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.George Selgin) has spent over four decades thinking about money, banking, and economic history, and tylercowen has been swapping ideas with himsince George was a grad student at NYU. In George’s new book, he explains why the New Deal was neither what its champions nor critics think it was....

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Conversations with Tyler

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31,506 views • 10 months ago •via X (Twitter)

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New ep! Andrew Ross Sorkin sees the crash of 1929 as a tale of excessive leverage and irrational speculation, but Tyler wonders if the real problem was the Negative Nellies who panicked afterward rather than the speculators everyone blamed. After all, isn't 2008 looking less like a bubble with each passing year? Plus: why we should consolidate banks, the inscrutable risks of private credit, and Sorkin's budding obsession with tulips. Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Was 1929 really a bubble? 0:06:34 Was 2008 really a bubble? 0:11:34 Alternate policy responses to the ‘29 crash 0:20:11 - Understanding Glass-Steagall 0:23:45 - What else is interesting about the 1920s 0:27:25 - Business leaders then and now 0:31:47 - Rethinking banking regulation 0:46:14 - Fed independence 0:49:49 - Sorkin’s career Watch the full episode with Andrew Ross Sorkin and tylercowen here or at the links in the next post.
59:13

New ep! Andrew Ross Sorkin sees the crash of 1929 as a tale of excessive leverage and irrational speculation, but Tyler wonders if the real problem was the Negative Nellies who panicked afterward rather than the speculators everyone blamed. After all, isn't 2008 looking less like a bubble with each passing year? Plus: why we should consolidate banks, the inscrutable risks of private credit, and Sorkin's budding obsession with tulips. Timestamps: 0:00:00 - Was 1929 really a bubble? 0:06:34 Was 2008 really a bubble? 0:11:34 Alternate policy responses to the ‘29 crash 0:20:11 - Understanding Glass-Steagall 0:23:45 - What else is interesting about the 1920s 0:27:25 - Business leaders then and now 0:31:47 - Rethinking banking regulation 0:46:14 - Fed independence 0:49:49 - Sorkin’s career Watch the full episode with Andrew Ross Sorkin and tylercowen here or at the links in the next post.

Conversations with Tyler

23,075 views • 6 months ago

The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism is comprised of 5,000 entries totaling over a million words, and Donald S. Lopez Jr. (along with his co-author) wrote every word of it. He’s also written over 20 books on Buddhism, including Buddhism: A Journey through History, which tylercowen calls one of the best books of 2025. Who better to explain what the West gets wrong about Buddhism? Timestamps: 0:00:00 – The Buddha’s omniscience 0:03:13 – How the Buddha looked and lived 0:08:25 – Reincarnation, hell, sacrifice, and hungry ghosts 0:11:52 – Western (mis)conceptions of Buddhism (not always peaceful!) 0:17:15 – Buddha’s child, castes, and visual portrayals of the Buddha 0:22:50 – Buddhism as an oral religion 0:26:13 – How different strands of Buddhism coexist 0:29:27 – Global waning of Buddhism 0:32:20 – On the Dalai Lama 0:37:20 – The Tibetan Book of the Dead and Theosophy 0:41:39 – Zen Buddhism and South Asian strands 0:46:00 – Why Thailand is the wealthiest amongst Buddhist countries 0:48:21 – Itinerary for a world tour of Buddhism 0:50:01 – How Lopez became a leading scholar on Buddhism
1:01:07

The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism is comprised of 5,000 entries totaling over a million words, and Donald S. Lopez Jr. (along with his co-author) wrote every word of it. He’s also written over 20 books on Buddhism, including Buddhism: A Journey through History, which tylercowen calls one of the best books of 2025. Who better to explain what the West gets wrong about Buddhism? Timestamps: 0:00:00 – The Buddha’s omniscience 0:03:13 – How the Buddha looked and lived 0:08:25 – Reincarnation, hell, sacrifice, and hungry ghosts 0:11:52 – Western (mis)conceptions of Buddhism (not always peaceful!) 0:17:15 – Buddha’s child, castes, and visual portrayals of the Buddha 0:22:50 – Buddhism as an oral religion 0:26:13 – How different strands of Buddhism coexist 0:29:27 – Global waning of Buddhism 0:32:20 – On the Dalai Lama 0:37:20 – The Tibetan Book of the Dead and Theosophy 0:41:39 – Zen Buddhism and South Asian strands 0:46:00 – Why Thailand is the wealthiest amongst Buddhist countries 0:48:21 – Itinerary for a world tour of Buddhism 0:50:01 – How Lopez became a leading scholar on Buddhism

Conversations with Tyler

11,859 views • 9 months ago

New episode with former US Treasury Secretary and current OpenAI board member Larry Summers (Lawrence H. Summers). We discuss: - How he's been learning about AI. - The odds of the technology delivering a much faster economic growth regime (akin to the Industrial Revolution). - How AGI might change economic policymaking. Enjoy! Timestamps: (0:00:00) - Introduction. (0:00:46) - Larry's journey teaching himself about AI & deep learning since joining OpenAI’s board. (0:09:15) - How many hours per week has Larry been spending on OpenAI-related stuff? (0:10:16) - Which bottleneck to AI scaling does Larry think is the most underrated? (0:12:22) - Approximately what share of time do today's AI researchers spend on tasks that AI will be doing for them in five years? (0:15:01) - What explains the remarkable steadiness of US economic growth over the last 150 years? (0:19:42) - How likely is it that AI initiates a new growth regime with average growth that’s ~10x faster than today? (0:21:36) - What are the best economic arguments for believing AI won’t deliver a regime of ever-increasing growth rates? (0:25:33) - How much could AGI boost economic growth in developing countries merely by helping their policymakers make better decisions? (0:28:20) - How much better could monetary policy be if the Fed had AGI? (0:31:40) - How much would having AGI have helped US economic policymakers during the financial crisis & Great Recession? (0:36:07) - Is the CCP infiltrating and stealing the IP of major AI labs in the US and UK? (0:39:35) - At what point should AI be nationalised? (0:42:39) - How would Bill Clinton or Barack Obama be thinking about AI governance? (0:44:27) - If OpenAI restructures to a public benefit corporation, how does that change its incentives? (0:46:18) - What does Daron Acemoglu miss in his analysis of the economic impacts of AI?
47:57

New episode with former US Treasury Secretary and current OpenAI board member Larry Summers (Lawrence H. Summers). We discuss: - How he's been learning about AI. - The odds of the technology delivering a much faster economic growth regime (akin to the Industrial Revolution). - How AGI might change economic policymaking. Enjoy! Timestamps: (0:00:00) - Introduction. (0:00:46) - Larry's journey teaching himself about AI & deep learning since joining OpenAI’s board. (0:09:15) - How many hours per week has Larry been spending on OpenAI-related stuff? (0:10:16) - Which bottleneck to AI scaling does Larry think is the most underrated? (0:12:22) - Approximately what share of time do today's AI researchers spend on tasks that AI will be doing for them in five years? (0:15:01) - What explains the remarkable steadiness of US economic growth over the last 150 years? (0:19:42) - How likely is it that AI initiates a new growth regime with average growth that’s ~10x faster than today? (0:21:36) - What are the best economic arguments for believing AI won’t deliver a regime of ever-increasing growth rates? (0:25:33) - How much could AGI boost economic growth in developing countries merely by helping their policymakers make better decisions? (0:28:20) - How much better could monetary policy be if the Fed had AGI? (0:31:40) - How much would having AGI have helped US economic policymakers during the financial crisis & Great Recession? (0:36:07) - Is the CCP infiltrating and stealing the IP of major AI labs in the US and UK? (0:39:35) - At what point should AI be nationalised? (0:42:39) - How would Bill Clinton or Barack Obama be thinking about AI governance? (0:44:27) - If OpenAI restructures to a public benefit corporation, how does that change its incentives? (0:46:18) - What does Daron Acemoglu miss in his analysis of the economic impacts of AI?

Joseph Noel Walker

85,856 views • 1 year ago

The seeds of Gaurav Kapadia’s interest in investing were planted in a two-family house in Flushing that his parents hacked into a four-family house. It was there where a young Gaurav served as de facto landlord, collecting rent and negotiating late payments at age 10. "You really have a great sense of humanity when you are a landlord in Queens in transition," he tells tylercowen. That instinct for reading people and situations is what drew Tyler's attention. He describes Gaurav as someone with a rare eye for quality across domains, not just in how he runs XN, his concentrated investment firm, but in how he evaluates cities, talent, and contemporary art. 0:00:00 - Intro 0:01:32 - Queens and NYC’s geography 0:08:36 - New York City mayors and electoral politics 0:13:22 - Building a career in investing 0:18:50 - XN’s investment philosophy 0:24:35 - Maintaining founder energy in investment firms 0:30:45 - The sociology of finance in NYC, London, and UAE 0:32:21 - How AI is reshaping investing 0:36:53 - Museum operations 0:42:21 - Favorite artists 0:50:39 - Tastes in art and how the canon will evolve 0:57:22 - Totei, a new venture
1:03:20

The seeds of Gaurav Kapadia’s interest in investing were planted in a two-family house in Flushing that his parents hacked into a four-family house. It was there where a young Gaurav served as de facto landlord, collecting rent and negotiating late payments at age 10. "You really have a great sense of humanity when you are a landlord in Queens in transition," he tells tylercowen. That instinct for reading people and situations is what drew Tyler's attention. He describes Gaurav as someone with a rare eye for quality across domains, not just in how he runs XN, his concentrated investment firm, but in how he evaluates cities, talent, and contemporary art. 0:00:00 - Intro 0:01:32 - Queens and NYC’s geography 0:08:36 - New York City mayors and electoral politics 0:13:22 - Building a career in investing 0:18:50 - XN’s investment philosophy 0:24:35 - Maintaining founder energy in investment firms 0:30:45 - The sociology of finance in NYC, London, and UAE 0:32:21 - How AI is reshaping investing 0:36:53 - Museum operations 0:42:21 - Favorite artists 0:50:39 - Tastes in art and how the canon will evolve 0:57:22 - Totei, a new venture

Conversations with Tyler

108,154 views • 8 months ago

🌄 Beyond SWE: The Future of Long Horizon Environments A discussion with our founders about KellyBench, and the need for new environments that require agents to adapt over time and act under uncertainty. 0:00:17 What is KellyBench? 0:02:10 Openendedness, non-stationarity and continual learning 0:03:40 Analytical versus operational capabilities 0:04:13 Why are models bad at KellyBench? 0:05:39 Situational awareness in dynamic environments 0:06:37 Feature stability and real-world non-stationarity 0:07:07 The power of context 0:07:34 "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself" 0:08:20 Machiavelli, fortuna and the ability to adapt to change 0:09:23 How can models improve on evals like KellyBench? 0:10:12 Limitations of KellyBench: data availability and market odds timing 0:11:44 Implications beyond quant finance / sports betting 0:13:26 Civilisations as the ultimate time horizon 0:14:05 Would a mega prompt / better elicitation do much better on the benchmark? 0:14:52 What new types of capability is GR excited about? 0:17:48 Taste and the ability to pursue long-term goals even if they aren't immediately rewarding 0:18:56 Deep learning as an example of a method that took a long time to bear fruit 0:19:25 Optimism about the future of AI
19:46

🌄 Beyond SWE: The Future of Long Horizon Environments A discussion with our founders about KellyBench, and the need for new environments that require agents to adapt over time and act under uncertainty. 0:00:17 What is KellyBench? 0:02:10 Openendedness, non-stationarity and continual learning 0:03:40 Analytical versus operational capabilities 0:04:13 Why are models bad at KellyBench? 0:05:39 Situational awareness in dynamic environments 0:06:37 Feature stability and real-world non-stationarity 0:07:07 The power of context 0:07:34 "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself" 0:08:20 Machiavelli, fortuna and the ability to adapt to change 0:09:23 How can models improve on evals like KellyBench? 0:10:12 Limitations of KellyBench: data availability and market odds timing 0:11:44 Implications beyond quant finance / sports betting 0:13:26 Civilisations as the ultimate time horizon 0:14:05 Would a mega prompt / better elicitation do much better on the benchmark? 0:14:52 What new types of capability is GR excited about? 0:17:48 Taste and the ability to pursue long-term goals even if they aren't immediately rewarding 0:18:56 Deep learning as an example of a method that took a long time to bear fruit 0:19:25 Optimism about the future of AI

General Reasoning

15,585 views • 4 months ago

New episode with Francis Fukuyama (Francis Fukuyama). While The End of History and the Last Man is arguably the most influential work in political science of the past half-century, I wanted to focus on one of Frank's lesser-known books: Our Posthuman Future. In that book, he considers biotech and its potential to usher in a new, post-human history. I check in to see how his views have evolved since it was published (2002), then ask him about AI and its potential to restart "History". The goal was to discuss topics that are important and on which Frank has spoken little until now. Frank also gives me a preview of his forthcoming book, and shares some ideas on delegation and state capacity. (0:00:00) - Introduction. (0:00:41) - Are new biotechnologies restarting History? (0:03:52) - Why Fukuyama thinks life extension is a bad idea. (0:06:47) - Which biotechnology is most likely to drive transhumanism? (0:07:34) - Political orders are downstream of technology. (0:10:31) - Would Fukuyama have denied political rights to Denisovans or Neanderthals? (0:13:56) - Transhumanism and longevity's unintended consequences. (0:18:55) - Assortative mating vs. gene editing. (0:20:00) - How should we adjudicate disagreements between different sets of natural rights? (0:24:03) - How is Fukuyama thinking about AGI and ASI? (0:27:31) - Granting AIs political rights? (0:37:23) - Best political order for a society of non-thymotic AIs? (0:40:44) - Could an ASI design a better political order than liberal democracy for today's world? (0:44:08) - Why Asian cultures are more permissive of biotechnology. (0:47:04) - Do LLMs represent a victory of American soft power in China? (0:49:17) - If humanity is made economically redundant, where will megalothymia be channelled? (0:51:58) - Can Trump and Musk's relationship endure their mutual megalothymia? (0:53:23) - A future without work? Kojève's 1959 trip to Japan, & the early-modern landed gentry. (1:00:41) - Hegel vs. Kojève: wars after history? (1:02:26) - What more would have to happen for China to falsify the end of history thesis? (1:03:39) - What Fukuyama learned from having his thesis chronically misunderstood. (1:06:37) - Fukuyama's advice for public intellectuals who want sustainable careers. (1:08:52) - A sneak peek at Fukuyama's next book. (1:10:32) - Delegation in armies and bureaucracies. (1:15:48) - Why Fukuyama thinks DOGE was misguided. (1:17:53) - The relationship between talent, delegation and state capacity. Watch full episode on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc. Transcript at my website jnwpod dot com. Enjoy!
1:19:25

New episode with Francis Fukuyama (Francis Fukuyama). While The End of History and the Last Man is arguably the most influential work in political science of the past half-century, I wanted to focus on one of Frank's lesser-known books: Our Posthuman Future. In that book, he considers biotech and its potential to usher in a new, post-human history. I check in to see how his views have evolved since it was published (2002), then ask him about AI and its potential to restart "History". The goal was to discuss topics that are important and on which Frank has spoken little until now. Frank also gives me a preview of his forthcoming book, and shares some ideas on delegation and state capacity. (0:00:00) - Introduction. (0:00:41) - Are new biotechnologies restarting History? (0:03:52) - Why Fukuyama thinks life extension is a bad idea. (0:06:47) - Which biotechnology is most likely to drive transhumanism? (0:07:34) - Political orders are downstream of technology. (0:10:31) - Would Fukuyama have denied political rights to Denisovans or Neanderthals? (0:13:56) - Transhumanism and longevity's unintended consequences. (0:18:55) - Assortative mating vs. gene editing. (0:20:00) - How should we adjudicate disagreements between different sets of natural rights? (0:24:03) - How is Fukuyama thinking about AGI and ASI? (0:27:31) - Granting AIs political rights? (0:37:23) - Best political order for a society of non-thymotic AIs? (0:40:44) - Could an ASI design a better political order than liberal democracy for today's world? (0:44:08) - Why Asian cultures are more permissive of biotechnology. (0:47:04) - Do LLMs represent a victory of American soft power in China? (0:49:17) - If humanity is made economically redundant, where will megalothymia be channelled? (0:51:58) - Can Trump and Musk's relationship endure their mutual megalothymia? (0:53:23) - A future without work? Kojève's 1959 trip to Japan, & the early-modern landed gentry. (1:00:41) - Hegel vs. Kojève: wars after history? (1:02:26) - What more would have to happen for China to falsify the end of history thesis? (1:03:39) - What Fukuyama learned from having his thesis chronically misunderstood. (1:06:37) - Fukuyama's advice for public intellectuals who want sustainable careers. (1:08:52) - A sneak peek at Fukuyama's next book. (1:10:32) - Delegation in armies and bureaucracies. (1:15:48) - Why Fukuyama thinks DOGE was misguided. (1:17:53) - The relationship between talent, delegation and state capacity. Watch full episode on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc. Transcript at my website jnwpod dot com. Enjoy!

Joseph Noel Walker

15,483 views • 1 year ago

John Amaechi is a former NBA forward-center turned psychology professor and leadership expert. He's known for turning down $17 million from the Lakers, being one of the first openly gay NBA players, and his best-selling memoir Man in the Middle. tylercowen and John Amaechi OBE discuss what a Star Wars-obsessed psychologist thinks about the Jedi's leadership skills, why the end of his NBA career was a relief, retreating into science fiction as a kid, and more. 0:00:00 - Culture is defined by the worst behavior tolerated 0:04:10 - Types of leadership rituals 0:05:38 - Quality of leadership in college and other places 0:08:50 - Doc Rivers' skills as a coach 0:10:47 - Retreating into science fiction 0:16:47 - Turning down $17 million 0:23:12 - Jerry Sloan and Karl Malone 0:26:03 - What % of NBA players love the game 0:30:36 - Being gay in professional sports 0:37:52 - London's peak and England's nostalgia for the past 0:44:15 - Reforming the NBA 0:48:06 - Post-NBA prospects for lower tier players 0:51:45 - On becoming a professor 0:57:30 - Personality tests are bollocks Watch the full episode here on twitter or find links everywhere else in the next tweet.
1:02:24

John Amaechi is a former NBA forward-center turned psychology professor and leadership expert. He's known for turning down $17 million from the Lakers, being one of the first openly gay NBA players, and his best-selling memoir Man in the Middle. tylercowen and John Amaechi OBE discuss what a Star Wars-obsessed psychologist thinks about the Jedi's leadership skills, why the end of his NBA career was a relief, retreating into science fiction as a kid, and more. 0:00:00 - Culture is defined by the worst behavior tolerated 0:04:10 - Types of leadership rituals 0:05:38 - Quality of leadership in college and other places 0:08:50 - Doc Rivers' skills as a coach 0:10:47 - Retreating into science fiction 0:16:47 - Turning down $17 million 0:23:12 - Jerry Sloan and Karl Malone 0:26:03 - What % of NBA players love the game 0:30:36 - Being gay in professional sports 0:37:52 - London's peak and England's nostalgia for the past 0:44:15 - Reforming the NBA 0:48:06 - Post-NBA prospects for lower tier players 0:51:45 - On becoming a professor 0:57:30 - Personality tests are bollocks Watch the full episode here on twitter or find links everywhere else in the next tweet.

Conversations with Tyler

16,286 views • 10 months ago

Tyler considers Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage one of the best books of the last decade, and its author Jonny Steinberg one of the most underrated writers and thinkers—in North America, at least. Steinberg's particular genius lies in getting uncomfortably close to difficult truths through immersive research—spending 350 hours in police ride-alongs, years studying prison gangs and their century-old oral histories, following a Somali refugee's journey across East Africa—and then rendering what he finds with a novelist's emotional insight. Watch the full conversation between tylercowen and Jonny Steinberg here or follow the links in the next tweet. Timestamps: 0:00:40 – Policing and crime in South Africa 0:11:15 – Prison culture 0:22:04 – Nelson and Winnie Mandela’s marriage 0:24:47 – Was Winnie Mandela just a bad person? 0:29:20 – Nelson Mandela’s masks 0:32:04 – Mandela’s legacy and the ANC 0:36:51 – Reasons for optimism in South Africa 0:50:58 – His forthcoming biography of Cecil Rhodes 0:55:15 – Where to visit in South Africa
59:24

Tyler considers Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage one of the best books of the last decade, and its author Jonny Steinberg one of the most underrated writers and thinkers—in North America, at least. Steinberg's particular genius lies in getting uncomfortably close to difficult truths through immersive research—spending 350 hours in police ride-alongs, years studying prison gangs and their century-old oral histories, following a Somali refugee's journey across East Africa—and then rendering what he finds with a novelist's emotional insight. Watch the full conversation between tylercowen and Jonny Steinberg here or follow the links in the next tweet. Timestamps: 0:00:40 – Policing and crime in South Africa 0:11:15 – Prison culture 0:22:04 – Nelson and Winnie Mandela’s marriage 0:24:47 – Was Winnie Mandela just a bad person? 0:29:20 – Nelson Mandela’s masks 0:32:04 – Mandela’s legacy and the ANC 0:36:51 – Reasons for optimism in South Africa 0:50:58 – His forthcoming biography of Cecil Rhodes 0:55:15 – Where to visit in South Africa

Conversations with Tyler

28,766 views • 9 months ago

Episode 64 with Claynosaurz This is our dot com era. This is the future and we believe that. We have this current model that works We spoke about the past, present and future of Claynosaurz, IP tokenization, DATs It was great to have a casual sit down with the team and talk shop Timestamps: 0:01:58 Intro 0:04:38 Clayno quarterly workshop 0:05:56 Cab 🌋 new role at Claynosaurz 0:10:23 Navy seals 0:16:01 Tokenize everything 0:20:07 "Disney will buy us or we will buy them" Andrew 0:23:11 The thing we are really thinking about 0:29:20 Future of digital asset treasuries 0:34:30 GameSquare Holdings Inc. acquiring high value punks 0:37:50 Alpha 0:40:47 How is it to have DAVID HORVATH on the team 0:44:00 Assessing the Asian markets 0:48:00 Retaining top talent and the core team 0:48:50 William Liu joins the set + new position 0:56:29 Clayno's first event experience ever 1:00:10 How Plaposaur | CC 🌋 and the team went full time Clayno 1:07:34 Team member growth 1:17:02 Disney 1:20:00 Future of IP 1:30:30 "No way im saying this on air"
1:39:47

Episode 64 with Claynosaurz This is our dot com era. This is the future and we believe that. We have this current model that works We spoke about the past, present and future of Claynosaurz, IP tokenization, DATs It was great to have a casual sit down with the team and talk shop Timestamps: 0:01:58 Intro 0:04:38 Clayno quarterly workshop 0:05:56 Cab 🌋 new role at Claynosaurz 0:10:23 Navy seals 0:16:01 Tokenize everything 0:20:07 "Disney will buy us or we will buy them" Andrew 0:23:11 The thing we are really thinking about 0:29:20 Future of digital asset treasuries 0:34:30 GameSquare Holdings Inc. acquiring high value punks 0:37:50 Alpha 0:40:47 How is it to have DAVID HORVATH on the team 0:44:00 Assessing the Asian markets 0:48:00 Retaining top talent and the core team 0:48:50 William Liu joins the set + new position 0:56:29 Clayno's first event experience ever 1:00:10 How Plaposaur | CC 🌋 and the team went full time Clayno 1:07:34 Team member growth 1:17:02 Disney 1:20:00 Future of IP 1:30:30 "No way im saying this on air"

Andrew Forte

26,952 views • 10 months ago

Today: a 1.5 hour interview with the co-founders of Coherence Neuro: Ben Woodington and Elise Jenkins They are, as far as i can tell, the only (neurotechnology x oncology) startup that exists today. 'Neurotechnology? For cancer?' you may ask. Yes! As it turns out, tumors interact with the nervous system a fair bit, and you can use the very same neuromodulation toolbox that exists for neuropsychiatric conditions, for monitoring and treating cancer. Coherence has built an invasive device to place at the site of a tumor to do exactly this. Their first indication is a form of brain cancer called glioblastoma; one of the most fatal subtypes of cancer to exist today. The standard of care (with one exception that we discuss) has not changed in 25 years. If Coherence works out, and there is a very real chance they will, that may change. Most interesting of all is that Coherence believes that the bioelectric properties of cancer are not just worth poking at for brain cancers, but for all cancers. And maybe even for diseases outside of it! This conversation covers how Coherence’s first neurotech device (SOMA) works, the molecular reasons behind why neuromodulation affects cancer at all, what the biomarker readouts look like, the obvious Michael Levin comparison, and a lot more. Also: shout to Nicole for setting up the connection here in the first place! Crazy to think that a meeting in mid-2025 ended up leading to this Youtube/Spotify/Apple Podcasts links in replies 0:00:00 - Introduction 0:01:42 - How is SOMA different from Novocure’s Optune? 0:08:57 - Why does neuromodulation affect cancer at all? 0:13:28 - How was cancer-nervous system crosstalk first discovered? 0:15:42 - Anti-epileptics and beta blockers as accidental cancer drugs 0:17:38 - What is molecularly happening when you block cancer-neuron crosstalk? 0:19:50 - What is SOMA actually reading out as a biomarker? 0:20:44 - What does it mean that cancer is “very electric”? 0:22:02 - Can you derive universal biomarkers across patients? 0:23:09 - How is the device placed? 0:24:45 - How does the blocking stimulation regime work? 0:26:43 - Is it fair to say this is closed loop? 0:29:05 - Why not just spam the tumor with constant stimulation? 0:32:31 - Why MRI safety is non-negotiable for oncology devices 0:33:35 - Walk us through the patient journey from diagnosis to implantation 0:36:13 - The Michael Levin question: can you reprogram cancer back to normal? 0:42:29 - Efficacy, hospice settings, and the utility of the neuromodulation literature 0:45:52 - Why start with glioblastoma instead of an easier cancer? 0:48:57 - Regulatory strategy and the reimbursement threat 0:55:37 - How well does mouse-to-human translation work for neuromodulation? 0:55:57 - What do in silico models of neuromodulation look like? 0:58:09 - Why didn’t this exist 10 years ago? 1:01:48 - The founding story 1:06:38 - Why build your own device instead of using off-the-shelf arrays? 1:08:35 - Speaking with glioblastoma patients 1:12:04 - What was it like to raise money for this? 1:13:56 - Beyond cancer: TBI, lung disease, and the pan-disease argument 1:17:40 - Hiring at Coherence + what is the hardest type of talent to find 1:23:17 - What would you do with $100M equity-free? 1:27:15 - Are you a neurotech company or a cancer company?
1:33:20

Today: a 1.5 hour interview with the co-founders of Coherence Neuro: Ben Woodington and Elise Jenkins They are, as far as i can tell, the only (neurotechnology x oncology) startup that exists today. 'Neurotechnology? For cancer?' you may ask. Yes! As it turns out, tumors interact with the nervous system a fair bit, and you can use the very same neuromodulation toolbox that exists for neuropsychiatric conditions, for monitoring and treating cancer. Coherence has built an invasive device to place at the site of a tumor to do exactly this. Their first indication is a form of brain cancer called glioblastoma; one of the most fatal subtypes of cancer to exist today. The standard of care (with one exception that we discuss) has not changed in 25 years. If Coherence works out, and there is a very real chance they will, that may change. Most interesting of all is that Coherence believes that the bioelectric properties of cancer are not just worth poking at for brain cancers, but for all cancers. And maybe even for diseases outside of it! This conversation covers how Coherence’s first neurotech device (SOMA) works, the molecular reasons behind why neuromodulation affects cancer at all, what the biomarker readouts look like, the obvious Michael Levin comparison, and a lot more. Also: shout to Nicole for setting up the connection here in the first place! Crazy to think that a meeting in mid-2025 ended up leading to this Youtube/Spotify/Apple Podcasts links in replies 0:00:00 - Introduction 0:01:42 - How is SOMA different from Novocure’s Optune? 0:08:57 - Why does neuromodulation affect cancer at all? 0:13:28 - How was cancer-nervous system crosstalk first discovered? 0:15:42 - Anti-epileptics and beta blockers as accidental cancer drugs 0:17:38 - What is molecularly happening when you block cancer-neuron crosstalk? 0:19:50 - What is SOMA actually reading out as a biomarker? 0:20:44 - What does it mean that cancer is “very electric”? 0:22:02 - Can you derive universal biomarkers across patients? 0:23:09 - How is the device placed? 0:24:45 - How does the blocking stimulation regime work? 0:26:43 - Is it fair to say this is closed loop? 0:29:05 - Why not just spam the tumor with constant stimulation? 0:32:31 - Why MRI safety is non-negotiable for oncology devices 0:33:35 - Walk us through the patient journey from diagnosis to implantation 0:36:13 - The Michael Levin question: can you reprogram cancer back to normal? 0:42:29 - Efficacy, hospice settings, and the utility of the neuromodulation literature 0:45:52 - Why start with glioblastoma instead of an easier cancer? 0:48:57 - Regulatory strategy and the reimbursement threat 0:55:37 - How well does mouse-to-human translation work for neuromodulation? 0:55:57 - What do in silico models of neuromodulation look like? 0:58:09 - Why didn’t this exist 10 years ago? 1:01:48 - The founding story 1:06:38 - Why build your own device instead of using off-the-shelf arrays? 1:08:35 - Speaking with glioblastoma patients 1:12:04 - What was it like to raise money for this? 1:13:56 - Beyond cancer: TBI, lung disease, and the pan-disease argument 1:17:40 - Hiring at Coherence + what is the hardest type of talent to find 1:23:17 - What would you do with $100M equity-free? 1:27:15 - Are you a neurotech company or a cancer company?

owl

37,299 views • 5 months ago

Jason Dunn manufactured the first parts ever made in space with his first company. And now, he’s back with Outpost — a startup building shipping-container-sized autonomous space factories... that can return to Earth. I invited Jason Dunn to my (terrestrial) space factory to ask him how it works, and we got into the technical details. It was a fascinating conversation about how to build a space company. I think you’ll love it. Chapters: 0:00:00 — Introducing Outpost’s autonomous space factories 0:02:34 — Jason’s first rodeo: Made in Space 0:04:07 — Why NASA got mad about the first part ever manufactured off Earth 0:10:00 — Designing a 3D printer that works in zero-G 0:15:19 — Getting inspiration from “a secret cult for the future of space” 0:22:02 — Jason almost started a surf shop 0:23:45 — The first time Jason made ZBLAN fiber optics in zero gravity 0:31:17 — What are the driving engineering requirements for a space return lane? 0:36:44 — “What’s the deal with the huge cube of metal on the Space Station?” 0:37:37 — How do you bring a shipping container back to Earth from space? 0:43:50 — Deployments are scary… why are these worth it? 0:47:40 — Is there a risk of bouncing off the atmosphere? 0:50:11 — Delivering MREs from God to America’s warfighters 0:53:45 — “We are very very hardware-rich.” 0:58:06 — How to convince your children to go into hard tech
1:00:10

Jason Dunn manufactured the first parts ever made in space with his first company. And now, he’s back with Outpost — a startup building shipping-container-sized autonomous space factories... that can return to Earth. I invited Jason Dunn to my (terrestrial) space factory to ask him how it works, and we got into the technical details. It was a fascinating conversation about how to build a space company. I think you’ll love it. Chapters: 0:00:00 — Introducing Outpost’s autonomous space factories 0:02:34 — Jason’s first rodeo: Made in Space 0:04:07 — Why NASA got mad about the first part ever manufactured off Earth 0:10:00 — Designing a 3D printer that works in zero-G 0:15:19 — Getting inspiration from “a secret cult for the future of space” 0:22:02 — Jason almost started a surf shop 0:23:45 — The first time Jason made ZBLAN fiber optics in zero gravity 0:31:17 — What are the driving engineering requirements for a space return lane? 0:36:44 — “What’s the deal with the huge cube of metal on the Space Station?” 0:37:37 — How do you bring a shipping container back to Earth from space? 0:43:50 — Deployments are scary… why are these worth it? 0:47:40 — Is there a risk of bouncing off the atmosphere? 0:50:11 — Delivering MREs from God to America’s warfighters 0:53:45 — “We are very very hardware-rich.” 0:58:06 — How to convince your children to go into hard tech

Christian Keil

14,980 views • 1 year ago

Venus Aerospace is building a detonation ramjet engine. It's a unique design: one engine to go from Mach 0 to Mach 6, with a rotating-detonation rocket engine upstream and a ramjet downstream. The rocket starts the flight, and the ramjet brings the specific impulse you need for commercial air travel. I invited Venus CTO Andrew Duggleby to the Astranis office to talk about how it works, what he's already demonstrated (a lot!), and what is left between Venus Aerospace and hypersonic flight. Timestamps: 0:00:00 — Introducing the detonation ramjet 0:04:27 — How rockets can be more efficient than turbofans 0:09:10 — Riding up the ISP curve with a ramjet 0:13:07 — What has Venus built so far? 0:22:40 — The driving constraint: heat 0:25:17 — Is this too hard to model with CFD tools? 0:30:52 — How did you prove to yourself this could work? 0:33:09 — How does this approach differ from other super/hypersonic jets? 0:38:30 — How is the government supporting hypersonic development? 0:40:36 — Was a Twitter commenter correct to roast my earlier video on ramjets? 0:45:20 — Why not just use normal rockets for point-to-point transportation? 0:47:50 — How does this engine work for takeoff and landing? 0:51:15 — "If I could add a new regulation..." 0:55:30 — "Hypersonics is the speed at which heat kicks your ass" 0:58:31 — What's the next big technical demo?
1:00:30

Venus Aerospace is building a detonation ramjet engine. It's a unique design: one engine to go from Mach 0 to Mach 6, with a rotating-detonation rocket engine upstream and a ramjet downstream. The rocket starts the flight, and the ramjet brings the specific impulse you need for commercial air travel. I invited Venus CTO Andrew Duggleby to the Astranis office to talk about how it works, what he's already demonstrated (a lot!), and what is left between Venus Aerospace and hypersonic flight. Timestamps: 0:00:00 — Introducing the detonation ramjet 0:04:27 — How rockets can be more efficient than turbofans 0:09:10 — Riding up the ISP curve with a ramjet 0:13:07 — What has Venus built so far? 0:22:40 — The driving constraint: heat 0:25:17 — Is this too hard to model with CFD tools? 0:30:52 — How did you prove to yourself this could work? 0:33:09 — How does this approach differ from other super/hypersonic jets? 0:38:30 — How is the government supporting hypersonic development? 0:40:36 — Was a Twitter commenter correct to roast my earlier video on ramjets? 0:45:20 — Why not just use normal rockets for point-to-point transportation? 0:47:50 — How does this engine work for takeoff and landing? 0:51:15 — "If I could add a new regulation..." 0:55:30 — "Hypersonics is the speed at which heat kicks your ass" 0:58:31 — What's the next big technical demo?

Christian Keil

36,178 views • 1 year ago

Attention inframarginal Marginal Revolution podcast listeners! Alex Tabarrok and tylercowen are pleased to bring you an episode covering some of their favorite economic models: Spence on monopolies, Harberger on tax incidence, and Solow on growth. Per Spence (1975)—or was it Coase (1979)?—this dialogue has been crafted to appeal to you, the diehards. Mass appeal is some other joker’s game. 0:00:19 Spence's monopoly model 0:07:08 How Spence applies (or not) to NYT and HBO 0:16:13 Alex and Tyler's approach to creating a textbook (and blog and podcast and…) 0:20:43 Harberger's model of who pays tax 0:24:44 Harberger's model as applied to congestion and minimum wages 0:33:54 Solow's growth model 0:42:22 What Solow's model misses Watch the full episode here, or follow the links in the next tweet.
55:15

Attention inframarginal Marginal Revolution podcast listeners! Alex Tabarrok and tylercowen are pleased to bring you an episode covering some of their favorite economic models: Spence on monopolies, Harberger on tax incidence, and Solow on growth. Per Spence (1975)—or was it Coase (1979)?—this dialogue has been crafted to appeal to you, the diehards. Mass appeal is some other joker’s game. 0:00:19 Spence's monopoly model 0:07:08 How Spence applies (or not) to NYT and HBO 0:16:13 Alex and Tyler's approach to creating a textbook (and blog and podcast and…) 0:20:43 Harberger's model of who pays tax 0:24:44 Harberger's model as applied to congestion and minimum wages 0:33:54 Solow's growth model 0:42:22 What Solow's model misses Watch the full episode here, or follow the links in the next tweet.

Mercatus Center

84,288 views • 10 months ago

We are excited to share that Logan Kilpatrick joined us on The Bench to discuss Google's new Gemini 3.5 Flash: why it's deliberately more persistent and capable than previous Flash models, how it hit #1 on our FinanceAgent Benchmark taking 82 steps where competitors stopped at 13, and what justifies the price increase. We also get into why AI benchmarks need a paradigm shift, the trade-off of building everything vs staying focused, the Pope, and why Omni might kill the Subway Surfers content era. 0:11:00 – Flash is being rebased for the agent era, not just a cheaper model anymore 0:14:03 – Persistence by design: 82 tool calls vs competitors' 13 0:17:52 – Why pricing went up and how Google thinks about value per token 0:22:55 – Coding performance: from 20th to 10th place in one generation 0:28:28 – Why benchmarks have historically been misleading and what the new era of evaluation looks like 0:29:28 Logan on why Google has the best researchers in the world 0:36:16 – The cost of being Google 0:39:07 – The Pope’s encyclical on AI and whether most people see frontier intelligence as a good thing 0:51:12 – Why Omni is the thing that recently clicked
54:53

We are excited to share that Logan Kilpatrick joined us on The Bench to discuss Google's new Gemini 3.5 Flash: why it's deliberately more persistent and capable than previous Flash models, how it hit #1 on our FinanceAgent Benchmark taking 82 steps where competitors stopped at 13, and what justifies the price increase. We also get into why AI benchmarks need a paradigm shift, the trade-off of building everything vs staying focused, the Pope, and why Omni might kill the Subway Surfers content era. 0:11:00 – Flash is being rebased for the agent era, not just a cheaper model anymore 0:14:03 – Persistence by design: 82 tool calls vs competitors' 13 0:17:52 – Why pricing went up and how Google thinks about value per token 0:22:55 – Coding performance: from 20th to 10th place in one generation 0:28:28 – Why benchmarks have historically been misleading and what the new era of evaluation looks like 0:29:28 Logan on why Google has the best researchers in the world 0:36:16 – The cost of being Google 0:39:07 – The Pope’s encyclical on AI and whether most people see frontier intelligence as a good thing 0:51:12 – Why Omni is the thing that recently clicked

Vals AI

16,486 views • 2 months ago

The Truth About Canadian FIRES! Philosopher Stefan Molyneux lays out the Truth About the 2026 Canadian wildfires by showing they hit remote boreal forests from lightning and dry weather, spread fast through wind and embers, and are hard to fight because of a lack of roads and difficult terrain. He discusses prescribed burns and honest management over blaming climate change or wasting money on endless suppression. Sources: Full slideshow with notes: 0:00:00 Canada Wildfire Crisis 0:02:39 Fire Causes and Spread 0:05:47 Wildfire Costs 0:06:58 Forest Terms and Firebombers 0:09:56 Failed Fire Management 0:11:46 Prescribed Burns 0:14:48 Trade-Offs Matter 0:16:46 Private Sector Solutions 0:19:54 Burn Costs and Ownership 0:22:55 Managing Remote Fires 0:24:07 U.S. Assistance Tensions 0:26:50 Climate Claims Challenged 0:30:31 Fire Origin Questions 0:33:16 Glyphosate Debate 0:34:12 Smoke Health Effects 0:34:59 PM2.5 Air Quality 0:36:16 Freedom as Solution GET FREEDOMAIN MERCH! SUBSCRIBE TO ME ON X! Follow me on Youtube! GET MY NEW BOOK 'PEACEFUL PARENTING', THE INTERACTIVE PEACEFUL PARENTING AI, AND THE FULL AUDIOBOOK! Join the PREMIUM philosophy community on the web for free! Subscribers get 12 HOURS on the "Truth About the French Revolution," multiple interactive multi-lingual philosophy AIs trained on thousands of hours of my material - as well as AIs for Real-Time Relationships, Bitcoin, Peaceful Parenting, and Call-In Shows! You also receive private livestreams, HUNDREDS of exclusive premium shows, early release podcasts, the 22 Part History of Philosophers series and much more! See you soon!
37:54

The Truth About Canadian FIRES! Philosopher Stefan Molyneux lays out the Truth About the 2026 Canadian wildfires by showing they hit remote boreal forests from lightning and dry weather, spread fast through wind and embers, and are hard to fight because of a lack of roads and difficult terrain. He discusses prescribed burns and honest management over blaming climate change or wasting money on endless suppression. Sources: Full slideshow with notes: 0:00:00 Canada Wildfire Crisis 0:02:39 Fire Causes and Spread 0:05:47 Wildfire Costs 0:06:58 Forest Terms and Firebombers 0:09:56 Failed Fire Management 0:11:46 Prescribed Burns 0:14:48 Trade-Offs Matter 0:16:46 Private Sector Solutions 0:19:54 Burn Costs and Ownership 0:22:55 Managing Remote Fires 0:24:07 U.S. Assistance Tensions 0:26:50 Climate Claims Challenged 0:30:31 Fire Origin Questions 0:33:16 Glyphosate Debate 0:34:12 Smoke Health Effects 0:34:59 PM2.5 Air Quality 0:36:16 Freedom as Solution GET FREEDOMAIN MERCH! SUBSCRIBE TO ME ON X! Follow me on Youtube! GET MY NEW BOOK 'PEACEFUL PARENTING', THE INTERACTIVE PEACEFUL PARENTING AI, AND THE FULL AUDIOBOOK! Join the PREMIUM philosophy community on the web for free! Subscribers get 12 HOURS on the "Truth About the French Revolution," multiple interactive multi-lingual philosophy AIs trained on thousands of hours of my material - as well as AIs for Real-Time Relationships, Bitcoin, Peaceful Parenting, and Call-In Shows! You also receive private livestreams, HUNDREDS of exclusive premium shows, early release podcasts, the 22 Part History of Philosophers series and much more! See you soon!

Freedomain - with Stefan Molyneux, MA

13,811 views • 29 days ago