Introduction 0:00

The Human Race 2:11

 Knowledge Creation 12:34

 AGI 15:50

 Taking Children Seriously 23:30

Good Explanations 27:49

Quantum Computers 36:35

—

Transcript http://nav.al/david-deutsch

David Deutsch: Knowledge Creation and The Human Race

Intro 0:00

‘Web3 is the business model for open source’ 1:27

Web3 doesn't have to go mainstream to be valuable 3:18

Life is a single player game 5:53

Be carful mixing the truth with what you want to be true 12:32

In the modern world, clarity of thought is everything 15:52

Pseudonymity and accountability 20:42

Read what you love until you love to read 25:00

Physicists get the ultimate feedback from reality 34:46

‘People who converge on the truth converge together’ 41:04

‘extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence’ 42:37

Ruthlessly prioritize your time 46:12

Web3 in the developing world 49:29

Being wrong in the digital world doesn't cost as much  55:33

Don’t take on problems you can’t solve 59:01

Knowledge is what makes a resource a resource  1:01:02

Pessimism is intellectually seductive 1:05:05

Don’t worship at the alter of credentials 1:06:55

Be wary of scare tactics 1:08:47

The ‘final boss’ for crypto is the state 1:14:12

Crypto is the Internet’s immune response to overregulation 1:21:10

History will look unkindly on attacks on free speech 1:23:11

Outro 1:26:58

Let Us Not Talk Falsely Now

With a Good Theory of Knowledge, You Can Decide What Else Is True 0:00

No Truth Can Be Justified 1:35

There Can Be No Final Theory of Gravity 3:49

Genetic Evolution Was a Prelude to Memetic Evolution 7:03

Humans Are Exceptional 9:27

We Are Qualitatively Different From Other Species 11:45

More Compute Power Doesn’t Produce AGI 13:18

It’s Mind Blowing That Our Minds Can’t Be Blown 14:55

Where Are the Aliens? 17:29

Intelligent Species Have Risen Only Once on Planet Earth 18:33

The Probability of Human Existence Is Infinitesimally Small 21:40

If You Can’t Program It, You Haven’t Understood It 23:03

Aliens Might Just Be Too Far Away 23:46

Aliens Would Visit for Knowledge, Not Resources 25:59

Ideas Are the New Oil 28:19

One Einstein Is Worth A Legion Of PhD Drones 31:22

Don’t Rely on Credibility Stamps 32:44 

Innovation Requires Decentralization and a Frontier 34:27

The Poverty of Compromise 37:21

Free Markets Provide the Best Feedback 40:18

Making Something Social Destroys the Truth of It 42:52

Groups Never Admit Failure 45:17

Knowledge Makes the Existence of Resources Infinite 47:24

To a Caveman Very Few Things Are Resources 49:56

—

Transcript http://nav.al/infinity-1

This is Part 2 of my interview with @bretthall9080 about The Beginning of Infinity. Also see Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEmJIA0pEf0&t=1s.

The Beginning of Infinity, Part 2

Science Is the Engine That Pulls Humanity Forward 0:00

This Book Changed the Way I Think 2:13

Nullius in Verba 4:11

Explanations That Reach the Entire Universe 6:25

Read the Best 100 Books Over and Over Again 8:19

We’re at the Beginning of an Infinity of Knowledge 10:21

People Are a Force of Nature 12:18

It’s Impossible to Predict the Growth of Knowledge 14:36

Humans Are Unique in Our Ability to Understand Things 16:30

Good Explanations Are Acts of Creativity 17:36

Good Explanations Are Hard to Vary 19:15

There Is No End of Science 21:41

There Is No Settled Mathematics 23:48

The Methods of Mathematics Are Fallible 26:43

All Knowledge Is Conjectural 29:27

Is the Universe Discrete or Continuous? 32:36

Every Theory Is Held Inside a Physical Substrate 34:44

We Can’t Prove Most Theorems with Known Physics 36:27

Probability Is Subjective 38:03

Is Light a Particle or a Wave? 40:09

The Multiverse 43:28

We Explain the Seen in Terms of the Unseen 45:10

Science Expands Our Vision of Reality 46:36

Science Is an Error-Correcting Mechanism 48:08

Theories Are Explanations, Not Predictions 50:12

Make Bold Guesses and Weed Out the Failures 52:44

Science Advances One Funeral at a Time 54:56

It’s Rare to Have Competing, Viable, Scientific Theories 56:13

We’re All Equal in Our Infinite Ignorance 59:13

It’s Easy to Extrapolate How Things Will Get Worse 1:00:38

Pessimism Seems Like an Intellectually Serious Position 1:02:14

Rational Optimism Is the Way Out 1:04:11

—

Transcript http://nav.al/infinity

This is Part 1 of my interview with @bretthall9080 about The Beginning of Infinity. Also see Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EPuJZWIBJk

The Beginning of Infinity, Part 1

Live Long Enough and You’ll Become a Philosopher 0:00

Happiness Without Material Comfort Is Playing on Hard Mode 1:35

Happiness Is Not Science or Math 3:54

Happiness Is a Skill You Can Develop 5:22

Desire Is a Contract You Make to Be Unhappy 6:36

If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Happy? 7:45

Being Unhappy Is Extremely Inefficient 10:37

Work the Least for It 12:23

The Modern Struggle Is Fighting Weaponized Addiction 14:17

Breaking Addiction Is Socially Unacceptable 15:55

Finding Peace from Mind 17:41

Happiness Is Peace in Motion 19:50

The Closer You Are to the Truth, the More Silent You Become Inside 22:17

Groups Search for Consensus, Individuals Search for Truth 23:32

The Path to Peace Is Truth 25:37

Transcript: http://nav.al/happiness

Happiness

Transcript: http://nav.al/kapil. Kapil: http://twitter.com/KapilGuptaMD.

Highlights:

- Sincerity -

Naval: “I can always tell that people who ask for stock tips, aren’t really serious about investing. People who ask for book recommendations aren’t really serious about reading. People who ask ‘What, what business should I build?’ aren’t really serious about entrepreneurship.”

- How-To’s -

Kapil: “Take the person who “made it’ and became world-class in whatever he did. If he went back and retraced his steps and did everything again the same way, but this time he did it by mimicking himself, he would fail.”

Naval: “I can’t watch Roger Federer play tennis and swing the racket the same way, nor will any description from him on how to swing the racket, get me to swing it the right way. Then we go to intellectual efforts. We start asking Warren Buffet why he invested in a company and there he can try and create a mental construct as to how he thinks and how he invests in a company… But there are just as many details to Warren Buffett’s activities, when he decides what to invest in and how he lives his life and how he thinks, as there are to Roger Federer’s body running around a tennis court, hitting a ball. At some level, the details are not transmissible. They’re not copyable.”

Kapil: “The things that you do greatest are the things that you know not how you do.”

- Truth -

Naval: “Society is a set of collective lies that we all believe so we can get along. It allows us to establish a lower common denominator consensus so we don’t all kill each other and we can cooperate. These shared fictions that we have to maintain for society to function are fine. But there’s a cost to that, and the cost is borne by the individual.”

Naval: “One of the ways in which I know that I am finding truths is then that problem is solved for good.”

- Freedom -

Kapil: “Any freedom that leads to the desire for more freedom is not freedom.”

Kapil: “Freedom comes from the understanding of where things come from, not the conscious attempt to end them.”

- Progress -

Kapil: “A human being becomes his environment. It is absolutely critical to savagely and surgically arrange one’s environment in a way that is in accordance with where he wants to go.”

Kapil: “Looking for progress is essentially looking for pleasure. It is the pleasure of self image, which says, I’m in a better place now than I was before.”

Kapil Gupta: Conquering the Mind

Excerpted from the Spearhead podcast: http://spearhead.co

Part 1 is here: https://youtu.be/YLFHVye3Q7w

How to Angel Invest, Part 2

Intro 0:00

Seek Wealth, Not Money or Status 1:51

Make Abundance for the World 7:00

Free Markets Are Intrinsic to Humans 10:39

Making Money Isn’t About Luck 14:37

Make Luck Your Destiny 19:41

You Won’t Get Rich Renting Out Your Time 24:16

Live Below Your Means for Freedom 28:55

Give Society What It Doesn’t Know How to Get 31:15

The Internet Has Massively Broadened Career Possibilities 33:58

Play Long-term Games With Long-term People 38:36

Pick Partners With Intelligence, Energy and Integrity 44:36

Partner With Rational Optimists 49:20

Arm Yourself With Specific Knowledge 54:44

Specific Knowledge Is Highly Creative or Technical 1:01:04

Learn to Sell, Learn to Build 1:06:34

Read What You Love Until You Love to Read 1:12:09

The Foundations Are Math and Logic 1:16:57

There’s No Actual Skill Called “Business” 1:20:15

Embrace Accountability to Get Leverage 1:25:45

Take Accountability to Earn Equity 1:30:13

Labor and Capital Are Old Leverage 1:35:08

Product and Media are New Leverage 1:39:49

Product Leverage is Egalitarian 1:45:03

Pick a Business Model With Leverage 1:50:12

Example: From Laborer to Entrepreneur 1:55:57

Judgment Is the Decisive Skill 2:01:21

Set an Aspirational Hourly Rate 2:07:47

Work As Hard As You Can 2:11:31

Be Too Busy to “Do Coffee” 2:16:38

Keep Redefining What You Do 2:20:42

Escape Competition Through Authenticity 2:22:45

Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes 2:28:21

Eventually You Will Get What You Deserve 2:30:57

Reject Most Advice 2:35:04

A Calm Mind, a Fit Body, a House Full of Love 2:37:59

There Are No Get Rich Quick Schemes 2:42:05

Productize Yourself 2:46:46

Accountability Means Letting People Criticize You 2:48:40

We Should Eventually Be Working for Ourselves 2:52:17

Being Ethical Is Long-Term Greedy 2:56:42

Envy Can Be Useful, or It Can Eat You Alive 3:00:07

Principal-Agent Problem: Act Like an Owner 3:03:36

Kelly Criterion: Avoid Ruin 3:10:18

Schelling Point: Cooperating Without Communicating 3:11:59

Turn Short-Term Games Into Long-Term Games 3:13:39

Compounding Relationships Make Life Easier 3:16:20

Price Discrimination: Charge Some People More 3:18:49

Consumer Surplus: Getting More Than You Paid For 3:19:59

Net Present Value: What Future Income Is Worth Today 3:20:47

Externalities: Calculating the Hidden Costs of Products 3:21:49

Bonus Material: Finding Time to Invest in Yourself 3:23:31

Transcript: https://nav.al/rich

How to Get Rich

A preview of the Spearhead podcast: http://spearhead.co

How to Angel Invest, Part 1

Work as hard as you can. Even though what you work on and who you work with are more important.

• Work as hard as you can 0:00

• But what you work on and who you work with are more important 1:00

• Nobody really works 80 hours a week 2:22

• Inspiration is perishable 3:05

• Impatience with actions, patience with results 3:36

Full show notes and transcript: http://startupboy.com/2019/05/06/work-hard

Naval Transcript on Youtube