In this groundbreaking book, David Deutsch argues that explanations have a fundamental place in the universe and that improving them is the basic regulating principle of all successful human endeavor. The book takes readers on a journey through various fields of science, history of civilization, art, moral values, and the theory of political institutions. Deutsch explains how we form new explanations and drop bad ones, and discusses the conditions under which progress, which he argues is potentially boundless, can and cannot happen. He emphasizes the importance of good explanations, which he defines as those that are 'hard to vary' and have 'reach', and argues that these explanations are central to the Enlightenment way of thinking and to all scientific and philosophical progress.
In 'Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge', E.O. Wilson advocates for the integration of knowledge from different fields to create a unified theory of understanding. He draws on the concept of consilience, introduced by William Whewell, which means the 'jumping together' of knowledge by linking facts and theories across disciplines. Wilson explores the chemistry of the mind, the genetic bases of culture, and the biological principles underlying works of art. He argues that a unified approach can lead to a deeper understanding of the human condition and the natural world, and he critiques the fragmentation of knowledge into separate disciplines. The book is a call for a new Enlightenment, emphasizing the importance of science and reason in understanding all aspects of human existence.
In 'The Painted Word', Tom Wolfe critiques the modern art world by arguing that by the 1970s, art had become more about illustrating the theories of art critics rather than being a visual experience. Wolfe targets prominent art critics such as Clement Greenberg, Harold Rosenberg, and Leo Steinberg, and he critiques various movements including Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, Op Art, and Conceptual Art. The book highlights how the art world is controlled by an insular circle of rich collectors, museums, and critics, and how this has led to the de-objectification of art and the rise of art theory[1][3][4].
This book tells the story of the index fund revolution, which began about 50 years ago with a group of iconoclastic individuals who defied conventional wisdom. It details how passive investing, initially met with resistance, has grown to manage over $20 trillion, reshaping markets, finance, and capitalism. The book highlights key figures such as Gene Fama, Jack Bogle, John McQuown, and Nate Most, and discusses significant events like Warren Buffett's bet against hedge funds and the rise of ETFs. Wigglesworth brings to life the characters and events that transformed investing and saved billions in fees for individual investors.
D.A. Wallach (Website, X, Substack, Spotify) is an investor, musician, writer, and polymath. Today he co-runs Time BioVentures, backing frontier life-science and healthcare startups. Before that, he was an investor in in SpaceX, Spotify, Emulate, Beam Therapeutics, and Ripple, among others, and toured the globe as half of Chester French. He also released music as a solo artist and was Spotify’s first Artist-in-Residence.
Our conversation moves from engineered serendipity—the art of a well-aimed cold email & surfing the web—to complexity science, the Santa Fe Institute, and what better systems might look like. We dive into markets and medicine: investing with a creative mindset; timing in biotech including CRISPR and GLP-1s; and the tension between free-market innovation and healthcare as a human right. D.A. unpacks how incentives shape everything from venture bubbles to hospital billing and how LLMs might move us closer to a universal standard of care.
In the back half we talk creativity, beauty, art, and performance. We discuss whether AI makes us lazy or amplifies originality, DA's many lives across art, tech, and business, and end on his plea for artists to reclaim their throne of "cool". I hope you're inspired by D.A's combination of curiosity and depth and are reminded that you don't have to stay in one lane, regardless of how impressive it might be.
Full episode transcript and all linked references available here.
---
This episode is brought to you by Hampton, a private, highly vetted membership for founders. Hampton makes entrepreneurship less lonely by matching you with a core group of likeminded founders along with community, events, retreats, and more. Visit https://joinhampton.com/community to learn more and apply.
---
Timestamps:
- (0:04) Hampton
- (1:56) Intro to D.A.
- (3:29) Curiosity, Serendipity, and the Power of Cold Emails
- (9:21) Web Surfing & D.A.'s Potential One-Man Show
- (13:28) Learning to Go Deep: Explore vs. Exploit
- (19:18) Complexity Science, EO Wilson
- (29:20) What Makes Santa Fe Institute Special?
- (33:13) Complex and Bureaucratic Systems: How do you design a good system? And how do you change entrenched systems?
- (40:25) D.A.'s Attraction to Markets and the Fed Challenge
- (45:19) What Makes a Good Investor?
- (48:30) Creativity in Investing, Index Funds, Elon's Take on a Great VC, and Venture Capital's Real Customer
- (58:45) What Makes for Commercially Successful Creatives: Doing
- (1:05:24) Gene Editing & CRISPR, What "Early" Means in Biotech, and Isolating the Bet You're Making
- (1:12:48) GLP-1, Slow Burn Technological Innovation, FOMO, and Bubbles
- (1:18:49) Healthcare Incentives: The Tension between Free Market Capitalism and Healthcare as a Right
- (1:24:53) Patient Agency, LLMs, and Shifting Away from Paternalistic Doctors
- (1:29:02) Progress Toward a "Universal Standard of Care"
- (1:32:58) Artificial vs. Natural Intelligence
- (1:38:32) Should We Limit Technological Progress? D.A.'s Response to Alarm-Sounding: Focus on Today's Real Problems & Solutions
- (1:43:32) How Do You Keep Technology from Making You Creatively Lazy?
- (1:52:37) Performance, Fame, and Authenticity
- (2:00:27) Beauty As the Primary Motivation
- (2:06:17) Multiple Lives, Art vs. Tech & Business, and D.A.'s Plea for the Artists to Revolt
- (2:14:04) What Would D.A. Not Stop Doing for $1B?
- (2:15:41) Lightning Round: Anonymity, Tyler the Creator, Pharrell
- (2:20:04) African Studies at Harvard
- (2:22:08) Favorite Jazz Album
- (2:23:40) Finding New Music
- (2:25:08) LA: The Most Open-Minded City
- (2:27:16) What He Hopes to Teach His Young Daughter
Links (all available here)
Dialectic with Jackson Dahl is available on all podcast platforms.
Join the telegram channel for Dialectic
Follow Dialectic on Twitter
Follow Dialectic on Instagram
Subscribe to Dialectic on YouTube
Dialectic 
