The Jim Rutt Show

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Society & Culture Technology

What's The Jim Rutt Show about?

The Jim Rutt Show is a professionally-produced podcast series featuring crisp conversations with critical thinkers at the leading edge of science, technology, politics, economic and social systems.

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Currents 046: Henry Elkus &...

11.29.2021

Jim talks with Henry Elkus and Sam Feinburg, founders of the global problem solving organization Helena. They discuss how Helena identifies society's big problems, the group's origin story, how they attracted a large membership of people who are first-class in ...

The Jim Rutt Show episodes:

11.29.2021 Currents 046: Henry Elkus & Sam Feinburg on Solving Societal Problems Jim talks with Henry Elkus and Sam Feinburg, founders of the global problem solving organization Helena. They discuss how Helena identifies society's big problems, the group's origin story, how they attracted a large membership of people who are first-class in ...
11.22.2021 EP148 Antonio Damasio on Feeling and Knowing Jim has a wide-ranging talk with neuroscientist Antonio Damasio about his latest book, Feeling & Knowing: Making Minds Conscious. They discuss the importance of separating intelligence from the nervous system, feeling as the inaugural event of consciousness, distinguishing consciousness from ...
11.15.2021 EP147 John Vervaeke Part 5: Awakening from the Meaning Crisis John Vervaeke joins Jim for the final episode of a five-part series examining the ideas put forward in Vervaeke’s popular YouTube series, Awakening from the Meaning Crisis. They discuss relevance's lack of essence, sacredness as inexhaustibility, separating cognitive indispensability from ...
11.04.2021 Currents 045: Dorian Abbot on Protecting Academic Freedom Jim has a timely discussion with geophysicist Dorian Abbot, whose public lecture was recently canceled by MIT—Jim's alma mater—due to Dorian's views on affirmative action. They discuss the (unrelated) scientific content of the canceled lecture, Abbot's & Ivan Marinovic's proposed ...
11.01.2021 EP146 John Vervaeke Part 4: Awakening from the Meaning Crisis John Vervaeke joins Jim for the fourth of a five-part series examining the ideas put forward in Vervaeke’s popular YouTube series, Awakening from the Meaning Crisis. They discuss Nietzsche as a prophet of the meaning crisis, the politicization of the ...
10.25.2021 EP145 John Vervaeke Part 3: Awakening from the Meaning Crisis John Vervaeke joins Jim for the third of a five-part series examining the ideas put forward in Vervaeke’s popular YouTube series, Awakening from the Meaning Crisis. They discuss altered states of consciousness, phenomenology as clue to functionality, fluency, weakening egocentrism, ...
10.18.2021 EP144 John Vervaeke Part 2: Awakening from the Meaning Crisis John Vervaeke joins Jim for the second of a five-part series examining the ideas put forward in Vervaeke’s popular YouTube series, Awakening from the Meaning Crisis. They discuss virtue & virtuosity, Plato's man-monster-lion model, hyperbolic discounting, agent & arena, Plato's ...
10.11.2021 EP143 John Vervaeke Part 1: Awakening from the Meaning Crisis John Vervaeke joins Jim for the first of a five-part series examining the ideas put forward in Vervaeke's popular YouTube series, Awakening from the Meaning Crisis. In this episode they focus on defining core concepts, including meaning, non-reductive science, symptoms ...
10.07.2021 Currents 044: Zak Stein on Propaganda and the Information War Zak Stein & Jim have a wide-ranging talk inspired by two recent Consilience Project essays on the information war & propaganda. They discuss the culture wars as a case of mutually assured destruction, distinguishing education from propaganda, developing widespread resistance ...
09.30.2021 Currents 043: Lene Rachel Andersen on Bildung Lene Rachel Andersen & Jim have a wide-ranging talk about the meaning of Bildung & the growing Bildung movement, inspired by last week's Global Bildung Festival. They discuss easily transferable "horizontal" knowledge vs. emotional, social, & bodily development, the need ...
09.27.2021 EP142 Robert Tercek on the Metaverse Jim has a wide-ranging talk with returning guest Robert Tercek about competing visions of the metaverse, centralized vs. decentralized models, the importance of interoperability standards, differences between VR & AR, digital twins, digitization of the supply chain, AI-enabled creation of ...
09.14.2021 EP141 Heather Heying on Confronting Hyper-Novelty Jim has a wide-ranging talk with evolutionary biologist Heather Heying about her & Bret Weinstein’s new book, A Hunter-Gatherer’s Guide to the 21st Century: Evolution and the Challenges of Modern Life. They discuss hyper-novelty & its challenges, niche-switching as the ...
08.30.2021 EP140 Robin Dunbar on Friendship Jim talks with evolutionary psychologist Robin Dunbar, discoverer of Dunbar's number, about his latest book, Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships. They cover the importance of friendship, the loneliness epidemic, loneliness as a signal rather than a ...
08.19.2021 Currents 042: John Robb on Afghanistan Withdrawal John Robb & Jim meet for a timely discussion about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the current mess at the Kabul airport, how the Taliban are controlling the flow of evacuations, likely backroom negotiations, dynamics of the intelligence and command ...
08.16.2021 EP139 Robert Tercek on Education Today Robert Tercek & Jim continue their conversation in this wide-ranging chat about learning & education. They discuss the dematerialized economy, technological unemployment risk, underestimating software automation, AI as a career superpower, changing cost & quality of college, what education is ...
08.09.2021 Currents 041: Jonathan Rowson on Our Metacrisis Pickle Jonathan Rowson & Jim continue their conversation by exploring Jonathan's recent essay, Tasting the Pickle: Ten flavours of meta-crisis and the appetite for a new civilization. They cover contextualizing our entangled meta-crisis, finding better language, limits of intellect & usefulness ...
08.02.2021 Currents 040: Jim Rutt Show Changes & Reflections Jim Rutt Show producer, Jared Janes & Jim announce some changes to the podcast, preview upcoming guests, talk about the Jim Rutt Show (JRS) origin story, Jim's guest prep process, the evolution of JRS, its impact on Jim's reading habits, ...
07.26.2021 EP138 W. Brian Arthur on the Nature of Technology W. Brian Arthur & Jim have a wide-ranging talk about his book, The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves. They talk about the surprisingly little work on the nature of technology, invention vs innovation, understanding technology ...
07.18.2021 Currents 039: Alexander Beiner on Psychedelic Turf Wars Alexander Beiner & Jim have a wide-ranging talk about Beiner’s recent essay “Who’s in Charge of Psilocybin?”. They discuss the state of play regarding psilocybin’s legality, its effectiveness in therapeutic contexts, therapeutic versus personal-growth uses, the value and limitations of ...
07.15.2021 Currents 038: Connor Leahy on Artificial Intelligence Connor Leahy continues his conversion with Jim in this wide-ranging chat about his new GPT-J model, the background & approach of Aleph Alpha, attention in AI, our food maximizer & AGI risk, narrow algorithm impacts, proto-AGI, risk thresholds & timelines, ...
07.13.2021 EP137 Ken Stanley on Neuroevolution Ken Stanley & Jim have a wide-ranging talk about one of his co-authored papers, "Designing neural networks through neuroevolution". They cover neuroevolution dynamics, resistance to evolutionary thinking in AI, the evolutionary timescale, understanding genetic algorithms, neural networks & their role ...
07.10.2021 Currents 037: Sam Harris on Surviving Our Smartphones Reason.fm co-founder Sam Harris talks to Jim about his TEDx talk, "The Genius You Need to Listen to Is Yourself". They cover technology attention highjacking, putting our phones away, social media algorithms, playing games you can win, utilizing rules, natural ...
07.06.2021 EP136 Harvey Reid on Troubadour Music Songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, writer, and music educator Harvey Reid talks to Jim about his book, The Troubadour Chronicles: A History, A Celebration and A Manifesto. They talk about Harvey's musical background, what a troubadour is, solo performance & collaborations, Jim & ...
07.01.2021 EP135 Dennis Waters on Behavior & Culture in One Dimension Jim has a wide-ranging talk with Dennis Waters about his book, Behavior and Culture in One Dimension: Sequences, Affordances, and the Evolution of Complexity. They chat about the challenges of interdisciplinary work in academia, value in understanding sequences, emergent behavior, ...
06.28.2021 EP134 Forrest Landry on Non-Relative Ethics Forrest Landry & Jim continue their exploration of metaphysics by diving deep into the Non-Relative Ethics that arise from Forrest’s Immanent Metaphysics. They cover ethical philosophies, defining effective choice, ethics vs morality, the relationship of choice & ethics, defining self ...
06.26.2021 Currents 036: Melanie Mitchell on Why AI is Hard Melanie Mitchell & Jim talk about her recent paper, "Why AI is Harder Than We Think". They cover AI fantasies, self-driving cars, prediction failures, AI winters & summers, Melanie's four fallacies, common sense, theory of mind, defining understanding, embodied cognition, ...
06.24.2021 Currents 035: Steve Barbour on Mining Bitcoin with Methane Steve Barbour talks to Jim about his company, Upstream Data Inc. — a company that uses natural gas to mine bitcoin. They cover the dynamics of excess natural gas release, how methane is normally vented or burnt up, Upstream's environmental ...
06.21.2021 EP133 Robert Tercek on Digital Strategies Robert Tercek talks to Jim about his book, Vaporized: Solid Strategies for Success in a Dematerialized World. They cover the usefulness of the vapor metaphor, centralization vs decentralization, the impact of closed application ecosystems, value in intangible assets, hardware vs ...
06.17.2021 EP132 Britt Adkins on Celestial Civilization Britt Adkins has a wide-ranging talk with Jim about the space industry. They explore prioritizing space funding & common misconceptions, power of the overview effect, global vs celestial community, cultural & political impacts, public participation strategies, physical / psychological adaptation ...
06.15.2021 Currents 034: Samo Burja on the Consilience Project Samo Burja joins Jim to talk about the Consilience Project: a project that aims to create positive cultural change in unique ways. They cover its founding goals & approaches, big tech's ability to amplify negative externalities, the rise of Trump, ...
06.14.2021 EP131 Jason Mauck on #FarmWeird Jason Mauck talks to Jim about what lead him to farm, how & why he started Constant Canopy, agriculture innovation dynamics & economics, finding crop combinations, turning manure into methane, utilizing Biochar, acquiring a meat-packing business, building direct-to-consumer meat distribution ...
06.07.2021 EP130 Ken Stanley on Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned Ken Stanley and Jim talk about his wide-ranging book Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned: The Myth of the Objective. They cover the no free lunch theorem, exploitations vs exploration, the myth & issues of objectives, the room of all images ...
06.04.2021 Currents 033: Connor Leahy on Deep Learning Connor Leahy has a wide-ranging chat with Jim about the state & future of Deep Learning. They cover the history of EleutherAI, how GPT-3 works, the dynamics & power of scaling laws, ideal sampling rates & sizes for models, data ...
05.31.2021 EP129 Stephanie Lepp on Deep Reckonings Stephanie Lepp & Jim have a wide-ranging talk on her two-time Webby Award winning video series, Deep Reckonings. They start by covering the history & intentions of Deep Reckonings, deep fake technology, our post-truth crisis, and the pros & cons ...
05.27.2021 EP128 Forrest Landry on Immanent Metaphysics: Part 3 Forrest Landry & Jim continue their exploration of metaphysics by diving deep into a theorem that arises from Forrest's Immanent Metaphysics called Incommensuration Theorem (ICT). They start by defining the key concepts of ICT: symmetry & continuity, domains & their ...
05.24.2021 EP127 Jonathan Rowson on The Moves That Matter Jonathan Rowson & Jim have a wide-ranging talk about his book, The Moves That Matter: A Chess Grandmaster on the Game of Life. They cover chess as a meta metaphor, partial vs full info, randomness, freedom, concentration vs flow states, ...
05.17.2021 EP126 Jordan Gruber & James Fadiman on Our Symphony of Selves Jordan Gruber & James Fadiman talk to Jim about their book, Your Symphony of Selves: Discover and Understand More of Who We Are. They cover our multiple selves, self vs mood, arguing with ourselves, David Bowie, history of the single-self ...
05.10.2021 EP125 Samo Burja on Societal Decline: Part 2 Samo Burja & Jim continue their conversation about his book, Great Founder Theory. They talk about Samo's interest in exploring why there's never been an immortal society, lack of historical Greece documentation, defining functional bureaucracy & delegation, competition pros/cons & ...
05.07.2021 Currents 032: Tyson Yunkaporta on Spirits, GameB & Protopias Tyson Yunkaporta joins Jim for another wide-ranging yarn that starts off with DMT & machine elves. They cover Jim's misspent youth, police violence, nuance vs Occam's razor, Tyson's impressions of GameB & the sensemakers, Tyson's unpublished Survivance essay, Jim's recent ...
05.03.2021 EP124 Jim Hackett on Ford, Electric Cars & More Former Ford CEO, Jim Hackett & Jim have a wide-ranging talk about the history & future of electric cars. They cover Ford & Edison's first electric car, the current state of the electric cars, understanding scaling & natural systems, business ...
04.29.2021 Currents 031: Trent Loos on Family Ranching Trent Loos talks to Jim about his multi-generational Nebraska-based ranching operation. They cover the deep history of the family ranch, types of animals, dealing with predators, pork production & breeding, the decline in quality of industrial pork, beef production and ...
04.26.2021 EP123 Jamie Wheal on Recapturing the Rapture Jamie Wheal talks to Jim about his new book, Recapture the Rapture: Rethinking God, Sex, and Death in a World That's Lost Its Mind. They talk about the world losing its mind & the meaning crisis, the pros & cons ...
04.22.2021 Currents 030: Daniel Schmachtenberger on The Consilience Project Daniel Schmachtenberger & Jim talk about his newly launched project, The Consilience Project. They start by covering some background for the project: why start it, primary focuses, cultural renaissance, the role of education & press, eroding knowledge commons, rapidly changing ...
04.19.2021 EP122 Ashley Colby on Subsistence Agriculture Ashley Colby & Jim start this episode by talking about her book, Subsistence Agriculture in the US: Reconnecting to Work, Nature and Community. They cover Gemeinschaft vs Gesellschaft, Dual Process Theory, bottom-up change, arriving at paradox & the purist failure, ...
04.12.2021 EP121 Broke in America with Joanne Goldblum & Colleen Shaddox Joanne Goldblum & Colleen Shaddox talk to Jim about their book, Broke in America: Seeing, Understanding, and Ending U.S. Poverty. They cover the "give a man fish" fallacy, poverty quicksand, two vs one-parent households, nurture vs nature, poverty's impact on ...
04.08.2021 EP120 James Ehrlich on ReGen Villages Part 2 James Ehrlich & Jim continue their conversation on ReGen Villages. They cover smart houses in dumb neighborhoods, defining smart, what COVID exposed about cities, ReGen Village dynamics & their permacultural core, rural jobs, UBI, rural regulatory challenges, village funding & ...
04.05.2021 EP119 Max Borders on Post-Collapse Max Borders & Jim continue their last conversation on his book, After Collapse: The End of America and the Rebirth of Her Ideals. They cover fully automated luxury communism, utilizing traditional economics & markets, Elinor Ostrom's commons, institutional experimentation, post-scarcity ...
03.30.2021 EP118 Matt Ridley on How Innovation Works Matt Ridley talks to Jim about his latest book, How Innovation Works: And Why It Flourishes in Freedom. They cover innovation vs invention, improbable order, the value of technological innovation, the importance of the steam engine, innovation as a team ...
03.23.2021 EP117 Samo Burja on Societal Decline Samo Burja talks to Jim about his freely available book, Great Founder Theory. They cover long-lasting societies, theories & limits of history, cultures that prioritize documentation, long-term priorities, institutional organization, social technologies, design vs evolution, what makes a great founder, ...
03.15.2021 EP116 Doug Erwin on the Cambrian Explosion Doug Erwin talks to Jim about his book, The Cambrian Explosion: The Construction of Animal Biodiversity. They cover the unprecedentedly rapid evolution of life seen during the Cambrian explosion (approx 540 million BCE), archeological dating techniques & accuracy, micro-evolution vs ...

Older episodes

The Jim Rutt Show

What's The Jim Rutt Show about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Jim Rutt Show episodes:

Currents 046: Henry Elkus & Sam Feinburg on Solving Societal Problems

EP148 Antonio Damasio on Feeling and Knowing

EP147 John Vervaeke Part 5: Awakening from the Meaning Crisis

Currents 045: Dorian Abbot on Protecting Academic Freedom

EP146 John Vervaeke Part 4: Awakening from the Meaning Crisis

EP145 John Vervaeke Part 3: Awakening from the Meaning Crisis

EP144 John Vervaeke Part 2: Awakening from the Meaning Crisis

EP143 John Vervaeke Part 1: Awakening from the Meaning Crisis

Currents 044: Zak Stein on Propaganda and the Information War

Currents 043: Lene Rachel Andersen on Bildung

EP142 Robert Tercek on the Metaverse

EP141 Heather Heying on Confronting Hyper-Novelty

EP140 Robin Dunbar on Friendship

Currents 042: John Robb on Afghanistan Withdrawal

EP139 Robert Tercek on Education Today

Currents 041: Jonathan Rowson on Our Metacrisis Pickle

Currents 040: Jim Rutt Show Changes & Reflections

EP138 W. Brian Arthur on the Nature of Technology

Currents 039: Alexander Beiner on Psychedelic Turf Wars

Currents 038: Connor Leahy on Artificial Intelligence

EP137 Ken Stanley on Neuroevolution

Currents 037: Sam Harris on Surviving Our Smartphones

EP136 Harvey Reid on Troubadour Music

EP135 Dennis Waters on Behavior & Culture in One Dimension

EP134 Forrest Landry on Non-Relative Ethics

Currents 036: Melanie Mitchell on Why AI is Hard

Currents 035: Steve Barbour on Mining Bitcoin with Methane

EP133 Robert Tercek on Digital Strategies

EP132 Britt Adkins on Celestial Civilization

Currents 034: Samo Burja on the Consilience Project

EP131 Jason Mauck on #FarmWeird

EP130 Ken Stanley on Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned

Currents 033: Connor Leahy on Deep Learning

EP129 Stephanie Lepp on Deep Reckonings

EP128 Forrest Landry on Immanent Metaphysics: Part 3

EP127 Jonathan Rowson on The Moves That Matter

EP126 Jordan Gruber & James Fadiman on Our Symphony of Selves

EP125 Samo Burja on Societal Decline: Part 2

Currents 032: Tyson Yunkaporta on Spirits, GameB & Protopias

EP124 Jim Hackett on Ford, Electric Cars & More

Currents 031: Trent Loos on Family Ranching

EP123 Jamie Wheal on Recapturing the Rapture

Currents 030: Daniel Schmachtenberger on The Consilience Project

EP122 Ashley Colby on Subsistence Agriculture

EP121 Broke in America with Joanne Goldblum & Colleen Shaddox

EP120 James Ehrlich on ReGen Villages Part 2

EP119 Max Borders on Post-Collapse

EP118 Matt Ridley on How Innovation Works

EP117 Samo Burja on Societal Decline

EP116 Doug Erwin on the Cambrian Explosion