This week we talk about neural networks, AGI, and scaling laws. We also discuss training data, user acquisition, and energy consumption. Recommended Book: Through the Grapevine by Taylor N. Carlson Transcript Depending on whose numbers you use, and which industries and types of investment those numbers include, the global AI industry—that is, the industry focused on producing and selling artificial intelligence-based tools—is valued at something like a fifth to a quarter of a trillion...

This week we talk about the Double Reduction Policy, gaokao, and Chegg. We also discuss GPTs, cheating, and disruption. Recommended Book: Autocracy, Inc by Anne Applebaum Transcript In July of 2021, the Chinese government implemented a new education rule called the Double Reduction Policy. This Policy was meant, among other things, to reduce the stress students in the country felt related to their educational attainment, while also imposing sterner regulations on businesses operating in...

This week we talk about peat, pig iron, and sulphuric acid. We also discuss the Industrial Revolution, natural gas, and offshore wind turbines. Recommended Book: Deep Utopia by Nick Bostrom Transcript This episode is going live on election day here in the US; and this has been quite a remarkable election season for many reasons, among them that there’s been just a boggling amount of money spent on advertisements and events and other efforts to claim attention and mindshare, and in part...

This week we talk about Joe Rogan, Call Her Daddy, and podcast monetization. We also discuss Kamala Harris, Donald Trump, and double-haters. Recommended Book: You Sexy Thing by Cat Rambo Transcript In the world of US politics, double-haters are potential voters who really just don’t like the candidate from either major political party, and thus they decide whether and how to vote based on who they dislike least—or in some cases who they would like to hurt, the most. This isn’t a uniquely...

This week we talk about DJT, Polymarket, and Kalshi. We also discuss sports betting, gambling, and PredictIt. Recommended Book: Build, Baby, Build by Bryan Caplan Transcript Trump Media & Technology Group, which trades under the stock ticker DJT, has seen some wild swings since it became a publicly tradable business entity in late-March of 2024. The Florida-based holding company for Truth Social, a Twitter-clone that was released in early 2022 following former President Donald Trump’s...

This week we talk about the HoloLens, the Apple Vision Pro, and the Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses. We also discuss augmented reality, virtual reality, and Orion. Recommended Book: The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler Transcript Originally released as a development device in 2016—so aimed at folks who make software, primarily, not at the general public—the HoloLens, made by Microsoft, was a fairly innovative device that looked like virtual reality headgear, but which allowed folks to interact...

This week we talk about the AfD, the Freedom Party, and the Identitarian Movement. We also discuss Martin Sellner, Herbert Kickl, and racialism. Recommended Book: The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley Transcript Racialism, sometimes called scientific racism, is the pseudoscientific belief that groups of human beings are inherently, biologically different from each other based on different evolutionary paths that have carved up the species into different races that are distinct enough from...

This week we talk about the Fed, interest rates, and inflation. We also discuss cooling economies, the Federal Funds Rate, and the CPI. Recommended Book: Dirty Laundry by Richard Pink and Roxanne Emery Transcript I’ve done a few episodes on this general topic over the past several years, so I won’t get super in-depth about many of the specifics, but the US Federal Reserve has a dual-mandate to keep prices stable and to maximize employment in the country—though that core responsibility has...

This week we talk about interdiction, the NSA, and Mossad. We also discuss exploding pagers, targeted strikes, and paramilitary organizations. Recommended Book: Uncertainty in Games by Greg Costikyan Transcript In the world of technology, and especially computers—or anything with microchips and thus, some computing capabilities—a “backdoor” is a bit of code or piece of hardware that allows someone (or a group of someones) to get inside that computer or compute-capable device after it’s been...

This week we talk about EREVs, Ford’s CEO, and Hertz. We also discuss the used EV market, plug-in hybrids, and the Tesla Model 3. Recommended Book: Not the End of the World by Hannah Ritchie Transcript In late-2021, car rental giant Hertz announced that it would purchase 100,000 Tesla Model 3 sedans for its fleet, giving customers the opportunity to drive what had recently, in 2019, become the best-selling plug-in electric car in US history, beating out the Chevy Volt, and then in 2020 become...

This week we talk about Wegovy, Eli Lilly, and HIMS. We also discuss pig pancreases, beneficial side-effects, and shortages. Recommended Book: The Death Café Movement by Jack Fong Transcript In the 1970s, a pair of researchers looking into possible ways to address duodenal ulcer disease were studying the way we secrete different hormones while eating, and that led to an experiment in which they pumped a hormone called glucagon-like peptide 1, or GLP-1, extracted from pigs, into pig pancreases...

Friends! It looks like Covid got me (my girlfriend is just getting over her own Covid-y week, and we live together—so despite our best efforts this was maybe unavoidable). In accordance with my policy of aggressively resting when I get sick, I’ll be taking the week off to sleep, feel generally sore and uncomfortable, and consume alarming quantities of ibuprofen. Sorry about the gap in programming, but unless something unexpected and worrying happens I’ll be back to my usual publishing...

This week we talk about the Falcon 9, the Saturn V, and NASA’s bureaucracy. We also discuss Boeing’s mishaps, the Scout system, and the Zenit 2. Recommended Book: What’s Our Problem? by Tim Urban Transcript In 1961, the cost to launch a kilogram of something into low Earth orbit—and a kilogram is about 2.2 pounds, and this figure is adjusted for inflation—was about $118,500, using the Scout, or Solid Controlled Orbital Utility Test system of rockets, which were developed by the US government...

This week we talk about Kursk, asymmetric warfare, and Russian politics. We also discuss HIMARS, supply lines, and Kyiv. Recommended Book: The Disappearance of Rituals by Byung-Chul Han Transcript About two and a half years ago, on February 24, 2022, Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine. This invasion had been forecasted for a while, as Russian forces had at times surreptitiously, at times more overtly supported separatist factions in the eastern and southeastern portion of Ukraine for about a...

This week we talk about Taylor Swift, knife attacks, and immigration politics. We also discuss immigration rationales, riffraff, and terrorist plots. Recommended Book: AI 2041 by Kai-Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan Transcript American musician, singer, and songwriter Taylor Swift, at age 34, recently became the world's first music industry billionaire who's primary source of income is their music—as opposed to side-businesses, work, and royalties in adjacent or completely disconnected industries. A...

This week we talk about Chávez, Maduro, and Bolivarianism. We also discuss authoritarianism, Potemkin elections, and the Venezuelan refugee crisis. Recommended Book: Nuclear War by Annie Jacobsen Transcript Venezuela, a country with a population of about 30.5 million people, has lost something like 7 to 9 million people, depending on which numbers you use, to a refugee crisis that began about a decade ago, in 2014, and which has since become the largest ever in the Americas, and one of the...

This week we talk about student protests, curfews, and East Pakistan. We also discuss Sheikh Hasina, Myanmar, and authoritarians. Recommended Book: The Identity Trap by Yascha Mounk Transcript Bangladesh is a country of about 170 million people, those people living in an area a little smaller than the US state of Illinois, a hair over 57,000 square miles. It shares a smallish southeastern border with Myanmar, and its entire southern border runs up against the Bay of Bengal, which is part of...

This week we talk about assassination attempts, presidential drop-outs, and October Surprises. We also discuss election narratives, the frictions of age, and brief attempts at unity messaging. Recommended Book: The Day the World Stops Shopping by JB MacKinnon Transcript On October 7 of 2016, The Washington Post released a video from 2005 in which Presidential Candidate Donald Trump bragged about how you can get away with sexually assaulting women if you're famous. That same day, Wikileaks...

This week we talk about protectionist policy, solar panels, and rare earths. We also discuss Chinese business investment, EVs, and extreme weather events. Recommended Book: Meet Me By the Fountain by Alexandra Lange Transcript The Great Green Wall—the one in China, not the one meant to span the Sahel region, straddling the upper portion of Africa—is officially called the Three-North Shelter Forest Program, and was initially implemented by the Chinese government in 1978. This program is...

This week we talk about the Heritage Foundation, Agenda 47, and the Democrats in turmoil We also discuss Christian Nationalism, France’s surprising election outcome, and authoritarianism. Recommended Book: Filterworld by Kyle Chayka Transcript The world is awash with interesting elections this year—there are a record number of people participating in democratic activities, from Indonesia to the EU's 27 governments—and we've just seen the UK's citizenry topple their long-governing Conservative...

This week we talk about the APA, the Supreme Court, and Marbury v. Madison. We also discuss the Chevron Doctrine, government agencies, and the administrative state. Recommended Book: A City on Mars by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith Transcript The Supreme Court's 1803 Marbury v. Madison decision was pivotal to US legal theory and practice because it established the concept of judicial review, which essentially said that US courts could assess laws passed through the typical legislative system,...

This week we talk about China, Russia, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. We also discuss BRICS, North Korea, and the post-WWII global world order. Recommended Book: Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg Transcript The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, or SCO, is a defense and economic alliance that was started by China and Russia back in 2001, and which has since expanded to become the largest regional organization in the world in terms of both land area and population, encompassing...

This week we talk about the National Rally, Macron, and the European Union. We also discuss Marine Le Pen, elections, and the French National Assembly. Recommended Book: Pockets by Hannah Carlson Transcript The first week of June 2024, the EU held its parliamentary election, the tenth since it began holding such elections in 1979, and this one was notable in part because the number of MEPs—Members of European Parliament—increased from 705 to 720, due to population changes in the bloc, those...

This week we talk about search engines, SEO, and Habsburg AI. We also discuss AI summaries, the web economy, and alignment. Recommended Book: Pandora’s Box by Peter Biskind Transcript There's a concept in the world of artificial intelligence, alignment, which refers to the goals underpinning the development and expression of AI systems. This is generally considered to be a pretty important realm of inquiry because, if AI consciousness were to ever emerge—if an artificial intelligence that's...