Made You Think

“Skin in the Game is about four topics in one: a) uncertainty and the reliability of knowledge (both practical and scientific, assuming there is a difference), or in less polite words bullshit detection, b) symmetry in human affairs, that is, fairness, justice, responsibility, and reciprocity, c) information sharing in transactions, and d) rationality in complex systems and in the real world. That these four cannot be disentangled is something that is obvious when one has…skin in the game.” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life by Nassim Taleb. In this book, Taleb touches in many of the topics he’s covered in his previous work, such as virtue signaling and probability, and most of all, true risk taking. "[...] what people resent—or should resent—is the person at the top who has no skin in the game [...]" We cover a wide range of topics, including: Academia and its capability —or lack of it— of predicting real life. Having skin in the game and how it affects your behavior. How minorities impose their preferences to majorities. Judging a complex system by its elements. Sam Harris’ scalding opinion of Nassim Taleb. Virtue signaling. And much more. Please enjoy, and be sure to grab a copy of Skin in the Game by Nassim Taleb. "Not everything that happens happens for a reason, but everything that survives survives for a reason." If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out our episode on Antifragile by Nassim Taleb to dive deeper into Taleb’s work, and our episode on 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson, so you too can imagine the awesome podcast Jordan and Taleb could create together. Be sure to join our mailing list to find out about what books are coming up, giveaways we're running, special events, and more. Links from the Episode Mentioned in the show Nassim Taleb on Medium [01:45] Nat Chat [01:04] (Antifragile episode) Twitter [03:48] Uber [13:04] Venture Capital [15:30] Y Combinator [15:37] Startup Company [15:37] Hedge Fund [17:09] Cryptocurrency [18:16] Gilgamesh coin [19:00] Lindy Effect  [21:40] Virtue Signaling [24:32] Middlebury College [24:43] Statin [28:25] American Heart Association [31:30] Coca-Cola [35:20] Confirmation Bias [38:47] The Placebo Effect [38:50] The Most Intolerant Wins: The Dictatorship of the Small Minority by Nassim Taleb [40:29] Kosher Food [40:29] New Atheism [45:16] Reddit [45:26] Facebook [45:27] Starbucks [45:30] Dick’s Sporting Goods [46:00] Box Company [46:52] Google [56:42] Mutual Assured Destruction [01:02:04] JPMorgan Chase [01:09:00] Apple Inc. [01:09:30] Amazon [01:09:30] Uber [01:09:33] Instacart [01:09:33] Fat Tony [01:09:52] The National Football League (NFL) [01:18:36] Tesla [01:12:54] In-n-Out Burger [1:23:33] Chipotle [1:23:33] D'Souza rips apart smug leftist student over "white privilege" [1:27:30] Humanitarians of Tinder [01:33:17] Toms Shoes [01:33:45] Malaria nets [1:34:33] Sam Harris on Nassim Taleb “insufferable” quotation [1:43:10] The best podcast ever by Sam Harris [1:49:10] Russell Brand Podcast’s Under the Skin [1:49:10] Books mentioned 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson [00:39] (Nat’s notes) (Neil’s notes) (book episode) Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Taleb [01:04] (Nat’s notes) (book episode) Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Taleb [02:00] The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Taleb [02:00] The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms by Nassim Taleb [02:00] Happy Accidents: Serendipity in Modern Medical Breakthroughs by Morton A. Meyers [14:05] Charlie Munger: The Complete Investor by Tren Griffin [26:30] Merchants of Doubt: by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway [34:54] (Nat’s notes) (book episode) Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter [39:34] (Nat’s notes) (book episode) Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System by Donella Meadows [52:13] (book episode) Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician by Michihiko Hachiya [01:01:28] (Nat’s notes) (book episode) Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford [01:37:03] A History of Private Life by Paul Veyne [01:40:39] Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris [01:47:35] Lying by Sam Harris [01:47:35] People mentioned: Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Antifragile episode) Hillary Clinton [06:58] Steven Pinker [06:58] [1:35:59] Ayn Rand [07:54] Anne Hearst [24:52] Charles Murray [24:57] Aaron Levie [46:51] Donald Trump [01:06:40] Marco Rubio [01:07:22] Chris Christie [01:07:31] Jeff Bezos [01:11:58] Bill Gates [01:12:05] Mark Zuckerberg [01:12:14] J.K. Rowling [01:33:00] Alexander The Great [01:36:39] Jordan B. Peterson [01:41:32] (on this podcast) Sam Harris [01:41:32] Scott Adams [01:49:26] Russell Brand [01:49:47] Jocko [01:53:40] Show Topics 01:30 – Taleb's bibliography, his previous releases. Contrasts and relations between his previous works and Skin in the Game. A greater focus in philosophy and morals, rather than the mathematical focus of his other books. Skin in the game concept for business and non-business people. 06:38 – Taleb's use of criticism of other people, perhaps partially for publicity reasons. Criticizing people at your own weight vs needless harassment. The Ayn Rand effect. 08:50 – The books’ introduction. Academia vs real life. You can’t predict the behavior of a system by studying the behavior of individual elements within the system. Emerging qualities of complex systems. Academia back-explaining knowledge that’s created practically. Skin in the game for Roman architects and medicine scientists. 14:57 – True progress is only possible when you actually stand to lose something should you fail. Defining “rent-seeking” as opposite for “skin in the game”. Different types sorts of investments and whether they constitute rent-seeking. 19:25 – The contents of the book can become a lens through which you see the world. 20:03 – Sponsors. Get a shot of Four Sigmatic Mushroom Coffee mixed with MCT oil powder from Perfecto Keto. Follow our advice, we have skin in the coff… in the game. 20:59 – You can’t judge whether something is robust, if it can survive stressors, if you’re not at risk in case it can’t. The test of time. 23:30 – Business plans and their usefulness, or usefulness for procrastination. 24:54 – Book 2: A First Look at Agency. Advice, and knowing when to listen to it. Advice that’s helpful to the person offering it, rather than who’s being advised. Incentives and metrics under judgement. 26:50 – Judging actions by their intentions, rather than their effects. Nazism vs Communism. Diets, cholesterol, weight, and its effects on health as single elements of a complex system. 35:36 – Avoiding doctors when you have low-risks health issues. Prayer and religion developing related to health, and the high risk of medical procedures. The Placebo Effect. 39:20 – Book 3: That Great Asymmetry. Ant and ant colony metaphor. Predicting a complex system’s behavior through the behavior of singular elements. A small vocal minority affecting the behavior of large groups. The minority effect on holiday greetings and restaurant choices. 45:56 – Gun regulation, and changes in policy meant for advertising. Virtue signaling and what you do out of your beliefs, versus what’s done for public recognition. Standing up for your opinions even if, or specially if, it has social consequences. 50:57 – The free market, bottom-up or top-down models. Changing the parameters of individuals will not change the parameters of the emerging system. 52:57 – Book 4: Wolves Among Dogs. The trade off between security and freedom. Working as a dog, comfortably but restrained, versus working as a wolf, with much more freedom, but less safety. Tactics big companies use domesticating their employees. English manners as a way to domesticate lower classes. 00:59:39 – Suicide bombers and Mutual Assured Destruction. Reasoning and incentives in terrorists perspective, and how to discourage them to commit suicide. Sacrificing oneself and sacrificing the whole nation. 01:02:26 – Freedom and social media. Voluntarily adopting habits of the lower class as a signal of freedom. Nassim Taleb and Twitter. 01:05:53 – Book 5: Being Alive Means Taking Certain Risks. Politicians and relatability. Feeling like a politician is a real person, or simply a scripted facade. The case for Trump and his relatability. 01:08:36 – Resentment against people at the top who don’t have skin in the game, who are not really risking anything. Economic equality and what it truly means. Unfair barriers put up to keep people in the 1% when they might not really be earning their spot anymore. Florence example, where a handful of  families has kept the power for more than 5 centuries. 01:14:38 – Peer approval, the minority effect, and real freedom. 01:17:06 – Book 6: Being Alive Means Taking Certain Risks. Between two people who are equally qualified, the person who looks less “the part” is a wiser choice, as they have had to overcome more challenges to get to where they are. Quarterbacks vs common sense. Elitism and food: steaks, fast-food, and wine. Big mansions and living away from everything. 01:27:38 – Virtue signaling. Protesting or complaining without putting action behind your beliefs. Charity that’s mostly for show and its negative consequences. 01:35:12 – History and violent events: decreasing in frequency, but increasing rapidly in intensity. War, urban violence, and the magnitude of violence. Life that isn’t covered in history outside of big, dramatic events. 01:41:26 – Book 7: Deeper Into Agency. Religion, Beliefs, and Skin in the Game. Sam Harris, Nassim Taleb, and Jordan Peterson. Religion, science, and scientism. 01:49:22 – Sam Harris’ podcast and its infamous guests. 01:50:38 – Book 8: Risk and Rationality. The last section of the book, and concepts in it that are being explored in-depth by Taleb for the first time. “Skin in the Game” as an entry point for Taleb’s work. 01:52:26 – You don’t necessarily need to know what is the reason for something, even if you know that there is a reason. 01:54:31 – Ergodicity and non-ergodicity, or assembled probability vs individual probability. Paranoia and risk reversion. Risk taking and relative risk rather than objective risk. Bathtubs’ and bullets’ potential to scale to kill people. Terrorism, gun violence and non-multiplicative risks. 02:01:35 – Ties back to Taleb’s previous work. Static and dynamics probabilities and life expectancy. 02:05:37 – Wrapping up and sponsor time! Make sure to grab your own copy of “Skin in the Game” through our Amazon sponsored link. To help the podcast maintain the freedom of the market, check out as well our sponsors: Kettle & Fire for all your delicious bone broth needs, with up to 30% OFF! We recommend Perfecto Keto’s coffee-flavored exogenous ketones. Four Sigmatic: for your mushroom coffee and all your other mushroom needs. And as always, don’t forget to check out our Support page. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://madeyouthinkpodcast.com    

A solid routine fosters a well-worn groove for one’s mental energies and helps stave off the tyranny of moods. In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss​ Daily Rituals by Mason Currey. In this book, Currey edits together first-hand accounts from different artists and creative thinkers of how they went about their everyday lives. “I write when the spirit moves me,”  said, “and the spirit moves me every day.” – Faulkner. We cover a wide range of topics, including: The problem with lifestyle gurus. Whether drugs enhance genius. Coffee’s role in causing the Renaissance. How people in far-off countries let each other know they were alive before the internet. Beethoven’s perfect cup of Joe. Why you should pin notes to your clothes' Night Owls vs. Early Birds - who gets more worms. Hacks to become an morning person. And much more. Please enjoy, and be sure to grab a copy of Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey! If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out our episode on 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson for more tips on how to order your day, as well as our episode on Elon Musk to discover what rituals a modern-day success keeps. Be sure to join our mailing list to find out about what books are coming up, giveaways we're running, special events, and more. Links from the Episode Mentioned in the show: Sleep debt [8:00] Dymaxion sleep [8:46] Polyphasic sleep [9:05] Alt-right [11:55] Benzedrine [12:58] Ritalin [18:34] The Renaissance [22:26] Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder – OCD [29:10] Franklin’s 13 Virtues [32:21] How to Plan your Ideal Day by Taylor Pearson [39:48] Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule by Paul Graham [40:05] Growth Machine [40:10] On-demand economy [44:58] 1099 economy [44:58] Peterson’s guide to essay writing [51:44] Mnemonics [57:10] Keto-adaptation [59:50] Hormetic stress [1:07:55] Night Owl Mutation [1:12:36] Gilgamesh Platform [1:20:50] Books mentioned: Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb [12:28] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Come Again? by Nat Eliason [19:26] Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson [32:21] The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss [34:36] Skin in the Game by Nassim Nicholas Taleb [34:47] Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller [48:42] The War of Art - Steven Pressfield [50:44] The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath [1:02:18] Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway [1:07:55] (Nat’s notes) (book episode) The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand [1:10:50] Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand [1:11:10] People mentioned: Francis Bacon [2:30] Nassim Nicholas Taleb [3:54] (Antifragile episode) Tim Ferriss [5:00] Jocko [5:08] Buckminster Fuller [8:46] Steve Pavlina [10:00] V. S. Pritchett [11:30] W. H. Auden [12:58] Immanuel Kant [13:58] Michel Foucault [13:58] Ryan Holiday [14:44] Beethoven [29:16] Nikola Tesla [29:34] Tom Cruise [30:37] Benjamin Franklin [32:32] Charles Darwin [36:30] (on this podcast) Henry Miller [48:42] William Faulkner [50:27] Ann Beattie [50:58] Haruki Murakami [52:37] Scott Britain [53:11] Ramit Sethi [53:11] Jonathan Edwards [57:10] Sylvia Plath [1:02:12] Woody Allen [1:02:37] Jean Paul Sartre [1:03:00] David Lynch [1:06:20] Paul Erdős [1:10:25] Ayn Rand [1:10:50] Show Topics 00:50 – Book covers daily rituals of a bunch of people, not just artists. Broad interpretation of artists, anyone who does creative or critical thinking work. 01:24 – There’s a surprising amount of drug-use in this book, lots of alcohol, and not sleeping. On the one hand this seemed undisciplined, but on the other these people did have very regular schedules. There was discipline to keep these activities in a well-worn groove. 01:53 – A hangover can make it easier to write – your brain can be more focused. In some ways it’s like the opposite of being caffeinated. 03:10 – The book has an interesting layout, there’s no attempt at narrative, each chapter is about a new person’s routine. 03:54 – Taleb keeps no routine, he doesn’t even use a calendar. 04:00 – Small gripe with books like this as these are idealized and narrativized versions of these rituals. None of them get drunk and yell at people on Twitter. Wouldn’t be surprised if they’re only true 20-50% of the time. 04:55 – Problem with a lot of the lifestyle guru type people. They don’t do all of that stuff everyday. Except Jocko, he’s never overslept in the last 15 years. His morning routine seems to be the same wherever he is. 06:02 – Maintaining a normal schedule when you travel across time zones helps you adapt way faster. The minute you go back to your hotel you’ll crash, it’s game over! Jet lag is a strange tiredness, especially if you drink coffee, like you’re wired and drunk at the same time. 08:00 – Questioning whether you can save up a store of sleep for a rainy day. Apparently you can’t front load it, but when you get into debt you need to pay it back! 08:46 – Types of polyphasic sleep. Buckminster Fuller developed dymaxion sleep, he did it for two years and he’s the only one who’s ever been able to do it. 5-10% of the population legitimately need less sleep. Everyone else thinks they’re in that group but they’re not. 09:05 – When they tried one study on polyphasic sleep the subject just crashed and they could not wake him up. 11:43 – Is it quote or quotation? Don’t want to anger the grammar people! 11:55 – Download all of our episodes to find out whether one of our team is part of the alt-right. 12:58 – Auden was popping Benzedrine all the time. He regarded it as a “labor saving device,” a daily multivitamin. In the mental kitchen alongside alcohol, coffee and tobacco. 13:40 – Were these people great producers because of these habits or despite them? Question of whether the live-fast, die-young lifestyle enhances genius. 16:22 – Personal experiences and use of some drugs. Coffee for work and productivity, micro-dosing LSD for the same. Marijuana for an after wine session. Fear of getting hooked with tobacco vs alcohol. 18:34 – Ritalin/Aterol for effortless full-speed ahead concentration. 20:12 – Doctors overprescribe Aterol – 90% of people taking it don’t need it. It’s very hard to quit, people get frustrated at never hitting the same level of quality. In some ways similar to steroids. 22:26 – The Renaissance happened when people stopped drinking beer all day and switched to coffee. 22:36 – Drinking habits around the world. Beer used to be brewed as water wasn’t safe to drink. They would steep the same grains up to four times. In Asia they would drink tea all day, which is probably why they were historically more productive than Europe. 24:55 – In sushi bars in Tokyo they have a tap of green tea. In Germany they give you beer, Americans drink water and now they’re more productive because they’re hydrated. 25:53 – Tangent – Most people who are in America now, their ancestors were the risk-takers. The people who took the initiative to leave behind everything they knew. So culturally this is ingrained. 26:59 – People used booked calls to let family on the other side of the world know they were alive before Skype. 27:40 – The history of pokes on Facebook – they would let a non-friend see your profile for a few days without actually becoming your friend. 29:10 – A significant number of people featured in the book seemed to have OCD, they were trying to control chaos. Beethoven’s coffee had to have 60 beans a cup. Kant had an extremely orderly schedule. The clock tower in town stayed on time less passionately than Kant. 32:00 – Everyone has odd habits, especially artists who spend a lot of time in their heads. 32:21 – The general impression of Benjamin Franklin is “early to bed, early to rise” but he seemed to set his 13 virtues up as goals rather than things he’d achieved. Comparing Ben Franklin to Tim Ferriss. People disapprove of others not following their own advice to the letter. 35:53 – Controversy when one updates his opinions. 36:16 – It’s surprising how few hours people worked – the bulk of the creative work was 5-6 hours a day, max. Darwin was famous for having two 3 hour work blocks. It’s hard to do creative work for longer. But good for mental energy. 38:00 – Tangent. It’s hard to be spontaneous in New York. Phone calls are scheduled a week in advance.  Time management tips: set regular stand-ups, only book meetings at certain times. Color-code your calendar. 40:30 – Work environments are moving towards being more results orientated, moving away from people just sitting at their desks doing nothing. A relic of the production line. Schedule Tetris in large corporations. 43:26 – Hack. Schedule hour meetings for 40 minutes, or half hour meetings for 20 minutes. It forces people to condense. 44:58 – Data should make it easier for people to get paid based on productivity rather than time. For consulting jobs, it doesn’t make sense to charge based on time. Historically, time was the best way of measuring output and so this made sense. 47:43 – Education is also stuck in this time loop since it was originally influenced by factory organization. Most interesting ideas that end up leading somewhere come from play, from free time. 49:21 – After unsuccessfully trying for ten years in New York, Henry Miller had given up writing, when he finally wrote a novel in Paris it was published without editing, there’s sentences that just stop mid-way. Seeing from outside, it seems these creatives are able to follow a routine without anyone forcing them. 51:44 – Jordan Peterson says there’s no such thing as writer’s block. If you’re stuck it’s because you have run out of things to say, you need to unblock yourself. 53:10 – Sleep and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends, may make you feel much more energized. Sleeping in on the weekend it’s almost like changing time zones every five days. 56:41 – Giveaways are coming, sign up for the email list. 57:03 – To remember to do important things pin a piece of paper on a different piece of your clothing, a form of mnemonics. 58:15 – When you first wake up, that’s a different person. You have to find ways of tricking him into not hitting snooze. Routines and replacement can help you get past undesirable behavior. 59:04 – Sponsor time. Mushroom elixir from Four Sigmatic and bone broth from Kettle & Fire along with Perfecto Keto collagen. Use them to replace alcohol in the evening! 1:01:38 – Despite living in climate controlled environments, we still feel like it’s cold outside when it’s winter, even though it’s the same temperature where we are. 1:03:30 – Some people’s capacity for alcohol is so far beyond the average. If you’re regimented and disciplined you could physically drink a bottle of spirits a day. 1:07:15 – Sugar is like a mild form of cocaine. It’s a stimulant followed by a crash. Hormetic stressors are only “natural”. 1:09:20 – Psycho-active drugs don’t make your brain do things it can’t do, they mimic neural pathways. Maybe adaptation is down-regulating the amount of neurochemicals being released in response to the trigger. If you know, write in! 1:11:36 – Morning Working vs Night-time working theme. More of the creators were geared towards mornings but it wasn’t across the board. Evolutionarily, it doesn’t make sense for humans to want to work at night. 1:14:20 – Waking up hack. Trick yourself into getting up by telling yourself you can go back to bed in 30 minutes if you’re still tired. 1:14:45 – Wrap-up and sponsor time. Perfecto Keto is perfect for all your ketogenic diet needs. Exogenous coffee-flavored ketones. Their matcha MCT oil powder is highly recommended for focusing. You can use the MCT oil with a Four Sigmatic mushroom coffee or your hot chocolate, all 15% OFF through our sponsored link or use the coupon code mentioned. Kettle & Fire will give you 20% OFF on their delicious bone broths –beef recommended for cooking, and chicken for a good, hot wintery drink– and free shipping! Listen to know how to get a mushroom-flavored bone broth. And you can always support us by going through our Amazon sponsored link and checking out our Support page. 1:20:50 – The new Gilgamesh cryptocurrency is building a social network built on knowledge sharing. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://madeyouthinkpodcast.com

“Time after time I’ve done an analysis of a company, and I’ve figured out a leverage point — in inventory policy, maybe, or in the relationship between salesforce and productive force, or in personnel policy. Then I’ve gone to the company and discovered that there’s already a lot of attention to that point. Everyone is trying very hard to push it in the wrong direction!” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System by Donella Meadows. In this article, Meadows goes through her twelve “leverage points” in which you can affect change in your company or any complex system, from least to most effective. “Magical leverage points are not easily accessible, even if we know where they are and which direction to push on them. There are no cheap tickets to mastery. You have to work hard at it, whether that means rigorously analyzing a system or rigorously casting off your own paradigms and throwing yourself into the humility of Not Knowing. In the end, it seems that mastery has less to do with pushing leverage points than it does with strategically, profoundly, madly letting go.” We cover a wide range of topics, including: All of Meadow’s 12 Leverage Points Positive and negative feedback loops The NRA and gun control How individuals can change the system in small and big ways Brexit and the Eurozone The paradigms that shape our thinking And much more. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out our episode on The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt for its meta-theory of business, and our episode on Finite and Infinite Games by James Carse, about how employers and employees can create, change, and play in systems. Be sure to join our mailing list to find out about what books are coming up, giveaways we're running, special events, and more. Links from the Episode Mentioned in the show: The Titanic [10:43] Paleolithic diet [12:40] Ketogenic diet [12:40] The Bike-Shed Effect [14:17] Evernote [23:20] Rule of 3 and 10 [23:19] American Eagle [25:15] Zara [25:35] Cryptocurrency [30:15] Apple Inc. [35:00] The Big Mike – Banana Species [39:00] Slippery Slope Argument [41:47] Veil of Ignorance [42:00] The Selfish Gene Hypothesis [47:25] Intuit [54:00] 9-9-9 Plan [54:20] TurboTax [55:40] QuickBooks [55:40] The Florida Shooting [01:05:15] National Rifle Association — NRA [01:05:20] Net Neutrality [01:05:30] The Riddle of the Gun by Sam Harris [01:09:15] Game Theory [01:09:55] The Daily Wire [01:14:13] The Ben Shapiro Show – Podcast [1:14:13] Justworks [01:24:00] MomTrusted.com [01:24:47] AirBnB [01:35:50] Uber [01:35:50] Scott Galloway Says Amazon, Apple, Facebook, And Google should be broken up [1:39:22] Socialists of New York [1:53:59] Flatgeologists [02:01:50] Books mentioned: The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox [2:57] (Nat’s notes) (book episode) The Way of Zen by Alan Watts [3:00] (Nat’s notes) (Neil’s notes) (book episode) Finite and Infinite Games by James C. Carse [04:31] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas R. Hofstadter [07:36] (Nat’s notes) (book episode) Into the Cool: Energy Flow, Thermodynamics, and Life by Eric D. Schneider and Dorion Sagan [07:23] The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Taleb [16:49] Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Taleb [16:49] (Nat’s notes) (book episode) ​ 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson [23:59] (Nat’s notes) (Neil’s notes) (book episode) Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World by Dan Koeppel [39:25] Merchants of Doubt: by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway [40:29] (Nat’s notes) (book episode) Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician by Michihiko Hachiya [01:04:30] (Nat’s notes) (book episode) The Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson and William Rees-Mogg [01:47:50] (Nat’s notes) (book episode) Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari [01 :49:24] (Nat’s notes) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn [02:01:07] Darwin’s Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennett [02:02:00] (Nat’s notes) (book episode) People mentioned: Donella Meadows Elon Musk [3:10] (on this podcast) Bill Clinton [11:23] George H.W. Bush [11:23] Jordan B. Peterson [47:26] (on this podcast) Herman Cain [54:20] Emperor Hirohito [01:04:50] Ben Shapiro [01:14:04] Donald Trump [01:23:05] Adolf Hitler [01:43:23] Margaret Thatcher [01:44:40] Joe Rogan [01:48:23] Thomas Kuhn [02:00:35] Show Topics 02:01 — Meadows is a corporate consultant, who helps companies increase productivity through what she calls “leverage points”. Her focus is on companies, but it really could be applied to any system. Even the podcast itself! 3:17 — How people try to change complex systems by focusing on the wrong parts, or intervening in the right parts, but in the wrong ways. Meadows’ list of ways in which you can intervene from least to most effective. 6:53 — Each intervention point makes sense in connection to the others. Looking at them in simpler system helps understand their role in complex systems. The bathtub analogy. 10:30 — The 12th point: Constants, parameters, numbers. A person occupying a role doesn’t have as much leverage as the role itself. It’s easier to change small parameters than it is to change a broader picture. Eg.: changing the soda you drink instead of changing your whole diet. The Bike-Shed effect. 16:00 — The 11th point: The sizes of buffers and other stabilizing stocks, relative to their flows.  The check account metaphor; the amount of money that’s usually left in your account, doesn’t come in or out. That’s your buffer, and can be changed. The size of your buffer can really affect your system. It can increase your security, but also liability. Tradeoff between creativity and redundancy. 20:41 — The 10th point: The structure of material stocks and flows (such as transport networks, population age structures).  This rule is harder to immediately apply to the business case. The pipes metaphor; it’s sometimes necessary to set up a system entirely from scratch, or rebuild it, because it’s almost impossible to reach your goals with what’s already present. The rule of 3 and 10. 24:05 — The 9th point: The lengths of delays, relative to the rate of system change. The importance of consumer feedback. Systems with long loops of feedback, such as politics, have trouble self-regulating. At the same time, when there’s lots of immediate feedback, you risk overshooting. 35:08 — The 8th point: The strength of negative feedback loops (...). A negative feedback loop means a system that can turn itself off, such as a thermostat, which’ll stop working once the room reaches the desired temperature. It’s important to have a failsafe that’ll intervene on the event of a worst-case scenario, even if it’s rarely necessary. You can very easily miss the long-term effect of actions that don’t affect the short-term, such like monocultures (the or overworking yourself. 41:00 — Fake news. Ways you could keep fake news from spreading, and how that could slide into censorship. Social media and censorship. The ultimate goal of any company is always to make money. 48:21 — The 7th point: The gain around driving positive feedback loops. Positive feedback loops feed and grow on themselves (the more people have the flu, the faster it’ll spread), but a system with an unchecked positive feedback loop will destroy itself. At some point, a negative feedback loop must kick in, such as what’s happened with the birth rate in western countries. 51:07 — Poverty and wealth as functions of positive and negative feedback loops. Ways you could effectively lessen poverty. Taxing laws and lobbying. 56:00 — Tangent about payment methods. 58:00 — Adjusting positive feedback loops depends on the ultimate goal of the system. How to use commissions as incentives. 01:01:29 — The 6th point: The structure of information flows (who does and does not have access to information). Access to information, and how it affects people’s and company’s behaviors, and creates accountability. 01:05:01 — Accountability in the age of the internet. The NRA and gun control. The NRA as a symptom of America’s pro-gun mentality, not the source of the issue. 01:10:28 — Arguments for both sides of the gun control debate. Initiatives to lessen the instant fame acquired by mass shooters. Comparing different country’s policies without thought to the countries’ different situations. 01:17:12 — Misinformation on the topic of guns in the public and in media: what guns are actually available to the public, which models were used in mass shootings. 01:21:00 — Clickbait. McDonalds’ fries and baldness. 01:22:43 — The 5th point: The rules of the system. The rules of a system are more influential than the people who must play by the rules. Being both an employee and a boss. Benefits and health plans for employees, and how to attract and retain talent. 01:29:18 — The rules of a system can work as incentives and disincentives. 01:30:19 — The 4th point: The power to add, change, evolve, or self-organize system structure. The level to which people can change the system. Utilizing platforms in ways the creators had not originally intended. Unexpected behaviors from children and puppies. 01:33:33 — Religion and superstition. Bottom-up and top-down systems of power. 01:35:15 — Uber, AirBnB, free market and diversity in the market. 01:37:23 — The 3rd point: The goals of the system. The highest level related to the system itself: its ultimate goal. The goal of keeping the market competitive must trump the goal of each company to accumulate profit. Companies that have little to no competition at this point. 01:41:51 — Changing one player in the system doesn’t affect much, except when one individual player can drastically change the goals of the system. Trump, the Conservative Party and Russia. 01:44:20 — Brexit, the UK’s economy, and the Eurozone. City-states and how do you decide the borders of a country. 01:48:36 — The 2nd point: The mindset or paradigm out of which the system — its goals, structure, rules, delays, parameters — arises. The mindset from which the system’s goals come from. Shared mythology and cultural paradigms in today’s society. Digital goods vs physical goods. Shared paradigms as a basis for cooperation and shared goals. 01:58:41 — The 1st point: The power to transcend paradigms. Ever-changing paradigms; your paradigms, as well as scientific paradigms, will keep changing. Not one holds all the truth. 02:05:30 — Wrap-up and sponsor time!. Perfecto Keto is perfect if you’d like to pursue a ketogenic diet! Their matcha MCT oil powder is highly recommended. Kettle & Fire will give you 20% OFF on their delicious bone broths — beef recommended for cooking, and chicken for a good, hot wintery drink! Four Sigmatic: get your mushroom coffee or your hot chocolate, all 15% OFF through our sponsored link. And you can always support us by going through our Amazon sponsored link and checking out our Support page. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://madeyouthinkpodcast.com  

Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, authors of Merchants of Doubt, discuss controversial scientific consensus, media manipulation, and the tobacco industry. They touch on topics such as global warming, the SDI, and the sugar industry. The podcast also covers the tactics used by the cigarette industry, the moral dilemma of working for such companies, and skepticism about increased CO2 and plant growth. They provide tips on identifying reliable scientific information and explore various other topics including purchasing items on Amazon and the benefits of mushroom coffee.

 “Order and chaos are the yang and yin of the famous Taoist symbol: two serpents, head to tail. Order is the white, masculine serpent; Chaos, its black, feminine counterpart. The black dot in the white—and the white in the black—indicate the possibility of transformation: just when things seem secure, the unknown can loom, unexpectedly and large. Conversely, just when everything seems lost, new order can emerge from catastrophe and chaos. For the Taoists, meaning is to be found on the border between the ever-entwined pair. To walk that border is to stay on the path of life, the divine Way. And that’s much better than happiness.” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss​ 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson. In his book, Peterson –a professor at the University of Toronto, and a practicing psychologist who has spent his life studying mythology psychology, religion and philosophy– writes about discipline, freedom, adventure, and responsibility, distilling the world’s wisdom into 12 practical and profound rules for life. "Winning at everything might only mean that you’re not doing anything new or difficult." We cover a wide range of topics, including: Free speech and the nature of truth Why post-modernists are right… to an extent How to be a winning lobster Positive feedback loops and your own heaven and hell Why danger is important Appreciating the moment but planning for chaos And much more. Please enjoy, and be sure to grab a copy of 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson! If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out our episode on Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a book whose concepts will similarly change your outlook, as well as our episode on The Power of Myth, to further learn the power of mythology can be relevant to our everyday lives.   Be sure to join our mailing list to find out about what books are coming up, giveaways we're running, special events, and more.   Links from the Episode Mentioned in the show: Peterson’s Patreon page [5:21] C-16 Amendment to the Canadian Human Rights Bill [5:40] Interview with Peterson on Joe Rogan's podcast [06:23] Pareto distribution [13:21] Virtue Signalling [17:05] Positive Reinforcement Loop [30:20] Mushroom Coffee [31:28] Perfect Keto [31:28] Ship of Theseus [34:40] Slaying the Dragon Within Us [38:35] Self Authoring [49:57] Growth Machine [54:21] Greatness All Around Us by Neil Soni [55:18] Space X’s Falcon Heavy [1:01:47] Positive reinforcement training [1:13:55] Voldemort Effect [1:19:11] Crony Beliefs Podcast by Kevin Simler [1:20:37] BlackRock [1:22:34] Columbine Killers [1:25:05] Puja [1:34:32] The Marshmallow Experiment [1:36:16] Cain and Abel [1:38:42] Entropy [1:48:47] Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber [1:58:20] The Office - TV Series [2:00:51] Dominance Hierarchy [2:05:16] Jumanji (2018) [2:07:39] Jordan Peterson on the Jocko Podcast [2:32:03] Psychological Significance of Biblical Stories [2:32:13]   Books mentioned: 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson (Nat’s notes) (Neil’s notes) The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene [03:20] (Nat’s Notes) Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson [04:23] Emergency by Neil Strauss [13:59] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed by James C. Scott [16:12] Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas R. Hofstadter [16:57] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill: Visions of Glory, 1874-1932 by William Manchester [1:00:20] Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson [1:02:58] The Inner Game of Tennis [1:07:21] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Letters from a Stoic by Lucius Annaeus Seneca [1:07:44] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio [1:08:14] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Work Clean by Dan Charnas [1:09:44] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb [1:10:55] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Finite and Infinite Games by James C. Carse [2:03:10] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Emoji Dick by Fred Benenson [2:28:53] Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life by Nassim Nicholas Taleb [2:29:43]   People mentioned: Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, @jordanbpeterson Charles Darwin [09:30] (Darwin’s Dangerous Idea episode) Jacques Derrida [10:22] Charles Murray [19:26] Nassim Nicholas Taleb [26:39] (Antifragile episode) Sam Harris [38:20] Dave Rubin [38:20] Winston Churchill [1:00:20] Elon Musk [1:01:47] (on this podcast) Jeff Bezos [1:01:47] Naval Ravikant [1:02:19] Steve Jobs [1:02:42] Lucius Annaeus Seneca [1:07:44] Carl Jung [1:09:13] Dan Charnas [1:09:48] Kevin Simler [1:21:25] Laurence Tosi, AirBnB’s ex-CFO [1:24:00] Karl Marx [1:40:20] Ray Dalio [1:43:39] (on this podcast) Robert Greene [1:43:47] (on this podcast) Daniel Tosh [2:01:53] Louis CK [2:01:53] Chris Rock [2:01:53] Alfred Adler [2:08:35] Sigmund Freud [2:08:35]   Show Topics 01:00 - The title of the book is misleading, and surprising if you know Peterson’s other work. But don’t judge a book by it’s cover, this is a very detailed and valuable work.   03:39 - Peterson is a practicing psychotherapist and also a lecturer. He’s has spent most of his life studying religion and mythology. 05:26 - Peterson’s notoriety because of his opposition to a bill in Canada that essentially makes calling somebody by the wrong gender pronoun a hate crime. He was opposed on the grounds of free speech and argues that you can’t compel anyone to use any specific word. 07:11 - Peterson fights against the post-modernist idea that nothing is true, everything is subjective. He believes that postmodernism has taken the idea of subjectivity and pushed it too far.   09:00 - Math is something we’ve discovered, not a human invention. Fundamental nature of numbers is unchanging. Argument linking math and logic to patriarchy and power.   11:14 - What is the goal of the postmodernists? If you continually tear down the hierarchy then at some point the oppressors become the oppressed.   12:41 - Communist China is what you get if you tear down an authority that is there due to the natural order. There will always be a Pareto distribution. If you try to perfectly level the playing field you end up with a controlling regime.   17:05 - Peterson is harsh against virtue signalling. Is the goal of most postmodernists just to 'look moral'?   18:11 - Science should not be ideology driven. It's still science. Nobody wants to talk about sex and race in terms of science. Charles Murray example where he researched IQ differences across different races. He proved there were differences and he's been treated as a bigot because of this.   22:50 - Peterson does a great job at maintaining what the science says about us as humans. What that means in what we should do in our day to day.   25:12 - The rules of the book come off as simple but there's a lot of rich material underneath them. The titles of the rules are there to remind you of the big idea, as easy to remember snippets.   27:03 - Rule 1: Stand Up Straight With Your Shoulders Back. How lobsters are similar to humans. How to look like a winner. Positive reinforcement loop. Head off depression.   31:28 - Sponsor. Hack your physio-psychological behavior by waking up at the same time every day and have breakfast. Get some mushroom coffee and keto from the MYT support page. Support the podcast and you'll become a winning lobster.   34:40 - Lobsters brain reaction when losing. All the cells in your body recycle every seven years. The ship of Theseus: if every cell in your body is different in seven years are you still the same person?   38:00 - Breaking out of the negative loop. Slaying the dragon within us. Problems get bigger until you acknowledge them.   40:16 - The subjective truth is still truth. Rules don't become useless because there is an exception to them. As Peterson says, the truth is fluid.   43:23 - Noah; predicting floods doesn't count, building arks does. If you get your house in order now, when total chaos comes, you'll be ready.   44:03 - Rule 2: Treat Yourself Like Someone You Are Responsible for Helping. Internal tyrant - we are too harsh on ourselves. The result is that we inevitably rebel. Our two selves end up hating each other.   45:48 - Prescriptions for medicine for pets gets filled much more frequently than medicine for humans. People better at taking care of their pets than they are of themselves.   47:57 - Think about what is good for you rather than what would make you happy. What might my life look like if I were caring for myself properly?   50:35 - Rule 3: Make Friends with People Who Want the Best for You. One bad apple spoils the bunch example.   51:30 - If you have friends who are obese or who smoke there is a higher chance you will become obese or start to smoke! Normalising effect, it's not bad it's just what everyone else is doing. You become the five people you spend the most time with. Be selective!   55:02 - If your friends do good, you do good. If you live in a place where there are a lot of people you don't want to be like, read more books, like Andrew Carnegie and Jay-Z.   1:00:29- Rule 4: Compare Yourself to Who You Were Yesterday, Not Who Someone Else is Today. Comparing to others is a fallacy, you always lose. No matter how far along you are you'll still have someone to be jealous of.   1:02:19 - Naval Ravikant: Being jealous of someone is really silly because you can't pick and choose parts of someone else's life. Steve Jobs was miserable, he never enjoyed his money.   1:03:50 - Sponsor. Take a shot of Kettle and Fire Bonebroth.   1:04:21 - Feeling good when you find something bad of someone who you are jealous. If you always win or always lose, it's no fun, but a video game at just the right difficulty is perfect. Similarly, comparing yourself to who you were yesterday is the perfect opponent.   1:07:44 - Seneca: Don't compare yourself to what others have, compare yourself to who you were before. Grand Theft Life! Control the machine, don't operate it.   1:09:19 - Most people don't find God because they don't search low enough. There's an ideal to reach for in everyday life.   1:09:48 - Daily practice is a version of God in the everyday and mundane. Gratefulness journal. Figure out what things make you feel better. Your emotional response. Dopamine and serotonin.   1:13:42 - Rule 5: Do Not Let Your Children Do Anything that Makes You Dislike Them.   1:13:55 - Positive reinforcement training. Attention as a currency of reward - effective reinforcement in humans. If you ignore people, they'll quickly understand that they shouldn't repeat whatever it was that made you ignore them. Beware of conversational one-upmanship.   1:16:43 - If someone does something you don't like, just tell them.   1:19:28 - People tie ideas to their identity and get offended. Some can't hold two competing ideas in their head at once. If you get emotional about an idea, that's generally a bad sign.   1:20:37 - Crony Beliefs. If you react to information with disgust or outrage that’s a sign that there's some belief you hold which is not based on logic and reasoning. In-group acceptance, virtue signalling, desire to be accepted.   1:24:18 - Trojan Horse strategy. A lot of hyper-feminist young men do it as a way to get in with women. Weasely.   1:25:05 - Rule 6: Set Your House in Perfect Order Before You Criticize the World. Columbine killers said the world is so bad, it shouldn't exist, they want to burn it all down and take everyone with them. All of us, on some level, have these impulses when things don't go right.   1:27:04 - Make your bed, create order and not chaos. Take ten minutes and get back to inbox zero. Part of your brain is latently working on it, so work on it yourself. Set aside times for worrying and forget it the rest of the time.   1:30:13 - Extreme ownership, don't worry about what anybody else did wrong or what other people could be doing, focus on what you can do. Don't rail against society. You have to recognise the monster within you in order to really be a good person.   1:32:14 - Floods are going to come, it's your fault for being unprepared. Just because something is unlikely doesn't mean you shouldn't have a plan in place.   1:34:08 - Rule 7: Pursue What is Meaningful (Not What is Expedient). The role of sacrifice in ancient societies.   1:35:09 - Preparing for the future. Giving up greater comfort now for something further down the line. Ceremonies as reminders.   1:36:14 - Kids who were able to hold off eating a marshmallow as they would get two later did better in future life. Delayed gratification. Sacrificing impulses leads to richer life.   1:38:42 - Cain and Abel. Sometimes sacrifices are rejected and we don’t know why. There’s wisdom in fairy tales. “Religion is the opiate of the masses”. Do what’s meaningful and not expedient.   1:42:14 - Rule 8: Tell the Truth, or at least Don’t Lie. Lean towards truth instead of trying to tell a story. Acknowledge the problem. Problems are often improved by simply talking.   1:43:39 - Dalio: An honest interpretation of the world is necessary. Robert Greene: Interpret the world honestly. We run from scary truths but knowing the truth is almost always better. If there’s a problem you’re not acknowledging, your brain interprets it as the sum of all the possible problems. Dragons or squirrels.   1:45:14- You can’t just tell the truth to other people, you also have to tell it to yourself. Entropy: things tend towards chaos. Things will go wrong if you don’t do anything about them. One state of order, infinite states of chaos. Do the dishes.   1:51:33 - Rule 9: Assume that the Person You Are Listening to Might Know Something You Don't. 3 categories of conversations: exchanging information; one-upmanship; mutual meditation. Figuring out what the map looks like.   1:54:36 - Most people can be interesting if prompted the right way and if you’re actually listening. Try saying something controversial. If you don’t talk about it, that encourages people not to talk about it. The tyranny of the minority. Be willing to offend people.   1:58:37 - Differences in interests between men and women. We have to be honest before we can talk about the implications of things. How we as conscious beings can recognize negative urges under the surface and still function in society.   2:00:46 - Part of the job of comedy is to be on the edge of order and chaos. They’ve found the line and they know how to walk it. They say what everyone is thinking! Playing with boundaries as Infinite players.   2:03:09 - Rule 10: Be Precise in Your Speech. Don’t mold your opinions to try to get approval from those around you. Be honest. Deal with that as it comes. Be open to being corrected.   2:04:28 - Rule 11: Do Not Bother Children when they are Skateboarding. Initially confusing. Danger has a value in teaching kids. Adult efforts to make children safer are often misguided. Let people fail.   2:06:15 - There will always be a dominance hierarchy. This danger and experimentation is how we find our place in it. How we expand in it. The hierarchy is a natural result of us testing ourselves. You can’t have equality and freedom. There are many different hierarchies.   2:06:54 - The pursuit of goals is what makes life meaningful. There is no reason to have goals if there’s nothing to win at. You can’t create meaning if you can’t strive for anything.   2:09:04 - Controversial topics that shouldn’t be. Use of personality as an excuse from taking care of yourself. Be healthy and make yourself more desirable. Removing danger is dangerous.   2:11:14 - We use our middle school years to figure out the rules of society. Two year-olds aren’t malicious, they’re just testing the limits.   2:12:28 - It’s important for men to be men. Women will find 85% of men below average in terms of attractiveness. To be attractive, be the best version of yourself you can be.   2:14:11- Life competence matters. There should be true rewards for success, and true consequences for failure. People need to be able to fail. Pain is useful.   2:15:36 - Peterson’s comments are tailor made to get taken out of context. Example of “women can find meaning in childbirth” and “the pay gap”.   2:17:29 - The game that we’re measuring when we measure income is just one game, and is not meaning for life. There are other places to find meaning. Women express alternative places they can derive meaning. Reverse societal pressure to say that some women are “too good” to want to raise a family.   2:21:36 - Sponsor. Perfect Keto pizza!.   2:22:08 - Women can win in men’s arenas. Men can’t win in what are typically considered women’s arenas. Men get flak for being in traditionally female roles (e.g. nurse, school teacher).   2:23:48 - Rule 12: Pet a Cat When You Encounter One on the Street. There are going to be a lot of horrible times in your life so when you get the opportunity to experience something good you should take it.   2:25:09 - Cats are the most perfect metaphor for nature, for being. They interact with humans but are not as fully domesticated as dogs are. If you pet a cat you’re getting an opportunity to appreciate being and nature. The dog will always run up to you and be happy to see you but that is not how reality is. Mutually assured non-destruction.   2:27:30 - Gratefulness. Appreciate a good cup of coffee or time with your family. Times are great right now but they won’t always be. Enjoy not being in chaos. Don’t be a turkey.   2:30:16 - Returning to chaos and order. We rise to the level of our training. Get into improving habits while the world is still in order.   2:32:13 - Don’t just sit at home watching YouTube, go and do something damnit! Is Peterson a heretic? He’s figured out how to monetize haters.   2:51:30 - Sponsors. Drink Mushroom Coffee from Four Sigmatic with cordyceps and chaga for evening working out. Go to Perfect Keto for your keto needs. Check Perfect Keto’s new liquid MCT oil good for pre-workout. Kettle on Fire’s Bone Broth is excellent to get back in your diet. Buy Jordan Peterson’s book and everything else using our Amazon link. Leave a review on iTunes. Subscribe to the email list for bonus materials and more tangents. Tell people. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://madeyouthinkpodcast.com

 “I had, of course, heard people say the sky was beautiful, especially those who were as far away as Fuchü and Furuichi. But it was now, for the first time, that I could picture the cloud, sharply defined against a clear blue August sky. It was at the moment of the birth of this cloud, with its ever-changing color, that Hiroshima was wiped out. It was at this moment that Hiroshima City, the culmination of many years’ work, disappeared with her good citizens into the beautiful sky.” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician, by Michihiko Hachiya. In this book, Michihiko registered his own life’s experiences following the atomic bomb’s blast, as a doctor in a Hiroshima hospital. “For acres and acres, the city was like a desert, except for scattered piles of brick and roof tile. I had to revise my meaning of the word ‘destruction’ or choose some other word to describe what I saw. ‘Devastation’ may be a better word, but really I know of no word or words to describe the view from my twisted iron bed in the fire-gutted ward of the communications hospital.” We cover a wide range of topics, including: The accounts of survivors of the atomic blast. The uncertainty and confusion that surrounded the mysterious illness befalling the hospital patients and their families. War propaganda and its effects on soldiers. Japan’s cultural attitude and perceptions surrounding WWII. Where did survivors find food and water? And much more. Please enjoy, and be sure to grab a copy of Hiroshima Diary: The Journal of a Japanese Physician, by Michihiko Hachiya!   You can also listen on Google Play Music, SoundCloud, YouTube, or in any other podcasting app by searching "Made You Think." If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out our episode on The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker, for another look into death’s effect on humankind, and our episode on Letters from a Stoic by Seneca, that delves into philosophy and stoicism and how humans can adapt in the most adverse situations. Be sure to join our mailing list to find out about what books are coming up, giveaways we're running, special events, and more. Links from the Episode Mentioned in the show: Zapier [34:00] Men Against Fire - Black Mirror episode [38:41] Hardcore History Podcast by Dan Carlin [44:32] Tesla [1:12:26] Satoshi Nakamoto [1:14:59] Nick Szabo [1:15:15] DARPA [1:15:54] CoinBase [1:16:57] Books mentioned: The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker [10:10] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Letters from a Stoic by Lucius Seneca [16:45] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) The Last Lion by William Manchester – Churchill’s 3 Parts Biography [31:35] The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II [38:09] Catch-22 [40:37] Emergency: This Book Will Save Your Life [13:10] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage [49:01] Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson [1:11:14] Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance [1:11:15] The Snowball [1:11:49] People mentioned: Michihiko Hachiya Emperor Hirohito [4:08] Hideki Tojo [4:12] George W. Bush [30:20] Winston Churchill [31:35] Thomas Jefferson [34:10] Steve Jobs [34:53] Jeff Bezos [34:57] Donald Trump [39:12] Taylor Pearson [1:11:39] Warren Buffet [1:11:49] Show Topics 1:08 — The book’s backstory: a physician’s diary from the days following the Hiroshima’s atomic bomb, and its long path into being translated into English. The US Senate’s approving of a resolution condemning the Smithsonian for failing to portray the atomic bombs as mercifully ending the war in 95. 3:44 — A view of the Japanese people as a monolith, and the diary’s portrayal of internal struggles and resentment against the Japanese military. A divide between the Emperor’s authority, which was generally loved by the people, and the military authority, seen as responsible for the war. 6:16 — The author’s background. A doctor working at Hiroshima, for the military, whose diary starts with the bomb dropping and injuring him. A work that was meant only for himself. 8:24 — They didn’t know what the bomb was when it first dropped, nor how radiation lead to all the following illness. The many effects and injuries an atomic bomb can cause. 9:11 — Hachiya’s injuries and survival following the bomb’s blast. His recovery at the hospital and awareness that he could have been dead. 10:58 — The terrifying descriptions of the bomb survivors. The survivor’s confusion and helplessness, as no one had been prepared for so much damage, and there was little information. 13:40 — Following the blast, there were no resources or time to research the causes of all the death and illness. One of Hachiya’s first assumptions were biological agents or poison gas. 16:40 — The desensitization to death that came with all the horror that Hachiya experienced. His guilt as well as his numbness to it. 17:50 — Where did Hachiya’s hospital found water and food, which isn’t addressed in the book. There had to have been water, as it was housing so many patients and their families. It was one of the few structures to survive the blast. 19:45 — “For acres and acres, the city was like a desert, except for scattered piles of brick and roof tile. I had to revise my meaning of the word ‘destruction’ or choose some other word to describe what I saw. ‘Devastation’ may be a better word, but really I know of no word or words to describe the view from my twisted iron bed in the fire-gutted ward of the communications hospital.” 20:06 — The destruction to buildings caused by the atomic blast. One building has been preserved in its destroyed estate near to the bomb’s epicenter. 21:35 — Hachiya’s use of the diary part as a tool for his medical work, in trying to decipher the effects of the bomb. His descriptions on symptoms and their progression. 22:10 — The flash of light caused by the bomb’s blast. Its physical effects, like its sound or lack of it: some people heard the boom (pika don), but other people didn’t, depending on their distance from the bomb. 24:44 — Rumors started arising on whether Hiroshima will be habitable following the blast. Are the people becoming sicker by staying in the hospital? What were the long-term consequences? Many other rumours began to appear. 26:12 — The patient’s reactions to rumors that Japan had retaliated the Hiroshima bomb. Human’s need for agency, to feel like there’s something they can do about their situation, especially in the face of such an awful event like the bomb. 28:54 — Japan’s decision to surrender was also connected to the Russian’s declaration of war, not necessarily the bombs by themselves. Japan’s culture of “surrendering is failing”. 31:35 — Tangent. Churchill and his attempts to participate in the front lines on D-Day. Leaders who declare war, but do not participate themselves in the actual fighting; “leaders” who don’t have ‘skin in the game’. 35:42 — The Japanese people’s expectations to the arrival of American troops in Japan. Differences between the military and civilian perceptions, its relation to war propaganda. Parallels to USA’s propaganda. 39:52 — The rate of participation in killing in the military, who has been going up and up. Conscription, and soldier’s unwillingness to kill other people, how propaganda and a sense of patriotic duty influences the willingness to fight. 45:20 — Other descriptions of horror following the Hiroshima bomb: citizens who tried to save themselves by taking shelter in pools and in rivers, who still didn’t survive. 48:31 — The communications were all down following the bomb: Hachiya’s reflects positively on being without modern ways of communication. Humankind’s adaptability to new circumstances, even the worst of them (hedonistic adaptation). 48:36 — “Besides, we had no radio. For me, this was something of a blessing, for being without the so-called advantages of civilization gave me a freedom of spirit and action others could not enjoy with their telephones, radios, and newspapers. Having lost everything in the fire and being now empty-handed was not entirely without advantage. I experienced a certain light-heartedness I had not known for a long time.” 54:18 — There were many incredible accounts of people who survived the blast, and of people who thought they’d lost loved ones, who had in fact survived. 56:03 — Media downplaying what happened in Hiroshima. Cigarettes becoming currency in disaster situations. 1:00:53 — What happened when Americans showed up. Reconstruction of buildings and reconstruction of minds. Japanese blind loyalty to the country. 1:09:29 — Tangent. Feeling of accomplishment reading books of the to-read list. Biographies of living public figures and… bitcoins! 1:16:52 — Sponsors Time. Perfect Keto will give you 20% off everything you need to maintain, sustain, entertain, get into a keto diet. Kettle & Fire bone broth 20% off on excellent supplements for getting some of your ancestral dietary needs, collagens, bone marrow. Good for cooking and good for drinking. Four Sigmatic for all your mushroom needs. Must to try the Hot Cocoa, it’s delicious with butter or heavy cream. It’s keto-friendly, there no sugar in the cocoa, it’s an amazing dessert. If you buy anything on Amazon, use our affiliate link to help sustain the show. 1:20:45 — If you want to start your own podcast, check Nat’s article on how to start a podcast and buy stuff on Amazon. Also, don’t forget to give us a review on iTunes. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://madeyouthinkpodcast.com  

  In reality, the way animals, including humans, react to danger occurs in the following order: freeze, flight, fight. If the reaction really were fight or flight, most of us would be bruised, battered, and exhausted much of the time. In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I dissect What Every Body Is Saying by Joe Navarro. In this book Joe shares his 25+ years experience conducting interrogations as an FBI agent, and reveals behaviors and reactions we can’t control under stress. He gives very actionable tips to understand if someone is lying, if someone is happy to chat with us, if we should close that business deal, or how to improve our public speaking skills. We cover a wide range of topics, including: Heuristics for understanding when others are uncomfortable or under stress. When we can confidently suspect on someone, and when not. How our body reacts when threatened. The human body reactions, explained part by part. Rips and warning when trying to unmask deception. And much more. Please enjoy, and be sure to grab a copy of What Every Body Is Saying by Joe Navarro You can also listen on Google Play Music, SoundCloud, YouTube, or in any other podcasting app by searching "Made You Think." If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out our episode on Darwin’s Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennet, as many reactions to stress are innate and a byproduct of evolution, as well as our episode on Elon Musk, an article that analyzes how the man behind Tesla and SpaceX thinks on principles. Be sure to join our mailing list to find out about what books are coming up, giveaways we're running, special events, and more.    Links from the Episode Mentioned in the show: Lie To Me TV Show [5:57] Tinder [58:11] Bumble [58:11] Peterson’s Podcast series on Abraham story [57:54] 27, 28, 30, Nat’s article on Easy Keto [37:57] Books mentioned: What every Body is saying by Joe Navarro Darwin’s Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennet [3:36] (book episode) Godel Escher Bach [3:36] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Elon Musk [7:21] (on this podcast) The Way of Zen [15:59] (Nat’s Notes) (Neil’s Notes) (book episode) The Gift of Fear [18:13] Principles [56:45] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Antifragile [57:00] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Amusing Ourselves to Death [57:00] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) Defining Decade by Meg Jay [58:59] The Denial of Death [1:03:27] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Origin of the Species [1:03:38] Mastery [1:03:38] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Why We Love by Helen Fisher [1:15:06] People mentioned: Joe Navarro Tai Lopez [0:33] Elon Musk [7:21] (on this podcast) Pepper the Poochon [43:17] Charlie Munger [1:03:38] Jeff Bezos [1:20:12] Show Topics 0:00 – “In order to ensure our survival, the brain’s very elegant response to distress or threats, has taken three forms: freeze, flight, and fight. Like other animal species whose limbic brains protected them in this manner, humans possessing these limbic reactions survived to propagate because these behaviors were already hardwired into our nervous system.” 1:13 – Looking at how the human body reacts to stress and using that to figure out if somebody is lying or better understand emotional and mental state of somebody. 1:38 – Why Nat read this book at college. How Nat, improved his public speaking abilities after reading this book, following a suggestion he received during college. 2:04 – About Joe Navarro’s background as an FBI agent for 25 years. How he was able to include all his experience interrogating and what was suspicious or not in the many cases presented in the book. Example of Joe trying to figure out accomplices of a suspect, that was betrayed by his pupils when put under stress. 3:54 – Reference to Darwin: evolution is the foundation for body unconscious reactions. Behaviors are involuntary because they drive from the limbic system instead than from the frontal cortex. Joe stresses that nobody can really detect lies, but what you can detect is discomfort, and discomfort  may lead you to find a lie or information that not being shared. 6:56 – The key to body reading is to look for behavioral changes, rather than specific behaviors. 7:56 – The book is organized in chapters: 1. Commandments (guidelines for body reading), 2. How to pacify ourselves, 3. Reading each part of the body, 4. Deception. 8:40 – First Commandment: Look at behavior in context. Example: we feel cold when we are uncomfortable. 9:32 – Second Commandment: The idiosyncratic behaviors. Body contradicting what one is saying. Example of nodding while saying no. Example where the suspect said went right while moving the left hand. 10:22 – Fifth Commandment: Establishing baseline behaviors. Nat rolling his eye example. Neil's example running hands on his head when sleepy. 12:45 – Sixth Commandment: Always try to watch people for multiple tells, clustering of different behaviors. A single tell is not determinant. Why body language is much more communicative than spoken language. 15:27 – Limits of spoken language. We can pick someone's emotional state even if we don't have words for that. 18:25 – Gut feelings when you meet someone. Neil's example of a guy being elusive about payment. Having negative intuitions just because the other is “tribally” different. How to handle intuition’s contradictions and why we should to prefer the negative one. 23:03 – Cues. Watching people's shoulders will reveal feet excitement. Core of the behaviours. Describing each part of the body’s possible reactions. Each reaction comes in the flavour of some interaction of: freeze, flight, or fight. Freeze is the first reaction. Flight examples: turtle effect, pulling shoulders up to try to protect your neck, smaller neck in fighting poses. 31:20 – Pacifying behaviors: we do a lot of things to comfort ourselves, to distress, to feel more calm. There’s no intentionality in these reactions. Why dating advice can go bad: shoulder touching example. Why we don’t pics of ourselves smiling. Examples of forcing these reactions and trying to make them pass as natural. 37:57 – Sponsor time. Sip a Mushroom Coffee together with Neil. The mushroom coffee from Four Sigmatic energizes you with less caffeine. Neil is drinking the Chaga and Lion’s Mane mush stimulants that give a really soft caffeine bump. It feels much more clear than coffee. If you want to keep the taste of coffee without the caffeine, mushroom coffee is you perfect ally.  If you want something else to taste like coffee, try some Perfect Keto coffee flavored exogenous ketones. Check Nat’s article about a easy ketogenic diet. Ketones make it a lot easier to get into ketosis, and is perfect for weight loss or its cognitive benefits. Don’t forget to shop through our Amazon affiliate link to help sustain the show. Lots of people get sick in this season, Kettle & Fire bone broth helps you warm in this winter. It’s nice, it’s warm, it’s tasty. Listen Neil’s and Nat’s recipes and variations. There’s one that’s better than Chipotle’s! Finally, subscribe to the Mailing List to receive bonuses, giveaways, and more. Most of our tangents and goofing off are going there now. 44:15 – Looping back on the baseline commandment, we should recognize reactions beyond the baseline, and understand the reason behind. Different pacifying behaviors can indicate different mental states. Pacifiers scale with the intensity of the discomfort. 49:34 – Heuristics: “weighting” different parts of the body: facial cues are the least reliable, the face is the most likely to lie. The feet are the most honest ones. Gravity defined behaviors. Colloquial phrases tied with actual behaviors: walking with a bit of a bounce on your step, walking on air, turning your back on someone. 52:17 – Tangent. Reactions of protection inherited by evolution and survival from predators. Evolution is a great first principle heuristic for understanding a large span of topics. 57:54 – Tangent. Optionality trap in dating. Sex in our generation. Optionality trap in jobs. Youthful tendency to sit around and wait for the best option. 1:04:17 – Details of different situations for legs, chest and arms. Leg crossing, nodding up or down, tilting our heads to the side, feet pointing, turning away our chest, crossing arms, etc. When it is easy to force subconscious behaviors. Importance of arms for protection. Problems of helmets in American football. 1:11:46 – Face. Fake smile. “Keep your chin up”. Keeping good posture to feel more confident. The nasal flaring. People that lose sense of smell have a hard time establishing deep relationships. 1:16:09 – Deception. Most people including FBI agents are not better than chance detecting deception. But we have some clues to be suspicious. Synchrony, if what a suspect speaks jives his body language. And emphasis: “I have never seen or heard a person who is lying yell affirmatively, “I didn’t do it,” while pounding his fist on the table”. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://madeyouthinkpodcast.com

In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss  Darwin’s Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennett (a guy with an amazing beard). In this book Daniel remind us we are not so special as we think, but just an ordered set of material refined by evolution. We cover a wide range of topics, including: Evolution as an amazing and super-simple algorithm for refinement Why we are not special but just a random result of a process Bottom-up “cranes” theories vs “skyhook” theories How memes are the cultural equivalent of genes Why it’s very unlikely that we will talk with aliens one day And much more. Please enjoy, and be sure to grab a copy of Darwin’s Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennett! You can also listen on Google Play Music, SoundCloud, YouTube, or in any other podcasting app by searching "Made You Think." If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out our episode on Godel Escher Bach by Douglas Hofstadter, a book that inspired several pages of Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, as well as our episode on Denial of Death by Ernest Becker, another book that reshapes the importance of our existence. Be sure to join our mailing list to find out about what books are coming up, giveaways we're running, special events, and more. Links from the Episode Mentioned in the show: Count in Binary with Your Fingers [11:22] Invisible Hand [21:08] Islam: A Religion of Violence Or Peace? [24:30] Street Food History [33:45] Kennin-ji – Oldest Temple in Kyoto [36:00] VCR [40:42] How Coffee Influenced the Course of History [43:40] Testosterone levels in the womb may determine how masculine your face is as an adult [51:47] 23andMe [53:11] Promethese [53:11] Rhonda Patrick – Found My Fitness Genetics [54:11] Perfect Keto [54:21] Fermi Paradox [1:17:01] Books mentioned: Darwin’s Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennet Godel Escher Bach [0:51] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) The Denial of Death [3:20] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) The Way of Zen [7:34] (Nat’s Notes) (Neil’s Notes) The Selfish Gene [22:26] Sapiens [38:40] (Nat’s Notes) Letters from a Stoic [38:45] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Newton’s Principia [1:12:15] Rare Earth [01:16:23] Emergency [1:21:55] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) The Elegant Universe by Brian Greene [1:27:16] The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene [1:27:16] Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson [1:27:21] Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand [1:31:29] The Sovereign Individual [1:33:29] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) The Goal [1:44:02] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) What every Body is saying by Joe Navarro [1:46:13] People mentioned: Charles Darwin Daniel Dennett [0:32] Nassim Nicholas Taleb [0:51] (Antifragile episode) Douglas Hofstadter [0:51] Elon Musk [6:15] (on this podcast) Flatgeologists – Flat Earth Society [6:15] Pepper the Poochon [12:09] Adam Smith [21:08] Maajid Nawaz [24:30] Christopher Columbus [36:26] Lucius Annaeus Seneca [38:45] Rhonda Patrick [54:11] Nassim Nicholas Taleb [59:25] (Antifragile episode) Nicolaus Copernicus [1:08:03] Isaac Newton [1:12:15] Albert Einstein [1:12:40] Jeff Bezos [1:39:57] Show Topics 0:00 – “When you ask functional questions about anything –organism or artifact– you must remember that it has to come into its current or  final form by a process that has its own requirements, and these are exactly as amenable to functional analysis as any features of the end state.” 0:51 – Connections of Darwin’s Dangerous Idea with Godel Escher Bach book. Talebian writing style of the author. The author focuses one part of the book to refute other people’s ideas. 3:20 – Problems derived by bad wording and God directed evolution. Mind-first theories depending on a “sky hook” vs “cranes” bottom-up theories. Concept of things that can grow and organize spontaneously, without the need of an external influence. Application in markets. 10:02 – Numerals vs Quantity. Why humans prefer base-10 to count. Use of different numbering bases, like the Mayan base-20 numeral system. 12:14 – Darwin’s main idea. Evolution as a simple algorithm based on natural selection: random things happen, some of those things make the more fit to the environment, therefore those thing last. Explaining genes using energy harvesting and autonomous robots. 14:23 – What’s the point of sleeping? Sleeping is energy efficient. Being awake is the weird thing. An hypothesis on why our brain developed so much is because being awake we have to deal more often with threatening situations. Humans prefer to sleep by night because we are sight animals. 16:29 – About the danger of Darwin’s idea. We are not special, we are just another result of this algorithm, we have no meaning. Against "our mind is special" argument. Winning in evolution. Domesticated animals winning evolution over wild versions: "They are selected to be OK with us". 20:44 – About unfortunate naming and wording. “Knowledge”, “Natural Selection” and “Invisible Hand” example. Random-process-that-results-in-a-refinement concept. 22:26 – Memes <-> genes analogy. Ideas spreading in cultures is like genes spreading in populations. There's nothing special with ideas, there are memes that caught on and last, natural selection applies to them too. Sacred texts interpretation in religions: texts are brutal, core ideas are valuable. 26:25 – Tribal doctors analogy. Nat's experience in the Amazon Jungle. 28:17 – Losing valuable bottom-up knowledge. Paleo diet as going back to this knowledge. How fetishizing technology made as loose knowledge. Golden Rule: the older something is the longer probably will be around because there is a reason that it lasted. 30:31 – Tangent. Why the Greeks seem to have invented so many concepts. Japan preserved as Galapagos. Asian cultures compared to the US . Why in Tokyo they don't have trash cans. Street food culture in Asian countries. 36:40 – Spreading of ideas and knowledge in animals. Whales teaching others to create bubble nets. Lions teaching cubs how to hunt. 38:40 – Myths. Writing as a better way to preserve ideas. Enhanced understanding and being able to abstract and comprehend relativity. 41:28 – Different types of understandings: design level, technical understanding, physical, intentional. Function of bones, appendix and pinky toes. 42:59 – Tangent. About raw water, beer and coffee. How coffee may have caused Renaissance. 45:53 – Aquatic ape hypothesis. The reason we differentiate from chimps is because at one point of our history we were at half way of being dolphins. Inclination to live near water bodies. 50:30 – Epigenetics. Why the author overlooked this topic. Genes and phenotypes. How modifying our diets and behaviors can bias our evolution in few generations. Keto diet reaction for different regions. Effect of testosterone on facial traits. 59:25 – Tangent. Food labeling. Labeling in beer as a marketing strategy . Sugar allowance and lobbies. Super high carb diet and avoiding mixing carbs and fat diets. Against Mediterranean diet. 1:03:55 – Concept of of speciation. We can analyze evolution going backwards but can’t predict it. Problems with too much forward planning. "Strong goals loosely held" (instead of opinions). Humans won because we cooperate, or, we survived some event. Traffic jam example. 1:08:03 – Retrograde motion. Geocentric orbit model. "God hides in the gaps." 1:12:15 – Intentional and unintentional creations. Scientific discoveries vs art creation. Library of Babel thought experiment: infinite library that has every possible human creation but there is only one random variation expressed, as an analogy for genetic expression. Example of horned birds. “Evolution can explain how whe are here, but can’t explain why”. 01:16:23 – Darwin's warm pool idea of how life could have formed. The chances that we find human-like life in other planets are very low. Possible branches of evolution and comfortable homeostasis. “If the astro hadn't hit, would we have stayed a dinosaurs' planet?” 1:18:46 – Misinterpretations of seeing humans as the end of evolution. Coin flipping contest example. "Winning" evolution. 1:22:37 – Connection with Godel Escher Bach. Our consciousness and our minds are not special. Parallel with ants. Evolutionary algorithms in Computer Science and AI. Against the “all of this constants are right for us to exist” argument. Relativity and clocks in space example. 1:28:53 – The Ethics problem and why we should stop trying solving it problems. Where we draw the line for human "soul"?. 1:34:40 – Subscribe to the Mailing List to receive bonuses, giveaways, and more. People that make this show happen: Perfect Keto is the one-stop shop for all your ketogenic diet needs. The ketogenic diet is really effective for weight loss. Perfect Keto’s exogenous ketones helps you get into ketosis. Use the 20% coupon mentioned in the episode or use this link! The mushroom coffee from Four Sigmatic energizes you with less caffeine. Chaga Elixir and Lion's Mane mush's are stimulants and give a really nice buzz, and the Cordyceps Elixir is a caffeine-free stimulant. They hot cocoas instead, are relaxing and work as a delicious night dessert. Kettle & Fire bone broth helps you warm in this winter. Theory says we were scavengers and sucked up the bone colagens. K&F bone broth is excellent to get all those nutrients we don’t get anymore. Also it helps combat modern diseases like small intestine bacterial overgrowth. Finally, you help the show for free shopping on Amazon through our affiliate link. 1:40:06 – Crypto tangent. Ethereum rise is not really a rise. Buying other coins. Opportunity cost and parallel with business: investing in client acquisition vs client retention. Invest in the bottleneck. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://madeyouthinkpodcast.com

“We live at a time when man believes himself fabulously capable of creation, but he does not know what to create. Lord of all things, he is not lord of himself. He feels lost amid his own abundance. With more means at his disposal, more knowledge, more technique than ever, it turns out that the world today goes the same way as the worst of worlds that have been: it simply drifts”. In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss Revolt of the Masses by José Ortega y Gasset. In this pre-WWII collection of essays Ortega y Gasset critiques and predicts the rise and predominance of the "Mass-man" class and instigates us to be accountable of our destiny. “The select man is not the petulant person who thinks himself superior to the rest, but the man who demands more of himself than the rest, even though he may not fulfill in his person those higher exigencies”. We cover a wide range of topics, including: The profile of a Mass-man, its differences with the Noble-man, and how to avoid being mediocre. Liberalism concepts today and in the past. When to listen to others opinions and when not. Behaviour within and between groups. About being responsible of our destiny and having the will to build our self future. Perceptions and regulation viewed by different sides and generations. And much more. Please enjoy, and be sure to grab a copy of Revolt of the Masses!  You can also listen on Google Play Music, SoundCloud, YouTube, or in any other podcasting app by searching "Made You Think." If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out our episode on the Sovereign Individual by James Dale Davidson, to learn how modern technologies can help you be in control of your own future, as well as our episode on Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse, to improve your life with new perspectives. Links from the Episode Mentioned in the show: Slack [22:45] Jordan Petersen Podcast [26:05] Violence and the Sacred: College as an incubator of Girardian terror – article by Dan Wang [33:51] Game of Thrones [34:37] The meaning of life in a world without work  – article by Yuval Noah Harari [37:59] Zeecash [44:22] Tylenol [45:20] Coinbase [46:24] Binance [46:37] Tron Whitepaper [48:35] A Crash Course In Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Cryptocurrency [48:57] Blockfolio [48:57] Recap Time! Our Favorite Lessons from Episodes 1-20 [51:13] How to Think Like Elon Musk [56:23] Level 3 Thinking: A Unified Theory of Self-Improvement [56:35] Nat’s tweet on 4 levels of thinking [56:35] LifeHacker.com [59:15] Huffington Post [59:15] The Age of Unreason – The Economist (not The Atlantic) [1:02:27] Amazon [1:10:57] Books mentioned: Revolt of the Masses [0:00] The Sovereign Individual [1:11] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Finite and Infinite Games [1:16] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Mastery [3:35] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Antifragile [3:43] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Emergency [9:03] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley [23:21] Darwin's Dangerous Idea [23:25] The Selfish Gene [30:16] The Denial of Death [30:16] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) The Psychology of Human Misjudgments [30:16] (book episode) I Will Teach You To Be Rich [59:38] (Nat’s Notes) The 4-Hour Workweek [59:38] (Nat’s Notes) Principles [59:38] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Letters from a Stoic [59:38] (Nat’s Notes) (book episode) Influence [1:00:44] (book episode) People mentioned: Pepper the Poochon [0:26] Nassim Nicholas Taleb [1:55] (Antifragile episode) Karl Marx [8:11] Socialists of New York City [9:11] Jordan Peterson [9:36] Adolf Hitler [11:10] Milton Friedman [14:55] Hillary Clinton [15:14] Gary Johnson [15:28] Tim Ferriss [17:17] John D. Rockefeller [22:12] Elon Musk [25:27] (on this podcast) Charlie Munger [30:16] Dan Wang [33:51] Yuval Noah Harari [37:59] Barack Obama [53:47] Ashton Kutcher [1:01:00] Channing Tatum [1:01:13] Ray Dalio [1:03:16] (on this podcast) Winston Churchill [1:18:08] Show Topics 0:00 – “We live at a time when man believes himself fabulously capable of creation, but he does not know what to create. Lord of all things, he is not lord of himself. He feels lost amid his own abundance. With more means at his disposal, more knowledge, more technique than ever, it turns out that the world today goes the same way as the worst of worlds that have been: it simply drifts.” 0:26 – Welcome to Pepper, the third show host! 0:59 – Intro to Revolt of the Masses (Spanish: La rebelión de las masas), a book written by José Ortega y Gasset. 1:05 – Similarities of Revolt of the Masses with The Sovereign Individual and Finite and Infinite Games. Mention of "Horizonal Thinking" in one of the essays. Introduction of terms used by Ortega, the Mass Man, one who thinks deserve things, vs the Elite/Noble Man, one who thinks about improving himself. 3:16 – Organization of the book in unordered essays instead of chapters. 3:50 – Why Ortega got many predictions right, but may have missed many others by publishing this book before WWII and the Cold War. For example, he didn't expect the US to become a super-power. "The US had the seeds to be great". 5:04 – Tangent. About the difficulty to translate from romance languages to English. Translators vs interpreters. Socially acceptable traits in some countries and not others. 7:06 – Details on the situation of Europe at the time of publishing the book. Europeans worry about spreading of Russian Communism. Socialism in China. 9:11 – Tangent. Socialists of NYC. Perceptions: Nazism vs Socialism as counter-culture; fraud and violence vs crimes of omission and neglect. "It wouldn't be that bad if other people were in charge" argument. Vegans about killing lionfishes example. Jainism (indian religion). 14:14 – Political views of Ortega. Liberalism concepts today and in the past, interpretations and misinterpretations. Free markets and protectionism example. 16:31 – Tangent. New tax to "punish" liberal states. Moving to Texas for tax purposes. Buying an apartment may be cheaper than paying taxes in NY. Zero income tax. San Francisco diaspora. 20:24 – Essay. Distinguishing the Mass man vs the "Select"/Aspirational man. "The select man is not the petulant person who thinks himself superior to the rest, but the man who demands more of himself than the rest, even though he may not fulfil in his person those higher exigencies". Being elite as mindset vs being rich. Access to resources today compared to the past. 25:15 – Tangent. The rise of general quality of life in the last century was due to fossil fuel driven. Humans as the cancer of this planet. Broad philosophy vs personal action. 27:37 – Conformity. Groups of people against others. Fear of strangers. Nature preserve in Costa Rica for dogs. 31:55 – Essay. Masses have more than they ever had, and appreciate less and less. Upward mobility viewed by different people. "Poor people are lazy" argument. Girardian Terror concept. Selection bias and Game of Thrones. Conflicts within casts vs between casts, in India. 37:13 – "The sovereignty of the unqualified individual, of the generic human being as such, generically, has now passed from being a juridical idea or ideal to be a psychological state inherent in the average man. And note this, that when what was before an ideal becomes an ingredient of reality it inevitably ceases to be an ideal". Critique of the Mass person as a human that is not striving. The "Useless" Class. 38:34 – Tangent. Going back to the serves-and-lord state. 39:10 – The meaning of life in a world without work. Living in Virtual Reality, and Religion as VR. Artificial Intelligence and the need of Basic Universal Income. 41:15 – City states as the economic hubs of the future. Singapore and Hong Kong, San Francisco and New York. Importing beer in Hong Kong and in the US. Moving away from regulation because "nobody cares" and generational approaches to law. 45:41 – How regulation scares bitcoin price. About bitcoin wallets reporting to the IRS. How bitcoin relates to some many other topics: nation-states, business, currencies, politics, finance, politics, geography, cryptography, computer science, philosophy, etc. 51:45 – "The Mass-man is he whose life lacks projects and just drifts along. As a result, though his possibilities and his powers be enormous, he constructs nothing". Having the ability and motivation to improve thanks to today's technology. How today's responsibility falls on the individual. Parents wanting their kids to be better off. Sending kids to private school while criticizing public school. Minorities. 55:33 – Essay. Why the masses intervene in everything and why their intervention is solely by violence. Why people are wrong when they believe they can have an opinion now. Level 3 thinking. 58:30 – Tangent. Blog posts with Top X types titles. 1:00:07 – Celebrities endorsing political candidates and the liking fallacy. When to listen to others opinions. Steps to the Revolt. How people think they are entitled to be listened to. Syndicalism and Fascism. "Under the species of Syndicalism and Fascism there appears for the first time in Europe a type of man who does not want to give reasons or to be right, but simply shows himself resolved to impose his opinions. This is the new thing: the right not to be reasonable, the "reason of unreason"." 1:04:14 – How the majority does not eliminate the minority. When to respect others’ beliefs. The cake neglected to the gay couple example. Problems that may better be solved by the market. 1:09:15 – Essay. The age of the self-satisfied Dandy. On having rewards that we haven't necessarily gained. Anxiety from feeling entitled to move upward. 1:12:50 – Essay. The Barbarism of Specialization. Problems of overspecialization. Link with Antifragile. 1:14:06 – Essay. The Greatest Danger: The State. How the state could be used to make people conform. Support of regulation and support of police. 1:15:47 – Essay. Who Actually Commands. How governments rule with the compliance of the masses. Why elections should reflect the opinion of the masses, and why the gerrymandering is fragile. The problem with Democracy. About the quality of the legislative chambers. 1:20:29 – Closing thoughts. Be a vital person, be involved with the world, try to do projects, don't get sucked into the masses. 1:20:46 – People that makes this show happen: Kettle and Fire (their bone broth is good for dogs too!), Perfect Keto (reach ketosis effortless), Four Sygmatic Coffee (delicious mushroom coffee, pre-workout hot cocoa mixes). You can support us too, as most have done prepping for the NY snow storm through the Amazon affiliate link. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://madeyouthinkpodcast.com “The select man is not the petulant person who thinks himself superior to the rest, but the man who demands more of himself than the rest, even though he may not fulfill in his person those higher exigencies”.

Failures are just opportunities in disguise. In this episode of made you think, Neil and I revisit the previous books and topics discussed on the podcast. We delve into the most useful lessons that we’ve learned so far, and discuss how you, too, can apply these lessons in your own life. We also had some Irish Mushroom Coffee. We cover various topics from previous episodes, including: The most important lessons from the past twenty episodes Incorporating these lessons into your own life Breaking down the core concepts in each episode Becoming antifragile and resilient to failure Learning to focus solely on what's in your control Letting your intuition and unconscious mind guide you And much more. Please enjoy, and be sure to check out all of our episodes here. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to check out a few of our most popular episodes: How to Think Like Elon Musk, A Crash Course In Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Cryptocurrency, and Turning Chaos to Your Advantage: Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.   Be sure to join our mailing list to find out about what books are coming up, giveaways we're running, special events, and more.   Mentioned in the show: Four Sigmatic’s Mushroom Coffee [0:40] All of Nat’s Notes [13:47] Programming for Marketers [19:43] Square Cash [37:20] Venmo [37:23] Paypal [37:37] Kevin Rose’s Podcast [38:24] Amy Schumer Gives You a Look Into Your Soul article [52:05] What The Health [52:30] Wall-E [55:08] Blast radius of bombs site [1:12:50] Doomsday Planning for Less Crazy Folk article [1:13:29] Made You Think’s amazon affiliate link [1:14:55] The Cook and the Chef [1:25:13] SpaceX [1:27:13] Dos Toros [1:33:39] Growth Machine [1:35:12] Unlimited Brewing [1:35:31] We Work Remotely [1:36:45] Tucker Max’s CEO hiring article [1:39:56] Tim Ferriss and Ray Dalio podcast episode [1:41:00] Xerox [1:50:58] Four Sigmatic’s Cordyceps Elixir [2:06:25] Perfect Keto’s Exogenous Ketones [2:07:22] Books mentioned: Antifragile [2:28] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) The Beer Bible [6:55] Letters from a Stoic [9:44] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) Black Swan [13:25] (Nat’s Notes) Meditations [14:28] Mastery [15:40] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) The 48 Laws of Power [18:53] (Nat’s Notes) The Art of Seduction [19:08] (Nat’s Notes) The 33 Strategies of War [19:11] The 50th Law [19:17] (Nat’s Notes) The Power of Myth [21:47] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) The Sovereign Individual [21:51] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) In Praise of Idleness [39:14] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) Sapiens [40:16] (Nat’s Notes) Amusing Ourselves to Death [47:40] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) Brave New World [54:52] Finite and Infinite Games [56:40] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) The Way of Zen [1:01:48] (book episode) (Neil’s Notes) (Nat’s Notes) Emergency [1:08:24] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) Godel Escher Bach [1:17:45] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) The Goal [1:30:52] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) Principles [1:37:28] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) The Hero With a Thousand Faces [1:40:34] The Inner Game of Tennis [1:43:22] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) The Psychology of Human Misjudgments [1:48:29] (book episode) Poor Charlie’s Almanack [1:48:42] Work Clean [1:56:07] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) The Denial of Death [1:58:17] (book episode) (Nat’s Notes) Influence [2:01:08] (book episode) People mentioned: Nassim Nicholas Taleb [2:28] Lucius Annaeus Seneca [9:44] Marcus Aurelius [14:28] Epictetus [14:45] Robert Greene [15:40] Ryan Holiday [17:20] Paul Graham [18:03] Justin Mares [19:43] Rapper T.I. [23:56] Kevin Rose [38:24] Bertrand Russell [39:14] Taylor Pearson [43:20] Adil Majid [43:20] Neil Postman [47:40] James P. Carse [56:40] Alan Watts [1:01:48] The Wright Brothers [1:05:11] Neil Strauss [1:08:24] Alex Jones [1:09:07] Douglas R. Hofstadter [1:17:45] Tim Urban [1:25:13] Ray Dalio [1:37:28] Tucker Max [1:39:55] Tim Ferriss [1:41:00] Timothy Gallwey [1:43:22] Daniel Kahneman [1:44:00] Charlie Munger [1:48:29] Dan Charnas [1:56:07] Tiago Forte [1:57:40] Sigmund Freud [1:58:21] Robert Cialdini [2:01:08] 0:00 - Some information on this episode, a bit on the unique beverage being drunk throughout the discussion, and a bit on how this episode is formatted. 2:20 - Book one, Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. How Nat and Neil have applied this book to their own lives and some discussion on a few lessons from the book. Becoming more antifragile and noticing the fragile. Second major lesson at 6:40 on the unnecessary information filter. “You want to look for opportunities where you have really high upside and really limited potential downside.” 9:45 - Book two, Letters from a Stoic by Seneca. How the book was written and some key takeaways from the book. Focusing on what’s in your control, forcing hardships on yourself, and a bit on the other stoic philosophers. 15:40 - Book three, Mastery by Robert Greene. A bit on the book being a must-read for college students, how the book is structured, Robert Greene’s other books, and how the book details important elements of mentor/mentee relationships. “If you want to get really good at something, Mastery is where you start.” 21:50 - Book four, The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell. Discussion on the initiation rituals in the past, which were for boys to become men. Also, a bit on various systems which were passed down throughout time and their significance (e.g. praying for your sickness to go away, benefiting from the placebo effect). Discussion on praying for certain weather conditions back in the day, compared to manipulating it today and the fragility of that. 30:58 - Book five, The Sovereign Individual. Some information on the book, its predictions, a bit on cryptocurrency, and going off the grid. 39:14 - Book six, In Praise of Idleness by Bertrand Russell. Some information on the book, discussion on working and productivity, and some thoughts on spending time on leisure. “You don’t always have to be working, and you shouldn’t feel guilty for not working.” 42:52 - Episode seven, the cryptocurrency crash course episode. What was discussed in the episode and a bit on cryptocurrency in general. 47:40 - Book eight, Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. Some information on the book and discussion on the negatives of the internet, media, and the news. Also, some discussion on the prevalence of false information in the media today. 56:40 - Book nine, Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse. The impact of this book on your perspective and work-life, describing finite vs infinite games, a bit on goals vs systems thinking, and discussing finite playing vs infinite playing. 1:01:48 - Book ten, The Way of Zen by Alan Watts. A bit on the book itself, discussion on meditation, some thoughts on knowledge that’s not defined by explicit rules, and doing things without having the need to explain why. 1:08:24 - Book eleven, Emergency by Neil Strauss. Discussing prepper communities, doomsday survival, and making sure that you’re prepared for bombings, shootings, and other tragic situations. Also, what to do in certain dangerous situations to improve your chances of survival. “Start better preparing for things that might actually happen.” 1:17:45 - Book twelve, Godel Escher Bach by Douglas R. Hofstadter. Some discussion on the wide range of topics found throughout the book and on the intellectual depth of the book. Also, a bit on the accurate predictions the book made and its ideas which are still relevant 50 years later. 1:25:13 - Episode thirteen, the Cook and the Chef article by Tim Urban. Breaking down how Elon Musk thinks. Thinking based on first principles and changing your perspective to force a new way of thinking. “What assumptions can I challenge that I haven’t challenged yet.” 1:30:52 - Book fourteen, The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. Some information on the book and how it’s broken down. Describing the theory of constraints and using this to improve your companies efficiency and for optimizing bottlenecks. Also, a bit of discussion on management and business in general. 1:37:28 - Book fifteen, Principles by Ray Dalio. How the book is formatted, breaking down each section, and a bit on some of the wisdom found in the book. Living by these principles and tracking the decisions that you make. “You can have almost anything you want, but you can’t have everything you want.” “Failures are just opportunities in disguise.” 1:43:22 - Book sixteen, The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallaway. Discussion on the concept of self-one (conscious, ego-based mind) and self-two (unconscious, automatic behavior mind) found in the books. Letting your intuition and your unconscious guide you, and some techniques for allowing this to happen easier. 1:48:29 - Book seventeen, The Psychology of Human Misjudgments by Charlie Munger. What the book was about, the twenty-five psychological failures and cognitive biases that we all fall into, and making better decisions. 1:56:07 - Book eighteen, Work Clean by Dan Charnas. Some information on the book, how you can benefit from it, the relationship between cleanliness and organization with improved productivity, and starting things so that they’re easier to pick up later. 1:58:17 - Book nineteen, The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker. How the book is written, a bit of discussion on Freud, and a bit on our own mortality. 2:01:08 - Book twenty, Influence by Robert Cialdini. A bit on how the book is structured, who could benefit the most from reading it, and some information on each of the chapters. 2:03:05 - Wrap-up, information on Nat’s book notes, the podcast episode, sponsors, and some last thoughts. If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe at https://madeyouthinkpodcast.com