Epsilon Theory Podcast

By Ben Hunt

Business

What's Epsilon Theory Podcast about?

Epsilon Theory is an exploration of the most powerful force in our social world - narrative. See more at www.epsilontheory.com.

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LAST EPISODE

Breaking News #10: The Stor...

12.06.2023

Generative AI has the power to become one of the most significant innovations any of us will see in our lifetimes. In fact, it may already be there. In this episode, we discuss the impact of this new technology on ...

Epsilon Theory Podcast episodes:

12.06.2023 Breaking News #10: The Story of Generative AI \| Bringing the Power of Discovery Back to the People Generative AI has the power to become one of the most significant innovations any of us will see in our lifetimes. In fact, it may already be there. In this episode, we discuss the impact of this new technology on ...
12.05.2023 Men of God in the City of Man, Part 3: Memetics In the same way that genetics governs how physical viruses reproduce within a host, memetics governs how narrative viruses reproduce within a culture. And the memes which govern our narrative virus are powerful.
12.01.2023 Cursed Knowledge #25: Truffle Hunting Truffles are well known to be one of the rarest, and most expensive, delicacies available. What's not known is the cutthroat world of truffle hunting. Where it's not uncommon to see fraud, theft, sabotage, and even murder.
11.22.2023 Breaking News #9: Hold My Beer With primary season getting into full swing, there is a lot going on in the political world. Candidates are taking things up a notch with their aggressive tweets and comments to try to stay relevant as a Trump vs. Biden ...
11.17.2023 Cursed Knowledge #24: Hollywood Accounting We know that Hollywood is a multibillion dollar industry that shows no signs of slowing anytime soon. So then why do so many studios report that their movies failed? Especially when most of these movies are incredibly popular and by ...
11.09.2023 Breaking News #8: When Narrative Doesn't Matter \| The Israeli Strategy of Total War People traditionally look at war as something that is fought on a battlefield. And that is certainly true. But it is also fought in the world of narrative. The stories that are told by both the combatants in a war ...
11.02.2023 Cursed Knowledge #23: Mega Disasters Earthquakes, storms, volcanos, oh my. It seems the earth is always trying to kill us one way or another. These are dangerous powerful spectacles that can literally reshape the world. It’s understandable that we’re so fascinated by them. But why ...
10.26.2023 Breaking News #7: When the Media Failed Us: The Changing Story of the Gaza Hospital Explosion There was an explosion in the vicinity of a hospital in Gaza. The media immediately began reporting on it. Major newspapers put out front page headlines. Television stations brought on experts to voice their opinions, But there was one major ...
10.20.2023 Cursed Knowledge #22: The Narrative of Reality TV Reality TV is a constant and ever growing part of pop culture. Everyone has a guilty pleasure show that they watch every week. It's created stars and scandals that have gained international attention. It's dominated the small screen for almost ...
10.12.2023 Breaking News #6: Maintaining Optimism in a Polarized Political World The political world is becoming more polarized by the day. Whether it be on social media, in the news, or in the real world, extreme opinions continue to dominate any attempt to take a more balanced view. In our previous ...
10.05.2023 Cursed Knowledge #21: Invasive Species Invasive species are a known "bad thing". An organism that's introduced to an environment and ruins it. So why don't we do anything about them? Is there anything we can do?
09.28.2023 Breaking News #5: Voldemort 2024! The Biden/Trump Rematch No One Wants Poll numbers show that the majority of Americans are not happy about the choice between Joe Biden and Donald Trump that we are likely to face in the next election. In this episode, we discuss how we got to this ...
09.21.2023 Cursed Knowledge #20: Airbnb Airbnb has reshaped how we travel and disrupted the hotel industry. But most of the stories from both guests and hosts reveal nothing but disasters. So what's really going on? What's the real story of Airbnb?
09.14.2023 Breaking News #4: From Ross Perot to RFK Jr – The Evolving Narratives of Political Entrepreneurs In this episode, we take a deep dive into the tactics and tools used by upstart political entrepreneurs. Our political system is setup to heavily favor incumbents and candidates that are part of the political establishment. This presents an exceptionally ...
09.07.2023 Cursed Knowledge #19: The Snappiest Place on Earth We live in a very safe world. And we've worked hard to make it safe. But sometimes we take that safety for granted. And sometimes we think that safety applies even when it really really doesn't.
08.31.2023 Men of God in the City of Man, Part 2: Carriers Every virus needs carriers to spread. Even a narrative virus. We can learn a lot from what they have in common.
08.31.2023 Breaking News #3 ESG, Vivek Ramaswamy and The Influence of Political Entrepreneurs Political entrepreneurs are all around us. They influence what we think. They influence how we think. But we often don't recognize it. In this episode, we pull back the curtain on the world of political entrepreneurs. We explain who they ...
08.24.2023 Cursed Knowledge #18: The Bone Wars The Bone Wars. A decade long battle of ego between two dueling paleontologists. It's a tale of obsession, sabotage, and academic backstabbing. This clash of titans brought new attention to the theory of evolution and helped make dinosaurs the cultural ...
08.24.2023 Epsilon Theory on Tape: Men of God in the City of Man, Part 1: Virus This is a story about a virus and the gain-of-function research that produced it. It's not what you think.
08.17.2023 Breaking News #2: The Drumbeat of Inflation High inflation was the story of the investing world in the past couple of years. But that has recently changed. The common knowledge around inflation has now shifted from one that high inflation is here to stay to one that ...
08.10.2023 Cursed Knowledge #17: Frances Ethel Gumm and the Wizard of Oz Harper and Ben finally get a chance to talk about the Wizard of Oz and the not so wonderful behind the scenes production. Of course this was par for the course in the Golden Age of Hollywood as the studio ...
08.03.2023 Breaking News #1: The Water In Which We Swim Join Ben Hunt, Matt Zeigler and Jack Forehand as we break open the news to reveal the nudging language behind the headlines. Media bias is real, but not in the way you think. In our kick-off episode, Ben, Matt and ...
07.27.2023 Cursed Knowledge #16: Women in Refrigerators A revamped Cursed Knowledge is back! This episode, Harper and Ben talk about the all too common trope of killing off female characters to motivate male characters. It's everywhere and it can tell us a lot about how hard it ...
04.14.2023 Epsilon Theory on Tape: An AI In The City Of God The City of Man always wins. The Visigoths always sack Rome. The Vandals always sack Hippo. Augustine always dies in the siege. Bad things always happen to good people ... at scale. Here's how we use generative AI to flip ...
02.09.2023 Epsilon Theory on Tape: Starry Eyes and Starry Skies The student loan crisis is a Big Deal. And it is only a part of a Bigger Deal: the Myth of College. This issue will be front-and-center in the upcoming elections. We will all be handed our very own 'Yay, ...
12.06.2022 Epsilon Theory on Tape: The MacGuffin, Part 2: The Story Arc of SBF and FTX The MacGuffin is the object of desire. It is the thing around which the plot of the story revolves. Here is the story arc of SBF and FTX, and the MacGuffin that anchored it all - the Magical Money Machine.
12.06.2022 Epsilon Theory on Tape: MacGuffin, Part 1: The Corrupt Crypto 'Revolution' If you don't see that the crypto "industry" has become just as blindingly corrupt, just as oozingly fatuous, just as profoundly captured by the Nudging Oligarchy as the traditional financial services industry it was supposed to replace ... well, you're ...
10.28.2022 Cursed Knowledge #15: Sir Edmund Hillary Thinks You're An Ass Mt Everest is a death trap. Everything about the mountain is designed to kill you. So why are so many people going up there? Why do we ignore the very real and very dangerous narratives that are right in our ...
10.05.2022 Epsilon Theory on Tape: Notes From the Field What does farming have to do with investing? Quite a lot, actually. In this first of a series that takes on a life of its own, Ben discusses bees and bonds, eggs and ETFs, and more.
10.05.2022 Epsilon Theory on Tape: The Goldfinch in Winter Part 2 of Ben's Notes from the Field series, in which he considers the question: what can a bird teach us about value investing? To everything there is a season.
10.05.2022 Epsilon Theory on Tape: Horsepower There is no animal more important to the ascendancy of Western Civilization than the horse, and no invention more important than the horse collar. After all nothing shapes history like advances in productivity. Part 3 of Ben's Notes from the ...
10.03.2022 Cursed Knowledge #14: In Defense of Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette has a rather interesting historical footprint. For all that her image is iconic and her reputation infamous, it's not all the truth. The real Marie Antoinette has been lost to the cartoon of Marie Antoinette™. So I want ...
09.20.2022 Cursed Knowledge #13: Subverting Censorship The Golden Age of Hollywood was full of drama. On and off screen. It was the age of carefully cultivated images. Fake names and secret procedures. And it was the age of censorship. The Hays Code and the censorship office ...
08.29.2022 Epsilon Theory on Tape: This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things Part 13 of the Notes from the Field series discusses the Narrative Machine, which can help us see the invisible memes that drive our political behaviors. Because you're smart enough to make up your own damn mind.
08.24.2022 Cursed Knowledge #12: Resurrectionists What's in a name? Quite a bit actually. Names and titles can be all that's needed to make some one a hero or a villain. So we're looking at some villains who never got their proper title. People who were ...
07.26.2022 Cursed Knowledge #11: Locks of Love Locks of Love is one of the most well known and well regarded charities in America. But things aren't always what they seem. Sometimes the smokescreen of common knowledge can obscure what's really going on. So join me in a ...
07.19.2022 Epsilon Theory on Tape: Hollow Men, Hollow Markets, Hollow World Over the past 25 years, our leaders have intentionally constructed an Apocalypse Now world of proclamation and fiat, where our wealth has grown much faster than our economy. The bill is due for their hubris, and inflation is here to ...
07.13.2022 Epsilon Theory on Tape: A Song of Ice and Fire We are the human animal. We are non-linear. We ARE a song of ice and fire. It’s a song that has built cathedrals and fed billions and taken us to the moon. It’s a song that can do all of ...
06.28.2022 Epsilon Theory on Tape: The Icarus Moment We live in a Cartoon Age, an era not of alienation per Karl Marx, but of alienation per Groucho Marx. What’s the cause, what’s the future, and what do we do about all this? It’s a TL;DR cri de coeur ...
05.31.2022 Epsilon Theory on Tape: Good Job! This is Part 11 of Ben's Notes from the Field series. I don’t need to calculate a Sortino ratio to know if my dogs are doing a Good Job. Same with active investment management. Same with active citizenship. It’s all ...
05.10.2022 Epsilon Theory on Tape: Too Clever By Half The inevitable result of financial innovation gone awry, which it ALWAYS does, is that it ALWAYS ends up empowering the State. When too clever by half people misplay the meta-game, that’s all the excuse the State needs to come swooping ...
05.06.2022 Epsilon Theory on Tape: The Three-Body Problem What if I told you that the dominant strategies for human investing are, without exception, algorithms and derivatives? I don't mean computer-driven investing, I mean good old-fashioned human investing ... stock-picking and the like. And what if I told you ...
04.21.2022 Cursed Knowledge #10: This Podcast Never Happened We've all fallen victim to a bad retcon at some point in our lives. When the story we've been following takes a turn no one was prepared for and we have to act like it all makes perfect sense. It's ...
04.12.2022 Epsilon Theory on Tape: Pecking Order The pecking order is a social system designed to preserve economic inequality: inequality of food for chickens, inequality of wealth for humans. We are trained and told by Team Elite that the pecking order is not a real and brutal ...
04.05.2022 Epsilon Theory on Tape: Clever Hans Part 7 of Ben's Notes from the Field series reminds us that you don’t break a wild horse by crushing its spirit. You nudge it into willingly surrendering its autonomy. Because once you’re trained to welcome the saddle, you’re going ...
03.23.2022 Epsilon Theory on Tape: Sheep Logic In Part 6 of the Notes from the Field Series, Ben observes that we think we are wolves, living by the logic of the pack. In truth we are sheep, living by the logic of the flock.
03.15.2022 Epsilon Theory on Tape: The Arborist In Part 4 of the Notes from the Field Series, Ben identifies how the natural lines of a tree and shaping the tree to follow those lines over time is a lot like shaping a portfolio.
03.10.2022 Cursed Knowledge #9: Cat Eyes, Full Ass, Can't Smile We've all felt insecure about our looks at one point or another. Especially in our chronically online world where how you look can be your whole brand. So with plastic surgery rates on the rise, let's peel back the layers ...
02.07.2022 Cursed Knowledge #8: Bad Publicity Someone once said there's no such thing as bad publicity. With all due respect, this person is an idiot. Publicity, both good and bad, can have major ramifications. Even if you don't play a part in creating it.
01.06.2022 Cursed Knowledge #7: Birkin Bags Birkin bags are one of the ultimate symbols of status. But how did that happen? And are they worth the hype?

Older episodes

Epsilon Theory Podcast

What's Epsilon Theory Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Epsilon Theory Podcast episodes:

Breaking News #10: The Story of Generative AI | Bringing the Power of Discovery Back to the People

Men of God in the City of Man, Part 3: Memetics

Cursed Knowledge #25: Truffle Hunting

Breaking News #9: Hold My Beer

Cursed Knowledge #24: Hollywood Accounting

Breaking News #8: When Narrative Doesn't Matter | The Israeli Strategy of Total War

Cursed Knowledge #23: Mega Disasters

Breaking News #7: When the Media Failed Us: The Changing Story of the Gaza Hospital Explosion

Cursed Knowledge #22: The Narrative of Reality TV

Breaking News #6: Maintaining Optimism in a Polarized Political World

Cursed Knowledge #21: Invasive Species

Breaking News #5: Voldemort 2024! The Biden/Trump Rematch No One Wants

Cursed Knowledge #20: Airbnb

Breaking News #4: From Ross Perot to RFK Jr – The Evolving Narratives of Political Entrepreneurs

Cursed Knowledge #19: The Snappiest Place on Earth

Men of God in the City of Man, Part 2: Carriers

Breaking News #3 ESG, Vivek Ramaswamy and The Influence of Political Entrepreneurs

Cursed Knowledge #18: The Bone Wars

Epsilon Theory on Tape: Men of God in the City of Man, Part 1: Virus

Breaking News #2: The Drumbeat of Inflation

Cursed Knowledge #17: Frances Ethel Gumm and the Wizard of Oz

Breaking News #1: The Water In Which We Swim

Cursed Knowledge #16: Women in Refrigerators

Epsilon Theory on Tape: An AI In The City Of God

Epsilon Theory on Tape: Starry Eyes and Starry Skies

Epsilon Theory on Tape: The MacGuffin, Part 2: The Story Arc of SBF and FTX

Epsilon Theory on Tape: MacGuffin, Part 1: The Corrupt Crypto 'Revolution'

Cursed Knowledge #15: Sir Edmund Hillary Thinks You're An Ass

Epsilon Theory on Tape: Notes From the Field

Epsilon Theory on Tape: The Goldfinch in Winter

Epsilon Theory on Tape: Horsepower

Cursed Knowledge #14: In Defense of Marie Antoinette

Cursed Knowledge #13: Subverting Censorship

Epsilon Theory on Tape: This is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

Cursed Knowledge #12: Resurrectionists

Cursed Knowledge #11: Locks of Love

Epsilon Theory on Tape: Hollow Men, Hollow Markets, Hollow World

Epsilon Theory on Tape: A Song of Ice and Fire

Epsilon Theory on Tape: The Icarus Moment

Epsilon Theory on Tape: Good Job!

Epsilon Theory on Tape: Too Clever By Half

Epsilon Theory on Tape: The Three-Body Problem

Cursed Knowledge #10: This Podcast Never Happened

Epsilon Theory on Tape: Pecking Order

Epsilon Theory on Tape: Clever Hans

Epsilon Theory on Tape: Sheep Logic

Epsilon Theory on Tape: The Arborist

Cursed Knowledge #9: Cat Eyes, Full Ass, Can't Smile

Cursed Knowledge #8: Bad Publicity

Cursed Knowledge #7: Birkin Bags