This week we review Skin In The Game: Hidden Asymmetries In Daily Life by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Taleb may hate (professional) book reviewers, but we both really enjoyed this book: the man is never dull! Timestamps below: 0:08 - Taleb is angry on Twitter... 0:59 ...but calm and collected here Part 1: Intellectuals vs Risk-Takers 3:11 - The Intellectual Yet Idiot 6:43 - Taleb on education 11:22 - Why duels are good 12:44 - Trump’s appeal Part 2: The Power of Intransigent Minorities 15:06 - Why lemonade is kosher 17:40 - NIMBYs, regulation, and early adopters Part 3: Taleb Is A Conservative 20:21 - The precautionary principle 21:37 - Are GMOs dangerous? 26:18 - How religion helps us survive Part 4: Academics Need Skin In The Game 32:34 - Equality and hypocrisy 35:08 - Why Thomas Picketty is wrong 38:00 - Taleb hates economists 44:26 - Final thoughts Check out Random Talkers on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/RandomTalkers Consider buying us a coffee (all donations go to better mics): www.buymeacoffee.com/randomtalkers

This week we review "Blockchain Basics: A Non-Technical Introduction in 25 Steps" by Daniel Drescher. Blockchain hype may have waned, but we're still aboard the blocktrain destined for untold crypto riches. Look below for timestamps: Part 1: How The Blockchain Works 1:55 - The blockchain is a plain old transaction ledger... 2:34 - ...but with no central authority 5:00 - To write to it you must solve math problems 6:58 - Transactions are verified using cryptography 8:17 - Distributed consensus enables consistency Part 2: Blockchain Flaws and Exploits 11:40 - 51 Percent Attacks 13:58 - Excessive power consumption 15:40 - Dependence on private keys 16:50 - Transactions can't be reversed 17:45 - The blockchain is so slooooooooow Part 3: Blockchain Applications 19:50 - Money transfers 20:57 - Disintermediation and eliminating middle-men 22:28 - Smart contracts 25:24 - Corporations and the private, permissioned blockchain 27:30 - Blockchain and the shipping industry 29:08 - Tokens and incentivizing network effects 30:10 - DISRUPTION (may be a few years away) 33:30 - Expect incumbents to fight back Check out Random Talkers on YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/RandomTalkers Consider buying us a coffee (all donations go to better mics): www.buymeacoffee.com/randomtalkers

This week we review "Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy" by Cathy O'Neil. From terrible teacher evaluations to dodgy credit decisions, algorithms make plenty of mistakes - but are they really worse than the alternative? Timestamps: 0:23 - Three traits of a bad model 1:48 - Terrible teacher evaluations 6:50 - Personality tests and hiring 11:50 - Bad algorithms disproportionately hurt the poor 15:45 - Clopening and schedule optimization 18:19 - Life before algorithms: redlining 25:11 - Limits to model accuracy 26:21 - The rigor of sports analytics is not a panacea 28:07 - Predictions vs. privacy 32:37 - The stop and frisk analogy 35:35 - China's social credit system and research ethics Check out Random Talkers on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RandomTalkers Consider buying us a coffee (all donations go to better mics): https://www.buymeacoffee.com/randomtalkers

This week your Random Talkers Matt and Adam review Ray Kurzweil's epic 2004 treatise, “The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology.” This book has everything, from nanobot-fueled virtual reality to the enticing possibility of life and no death. Timestamps below: 1:47 - Exponential growth fuels Kurzweil's bold predictions 5:43 - Always look for S-curves 7:41 - Do we really need to reverse engineer the brain? 10:12 - Genetics, nanotechnology, and robotics are key 16:54 - The Singularity and living forever 19:22 - Will you be “you” after the Singularity? 26:58 - What happens if and when everything goes horribly wrong 29:26 - Asymmetric risk tolerance, self-driving cars, and the conundrum of regulation 35:20 - Final thoughts If you'd like to support the show, consider buying us a coffee at www.buymeacoffee.com/randomtalkers You can check out this episode and more on the Random Talkers YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/c/RandomTalkers. Peruse our old segments, leave an Internet comment, and admire the new soundwave effect Adam spent far too long making.