often true but misleading, and how our brains are wired for certainty in a probabilistic world. From real-world media examples to investing, health decisions, and AI-generated insights, this episode explores how explanations feel satisfying — even when they're wrong.

 

Important links:

Substack: https://newsletter.osv.llc/

Annie's website: https://www.annieduke.com/

 

Jimmy Soni — The Publishing System is Broken (EP. 295)01 Jan 202601:37:14

Jimmy Soni, CEO and editor in chief of Infinite Books, is back on Infinite Loops. We discuss what's broken in traditional publishing and how we're fixing it. We also dig into Jimmy's forthcoming book on Kobe Bryant, why the world needs more "problem authors," and why our goal is to make our authors millionaires.

We explore why most industries optimize for prestige instead of outcomes, how digital distribution has reshaped attention, and why authors — and creators more broadly — have more leverage than they realize.

Important Links:

Infinite Books: https://www.infinitebooks.com/

Jimmy's X: https://x.com/jimmyasoni

Substack: https://newsletter.osv.llc/

 

Books Mentioned:

The Founders by Jimmy Soni

A Mind at Play by Jimmy Soni

The Dao of Kobe by Jimmy Soni (Upcoming)

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

The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

The Almanac of Naval Ravikant by Eric Jorgenson (transcribed as "Naval Akan")

Dispatches from Grief (Upcoming)

Mamba Mentality by Kobe Bryant

Slow Horses by Mick Herron

The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown

Kenneth Stanley — The Trap of the Objective (EP.288)30 Oct 202501:25:34

Ken Stanley – AI researcher and author of "Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned" – joins me to explore why ambitious objectives can blind us to the stepping stones that make breakthroughs possible. Ken is the inventor of the novelty search algorithm and co-creator of Picbreeder, a crowdsourced evolutionary art experiment that has led to important insights about our objective-obsessed culture.

This conversation covers everything from why vacuum tubes had to come before computers, how the path you take to success matters more than the success itself, the "fractured entangled representation" hypothesis, why grant applications kill innovation, how education beats the playground mentality out of children, and why "interesting" is the opposite of random.

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:

  • Are We Deterministic Thinkers Living in a Probabilistic World?
  • Evolving Complexity and the NEAT Algorithm
  • The Origins of Picbreeder
  • The Power of Novelty Search
  • The Cultural Impact of Non-Objective Thinking
  • Why Pursuing Interestingness is Not the Same as Being Random
  • Mechanizing Serendipity via Stepping Stones
  • The Allure of the Security Blanket
  • The Omni-culture of NSF Funding
  • What Makes an Innovator?
  • The Fractured Entangled Representation Hypothesis
  • What does it say about LLMs if They Are Fractured and Entangled?
  • Path Dependency and Careers
  • Ken as Emperor of the World

Books Mentioned:

  • Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned; by Kenneth Stanley (and Joel Lehman)
  • The God Problem; by Howard Bloom
  • The Lucifer Principle; by Howard Bloom
  • Global Brain; by Howard Bloom
  • The Beginning of Infinity; by David Deutsch
  • Invest Like the Best; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
  • A Mind At Play; by Jimmy Soni

 

Alec Stapp — Progress is a Policy Choice (EP. 202)15 Feb 202401:06:59

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:

Rohit Krishnan — Demystifying AI (EP. 201)08 Feb 202401:26:37
Essayist, tinkerer, and author Rohit Krishnan returns to discuss his book, Building God: Demystifying AI for Decision Makers.

Important Links: 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)01 Feb 202402:03:02
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: 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)25 Jan 202401:09:29
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)18 Jan 202401:11:01
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)11 Jan 202402:03:30
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)04 Jan 202401:04:18
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)28 Dec 202301:43:06

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)21 Dec 202301:15:20
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)14 Dec 202301:02:38
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
Elle Griffin — Rethinking Ownership and the Future of Work (EP. 287)23 Oct 202501:38:47

Writer, editor, and founder of The Elysian, Elle Griffin joins me on Infinite Loops to discuss her vision for participatory capitalism, a world where ownership, reputation, and creativity are shared more broadly across society.

We explore the evolution of capitalism from the industrial era to the networked age, how broad-based ownership could rebuild the middle class, why optimism is revolutionary, and how storytelling shapes our collective imagination.

We also discuss how reputation is becoming a new form of capital and how writers can become architects of meaning in a world reshaped by AI and automation. I hope you enjoy this 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:

  • The New GI Bill for Stock Ownership
  • Rethinking ESOPs, RSUs, and Equity for All
  • The Founder's Dilemma: Risk, Ownership & Exit
  • Tax Incentives for Employee Ownership
  • A Tale of Two Experiments
  • The Ownership Czar for the Day
  • The Future of Work
  • The State with Baby Bonds
  • The Problem with Worth and Deserving
  • The Power of Utopian Fiction
  • The Currency of Belief and Reputation
  • Empress of the World Question

Books and References Mentioned:

  • Obscurity; by Elle Griffin
  • The Elysian; by Elle Griffin
  • The Beginning of Infinity; by David Deutsch
  • The Lessons of History; by Will & Ariel Durant
  • The History of Civilization; by Will & Ariel Durant
  • Why Greatness Can't Be Planned; by Kenneth O. Stanley
  • Looking Backward; by Edward Bellamy
  • Herland; by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
  • Les Misérables; by Victor Hugo
  • Frankenstein; by Mary Shelley
  • The Republic; by Plato
  • Das Kapital; by Karl Marx
  • The Count of Monte Cristo; by Alexandre Dumas
  • 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea; by Jules Verne
  • A Tale of Two Cities; by Charles Dickens
  • White Mirror Stories; by Infinite Books
 

 

Alex Lieberman — On Voice, Unicorns & Intrinsic Motivation (EP.192)07 Dec 202301:30:52
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 Protocols30 Nov 202301:29:08

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)23 Nov 202301:09:48
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)16 Nov 202301:02:33

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)09 Nov 202301:05:34
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)02 Nov 202300:51:08
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: 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)26 Oct 202301:14:11
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)24 Oct 202301:08:02
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: 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)19 Oct 202301:21:06
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)12 Oct 202301:04:26

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
Jay Yang — The Power of Permissionless Action (EP. 286)16 Oct 202501:23:53

What if the biggest barrier between you and your dreams isn't talent, connections, or luck— but simply the belief that you need permission to act? Jay Yang joins Infinite Loops to challenge one of the most limiting assumptions of our time: that opportunities must be handed to us rather than created by us.

At just 16, Jay cold-emailed the CEO of Beehiiv with a concrete plan that led to an internship. At 17, he sent Noah Kagan a 19-page audit of his email funnel with ready-to-ship assets, ultimately becoming head of content and helping put "Million Dollar Weekend" on the New York Times bestseller list. His secret? Understanding that preparation beats bravado, that most doors don't even have locks, and that the fastest way to get what you want is to do the work upfront and make saying "yes" a no-brainer for others.

This conversation dives deep into Jay's philosophy of permissionless action, exploring why most people accept the "standard pace" when there's actually no speed limit, how to reprogram limiting beliefs through small wins, and why high agency people focus on outputs while low agency people get trapped tracking inputs.

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:

  • The Philosophy of Permissionless Action
  • Breaking Free from Era-Defining Ideas
  • Overcoming Limiting Beliefs
  • Starting Small: Building Confidence Through Micro-Actions
  • Inner vs. Outer Orientation
  • Inputs vs. Outputs: The Agency Divide
  • Failure as Feedback
  • The Power of Persistence
  • Curiosity and Cognitive Diversity
  • AI and the Future of Work
  • The Busy-ness Trap
  • Signal vs. Noise in the AI Era
  • People You Learn From Don't Have Huge Following
  • The TAG Method Explained
  • The New Way of Hiring
  • Learning from the Greats
  • Motivation vs. Clarity
  • Jay's North Star and Anti-Goals
  • Viktor Frankl and Finding Your Why
  • Working in Public
  • The Second Book Preview
  • The Emperor Question
  • Closing & Contact Information

Books Mentioned:

  1. You Can Just Do Things: The Power of Permissionless Actions (Jay Yang)
  2. Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan
  3. The Tao of Kobe (forthcoming 2026, Jimmy Soni)
  4. Greatness Cannot Be Planned (Ken Stanley)
  5. Man's Search for Meaning (Viktor Frankl)

 

Bojan Tunguz — From Physicist to Grandmaster (EP.182)05 Oct 202300:56:35
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)28 Sep 202301:21:57

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)21 Sep 202301:05:50
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 Work14 Sep 202301:34:49
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: 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)07 Sep 202301:11:00
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 Arena31 Aug 202301:14:21

"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)24 Aug 202301:19:35
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)17 Aug 202301:16:30

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)10 Aug 202301:16:33

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)10 Aug 202301:16:33

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
Jeff Bussgang — The Experimentation Machine (EP.285)09 Oct 202501:19:34

Jeff Bussgang — entrepreneur, venture capitalist, Harvard Business School professor, and co-founder of Flybridge Capital — joins Infinite Loops to explore how AI is transforming the operating systems of startups.

We dive into Jeff's framework from his new book The Experimentation Machine, why AI compresses the cost and time of learning, how to distinguish 10X founders and 10X joiners, and why execution velocity matters more than tech moats in the age of AI.

One of the most important things Jeff and I discuss is why discernment and taste may be the most valuable human skills of the future. I hope you enjoy this 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:

  • AI and the Rise of the 10X Founder
  • The HUNCH Framework for Product-Market Fit
  • Hair-on-Fire Value Props vs. Vanity Metrics
  • Head in the Clouds, Feet on the Ground
  • The Kill Criteria
  • The 3Ts That VCs Look For
  • Creating Win-Win Outcomes: MongoDB
  • What Makes a 10X Founder
  • The Human Edge in the Age of AI
  • Everybody is in Sales
  • Who is a 10X Joiner?
  • Emperor of the World: Jeff's Two Rules for Humanity
Jack Butcher — Reality is the Boss (EP.173)03 Aug 202301:29:17

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)27 Jul 202301:22:13

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)20 Jul 202301:03:33

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)13 Jul 202301:12:05

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)06 Jul 202300:58:06

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)29 Jun 202302:11:27

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)22 Jun 202301:13:31

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)15 Jun 202300:53:47

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)08 Jun 202301:13:30
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)01 Jun 202301:05:57

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
Dan Wang — China, US and our Collective Future (EP.284)02 Oct 202501:37:43

Dan Wang, author of "Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future," joins me to explore why China builds while America blocks, how lawyers strangled U.S. infrastructure, and why Connecticut trains run slower than they did in 1914. Dan lived through China's trade war, Zero COVID, and the exodus of 15,000+ Chinese millionaires, giving him unique insight into both superpowers' pathologies.

This conversation covers everything from why ribbon-cutting ceremonies matter for societal optimism to how lawyers morphed from deal-makers to obstructionists after the 1960s. We explore California's high-speed rail fiasco, the rebellion against NIMBYism, and Dan's prescription: America needs 20% more engineering, China needs 50% more lawyerly protections. Plus we discuss cognitive diversity, the Death Star versus the Rebel Alliance, and why we need synthesis.

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:

  • The Engineering State vs. the Lawyerly Society
  • America's Lost Building Culture
  • China's Gilded Age & America's Progressive Era
  • Solutions for America's Building Crisis
  • An Oncoming Battle of Elites
  • Becoming Pro Development
  • A Vision for a New Housing Fund
  • China's Challenges
  • Who Has a Better Shot At Change?
  • Rickover: The Grand American Builder
  • Dan's Uncertain Forecast of China
  • Looking Ahead to 2035
  • Dan As Emperor of the World

 

Nat & Martha Sharpe — The Conflict between Agency & Community (EP.163)30 May 202301:14:30

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)25 May 202301:12:03

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)18 May 202301:06:47
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:
  1. David's Twitter
  2. David's Substack; Everything is Bullshit
  3. Cards Against Humanity
  4. The Execution Hypothesis; by Richard Wrangham
  5. Discordianism
  6. Our podcast with George Mack
  7. Our podcast with Will Storr
Show Notes:
  1. What is bullshit?
  2. The difference between bullshitting and lying
  3. Why moralizing is bullshit
  4. Concealing the status monkey
  5. The origins of Cards Against Humanity
  6. How are status games changing?
  7. Why happiness is bullshit
  8. Happiness as a status symbol
  9. How can we escape bullshit?
  10. Why we're driven by negative emotions
  11. How to become more positive
  12. The role of humor in calling out bullshit
  13. MUCH more!
Books Mentioned:
  1. On Bullshit; by Harry G. Frankfurt
  2. Propaganda; by Edward Bernays
  3. Influence: Science and Practice; by Robert Cialdini
  4. The Moral Animal: Why We Are The Way We Are; by Robert Wright
  5. The Status Game: On Social Position and How We Use It; by Will Storr
  6. The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History; by Howard Bloom
  7. Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
  8. Happy; by Derren Brown
  9. Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
  10. Gödel, Escher, Bach; by Douglas Hofstadter
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