Infinite Loops

Chen Qiufan (AKA Stanley Chan) is an award-winning science fiction writer, screenwriter, creative producer, and columnist. He is the president of the World Chinese Science Fiction Association and the founder of the content development studio Thema Mundi. Chen joins the show to discuss his latest novel, AI 2041: Ten Visions for the Future, which he co-wrote with former Google China president Kai-Fu Lee. Part science fiction, part science forecasting, over ten short stories AI 2041 imagines the different ways, good and bad, that AI will impact our society. The central thesis? AI will transform our lives, but we remain masters of our fate. Important Links:

• Qiufan's Website
• Qiufan's Twitter

Show Notes:

• Qiufan's sci-fi influences
• When did the third wave of AI begin?
• Why is modern sci-fi so dystopian?
• How AI is going to impact education
• Hidden biases & the objective function
• Deep fakes & narrative collapse
• Accelerationism, balance & Daoism
• Do we need real jobs?
• Happiness is a byproduct
• Living in a post-scarcity society
• What's next?
• MORE!

Books Mentioned:

• AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future; by Kai-Fu Lee & Chen Qiufan
• Bullshit Jobs: A Theory; by David Graeber
• Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
• Trekonomics: The Economics of Star Trek; by Manu Saadia
• Waste Tide; by Chen Qiufan

Todd Goodwin is the founder of Goodwin Hypnosis, a hypnosis center based in North Carolina. He is a Board Certified Fellow of the National Guild of Hypnotists, a designation earned by only one in every 500 hypnotists. As well as working with thousands of clients since opening Goodwin Hypnosis in 2007, Todd has co-facilitated hypnosis certification courses, created a book and accompanying 30-day hypnosis system designed to stop people from smoking, and given numerous presentations on hypnosis to physicians, students, and medical staff. Todd joins the show to discuss some of the common myths & misconceptions around hypnosis. Important Links:

• Goodwin Hypnosis
• Goodwin Hypnosis' YouTube
• The Thinker and the Prover
• Our episode on Dr John Sarno
• The Six Stage Model of Behaviour Change

Show Notes:

• Hypnosis in our everyday lives
• Why isn't hypnosis more widely used?
• "I don't want someone in my head"
• "I can't be hypnotized"
• Targeting the root causes of behavior
• Tension between the conscious & the unconscious
• How secondary gains can obstruct progress
• How to clear root fear
• Using language to elicit change
• Be curious about yourself; remember that you are worthy of love
• MORE!

Books Mentioned:

• Healing Back Pain; by John E. Sarno
• Influence: Science and Practice; by Robert Cialdini
• Frogs into Princes: Neuro Linguistic Programming; by Richard Bandler and John Grinder

Nat & Martha Sharpe have been a creative team for over a decade. Nat was a film school graduate and Martha a storytelling enthusiast. They fell in love while filming a musical parody of "Beowulf" with their friends. After another comedy and two documentaries, they started having children. Focus shifted from art to survival. Together, they learned to code, got off food stamps, and traveled around America in an RV. Today, Nat and Martha homeschool their 5 kids and are eager to explore alternative education, expand their comfort zones, and—as always—make movies. Nat & Martha were 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. Nat & Martha are using their fellowship grant to study and make documentary films of alternative childhood education schools. Important Links:

• The O'Shaughnessy Fellowships
• Nat & Martha's Website
• Nat & Martha's Twitter
• Nat & Martha's O'Shaughnessy Fellowship Application Video
• Nat & Martha's YouTube Channel
• OSV's investment in Synthesis School

Show Notes:

• Nat & Martha's origin story
• How education is connected to community
• "Kids want to survive, they want to thrive, they want to learn"
• Education vs indoctrination
• Screen time isn't the problem & why unschooled children become entrepreneurs
• The magic blue bus
• Finding the others
• What caused the rise in helicopter parenting?
• The conflict between agency & community
• It can be hard to give people money
• Learning by doing; in-demand learning
• How can we monetize the best teachers in the world?
• How AI is going to transform education
• What's next?
• MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

• One Summer: America, 1927; by Bill Bryson

Jason Crawford is the founder & president of The Roots of Progress, a nonprofit dedicated to establishing a new philosophy of progress for the 21st century. Jason has written well over 100 essays on the history of technology and the philosophy of progress, and given numerous talks and interviews on the same. He joins the show to discuss whether humans deserve progress, how to make progress cool, the two types of optimism, and more! Important Links:

• The Roots of Progress
• Jason's Website
• Jason's Twitter
• Discourse on the Arts and Sciences; by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Triumph of the Nerds
• Why I'm a proud solutionist

Show Notes:

• Why do we need progress studies?
• Are humans conditioned to resist progress?
• Increasing the burden of safety
• What the Roots of Progress is seeking to achieve
• How can we make progress cool?
• Pessimism of the intellect; optimism of the will
• Do we deserve progress?
• Progress & politics
• Steelmanning the case against progress
• How can we defend against bad actors?
• Calibrating our approach to risk
• MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

• Frankenstein; by Mary Shelley
• Erewhon; by Samuel Butler
• Darwin Among The Machines; by Samuel Butler
• The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
• The Ultimate Resource; by Julian L. Simon
• The Collapse of the Common Good: How America's Lawsuit Culture Undermines Our Freedom; by Philip K. Howard
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; by Douglas Adams
• The Jungle; by Upton Sinclair
• One Summer: America, 1927; by Bill Bryson

David Pinsof is an evolutionary social scientist and a co-creator of the game Cards Against Humanity. He holds a PhD in Psychology from UCLA, where he studied the evolutionary origins of political bullshit, and has written a handful of academic papers, one of which has been cited 152 times and another of which was quoted in the New York Times. David is the author of the 'Everything Is Bullshit' Substack, which aims to poke holes in the stories we tell ourselves. He joins the show to discuss why happiness & morality are bullshit, the difference between bullshit & lying, why we conceal the status monkey, and more! Important Links:

1. David's Twitter
2. David's Substack; Everything is Bullshit
3. Cards Against Humanity
4. The Execution Hypothesis; by Richard Wrangham
5. Discordianism
6. Our podcast with George Mack
7. Our podcast with Will Storr

Show Notes:

1. What is bullshit?
2. The difference between bullshitting and lying
3. Why moralizing is bullshit
4. Concealing the status monkey
5. The origins of Cards Against Humanity
6. How are status games changing?
7. Why happiness is bullshit
8. Happiness as a status symbol
9. How can we escape bullshit?
10. Why we're driven by negative emotions
11. How to become more positive
12. The role of humor in calling out bullshit
13. MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

1. On Bullshit; by Harry G. Frankfurt
2. Propaganda; by Edward Bernays
3. Influence: Science and Practice; by Robert Cialdini
4. The Moral Animal: Why We Are The Way We Are; by Robert Wright
5. The Status Game: On Social Position and How We Use It; by Will Storr
6. The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the Forces of History; by Howard Bloom
7. Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment
8. Happy; by Derren Brown
9. Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu
10. Gödel, Escher, Bach; by Douglas Hofstadter

Dylan O'Sullivan is a writer and media specialist based in Cork, Ireland. Dylan's work has been published in magazines such as The Spectator and Areo. He is also the creator of Essayful, a Substack dedicated to becoming "a new home for writing." Following his participation in David Perell's Write of Passage course last year, Dylan joined us as an intern at O'Shaughnessy Ventures. He joins the show to discuss the problem with traditional education, the blurry border between fiction & nonfiction, how AI is going to impact writing, why Ireland has such cultural influence, and more! Important Links:

• Dylan's Twitter
• Essayful
• Write of Passage

Show Notes:

• Losing the O's
• The collapse of the old institutions
• An introduction to Essayful
• "There's nothing new under the sun."
• The blurry border between fiction & nonfiction
• Rebuilding the Tower of Babel
• A book as a living thing
• How is AI going to impact writing?
• Why Dylan took Write of Passage
• Why are academic papers so hard to read?
• Why does Ireland have such cultural influence?
• What's next?
• More!

Books Mentioned:

• Old God's Time; by Sebastian Barry
• Unflattening; by Nick Sousanis
• The Island of Saints and Scholars; Sean McMahon
• Ulysses; by James Joyce

After starting his career on a market stall in Essex, John Sills has spent the last twenty-five years working to make the world a better place for customers. John is the Managing Partner at the customer-led growth company The Foundation, and his writing has also been featured in publications such as The Guardian and Management Today. He joins the show to discuss his thought-provoking and timely new book The Human Experience: How to make life better for your customers and create a more successful organization. Important Links:

• John's Website
• John's Twitter
• John's Substack

Show Notes:

• John's time working on an Essex market stall
• Human vs functional customer experience
• What's blocking the human experience?
• Why do leaders stay away from the frontline?
• Escaping Vogonization
• Does the human experience scale?
• The benefits of starting from first principles
• Why companies should empower their staff
• The link between curiosity, creativity & customer experience
• Why aren't companies changing & why aren't more startups disrupting?
• Are frictionless customer experiences desirable?
• The myth of customer loyalty
• Tech upgrades & immersion
• MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

• The Human Experience: How to make life better for your customers and create a more successful organization; by John Sills
• The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom
• The Customer Copernicus: How to be Customer-Led; by Charlie Dawson
• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; by Douglas Adams

Billy Oppenheimer is a researcher for Ryan Holiday. He is also known for his viral long-form tweets and Six at 6 on Sunday newsletter. Billy is insatiably curious. He is a master at drawing lessons from anecdotes from the worlds of sports, music, comedy, business, and more. He joins the show to discuss how to cultivate good taste, whether everything is a remix, why he learns through introjection, and a whole lot more. Important Links:

• Six at 6 on Sunday
• Billy's Twitter
• Billy's website
• Our episodes with David Senra (1, 2)
• 'A Bicycle of the Mind' - Steve Jobs on the Computer
• Our episode with Edward Rooster
• To His Coy Mistress; by Andrew Marvell
• Kubla Khan; by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Show Notes:

• Focus on doing the thing
• SIX at 6's origin story
• Learning through introjection
• Developing taste & cultivating curiosity
• "People don't have ideas, ideas have people"
• How Billy practices his scales
• Fiction vs non-fiction
• Repetition, repetition, repetition
• Should we study more failures?
• Process compounds
• "Care, but don't care too much"
• Has anyone succeeded without persistence?
• Conceptual ancestors
• Everything's a remix
• Taste, tools, markets & feedback
• Finding your pain points
• MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

• Trust Me, I'm Lying; by Ryan Holiday
• Psychology of Money; by Morgan Housel
• Atomic Habits; by James Clear
• The Immortality Key : The Secret History of the Religion with No Name; by Brian C. Muraresku
• Reality Hunger; by David Shields
• The Power of Myth; by Joseph Campbell & Bill Moyers
• Cloud Atlas; by David Mitchell
• The Great Gatsby; by F. Scott Fitzgerald
• The Da Vinci Code; by Dan Brown

Friend-of-the-show (and new O'Shaughnessy Ventures team member) Liberty RPF joins Jim and fellow friend-of-the-show Jimmy Soni to discuss the current state of the publishing industry and the new opportunities emerging for current and aspiring authors. Important Links:

• Jimmy's Website
• Jimmy's Twitter
• Liberty's Newsletter
• Liberty's Twitter
• 10 Reasons Why I'm Publishing My Next Book on Substack
• Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time

Show Notes:

• How has the publishing industry changed?
• Reinventing the audiobook
• The living book
• Towards new book pricing models
• Why the traditional publishing industry is becoming unsustainable
• The tragedy of unwritten books
• A rejection from a traditional publisher is meaningless
• What do traditional publishers do well?
• The importance being invested in the success of a product
• Leveraging AI & other tools in the writing process
• Why the publishing industry is successful
• Increasing the power of individual creators
• Change, prestige & disruption
• Playing the right kind of status games
• Aligning quality with meritocracy
• MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

• The Founders; by Jimmy Soni
• A Mind at Play; by Jimmy Soni & Rob Goodman
• Rome's Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar; by Jimmy Soni & Rob Goodman
• What Works on Wall Street; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
• Invest Like The Best; by Jim O'Shaughnessy
• Can't Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds; by David Goggins
• The Psychology of Money; by Morgan Housel
• The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich; by Tim Feriss
• Harry Potter; by J. K. Rowling
• Reality Hunger; by David Shields
• $100M Offers: How To Make Offers So Good People Feel Stupid Saying No; by Alex Hormozi
• The Status Game: On Social Position and How We Use It; by Will Storr

Alex Danco returns for his seventh (yes, SEVENTH) appearance on Infinite Loops to discuss, as usual, pretty much everything other than the topics we had prepared in advance. This week, we discuss: The two types of lawyers, what Alex learned from reading Don Quixote, Elon the Reply Guy, the psychology of Seinfeld, the best Wall Street Movies, and much more. Important Links:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Alex_Danco
• Website: https://alexdanco.com/
• Newsletter: https://danco.substack.com/

Show Notes:

• The two kinds of lawyers
• Medicine, placebo, Don Quixote & theatre
• Heroes, villains & main characters
• Elon the Reply Guy
• Safe words, scams & narrative collapse
• Self-deception is multiplayer
• The psychology of Seinfeld
• To what extent are great innovations already baked into the systems?
• Margin Call: The two schools of thought
• The best Wall Street movies
• MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

• The Theory And Practice Of Gamesmanship Or The Art Of Winning Games Without Actually Cheating; by Stephen Potter
• Don Quixote; by Miguel de Cervantes
• The Fifth Science; by Exurb1a
• The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr
• The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition into the Forces of History; by Howard K. Bloom
• Games People Play: The Psychology of Human Relationships; by Eric Berne
• Mendel's Dwarf; by Simon Mawer
• The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine; by Michael Lewis
• The Bonfire of the Vanities; by Tom Wolfe
• The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron; by Peter Elkind & Bethany McLean