Infinite Loops – Details, episodes & analysis

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Infinite Loops

Jim O'Shaughnessy

Technology

Business

Frequency: 1 episode/7d. Total Eps: 329

Every Thursday, join Jim O'Shaughnessy and his favorite people as they arm you with the tools & fresh perspectives required to upgrade your HumanOS and thrive in our messy, probabilistic world. Visit our Substack at newsletter.osv.llc for full transcripts, highlights, weekly doses of timeless wisdom, and a bounty of other goodies designed to make you go, "Hmm that’s interesting!"

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🇫🇷 France - technology
12/07/2026
#94
🇬🇧 Great Britain - technology
09/07/2026
#83
🇬🇧 Great Britain - technology
18/05/2026
#76
🇫🇷 France - technology
19/03/2026
#96

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Score global : 63%

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Alex Danco — Finding Mystery in the Margin (EP.234)

Episode 234

Thursday, September 19, 2024 • Duration 01:27:58

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

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

Episode 233

Thursday, September 12, 2024 • Duration 01:33:24

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

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

Thursday, July 11, 2024 • Duration 01:32:38

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

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Liberty RPF — On Creation and Curation (EP.134)

Episode 134

Thursday, November 24, 2022 • Duration 01:35:18

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!

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

Episode 133

Thursday, November 17, 2022 • Duration 01:26:27

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

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Tinkered Thinking: White Mirror (EP.132)

Episode 132

Thursday, November 10, 2022 • Duration 01:22:30

“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

Edward Slingerland: Trying Not to Try (EP.131)

Episode 131

Thursday, November 3, 2022 • Duration 01:10:38

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

Jeremiah Lowin — Make Original Mistakes (EP.130)

Episode 130

Thursday, October 27, 2022 • Duration 01:31:01

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

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Herbert Lui — Creative Doing (EP.129)

Episode 129

Thursday, October 20, 2022 • Duration 01:16:03

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

Emad Mostaque — The Future of AI (EP.128)

Episode 128

Tuesday, October 18, 2022 • Duration 01:14:44

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

Infinite Loops – Details, episodes & analysis

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Infinite Loops – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

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Twitter99+

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RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other99+

Twitter99+

Youtube58