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‘.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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