Undertone

Sebastian Mallaby is the Paul A. Volcker senior fellow for international economics at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Mallaby contributes to a variety of publications, including Foreign Affairs, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, and the Financial Times, where he spent two years as a contributing editor. He’s the author of many of my favorite business books of all time in

Nabeel is a Visiting Scholar at the Mercatus Center focused on developing an optimistic vision for AI, but as you’ll see in this conversation his breadth of interests goes about as wide as you can imagine. We talk about foreign film, interpreting the Iliad, Shakespeare, Wittgenstein, Derek Parfit, SF vs. NYC, AI, startups, and a lot more. Episode transcript Timestamps (0:00:00) I

Sarah and I talk about ultrasound neuromodluation, AI, and cancer research. -- Timestamps (0:00:00) Intro (0:00:22) Ultrasound neuromodulation (0:02:33) Where is it in the tech lifecycle? (0:03:48) Why should it be possible? (0:07:44) How impactful will neuromodulation be? (0:12:08) Startups working on neuromodulation (0:16:33) Could we read minds? (0:18:54) Public acceptance of ne

Alexey and I talk about science, productivity, and utilitarianism. -- Timestamps (00:00) Intro (00:23) How accessible should a good research paper be? (03:47) Good taste (07:07) What does Russia get right? (12:05) Favorite Dostoyevsky novel (14:16) Utilitarianism (16:42) High IQ v genius (17:59) Tyler Cowen's advice (20:13) Bad science (31:25) Productivity (32:55) Updating beli

Noah and I talk about Keynes' 15 hour work week, Piketty's r>g, economic development in Africa, Javier Milei, Anime, and more. -- Timestamps (0:00:00) Intro (0:00:30) Noah’s intellectual influences (0:10:20) Javier Milei (0:11:43) Which macroeconomist would Noah give the highest grade? (0:13:47) Defining mainstream macro in 2024 (0:18:22) Innovation in macroeconomics (

Tyler and I talk about nearly everything. Transcript -- Timestamps (0:00:00) Intro (0:00:28) Identifying talent on Tyler’s podcast (0:03:48) Why are follow up questions overrated? (0:04:21) Tyler’s preferred guest career stage (0:05:16) Optimal frequency for recording podcasts (0:05:50) Tyler’s podcast prep (0:07:39) Importance of in-person episodes (0:09:56) What would Tyler

Samo and I talk about history, gerontocracy, and energy. -- Timestamps (0:00:00) Intro (0:00:21) Knowledge decaying over time (0:06:02) History and the overabundance of information (0:11:10) History as a profession (0:13:32) What would Hitler and Stalin think of our textbooks? (0:16:44) What would we gain from a more accurate picture of history? (0:22:31) Defining Live Players and

Vitalik and I talk about libertarianism, Ethereum, and AI. Transcript -- Timestamps (0:00:00) Intro (0:00:21) Governance mechanisms (0:02:32) Talent in crypto (0:10:02) Talent clusters (0:15:23) Crypto conferences (0:19:07) Vitalik’s vision for ETH (0:28:51) Libertarian canon (0:47:25) ETH cultural or technological innovation? (0:53:19) Learning languages in the age of AI (0:57:0

Adam and I talk about humor, peer review, and the future of science. Timestamps (0:00:00) Intro (0:00:45) Is bias overrated? (0:01:46) Researcher ambition (0:05:52) Illusion of moral decline (0:08:10) Morality over time (0:11:33) Humor and teaching (0:13:48) Misconceptions about humor (0:16:48) Lost in translation (0:21:07) Good research ideas (0:27:37) Peer review (0:29:51) Scien

Scott and I talk about film, literature, asset bubbles, and monetary policy. Transcript -- Timestamps (0:00:00) Intro (0:00:33) Fiction for economists (0:03:44) Knausgaard or Proust? (0:07:04) TV or film? (0:11:58) Joseph Conrad and Werner Herzog (0:14:29) Underrated writers (0:16:47) Do pessimists make better art? (0:18:34) Cultural pessimism (0:25:03) Meaning in jobs (0:28:54) Be