Welcome back to Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu. In this special live episode, I’m joined by my incredible co-host (and wife), Lisa Bilyeu, for a deep-dive on the intersection of politics, world affairs, and what’s really threatening democracy today. We tackle some heavy news—like Biden’s shock cancer announcement and the implications of Bernie Sanders admitting Democrats can be a threat to democracy.

Of course, with Lisa in the studio, we also bring an unfiltered relationship lens to these societal issues, exploring why humans double down on dogma, how our childhood shapes genius, and if wisdom can ever outrun calcified beliefs. Plus, we get personal on the abuse of power, MeToo fallout, female agency, and where the law should (or shouldn't) intervene in manipulative relationships.

SHOWNOTES

00:00 – Lisa joins Tom for a live hybrid show: politics, world affairs, and relationships

01:54 – NIH controversy: Covid origins, Wuhan, and walking out on tough truths

04:31 – The tragic story of Ignaz Semmelweis & the problem with “experts”

15:05 – Why social innovation often falls on the young

24:00 – Deep dive preview: Jekyll Island and conspiracy vs. incompetence

30:07 – Weinstein, Diddy, MeToo, and navigating moral nuance

34:31 – Abuse, power, and the line between legality and morality

1:07:00 – Why parental bias clouds judgment—and why you must think clearly

1:14:00 – Incentives, compassion, and the "final boss" of human nature

1:17:06 – New show format: how to engage deeper and where to watch live

FOLLOW GUEST (Lisa Bilyeu):

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/lisabilyeu

Website: https://www.lisabilyeu.com/

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Welcome back to Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu. In this episode, Drew and I take you through a whirlwind week where politics, world affairs, and tech innovation collide. We dissect Biden’s shocking cancer diagnosis and what it means for the country, dig into Bernie Sanders’ eyebrow-raising admission about the Democratic Party, and go deep on just how broken the government really is—and how (or if) it can ever be fixed.

We tackle the big questions: What does it take to create a thriving middle class? Should we trust the government to spend more and do more, or do we need to completely rethink the machine? Are we living through a crisis of vision, where our leaders offer no North Star to inspire the country? And with news breaking on both the NIH’s gain-of-function research and China’s clampdown on gene editing, are we prepared for the next wave of scientific disruption?

SHOWNOTES

00:00 – Biden’s Cancer Diagnosis: Personal Impact & Political Fallout

03:14 – Are Our Leaders Too Old? The Real Problem with Political Power

07:08 – Lincoln’s Legacy and the Ugly Truth Behind Political Narratives

10:58 – Why America Needs a New Vision (and Why We Don’t Have One)

12:59 – Bernie Sanders & the Democratic Party: A Threat to Democracy?

15:39 – Can We Fix the System, or Is It Rigged Beyond Repair?

21:19 – Why Government Spending Is Broken (and How It Could Be Fixed)

27:00 – Positive Visions, Populism, and the Future of American Politics

32:03 – NIH, Wuhan Lab, and the Danger of Silencing Truth Seekers

43:31 – China, Gene Editing, and a New Age of Scientific Heresy

53:02 – Agentic AI: The Next Phase, What It Means, and How to Win

57:56 – Which Jobs Are Disappearing, and Which Will Survive the AI Revolution?

1:02:17 – Business in the Age of Hyper Turnover: What You Need to Know

1:09:36 – Ukraine, Russia, and Trump’s Latest Negotiation: A Real Path to Peace?

1:10:13 – The Epstein Files: Government Secrecy and Conspiracy Theories

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If you're serious about leveling up your life, I urge you to check out my new podcast,⁠ Tom Bilyeu’s Mindset Playbook⁠ —a goldmine of my most impactful episodes on mindset, business, and health. Trust me, your future self will thank you.

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In this installment, Daniel and Tom push deeper into the roots of economic anxiety, the morality of money printing, the logic (and danger) of debt, and why the “Monopoly game” always ends in revolution, collapse, or war. They ask what it will really take to avoid history’s bloodiest outcomes — and whether the solutions are personal, systemic, or already out of reach.

SHOWNOTES
43:12 Why money printing is immoral — and also unavoidable
52:09 Why the end of the “Monopoly game” means collapse, war, or revolution
54:26 Why emotional arguments win — but don’t provide answers
55:26 Is there any bloodless way out of our current economic predicament?
56:04 The dual systems: Industrial age in decline, digital age on the rise
59:03 Chess, cards, and elite training simulations (the structure of society)
1:10:03 The baby boom, housing inflation, and the demographic crunch
1:14:02 Bell curve economics vs. power law distribution
1:15:43 Why money printing makes “saving your way up” impossible
1:16:48 Agency, intelligence, inflation and who gets ahead
1:26:40 Adam Smith, self-interest, and how the invisible hand really works
1:30:06 Authoritarianism, top-down fear, and the dangers of utopian “rescue” plans
1:41:25 Artificial General Intelligence, wide access, and the dawn of creative superpowers
1:46:13 Creation vs. consumption — the fork in the road for personal success
1:50:13 Why future careers will be plural, fast, creative loops
1:54:02 Will most people embrace agency, or get left behind by hyperloops?

CONNECT WITH DANIEL PRIESTLEY
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielpriestley/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielpriestley/
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/DanielPriestley
Website: https://www.danielpriestley.com

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What's up, everybody? It's Tom Bilyeu here:

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**********************************************************************

If you're serious about leveling up your life, I urge you to check out my new podcast,⁠ Tom Bilyeu’s Mindset Playbook⁠ —a goldmine of my most impactful episodes on mindset, business, and health. Trust me, your future self will thank you.

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Tom Bilyeu welcomes Daniel Priestley, best-selling author, entrepreneur, and expert on the intersection of technology, economics, and social change. In Part 1, Tom and Daniel embark on a raw and intellectually charged exploration of what’s gone wrong with the modern economy, why younger generations are angry, and how technology is accelerating economic inequality. Daniel draws on his personal journey from Pizza Hut delivery driver in a small town to global software entrepreneur, sharing firsthand how tech has become the ultimate lever — for those who know how to use it.

SHOWNOTES
04:26 The resentment toward the economy and what’s fueling it
04:42 Daniel explains the shift from a bell curve economy to a tech-leveraged inequality
05:14 Why technology creates inequality and the marathon analogy
06:08 Daniel’s path from low-tech jobs to software entrepreneurship
07:29 The digital nomad explosion and the post-COVID acceleration
11:16 The significance of the 1970s and new forms of money/forecasting
12:18 Productivity booms, followed by consumption — and the trap of debt
13:08 Tom’s critique of government debt/fiscal responsibility
14:22 Daniel’s reaction to Gary’s economic perspectives and debates on tax/wealth
15:37 The emotional response of the next generation, the popularity of economic outrage
17:30 The clinical method: identifying problems, causes, and treatments
18:38 Why “tax the billionaires out of existence” misses the target
31:37 Historical case studies: Argentina, Korea, Berlin, Poland, Germany
34:30 The risk of “cartoon” simplifications, and real lessons from A/B-tested history
35:43 The hollowing out of the middle class — data behind social mobility
39:33 Who could afford big homes in the past — and why that’s changed
40:19 Tom’s breakdown of money printing, inflation, and real vs. illusory wealth

CONNECT WITH DANIEL PRIESTLEY
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielpriestley/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielpriestley/
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/DanielPriestley
Website: https://www.danielpriestley.com

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**********************************************************************

If you're serious about leveling up your life, I urge you to check out my new podcast,⁠ Tom Bilyeu’s Mindset Playbook⁠ —a goldmine of my most impactful episodes on mindset, business, and health. Trust me, your future self will thank you.

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ALL NEW!! Welcome back to Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu. In this solo deep dive, I break down the single mental model that changed everything for me—not just in business, but in every aspect of life, from marriage and health to navigating the chaos of global events. I take you behind the scenes of my own transformation, sharing how I went from obsessing over personal success to tackling the most complex, high-stakes challenges facing us all—like finance, politics, AI, and global conflict.

This episode is about more than self-help platitudes; it’s a blueprint for critical thinking and error correction in a world where spin, manipulation, and “expert” opinion too often derail our judgment. I reveal what I call “The Physics of Progress,” my five-step algorithm for truth-seeking, making better decisions, and not getting wrecked by your own biology, ego, or emotions. I break down why most people run on autopilot with inherited beliefs, the hidden power of incentives, and why AI could either be our greatest tool or our undoing.

SHOWNOTES

00:00 – The trap of feeling right versus being right: why error correction matters

01:10 – Evolving beyond “spiritual entertainment”—tackling real-world complexity

02:34 – My five-part algorithm for navigating life’s biggest challenges

04:04 – Hitting rock bottom and the brain plasticity breakthrough

05:08 – Why your frame of reference is a lie—and how to spot it

08:44 – First principles thinking, with real-world and historical examples

10:43 – Biology as destiny: how incentives and chemicals drive our choices

11:48 – The AI revolution: tool or manipulator?

13:14 – “Follow the incentives” to understand politics, business, and yourself

15:30 – How bad incentives led to the Boeing 737 Max tragedy

15:57 – The power of seeking disconfirming evidence and running experiments

17:21 – Why this channel covers everything from China to inflation to Cold War 2.0

18:14 – Progress over dogma: keeping your mental model updated

18:41 – Final challenge: Build something legendary together

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If you're serious about leveling up your life, I urge you to check out my new podcast, Tom Bilyeu’s Mindset Playbook —a goldmine of my most impactful episodes on mindset, business, and health. Trust me, your future self will thank you.

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Fan Favorite: This episode originally aired on November 25, 2021. It was reported that roughly 1 in 20 people report having at least one hallucination in a lifetime. Maybe it was drug induced or simply a dream. Either way, how is it that you can have vivid imagery about what feels like reality in the moment?

Dr. Jonas Kaplan joins Tom in this conversation to discuss all the ways your brain is filling in the gaps of its own break in knowledge. The brain is truly fascinating to study and so important to understand when you want to be more open-minded and question your beliefs or get a better perception of and understanding of what reality truly is. Part of seeing reality as it really is versus how your brain predicts it to be is coming face to face with information that challenges the beliefs you hold. Jonas and Tom explore research studies that reveal the freaky nature of how our brains really work and ways you can hack your way past the overprotective nature of your brain.

SHOW NOTES:

0:00 | Introduction Jonas Kaplan

0:21 | Brain Illusions vs Reality

10:37 | Split Brain Confabulation

22:39 | Executive Function Network

26:04 | Changing Your Beliefs

32:20 | When Identity Is Challenged

41:37 | Mindfulness & Self Narrative

53:02 | Dissolution of Self

1:02:19 | Meaning Making & Stories

1:08:27 | Filmmaking & Neuroscience

1:13:51 | Hacking Your Brain

1:19:39 | Brain Body Malfunction

1:22:48 | Homunculus Sensory Map

1:28:23 | Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

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Podcast: https://floatpodcast.libsyn.com/

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Welcome back to Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu. In this episode, get ready as I pull back the curtain on some of the most important moves happening on the global stage—and give you my unfiltered, no-nonsense take on what they really mean for you and the future. My co-host Drew and I tackle everything from Trump’s headline-grabbing Middle East negotiations, to the true impact of $600 billion+ in U.S.-Saudi tech and infrastructure deals, to the double-edged sword of “commerce as a bridge” between clashing cultures. You’ll hear why I think Trump’s deal-making style is both captivating and dangerous, why trying to impose American values on foreign nations is a recipe for disaster, and how culture and economic incentives really shape the world.

We dig deep into the nature of power, the hard limits of nation building, why price controls on prescription drugs are a political move (but not a real solution), and the uncomfortable historical realities behind immigration, assimilation, and global order. If you’re looking to flag the lines between progress and peril—or just want to understand the real levers of influence behind today’s biggest news—this is an episode you don’t want to miss. I’m here to give you the tools to see past the spin, break down the real consequences, and make sense of the chaos so you can win in the world that’s coming.

SHOWNOTES

00:00 – The most unlikely dinner ever: Flavor Flav, DMC, and comic book legend Rob Liefeld

00:06:03 – Trump’s trade wins: $600B+ investment, or PR smoke and mirrors?

00:14:12 – When capitalism becomes “icky”: The dangers of government overreach

00:15:45 – Immigration, identity, and the historic “immigration game”

00:17:28 – Trade, jets, and what motivates Trump as dealmaker-in-chief

00:27:41 – The future of genetic manipulation, AI, and the return of eugenics

00:43:19 – Trump’s executive order on drug pricing: political win or bad policy?

01:01:06 – Government, free markets, and why healthcare and student costs spiral

01:24:21 – Immigration, assimilation, and what truly makes a nation strong

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Welcome back to Impact Theory with Tom Bilyeu. In this episode, I sit down with my co-host Drew to rip into one of the most turbulent weeks in global politics and economics we’ve seen in a long time. We break down not just the moves, but the motives and the possible massive consequences behind Trump’s high-octane foreign policy—from slashing tariffs with China and locking in a colossal Saudi investment deal, to taking the unprecedented step of targeting Big Pharma with an executive order to lower drug prices.

We get into whether all this fast action is actually helping America or just stirring up more chaos. Are we leveraging our moment, or just getting played by the likes of Xi and Putin? Does tough talk and bold negotiating end with real results for America, or are we setting ourselves up for long-term headaches, especially with midterms on the horizon?

Then we peel back the layers on some of the rawest culture war issues, from immigration crackdowns in the UK, the controversy about a Muslim-majority city in Texas, to the viral video of world leaders acting out-of-pocket on a train to Kiev.

SHOWNOTES

00:00 – China’s 90-Day Tariff Pause: Progress or a Lifeline for Xi?

01:42 – Negotiation Tactics: Deal-Making or Getting Played?

03:48 – The Real Purpose of the 90-Day Pause

05:16 – China Can Print Money: Central Banks and Sinister Power

07:13 – Trump’s Aggressive Approach: Productive Chaos?

09:14 – What’s Actually Getting Done—And What’s Just PR?

10:57 – Accepting a Gold-Plated Jet: Smart Move or Trojan Horse?

13:29 – Why “Greedy Capitalist” Isn’t Always an Insult

15:51 – When Deals Cross the Line

18:38 – Global Trade Rebalancing: Is Win-Win Possible with China?

21:17 – Breaking Down the $600 Billion Saudi Deal

24:23 – Why Innovation Stalled—and What Competition With China Could Spark

25:54 – Instilling Inspiration vs. Self-Loathing in American Youth

29:31 – Price Fixing Big Pharma: Popular, but Ultimately Dangerous?

32:15 – Central Banks: The Fungus Beneath the Free Market

36:07 – How Drug Pricing Actually Gets Decided (and Where It Breaks Down)

39:04 – Why Price Fixing Backfires

42:36 – Cigarettes, Prisons, and the True Nature of Supply & Demand

47:14 – Drug Discovery, Innovation, and Unintended Consequences

54:58 – Culture Wars: Immigration Policy in the UK and the US

58:34 – Building the Modern Middle East—Without Western Intervention

60:48 – The Harsh Realities of Assimilation and Cultural Conflict

65:35 – What Happens When Zoning and Religion Collide?

71:19 – Demographics as Destiny: What History Teaches About Outnumbering

74:00 – Respecting Law, Freedom, and What It Means to Be American

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Welcome back to the second half of this eye-opening discussion with Ben Lamm, CEO of Colossal Biosciences. In Part 2, Tom and Ben dig even deeper, tackling the massive ethical questions and transformative possibilities that arise when humans hold the keys to edit and design life itself. Whether it’s confronting the future of embryo screening, germline editing, the potential for designer babies, or the international arms race in biotechnology—no topic is off limits.

Ben shares insider stories on Colossal’s dire wolf project, explains misconceptions about cloning, and reveals the unexpected hurdles and breakthroughs in the world of synthetic biology. They discuss how these advances can directly impact human longevity, environmental crises like plastic pollution, and even set the stage for building the living cities and ocean habitats of tomorrow. This is a no-holds-barred, jam-packed episode for anyone intrigued by the future of engineering life—and the urgent questions we all must face as the bio-revolution unfolds.

SHOWNOTES

33:30 – The Moral and Ethical Responsibility of ‘Playing God’

34:58 – Human Genome Editing, Embryo Selection, and the Coming Revolution in IVF

39:14 – The Personal Side: Ben’s Own IVF Journey and Making Hard Choices

44:41 – The Slippery Slope: Intelligence, Disease, and Future Human Potential

51:36 – International Competition: US vs. China in Biotech and Human Enhancement

58:46 – Accelerating Gene Editing: Multiplexing, Cloning, and Animal Selection

1:09:12 – Rewilding and Ecosystem Impact: Fact vs. Jurassic Park Fiction

1:22:42 – The Longevity Escape Velocity and Radical Life Extension

1:44:08 – Innovations for the Planet: Enzymes That Break Down Plastic & Ocean Engineering

1:49:40 – The Future of Synthetic Biology: Designed Environments, Health, and Next-Gen Conservation

FOLLOW BEN LAMM

Twitter/X: @federallamm

LinkedIn: Ben Lamm

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Introducing Bionic Breakthrough: Psyonic from The Unshakeables.

Follow the show: The Unshakeables

Aadeel Akhtar always knew he wanted to help people, but instead of following the traditional path through medicine, he took a detour that led to something a little more electric: building a bionic hand. He started his company Psyonic to merge engineering with compassion and transform the prosthetics industry, but it didn’t come easily. Dead batteries, buggy code, and even a missing patient nearly cost him his shot. 

Join Ben Walter and Kathleen Griffith as they sit down with Aadeel to talk about walking away from med school, betting on a vision, and building a business that could change life for millions. These are The Unshakeables. 

To see the Ability Hand in action, check it out here. 

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DISCLAIMER: Please note, this is an independent podcast episode not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in conjunction with the host podcast feed or any of its media entities. The views and opinions expressed in this episode are solely those of the creators and guests. For any concerns, please reach out to [email protected].