Ahead of the release of the next episode of his lecture series on René Girard, Johnathan Bi returns for his second appearance on the show. He and Jim discuss Girard, prestige, innovation, AI, and much more. Enjoy!  Important Links:  Johnathan’s website  Johnathan’s Twitter Johnathan’s lecture series with David Perell Our research note on Johnathan  Johnathan’s first appearance on the show  Show Notes:  The Girardian notion of prestige What proof is there for mimesis? The difference between mimesis and status signalling Philosophical critiques of Girard Girard on innovation Historical understandings of innovation A conversation between a pessimist and an optimist AI, progress and the panopticon Could we ban innovation?  Books Mentioned:  The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It; by Will Storr The Alchemy of Finance; by George Soros The Laws of Imitation; by Gabriel Tarde When These Things Begin: Conversations with Michel Treguer; by René Girard The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch The Invention of Improvement: Information and Material Progress in Seventeenth-Century England; by Paul Slack Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future; by Peter Thiel 

Johnathan Bi — René Girard and the Philosophy of Innovation (EP.137)

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Friend-of-the-show Anna Gát returns to discuss… well… pretty much everything!  On April 13th, O’Shaughnessy Ventures and Interintellect are co-hosting a Future of Publishing event at the beautiful Pratt Mansion in NYC. We’re bringing together established publishers, online writers, new publishing houses, journalists, technologists, authors and more to rethink and reimagine how ideas are spread in our changing world. Confirmed speakers include Coleman Hughes, Tara Isabella Burton, Tamara Winter, Sahil Lavingia and many more! Here’s the best part - we want YOU to be there! To buy in-person tickets and for more information on live-streaming, scheduling, speakers, and more, just follow this link. We hope to see you there!  Important Links:  Interintellect Anna’s Twitter Anna’s Website Interintellect Substack  Show Notes:  The Shock of Losing a Parent Interintellect & the Post-Tribe Internet How to Facilitate Better Conversations Surprising Salons Faker Spotting & the Temptations of Power Avoiding Audience Capture The Humanness of Casablanca Greatness, Co-Creation & Doing the Work Misconceptions About Leadership The Personality of Language What’s Next for Anna Cities as Ideas Anna as Empress of the World MORE!  Books Mentioned:  The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity; by David Graeber and Wengrow Adventures of a Bystander; by Peter Drucker Mating; by Norman Rush The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York; by Robert A. Caro Power vs. Force; by David R. Hawkins Tao Te Ching; by Lao Tzu The Number Sense: How the Mind Creates Mathematics; by Stanislas Dehaene Embers; by Sándor Márai The Hunger Games; by Suzanne Collins 

Anna Gát — We Digress (EP. 211)

The inimitable Visakan Veerasamy returns for a characteristically wide-ranging discussion… Important Links:  Visa's Website Visa's Twitter  Visa's Youtube  Visa’s Previous Episode Visa’s Post-Episode Thread  Show Notes:  Life as a Dad A Conversation With David Deutsch Change, Courage, Curiosity & Creativity Possibility Space & the Problem of Wretchedness A Good Blog Post Can Change the World The Outdated Language of Counterculture Colliding Our Reality Tunnels Imperfection Breeds Creativity We Are Co-Creators Status Quo Soldiers The Power of Noticing Visa as Emperor of the World MUCH more!  Books & Articles Mentioned:  Friendly Ambitious Nerd; by Visakan Veerasamy Introspect; by Visakan Veerasamy status quo soldiers lose in the long run; by Visakan Veerasamy The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch The Thinker and The Prover; by Jim O’Shaughnessy Leonardo Da Vinci; by Walter Isaacson Ninety-five Theses; by Martin Luther Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; by Lewis Carroll The News: A User’s Manual; by Alain de Botton Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man; by Marshall McLuhan Power vs. Force: The Hidden Determinants of Human Behaviour; by David R. Hawkins How I Accidentally Started The Sixties; by Howard Bloom One Summer: America 1927; by Bill Bryson 

Visakan Veerasamy —  Expanding Our Possibility-Space (EP. 210)

Brendan McCord is the founder of Cosmos Institute — a non-profit dedicated to exploring the intersection of AI and philosophy. Brendan joins the show to discuss Cosmos’ origins, the pursuit of philosophy as a technologist, the different schools of thought in AI, complex adaptive systems and MUCH more! Important Links:  Brendan McCord’s Reading List Cosmos Institute Substack Brendan’s Twitter  Show Notes:  The Genesis of the Cosmos Institute Philosophy as a Quixotic Pursuit The Man of the System Dilemma Existential Risk & Scenario Agnosticism The AI Schools of Thought The Religious Nature of the E/Acc Movement What Tocqueville Can Teach Us About AI The Philosophy-to-Code Pipeline “Cars ignited the Sexual Revolution” and Other Unexpected Occurrences The Best Systems are Adaptive Heterogeneity & Resilient Systems Open Source and the US-China Situation Automation, Augmentation & Open-Ended Generation The Underrated Nuance of Russian Realism Cinematic Visions of the Future Great Talent & the Risk of the Tasmanian Devil Brendan as Emperor of the World MORE!  Books Mentioned:  Murray Rothbard, “For A New Liberty” David R. Hawkins, “Power vs. Force” Jung Chang, “Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China” Jung Chang, “Mao: The Unknown Story” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, “The Gulag Archipelago” Arthur Koestler, “Darkness At Noon” Adam Smith, “The Theory of Moral Sentiments” Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” Lewis Carroll, “What the Tortoise Said To Achilles” Eliezer Yudkowsky, “Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality” Marc Andreessen, “The Techno-Optimist Manifesto” Alexis De Tocqueville, “Democracy in America” 'Pericles's Funeral Oration' quoted in Thucydides’ “History of the Peloponnesian War”. Plato, “Theaetetus” Plato, “The Republic” Nietzsche, “The Gay Science” C.P Snow, “The Two Cultures” Elinor Ostrom, “Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action” James M. Buchanan, "Freedom in Constitutional Contract: Perspectives of a Political Economist” Iain M. Banks, “Consider Phlebas” (Culture Series #1) Chen Qiufan and Kai-Fu Lee, “AI 2041: Ten Visions for Our Future” Christopher Buckley, “Thank You for Smoking” John Stuart Mill, “On Liberty”   

Brendan McCord — AI and the Philosophy of Technology

Alex Komoroske has spent his career studying, writing about, and working in complex adaptive systems. He has published multiple essays on topics like Schelling points in organizations, why debate should be collaborative, and how to ensure resilient growth in harsh environments. Alex has also worked as a product manager and in corporate strategy at Google and Stripe. Alex joins the show to discuss how to escape busyness, why heroism is overrated, the different types of magic, and MUCH more! Important Links:  Alex’s Website  Alex’s Twitter Alex’s LinkedIn  Show Notes:  The Parable of the Builder & the Gardener Against Heroism Noise is Good Complex Adaptivity All the Way Down Information Flow, Context Switching and Luck Surface-Area Escaping Busyness Paradigm Shifts & the Importance of Uncertainty The Self-Transcending Mindset The Power of Compression & The Virility of Memes Order From Chaos The Iterative Adjacent Possible Saruman & Radagast Magic The Illusion of Certainty Alex as Emperor of the World MORE!  Books and Articles Mentioned:  The Magic of Acorns; by Alex Komoroske  The Sarumans and The Radagasts; by Alex Komoroske  The Iterative Adjacent Possible; by Alex Komoroske Crossing the Bridge of Nihilism; by Jim O’Shaughnessy Adult Development Primer; by Dimitri Glazkov The Mower against Gardens; by Andrew Marvell Being There; by Jerzy Kosinski Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment; by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony & Cass R. Sunstein Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century; by Howard Bloom Zorba the Greek; by Nikos Kazantzakis Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny; by Robert Wright The Fifth Science; by Exurb1a A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction; by Christopher Alexander 

Alex Komoroske — Complex Adaptivity All The Way Down (EP. 208)

Cedric Chin is a writer, researcher and operator whose Commoncog newsletter is dedicated to finding useful, practical ways to accelerate business expertise. He joins us to discuss some of the most potentially transformative concepts he’s uncovered, from the business expertise triad to naturalistic decision making. Important Links:  Cedric’s Website (Commoncog)  Are You Ready for the Great Reshuffle? The Naturalistic Decision Making Podcast  Wisdom Unleashed  Show Notes:  Commoncog’s Rabbit-Holing Origins The Business Expertise Triad Quality Engineering & Process Control The Effectiveness of Naturalistic Decision Making Expectancy, Intuition & Investing How to Stay Open-Minded Trial & Error, Knowledge Shields & the Power of Reading Protocols & Pattern-Matching Cedric as Emperor of the World MUCH more!  Books and Articles Mentioned:  The Tricky Thing About Creating Training Programs; by Cedric Chin The Business Expertise Series; by Cedric Chin The Oxford Handbook of Expertise; edited by Paul Ward, Jaan Maarten Schraagen, Julie Gore and Emile Roth Accelerated Expertise; by Robert R. Hoffman, Paul Ward, Paul J. Feltovich, Lia DiBello, Stephen M. Fiore and Dee H. Andrews The Outsiders: Eight Unconventional CEOs and Their Radically Rational Blueprint for Success; by Will Thorndike Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon; by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr Understanding Variation: The Key to Managing Chaos; by Donald Wheeler The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations that Transform the World; by David Deutsch The Hound of the Baskervilles; by Arthur Conan Doyle What Works on Wall Street: The Classic Guide to the Best-Performing Investment Strategies of All Time; by Jim O’Shaughnessy 

Johnathan Bi — René Girard and the Philosophy of Innovation (EP.137)

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