• 00:01:37 Are we headed for deflation/ inflation or stagflation? How does Peter read the tea leaves?
• 00:08:33 Is regulation ultimately to blame for inflation?
• 00:13:57 Is the Federal Reserve to blame for the current crisis?
• 00:23:56 How does ‘yield curve’ work? Why is it so important?
• 00:30:34 How can we improve government policy (and Federal Reserve policy) to increase economic growth?
• 00:34:43 Can we really withdraw from the policy of ‘cheap money’ that most other countries in the world follow?
• 00:38:23 Is the European Union monetary regime likely to survive the next 10 years?
• 00:42:02 Will the Singularity jumpstart our productivity growth?
• 00:46:08 Is inflation just a clever federal tax scheme?
• 00:48:40 What countries are the best suited to increase economic growth?
• 00:52:35 Are precious metals up for a great run?
• 00:58:29 What are Peter’s favorite investments right now?

You may watch this episode on Youtube – #65 Peter Boockvar (Inflation or Deflation/ What should the Fed do?/ Best investments right now).

Peter Boockvar is the editor of BoockReport.com and is the CIO of Bleakley Advisory.

• 00:03:33 How Mark Burgess started to develop CF Engine.
• 00:11:22 What is the genesis of ‘Promise theory‘? What problems does it solve?
• 00:30:51 How Mark moved between academic disciplines over the years?
• 00:34:51 What is ‘Smart Spacetime‘?
• 00:44:29 Does the universe have a direction? What creates that direction?
• 00:55:26 Are emotions necessary for an artificial intelligence?
• 01:07:07 How can a machine memory mimic the human brain?
• 01:16:57 Can ‘Promise Theory’ be used to describe ‘Intelligent Design’?
• 01:32:03 What are ‘low hanging fruits’ of scientific discovery in the next 20-30 years?

You may watch this episode on Youtube – #64 Mark Burgess (CF Engine, Promise Theory, Semantic Spacetime).

Mark Burgess is the creator of CF Engine. He is widely known for his work on ‘Promise theory’ and ‘Semantic Spacetime’. He has published several books incl. Thinking in Promises: Designing Systems for Cooperation as well as Smart Spacetime: How information challenges our ideas about space, time, and process.

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In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Peter Sølling and I talk about:

• 00:01:43 the genesis of Peter’s Optimal Altruism project
• 00:15:13 What set of technologies does Peter expect going into the Singularity? And in what order?
• 00:25:01 Have we just lived through a lost decade in technology adoption?
• 00:34:01 How could ‘free energy’ change life on earth?
• 00:48:49 Does Free Will exist? Will it be affected by the Singularity?
• 01:04:57 The amazing story of the 12th Planet by Zechariah Sitchin and Intelligent Design.
• 01:12:41 Do we live in a simulation?
• 01:32:41 What is creativity and why we need more of it? How do we enable learning based on motivation?
• And much more!

You can watch this episode on – #63 Peter Sølling (Optimal Altruism, Sentience, Our onramp to the Singularity).

Peter Sølling is the Founder of the Optimal Altruism initiative. You can follow Peter on Instagram.

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• 00:01:47 How the world has changed since Jim Rogers first published Investment Biker and Adventure Capitalist?
• 00:06:23 Are looking at another stock market crash? When will it happen? Will technology (and productivity growth) be around to save us?
• 00:12:53 Are we headed for a drop of 50-80% in stock prices?
• 00:15:24 Is the Fed responsible for the bubble?
• 00:18:07 Are we headed for inflation or deflation according to Jim? Is the dollar gonna suffer?
• 00:26:26 Is Asia the future? What indicators show us that many countries in Asia are ahead of the US?
• 00:32:53 Is America with one billion citizens a good idea?
• 00:40:55 Jim Rogers’ surprising list of favorite countries to invest in.
• and much more!

You may watch this episode on Youtube – #62 Jim Rogers (When is the next crash coming/ Inflation or deflation / Jim’s favorite list of countries to invest in right now).

Jim Rogers is an investor and financial commentator based in Singapore. Jim is the author of eight books including the bestselling Adventure Capitalist: The Ultimate Road Trip.

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In this episode of he Judgment Call Podcast Jonny Price and I talk about:

• 00:03:38 Why Crowdfunding is so hot right now? Why was the ban on ‘consumer financing’ in place for almost 100 years?
• 00:11:02 What is the rate of return (IRR) for WeFunder investments? How can you hedge your bets with Crowdfunding?
• 00:24:11 Have we missed out on innovations during the last 20 years because Crowdfunding wasn’t available? Will it raise the amount of entrepreneurial activity?
• 00:29:30 Are we in a ‘seed stage’ accelerator bubble? How does WeFunder compete with startup accelerators? Does Crowdfunding only work if you spend heavily on marketing?
• 00:44:08 Why was kiva.org so successful and why did it stop growing eventually?
• 00:56:08 Why kiva.org re-invented a Business Credit Score and why it withdrew from general interest marketing?
• 01:07:36 How does WeFunder get rid of ‘bad actors’?

You can also watch this episode on Youtube – #61 Jonny Price (Wefunder, Crowdfunding, Kiva, Online Marketing).

Jonny Price is the Director of Fundraising at Wefunder, which helps startups and small businesses raise capital through investment crowdfunding. Before that Jonny worked at kiva.org.

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In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Steven B. Smith and I talk about:

• 00:02:01 How Steven’s latest book about the Virtue of Patriotism has been received? What does patriotism actually mean? Is patriotism just an emotion? Does patriotism imply a sense of superiority?
• 00:16:34 Should we start our own customized virtual countries? Is the nation state outdated and too many assumptions are ‘baked into the cake’ of the existing nation state?
• 00:33:29 Do we live in the best possible ‘political regime’?
• 00:37:23 Is Jean-Jacques Rousseau the original ‘father of socialism’? What are the advantages of his thought process and the direct democracy?
• 00:43:23 An origin story of the ‘two sides’ of the US political system? Are we wasting too many resources in a ‘repetitive debate’?
• 00:50:43 Why are we drawn to so many false dichotomies and narratives – especially on a federal level? Are we in a crisis of representative democracy?
• 00:59:10 Is the uptick in the rate of change the reason for the return to authoritarianism? Is an authoritarian regime the ‘Venture Capital’ of political regimes? Does democracy need more competition?
• 01:11:43 Why has there not been a revolution in the US since 1776?
• 01:18:41 Is the ‘falling out with god’ the root cause of what happened in the 20th century in Europe? What was the role of Germany during the time?
• 01:25:43 How the approach to (political) philosophy in Germany and East Asia so different.
• 01:31:11 Why WWI changed European politics forever?

You may also watch this episode on Youtube – Steven B. Smith (Patriotism, What makes great political regime, socialism, European powers).

Steven B. Smith has been teaching at Yale since 1984. Steven’s lecture series ‘Introduction to Political Philosophy‘ has been viewed 700,000 times on Youtube. Steven also has been a prolific author including  Hegel’s Critique of Liberalism , Political Philosophy (2012) and the Modernity and its Discontents .

His newest book “Reclaiming Patriotism in an Age of Extremes” is now available on Amazon.

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In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Patricia Fara and I talk about:

• 00:02:05 What was the most important discovery when Patricia wrote her first book about 4,000 years of scientific development.
• 00:07:34 The surprising story how modern capitalism emerged from religion.
• 00:09:35 Is the scientific revolution real? Was is just part of a much bigger ongoing process? Was there a specific event that spawned the ‘cult of technology’?
• 00:16:42 Why science is less influenced by certain geniuses but byt a group of individuals making similar discoveries.
• 00:20:06 What is the right confluences between science and religion? Should science innovate in moral terms?
• 00:25:31 Does technology and science follow morals or is it the other way around? Is it ‘expensive’ to apply ‘higher morals’ or is it actually making society more productive?
• 00:34:07 Are we really living in the best time ever?
• 00:39:12 Will the age of the Polymath return?
• 00:45:09 How should we structure Basic Research?
• 00:50:53 What did Patrica find when researching Isaac Newton’s last 30 years of his life?
• 00:53:45 Is a ‘tough childhood’ a necessary ingredient for success? What motivates us to take actual risks?
• 01:02:00 Why Isaac Newton diverged from the majority opinion on the ‘Holy Trinity’?
• 01:07:01 What will most likely be fields of scientific breakthroughs? Where will they likely happen?
• 01:13:41 Is there an Intelligent Design for life on earth? Is suffering necessary to improve human behavior?
• 01:16:33 How Patricia became the President of the Antiquarian Horological Society. What role does time play and how that changed over time?

You may watch this episode on Youtube – Patricia Fara (What 4,000 years of scientific progress have taught us + Isaac Newton).

Patricia Fara is a historian of science at the University of Cambridge. She has written 12 books so far including her most recent book Life After Gravity: Isaac Newton’s London Career. In 2016 she became President of the Antiquarian Horological Society.

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In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast – Aubrey de Grey and I talk about:

• 00:02:16 How Aubrey de Grey got into the ‘longevity research‘ in the first place?
• 00:07:01 How Aubrey got the confidence to put a precise year to the ‘end of aging’.
• 00:12:01 What were the biggest obstacles to overcome in persuading the public that ‘aging can be ended’
• 00:13:30 Was setting up a money price for the extension of the lifespan of mice a good idea?
• 00:21:10 Why the longevity industry is burgeoning at the seams suddenly?
• 00:25:09 Will the benefit of an extended lifespan be equally available to a large part of the population?
• 00:31:01 Once aging is solved will we see a population of 100 billion on earth?
• 00:34:50 How Aubrey envisions life ‘past the Singularity’?
• 00:38:30 How will our brains react to aging? Are there any drugs that we can use right now that may delay aging?
• 00:42:01 Is the the FDA to blame for the slow innovation in the healthcare industry? Has COVID changed the regulatory environment?

You may watch this episode on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #58 – Aubrey de Grey (Can we finally reverse aging ‘forever’?!).

Aubrey de Grey is the Chief Science Officer of the SENS Research Foundation. He has been an evangelist of longevity research for decades. He is also the author of ‘Ending Aging‘.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Jeff Brickle and I talk about:

• 00:07:32 Jeff’s experience joining the Pentecostal church including the experience of ‘speaking in tongues’
• 00:13:25 The role of the ‘Holy Ghost’/ ‘Holy Spirit’ in Christian religion and the Pentecostal church in particular
• 00:24:34 What does it actually mean ‘Jesus Christ died for our sins’?
• 00:34:53 How the interpretation of the bible still adjusts to today’s understanding
• 00:40:42 The role of John in the New Testament. And how it must have felt to listen to an oral recitation of the biblical verse 2,000 years ago?
• 00:55:30 Jeff’s experience teaching in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia as well as Turkey.
• 01:06:07 Is there a crisis of ‘organized religion’?
• 01:10:01 Why is religion (and Christianity) so underrepresented on social media?
• 01:13:43 Why did Abrahamic religions spread so quickly? How much of an innovation were they? Are we looking at a new set of religions currently?
• 01:24:24 Are Christinatity (and the viral growth) a unicorn start-up?
• 01:38:15 Why reading the bible is such an inspiring experience that should not be missed out on (irrespective of your religion).

You may also watch this episode on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #57 – Jeff Brickle (Christianity, Pentecostal Church, Theology).

Jeff Brickle is Professor of Biblical Studies at Urshan Graduate School of Theology. Jeff focuses primarily on the confluence of Johannine Literature with Ancient Media Culture (orality/aurality, sound mapping, memory arts, literary and book culture, performance, spatiality, intertextuality).

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Arnaud Collery and I talk about:

• 00:01:47 How Arnaud already had (full) careers as a leadership coach, inspirational speaker, actor, comedian, investment banker and philosopher at his young age.
• 00:10:26 Why ‘walking between worlds’ is such a cumbersome endeavor.
• 00:17:01 Why Europeans treat risk taking so much different than the US?
• 00:21:14 How Arnauld defines happiness?
• 00:28:32 Do we need traumatic experiences in our life to find our purpose?
• 00:36:01 Why some of most the most dangerous and violent regions of the world also bring out the most joy in people?
• 00:42:45 Is there a ‘happiness gene’?
• 00:49:01 Why we all want to be in ‘harmony with nature’? How society deals with a much newly customized ways of life and role models.
• 01:00:01 How Arnauld has hacked Hollywood.
• 01:25:01 How to spark motivation in people? How should we motivate our children?
• 01:36:29 What Arnauld thinks about extreme sports.

You can watch this episode on Youtube – Arnaud Collery (Happiness, Motivation, the life of a modern polymath).

Arnaud Collery has spent ‘many lives’ as an investment banker, army lieutenant, actor, motivational speaker and stand-up comedian all around the world. He currently builds Humanava.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast George Dyson and I talk about:

• 00:01:45 The Genesis story of George’s writing about the history of technology and science.
• 00:07:10 The amazing story of the Orion spacecraft.
• 00:14:50 Is the Big Stagnation real? Are we just measuring our success incorrectly?
• 00:21:30 How much did von Neumann and his contemporaries know about ‘giving birth’ to intelligent machines at their time?
• 00:26:40 Why is humanity so interested in technology? Are we already doomed?
• 00:36:10 The case for ethical machines. Will machines adopt ethics and religion?
• 00:43:45 How religions deal with limits to technology.
• 00:47:33 Can we all just get along without being innovative? Will we run the risk of an innovative power to sweep us away? Are we in a post-conflict society?
• 00:52:30 Is the hypothesis that we live in a simulation correct?
• 01:11:10 How we are motivated by our fathers and how we emulate them.
• 01:14:52 The history of the allied attacks on German cities of Hamburg and Dresden in WWII.

You may watch this episode on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #55 – George Dyson (The amazing history of technology).

George Dyson is an author and historian of technology. He is the author of five bestselling books. His newest book is called Analogia : The Emergence of Technology Beyond Programmable Control – it is now available on Amazon.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Charles Veley and I talk about:

• 00:06:43 Is our desire to travel a product of ‘Hollywood manipulation’ like Indiana Jones and James Bond?
• 00:13:36 Is he desire to travel rooted in escapism?
• 00:18:43 How slow should you travel? How rewarding is country collecting compared to slow travel?
• 00:27:10 How mosttraveledpeople.com counts the places to go to in the world?
• 00:36:33 Why Charles left for a long sea voyage despite a newborn child at home.
• 00:42:21 Charles’ philosophy to show children the world.
• 00:47:31 Charles’ list of countries that positively surprised him.
• 00:55:29 How expectations change your perception of travel? And why it is so subtle to notice.
• 01:05:29 Is travel burn-out unavoidable? How can we keep the joy alive? Does the motivation to travel have an impact? Do fellow travelers influence us?
• 01:22:10 Has Costa Rica solved the ‘dark side’ of tourism? How can we solve overcrowding globally?
• and much more!

You may also watch this episode on Youtube – #54 – Charles Veley (The most traveled person in the world).

Charles Veley is a software executive and is currently the most traveled person in the world.

Charles also started and runs the mosttraveledpeople.com online community which is dedicated to help travelers to go to 949 unique places worldwide.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Noel Bagwell and I talk about:

• 00:01:41 Where do political topics and memes come from? How does ‘the crowd’ select and rank them? Are we being intentionally mis-directed politically?
• 00:10:55 When did the Internet get ‘corrupted’ from its ideals? What happened to Social Media companies?
• 00:15:30 An ode to psychopaths and sociopaths…
• 00:21:15 The short history of the emphasis on individual freedom in ‘the South’.
• 00:26:01 Is the current mental health crisis a product of unrealistic expectations?
• 00:31:20 Are we missing out by not teaching children enough about philosophy and economics?
• 00:35:03 Why is the US politically so much ‘on fire’ now?
• 00:48:16 Why libertarianism is misguided?
• 00:57:20 What is the new role of religion? How it has changed over time especially in America.
• 01:20:22 How are wisdom and knowledge related?
• 01:32:22 Will working with AI look like following GPS directions?
• and much more!

You may also watch this episode on Youtube – Noel Bagwell (Social Media, Libertarianism, Religion, The Future).

Noel Bagwell, is President and Chief Legal Counsel of Executive Legal Professionals.

Noel runs his own podcast ‘Profit from Legal‘.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Jane Chen and I talk about:

• 00:02:04 The origin story of Embrace and how many babies have been saved by Jane’s work.
• 00:09:35 How much of a role played the sales strategy in starting Embrace? How did that influence the company structure and funding?
• 00:15:35 Why selling in the developing world (and especially India) is so hard for Silicon Valley companies.
• 00:21:19 The challenges of moving and living in India. Why India is such a culture shock.
• 00:31:33 Why you can see so much joy despite the despair in many poor countries and neighborhoods just like India. Where does true happiness come from?
• 00:35:08 Is frustration necessary for learning?
• 00:40:10 How customized should a curriculum be?
• 00:43:11 Will the Singularity come to the Healthcare industry?
• and much more

You may watch this episode on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #52 – Jane Chen (How to Embrace a warmer future).

Jane Chen is the co-founder of Embrace, a social enterprise startup that aims to help the 15 million premature and low birth-weight babies born every year, through a low-cost infant warmer.

Jane is also a TED speaker and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.

You may learn more about Jane via her website.

In this episode of the Judgment call Podcast Jim Rutt and I talk about:

• 00:02:10 A look into the distinguished life and career experience of Jim
• 00:14:04 What is GameB all about? What are the main tenets of this new operating system for society?
• 00:21:01 Is GameB setting a limit of the growth of society? Should population size be limited? Why the ‘West’ need to reduce resource consumption by 80%.
• 00:29:03 How Jim envisions citizens to be enticed by GameB?
• 00:35:10 Why do we see the decline in productivity growth? Is that a sign of the GameA coming to an end?
• 00:43:59 Jim’s thoughts on the singularity.
• 00:51:30 What role does and did religion play in human and economic development?
• 01:07:57 What happened to the voice of the Silicon Valley CEOs in the Free Speech Debate? Why wokeism won’t overcome the forces of competition.
• 01:21:01 Why the influence of the Frankfurt school has grown so visibly in the last 10-20 years? Why is the draw to socialism to strong lately?
• 01:29:21 Is an America with ONE Billion people a good idea?
• 01:33:13 ‘America is the best thing that ever happened to the human race’. Who said it?
• 01:38:01 Are we headed for a single global government?
• and much more!

You may also this episode on Youtube – #51 Jim Rutt (Is GameB the new operating system for society?).

Jim Rutt is the former CEO of Network Solutions. The New York Times once referred to him as “the Internet’s bad boy” due to his reputation for creative mischief. He sold Network Solutions at the peak of the Dot Com boom and then went into scientific research. Jim has been affiliated with the Santa Fe Institute since 2002, serving as Chairman from 2009 thru 2012.

Tune into The Jim Rutt Show or follow Jim on Twitter and Medium.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Yaneer Bar-Yam and I talk about:

• 00:02:22 What is the science of complex systems? How does it choose the proper layer of abstraction?
• 00:11:33 What role social media plays in modelling a ‘social collective’?
• 00:14:47 Why AI is not helpful modelling the pandemic.
• 00:18:46 Is consciousness just an algorithm? Will it simply emerge if the algorithm is right?
• 00:22:01 Why humanity faces extinction in pandemics unless it organizes collective behavior according to Yaneer Bar-Yam.
• 00:22:15 Is COVID a virus that will stick around just like the flu? Is it different than diseases we suffered through over the millenia?
• 00:30:01 Can we still stop COVID? What would it entail? What role does the vaccine play?
• 00:34:13 Why we need another (real) and hard lockdown to burn out the virus according to Prof. Bar-Yam.
• 00:37:12 What is the exit strategy after a lockdown? Why no country has fully opened up yet (incl. travel restrictions).
• 00:40:00 Why travel bubbles never seem to get started (after being announced).
• 00:45:23 What we should do when a new virus hits? How we potentially stop any new virus?

Prof. Yaneer Bar-Yam is the President of the New England Complex Systems Institute. His recent work quantitatively analyzes the origins and impacts of market crashes, social unrest, ethnic violence, military conflict and pandemics, the structure and dynamics of social networks, as well as the bases of creativity, panic, evolution and altruism.

You can also watch this episode on Youtube – #50 – Yaneer Bar-Yam (Complex Systems and why we need another ‘real’ lockdown urgently).

He is the author of two books: a textbook Dynamics of Complex Systems, and Making Things Work, which applies complex systems science to solving problems in healthcare, education, systems engineering, international development, and ethnic conflict.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Ric Gazarian and I talk about:

• 00:04:49 Ric’s motivation to go to all 193 countries and why he intends to finish the challenge.
• 00:20:01 How Ric experienced Thailand during the last 12 months with almost no tourists. Why it is such a great place (even) for experienced travelers.
• 00:22:01 Ric’s surprising recommendation for an affordable, high value, safe country with culinary highlights
• 00:25:03 Why Uzbekistan is such a rewarding place for travelers.
• 00:40:23 How destinations deal with over-tourism and why the ‘best places’ remain in flux.
• 00:48:01 How Ric prepares and deals with potential dangerous situations in his travels.
• 01:04:21 Why the epic drive from Yakutsk to Magadan is so tempting.
• 01:08:21 Can we predict which individual will become an explorer?
• 01:10:01 How Ric got into making travel movies.

You may watch this episode on Youtube – #49 – Ric Gazarian (Why ‘extreme traveler status’ is worth chasing).

Ric Gazarian is the host of Counting Countries. He is the author of three books: Hit The Road: India, 7000 KM To Go, and Photos From Chernobyl.  He is the producer of two travel documentaries: Hit The Road: India and Hit The Road: Cambodia. Ric is also on his own quest to visit every country in the world. You can see where he has traveled so far and keep up with his journey at GlobalGaz.com.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Blaise Aguera y Arcas and I talk about:

• What inspired Blaisee to work so close to the ‘bleeding edge’ of innovation and technology for so many years
• Is the missing ‘explainability’ of AI really a problem?
• Why the complexity of languages (and it’s efficiency) is underrated?
• The impact of the ‘surveillance economy’ on customer perception – will it stay a ‘cat and mouse game’?
• Why the protection of our privacy is “required for survival”?
• How much of an advance will GPT-5 be? Will we become ‘data slaves’ to AI?
• Is there room for ‘personal opinions’ with AIs? Will AI optimize for ‘survival’? Does humanity even ‘optimize for survival’?
• Why ‘developed countries’ have such low rates of fertility compared to ‘developing countries’?
• Is ‘utility’ as a concept really at the core of ‘How the world works’?
• Should we fear AI overlords? Or should we embrace them?
• Is ‘Free Will’ a useful illusion? Is empathy a necessary precursor to consciousness?
• What is the relationship between religion and AI?

You may watch this episode on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #48 – Blaise Aguera y Arcas (Artificial Intelligence, Free Will and Consciousness plus Religion).

Blaise is a software engineer, software architect, and designer. His TED presentations have been rated some of TED’s ‘most jaw-dropping.’

After working with Microsoft for seven years he now heads Cerebra, a Google Research organization.

In this episode Boris Kester and I talk about:

• What inspired Boris to travel to all 193 countries in the world?
• What is Boris’ recommendation about a great (and easily accessible) countries in Africa and Asia to travel to?
• How likely is it to get into a dangerous situation when traveling to so many ‘unknown’ countries?
• How Boris goes about planning his amazing trips.
• Why Madagascar is such a fascinating country.
• Will technology make travel virtual? How is technology changing travel?
• Why do we travel? Does travel make you a better person?
• Where does wisdom come from?

You can also watch this episode on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #47 – Boris Kester (What traveling to all 193 countries teaches you about humanity).

Boris Kester has traveled to all UN-recognized 193 different countries. Boris maintains an amazing collection of trip reports and photos on his website traveladventures.org from his journeys. In his other life Boris works as a Senior Purser at KLM Dutch Airlines.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Patrick Smith and I talk about:

• Patrick’s scariest experiences flying planes for 30+ years.
• Why is the B737 MAX a flawed plane?
• Why innovation is stuck in the airline/airframe industry?
• How the airline industry will look like post-COVID?
• Patrick’s favorite airlines and places in the world.
• Why tourism has been on such a ‘dark trail’ before COVID happened?
• and much more!

You may also watch this episode on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #46 – Patrick Smith (Where’s the innovation in the airline industry?).

Patrick Smith is an airline pilot, air travel blogger and author. Patrick is the author of ‘Ask the pilot’ and ‘Cockpit Confidential’ – both available now on Amazon.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Herbert Blank and I talk about:

• Why ETFs are surprisingly similar to Mutual Funds? And why they are a great tool for retail investors.
• Does ETF trading skew the price in the close auction of public markets? How do Hedge Funds take advantage of it?
• Why the market for ‘alternative data’ is so hot right now? And why ‘curve fitting’ is an increasing problem.
• Why ‘value investing’ is in trouble?
• Why ETFs are intrinsically better at rebalancing your portfolio than most investors?
• and much more!

You may watch this episode on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #45 – Herbert Blank (A deep dive into ETFs and alternative data).

Herbert Blank works at Global Finesse and has been a ‘quant’ for decades. He was als involved into the launch of iShares and the launch of the GLD (SPDR Gold Shares) ETF.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Bernard Moon and I talk about:

• What is the right amount of co-founders and how can you validate if a co-founder is a great fit? Is a seasoned entrepreneur or college drop-out the better choice?
• How SparkLabs Global Ventures found success investing in companies in Asia (especially in South Korea and Australia).
• Is attention more important than money as a startup?
• What influence does religion have on entrepreneurship?
• Are we in a simulation (and Bernard’s surprising answer!)
• How to do Basic Research right.
• and much more!

You can watch this episode on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #44 – Bernard Moon (Accelerator Investing gone global).

Bernard Moon is the co-founder & Partner at SparkLabs Group, which is a network of accelerators and venture capital funds that has invested in over 300 companies across 6 continents since 2013.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Melissa Hui and I talk about:

• How ‘depression culture’ took over our cities.
• Does money make you happy? Why are poor countries seemingly so much happier?
• Why we think of technology as our new ‘hyper-religion’?
• Where do we come from and are we in a simulation?
• Is ‘free will’ actually real? And why it seems that we imagine it (for our own good)?
• What will education in the near future look like? How can we overcome laziness?
• How the modern state (and religions) institute the ‘self improvement lifecycle of humans’.
• Why the unequal distribution of motivation is leading to outsized gains with modern technology.
• Can we trace the current depression back to the extreme deflation of ‘Likes’ when Facebook started to change how they give out ‘Likes’?
• How Melissa discovered a crisis was in the making before COVID was around.
• and much more!

You can also watch this episode on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #43 – Melissa Hui (The future of human interaction and learning).

Melissa Hui is an innovation and transformation strategist and she is the founder of context leap.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Erika Armstrong and I talk about:

• Why becoming a pilot is hard and why it may still be a great endeavour despite COVID”
• Why operating a modern airliner is such a great example for the work that will see in many places in the future.
• What are exciting new developments past the COVID crisis?
• What are the secrets of planes landing in ‘zero visibility’?
• Is the ‘first landing attempt’ always free? And what impact do passengers have on pilot decisions in business aviation?
• My personal ‘scariest flying story’ ever.
• Erika’s personal ‘conspiracy theory’ about MH370.
• How common are drone strikes and laser strikes really?

You can watch this episode on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #42 – Erika Armstrong (The life of a pilot).

Erika Armstrong  is a commercial pilot and aviation professor at MSU Denver. She is also the author of “A chick in the cockpit”.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Simon Anholt and I talk about:

• How Simon has helped dozens of government entities over the years and how it shaped his ‘view of the world’?
• How governments and citizens define their ‘country mission’? What is a country for exactly?
• What should be the right balance between competition and collaboration between nation states?
• Are humans now being perceived as pieces on a chessboard?
• How manipulated are we currently? And a surprising results of Simon’s index building.
• How travel shapes the image of countries (in other people’s eyes and yours).
• How Simon got to start a ‘virtual nation’.
• Why it is so strange that ‘Community Service’ is a punishment.
• Where does progress actually come from?
• and much more!

You may watch the episode on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #41 – Simon Anholt (What makes a good country).

Over the last twenty years, Simon Anholt has advised the Presidents, Prime Ministers, monarchs and governments of nearly sixty countries, cities and regions. Simons’s TED talks have amassed millions of views on ted.com and on Youtube. Simon Anholt is the (co)-creator of the Nation Brands Index and the Good Country Index.

Simon has written six books about countries, their images and their role in the world. His latest book, The Good Country Equation: How We Can Repair the World in One Generation is now available on Amazon.

In this episode Marci Powell and I talk about:

• How the COVID crisis revealed how unprepared schools and universities were for online education?
• Why an ‘offline copy’ of learning won’t work online.
• What ‘free content’ will do to the education industry – especially outside of the US.
• How a modern curriculum should look like? How much customization will it involve?
• Is homeschooling a way to improve schooling and lower cost?
• How we will motivate the children and young adults to learn?
• What role will standardized tests play?

You may watch this episode in 4K resolution on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #40 – Marci Powell (The future of online learning).

Marci Powell is a futurist and public speaker. She has been on the forefront of distance learning for more than 20 years and in 2019 she chaired the U.S. Distance Learning Association (USDLA).

You may reach Marci via LinkedIn.

Apologies for my audio quality during this episode. Thanks to Marci for saving the day!

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Aswath Damodaran and I talk about:

• Why he started putting his lectures online as early as 1997!
• Why Aswath considers academia, journalism and the financial industry ripe for disruption and how Aswath managed to stay ‘independent’ during his teaching career.
• What is the Equity Risk Premium and why Professor Damodaran is so focused on it?
• Professor Damodaran’s view on inflation and interest rates?
• What is source of the low productivity growth in the US? What role did the Federal Reserve in it?
• Will Tesla stay a ‘trend stock’?
• Does Uber actually have a ‘business model’?
• What is behind the backlash against capitalism?
• What are Professor’s Damodaran best investments right now and how do these ‘short squeezes’ actually work?
• and much more!

You may watch this episode in 4K resolution on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #39 – Aswath Damodaran (Making economic sense of a ‘crazy world’).

Aswath Damodaran teaches corporate finance and valuation at the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Aswath has won many accolades for his unique ‘no BS’ teaching style and has also earned the moniker ‘Dean of Valuation’.

You may reach Professor Aswath via his website.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Heidi Roizen and I talk about:

• Which role Stanford University played in Heid’s life personally and how much of a role it has in spawning entrepreneurship.
• Why entrepreneurship is such an important tool to change the world (to the better).
• What are the motivations for entrepreneurship? What skills and values pay off for entrepreneurs?
• Are the public market in a state of irrational exuberance?
• Is the big stagnation is real in entrepreneurship? Have we let go of our own high expectations to improve?
• How the ‘baby boomers’ have corned the real estate market and why the millennials have trouble following the ‘boomer model’?
• Where does Heidi stand in the Miami vs San Francisco debate?
• Do we live in a simulation? Will we be able to upload ourselves into a silicon based lifeform?
• Will we be able to ‘rebuild’ our ancestors from their DNA?
• Are first time entrepreneurs or ‘wise’ serial entrepreneurs the better choice?
• How is religion linked to entrepreneurship?
• How would ‘free energy’ change our life?

Watch this episode in 4K resolution on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #38 – Heidi Roizen (What makes a ‘great’ entrepreneur?).

Heidi Roizen is a venture capitalist at Threshold Ventures, former entrepreneur and Silicon Valley evangelist. She also actively mentors new entrepreneurs.

You may reach Heidi via LinkedIn.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Amit Mehta and I talk about:

• How the automotive industry is structured (i.e. tiered) and how innovation works in that industry
• Why Electric Vehicles (EVs) are so expensive in the US?
• Will Apple ‘corner’ the market for Electric Vehicles soon?
• Are autonomous vehicle ‘just around the corner’?
• What is the discussion about LIDAR sensors and radar all about?
• What role will AI play in the automotive industry?
• And much more!

You may watch this episode in 4K resolution on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #37 – Amit Mehta (The future of the automotive industry).

Amid Mehta is the Head of Innovation at North American Lighting and host of the Mobility Now Podcast.

You may reach Amit via LinkedIn.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Peter Oncken and I talk about:

• How Peter got to start an airline during COVID
• How Peter got started with his amazing track record of restructuring five airlines in Europe
• Why it is so hard to make money in the airline industry?
• Why low-cost & long haul flying is so hard?
• The amazing success of Wizz Air in Europe?
• Why Peters’s newest airline Aero K is starting up in South Korea.
• How Qatar Airways has stealthily become the ‘World’s Best Airline’?
• Who makes the most money in the aviation industry?
• Will electric aircraft take over soon? What are synthetic fuels?

You can watch this episode on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #36 – Peter Oncken (How to buy/run and sell an airline anywhere).

Peter Oncken is Managing Partner of INTRO Aviation GmbH. Peter has been buying, restructuring, running and selling airlines for two decades including dba, LTU, Cityjet and Corsair.

You may reach Peter via LinkedIn.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Nick Romeo and I talk about:

• Nick’s journey of becoming a journalist and philosopher and what journalism means today in the times of social media?
• Is the criticism of the millenials similar to the ‘elders of Athens’ criticism of Socrates?
• How much of an education should we expect from an ‘average citizen’?
• Is the ‘modern state’ and religion a good way to improve citizens behavior subtly?
• What Plato’s journey to Sicily tell us about the success of Greek asceticism.
• How intense was the exchange between the Israelites and the ancient Greeks? Why were their views on ‘laws’ so different?
• How are the current and ancient Greece connected?
• an much more!

You may watch this episode on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #35 – Nick Romeo (The connection between ancient Greece and today).

Nick Romeo is a journalist who writes about science, culture, and ideas for a wide range of publications, including the New Yorker, the Washington Post, National Geographic, Slate, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, The Atlantic, New Republic, The Daily Beast, The MIT Technology Review, The Christian Science Monitor, The Boston Globe, and many others.

You may reach Nick via LinkedIn.

• Why travel is such an important tool for ‘World Peace’ – really!
• How travel will look like post COVID? How to make it sustainable without creating more ‘tourist ghettos’?
• How will airline and hotel loyalty programs emerge from COVID?
• Why Qatar Airways seems to be such an extraordinary airline?
• and much more!

You may watch this episode on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #34 – Henry Harteveldt -Analysis of the airline and hotel industry.

Henry Harteveldt is often called “the voice of the travel industry”. Henry regularly appears on broadcast media, including Bloomberg, CNN, and CNBC. Top-tier print media, such as The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Associated Press, The New York Times, USA Today, Travel Weekly and Tnooz.

Henry has been an travel industry analyst for more than 14 years, focusing extensively on the airline, lodging/hospitality and cruise sectors. He has published more than 125 research reports during his work at Atmosphere Research.

You may reach Henry via LinkedIn.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast James Willcox and I talk about:

• How James got into travel in the first place and why he started Untamed Borders?
• What is information arbitrage in travel?
• The best and worst of traveling to Afghanistan.
• Why ‘post conflict’ countries as so rewarding for travelers.
• Does Untamed Borders make use of armed guards for their tours? How does the travel agency manage security on their trips?
• Have there been ‘close calls’?
• What are typical clients of an Untamed Borders tour?
• Has ‘adventure travel’ been getting more difficult?
• How is travel to Somalia like these days?
• What secrets does the Amazon still hold for travelers?
• How travel changed James views on religion?

You can watch this episode in Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #33 – James Wilcox (Travel to the world’s most dangerous places).

James Willcox is co-founder of Untamed Borders, a travel agency that can take you safely some of the most dangerous (and most beautiful places) on earth.

James has been an avid traveler for more than a decade and has been traveling to Puntland, Somaliland, Somalia as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan and many more destinations.

You may reach James via LinkedIn.

Apologies for the sound quality of this episode on my side – various improvements are on the way!

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Nick Laqua and I talk about:

• What made Nick venture from Germany to Australia and Hong Kong?
• How Hong Kong struggles to keep its identity after the recent absorption by China.
• How airlines deal with their aging IT infrastructure? And how Cathay Pacific in particular overcame these challenges.
• What role AI will play in the corporate environment.
• Is ‘Free Will’ real and how AI challenges that belief.
• and much more!

You can watch this episode on Youtube – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #32 Nick Laqua (Hong Kong, IT enterprise architecture).

Nick Laqua is a technologist and specializes in IT enterprise architecture. After heading a team to change the enterprise architecture of Cathay Pacific he now works at Mox Bank Hong Kong.

You can reach Nick via LinkedIn.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Nick Shelton and I talk about:

• Why spamming yourself with marketing newsletters is a good way to start building your personal network.
• Why curiosity is a superpower.
• Why we network less in person?
• Why social networks have changed the distribution of friendships around the world?
• Has COVID changed the world of networking permanently?
• and much more about building friendships and human psychology.

You can watch this episode on Youtube in 4K resolution – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #31 Nick Shelton (How to do networking right).

Nick Shelton is an entrepreneur and author of the book An Introvert’s Guide to World Domination: Become a High Level Networker and Upgrade Your Life – now available on Amazon.

You can reach Nick via his LinkedIn page.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Ted Schilowitz and I talk about:

• Is Hollywood missing ‘good hacker’s?
• Does ‘core innovation’ or ‘commercialization’ matter more in technological progress?
• Will Hollywood become a leader in innovation? Does it already provide a ‘permissionless environment’?
• What entertainment will the iPhone 2030 edition deliver?
• What is the current state of innovation for ‘wearable glasses’? Do they have a ‘Newton’ or an ‘iPhone’ moment currently?
• Why did VR not take off (yet)?
• What is the killer app for AR?
• Will Big Tech ever shrink again?
• Are Bitcoin and UBI a great idea? What are good alternatives?

What this episode on Youtube in 4K – The Judgment Call Podcast Episode #30 Ted Schilowitz (The future of the entertainment industry).

Ted started out as a Director and producer of his own films. After that he joined a number of technology companies including RED an innovative producer of high end movie cameras and after working at FOX Studios he is now futurist in residence at Paramount and an evangelist and speaker for the role of innovation in Hollywood.

You may reach Ted on LinkedIn.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Episode Greg Raiz and I talk about:

• How to manage the different timelines and motivations of angel investors, VCs and entrepreneurs?
• How Greg got started with his popular Youtube channel.
• How the ‘core value’ of entrepreneurship in the USA has changed over time?
• What roles does a platform play for entrepreneurship?
• Is capital less important than attention these days?
• How does risk assessment work for venture investors? And what is Greg’s golden rule before asking for money?
• How will the singularity impact our lives?
• Is the ‘Big stagnation’ real?
• and much more!

You can watch the podcast on Youtube in 4k resolution.

Greg Raiz is the founder of Raizlabs a mobile and web application design and development.

Greg started angel investing in Boston in 2017 and has invested in over a dozen companies to date. His interests are in companies that are improving lives through technology and design. Companies that have a clear vision, mission, team and plan are most interesting.

You may reach Greg via LinkedIn.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Robert Matzkin and I talk about:

• Does surfing make you a better entrepreneur?
• How to avoid ongoing fights between co-founders.
• A better future of education in schools and universities.
• What blended learning might be the future.
• How should we deal with the reduction in equality?
• How we will deal the major new innovations like AI and Quantum computing?
• and much more!

Watch this episode in 4K on Youtube.

Robert Matzkin is a serial entrepreneur and co-founder and CEO of myquest.co. Robert also mentors others entrepreneurs to find a better work and life balance.

You can reach out to Rob via LinkedIn.

In this episode of The Judgment Call Podcast Desi-Rae and I talk about:

• How these ‘social media bans’ actually got started.
• Why ‘Big Tech is so powerful’ and why it is ‘eating politics’ right now.
• Is the ‘race conflict’ and ‘gender conflict’ and other hot button political issues just narratives that are used to distract citizens?
• How and why did the world go so ‘crazy’ the last few years?
• Is the overshoot of empathy to blame for the divisiveness of today?
• What are the pros/cons of Black Lives Matter (BLM) and the impact of the movement in summer 2020 in the US.
• Do Desi-Rae’s political opinions shape her artwork?
• Is Bitcoin a tool to create a better and more responsible government?

Desi-Rae is a Youtuber, Crypto enthusiast and artist. Desi-Rae started with videos she recorded while driving and she is not worried about touching sensitive topics like Race and IQ, Fascinated and Horrified.

Watch this episode on Youtube in 4K resolution.

You can reach Desi-Rae via Twitter.

In this episode of The Judgment Call Podcast Arran Rice and I talk about:

• The spoils of being an entrepreneur and digital nomad
• What drove Arran to become an entrepreneur at the age of 11
• How Arran used Digital Marketing to scale his businesses
• Arran’s view on the travel industry and the current crisis
• What Arran’s current start-up simpleflying.com is about
• How the COVID crisis changed my own travel habits
• and much more!

View this episode on Youtube in 4K resolution.

Arran Rice is a serial entrepreneur, digital media ‘wonderkind’ and digital nomad.

You can reach Arran via his website.

In this episode of The Judgment call Podcast Charles-Louis Allizard and I talk about:

• What distinguishes ‘Digital Nomadism‘ and tourism?
• Why personal travel is way to ‘world peace’.
• What are the positives and negatives of ‘Digital Nomadism’? Is ‘Digital Nomadism’ an expression of the reduced entrepreneurial opportunities in many developed economies?
• Is loneliness a necessary downside of travel? What role does fulfilling your own purpose play in that?
• What is the future of education? How does the concept of ‘atomic knowledge’ shape learning?
• How languages shape our thinking and awareness of things around us.
• France’s legacy in Europe and in the world.
• And much more.

View this episode on Youtube in 4K resolution.

Charles-Louis Allizard is a web developer, entrepreneur, digital nomad, lecturer and is directing web documentaries in his free time.

You can reach Charles via his website.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Xavier de le Rue and I talk about:

• How Xavier find his perfect locations and mitigates the enormous risk of his hobby and profession?
• What video games and jumping off a cliff have in common?
• How Xavier grew up to be a winter sports athlete (and the surprising story of his family of athletes)?
• What to do in an avalanche?
• How Xavier’s popular Youtube movies are actually being filmed.
• The joys of snowboarding in Antarctica.
• Are the Himalayas the final frontier for ‘extreme snowboarding?
• Xaviers new podcast The Sustainability Dialogues Podcast

Xavier de le Rue is a World Champion of Snowboarding, Youtuber, Daredevil of Extreme Snowboarding who drops off 150 degrees from a mountain cliff before having his morning coffee. You may reach him via his website.

Xavier also hosts The Sustainability Dialogues Podcast.

Video credit for the Youtube episode:

• This is my Winter and Mission Antarctic

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Mark Saroufim and I talk about:

• Has the AI community become intellectually lazy and is there a a stagnation in progress?
• Why is AI so complicated and what are the gatekeepers in AI research right now?
• Should we expect Artificial General Intelligence soon? How predictable is the progress in AI?
• Why is there so little innovation in creating ‘cheaper products’?
• The surprising libertarian roots of Lebanon.
• Why the Internet is so great of connected like-minded people.
• The future of education – revisited.
• and much more!

Mark Saroufim currently works with Graphcore and has previously worked for Microsoft, NASA and studied at UC San Diego and UC Berkeley. He is a prolific writer at Medium including his latest article Machine Learning: The Great Stagnation.

You may reach Mark via his website.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Aaron Fulkerson and I talk about:

• The very short history of information sharing inside an enterprise and open-source distributions (and Mindtouch!)
• What punk rock and entrepreneurship have in common?
• What social media does to our children?
• Did the Facebook algorithm change in 2015 start the polarization of the world we currently see?
• How Youtube has been changing the world of education already.
• Is success early in your life a curse or blessing?
• What is the best age to discover philosophy?
• And much more!

Aaron Fulkerson is a serial entrepreneur. He is the founder and former CEO of Mindtouch and is now working with ServiceNOW.

You can reach Aaron via LinkedIn.

• Why are the ‘Middle Ages’ often called the ‘Dark Ages’?
• What were the biggest improvements in the ‘Middle Ages’ compared to the Roman Empire.
• Were the contemporaries of the Middle Ages drunk all the time?
• What are the most popular misconceptions about the ‘Middle Ages’?
• How did the taste for popular foods change so much over the centuries?
• Why the debate about healthy food is much older than you think.
• The story about Lampreys that you never knew.
• Why monasticism is such an important part of the ‘Middle Ages’.
• Why did the ‘Scientific Revolution’ not happen in the ‘Middle Ages’?
• Did slavery delay the invention of the ‘steam engine’?
• What was life like as an entrepreneur in the ‘Middle Ages’?
• Did the debt cycles of modern day have parallels in the ‘Middle Ages’?
• Are there parallels between the late Roman Empire and the US in the current day?
• Why was Islam so popular when it started out?
• and much more!

Professor Paul Freedman has been teaching at Vanderbilt University and at Yale since 1997. He specializes in medieval social history, the history of Catalonia, comparative studies of the peasantry, trade in luxury products, and the history of cuisine.  His lecture series about the ‘Middle Ages’ has been viewed more than 700,000 times on Youtube.

Paul is also a prolific author about history and food including:

• Food: The History of Taste  and American Cuisine: And How It Got That Way both available on Amazon.

In this episode Rubelyn (Ruby) Alcantara and I talk about:

• What is impact investing and what are the success stories?
• Where is the focus of innovation in impact investing?
• What is impact of fast Internet that is now available to most African Internet users?
• Is the individual freedom in Africa much higher than commonly perceived and what impact does it have on economic growth?
• Is the story of democracy in Africa a successful one? What are the downsides?
• Are charter cities an option for Africa?
• Is a Singapore style development a useful role model for Africa? How can economic growth be jump started?
• Can the ‘Dutch disease’ be avoided when using commodities as a way to jump start growth?
• What are the TOP 5 and Bottom 5 countries in terms of economic success? Is Ethiopia on the way to success?
• What is the future of energy production in Africa?

Rubelyn (Ruby) Alcantara is an entrepreneur, impact investment practitioner consultant, public speaker focused on entrepreneurship. She has lived in 16 countries through her career in UK, Europe and Africa including Tanzania, Nigeria, Madagascar and Kenya.

She runs Supivaa Advisory Group, a Canadian-African based impact investment advisory firm focused on gender-lens investing and sits as an Advisor to Uhusiano Capital, a UK-based impact investment firm. You can reach Ruby via LinkedIn.

In this episode Evan Weber and I talk about:

• How the digital marketing landscape has changed over the years?
• How affordable advertising opportunities have driven entrepreneurial success.
• What the Shopify platform has done for ecommerce sites?
• Can you derive high value traffic from TikTok?
• Will there be a ‘privacy backlash’ from the intrusion of our privacy by Facebook or Google?
• Did Google’s / Facebook’s high prices reduce entrepreneurship during the last few years?
• Why are subscription revenue businesses so hot right now?
• and much more!

Evan Weber has been breathing digital marketing for over 20 years. With his own digital marketing agency he has been working with 300+ companies to improve their marketing efforts. Evan has also been a speaker at various digital marketing industry events.

You can reach Evan via LinkedIn.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Steven and I talk about:

• What led Steven to become a student of philosophy?
• How his lecture ‘Introduction to Political Philosophy‘ made its way to Youtube.
• How Steven decides about which books are included in the introduction course?
• What cult leaders, entrepreneurs, politicians and philosophers have in common?
• Are we creating an ever more polarizing political philosophy currently?
• What role does postmodernism play in Political Philosophy right now?
• What is the ‘philosopher’s curse’?
• What is the role of patriotism in the US now?

Steven B. Smith has been teaching at Yale since 1984. Steven’s lecture series ‘Introduction to Political Philosophy‘ has been viewed 700,000 times on Youtube. Steven also has been a prolific author including  Hegel’s Critique of Liberalism , Political Philosophy (2012) and the Modernity and its Discontents .

His latest book is titled “Reclaiming Patriotism in an Age of Extremes,” – which is now available for pre-orders on Amazon.

In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Hayvi Bouzo talk about:

• What makes the Middle East so special as a region of innovation, spirituality and lately turmoil and conflict?
• What Hayvi found to be true during her time growing up in Damascus, Syria.
• Why democracies tend to be better at delivering ‘basic services’ to their citizens.
• What are ‘forces for good’ in the Middle East according to Hayvi?
• The true impact of the ‘Abraham Accords’ in the Middle East.
• How should we deal with ‘reformers’ in the Middle East regime countries?
• Will the new US administration retreat further from US footprint in the world?
• Why most of the best allies of the US eventually turn into enemies?
• Is the slowing productivity growth an issue for future US geopolitics?
• Is the impact of foreign policies overstated?
• and much more!

Hayvi Bouzo is journalist, TV host, podcast host and blogger. Hayvi focuses on the Middle East and the political and cultural tension in the region.

You can reach Hayvi via LinkedIn.

In this episode Bennet Bayer and I talk about:

• What are some of the most remarkable experiences Bennet had while working in a new country?
• Why asking the ‘right Why questions’ is a golden rule.
• What’s advantage of being an intraprenuer instead of an entrepreneur?
• How to build the connection between technology and human emotion?
• Will ‘virtual companies’ with minimal operations become the norm?
• Will ‘Big Tech’ keep accumulating in size?
• Will we continue to move our lives into the cloud and keep retreating from the physical world?
• What are examples of technology companies with a great product but terrible marketing?
• What are examples of technology companies with great marketing but a terrible product?
• How to hire a great salesperson?
• What is the role of educational institutions in the age of the Internet?
• What are great opportunities for entrepreneurs right now?
• and much more.

Bennet has been CMO or CEO (incl. Huawei Global CMO) in a long list of companies. He has been holding management positions in a dozen different countries including Afghanistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

You can reach Bennet via LinkedIn.