Navigating Optimism, Pessimism, and Personal Agency

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:

• George’s Twitter
• The Lindy Library
• Roy: A Life Well Lived (Rick and Morty)
• How to Spot High Agency People
• The Mack Meditation
• What is ignored by the media — but will be studied by historians?
• The Early-Late Razor

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