Skip to main content

Weekly Updates 1/13-1/19/25

I still need to formalize this weekly format, but I want to get things out the door to keep the ball rolling.

Please excuse the informality and just absolutely atrocious formatting - need to get off of Blogger at some point!

I was a bit sick to start this week, so did not get off to a good start. Decided to delay some pending habits until I can be more thoughtful about them


Article of note:

https://jasonzweig.com/the-bottle-imp-a-parable-from-1893-for-today/


Read through this long post by Jason Zweig, loved returning to some fiction.


Here are two quotes that stood out:


“Poor creature,” said Keawe, “you would risk your soul upon so desperate an adventure, and to avoid the proper punishment of your own disgrace; and you think I could hesitate with love in front of me. Give me the bottle, and the change which I make sure you have all ready. Here is a five-cent piece.”


“perhaps the best example in all of literature of what happens when people buy an asset without thinking through how they will sell it. I know of no better illustration of how the “greater-fool theory” of investing unfolds. Stevenson’s unforgettable story shows just how hard it is to find a greater fool than you, especially when you most urgently need to find one.”


Random:


Mac Miller had a posthumous album come out this week. I listened to the whole thing and thought it offered some nice perspective. I was never a big Mac Miller fan, but several songs have made their way onto my playlists over the years.

Favorite quote from the album, he says "I used to want to be a wizard." Sounds pretty dumb and funny, but I did too. Wizards are sweet.

Next up, here are some podcast episodes I listened to this week, The formatting is eh because I used AI to summarize, and I added in my comments along the way. 

BTC-Related Podcasts

1. BTC217: MicroStrategy 2025 w/ Jeff Walton

Listen: Spotify

Summary: Jeff Walton unpacks MicroStrategy's aggressive Bitcoin acquisition strategy, its role in corporate treasury management, and how Bitcoin's scarcity aligns with long-term corporate financial planning.

Key Takeaways:

  • Bitcoin as a hedge against fiat currency debasement.

  • MicroStrategy's $8B+ BTC holdings reflect institutional confidence.

  • Corporate adoption may accelerate Bitcoin's role in global finance.

2. MacroVoices #462 Luke Gromen: 2025 Outlook

Listen: Spotify

Summary: Luke Gromen analyzes fiscal policies, debt cycles, and currency trends, predicting stagflationary pressures and a shift toward Bitcoin as a neutral reserve asset.

Key Takeaways:

  • Global debt saturation threatens traditional monetary systems.

  • Bitcoin could absorb dollar surpluses as nations diversify reserves.

  • Energy-linked assets may outperform in inflationary environments.

3. BITCOIN IS THE NEW OIL | Luke Gromen (THE Bitcoin Podcast)

Listen: Spotify

Summary: Gromen compares Bitcoin to oil in its strategic importance, arguing it solves energy arbitrage and offers a neutral settlement layer for global trade.

Key Takeaways:

  • Bitcoin’s energy-intensive mining aligns with geopolitical power shifts.

  • Nations may stockpile BTC to secure trade leverage.

  • Analogous to 20th-century oil, BTC could redefine economic alliances.

4. #1471 James Lavish | Will Bitcoin Strategic Reserve Happen?

Listen: Spotify

Summary: James Lavish debates Bitcoin’s viability as a national reserve asset, citing shrinking dollar dominance and BTC’s hardening monetary properties.

Key Takeaways:

  • Central banks face pressure to diversify beyond gold/USD.

  • Bitcoin’s liquidity and neutrality make it a reserve contender.

  • Adoption hinges on regulatory clarity and institutional custody.

General Podcasts

5. #786: Tactics for a 2025 Reboot — Greg McKeown

Listen: Spotify

Summary: McKeown advocates for essentialism, urging listeners to eliminate non-critical tasks and focus on high-impact goals.

Key Takeaways:

  • Prioritize “less but better” to combat decision fatigue.

  • Systematize routines to preserve cognitive bandwidth.

  • Quarterly “life audits” prevent mission drift.

6. #788: Raising a Sovereign Child — Naval Ravikant & Aaron Stupple

Listen: Spotify

Summary: A debate on fostering independence in children through non-coercive parenting and curiosity-driven learning.

Key Takeaways:

  • Avoid over-scheduling to let natural interests emerge.

  • Model critical thinking instead of enforcing obedience.

  • Encourage autonomy while maintaining emotional safety.

Investing Podcasts

7. RWH053: Trouble Ahead w/ Bill Priest

Listen: Spotify

Summary: Bill Priest warns of complacency in equity markets, highlighting overvalued growth stocks and stagflation risks.

Key Takeaways:

  • Free cash flow analysis critical in high-rate environments.

  • AI’s disruptive potential outweighs short-term hype cycles.

  • Hold cash reserves to capitalize on market dislocations.

Conspiracy/Other Podcasts

8. Paul M. Sutter on Einstein, Aliens, and Existence

Listen: YouTube

Summary: Sutter simplifies black holes, quantum entanglement, and simulation theory, bridging cosmology and philosophy.

Key Takeaways:

  • Space-time curvature explains gravitational phenomena.

  • Hawking radiation challenges classical black hole models.

  • “Fine-tuning” of universal constants fuels simulation debates.

9. E555 Dave Smith — This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von

Listen: Spotify

Summary: Comedian Dave Smith critiques Trump’s potential policies, government overreach, and libertarian solutions to bureaucratic bloat.

Key Takeaways:

  • Predicts Trump’s second term will prioritize deregulation.

  • Advocates for decentralizing federal power to states.

  • Highlights media’s role in shaping partisan narratives.

DH Favorite quote when Theo asks: "What about the Federal Reserve? What is it and is it fucking us?"

Also, Theo asking if we are still based on Gold and other similar questions remind me how most people do not care about the same things that I care about.

I never listened to Theo Von much before, but I understand the appeal. He is really intelligent and plays things off in a funny way.

10. Liz Truss on The Deep State & Free Speech

Listen: Spotify

Summary: Truss exposes UK bureaucratic resistance to reform, linking immigration policies to economic stagnation.

Key Takeaways:

  • “Deep state” inertia stifles legislative accountability.

  • Calls for tax cuts and energy independence to spur growth.

  • Media bias exacerbates political polarization.

DH favorite/most interesting part was when Truss said that institutions that are not explicitly right will drift left over time. She claims this is because if ou are insulated from outcomes of decisions, then you are not tested by the free market/budgets failing, etc.

This is an interesting parallel to David Deutsch's the Beginning of Infinity where he lays out the fact that there needs to be error correction for something to be a beginning of infinity.

There are countless examples in our world today where once you get divorced from error correction mechanisms, incentives get perverted, and then you end up down some dark and dangerous paths.This has happened in the food system, government, monetary system, educational system, science, and elsewhere.

Free markets and the invisible hand are actually quite useful in theory and when they can actually manifest in practice, but it is tough for humans to not intervene and take control.

            11. Tinfoil hat 849 How to identify a psyop w/ Ian Carroll             Listen: Spotify

Key Takeaways:

  • Alas, my AI summaries conked out here so this is coming from memory

  • Reminiscient of this article

  • I love a good conspiracy theory and I like the way that Ian Carroll approaches things



            12. Tinfoil hat 850 Cultural Debauchery with Jesse On Fire             Listen: Spotify

Key Takeaways:

  • Again, no AI summary here unfortunately - suspicious? (Jk)

  • I listened to this because of the priod Ian Carroll episode and was wondering what else these guys talk about

  • It became very clear that there are a lot of threads and theories connecting things that I am blissfully unaware of

  • I think it is helpful in some sense to be aware of these different narratives and search for the kernel of truth

  • the past several years have shown that it can pay to be skeptical and think critically
Labels:

Popular

The Battle Against Biology and Evolution

The Battle Against Biology and Evolution Thoughts as of 6/6/24 Something that has come up again and again in my quest for physical fitness and happiness is the unavoidable fact that we are products of evolution and at the mercy of our biology. The problem is, we have escaped the food chain and these systems no longer serve us. The more you learn about the processes of the body whether it be chemical balances, circadian rhythms, impacts of light, exercise, and food, etc. etc. there are evolutionary reasons why things are the way that they are. We are beings that are optimized to survive and reproduce and things that serve that purpose give us good feelings and things that do not, do not. This does not lead to optimum behavior in today’s world. One example of circadian rhythms and our biological clocks is in the impact of light on biological processes. If it were up to us, we would probably want to divorce these clock signals from light exposure so as to be able to stay up late using art...
Read more

The Adventure of Truth

The Adventure of Truth I have heard from several disparate sources in the past few weeks the notion that following the truth is the most adventurous way to live one’s life. Initially, this sounds like some trite saying you would see on a bumper sticker or a t-shirt that someone wears to the gym, but the more I have thought about it, the more it has resonated. The best thing about reading books and articles and listening to podcasts and audiobooks across different fields has been the connection of ideas and principles that start to take shape. The core attestation in the truth equals adventure claim is that by using truth as a guide, we cede control to the powers that be outside of our rational mind and operate by some “feeling” instead. This sounds a bit woo-woo, but then again, the esoteric is what I find to be the most interesting when it comes to thought experiments. I heard from another source - the creator of Veggie Tale’s autobiography to be exact - that there is almost assuredly...
Read more

Nobody Cares

Nobody Cares Not to sound too pessimistic, but I think it is true at the end of the day. This is more from a principles perspective than anything else. I think it is probably beneficial to live your life thinking that nobody cares about what you are doing. A chip on your shoulder attitude is part of this mindset, in that it may be helpful to live life as if you have something to prove and that you should make people care about you. However, I feel like the more important interpretation of this quote that is likely fundamentally true, is that people think about you a heck of a lot less than you think they do. In my life, if I take the portion of my waking thoughts that are about my own thoughts, feelings, biases, actions, past, present, and future, and put that over the portion of externally focused thoughts, it would probably round to zero. Not that I am overtly selfish or have a huge ego, but it is just impractical for 99% of people to genuinely think about others more than them...
Read more

Diet and Nutrition

Thoughts as of November 2024 - subject to change as I learn more - feel free to poke holes, always happy to be corrected. Many people over the past few years have asked me for tips and tricks about diet and nutrition. I have gone into detail with people on an individual basis over text/dm, on phone calls, or in person, but I felt it would be helpful for me and others to spell out some of my thoughts in greater detail. This serves a dual benefit of forcing me to list out my thoughts and having something to point to for others to look into at their convenience. Also, over time it will be interesting with new studies and experiences to see how I revise my own beliefs My advice to you People often get annoyed with me when they ask a simple question about nutrition. “Is this good?” “Is this bad?” The answer is, it depends. Some will ask what brands of products that I use, and sure, I could tell someone to eat xyz food or use this supplement, but if you do not understand the reasoning behind...
Read more

“How do you do life without a coach?”

“How do you do life without a coach?” Thoughts as of 6/12/24 This question comes from a recent conversation with a friend contemplating life post athletics. For people not involved in athletics past a certain level, this may not resonate. However, I think that the longer one stays within a sport, and the more of one’s time that sport takes up (highly correlated I’d imagine), this will likely strike a chord.  Further, I think it is more of a commentary on the schooling system writ large rather than something narrowly confined to athletics. The lesson should ring true to anyone finding themselves in the midst of uncertainty, but an example will be helpful in illustrating the point. Speaking from my own experience, I had always been involved in competitive sports. I started at probably 5 years old and continued until I was 22. The myriad benefits of athletics have been widely touted my whole life, such as increased discipline, teamwork, leadership, etc. but I think that there is a som...
Read more

Ego - Lifting and Otherwise

Ego - Lifting and Otherwise Thoughts as of 4/15/2024 These thoughts have been percolating for some time, and there are many more illustrative examples outside of lifting, but I feel that the point is easier made with lifting. In terms of religious or philosophical concepts, I have a lot of work to do to understand what exactly the ego is, and what exactly pride is, but I know they are both very dangerous. C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity made me think about pride more seriously for the first time. All of the quotes about pride being the worst sin, or compared to the devil himself I was able to brush past as hyperbole, but upon reflection, it makes sense. Similarly, ego I have never taken all that seriously; however, books like Ryan Holiday’s Ego is the Enemy, and other schools of thought that warn of the dangers of ego have been a part of my knowledge consumption over the past few years. One of the catalysts for taking these concepts more seriously was an instance in the weight room and...
Read more

You Are What You Eat - Literally!

You Are What You Eat - Literally! Thoughts as of 5/30/2024 These thoughts have been percolating for a few months now since I first heard the concept mentioned on a podcast. It seems so incredibly simple and obvious, and yet, after 25 years of living, I was and am blown away. We have all heard the saying, “You are what you eat.” It sounds trite and meaningless, and until I heard it expressed in this specific way, I dismissed it as nothingness. In fact, I imagine most people do the same, and I am not sure the originator of the quote intended the meaning in the way I now interpret it. As an athlete, I would always hear analogies along the lines of treating your body like a racecar. You need to take care of the racecar to make sure it is operating at peak efficiency. When it came to food, this was more so fuel for the racecar, or gasoline. You would not just put any old thing into a racecar and expect it to perform at its best. Similarly, as an athlete who wants to perform at a high level,...
Read more