Ananyo Bhattacharya — John von Neumann: The Man from the Future (EP.151)
Release Date: 03/16/2023
Todd Goodwin — Hypnosis: Separating Myth From Reality (EP.163)
Infinite Loops
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...
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Nat & Martha Sharpe — The Conflict between Agency & Community (EP.163)
Infinite Loops
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...
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Jason Crawford — The Roots of Progress (EP.162)
Infinite Loops
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...
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David Pinsof — Everything is Bullshit (EP.161)
Infinite Loops
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 , and has written a handful of academic papers, has been cited 152 times and another of which was . 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! ...
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Dylan O’Sullivan — Essayful (EP.160)
Infinite Loops
Dylan O’Sullivan is a writer and media specialist based in Cork, Ireland. Dylan’s work has been published in magazines such as The Spectator and Areo. He is also the creator of Essayful, a Substack dedicated to becoming “a new home for writing.” Following his participation in David Perell’s Write of Passage course last year, Dylan joined us as an intern at O’Shaughnessy Ventures. He joins the show to discuss the problem with traditional education, the blurry border between fiction & nonfiction, how AI is going to impact writing, why Ireland has such cultural influence, and...
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John Sills — The Human Experience (EP.159)
Infinite Loops
After starting his career on a market stall in Essex, John Sills has spent the last twenty-five years working to make the world a better place for customers. John is the Managing Partner at the customer-led growth company The Foundation, and his writing has also been featured in publications such as The Guardian and Management Today. He joins the show to discuss his thought-provoking and timely new book The Human Experience: How to make life better for your customers and create a more successful organization. Important Links: Show Notes: John’s time working on an Essex market...
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Billy Oppenheimer — On Curiosity, Creativity & Conceptual Ancestors (EP.158)
Infinite Loops
Billy Oppenheimer is a researcher for Ryan Holiday. He is also known for his and newsletter. Billy is insatiably curious. He is a master at drawing lessons from anecdotes from the worlds of sports, music, comedy, business, and more. He joins the show to discuss how to cultivate good taste, whether everything is a remix, why he learns through introjection, and a whole lot more. Important Links: Our episodes with David Senra (, ) Show Notes: Focus on doing the thing SIX at 6’s origin story Learning through introjection Developing taste & cultivating...
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Jimmy Soni & Liberty RPF — Unleashing the Future of Publishing (EP.157)
Infinite Loops
Friend-of-the-show (and new O’Shaughnessy Ventures team member) Liberty RPF joins Jim and fellow friend-of-the-show Jimmy Soni to discuss the current state of the publishing industry and the new opportunities emerging for current and aspiring authors. Important Links: Show Notes: How has the publishing industry changed? Reinventing the audiobook The living book Towards new book pricing models Why the traditional publishing industry is becoming unsustainable The tragedy of unwritten books A rejection from a traditional publisher is meaningless What do traditional publishers do well?...
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Alex Danco — On Self-Delusion, Sancho Panza, Safe Words & Seinfeld (EP.156)
Infinite Loops
Alex Danco returns for his seventh (yes, SEVENTH) appearance on Infinite Loops to discuss, as usual, pretty much everything other than the topics we had prepared in advance. This week, we discuss: The two types of lawyers, what Alex learned from reading Don Quixote, Elon the Reply Guy, the psychology of Seinfeld, the best Wall Street Movies, and much more. Important Links: Twitter: Website: Newsletter: Show Notes: The two kinds of lawyers Medicine, placebo, Don Quixote & theatre Heroes, villains & main characters Elon the Reply Guy Safe words, scams &...
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Gurwinder Bhogal — Certainty is the Death of Thought (EP.155)
Infinite Loops
Gurwinder Bhogal is a writer and programmer who writes about the myriad ways in which technology and psychology conspire to fool us and how we can withstand the covert assault on our senses. Gurwinder is known for his epic Twitter ‘Megathreads’ which set out a series of powerful concepts for understanding the world. He joins the show to discuss our tendency to narrativize information, how to overcome the bandwidth tax, why Wikipedia is the world’s largest source of misinformation, and MUCH more! Important Links: (53,000 likes) (62,000 likes) (most recent) Show...
info_outlineAnanyo Bhattacharya is the author of The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann, a brilliant biography of one of the most prolific and influential scientists to have ever lived. He joins the show to discuss von Neumann’s contributions to quantum physics, game theory, the Manhattan Project, and much more!
Important Links:
Show Notes:
- How did John von Neumann even exist?
- Would von Neumann’s discoveries have happened without him?
- The Martians of Hungary
- The migrant mentality
- Innovation in the face of extinction
- Science, genius & the herd mentality
- Von Neumann’s contribution to quantum physics
- Game theory, Minimax and zero-sum games
- von Neumann: quant in the streets; romantic in the sheets
- The eccentricity of brilliance
- Von Neumann and the Manhattan Project
- The godfather of the open-source movement
- Von Neumann as a project manager
- How writing the book changed Ananyo’s understanding of von Neumann
- Ananyo’s next projects
- MUCH more!
Books Mentioned:
- The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann; **by **Ananyo Bhattacharya
- The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
- The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom
- Theory of Games and Economic Behaviour; by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern