Brian Chau, founder of Effort News, joins Infinite Loops to explore how AI could fundamentally reshape investigative journalism—not by writing articles, but by searching, analyzing, and connecting millions of legal, financial, and government records that humans could never examine manually. Show Notes Brian Chau & Effort News Effort News — Brian Chau's document-led investigative journalism publication, using AI to search and analyze large datasets while keeping the reporting and final writing human-reviewed. Effort News About Effort News — More on Brian's approach to AI-assisted investigative reporting and the publication's editorial principles. About Effort News Effort's Null Results — Investigations where Effort searched the available evidence but found no newsworthy result. Null Results Brian Chau on X — @brianchau57. Follow Brian on X Investigations Discussed The $1.2B Refugee Services Program that Funds Pro-Asylum Religious Groups — Effort's investigation into federal refugee-resettlement grants and the organizations receiving them. Read the investigation The 19th-Century Family Fortunes Funding Degrowth — Effort's investigation tracing funding for Partners for a New Economy through donor-side disclosures and the Swiss Philanthropy Foundation. Read the investigation Partners for a New Economy (P4NE) — The philanthropic fund discussed in Brian's explanation of tracing obscured donor funding. P4NE Swiss Philanthropy Foundation — The organization that hosts P4NE's pooled philanthropic fund. Swiss Philanthropy Foundation on P4NE How to Go Viral on the New X Algorithm — Effort's analysis of X's open-source recommendation algorithm, which Jim references near the end of the conversation. Read the investigation Freedom Fuel Network — Brian discusses Effort's then-upcoming investigation into the mysterious network of discounted gas stations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Effort has since published its findings, Who Supplies Freedom Fuel?, on its site. Effort News Books, Essays & Projects Mentioned Vesuvius Challenge — The project using machine learning, computer vision, and advanced scanning to read carbonized scrolls from Herculaneum without physically opening them. Vesuvius Challenge The Camp of the Saints — Jean Raspail — The 1973 novel Brian and Jim discuss while talking about how AI-generated writing has changed the way readers perceive older literary styles. The Camp of the Saints Influence — Robert Cialdini — Cialdini's work on persuasion, referenced during the discussion of why large language models can be effective persuaders. Influence: Science and Practice What the Tortoise Said to Achilles — Lewis Carroll — Carroll's 1895 dialogue about logic and infinite regress, discussed alongside Agrippa's trilemma. Read the essay On Liberty — John Stuart Mill — Mill's defense of liberty and free expression, which Brian critiques during the episode's discussion of classical liberalism, consensus, and free speech. Read On Liberty  

We're digging out some of our favorite conversations from the archive. This one is from January 2025, with Julian Gough. Enjoy. Julian Gough sums up his career as follows: "I just sit in my room and write." Well, I think being an acclaimed children's author, novelist, stage playwright, poet and top-ten Irish musician is a little more impressive than he's letting on… Oh, and I didn't even mention that he wrote the ending to the computer game Minecraft! His current project, The Egg and The Rock, puts all of this to shame. This book, which Julian is writing in public on Substack, seeks to do no less than redescribe the universe, arguing that is not some random, dead, purposeless sack of chemicals, but instead a living, evolving organism. Julian joins me to discuss why the arc of human evolution bends towards man-made black holes, the hidden catastrophe at the heart of materialist science, the strange life of subterranean ice aliens, and MUCH more! This was such an interesting conversation - I can't wait for you to hear it. For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other goodies designed to make you go, "Hmm, that's interesting!", check out our Substack. Important Links: Julian's Website The Egg and The Rock Julian's Twitter Show Notes: "I just sit in my room and write" Why write a book in public? Materialism & science's hidden catastrophe "The scientific method is in conflict with human nature" The faulty assumption at the heart of cosmology Big bangs, supermassive black holes & Darwinian evolution: A ~30 minute masterclass in cosmological natural selection "I'm predicting very, very large amounts of life in this universe" The strange life of subterranean ice aliens Could we spot man-made black holes? Bringing consciousness into physics Pulling back the curtain Julian as World Emperor MORE! Books & Articles Mentioned: The New Inquisition: Irrational Rationalism and the Citadel of Science; by Robert Anton Wilson Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge; by Paul Feyerabend What the Tortoise Said to Achilles; by Lewis Carroll The Life of the Cosmos; by Lee Smolin What Is Life? The Physical Aspect of the Living Cell; by Erwin Schrödinger Isis Unveiled: A Master-Key to the Mysteries of Ancient and Modern Science and Theology; by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky The Bhagavad Gita Did the Universe evolve?; by Lee Smolin The Great Filter - Are We Almost Past It?; by Robin Hanson

Hi everyone, Jim here. We're taking a short pause on new episodes through the end of August. In the meantime, we're digging out some of our favorite conversations from the archive. This one is from August 2023, with Dr. Julie Gurner. Enjoy. Dr. Julie Gurner is a doctor of psychology and executive performance coach to top percentile executives, primarily in finance and technology. She is also the proprietor of the Ultra Successful newsletter, which delivers a weekly challenge pulled from global business leaders and designed to "help you unleash your power." Dr. Gurner joins the show to discuss the merits of being unreasonable, why your business should not be your identity, why niceness is overrated, and more! Important Links: - Substack - https://drgurner.substack.com - Twitter - https://twitter.com/drgurner?s=21&t=kpNZMw5M-jHHMC0vAkndPg - Website - https://www.drgurner.com/consulting/ Show Notes: 0:00:00 Intro 0:01:24 Main podcast 0:02:20 Dr. Gurner's origin story 0:05:07 How forensic psychology experience can help executive coaching 0:07:11 Leaning into the 1% 0:15:23 Why psychological tests are flawed 0:19:26 The common traits of successful founders 0:29:12 High performance & bottlenecks 0:30:38 Why your business should not be your identity 0:41:01 How Dr. Gurner applies her strategies in her own life 0:44:17 Don't be nice 0:46:48 Be unreasonable 0:51:18 Social validation is not important 0:56:22 How can you improve someone's communication skills 1:01:43 How Dr. Gurner would teach executive coaching 1:03:36 The "no Plan B" mentality 1:06:48 Can high energy be detrimental? 1:10:21 How to unpack charisma 1:15:57 How to turn down work 1:20:01 Dr. Gurner's greatest satisfaction 1:22:31 How has leadership changed in the last 20 years? 1:25:40 Dr. Gurner as Empress of the World 1:31:18 End screen Books Mentioned: - The Art of War; by Sun Tzu

Hi everyone, Jim here. We're taking a short pause on new episodes through the end of August. In the meantime, we're digging out some of our favorite conversations from the archive. This one is from November 2022, so a few of our references (and jobs!) are out of date, but the ideas have only gotten better. Enjoy this conversation with Lulu Cheng Meservey. Lulu Cheng Meservey is the Chief Communications Officer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Activision Blizzard. She joins Infinite Loops to provide us with a masterclass in communications for startups. A must-listen for current and aspiring founders. Important Links: • Lulu's Twitter • Lulu's Substack • Episode summary from Podcasts Recapped Show Notes: • Why people write hit pieces • The insurgency framework • How to access your audience's neural real estate • How to develop a spontaneous elevator pitch • Tips for becoming better at reading the room • Speak directly and take the hits • Defining business objectives • Learning from other industries • Personalising your message • Overcoming resistance to the unknown, what Christianity can teach us about comms • Escaping corporate jargon • How comms resembles rugby • Taking ownership of comms • Moving to a new model of comms • "Don't let things happen to you. Go and happen to things." Books Mentioned: • The Network State: How To Start a New Country; by Balaji S. Srinivasan • The Hero with a Thousand Faces; by Joseph Campbell

Hi everyone, Jim here. We're taking a short pause on new episodes through the end of August. In the meantime, we're digging out some of our favorite conversations from the archive. This one is from February 2023, so a few of the references have aged since (mine included), but the ideas have only gotten better. Enjoy this one with the wonderfully heretical Jesse Michels. Jesse Michels is an investor at Thiel Capital and the creator and host of 'American Alchemy', a Youtube channel dedicated to highlighting the most heretical thinkers and ideas of our time. He joins the show to discuss the transmission theory of consciousness, whether mushrooms are aliens, the reawakening of the Boomers and MUCH more! Important Links: - American Alchemy - https://www.youtube.com/@JesseMichels/about - Jesse's Twitter - https://twitter.com/alchemyamerican Books Mentioned: - The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Know Has an Expiration Date; by Samuel Arbesman - The User Illusion: Cutting Consciousness Down to Size; by Tor Norretranders - Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid; by Douglas Hofstadter - The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch - The Immortality Key : The Secret History of the Religion with No Name; by Brian C. Muraresku - The New Inquisition: Irrational Rationalism and the Citadel of Science; by Robert Anton Wilson - How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression and Transcendence; by Michael Pollan - Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties; by Tom O'Neill - Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream; by David McGowan - Prometheus Rising; by Robert Anton Wilson - Quantum Psychology: How Brain Software Programs You & Your World; by Robert Anton Wilson - The Cosmic Trigger trilogy; by Robert Anton Wilson - Communion: A True Story; by Whitley Strieber

Nat Eliason joins guest host Jimmy Soni to discuss Founders School, a new high school for entrepreneurs that guarantees students will generate $1 million in gross profit by graduation or get their tuition refunded. We explore how AI is changing what teenagers can build, why traditional entrepreneurship education falls short, and what happens when we take young people seriously. Important Links: Learn more about Founders School: https://founders.school/ Read more from Nat here: https://www.nateliason.com/

Philip Howard joins Infinite Loops to explain how America's legal and regulatory system became too complicated to function effectively—and how we can rebuild it around judgment, accountability, and human agency. We discuss why government has become unmanageable, how thousand-page rulebooks discourage individual judgment, why infrastructure projects can take decades to approve, and how public institutions end up costing more while delivering less.

Sangeet Choudary joins Infinite Loops to explain why AI's greatest impact will not be automating today's work, but rebuilding the structures beneath it.   They discuss AI-native companies, the future of knowledge work, the American and Chinese AI models, creative "exhaust," changing career paths, and how to compete when the rules of the game are constantly being rewritten. Important Links: Learn more about Sangeet and Reshuffle here: https://reshufflebook.com/ Read more about the Platform Revolution here: https://platformthinkinglabs.com/materials/platform-revolution

What if the great stories were more than just stories? Jameson Olsen, host of Becoming the Main Character, joins guest host Liberty to explore fiction as a kind of operating system for life — a way to study agency, ambition, empathy, failure, courage, and change without having to live every consequence yourself. Through Hamlet, Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes, Lord of the Rings, training montages, NPCs, and the Hero's Journey, they discuss what it means to stop drifting through life and start holding the pen of your own story. Important Links: Listen to Jameson's podcast here: https://www.becomingmain.com/

David Gelles joins guest host Jimmy Soni to discuss his career covering business for The New York Times. They talk about his books - Mindful Work, The Man Who Broke Capitalism, and Dirtbag Billionaire - and the reporting behind major stories on Bernie Madoff, Jack Welch, Boeing's 737 Max crashes, and Patagonia's Yvon Chouinard. David explains how he broke a front-page story five weeks into journalism school, how he convinced Bernie Madoff to grant him a prison interview, and his process for writing books while working full-time. They also discuss raising kids who read for hours every day and why meditation helps him stay sane.