EP 153: Legendary Mathematician Edward Thorp on Card Counting, Quantitative Investing & Catching
Edward O. Thorp is the legendary mathematician who invented quantitative investing, card-counting, and the first wearable computer. Today he discusses how he used mathematics to win at blackjack, some of the tricks casinos employed to try and thwart his methods, and how he created the first wearable computer in order to beat casinos at roulette. Then he reveals how he used his math skills to become one of the best hedge fund mangers in the world, why he sees Wall Street as t
EP 152: VICE Correspondents Gianna Toboni & Isobel Yeung
Gianna Toboni and Isobel Yeung are the fearless correspondents for HBO's news magazine show VICE. On today’s episode, Gianna and Isobel voice their concerns about President Trump’s recent demonization of journalists and discuss some of the stories they cover in Season 5 of VICE. Isobel shares her encounter with Bashar Assad’s Orwellian propaganda machine as she covered the War in Syria, and she talks about her experience spending the night in women’s prison. Gianna reveals
EP 151: Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on T.P.P., Pacific Rim Security, China, & Th
Kevin Rudd served twice as Australian Prime Minister as well as Foreign Minister and is currently the President of The Asia Society Policy Institute. He offers his perspective on the strangely confrontational phone conversation between President Donald Trump and Mr. Rudd’s successor as Prime Minister Malcomb Turnbull. He also discusses Trump’s exit from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, what this means for the other partner nations including Australia, and what a new Pacific tra
EP 150: Bloomberg Tech Editor Brad Stone on Uber, AirBnB, & the New Silicon Valley
Brad Stone is Senior Executive Editor for technology at Bloomberg News and author of the New York Times bestseller The Upstarts: How Uber, Airbnb, and the Killer Companies of the New Silicon Valley Are Changing the World. Today he’ll discuss how both companies got there starts including how a James Bond movie inspired Uber and how a wiley illegal hotelier who almost wrecked AirBnB’s plans in New York City. We’ll talk about the rideshare wars between Uber and Lyft, Uber’s effo
EP 149: The Cast & Creators of AMC's HUMANS Imagine a Future w/ Artificial Intelligence, Rob
The creators of the AMC drama series HUMANS Jonathan Brackley and Sam Vincent return to the podcast, and then I'm joined by the stars of the show Gemma Chan, Tom Goodman-Hill and Sam Palladio. We discuss how consciousness might spread among intelligent machines, what "the singularity" might be like from their perspective, and whether recent behavioral and psychological disorders arising from kids attachment to smart devices may foreshadow even more disturbing problems to com
EP 148: Political Trickster Roger Stone on The Making of the President 2016
Legendary Republican political strategist Roger J. Stone, Jr. has been called “the lord of mischief,” “the master of rightwing political hit-jobs,” and “the most dangerous man in America.” Stone and his political trickery played an integral role in the elections of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and George H.W. Bush, as well as George W. Bush’s victory during the 2000 Florida recount. He was also instrumental in the 2016 win of his friend of 40 years Donald Trump. He writes a
EP 147: Hugh Hewitt's "Fourth Way" for President Trump & the GOP
Conservative author and radio host Hugh Hewitt has what he has described as an “unusual relationship” with President Donald Trump. He interviewed Trump 15 times during the 2016 election and was a panelist on 4 of the Presidential debates, and now Hugh Hewitt draws his personal experience with the President and his service for two previous Republican Presidents in a new book called The Fourth Way: The Conservative Playbook for a Lasting GOP Majority. Today, he comes on the sho
EP 146: Amazon's Fresh New Take on Zelda & Scott Fitzgerald
Amazon is telling the story of Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald through Zelda’s eyes in the new television series Z: The Beginning of Everything which stars Christina Ricci and David Hoflin as the original “IT” couple. Today, David Hoflin talks about filling the shoes of America’s most iconic author, the often disfunctional relationship between Scott and Zelda, and their cautionary tale about getting too much, too soon. Then I talk with the executive producers and creators of Z:
EP 145: John Avlon, Editor of The Daily Beast, on George Washington's Farewell Address
John Avlon, Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Beast, comes on the podcast to talk about his new book Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations. He’ll discuss the origins of George Washington’s Farewell Address and why he describes it as the most famous speech you’ve never read. He’ll reveal some of the other founding fathers worked as ghost writers on the address, discuss how Washington’s Farewell Address influenced President Eisenhower’s famous Fa
