February 19, 2025

Jim O'Shaughnessy: Don't Squander This Age of Innovation

1 hour 23 minutes

Jim O'Shaughnessy is a superstar investor and venture capitalist who leads O'Shaughnessy Ventures and hosts the popular Infinite Loops podcast. He's also the coauthor of the new collection Two Thoughts, which compiles provocative quotes from figures ranging from Sam Adams and Ludwig von Mises to Frank Zappa.

O'Shaughnessy chats with Reason's Nick Gillespie about the power of free minds and free markets to improve the world, why societies thrive or perish, and how to build a better "bullshit detector" in an age of information overload. They discuss what went wrong during Joe Biden's presidency, particularly in relation to COVID-19 and AI policy, and what might go right under President Donald Trump's second term, especially if special interests are kept at bay.

1:17—Two Thoughts: A Timeless Collection of Infinite Wisdom

6:30—We're living through "The Great Reshuffle"

8:53—Thinkers vs. provers: Don't reach conclusions too quickly

13:43—Big plans fail better

25:58—Live your life, not just perform it

32:22—Using AI to stress test arguments

40:00—Bernays' rebranding of propaganda as identity

41:25—Free markets deliver through persuasion

44:59—Regulatory capture and crony capitalism

54:36—O'Shaughnessy's podcast Infinite Loops

1:12:12—Biden's economic legacy

1:17:35—Trump could possibly be better for innovation

1:20:24—How to curb rent-seeking from billionaires

Today's sponsor:

The Reason Speakeasy. The Reason Speakeasy is a monthly, unscripted conversation in New York City with outspoken defenders of free thinking and heterodoxy in an age of intellectual conformity and groupthink. It doubles as a live taping of The Reason Interview with Nick Gillespie podcast. The next one takes place on Thursday, February 27, and features Brian Doherty talking about his new book, Modern Libertarianism: A Brief History of Classical Liberalism in the United States. Go here to buy tickets and go here to sign up for Reason's NYC Events newsletter.