Venkatesh Rao — The Art of Gig (EP.152)
Infinite Loops
Venkatesh Rao is a writer, consultant, and author. He has been writing about indie consulting for years and has recently published The Art of Gig, Volumes 1 & 2, which together take an in-depth look at the gig economy. Venkatesh joins the show to discuss tragic luck, becoming slightly nonsensical, the advantages of mediocrity, and a whole lot more! Important Links: Show Notes: Origins of The Art of Gig Paycheck People Learning how to take risks Is there a risk-taking gene? The case for fixed-point futurism Finding meaning Personality types, narrative, and becoming a courageous...
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Ananyo Bhattacharya — John von Neumann: The Man from the Future (EP.151)
Infinite Loops
Ananyo Bhattacharya is the author of The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann, a brilliant biography of one of the most prolific and influential scientists to have ever lived. He joins the show to discuss von Neumann’s contributions to quantum physics, game theory, the Manhattan Project, and much more! Important Links: Show Notes: How did John von Neumann even exist? Would von Neumann’s discoveries have happened without him? The Martians of Hungary The migrant mentality Innovation in the face of extinction Science, genius & the herd mentality Von...
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Michael Breitenbach — On Crypto, AI & Cynicism (EP.150)
Infinite Loops
Michael Breitenbach is Senior Vice President within the Chief Investment Office at Bank of America Global Wealth and Investment Management, where he is responsible for leading development of quantitative infrastructure and machine learning models for evaluating both internally and externally covered investment offerings. He is also the man behind an extremely popular anonymous Twitter account that many of you will be familiar with (see if you can guess which one…) Michael joins the show to discuss the FTX fallout, the current state of the crypto industry, the rise of AI compliance, and...
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Visakan Veerasamy - On Creativity, Introspection & Being a Good Reply Guy (EP.149)
Infinite Loops
Visakan Veerasamy is a prolific thinker, writer & creator. As well as being the author of the books ‘Introspect’ and ‘Friendly Ambitious Nerd’, he is known for weaving huge, interconnected Twitter threads and for his mission to build “the greatest social graph of friendly, ambitious nerds that the world has ever seen.” Important Links: Show Notes: The origins of Friendly Ambitious Nerd “The most heroic thing you can do is not hate yourself” Confronting the minotaur Introspection & Maslow’s hierarchy of needs Overriding human OS Humor is the cure How to...
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David Senra & Liberty RPF — Unleashing the Scenius (EP.148)
Infinite Loops
Friends-of-the-show David Senra & Liberty RPF return for a characteristically wide-ranging conversation. Enjoy! Important Links Show Notes: David’s lunch with Sam Zell Optimizing for freedom Information can build a fortune Persist, persist, persist Burning the ships Customising education Where are the Teddy Roosevelt’s of today? Embracing our evangelical side “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see” Fighting fear of technological development Is anything truly ‘new’? "Properly understood technology is just a better way to do something” Towards positive...
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Dwarkesh Patel — Podcasting, Talent & Innovation (EP.147)
Infinite Loops
Dwarkesh Patel is the host of The Lunar Society podcast, where he interviews scientists, historians, economists, intellectuals, & founders about their ideas. He also writes about tech, progress, talent, science, and the long-term over at his . Dwarkesh has been described as “one of the best young podcasters alive”, and his Substack has been praised by the likes of Jeff Bezos, Paul Graham and Tyler Cowen. Important Links: Show Notes: How to become a better podcaster The importance of curiosity Disagreement & problem solving “Computer programs are written by...
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David Ha — AI & Evolution: Learning to do More with Less (EP.146)
Infinite Loops
David Ha is the Head of Strategy at Stability AI, and one of the top minds working in AI today. He previously worked as a research scientist in the Brain team at Google. David is particularly interested in evolution and complex systems, and his research explores how intelligence may emerge from limited resource constraints. He joins the show to discuss the advantages of open-source models, modelling AI as an emergent system, why large language models are bad at maths and MUCH more! Important Links: (2017) (2019) Show Notes: Why David joined Stability AI The advantages of...
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Jesse Michels — American Alchemy (EP.145)
Infinite Loops
Jesse Michels is an investor at Thiel Capital and the creator and host of ‘American Alchemy’, a Youtube channel dedicated to highlighting the most heretical thinkers and ideas of our time. He joins the show to discuss the transmission theory of consciousness, whether mushrooms are aliens, the reawakening of the Boomers and MUCH more! Important Links: Show Notes: The modern-day Robert Anton Wilson Why Jesse started American Alchemy The transmission theory of consciousness Why mushrooms may have catalysed human civilisation Paradigm shifts and heretical thinking Are mushrooms aliens?...
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Mark Nelson — Nuclear Power: Change the Memes, Change the Future (EP.144)
Infinite Loops
Mark Nelson is the Managing Director of Radiant Energy Group, a consultancy which advises governments, nonprofits and industry about nuclear energy. He joins the show to discuss Chernobyl the memes vs Chernobyl the molecules, introducing nuclear festivals, adopting an abundance mindset, and a whole lot more. Important Links: Show Notes: Why does the nuclear industry have a confidence problem? Electricity deaths vs nuclear deaths Chernobyl the memes vs Chernobyl the molecules How do we create better nuclear memes? Bureaucracy and the precautionary principle Steelmanning the case against...
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Sam McRoberts — The Grand Redesign (EP.143)
Infinite Loops
Author, CEO of VUDU Marketing and digital nomad Sam McRoberts returns for his second appearance on Infinite Loops. This week, Sam and Jim discuss Sam’s latest book ‘The Grand Redesign’. Part science-fiction, part operating manual for upgrading human OS, ‘The Grand Redesign’ touches on a number of recurring Infinite Loops themes, and is available for free online (see ‘Important Links’ section below). Important Links: Tinkered Thinking’s to our ‘White Mirror’ competition Show Notes: Why Sam wrote the book Is the Watcher a reliable narrator? Interfering with...
info_outlineBen Tossell writes Ben’s Bites, a daily newsletter on AI that’s read by over 15,000 others from Google, a16z, Sequoia, Amazon, Meta and more. He previously founded Makerpad, a no-code education side which was acquired by Zapier in March 2021.
Important Links:
Show Notes:
- Ben’s journey into AI
- The importance of ease of use
- How AI will impact our lives
- Ben’s hackathon
- Balancing originality and usefulness
- Why Ben is wary of providing strategic advice
- Achieving ground-up change with AI
- Interaction between the AI industry and the governments
- How Ben wants AI to be used
- Following your curiosity
- Making the world more competitive
- MUCH more!