Infinite Loops

Why is hard work a form of laziness? Why should we be wary of short-term success? How can imagining parallel worlds help us make better decisions? Author, management advisor, and researcher Luca Dellanna joins us to discuss these questions and more!

Important Links:

• Luca's Website

• Luca's Twitter

Show Notes:

• Ergodicity: survival is king

• Why sample size matters

• The two types of competitors

• Teaching by signaling

• The parallel worlds approach to decision-making

• Racing to the bottom

• Why working hard can be a form of laziness

• The three things managers should prioritize

• Why desiring change isn't enough

• Fighting avoidance with actionable small steps

• "Mixed values produce mixed results"

• Thinking by writing

• What Luca has learned from living in multiple countries

• Luca as Emperor of the World

• MORE!

Books Mentioned:

• Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder; by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

• What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O'Shaughnessy

• Ergodicity: Definition, Examples, And Implications, As Simple As Possible; by Luca Dellanna

• The Control Heuristic: The Nature of Human Behavior; by Luca Dellanna

• 100 Truths You Will Learn Too Late; by Luca Dellanna

• Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu

Why is hard work a form of laziness? Why should we be wary of short-term success? How can imagining parallel worlds help us make better decisions? Author, management advisor, and researcher Luca Dellanna joins us to discuss these questions and more!

Important Links:

• Luca's Website

• Luca's Twitter

Show Notes:

• Ergodicity: survival is king

• Why sample size matters

• The two types of competitors

• Teaching by signaling

• The parallel worlds approach to decision-making

• Racing to the bottom

• Why working hard can be a form of laziness

• The three things managers should prioritize

• Why desiring change isn't enough

• Fighting avoidance with actionable small steps

• "Mixed values produce mixed results"

• Thinking by writing

• What Luca has learned from living in multiple countries

• Luca as Emperor of the World

• MORE!

Books Mentioned:

• Antifragile: Things that Gain from Disorder; by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

• What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O'Shaughnessy

• Ergodicity: Definition, Examples, And Implications, As Simple As Possible; by Luca Dellanna

• The Control Heuristic: The Nature of Human Behavior; by Luca Dellanna

• 100 Truths You Will Learn Too Late; by Luca Dellanna

• Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu

Designer, entrepreneur and Visualize Value founder Jack Butcher joins us for his second appearance on the show to discuss how to get closer to reality, the differences between the US & the UK, whether vision can be taught, and MUCH more!

Important Links:

• Jack's Twitter
• Visualize Value
• Jack's first appearance on the show
• How to Get Rich
• The Great Reshuffle

Show Notes:

• Jack's origin story
• Productizing Visualize Value
• Ideas vs experience
• Fighting fear with experience
• Differences between the US & the UK
• "The buck stops here"
• "The day you plant the seed is not the day you eat the fruit"
• How to transcend language
• Can you teach vision?
• The internet as a variance amplifier
• How to communicate clearly
• Get closer to reality
• Jack's Twitter X Logo
• Jack as emperor of the world
• MORE!

Books Mentioned:

• The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (a Little) Craziness and (a Lot Of) Success in America; by John Gartner
• The Illuminatus! Trilogy; by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea
• The Psychology of Money, by Morgan Housel
• Spiritually Incorrect Enlightenment; by Jed McKenna

Dan Runcie is the Founder of Trapital, a company focused on music, media, and entertainment. Trapital's output includes a podcast, weekly newsletter, and deep-dive essays breaking down trends in the music industry. Dan joins us for his second appearance on the show to discuss how AI will transform the music industry, whether the age of the superstar is over, how artists become billionaires, and MUCH more! Important Links:

• Dan's Twitter
• Trapital
• Dan's first appearance on the show

Show Notes:

• Can the music industry embrace AI?
• What will happen to music when AI gets better?
• Will some genres be quicker to adapt than others?
• How streaming algorithms are improving
• Are AI playlists the death of DJs?
• How artists can game the algorithm
• How artists can use the music industry's Pareto distribution
• Artists become millionaires selling music, and billionaires selling product
• Will we see the end of record companies?
• Will Bowie Bonds die?
• Are we going to see the end of the superstar?
• Ads & audiences
• Spotify vs YouTube vs TikTok
• Can newcomers displace the incumbents?
• Will the streamers dominate podcasting?
• What's next?
• Dan as Emperor of the World
• MORE!

Dr. William Zeng is founder and President of the Unitary Fund, a non-profit dedicated to developing the quantum ecosystem to benefit the most people. He previously led initial development of Rigetti Computing's quantum cloud platform, and is co-inventor of the Quil quantum instruction language. He was named to Forbes' 30 under 30 in the Science category for his work on quantum computing. Dr. William was one of the first recipients of an O'Shaughnessy Fellowship, which is a one-year program for ambitious people who want to build something great. Fellows receive a $100,000 grant and access to OSV's network of founders, investors and experts to support them in bringing their projects to life. Dr. William is using his fellowship grant to study how emerging quantum technologies can explore foundational questions in quantum mechanics. Important Links:

• The O'Shaughnessy Fellowships
• The Unitary Fund
• Will's Twitter
• A possibilities no-go theorem on the Wigner's friend paradox

Show Notes:

• An introduction to quantum computing
• Regular computers vs quantum computers
• The impact of simulating quantum systems
• How quantum computing can transform risk analysis
• What does a quantum world look like?
• Encryption & risk
• The benefits of an open-source ecosystem
• Wigner's Friend experiments, agency & objective reality
• "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
• "Technology is an integration of body and mind"
• The laws of physics
• What's next?
• MORE!

Books Mentioned:

• How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival
• The science fiction of Greg Egan
• The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
• Historical Ontology; by Ian Hacking

Jack Raines is an online writer and LinkedIn provocateur, whose newsletter Young Money has already amassed 30,000 readers. Jack joins the show to discuss the importance of travel, the upsides of authenticity, risk, luck, and much, much more! Important Links:

• Jack's Twitter
• Young Money

Show Notes:

• Jack's origin story
• Optionality and opportunity costs
• Hostel hopping
• The healthy life
• Grindset and hustle culture
• LinkedIn pranks
• Slamming the door on opportunities
• Work culture and the Great Reshuffle
• The luck of being alive today
• Crypto skepticism
• Quantifying risk
• Jack's three favourite places in the world
• The default path is not your destiny

Richard Craib is the Founder & CEO of Numerai, a new kind of hedge fund where data scientists around the world collaborate to predict equity returns using artificial intelligence. Richard joins the show to discuss Numerai's origins, how it embraces the spirit of open source, why it has its own cryptocurrency and MUCH more! Important Links:

• Numerai
• Richard's Twitter

Show Notes:

• The genesis of Numerai
• How and why Numerai gives away its dataset
• Getting users to put skin in the game
• How Numerai scores users; becoming comfortable with the process
• Size limits & leverage
• Reactions to Numerai
• Numerai's cryptocurrency
• How Numerai differs from Quantopian
• Data, optimization & LLMs
• "Monopolize intelligence, monopolize data, monopolize money, and decentralize the monopoly"
• What could go wrong?
• Numerai's relationship with its data scientists
• Could Numerai's model work in any other industries?
• What could go wrong?
• "Life is long"
• MORE!

The scientist, researcher, analyst, connector, thinker, and doer Brian Roemmele joins us for his second Infinite Loops appearance to discuss the decline of wisdom and how we can save it, why LLMs are the modern version of Plato's cave, we need locally run AI models and MUCH more! Important Links:

• Brian's Twitter
• ReadMultiplex.com
• 40 AI Use Cases: How Many Did You Know About?
• Brian's first Infinite Loops appearance

Show Notes:

• Why LLMs are the modern version of Plato's cave
• AI as Promethean fire
• Why we need locally run AI models
• AI use cases & the Nedd Ludd story
• The decline of wisdom
• Creating a wisdom keeper
• Loneliness & abandonment
• "How To Have A Conversation With Your Local Documents"
• History is written by the victors; using wisdom to define our future
• The tragedy of lost knowledge
• You are loved and you are not alone
• MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

• Cycles: The Science of Prediction; by Edward R. Dewey and Edwin F. Dakin
• The Iliad; by Homer
• The Odyssey; by Homer
• The Epic of Gilgamesh
• The Bible
• The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size; by Tor Norretranders
• The Hero with a Thousand Faces; by Joseph Campbell

Dr. Pippa Malmgren is an economist, founder, keynote speaker & award-winning author. She served President George W. Bush as Special Assistant to the President and on the National Economic Council. She was responsible for financial market issues during the Enron crisis, and was responsible for assessing terrorism risks to the economy after 9/11. She has also advised the US Cabinet. Dr. Pippa's most recent book, the Infinite Leader, won the International Press Award for the Best Book on Leadership for 2021. Dr. Pippa joins the show to discuss why leadership has gone wrong, what she thinks of the recent UFO news, why we're already in World War III, and a whole lot more! Important Links:

• Dr. Pippa's website
• Dr. Pippa's Substack
• Dr. Pippa's Twitter

Show Notes:

• Why leadership has gone wrong
• Worldbuilding & the difference between management and leadership
• Why leaders always stay too long
• Balancing trust vs truth
• Confidence vs competence
• Balance, surfing & Taoism
• Numbers, stories & UFOs
• Reality belief systems: "It's not only stranger than we think, it's stranger than we can think."
• How psychedelics impact how we understand reality
• What Pippa would include in her leadership academy
• Bailouts, inflation & CBDCs
• We are already in World War III
• Creating a hug movement
• MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

• The Infinite Leader: Balancing the Demands of Modern Business Leadership; by Chris Lewis & Dr. Pippa Malmgren
• The Leadership Lab: Understanding Leadership in the 21st Century; by Chris Lewis & Dr. Pippa Malmgren
• Signals: How Everyday Signs Can Help Us Navigate the World's Turbulent Economy; by Dr. Pippa Malmgren
• Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life; by Rory Sutherland
• Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders; by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
• Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
• The Rig Veda
• Prometheus Rising; by Robert Anton Wilson
• Wholeness and the Implicate Order; by David Bohm
• Orthodoxy; by G. K. Chesterton

mgren is an economist, founder, keynote speaker & award-winning author. She served President George W. Bush as Special Assistant to the President and on the National Economic Council. She was responsible for financial market issues during the Enron crisis, and was responsible for assessing terrorism risks to the economy after 9/11. She has also advised the US Cabinet. Dr. Pippa's most recent book, the Infinite Leader, won the International Press Award for the Best Book on Leadership for 2021. Dr. Pippa joins the show to discuss why leadership has gone wrong, what she thinks of the recent UFO news, why we're already in World War III, and a whole lot more! Important Links:

• Dr. Pippa's website
• Dr. Pippa's Substack
• Dr. Pippa's Twitter

Show Notes:

• Why leadership has gone wrong
• Worldbuilding & the difference between management and leadership
• Why leaders always stay too long
• Balancing trust vs truth
• Confidence vs competence
• Balance, surfing & Taoism
• Numbers, stories & UFOs
• Reality belief systems: "It's not only stranger than we think, it's stranger than we can think."
• How psychedelics impact how we understand reality
• What Pippa would include in her leadership academy
• Bailouts, inflation & CBDCs
• We are already in World War III
• Creating a hug movement
• MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

• The Infinite Leader: Balancing the Demands of Modern Business Leadership; by Chris Lewis & Dr. Pippa Malmgren
• The Leadership Lab: Understanding Leadership in the 21st Century; by Chris Lewis & Dr. Pippa Malmgren
• Signals: How Everyday Signs Can Help Us Navigate the World's Turbulent Economy; by Dr. Pippa Malmgren
• Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life; by Rory Sutherland
• Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders; by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic
• Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
• The Rig Veda
• Prometheus Rising; by Robert Anton Wilson
• Wholeness and the Implicate Order; by David Bohm
• Orthodoxy; by G. K. Chesterton

Ethan Mollick is an Associate Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he studies and teaches innovation and entrepreneurship. He also leads Wharton Interactive, an effort to democratize education using games, simulations, and AI. When Ethan started his Substack One Useful Thing in November last year, he was planning on writing about a different management paper every post. Then, in Ethan's words, the arrival of ChatGPT turned him from "an AI-skeptic to an AI-believer." Over the last few months, Ethan has been explaining the rapid developments in the AI industry, documenting how he has incorporated AI into his teaching, and providing practical guides to how we can use AI in our daily lives. Important Links:

• Ethan's Substack
• Ethan's Twitter
• 40 AI Use Cases: How Many Did You Know About?

Show Notes:

• From AI skeptic to AI believer
• AI is already disruptive
• Unexpected AI use cases
• AI is not a search engine
• Prompt crafting is not the future
• Is the centaur model the future?
• How will AI impact education?
• Will AI accelerate entrepreneurship?
• The politics & geopolitics of AI
• How to get unique results using AI
• Using AI to explore liminal spaces
• Speed-running the adoption curve
• Can you teach curiosity?
• The complex relationship between corporations and AI use
• We have agency over our future
• MORE!

Books Mentioned:

• The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology; by Raymond Kurzweil
• The Iliad; by Homer