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: Venkatesh's Website Venkatesh's Blog Venkatesh's Substack Venkatesh's Twitter The Art of Gig The Art of Gig: our synthesis The Gervais Principle 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 thinker Don’t get tragically lucky Generational agency Sparring, pressure and meaning-making Be slightly nonsensical Teaching others to appreciate randomness Towards infinite games; be mediocre Understanding divergentism MUCH more! Books Mentioned: The Art of Gig: Volumes 1 & 2; by Venkatesh Rao The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich; by Tim Feriss Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself; by Daniel H. Pink The Pathless Path: Imagining a New Story For Work and Life; by Paul Millerd Tempo: timing, tactics and strategy in narrative-driven decision-making; by Venkatesh Rao The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By; by Dan P. McAdams Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life As Play and Possibility; by James Carse Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity; by David Allen

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: Ananyo’s Twitter The Man from the Future 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

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 MUCH more! Important Links: Michael’s LinkedIn Michael’s (personal) Twitter Show Notes: FTX: grift or systemic failure? The decline of old media AI compliance & regulation Crypto: use cases, privacy & regulation The end of privacy Dealing with new and better problems Scale vs anti-scale Cynicism can be a comparative advantage Against binary thinking Time binding & cultural evolution Consider taxation Books Mentioned: The Power Law: Venture Capital and the Art of Disruption; by Sebastian Mallaby Time-Binding: The General Theory; by  Alfred Korzybski

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: Visa's Website Visa's Twitter  Visa's Youtube 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 demonstrate the power of humor Dealing with judgment & criticism Responding to requests for help Enforcing a no-assholes rule "Focus your time and energy on what you want to see more of” “School is bullshit” Question defaults & screw around MUCH more! Books Mentioned: Friendly Ambitious Nerd; by Visakan Veerasamy Introspect; by Visakan Veerasamy The Science of Storytelling; by Will Storr The Status Game: On Social Position and How We Use It; by Will Storr The Hero with a Thousand Faces; by Joseph Campbell Shantaram; by Gregory David Roberts The Art of War; by Sun Tzu The Tao Te Ching; by Laozi The Lord of the Rings; by J. R. R. Tolkien

Friends-of-the-show David Senra & Liberty RPF return for a characteristically wide-ranging conversation. Enjoy! Important Links Founders Podcast Founders on Colossus David’s Twitter Liberty’s Substack Liberty’s Twitter David Bowie Predicts the Impact of the Internet on Newsnight 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 sum games How to cultivate voluntary engagement Unleashing the scenius Finding better explanations Risk-taking and the origins of the USA The explore and create framework Read biographies MUCH more! Books Mentioned: Am I Being Too Subtle?: Straight Talk From a Business Rebel; by Sam Zell The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey; by Candice Millard Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill; by Candice Millard Cinema Speculation; by Quentin Tarantino Christopher Nolan: The Iconic Filmmaker and His Work; by Ian Nathan The WEIRDest People in the World; by Joseph Henrich Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future; by Peter Thiel The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie; by Andrew Carnegie All I Want To Know Is Where I'm Going To Die So I'll Never Go There: Buffett & Munger - A Study in Simplicity and Uncommon, Common Sense; by Peter Bevelin The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness; by Eric Jorgenson Enzo Ferrari 2018: Power, Politics and the Making of an Automobile Empire; by Luca Dal Monte The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch One Summer: America, 1927; by Bill Bryson

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 Substack. 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: The Lunar Society Dwarkesh’ Twitter The Mystery of the Miracle Year Popularizers are intellectual market makers Scouting talent as buying options Show Notes: How to become a better podcaster The importance of curiosity Disagreement & problem solving “Computer programs are written by humans for other humans to read, and only incidentally for computers to execute” The difference between podcasting & essay writing Investing in public and private companies; human OS Premeditation & decision-making The mystery of the miracle year How much innovation is baked into the cake? How to cultivate young talent AI & education The importance of intellectual market makers Scouting talent as buying options Interviewing Sam Bankman-Fried Effective altruism & virtue signalling If you do everything, you will win Books Mentioned: The Years of Lyndon Johnson; by Robert Caro What Works on Wall Street: A Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time; by Jim O’Shaughnessy Little Soldiers: An American Boy, a Chinese School, and the Global Race to Achieve; by Lenora Chu Outliers: The Story of Success; by Malcolm Gladwell One Summer: America, 1927; by Bill Bryson The Lessons of History; by Will & Ariel Durant The Story of Civilization; by Will & Ariel Durant Fallen Leaves: Last Words on Life, Love, War, and God; by Will Durant

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: David’s website David’s Twitter Teaching Machines to Draw (2017) Weight Agnostic Neural Networks (2019) Show Notes: Why David joined Stability AI The advantages of open-source models We cannot predict the inventions of tomorrow Making memes with generative AI The centaur approach to AI An introduction to large language models The relationship between complex systems and resource constraints Large language models are bad at maths Modelling AI as an emergent system Understanding different perspectives MUCH more! Books Mentioned: The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective; by Kenneth Stanley and Joel Lehman

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: American Alchemy Jesse’s Twitter 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? Nixon, psychedelics & brainwashing The reawakening of the Boomers AGI, qualia & quantum physics AI, learned helplessness & Twitter The power of curiosity Reality is a compressed version of something much larger. MUCH more! Books Mentioned: The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date; by Samuel Arbesman The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size; by Tor Norretranders Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid; by Douglas Hofstadter The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch The Immortality Key : The Secret History of the Religion with No Name; by Brian C. Muraresku The New Inquisition: Irrational Rationalism and the Citadel of Science; by Robert Anton Wilson How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression and Transcendence; by Michael Pollan Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties; by Tom O’Neill Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream; by David McGowan Prometheus Rising; by Robert Anton Wilson Quantum Psychology: How Brain Software Programs You & Your World; by Robert Anton Wilson The Cosmic Trigger trilogy; by Robert Anton Wilson Communion: A True Story; by Whitley Strieber

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: Mark’s Twitter Radiant Energy Group Mark’s LinkedIn 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 nuclear power Recency bias, human OS and high visibility events The story of Three Mile Island Introducing nuclear festivals Wind and solar is not essential for the grid Take memes seriously Disambiguating nuclear weapons from nuclear power Tying financial needs with energy needs Escaping Mad Max How can we encourage an abundance mindset? Bipartisan enthusiasm for nuclear power MUCH more! Books Mentioned: The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch

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: The Grand Redesign Sam’s Twitter Sam’s Substack The Thinker and The Prover Tinkered Thinking’s winning entry to our ‘White Mirror’ competition Show Notes: Why Sam wrote the book Is the Watcher a reliable narrator? Interfering with complex systems An overview of Social OS Why we need White Mirror The kindness pledge Incentives and the Cobra Effect How do we break the Shannon limit? Jim’s movie idea Improving the political and legal system The opportunities of AI Optimising our system for flourishing Finding the hidden geniuses Sam’s solutions; reaching the tipping point Sam’s hopes for the book MUCH more! Books Mentioned: The Grand Redesign; by Sam McRoberts The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr Prometheus Rising; by Robert Anton Wilson House of Cards: Psychology and Psychotherapy Built on Myth; by Robyn Dawes The Lessons of History: by Will Durant and Ariel Durant Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future; by Kevin Kelly