Shows
Made You Think121: The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect“Prime Intellect was an uncertain god. It had acted because it had to, but if it had been human its hand would be shaking on the controls.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! This episode dives into The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams, a soft sci-fi novella that imagines an all-powerful AI enforcing the Three Laws of Robotics to their absolute limit. We unpack themes like simulated realities, the search for meaning, and whether a perfect world is actually desirable. We cover a wide range of topics including: How Asim...2025-06-251h 05Made You Think120: Wired To Heal: Regeneration and The Body Electric“The greatest polluting element in the earth's environment is the proliferation of electromagnetic fields. I consider that to be a far greater threat on a global scale than warming, or the increase of chemical elements in the environment.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we’re diving into The Body Electric by Robert O. Becker, a fascinating read on how electricity flows through the body and the ways it might influence healing, health, and even consciousness. Becker, a pioneer in bioelectricity, lays out connections between injury recovery, electromagnetic fields, and the body’s...2025-05-2057 min
Made You Think119: Surviving Against All Odds: Endurance by Alfred Lansing“In that instant they felt an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment. Though they had failed dismally even to come close to the expedition's original objective, they knew now that somehow they had done much, much more than ever they set out to do.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! If you love exploration books as much as we do, you'll definitely enjoy this episode. Today, we're talking about Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. Join us as we explore Shackleton's legendary expedition, where a crew of 28 men faced nearly two years of extr...2024-12-111h 36
Made You Think118: Attention is All You Need: The World After Capital“The amount of human attention in the world is finite. We have 24 hours in the day, some of which we need to spend paying attention to eating, sleeping and meeting our other needs. The attention during the remaining hours of most people in the world is taken up by having to earn an income and by consuming goods and services, leaving relatively little time for attention to be freely allocated. A hard limit on available attention also exists for humanity as a whole—as I argued earlier, we are headed for peak population, at which point we will no long...2024-07-161h 09
Made You Think116: What Was It All For? WWI by Martin Gilbert“If the war was to be over by Christmas, as many believed, or at the latest by Easter 1915, tens of thousands of soldiers might be killed or wounded before the guns fell silent. Every army believed that it could crush its opponents within a few months.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! Join us as we dive into The First World War by Martin Gilbert. We'll explore the intricate details of WW1, from the seemingly pointless triggers to the significant aftermath that reshaped the world. We'll also touch on intriguing historical anecdotes, like Germany's retu...2024-06-261h 40
Made You Think115: Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman"The tragedy of this world is that no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of pain or of joy. The tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone. For a life in the past cannot be shared with the present. Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we explore the concept of time through the lens of one of the most imaginative books of our time, Einstein's Dreams. The novel portrays Albert Einstein as a young scientist grappling with hi...2024-05-1647 minMade You Think115: Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman"The tragedy of this world is that no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of pain or of joy. The tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone. For a life in the past cannot be shared with the present. Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we explore the concept of time through the lens of one of the most imaginative books of our time, Einstein's Dreams. The novel portrays Albert Einstein as a young scientist grappling with hi...2024-05-1547 min
Made You Think114: Book vs. Big Screen: 3 Body Problem on Netflix"But if science tells you that something’s impossible, and it happens anyway, it means one of two things. Either the science is wrong, or it’s a scam.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! Today, we're exploring the 3 Body Problem TV series on Netflix, inspired by Cixin Liu's acclaimed novel. Listen in as we discuss Season 1's adaptation from book to screen, analyzing character shifts, narrative changes, and the portrayal of scientific concepts. If you enjoyed The Three-Body Problem book series or consider yourself a sci-fi fanatic, this one is for you! We c...2024-05-0643 min
Made You Think113: Too Much of a Good Thing: Bad Therapy"We’ve never had a generation more focused on its feelings and, frankly, not one more tyrannized by their feelings.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! Today, we're delving into Abigail Shrier's Bad Therapy, a thought-provoking book which highlights the impact of therapy on individuals, especially younger generations. Join us as we explore the nuances of therapy, its incentives, and its effects. We cover a wide range of topics including: Challenges of parenting in a therapy-centric culture Unintended consequences of therapeutic incentives The fine line between taking thoughts too seriously vs. dism...2024-04-121h 38
Made You Think112: Thou Mayest: East of Eden by John Steinbeck“I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one. . . . Humans are caught—in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too—in a net of good and evil. . . . There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well—or ill?” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, N...2024-04-032h 02
Made You Think111: Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth"All the facts of science aren't enough to understand the world's meaning. For this, you must step outside the world." Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we're adventuring into the world of Logicomix, a graphic novel that takes us on a journey through the intricate life of mathematician Bertrand Russell. From the quest for precision that borders on madness to the historical events Russell was embroiled in, we'll explore the complexities of logic, philosophy, and mathematics. We cover a wide range of topics including: Why seeking precision in...2024-03-201h 20
Made You Think110: Fear of Oozification"Oozification is the process of recursively replacing systems based on numerous larger building blocks, governed by many rules, with ones based on fewer, smaller building blocks, governed by fewer rules, thereby increasing the number of evolutionary possibilities and lowering the number of evolutionary certainties." Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we're discussing Fear of Oozification, an article by Venkatesh Rao. Get ready to explore the concept of ooziness in technology, learn the signs of oozification, and uncover why the ooze should (or should not) be feared. We cover a...2024-02-241h 00
Made You Think109: The Pursuit of Intelligence: Flowers for Algernon“I don’t know what’s worse: to not know what you are and be happy, or to become what you’ve always wanted to be, and feel alone.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! Today, we're delving into Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Join us as we take you through the journey of an intellectually disabled man who undergoes a procedure with the hopes of increasing his mental abilities. We'll unpack several themes that resonate deeply with the human experience, and seek to get our questions answered on what it truly means to be inte...2024-02-131h 24
Made You Think108: To Strive or Not to Strive: Straw Dogs“If you believe that humans are animals, there can be no such thing as the history of humanity, only the lives of particular humans. If we speak of the history of the species at all, it is only to signify the unknowable sum of these lives. As with other animals, some lives are happy, others wretched. None has a meaning that lies beyond itself.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! This week, we’re diving into discussion on Straw Dogs by John Gray. From questioning moral structures to pondering the collective soul, we'll journey throug...2024-02-081h 06
Made You Think107: What is Quality: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance“Quality...you know what it is, yet you don’t know what it is. But that’s self-contradictory. But some things are better than others, that is, they have more quality. But when you try to say what the quality is, apart from the things that have it, it all goes poof! There’s nothing to talk about. But if you can’t say what Quality is, how do you know what it is, or how do you know that it even exists? If no one knows what it is, then for all practical purposes it doesn’t exist at all. But...2024-01-191h 12
Made You Think107: What is Quality: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance“Quality...you know what it is, yet you don’t know what it is. But that’s self-contradictory. But some things are better than others, that is, they have more quality. But when you try to say what the quality is, apart from the things that have it, it all goes poof! There’s nothing to talk about. But if you can’t say what Quality is, how do you know what it is, or how do you know that it even exists? If no one knows what it is, then for all practical purposes it doesn’t exist at all. But...2024-01-191h 13
Made You Think106: Building Blocks of Civilization: How the World Really Works“Modern economies will always be tied to massive material flows, whether those of ammonia-based fertilizers to feed the still-growing global population; plastics, steel, and cement needed for new tools, machines, structures, and infrastructures; or new inputs required to produce solar cells, wind turbines, electric cars, and storage batteries. And until all energies used to extract and process these materials come from renewable conversions, modern civilization will remain fundamentally dependent on the fossil fuels used in the production of these indispensable materials. No AI, no apps, and no electronic messages will change that.” Welcome back to another episode of M...2024-01-101h 18
Made You Think105: The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying“Perhaps the deepest reason why we are afraid of death is because we do not know who we are. We believe in a personal, unique, and separate identity — but if we dare to examine it, we find that this identity depends entirely on an endless collection of things to prop it up: our name, our "biography," our partners, family, home, job, friends, credit cards… It is on their fragile and transient support that we rely for our security. So when they are all taken away, will we have any idea of who we really are?" Welcome back to ano...2023-11-271h 31
Made You Think104: Are We Destined to Be Pets? Novacene by James Lovelock“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we're diving into Novacene by James Lovelock, a book which challenges the very essence of human intelligence. Get ready for a thought-provoking conversation that delves into the realms of evolution, deep oceans, and the enigmatic dance between humanity and artificial intelligence. We cover a wide range of topics including: Gaia hypothesis and its conn...2023-11-151h 06
Made You Think103: Beyond the River of Doubt: Into the Amazon“But at a purely personal level, Rondon embodied the best of both modern and old-fashioned virtues. He was intensely and genuinely patriotic, adhered to traditional codes of honor, bravery, and chivalry, and repeatedly demonstrated a moral rectitude that, enhanced a character both ascetic and abstemious, impressed those who regularly came into contact with him." Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we're picking up the conversation on our favorite Brazilian explorer, Cândido Rondon, with Into the Amazon. Rohter's book dives into the untold stories of Rondon and Roosevelt, shining a spotlight on...2023-11-011h 44
Made You Think102: From Fighter Jets to Rocket Ships: The Right Stuff“The idea was to prove at every foot of the way up that you were one of the elected and anointed ones who had the right stuff and could move higher and higher and even—ultimately, God willing, one day—that you might be able to join that special few at the very top, that elite who had the capacity to bring tears to men's eyes, the very Brotherhood of the Right Stuff itself." Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we're covering The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. Through vivid storytelling, Wolfe...2023-09-1957 min
Made You Think101: Everything Is One: The Upanishads“He who sees all beings in his Self and his Self in all beings, he never suffers; because when he sees all creatures within his true Self, then jealousy, grief and hatred vanish.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we're covering The Upanishads, a collection of ancient Indian texts which explore the philosophical and spiritual teachings of Hinduism. These texts delve into the nature of reality and the self while emphasizing the importance of meditation, self-realization, and the pursuit of knowledge to achieve enlightenment. We cover a wide range of t...2023-09-061h 12
Made You Think100: The Creative Act (Kinda)“A river of material flows through us. When we share our works and our ideas, they are replenished. If we block the flow by holding them all inside, the river cannot run and new ideas are slow to appear. In the abundant mindset, the river never runs dry. Ideas are always coming through. And an artist is free to release them with the faith that more will arrive. If we live in a mindset of scarcity, we hoard great ideas.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In true Made You Think fashion, our 100th episod...2023-08-091h 03
Made You Think99: Roosevelt’s Last Adventure: The River of Doubt“The ordinary traveler, who never goes off the beaten route and who on this beaten route is carried by others, without himself doing anything or risking anything, does not need to show much more initiative and intelligence than an express package." Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we're discussing The River of Doubt by Candace Millard, a story that follows the expedition of Theodore Roosevelt as he explores the Amazon river in Brazil. Though faced with many hardships along the way, Roosevelt finds purpose in this monumental journey after losing the 1912 el...2023-07-131h 21Made You Think98: What Your Food Ate“Across the board, dietary advice typically focuses on what and how much to eat, with remarkably little attention paid to how farming practices influence the nutritional quality of food and whether the “right foods” pack the nutrients they once had.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we're discussing What Your Food Ate by David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé. Exploring the concept of "food chain reactions," the book unveils the hidden connections between our food choices and their environmental, social, and health impacts. Do you really know what you're eating? We cove...2023-06-081h 11
Made You Think97: Country Driving: A Chinese Road Trip“The Chinese people had invented the compass, paper, the printing press, gunpowder, the seismograph, the crossbow, and the umbrella; they had sailed to Africa in the fifteenth century; they had constructed the Great Wall; over the past decade they had built their economy at a rate never before seen in the developing world. They could return a rental car with exactly three-eighths of a tank of gas, but filling it was apparently beyond the realm of cultural possibility.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we're covering Country Driving, a captivating memoir by P...2023-05-3049 min
Made You Think96: Crony Beliefs by Kevin Simler"First, it's important to remember that merit beliefs aren't necessarily true, nor are crony beliefs necessarily false. What distinguishes the two concepts is how we're rewarded for them: via effective actions or via social impressions. The best we can say is that merit beliefs are more likely to be true." Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! This week, we're talking about Kevin Simler's popular Essay: Crony Beliefs. Our beliefs are essentially divided into merit beliefs and crony beliefs. We talk about the many reasons we hold our beliefs, whether it's for accuracy, showing off...2023-05-221h 23
Made You Think95: The Secret to Happiness: The Courage to Be Disliked“Your unhappiness cannot be blamed on your past or your environment. And it isn’t that you lack competence. You just lack courage. One might say you are lacking in the courage to be happy.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! This week, we're diving into The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga. This book is full of wisdom, challenging you to free yourself from the expectations placed on you by others so you can achieve happiness. We cover a wide range of topics including: Pledging loyalty to you...2023-05-081h 00
Made You Think94: Sunset for Humanity: The Three-Body Problem“It was impossible to expect a moral awakening from humankind itself, just like it was impossible to expect humans to lift off the earth by pulling up on their own hair. To achieve moral awakening required a force outside the human race.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this long-awaited episode, we're covering The Three-Body Problem, a science fiction trilogy by Liu Cixin. Find out what happens when a military group successfully sends signals into space in hopes of making contact with aliens. We cover a wide range of topics including:...2023-04-241h 17
Made You Think93: The First History Book: History of the Peloponnesian War“Most people, in fact, will not take the trouble in finding out the truth, but are much more inclined to accept the first story they hear.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we're diving into History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides. Full of speeches, history, parallels, and battles, this book provides an account of the Peloponnesian War as told by an Athenian general. We cover a wide range of topics including: The style of combat in 5th century BC vs. modern tactics Effects of the plague of Athe...2023-04-0456 min
Made You Think92: The Lessons of History“It is not the race that makes the civilization, it is the civilization that makes the people: circumstances geographical, economic, and political create a culture, and the culture creates a human type.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we're talking about The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant. This concise yet jam-packed book presents pivotal moments and ideas throughout history covering thirteen different areas including religion, progress, government, and character. We cover a wide range of topics including: The progression of humans as a species Religious entit...2023-03-281h 30
Made You Think91: Digital Immortality: Permutation City“Opponents replied that when you modeled a hurricane, nobody got wet. When you modeled a fusion power plant, no energy was produced. When you modeled digestion and metabolism, no nutrients were consumed – no real digestion took place. So, when you modeled the human brain, why should you expect real thought to occur?” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we're talking all things consciousness and simulated reality with Permutation City by Greg Egan. Classified as a hard science fiction novel, the book tells the story of a man who seeks to create immort...2023-03-201h 11
Made You Think90: It Is a Possibility: Where’s My Flying Car?“In today’s world, even a non-Stagnated version, the flying car is not a replacement for the car; it is a replacement for the airplane. A reasonably well-designed convertible could fit right in to today’s airspace system; it would fit right into our road system as well. Without the Stagnation there might well be a 50,000 airplane per year market, and enough licensed pilots to buy them. Remember, average family income would be well into six figures. In 1950, about one quarter of one percent of Americans were licensed pilots; that percentage today amounts to over three quarters of a millio...2023-02-211h 43
Made You Think89: The Art of War by Sun Tzu“The art of war is of vital importance to the State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we're covering The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Though it's nearly 2,500 years old, the military tactics and war strategies presented in the book are still being taught in militaries and business schools around the world making this a timeless strategy guide. We c...2023-02-131h 20
Made You Think88: The Mind-Body Connection: How The Body Keeps The Score “Neuroscience research shows that the only way we can change the way we feel is by becoming aware of our inner experience and learning to befriend what is going inside ourselves.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we discuss The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel van der Kolk, and the effects that traumatic stress can have on our mind and body. We cover a wide range of topics including: Why the mind and body should not be viewed as unrelated entities The role of both parents in raisi...2023-01-271h 10
Made You Think87: Lessons from The Master: The Analects of ConfuciusWelcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode we discuss The Analects of Confucius and virtuous living. We cover a wide range of topics including: Confucian virtues The differences between Confucianism and Taoism The value of friendships between the young and their elders How to govern through example in a Confucian way Transmitting the values of ancients to contemporary times Ancient Chinese religions And much more. Please enjoy, and make sure to follow Nat, Neil, and Adil on Twitter and share your thoughts on the episode. Mentioned in the show...2023-01-171h 25Made You Think86: Comfort is Killing Us: The Comfort CrisisWelcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode we discuss The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter, and how our modern lifestyle and pursuit of ease might be making us miserable, stressed, and anxious. We cover a wide range of topics including: The connection between boredom and creativity Misogis and how to discover what you're truly capable of Why you don't necessarily want "less phone" How rucking could be a massive exercise hack The proper "dose" of outdoor, tech-free time And much more. Please enjoy, and make sure to follow Nat, Neil, and...2022-12-221h 34Made You Think85: Lessons from Laozi, the Tao Te ChingIn today’s episode, Nat Neil and Adil discuss the Tao Te Ching by Laozi. We each picked a few of our favorite chapters from the book to read and discuss, resulting in a wide-ranging discussion of work, happiness, ambition, finance, philosophy, and all our usual favorite subjects. Some of the topics we covered were: The importance of not over-extending yourself, being moderate and patient What does it mean to prioritize “inaction”? The balance between short and long-term productivity Which parts of the Tao do we each struggle with the most What it means to seek a “middl...2022-12-151h 35
Made You Think84: The Tangent EpisodeWelcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, Neil, Nat, and Adil give you a full 70 minutes doing what they do best: Going on tangents. Originally set to continue with the next book on their Great Books Project, the energy and caffeine took over as they dive into a variety of interesting discussions, stories, and ideas. This is an episode you don't want to miss! We cover a wide range of topics including: Our favorite virtual reality video games and table games How new leadership at Twitter has impacted the app recently...2022-11-221h 09
Made You Think83: The (Anti) Hero's Journey: The Odyssey"Tell me about a complicated man. Muse, tell me how he wandered and was lost when he had wrecked the holy town of Troy, and where he went, and who he met, the pain he suffered in the storms at sea, and how he worked to save his life and bring his men back home. He failed to keep them safe; poor fools, they ate the Sun God’s cattle, and the god kept them from home. Now goddess, child of Zeus, tell the old story for our modern times. Find the beginning." Welcome back to another ep...2022-10-281h 30
Made You Think82: The Wrath of Achilles: The Iliad“Like the generations of leaves, the lives of mortal men. Now the wind scatters the old leaves across the earth, now the living timber bursts with the new buds and spring comes round again. And so with men: as one generation comes to life, another dies away.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, Neil, Nat, and Adil continue with the next book on their Great Books Project: The Iliad by Homer. This book explores the themes of fate, gods, and the glory of war. Listen along as we dive in to the...2022-10-041h 17
Made You Think81: Out of Egypt: The Book of Exodus"The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land." Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, Neil and Nat discuss the next book on their Great Books Project: the book of Exodus. We pick up from where we left off in...2022-09-141h 21
Made You Think80: From Eden to Egypt: The Book of Genesis"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light." Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, Neil and Adil discuss the next book on their Great Books Project: the book of Genesis. The book begins with the story of creation and wraps up with the lives of Jacob and Joseph, with...2022-08-191h 16
Made You Think79: The World's Oldest Story: Epic of Gilgamesh“Humans are born, they live, then they die, this is the order that the gods have decreed. But until the end comes, enjoy your life, spend it in happiness, not despair. Savor your food, make each of your days a delight, bathe and anoint yourself, wear bright clothes that are sparkling clean, let music and dancing fill your house, love the child who holds you by the hand, and give your wife pleasure in your embrace. That is the best way for a man to live.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this epis...2022-07-271h 04
Made You Think78: Seduced by Nihilism: The Revolt of the Public“No matter what I believe to be true, there always seems to be another side to the question. If you were to put me to the torture, I’d probably confess that this is my analytic ideal: to consider the question from as many relevant perspectives as the mind can hold.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, Nat, Neil, and Adil talk about their key takeaways from The Revolt of the Public by Martin Gurri. With technology giving us access to more information than ever, the overall trust level between the public...2022-06-301h 26
Made You Think77: The Invisible Tax: End The Fed"Everyone should have an intense interest in what money is and how it’s manipulated by the few at the expense of the many. Money is crucial for survival. It is necessary for maintaining a free society. A healthy economy depends on it. Limiting political power is impossible without it. Sound money is essential for preventing unnecessary wars. Prosperity and peace in the long run are impossible without it." Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, Nat and Neil are joined by their official new co-host, Adil Majid! In today's epi...2022-06-151h 13
Made You Think75: Data & Control: Seeing Like A State"The despot is not a man. It is the Plan. The correct, realistic, exact plan, the one that will provide your solution once the problem has been posited clearly, in its entirety, in its indispensable harmony. This plan has been drawn up well away from the frenzy in the mayor’s office or the town hall, from the cries of the electorate or the laments of society’s victims. It has been drawn up by serene and lucid minds. It has taken account of nothing but human truths. It has ignored all current regulations, all existing usages, and channels. It has...2022-05-121h 39
Made You Think74: America Reborn: The Fourth Turning“A Fourth Turning lends people of all ages what is literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to heal (or destroy) the very heart of the republic.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, Nat and Neil are joined by Adil Majid to discuss their key takeaways from The Fourth Turning by William Strauss and Neil Howe. The authors uncover how history moves in cycles, or "turnings", and how our past could very well predict our future. This episode will challenge the way you have traditionally thought of time as linear, and open your eyes to c...2022-04-061h 41Made You Think71: Taking and Keeping Power: The Dictator's Handbook“Democracies are not lucky. They do not attract civic-minded leaders by chance. Rather, they attract survival-oriented leaders who understand that, given their dependence on many essentials, they can only come to and stay in power if they figure out the right basket of public goods to provide.” In this episode of Made You Think, Nat and Neil are joined by Adil Majid to discuss their key takeaways from The Dictator's Handbook by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita. The Dictator's Handbook delivers five rules for staying in power and succeeding within the political system. In this episode of M...2022-02-251h 59
Made You Think61: Infinite Discussions. The most Credible and Incredible Theories behind Infinite JestInfinite Jest is a book meant to be an actively read –it’s meant to take a certain amount of work to finish it and try to figure out what’s going on. While David Foster Wallace, the author, spends words and words in beautiful descriptions, he purposefully omitted, exchanged, and told through the characters lenses parts of the story. In this episode Nat and Neil are going through some of the theories people have created to help understand the book. We cover a wide range of topics, including: Hal's relationship with the mold and DMZ Mario...2019-05-2151 min
Made You Think60: What the f**k is water? Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace“This wise old whiskery fish swims up to three young fish and goes, 'Morning, boys, how's the water?' and swims away; and the three young fish watch him swim away and look at each other and go, 'What the fuck is water?' and swim away.” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat discuss Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. This is a huge novel taking time in a fictitious 2010 characterized by a non-conventional timeline and a lack of a plot. Despite it’s challenging structure and the fact of being a fiction, it has...2019-05-071h 42
Made You Think59: Eternal Human Psychology: The Laws of Human Nature by Robert GreeneLet us call the collection of these forces that push and pull at us from deep within human nature. Human nature stems from the particular wiring of our brains, the configuration of our nervous system and the way we humans process emotions, all of which developed and emerged over the course of the 5 million years or so of our evolution as a species. In this episode of Made You Think, Nat and Neil talk about The Laws of Human Nature by Robert Greene. The author examines human behavior and suggests that it can be explained by different...2019-04-231h 43
Made You Think58: Psychedelics and Self-Discovery. Food of the Gods by Terence McKennaIf psychedelics are one thing we can all agree on, is that it will make a lot of people happy. There's a lot of people who could use a heavy dose of psychedelics to stop being angry. There's something about stepping outside of yourself and even up the reality that comes with these types of experiences that is getting even more useful in a culture that is becoming even more obsessed with the day to day and itself. In this episode of Made You Think, Nat and Mansal Denton talk about Food of the Gods by Terence...2019-01-311h 07
Made You Think57: Update Episode January 2019Hi guys, this is an update episode. After end of the year hiatus we are looking back to read more books! But... we need your feedback. Listen to this episode and let us know what's your preferred podcast format. Tweet Nat at @nateliason or reply his newsletter. Excited to share with you new episodes soon!2019-01-1804 min
Made You Think56: What Is It Like To Be A Bat by Thomas Nagel“A Martian scientist with no understanding of visual perception could understand the rainbow, or lightning, or clouds as physical phenomena, though he would never be able to understand the human concepts of rainbow, lighting, or cloud, or the place these things occupy in our phenomenal world.” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat critically discuss the article What Is It Like to Be a Bat? by Thomas Nagel. This is the most famous piece on the mind-body problem. In it Nagel explores the mind-body issue, freedom, knowledge, meaning and value of human life. This artic...2018-09-251h 01
Made You Think55: The Qur'anThe truly good are those who believe in God and the Last Day, in the angels, the Scripture, and the prophets; who give away some of their wealth, however much they cherish it, to their relatives, to orphans, the needy, travellers and beggars, and to liberate those in bondage; those who keep up the prayer and pay the prescribed alms; who keep pledges whenever they make them; who are steadfast in misfortune, adversity, and times of danger. These are the ones who are true, and it is they who are aware of God. In this episode of...2018-09-181h 54
Made You Think54: Never Forget Anything. Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua FoerDom DeLuise, celebrity fat man (and five of clubs), has been implicated in the following unseemly acts in my mind’s eye: He has hocked a fat globule of spittle (nine of clubs) on Albert Einstein’s thick white mane (three of diamonds) and delivered a devastating karate kick (five of spades) to the groin of Pope Benedict XVI (six of diamonds). Michael Jackson (king of hearts) has engaged in behavior bizarre even for him. He has defecated (two of clubs) on a salmon burger (king of clubs) and captured his flatulence (queen of clubs) in a balloon (six of s...2018-09-111h 23
Made You Think53: The Devil is in The Data: How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff“When you hear a statistic say that the average American brushes their teeth 1.02 times a day, ask yourself how could they have figured it out? Does it make sense that it could have been researched effectively? In this case they would have had to ask and don't you think it's a safe assumption that people lied?” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat discuss How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff. In this book we learn how to spot deceptive statistics, ways surveys are manipulated and the hidden agenda behind every piece of data...2018-09-041h 38
Made You Think52: Privilege is Being Understood. The Tower - Hotel Concierge"Not long ago kids would argue over which console was better now teenagers whisper cuckold and Nazi like it's considered good manners. We are in the midst of a profound rearrangement of what traits are to be incentivized and rewarded, driven by some 7 billion people each acting with what they believe to be the best of intentions, but who can foresee with what success and with what result." In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat discuss The Tower. In this article we learn about ideas as memes that spread virally and art as a...2018-08-281h 48
Made You Think51: The War on Weed: Smoke Signals by Martin A. Lee“The prestige of the government had undoubtedly been lowered considerably by prohibition”, Albert Einstein observed when he visited the United States in the early 1920s. “Nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than laws which cannot be enforced.” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat discuss Smoke Signals by Martin A. Lee. In this book we take a walk through the history of marijuana, from it being a legal, useful plant and the third largest crop in the U.S to it being illegal and harshly but sele...2018-08-211h 18
Made You Think50: Your Fate Belongs to You. The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus“There is but one truly serious philosophical problem and that is suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental question of philosophy.” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat discuss The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus. In this book we learn about the Legend of Sisyphus and his never-ending toil. How to find meaning in the struggle and hope for the future. “The workman of today works every day in his life at the same tasks and this fate is no less absurd but it is...2018-08-141h 42
Made You Think49: The Power of Serendipity. Happy Accidents by Morton A Meyers“Discovery requires serendipity but serendipity is not a chance event alone. It is a process in which a chance of event is seized upon by a creative person who chooses to pay attention to the event, unravel its mystery and find a proper application for it.” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat discuss Happy Accidents by Morton A Meyers. In this book we look at the serendipity of so many scientific discoveries and the author suggests how we can foster these chance happenings to make giant leaps in research and discovery. “Penetr...2018-08-071h 59
Made You Think48: UBI Q&A. A Conversation with Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang“That's really one of the most powerful things about Universal Basic Income. You start to believe in a sense of abundance and possibility.” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat speak to Andrew Yang, the author of The War on Normal People, a follow up to our previous book episode. Today we are discussing the possibility of Universal Basic Income for all. “The bigger people think, the more they wake up. We can make this real together.” We cover a wide range of topics, including : Objections and barriers to adopting...2018-07-311h 04
Made You Think47: Free Money for All. The War On Normal People By Andrew Yang"The normal American did not graduate from college and doesn't have an associate's degree. He or she perhaps attended college for one year or graduated from high school. She or he has a net worth of approximately $36,000, about $6,000 excluding home and vehicle equity and lives paycheck to paycheck. She or he has less than $500 in flexible savings and minimal assets invested in the stock market. These are median statistics with 50% of Americans below these levels” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat discuss The War On Normal People By Andrew Yang. This book is a...2018-07-241h 40
Made You Think46: To Die Rich is to Die Disgraced. The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie“Of every thousand dollars spent in so-called charity today, it is probable that $950 is unwisely spent, so spent indeed as to produce the very evils which it proposes to mitigate or cure.” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat discuss The Gospel of Wealth by Andrew Carnegie. An essay written later in Carnegie’s life on his philosophy on using money, wealth (and the power that comes with it) well. While still very relevant today it goes against the idea that successful business people are bad people. It’s a model for how wealthy people s...2018-07-171h 18
Made You Think45: More Knowledge, More Problems. The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch“It is inevitable that we face problems but no particular problem is inevitable we survive and thrive by solving each problem as it comes up, and since the human ability to transform nature is limited only by the laws of physics none of the endless stream of problems will ever constitute an impassable barrier” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat discuss The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch. It’s a playful, meandering book on explanations that transform the world, covering evolution, physics, philosophy, politics, ecology, money, memetics, epistemology, history. It ties everything to the...2018-07-102h 06
Made You Think44: Virtue is a Habit. The Nichomachean Ethics by Aristotle"Now happiness, more than anything else, seems complete without qualification. For we always choose it because of itself, never because of something else." In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat discuss The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle. Aristotle "wrote" this book for his son, Nicomachea, in which philosophizes about the pursuit of happiness and how to find the point of flourishing of our lives. “We become builders building, we become harpists by playing the harp. Therefore we become just by doing just actions, temperate by doing temperate actions, brave by doing brave actions.” 2018-07-031h 42
Made You Think43: Recap Time #2! Our Favorite Lessons from Episodes 22-42Our second recap! In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat revisit the previous books and topics discussed on the podcast. We delve into the most useful lessons that we’ve learned so far. It's perfect for newer listeners to catch up with the older episodes. Listen to this episode irrigated with Malbec. We cover a wide range of topics, including: The first 20 episodes summarized in one sentence. Reviewing books, speeches, articles, and even a music album. An article that changed our view on guns. Two books with an opposite view on Capitalism. Harari’s th...2018-06-261h 49
Made You Think42: Yeezus Walks. The College Dropout by Kanye WestNEW: Support us via Patreon at www.patreon.com/madeyouthink/ to get bonus material, exclusive hangouts, episode discussions, and more! This is a special one! In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss a music album, The College Dropout by Kanye West. The flow of the album is based on Kanye's decision to drop off out of college. It starts with graduation, it discuss problems in university, growing poor in Chicago, rap bragging and more. Man, I promise, she's so self-conscious She has no idea what she doin' in college That major t...2018-06-191h 44
Made You Think41: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life. The Elephant in the Brain by Kevin Simler and Robin HansonWe, human beings, are a species that’s not only capable of acting on hidden motives—we’re designed to do it. Our brains are built to act in our self-interest while at the same time trying hard not to appear selfish in front of other people. And in order to throw them off the trail, our brains often keep “us,” our conscious minds, in the dark. The less we know of our own ugly motives, the easier it is to hide them from others. Self-deception is therefore strategic, a ploy our brains use to look good while behaving badly....2018-06-122h 09
Made You Think40: Slaughterhouse Capitalism. The Jungle by Upton SinclairJurgis, too, had heard of America. That was a country where, they said, a man might earn three roubles a day; and Jurgis figured what three roubles a day would mean, with prices as they were where he lived, and decided forthwith that he would go to America and marry, and be a rich man in the bargain. In that country, rich or poor, a man was free, it was said; he did not have to go into the army, he did not have to pay out his money to rascally officials—he might do as he pleased, and co...2018-06-052h 06
Made You Think39: Ground, Water, Fire, Wind, Void. The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi"When I reached thirty I looked back on my past. The previous victories were not due to my having mastered strategy. Perhaps it was natural ability, or the order of heaven, or that other schools’ strategy was inferior. After that I studied morning and evening searching for the principle, and came to realise the Way of strategy when I was fifty." In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat discuss The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi. Musashi was the greatest Samurai ever, famous for winning over 60 samurai duels. In this book he uses th...2018-05-291h 19
Made You Think38: Who is John Galt? Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand“If you saw Atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, his knees buckling, his arms trembling but still trying to hold the world aloft with the last of his strength, and the greater his effort the heavier the world bore down on his shoulders—what would you tell him to do?” “I . . . don’t know. What . . . could he do? What would you tell him?” “To shrug.” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat discuss Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, a piece of philoso...2018-05-221h 35
Made You Think37: Turn Off Your Notifications: Solitude and Leadership by William DeresiewiczSolitude is what you have the least of here, especially as plebes. You don’t even have privacy, the opportunity simply to be physically alone, never mind solitude, the ability to be alone with your thoughts. And yet I submit to you that solitude is one of the most important necessities of true leadership. In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat cover the first speech on this show! Solitude and Leadership by William Deresiewicz is a speech held by the professor at West Point Military Academy. In it, Deresiewicz goes against the common thinking th...2018-05-151h 04
Made You Think36: Flow, Happiness, Power, Future of Work, and More: Listeners Q&A #1“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life. All that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.” Albert Einstein No books today, but a selected list of questions asked by Listeners! Neil and Nat answer one by one detailed questions about topics you had but they never talked about. We cover a wide range of topics, including: What Neil and Nat do to survive Routines to get into flow Favorite podcast show and why they stopped listening to Tim Ferriss The future (and present of w...2018-05-081h 55
Made You Think35: When Man Becomes God: Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari“In the early twenty-first century the train of progress is again pulling out of the station – and this will probably be the last train ever to leave the station called Homo sapiens. Those who miss this train will never get a second chance. The main products of the twenty-first century will be bodies, brains and minds, and the gap between those who know how to engineer bodies and brains and those who do not will be far bigger than the gap between Sapiens and Neanderthals. In the twenty-first century, those who ride the train of progress will acquire divine abil...2018-05-012h 00
Made You Think34: Money, Power, and God: Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari – Part IIToday, we are used to thinking about the whole planet as a single unit, but for most of history, earth was in fact an entire galaxy of isolated human worlds. In this episode of Made You Think, Adil, Neil and I continue to discuss Sapiens by Yuval Harari. In this second part we cover the most recent part of Human and Society evolution and how we moved from scattered collection of isolated human beings to a cohesive global civilization. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, the daily life of most humans ran its course within three...2018-04-241h 11
Made You Think33: An Animal of No Significance: Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari – Part IThree important revolutions shaped the course of history: the Cognitive Revolution kick-started history about 70,000 years ago. The Agricultural Revolution sped it up about 12,000 years ago. The Scientific Revolution, which got under way only 500 years ago, may well end history and start something completely different. This book tells the story of how these three revolutions have affected humans and their fellow organisms. Sapiens by Yuval Harari is one of those books that shapes how we think, as another lenses through which we can look at reality. It’s central theme is the evolution of Human History, and gives sp...2018-04-171h 41
Made You Think32: Where Does Power Come From? Discipline and Punish by Michel FoucaultTraditionally, power was what was seen, what was shown and what was manifested and, paradoxically, found the principle of its force in the movement by which it deployed that force. Those on whom it was exercised could remain in the shade; they received light only from that portion of power that was conceded to them, or from the reflection of it that for a moment they carried. Disciplinary power, on the other hand, is exercised through its invisibility; at the same time it imposes on those whom it subjects a principle of compulsory visibility. In discipline, it is the...2018-04-101h 31
Made You Think31: The Riddle of the Gun by Sam HarrisFantasists and zealots can be found on both sides of the debate over guns in America. On the one hand, many gun-rights advocates reject even the most sensible restrictions on the sale of weapons to the public. On the other, proponents of stricter gun laws often seem unable to understand why a good person would ever want ready access to a loaded firearm. Between these two extremes we must find grounds for a rational discussion about the problem of gun violence. In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss The Riddle of the Gun...2018-04-051h 35
Made You Think30: Only Those Who Do Should Talk: Skin In The Game by Nassim Taleb“Skin in the Game is about four topics in one: a) uncertainty and the reliability of knowledge (both practical and scientific, assuming there is a difference), or in less polite words bullshit detection, b) symmetry in human affairs, that is, fairness, justice, responsibility, and reciprocity, c) information sharing in transactions, and d) rationality in complex systems and in the real world. That these four cannot be disentangled is something that is obvious when one has…skin in the game.” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily...2018-03-272h 08
Made You Think29: Habits of a Genius. Daily Rituals by Mason CurreyA solid routine fosters a well-worn groove for one’s mental energies and helps stave off the tyranny of moods. In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss Daily Rituals by Mason Currey. In this book, Currey edits together first-hand accounts from different artists and creative thinkers of how they went about their everyday lives. “I write when the spirit moves me,” said, “and the spirit moves me every day.” – Faulkner. We cover a wide range of topics, including: The problem with lifestyle gurus. Whether drugs enhance genius. Coffee’s role in causing...2018-03-201h 22
Made You Think28: Bring the Crowbar. Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System by Donella Meadows“Time after time I’ve done an analysis of a company, and I’ve figured out a leverage point — in inventory policy, maybe, or in the relationship between salesforce and productive force, or in personnel policy. Then I’ve gone to the company and discovered that there’s already a lot of attention to that point. Everyone is trying very hard to push it in the wrong direction!” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System by Donella Meadows. In this article, Meadows goes through her twelve “levera...2018-03-132h 14
Made You Think27: How to Buy Fake Science: Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Cornway“If we read an article in the newspaper presenting two opposing viewpoints, we assume both have validity, and we think it would be wrong to shut one side down. But often one side is represented only by a single ‘expert’.” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming, by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. In this book, Oreskes and Cornway talk about media and science, and scientific consensus that became controversial in the public eye — fr...2018-03-061h 27
Made You Think26: Fix Yourself First: 12 Rules for Life by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson “Order and chaos are the yang and yin of the famous Taoist symbol: two serpents, head to tail. Order is the white, masculine serpent; Chaos, its black, feminine counterpart. The black dot in the white—and the white in the black—indicate the possibility of transformation: just when things seem secure, the unknown can loom, unexpectedly and large. Conversely, just when everything seems lost, new order can emerge from catastrophe and chaos. For the Taoists, meaning is to be found on the border between the ever-entwined pair. To walk that border is to stay on the path of life, the div...2018-02-272h 39
Made You Think25: The Incredible Resilience of Humans: Hiroshima Diary by Michihiko Hachiya “I had, of course, heard people say the sky was beautiful, especially those who were as far away as Fuchü and Furuichi. But it was now, for the first time, that I could picture the cloud, sharply defined against a clear blue August sky. It was at the moment of the birth of this cloud, with its ever-changing color, that Hiroshima was wiped out. It was at this moment that Hiroshima City, the culmination of many years’ work, disappeared with her good citizens into the beautiful sky.” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss...2018-02-201h 21
Made You Think24: Decipher people like the FBI: What Every Body Is Saying by Joe Navarro In reality, the way animals, including humans, react to danger occurs in the following order: freeze, flight, fight. If the reaction really were fight or flight, most of us would be bruised, battered, and exhausted much of the time. In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I dissect What Every Body Is Saying by Joe Navarro. In this book Joe shares his 25+ years experience conducting interrogations as an FBI agent, and reveals behaviors and reactions we can’t control under stress. He gives very actionable tips to understand if someone is lying, if som...2018-02-131h 24
Made You Think23: Evolution Made this Podcast: Darwin’s Dangerous Idea by Daniel DennettIn this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss Darwin’s Dangerous Idea by Daniel Dennett (a guy with an amazing beard). In this book Daniel remind us we are not so special as we think, but just an ordered set of material refined by evolution. We cover a wide range of topics, including: Evolution as an amazing and super-simple algorithm for refinement Why we are not special but just a random result of a process Bottom-up “cranes” theories vs “skyhook” theories How memes are the cultural equivalent of genes Why it’s very unlikely that...2018-02-061h 47
Made You Think22: Is a Revolution Brewing? Revolt of the Masses by Jose Ortega y Gasset“We live at a time when man believes himself fabulously capable of creation, but he does not know what to create. Lord of all things, he is not lord of himself. He feels lost amid his own abundance. With more means at his disposal, more knowledge, more technique than ever, it turns out that the world today goes the same way as the worst of worlds that have been: it simply drifts”. In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss Revolt of the Masses by José Ortega y Gasset. In this pre-WWII collection of essay...2018-01-311h 26
Made You Think21: Recap Time! Our Favorite Lessons from Episodes 1-20Failures are just opportunities in disguise. In this episode of made you think, Neil and I revisit the previous books and topics discussed on the podcast. We delve into the most useful lessons that we’ve learned so far, and discuss how you, too, can apply these lessons in your own life. We also had some Irish Mushroom Coffee. We cover various topics from previous episodes, including: The most important lessons from the past twenty episodes Incorporating these lessons into your own life Breaking down the core concepts in each episode Becoming antifragile and re...2018-01-242h 09
Made You Think20: Six Ways to Make People Do What You Want: Influence by Robert Cialdini“It is odd that despite their current widespread use and looming future importance, most of us know very little about our automatic behavior patterns. Perhaps that is so precisely because of the mechanistic, unthinking manner in which they occur. Whatever the reason, it is vital that we clearly recognize one of their properties: They make us terribly vulnerable to anyone who does know how they work.” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I cover Influence by Robert Cialdini. It’s a classic on the art of persuasion and explains the psychology of why people say "y...2018-01-161h 56
Made You Think19: How Our Mortality Drives Our Lives: The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker“It’s this denial of death that is our main psychological challenge.” In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker. It’s a phenomenal book on how our fear of mortality is the core for our psychological disturbances, our motivation for taking action in life and behaving in certain ways. We cover a wide range of topics, including: The necessity for a heroic purpose to motivate us and the current lack of it Why we do things and behave in certain ways The fear of death...2018-01-111h 27
Made You Think18: What Chefs Can Teach You About Productivity: Everything in Its Place by Dan CharnasMise-en-place is not a crazy efficiency program. It is really a way of life for people who value themselves, people, eachother, and the planet. In this episode of Made You Think, we’re covering the book Everything in Its Place (originally “Work Clean”) by Dan Charnas, and for the first time on the podcast, the author is joining us for the episode! This book is all about the strategies and tools that culinarians often use in their work, and applying these strategies to improve your life and productivity. We cover a wide range of topics, includ...2018-01-051h 21
Made You Think17: Charlie Munger’s Guide to Better Decisions: The Psychology of Human MisjudgmentsI had found that theory was a superpower in helping one get what one wanted, as I had early discovered in school where I had excelled without labor, guided by theory. While many others without mastery of theory, failed, despite monstrous effort. In this episode of Made You Think, we discuss The Psychology of Human Misjudgments. This was a “speech” compiled by Charlie Munger from three other speeches he gave, digging into a toolkit that he uses to make sure he’s not being fooled by his mental biases. He digs into each of the 25 biases that advers...2017-12-191h 24
Made You Think16: Reach Your Peak Performance by Letting Go: The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy GallweyThe best of them know that their peak performance never comes when they’re thinking about it. In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and Nat cover The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey. Before you say “I don’t play tennis,” it’s not really about tennis. It teaches you how to better learn and teach by getting your conscious mind out of the driver seat, and letting your true ability present itself. If you enjoyed either The Way of Zen or Finite and Infinite Games, you’ll like this book as it describes many similar...2017-12-121h 26
Made You Think15: Principles for Getting What You Want Out of Life: Principles by Ray DalioPrinciples are fundamental truths that serve as the foundations for behavior that gets you what you want out of life. In this episode of Made You Think, Neil and I discuss the book Principles by Ray Dalio. We’ve been fans of Dalio’s work since it was just a PDF floating around the Internet, and this massive tome delivers so many useful guidelines for how to live and work. We covered a wide range of topics, including: Using meditation to improve your clarity with decision-making Developing machines and software for tasks likely to be r...2017-12-051h 32
Made You Think14: A Simple Theory to Never Stop Improving: The Goal by Eliyahu M GoldrattThe goal is essentially to increase net-profit while increasing return on investment and increasing cash flow. Today we’re discussing The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. It is a business novel that Eliyahu used to introduce the “Theory of Constraints”, a sort of meta-theory for business (and life, really) that you can use to advance the output of just about any system. It is very much a “zero-to-one” book, where you’ll see the world differently after reading. We cover a wide range of topics, including: Improving all of your systems with the Theory of Constrain...2017-11-281h 20
Made You Think13: How to Think Like Elon MuskWe all have these things in our life that we accept as a first principle while having no scientific basis or reason for believing in that thing. Today we do a deep dive of the world’s raddest man: Elon Musk. We’re exploring the wildly popular Elon Musk series by “Wait but Why,” focusing on the last article titled “The Cook and the Chef: Elon Musk’s Secret Sauce” which explores just how Musk might be able to do all the things he can do. And most importantly, we discuss how any of us can use these tools to...2017-11-212h 18
Made You Think12: Intelligence, Art, Music, and Life are a Strange Loop: Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas HofstadterThe strange loop phenomenon occurs whenever by moving upwards or downwards through the levels of some hierarchical system, we unexpectedly find ourselves right back where we started. Godel Escher Bach is one of the most complex books Neil and I have ever read. It will have you thinking about minds, intelligence, AI, and reality in an entirely new way. It weaves together insights from music, art, mathematics, ant colonies, Lewis Carroll stories, and more unexpected places into a new understanding of how our minds work and how we might program computers to emulate them. You don’t wa...2017-11-141h 20Made You Think7: A Crash Course in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and CryptocurrencyThere’s not a big third-party in the middle taking thirty, fifty, or whatever percent of the cut on the way, it’s just directly from one individual to another individual. In this episode of Made You Think we mixed it up by bringing in two guests: Taylor Pearson and Adil Majid, to ask them all of our burning questions about cryptocurrency. Neil came into the episode completely fresh and asked them everything he could think of, so if you’re new to bitcoin, ethereum, and cryptocurrency, or have a basic understanding but want to learn more, this i...2017-10-101h 40