The Local Maximum with Max Sklar

New York City's democratic primary is in the midst of a vote-counting debacle that may go on for weeks. This is their first time using ranked choice voting, but criticism of RCV can be conflating with other problems in the electoral process. Max and Aaron break it down with inside knowledge of NYC politics, social choice theory, and potential solutions. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Author Scott Berkun joins the Local Maximum to talk about his new book How Design Makes the World. We cover the relationship between design and engineering, design ethics, failure modes, and organizational behavior. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max goes deeper into some of the topics and predictions going back to 2015 brought up from the predictions panel earlier this month. He finds lessons and raises questions about lockdowns, the tyranny and unraveling of big tech, bitcoin, and self driving cars. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Today's guest is Gene Epstein, former economics editor at Barron's Magazine and founder of the SoHo forum debate series. We talk about his debates with socialism, the role of innovation in the economic, his experience producing these debates, and the calls for so-called "stakeholder capitalism". Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

This year's prediction panel features discussions on Decentralization, Language Models, Life After Covid, New York City, Social Media Embracing Fake News, and more. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s guest is Jeremy Kauffman, founder and CEO of Odysee and LBRY. LBRY is the underlying technology and blockchain that powers a decentralized video hosting service, but Odysee sits on top of it, and makes it a credible and increasingly popular YouTube alternative. Max talks to Jeremy about how he did it, and how the blockchain strategy can be replicated. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max and Aaron finish their discussion of the Fourth Turning, including evaluations of the theory, how it could be tested, what it predicts, and speculation on how the coming crisis could play out. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max and Aaron dive into the theory of the Fourth Turning and the cycles of history as put forth in the 1997 book of the same name by Strauss and Howe.CORRECTION: Jerry Seinfeld is a classic boomer, not in Gen X Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Max talks about the recent ransomware attack on the colonial pipeline that let to gas shortages in the southeastern US, how this could encourage security-first principles in design, and the promise and flexibility of crypto-corporations. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s episode discusses the proposed regulations of AI from the European Union, including regulations on Bayesian Inference. This includes the danger and folly of regulating mathematics, but also good practices for decision making and transparency. Finally, we cover graph algorithms, PageRank, and Split Complex Numbers for online dating recommendations. Get full access to The Local Maximum at localmaximum.substack.com/subscribe