The Joe Walker Podcast

Raghuram Rajan, Indian economist and Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago, discusses the causes of the global financial crisis, the risks in the financial system, and the challenges of targeting financial stability in monetary policy.

Renowned philosopher Peter Singer discusses objective truths in morality, cultural evolution and universal altruism, promoting a simpler standard for charity, Apuleius' critique of animal mistreatment, the impact of 'Animal Liberation' and the state of animal welfare, Indian vegetarianism and the influence of spices, abolishing wild animal suffering, the spark of social movements, the influence of secularism and political ideologies on utilitarianism, and assessing the history of life on Earth and reasons for optimism.

Peter Turchin, complexity scientist and founder of cliodynamics, discusses societal integration and disintegration, US political instability predictions, predictability of future events, using statistical patterns to predict societal trends, height as an indicator of biological wellbeing, rise of cancel culture due to elite overproduction, and fragility of complex societies.

Physicist, computer scientist, and businessman Stephen Wolfram shares his background and the pursuit of the fundamental theory of physics. They discuss the value of deep thinking, independent learning, and pursuing interesting projects. The concept of computational irreducibility and the endless frontiers of science are explored. They touch on the challenges of transitioning from CEO to science and the importance of attention to details. The complexities of philanthropy and the impact of money on intellectual pursuits are discussed. The limited access to opportunities and the importance of exposing children to a range of career possibilities are highlighted. The speaker also reflects on their complicated relationship with another individual and the challenges of developing a community in a specific field. The impact of computational thinking on academia and the phenomenon of simple rules generating complex behavior are explored. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the challenge of defining AI aspirations.

Katalin Karikó is a Hungarian-American biochemist. She is one of the inventors of mRNA technology. Full transcript available at: thejspod.com. Episode recorded on 15 February 2023.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Richard Rhodes is an American historian and the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb. Full transcript available at: thejspod.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Ken Henry is an Australian economist who served as Secretary of Australia's Treasury from 2001 to 2011. He was instrumental in helping Australia avoid recession during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis — Australia was the only major advanced economy to do so. Full transcript available at: thejspod.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Palmer Luckey is an American tech entrepreneur and billionaire. He has founded two companies: Oculus VR (acquired by Facebook for $2 billion in 2014), and Anduril (recently valued at $8.5 billion). He has been described as the real-life Tony Stark. Full transcript available at: www.thejspod.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Daniel Kahneman is widely regarded as the most influential psychologist alive. He won the Nobel Prize in Economics (2002) for his work on judgment and decision-making under uncertainty, much of it done jointly with his late collaborator Amos Tversky. He is the author of the bestselling books Thinking, Fast and Slow and Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment (written with Olivier Sibony and Cass Sunstein). Full transcript available at: thejspod.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the long run, talent allocation is almost everything. But as a society, we're not actually very good at it. The question of how to reliably match people with jobs they are well suited for is one of the big unsolved problems of our times.  Joe catches up with return guest Tyler Cowen to discuss the art of identifying talent. Tyler is a professor of economics at George Mason University and host of the podcast Conversations with Tyler. He is also the co-author of a new book, Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World. Full transcript available at: thejspod.com Episode recorded: 18 May 2022.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.