Videos

Sept. 14, 2024

The ONE trait that ALL great founders share

Mike Maples, Jr. reveals the surprising trait that unites the best founders he has worked with. Full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou5QVcgN570 Transcript: https://newsletter.osv.llc/p/how-to-become-a-pattern-breaking

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Sept. 12, 2024

Mike Maples, Jr. — How To Become a Pattern-Breaking Founder | Episode 233

Mike Maples, Jr., co-founding partner of the VC firm Floodgate, is the veteran seed investor behind some of the 21st-century’s great success stories, including Twitter, Twitch, and Applied Intuition. His book, Pattern Breakers (co-authored with Peter Ziebelman), articulates a new model of foundership, one built on the simple premise that…

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Sept. 10, 2024

"Bureaucracies are not known for exciting people's sense of wonder"

Falling in love with math while being stuck in a rigid schooling system is tough As Ben Orlin explains: "Huge bureaucracies are not known for exciting people's sense of wonder and curiosity..." And so it falls on teachers to excite student's curiosities...and unleash their inner fuel Here's why that's so…

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Sept. 9, 2024

FDR, Gallup, and the Dangers of Sampling Bias

88 years ago, a leading national magazine committed a major statistical blunder that ultimately caused it to go bankrupt. Since we're in the full swing of election season, here's a cautionary note on the power of sample bias... The year is 1936. FDR is up for reelection, and the Literary…

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Sept. 8, 2024

"Lawyers don't like Sudoku, That's an engineer right there!"

What do the best investors (and the smartest Infinite Loops guests) have in common? They fundamentally grok base rates. And yet, understanding base rates and statistics is almost unnatural for our HumanOS. Ben Orlin explains why. Watch our full episode right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4GgOBeXISk

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Sept. 7, 2024

Six-Sided Dice Hold the Secrets to Discovery

In teaching mathematics, a simple six-sided dice is a powerful tool Why? Because it contains within it the seed for infinite discovery Ben Orlin explains why finding concrete instances like dice can lead explorers to rich abstractions. Watch the full episode right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4GgOBeXISk

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Sept. 5, 2024

Ben Orlin — Math As Universal Language

As a former quant with six grandkids, my spidey-senses started tingling as soon as I heard about Ben Orlin’s mission to make math fun. A native of St.Paul, Ben is a math educator and popularizer who is known for his “Math With Bad Drawing” blog and book series. Today’s conversation…

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Sept. 3, 2024

How to become better at predicting the future

Truth is predictive. The more accurately you perceive the world, the better you should be able to anticipate the future. Like a whetstone sharpens a blade, prediction markets can hone your model of reality. Check out our S*bstack for our full episode with Gurwinder Bhogal, plus a heuristics cheat sheet…

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Sept. 2, 2024

How Skin in the Game Aids the Hunt for Truth

Having skin in the game incentivizes truth-seeking over fashion-following. Gurwinder Bhogal explains... Read or listen to the full episode: https://newsletter.osv.llc/p/gurwinder-bhogals-guide-to-modern Watch the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukSAt3zk3YU

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Sept. 1, 2024

Why we rationalize ourself into delusion

When confronted by an inconvenient truth, our humanOS defaults to delusion. @G_S_Bhogal explains why. Read or listen to the full episode: https://newsletter.osv.llc/p/gurwinder-bhogals-guide-to-modern Watch the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukSAt3zk3YU

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Aug. 31, 2024

How to play the right games

Are you playing games that work FOR or against you? Read, or listen to the full episode: https://newsletter.osv.llc/p/gurwinder-bhogals-guide-to-modern Watch the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukSAt3zk3YU

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Aug. 29, 2024

Gurwinder Bhogal's Guide to Modern Survival | Episode 231

“We have created for ourselves a world that we didn't evolve for.” Gurwinder Bhogal is, for my money, one of the most independent, original and insightful thinkers you’ll find in our corner of the internet. He returns to discuss how willpower and good old-fashioned human agency can help us reclaim…

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Aug. 27, 2024

The Rise of DIY Political Communication

Conducting political business on entirely new stages of interaction, preferably those controlled by the politician rather than media intermediaries, is a key component of political charm. As Julia explains, Jacinda Ardern exemplified this approach, regularly communicating via seemingly impromptu, intentionally unpolished Facebook live videos. Full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRn4KFnzhAs&t=22s Transcript: https://newsletter.osv.llc/p/charming

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Aug. 26, 2024

Why We Are Suspicious of Charm

"There is, I think this suspicion about seduction [...] if you think about the Bible and important mythologies internationally, seductive people or figures are dangerous very often in these stories. So there is this kind of skepticism, somewhat religiously, I would say, of distancing yourself from charming people..." -- Julia…

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Aug. 25, 2024

The paradox of political authenticity

The paradox of political authenticity: We demand politicians be "themselves" in highly artificial media settings. Political leadership once meant embodying Greatness. Now it means coming across as being fun to have a beer with. How did this happen? Julia Sonnevend explains... Catch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/QRn4KFnzhAs?si=jOgvFfo3pHiIxLGt For the full…

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Aug. 24, 2024

The Antidote to Charm...

Charm: a spell suspending critical thinking, prompting instant emotional responses. Julia Sonnevend's antidote? When emotions bubble up - STOP. Ask: "Who benefits from my quick response?" Practice this habit. Over time, your rational brain will learn to engage automatically.

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Aug. 22, 2024

Julia Sonnevend — Charming! | Episode 230

Professor Julia Sonnevend believes that charm is one of the defining political trends of our era. In her latest book, she argues that charm will do no less than “shape the future of democracy worldwide,” exploring how it is weaponized by politicians ranging from Jacinda Arden to Kim Jong Un.…

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Aug. 20, 2024

Kaiju vs Golden Retriever

The simple secret to creative success? . . . . . ...stop wasting your time fighting with the Kaiju of doom, and go find a spot in the grass to play with that golden retriever instead🐶 Not simple enough yet? Here's Bilawal Sidhu breaking it down - Catch the full…

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Aug. 19, 2024

Underdog Tech

"Maybe it'll take a younger generation that is far more acclimatized to these types of capabilities to start taking advantage of those signals...the experts are always the most averse to adopting this tech." Bilawal Sidhu on AI and the rise of...Underdog Tech Catch the full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxVJ_k-Fzyg

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Aug. 18, 2024

To VFX or not to VFX?

If you replaced every brushstroke with an algorithm, would it still be art? Here's Bilawal Sidhu making sense of the "romanticism for doing things the old-fashioned way that seems to persist" Catch the full episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxVJ_k-Fzyg

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Aug. 17, 2024

Organic vs Fast Food Content

The billion dollar question for media in the age of AI - "what is going to be the breakup of people putting a huge premium on fully organic human-generated content?" vs "straight-to-the-vein fast food content"? Bilawal Sidhu weighs in on the latest episode of Infinite Loops Catch the full episode…

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Aug. 15, 2024

Bilawal Sidhu — How to Unite Reality With Imagination | Episode 229

As a proud owner of the exceedingly rare “two-digit” designation on CompuServe (the internet’s precursor), I’ve always been an early adopter of new tech. I was, therefore, particularly excited to speak to Bilawal Sidhu, a one-man corporation whose prolific output outpaces many creators put together. Since he was 11, Bilawal…

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Aug. 13, 2024

Spot the mistake!

You already know that learning from mistakes is critical for success. But there's a catch. To learn from a mistake, you've got to be able to spot it in the first place. It's tempting to overlook errors that don't cause immediate pain. Like a driver praising their "quick reflexes" after…

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Aug. 12, 2024

Why finding the Goldilocks zone is the surest route to success

“So maybe I lift 10 kilos, I injure myself. I lift five kilos, it's not enough. But there is that seven weights, seven kilos weight, which produces some gain, and those gains make me stronger.” Beware false dichotomies. When facing a new challenge at the gym, your work, or your…

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