NonTrivial: Recent Episodes
Sean McClure
Nontrivial is a podcast that looks to uncover deep patterns in life, discussing them at the intersection of science, complexity, and philosophy.
In this episode, I discuss why expectation isn’t the same as preparation, and how long-held predictions can quietly limit your ability to adapt. I explore the hidden costs of committing too strongly to a specific outcome, the neuroscience behind prediction failure, and what simple organisms can teach us about navigating uncertainty. The key shift: stop asking “did this work?” and start asking “what did this teach me?”
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If you're an authentic creator, get ready; people are going to start calling your work AI-generated. Not because you used AI, but because AI has become so good that genuine quality now raises suspicion.
In this episode, I dig into why this is happening, what it says about creativity itself, and why the common arguments against AI creativity don't hold up scientifically.
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Premium members get access to the full member app. This includes data visualizations of the core concepts in each episode, a Study Space for learning fundamentals, and premium articles on Techniques and Mindsets.
Members can also save personal notes, explore episode summaries and transcripts, search across episodes, track watch history and progress, and participate in the community forum. Premium membership includes ongoing support.
In this episode I discuss why distraction isn’t the enemy modern society makes it out to be. From school to the workplace, we’re taught that focus is everything and distraction is a flaw to eliminate. But what if distraction is actually a discovery mechanism; a natural, evolutionary feature of the mind that helps us explore possibilities, make unexpected connections, and ultimately solve harder problems?
I explore how productivity culture and exam-based education pathologize distraction, why real-world problem solving looks nothing like test taking, and how embracing a healthy dose of wandering attention can actually lead to deeper focus and better outcomes. A truly focused life doesn’t move in a straight line; it converges over time, and that convergence requires exploration.
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Become a Member at dekyon.io/seanmcclure/nontrivial
Premium members get access to the full member app. This includes data visualizations of the core concepts in each episode, a Study Space for learning fundamentals, and premium articles on Techniques and Mindsets.
Members can also save personal notes, explore episode summaries and transcripts, search across episodes, track watch history and progress, and participate in the community forum. Premium membership includes ongoing support.
In this episode I discuss why popular “fix your life” advice often fails, and explain how real, lasting change comes from focusing on a few deep structural levers rather than long lists of habits. I break down how confidence, discipline, and consistency are usually byproducts, not goals, and introduce three core constraints that can reorganize your life: identity, delivery, and rare skill.
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Become a Member at dekyon.io/seanmcclure/nontrivial
Premium members get access to the full member app. This includes data visualizations of the core concepts in each episode, a Study Space for learning fundamentals, and premium articles on Techniques and Mindsets.
Members can also save personal notes, explore episode summaries and transcripts, search across episodes, track watch history and progress, and participate in the community forum. Premium membership includes ongoing support.
In this episode I discuss why obsessing over speed and efficiency often slows real progress, and how treating time as the main variable causes people to optimize before they understand what actually matters. I explain that in complex domains like learning, creativity, startups, and decision-making, progress comes from uncovering underlying structure, not from doing more work faster. By focusing on depth, constraints, and conceptual insight, the space of possibilities collapses, breakthroughs feel sudden, and real speed emerges as a side effect of understanding rather than effort.
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Premium members get access to the full member app. This includes data visualizations of the core concepts in each episode, a Study Space for learning fundamentals, and premium articles on Techniques and Mindsets.
Members can also save personal notes, explore episode summaries and transcripts, search across episodes, track watch history and progress, and participate in the community forum. Premium membership includes ongoing support.
In this episode I discuss why real understanding and skill come from direct contact with meaning, rather than from verbalization, explanation, or rigid procedure. Using reading, intuition, music, and sports as examples, I explain how meaning is grasped before it’s put into words.
I explore how humans naturally decode complex, subtle signals, often knowing something is right or wrong without being able to explain why, and how this same capacity underlies deep learning and mastery. Over-focusing on details and articulation can actually interfere with skill development.
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Premium members get access to the full member app. This includes data visualizations of the core concepts in each episode, a Study Space for learning fundamentals, and premium articles on Techniques and Mindsets.
Members can also save personal notes, explore episode summaries and transcripts, search across episodes, track watch history and progress, and participate in the community forum. Premium membership includes ongoing support.
In this episode I discuss why strict scheduling goes against the way nature and human creativity actually function. Real progress often appears in spontaneous gaps throughout the day, much like discoveries and insights in science and art that arise unexpectedly rather than through planning.
I explain that people struggle with this approach because they feel a kind of energy barrier before starting. This barrier is related to memory. We forget where we left off, so returning to a task feels heavier than it really is.
I then describe how memory techniques can remove this barrier. When you keep the main structure of your projects in your mind, you can reenter your work at any moment and allow productivity to flow naturally with the rhythm of your life.
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Premium members get access to the full member app. This includes data visualizations of the core concepts in each episode, a Study Space for learning fundamentals, and premium articles on Techniques and Mindsets.
Members can also save personal notes, explore episode summaries and transcripts, search across episodes, track watch history and progress, and participate in the community forum. Premium membership includes ongoing support.
In this episode I discuss how building your own constraints can turn fleeting insights into structure, protect your growth, and help you stay aligned with who you’re becoming.
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In this episode I discuss the difference between learning rules and recognizing patterns, arguing that genuine understanding comes from immersing yourself in real environments rather than relying on isolated fundamentals. Through examples like chess, programming, language acquisition, and piano, I emphasize that patterns are felt and latent, not definable by textbooks. True learning requires exposure, courage, and creativity.
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In this episode I discuss the idea that attitude must come before action and results, and that true growth requires courage. I explore how mindset shapes behavior, why resilience emerges from maintaining the right outlook, and how stepping into uncertainty allows new patterns to form. By embracing risk and venturing into the unknown, we create the conditions for authenticity, discovery, and ultimately wisdom.
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The episode is about how true peace of mind comes from discovering and practicing a personal process—the “how”—that aligns with who you are, rather than chasing external categories or “what” you do.
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In this episode I discuss the importance of capturing the essence of things—the single core idea or statement that strips away noise and redundancy while anchoring creativity, learning, and performance. I explain how identifying this essence makes thought and action more efficient, portable across domains, and naturally generative, whether in writing, storytelling, life decisions, or science.
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In this episode, I discuss why relentlessness is the mother of all skills, enabling us to push forward despite frustration and setbacks. I explore how techniques and mindsets serve as anchors but ultimately subsume into the higher-level purpose of relentlessness. Through examples from nature, engineering, and AI, I show how consistency of effort amidst life’s complexity leads to long-term growth.
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The extremely effective skill of recognizing and following the patterns that move us. And the detrimental, interfering behavior of attempting to explain those patterns.
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In this episode I argue that we should choose to work on the first thing that comes to mind, rather than prioritize. While such behavior will cut into the time you would have spent on some other more prioritized task, it will be absolutely worth it. Choosing the non-prioritized action means much more movement, increasing the transition dynamics inside your state of possibilities. The long run outcomes are far better when you work on it the moment you think about it. This is all to highlight a fundamental pattern in information and creativity. Examples in nature are given.
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In this episode I discuss how doing everything in a day is almost always an impossibility, but is in fact possible if you learn to categorize your work in a fashion akin to how nature operates.
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In this episode I discuss how making decisions in an uncertain world is best handled, not through explicit weighing of choices, but by focusing on high level targets (like balance) that cut through the noise.
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In this episode I discuss how reading should be done for more than just entertainment and knowledge. Reading should be done every day to train the mind in extended concentration, maintaining a single thread of thought, and holding your attention deliberately. I discuss what I think it means to read well, and show how this skill goes well beyond just reading, amplifying our personal and professional lives.
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In this episode I discuss the importance of creating a physical snapshot of your life, to add meaning and direction to your efforts.
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In this episode I discuss the idea that our environment should make the "decisions" for us, when it comes to crafting our lives and the things in it.
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In this episode I discuss the new direction engineering is headed, and why it sounds to many as unsophisticated. It's a "throw everything in a pot to see what happens" outlook on how to build things, which I argue is in fact a far more sophisticated approach than best-laid plans. Something we should learn to embrace in our creativity and life in general.
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In this episode I argue that platforms like X are in fact a better source of truth than mainstream news outlets, despite their errors and lack of expertise. I lay out the underlying mechanism behind how truth persists in large collectives, and show how natural dynamics in large complex systems effectively materialize truth.
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In this episode I talk about a recent comment made by Ben Affleck, suggesting that AI does not currently create. I challenge this, outlining how AI follows the same overall approach to creativity as humans. Further, I argue that our creativity should be challenged by AI, as this ensures we challenge ourselves to be as humanly creative as possible.
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In this episode I discuss what I believe is missing from almost all debates today; an understanding of the dynamics at play in the systems being discussed. I argue that knowledge of natural systems and their dynamics can land debates on something more rigorous and true than the mere swapping of facts.
O'Connor / Shapiro Debate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7rtkLJqbxM
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In this episode I discuss the importance of placing guarantees in your life, to ensure you biggest realizations get folded into your processes going forward.
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Externalizing your memory to machines ultimately makes you less productive.
It feels like the opposite when you first do it. That’s what today’s products depend on.
But what feels like an advantage is really just seeing the isolated definition of a task become optimized.
Real world tasks do not function according to such isolation definitions.
In the long run, externalization causes you to do many things you wouldn’t have done; things that are grossly counterproductive, but extremely easy to put into the tool.
Productivity apps, monitor workstations, etc. are akin to junk food to your long term health goals.
The real world utility of biological memory is unparalleled.
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In this episode I discuss the potential of the human mind in terms of assumed versus actual boundaries. People frame their mental potential in terms of space and time complexity (although most don't call it that); in other words, they assume their potential is limited by the speed and space of the task (how much time it takes, the amount of raw information involved). But nature computes in ways that are very different from how computation gets defined and analyzed by scientists. In this episode I extend "memory palace" techniques to infinite palaces, showing that the assumed boundaries on mental processing are more fiction than reality, and that our minds are, for all intents and purposes, infinite, and should be treated as such.
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You can read more effectively by hovering above words and waiting until the text you thought would be too much to comprehend materializes in the mind. But if you try, sometimes it seems to work and sometimes it doesn't. But if you learn to hover and wait, it eventually always works. There is a universal pattern at play here, that occurs in many areas of life. In this episode I talk about the need to enter into situations imperfectly, then "hovering" and waiting until you again achieve what works.
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In this episode I discuss how to be more niche in your life and with your projects, and why that's the only way to truly grow.
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In this episode I discuss how standing too close to the techniques we use can end up ruining their ability to help us.
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In this episode I argue that all that is required to produce your best work is the title of that work. The title captures the essence of what you're hoping to communicate, while everything else can be achieved automatically. The "everything else" includes the structures, transitions and details that will appear very deliberate, and at times even "academic", yet in reality came about my simply bringing your automatic self to the essence of what you hope to communicate.
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Most of us want some kind of work-life balance. We tend to assume this means creating a distinct separation between when we work and when we play. In this episode I argue that balance is more naturally achieved when we bring work and life together into a single flow.
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In this episode I argue that it often makes more sense to go through life caring less. In today's society we are told we need to care more about how we look, how we speak, what we contribute to, etc. But we all care by default, and the real challenge is caring less about things that don't matter.
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In this episode I talk about the need to realize that we are always in a war of some kind. This is true for our personal lives as much as society. If we stand for anything, than we must accept that messy friction is a part of life, and that embracing this reality leads to less problems in the long run. If we believe in anything, we must be willing to pick up the sword.
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In this episode I look at the online judgement directed at those who post reading lists. I argue that what really matters is not so much what you read, but how you read, since the information you are after can only be gleaned by reading many different books.
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In this episode, I discuss the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump, and the ongoing criticism regarding the performance of the Secret Service. I argue that while diversity is critically important, when forced, it ends up creating more problems than solutions. I show how both the Left and the Right are in fact committing the same transgression, assuming they know what diversity is supposed to look like. I argue that diversity must be allowed to emerge naturally, using proper definitions of merit.
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In this episode I talk about a study that says smarter people listen to less music.
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In this episode I discuss the problem with thinking we know what smart looks like.
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In this episode, I challenge the idea that we can learn effectively by "learning from scratch." I discuss how starting with the basics runs learning in the wrong direction, and how genuine learning only happens when we embed ourselves inside real environments. I use the difference in strength between bodybuilders and naturally strong individuals to highlight the problem with trying to design our learning artificially.
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Society has become a little too enamoured with analysis and explanation, at the cost of building real things. Nature only validates by making things that work. This is what true validation looks like; less talking, more pointing (at what has been made). In this episode I use Mike Tyson as an example of the difference between real and polished.
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In this episode I discuss the increasingly popular idea that valuing death is irrational, and that death should be treated as a problem to solve. I argue that such a stance is itself irrational, and that death should be viewed more objectively as an essential piece to how nature works. I show how the death-as-a-problem stance suffers from being intractable, and fails to align to the fundamental roles that constraints and iteration play in successful systems.
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In this episode I use a recent statement made by Sam Altman, regarding the emergence of intelligence, to highlight the outdated way both laymen and many scientists view AI specifically, and complexity more broadly. I argue that, despite what we are old, a truly scientific and rigorous theory or decision does not demand a causal explanation, and in fact such causal approaches are quite counter to doing good science today.
Sam Atlam's excerpt: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C60dq1Oyw_r/
Tweet: https://twitter.com/sean_a_mcclure/status/1789315878544453977
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In this episode I discuss one of the core flaws in IQ research, showing how it violates basic logic (let alone any notion of complexity). I discuss how such studies are not mere niche areas of research, but rather directly affect people's lives through the policies they encourage.
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In this episode I discuss the problem with taking only the final/best parts of something, and using those parts as a system to run our lives. I look at the importance of "waste" and redundancy in natural systems, and how this runs counter to our modern world's obsession with stripped down efficiency.
Apologies for audio quality on this episode.
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Reputations are things people tend to protect. But protecting our reputation means blocking our values from being known, which I argue invites the wrong opportunities into our lives. Having a life filled with wrong opportunities means never having the chance to deliver your real potential to the world, which really is a tragedy.
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Many people proclaim to understand something because they study it. But you cannot know a thing by studying the thing, you have to create the thing. Playing Beethoven is replicating what you see in front of you, it is not creating the thing you see in front of you. Those who don’t create don’t understand. It doesn’t matter what you create, but if you want to understand something you must attempt to build it.
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Placing bets means wagering something of value on the outcome of an uncertain event with the hopes of achieving a payoff. The decisions we make in life are akin to placing bets, and as with all bets, access to good information is what increases the chances of a bet achieving a payoff. Most people approach accessing good information by conducting research, analysis, understanding odds and placing all these into a clear strategy. But what really makes systems tick is something deeper than anything research, analysis, odds or strategy can access. This deeper “good” information that really makes systems tick aligns with what we call intuition. In this episode I discuss the importance of betting what we (truly) know.
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Getting triggered means someone experiences a strong emotional reaction to a particular stimulus or event. But there is a good side to being triggered. Getting triggered can compel us towards positive action. We can deliberately trigger ourselves to produce good work by putting in place things that compel us to write/speak/draw etc. in the best way possible. In this episode I argue that we should set up our projects, and life, so as to be positively triggered.
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A lot of people try to be their hero. But not only can we not do what our heroes do, our heroes cannot do what we do. It is our unique abilities that make us bring value to the world. The same thing can be achieved in countless ways, and those different ways are what the world needs. We need to stop trying to be our heroes. We should use heroes nothing more than peripheral inspiration, and instead flex the muscles we have.
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Math education consists primarily of learning rules to arrive at results. But these tricks bypass what is really happening. They can lead to a superficial grasp of mathematical concepts and hinder deeper learning and problem-solving abilities. Many of the skills we learn in schooling, and after, are akin to the mindless rules we learn in math. We have to learn something far deeper than rules to truly understand our work and our world. We can achieve true understanding by asking questions, engaging with the material, teaching others and above all applying our knowledge to real-world situations.
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Important things see the light of day, not by some plan or deterministic outline, but by making changes en-route to the goal. It's adaptability that matters in the face of real world situations. Finding the right mix of people, places and things happens as you move.
Suggested Reading Related to Intro ExampleThe Apocalypse Factory: Plutonium and the Making of the Atomic Age by Steve Olson
Episode Music for Intro ExampleThe Documentary by Alexey Ivanov
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Some performances deliver deep authenticity, with standup comedy being a good example. Extremely authentic performances show us something we all should have; that ability to reach deep within us and share what we're really thinking, despite the risk this might pose to our normal, settled lives. Humans have evolved to filter for authenticity, as this leads to better information groups can use to solve problems. The world needs our authenticity, we just have to find it.
Suggested Reading Related to Intro ExampleIs This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld
Episode Music (adapted) for Intro ExampleCatch It by Yrii Semchyshyn
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History is loaded with "bad" / "dumb" ideas. And this includes those made by high-ranking officials and government agencies. Looking at the various schemes and plots left on the drawing board one wonders how anyone took them seruously. But most of today’s useful inventions were deemed absurd at the time. This tells us that we need to have a lot of bad ideas to land on good ones, and if that's true, then we should be more concerned with taking the shots, then landing the shots.
Suggested Reading Related to Intro ExampleNuking the Moon: And Other Intelligence Schemes and Military Plots Left on the Drawing Board by Vince Houghton
Episode Music for Intro ExampleSneaky by Oleg Kyrylkovv
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Our lives are adversely impacted when our interactions are purely transactional. We see this play out in devastating fashion in industry, where certain businesses can cause great harm to society due to their insulation and disconnection from the lives they sell to. But this isn't just for businesses. Our personal and professional lives depend critically on organic, face-to-face interactions with real people. In this episode I argue that a successful life needs to be in direct contact with the effects of what we say and do, and that this is only possible by being in real groups with real people.
Suggested Reading Related to Intro ExampleAmerican Cartel: Inside the Battle to Bring Down the Opioid Industry by Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz
Episode Music for Intro ExampleConiferous forest by orangery
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People look for stability in the labels we give ourselves. Our job, our title, our salary, the associations we join. But the only thing truly constant in life is its ever-changing nature.
Those labels we take comfort in are in constant flux, getting reshaped and redefined by a changing economy, and the technologies that drive it. In this episode I argue that instead of looking for stability in the not-so-stable categories we create for ourselves, we can find greater security, peace and contentment by embracing the dynamics of life.
Suggested Reading Related to Intro ExampleThe End of Work: The Decline of the Global Labor Force and the Dawn of the Post-Market Era by Jeremy Rifkin
Episode Music for Intro ExampleAnton Kornienko
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We do things for the mystery more than the facts. Scientists go on into the deepest parts of the ocean, yes to conduct research, but under highly uncertain and dangerous circumstances. What really drives deep sea exploration is the mystery. This is true of anything we create. If we are writing a book, yes there is structure, yes there are facts, but ultimately we are trying to deliver a kind of mysterious synthesis that precipitates out from our efforts. In this episode I argue that we need to channel the mystery to create our best work. If that's true, then we should find ways to tap into the unknown when we create.
Suggested Reading Related to Intro ExampleThe Underworld: Journeys to the Depths of the Ocean by Susan Casey
Episode Music for Intro ExampleSergii Pavkin
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School shows us topics worth learning, but it does not, I would argue, impart genuine comprehension. And yet, everyone’s life contains the same patterns that lead to what we are shown in school. This means that the knowledge locked away in textbooks is actually most useful to us later in life. In this episode, I argue that we should look to embrace scholastic information later in life, when our experiences give the collective knowledge of humanity meaning (and utility) to our lives.
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When we are not in the mood our energy is low. But when our energy is low our mind is better aligned to what matters when it comes to doing good work; contemplation, reflection, prioritization. Critically, not being in the mood means not going down too many wrong paths. In this episode I argue that the best time to work on a given task is when we're not in the mood, and discuss how we should stop waiting for mental energy, and instead wait for mental clarity.
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Our lives are a product of our thoughts. Our thinking directly latches onto tangible things in our lives. And whenever we think about our thoughts it’s always after-the-fact (introspection, therapy, etc.). But some thoughts we know do not lead to good outcomes (non-negotiable), and are thus not worth struggling with. In this episode I argue that there is no point in allowing thoughts that we know lack utility, or lead to poor outcomes, into our lives. If we don’t choose our thoughts, they’ll choose us. I put forward a disciplined approach to actively choosing our thoughts, and thus improving the quality of our lives.
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A formidable skill is one that is related to a high level of expertise, surpassing the norm. It is one that is difficult to acquire, requires significant effort and dedication. Formidable skills are ones that are largely automatic. The automation comes from the mind figuring things out in ways we don't understand. So much of honing a formidable skill is learning which parts are automatically handled by the mind, and which parts require our deliberate attention. To get really good at something, we need to actively let go/trust that our minds can figure things out (better than we can).
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Doing more with less means being able to create a decent amount of content in a small amount of time. To create a lot using a small amount of time (and other resources) requires one to find something generative. Something generative is highly efficient because it encapsulates and expresses a high degree of abstraction and complexity in a compact form. We can do a lot more by doing less, if we learn to look for universally true things in our work. We need to learn how to find and develop universal primitives that allow us to tackle a broad spectrum of problems and create diverse things.
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Moving slower means we can focus on what matters. But it's also true that moving fast is a signal that we are figuring things out. In this episode I argue that to really get good at something we should find the slowness that moves us. We should seek ways to move slowly, and expect brevity.
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So much of life is about searching for answers. Answers have to do with information, but real-world information has no “location" (it does not exist at a single point inside the space of possibilities), meaning that in some sense, answers don't exist. In this episode I argue that we should be looking for conversations, not answers. Conversations provide us the kind of information that can move us in positive directions. If this is the case, then we should place ourselves into environments that facilitate having good conversations.
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There are 2 kinds of heroes; extraordinary people in ordinary circumstances, and ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. The problem with heroes portrayed as extraordinary people in ordinary circumstances is that they are far less relatable, and more rigorously, reveal less useful information. In this episode I argue that our choice in heroes should be aligned to ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, based on concepts of disorder, information and pattern.
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Meditation is a practice that has been around for thousands of years and is used for various purposes. But meditation is practiced periodically, once a day at best. This means the state of mind that makes the most difference in our life only makes up a small portion of our life. We need our most important state of mind to always be on, with us as we interact with the world. We need to see meditation not as a once-in-a-while session, but as an ever-present state of mind.
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Logic and emotion are both important. But society often chooses one or the other, rather than having them work together. This occurs because society tries to attend to emotions rather than use them effectively. If I redress my logic in the hopes of appeasing someone who's "offended" we fail to reach a rational solution. If I maintain my logic absent the other person's emotions, their feelings are not being acknowledged. Neither works, yet logic and emotion must be compatible. I show how the proper way to use our emotions is to recast what we feel onto logical structure. This ensures we recognize emotions as critical evolutionary signals, while directing them towards constructive ends.
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We all want a better world. But society cannot be forced into a specific governance or morality. In this episode I argue that we need to build our world from within, as individuals with solid moral and intellectual integrity. Only through a better inner world will our collective world reflect the truths we deem most important as individuals. I offer a solution that rises above any specific world view, promoting a better world without compromising other's existing beliefs.
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We all want our voices to be heard. But the reality is most of us will never live to see much of an audience. We need to realize we’re not really speaking to today’s generation, as much as we are to future people who will encounter our work. There are countless examples throughout history of people who died never seeing their true impact. As long we make our thoughts tangible, our audience will always be much larger than what we see today.
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We are told by society to chase happiness; that the "pursuit of happiness" is the most sensible goal in life. But I argue that happiness has much in common with misery when it comes to pursuing goals. Both happiness and misery are emotional extremes, and both things we cannot control. Making that which we cannot control a goal in life is untenable. I argue that we need to see the pursuit of contentment as being far superior to the pursuit of happiness.
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Our best ideas come unannounced. We might be walking, taking a shower, playing with our children, etc. But this means when we sit down to do our actual work we are missing so much of the original inspiration and energy. We’re missing the quality insight we had in the moment. I argue that we need to capture our ideas the moment they arrive if we are to deliver truly authentic and in-context work. I put forward a solution to make this possible.
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Life is full of narratives. They're how we make sense of the world. But narratives exist somewhere between truth and nonsense. The challenge is to see past the narratives, aligning our lives with that which is true. I discuss the technique needed to see past the narratives in our lives.
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Temptations are things we desire to do, but are also things we deem wrong or unwise. Temptations take us away from who we want to be in life. Temptations start off harmless, but have a tendency to grow without notice, until we are living an incorrect life. I argue that we must learn to stop problematic distractions early, by replacing our damaging preoccupations with more productive and authentic actions.
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Collaboration is good, but friction is needed to solve tough problems as a group. The quality of information depends on stark individualism, rather than some engineered collaboration based on excess politeness and etiquette. In this episode I argue that collaboration should not be equated to "being nice", and that the energy and authenticity we need to work well in groups depends on a good deal of friction and even anger.
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When we think about the things we want to accomplish, we often frame them in terms of the barriers we need to pass. But this isn't the case for things that comprise our lifestyle. When something is part of our lifestyle we just do it, and often do it well. Exercise, writing, whatever; our goals become far more obtainable when we stop putting them on pedestals and instead just move. I discuss how to turn what we intend to do into things we always do.
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We are often told that if we want to be good at something we should focus more. But a single (real world) task has multiple facets that must be honed, and you cannot learn those facets from the task itself; they must come from other areas of life. In this episode I argue that to be good at any one thing we should do many things.
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In 2014 there was a debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham regarding whether or not Creationism is a viable explanation for earth's origin. Regardless of which side you agree with, there was what I consider a problematic response from some of the scientific community, which was that the debate never should have happened, because it gave a voice to something counter to the scientific consensus. I argue that such a response is antithetical to science itself, which, above all, is supposed to be a process that welcomes debate and updates its position as needed. I argue that no matter how wrong you believe your opponent to be, public debate and conversation gives us a chance to point out fallacies, educate the public and bring us all closer to the truth.
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Human society has always applied filters, to select who should be in a particular group. This is both evolutionary and required for good social dynamics. But we also apply filters institutionally, using systems of meritocracy to vet candidates both in academia and industry. I argue that these institutional filters are far too narrowly-defined to account for the complexity and high-dimensionality of human intelligence. I argue that today's complex world suffers from such narrow filtering, elevating a kind of "dumbness" in society. What we need now, more than ever, are problem-solving groups, composed of diverse individuals, filtered not by standardized tests and whiteboard exams, but by their ability to contribute to collective problem solving.
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As we go through life we notice things about our ability to perform, like when things work and when they don't. But most people tend to leave at that, hoping they'll gravitate towards the better parts over time. But what really transforms our ability to perform is when we convert the things that work into specific techniques we employ. I'll give an example of just how powerful this is, and discuss how we can all turn the truths we notice into techniques we live by.
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In this episode I challenge the idea that discipline is what's needed to achieve successful outcomes. Discipline requires we act against our instincts and willpower. Anything so opposed to our natural evolution can't be right. I believe that what looks like discipline in successful individuals is really just the behaviour people take-on when they put themselves in the right environment. I argue that the most important decision we can make regarding how to accomplish anything is what environment to place ourselves in.
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Many of us are avid readers, because reading helps us learn about important topics, and more importantly compels us to create things ourselves.
But today's nonfiction is loaded with so many references and footnotes that their isn't much room left for the author's authentic opinion.
I argue that many creators are researching themselves out of their opinion, leaving us with dry commentary devoid of what matters; the author's rich and messy experiences.
I argue that we need the organic mess as much as any rationalized arguments, and that THIS holistic and imperfect form of communication is what gives us high quality information that has meaning.
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AI is getting impressive. But being impressed is not an objective measure of progress. For a technology to truly bear the mark of innovation it must enable us to create new things. I argue that few people are creating anything new with AI, rather they're just showcasing what it can do out of the box. I'll look at ChatGPT as an example, and put forward how I think AI should be used as a starting point for building something AI cannot do on its own.
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In this episode I argue that true creativity demands that we have less options available in our attempt to build something new. I first acknowledge that creativity requires freedom, and freedom includes having a number of options, but then also discuss the problems that arise by having too many options. I will argue that creativity works better when we are constrained by good structures, and that what might first appear as a set of overly-restrictive constraints, in fact compels our creativity, with increased restriction leading to more imaginative and original work. I'll end, as always, with some ideas on how we can live our lives by building with good restrictions.
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In this episode we look at how neuroscience tries to explain human behaviour by identifying specific regions in the brain. I'll discuss how such targeted approaches are problematic in science, and how Neuroscience is just another example of a complex science acting as though it's far more simple and deterministic than it really is. We'll look at the myth of root causes, why nature doesn't localize behavior and what needs to change to study complex phenomena correctly.
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We need to contribute to society in order to survive, and that means having a job. But many people hate their job, and find it difficult to feel fulfilled while earning a living. I believe there is a solution that exits at the interface between what we expect from the world and what the world expects from us. There is a way to remain focused on what we love, while still delivering on tasks we don't find enjoyable.
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In this episode I argue that intuition is more rigorous than precisely defined arguments, such as those constructed using mathematics. I talk about the cost of precision in real-world situations, offer an approach to formalize intuition, and suggest that when it comes to establishing the connection between our ideas and reality we should always let intuition lead.
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In this episode I discuss deadlines, and the critical difference between the artificial ones we create to manage our lives, and the real ones dictated by nature.
I discuss how our manufactured deadlines run counter to the natural rhythm humans use to create, and how we need to somehow reconcile our modern use of manufactured deadlines with the realization that good solutions only exist at nature's deadlines.
I spend time describing nature's deadlines as high points in complexity, and put forward what I think is the best way to ensure we build what nature expects while still meeting the deadlines we create.
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In this episode I take a look at the notion of quality. How to define it and how to assess it in real world situations, and I’ll discuss what I think is a useful heuristic for sizing up both things and people that make their way into our lives.
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There are 2 main approaches to AI (symbolic vs connectionism), and they are very different in how they think about producing intelligence in the machine.
One approach believes in programming what we know about the world into the machine, and the other ignores any pre-existing knowledge by relying on large datasets and correlation.
There is a long-standing debate between which approach is best, despite only one of these approaches having much success.
The reason this debase still exists is because it gets to the heart of a deeper discussion on the role knowledge plays in intelligence.
In this episode I use the AI debate to uncover what I believe is a deeper problem in how people think about learning, and relate this to implications for our everyday lives.
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The modern narrative frames structure and systems as oppressive. As though we should never be held back by systems that interfere with our ability to express our unique selves.
But being ourselves at all times with no system to govern our behavior is its own trap. The unfiltered and unstructured life is an unproductive and unfulfilled one.
I argue that there is a difference between the real you and the true you, with the latter being realized through a system of ideals, and made possible thorugh things like ritual.
In this episode I talk about the importance of structure, and how it paradoxically leads to more freedom.
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We all depend on our environment to survive. We need food, water, friends, family, coworkers. We participate in the economy, pay for entertainment, post on social media. But all these things bear the seeds of our destruction. We need things to grow, but past a point these same things can destroy us. The real challenge in life is finding the right dosage for the things we depend on. Analytical approaches tend to fail when it comes to finding the right dosage. I offer an alternative based on complexity and signals.
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Hey everyone, Sean here from NonTrivial. Just a quick announcement for the upcoming season 4. In season 3, I used a book to anchor our conversations. I did this so that I could show how many of the core patterns we encountered in seasons 1 and 2 appear universally in many different contexts.
In season 4 I will be returning to the original format of discussing the patterns themselves, without specifically using a book to showcase the example. In truth, not a lot changes, as the focus remains on the deep patterns I believe to be at the intersection of science, complexity, and philosophy. While I still may refer to the odd book as an example, the core focus is on the pattern itself and the real-world use it has in our lives.
I'm looking forward to kicking off a new season of NonTrivial, and as always, thanks so much for listening.
Hope everyone had an awesome holiday, and of course I wish you all a very Happy New Year.
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In this episode I take a look at the nature of time, try to figure out what it is, what today’s physics can and cannot tell us, whether or not it’s an illusion, and how memory and consciousness might play a fundamental role in the realization of time.
I discuss Einstein's Relativity, review some thought experiments related to time, and describe what I think is wrong with the current physics approaches to explaining what time is. In the end I offer some ideas regarding the problem of time.
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AI is a promising and inevitable technology. But today’s AI is too brittle to trust fully, and without trust we cannot push the needle on AI progress. So, must we wait around until AI is good enough before we can truly trust it? I argue that we have to trust AI before it can make the next great leap in intelligence. This has to do with the fact that genuine intelligence works via flawed people working in groups. I argue that the next paradigm in AI research will need to have humans and AIs cooperating and competing with each other, biases and flaws included.
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We define a thing’s value by its characteristics; what it does and doesn’t do. But a thing cannot adequately be defined outside its environment. There are countless dependencies that make a thing, a thing. We need to shift our focus “up” to a more holistic level if we are to move levers that produce positive outcomes. This is because nature chooses what survives by operating on parameters that form in aggregate.
In this episode I use examples from Max Boot’s book War Made New: Technology, Warfare and the Course of History¹ to show how an understanding of what occurs in combination can be used to solve hard challenges as nature does.
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Economists are known for attempting to treat economics like a genuine science. But upon closer inspection it becomes obvious that their methods are quite outdated. As a consequence, most of today's economists are providing an extremely naive "understanding" of our economy, and worse, damaging society's ability to improve people's lives.
In this episode I'll use Eric Beinhocker's book The Origin of Wealth, Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics, to anchor my conversation around how today's economists conveniently misunderstand our world.
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We've looked at one side of the equation, the changes we put in place at the societal level to possibly solve the gun problem in America. But what about the individuals who commit crimes in the first place? Is there something deeper to the gun problem that is making America the so-called "country of homicides"? Is there a higher moral standard or philosophy society is missing that might make individuals less likely to use guns in the first place? I argue there is a real utility to morality, and that in addition to putting in place a tangible solution like a well regulated militia, there might also be a moral solution society need to embrace.
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The gun debate is one of America’s most polarized issues. Large mass shootings always bring this debate to the forefront, eliciting strong emotions from both sides of the aisle. Many believe the answer is stricter gun laws, while others see this as government overreach and believe average citizens can better protect themselves by keeping and bearing arms. I argue that neither of these choices are likely to be effective, and put forward a third option that better aligns to how information and decision making work in systems that survive.
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NonTrivial is of course free for all listeners, but I do offer bonus content to my Patreon subscribers. I'm publishing this week's bonus talk for free so regular listeners can get a taste of what this additional content sounds like. Enjoy.
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Many argue that the internet has destroyed more jobs than it’s created, and that as such our information economy has obliterated the middle class. The common “solution” proposed for this problem is to create systems that pay users for their data. If you join Twitter or Facebook (Meta) then you should somehow be compensated since it’s your data that make these companies successful. This is the argument Jaron Lanier makes in his book Who Owns the Future. I will argue that compensating users for data is a non-solution because of the way networks convert user data into product features. I will argue that rather than compensate users for their data it makes more sense to change the network topology such that more people can create lucrative enterprises under the current model.
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In part II of Imprecise Destinations we continue our look at democracy by discussing so called "monitory democracy" as it exists today. We'll see both its strengths and weaknesses, and lead into some ultimate questions about the universality of democracy going forward. I end the episode with a look into how we can mathematically model democracy and play around with some scenarios on the NonTrivial Playground.
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In this episode I take a look at the topic of democracy. Using John Keane's book The Life and Death of Democracy I show that the usual Western narratives we've been taught about democracy fall short of reality. I discuss the many contributions to assembly and representation that came to us from a variety of societies throughout history, and challenge the perhaps quixotic picture many of us have of this form of government. I also highlight democracy's strengths, and end with a look at the way in which democracy can be modelled mathematically.
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In this episode I take a look at leadership, specifically the idea of the “strong” leader. Those individuals who stand by their convictions, and dominate the room with their charisma and commanding attitudes. These are often the people we gravitate towards when we see them on screen giving their speeches. These are the people we often help bring to power.
But history shows that it’s often the calm, tranquil and reasoned leader who fares much better when it comes to bringing about positive change, implementing effective foreign policy and gaining the support of their party and the general public.
I will pick apart some of the underlying mechanisms that show how calm leadership can be much more effective, even though it can appear “weak” from the outside. I’ll explore how leadership can be modelled mathematically, and how all of this speaks to the power of remaining calm; something that can dramatically improve our ability to be successful in this world.
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In this episode I look at the "delusions" that happen when a large number of people get together in groups. We'll explore a number of prominent economic bubbles and end-of-times cults to reveal the core properties of groups that lead to mania. I discuss the Terra Luna collapse as a recent example, explore human biases, and ultimately show that the so-called "delusions" that occur in groups is really just one of the costs to complex tractability.
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In this episode I take a look at the sordid history of the library. The library has been a beacon of knowledge, and a marker of civilization for hundreds of years. But the library’s journey from the scriptoriums of medieval monasteries to massive cultural institutions like The Library of Congress has been perilous.
This is a journey that touches on many modern concerns we have around information, including propaganda, censorship, access, elitism and the conquests of both political leaders and rich industrialists.
To own the information society is exposed to is to own society itself, to control what people think, and believe. The library has always been caught in the middle, between the power struggles of the elites, and a public hungry for knowledge (and the opportunities such knowledge brings).
In this episode we will use the library’s history to showcase fundamental patterns related to unification, censorship, critical thresholds, growth and variation, replication and scale, growth and destruction, crossover opportunities, resiliency and simultaneous discovery.
And you thought a talk on libraries was going to be boring. Let’s get started.
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David Deutsch, in his book, The Beginning of Infinity, argues that “good” explanations are how knowledge grows, and thus good explanations are what lead to progress. Deutsch believes that the Enlightenment was only possible because of Western society’s quest for good explanations. As such, Deutsch believes quite optimistically that humanity’s ability to “cure all evils” has infinite reach, as long as we keep searching for good explanations. Deutsch disregards philosophies that are “explanationless” and instead believes elegant explanations of our world are the ultimate guide to truth. Deutsch argues that substantial creativity has only existed since the Enlightenment, since creation must depend on a culture of critique using “good” explanations.
I will argue that explanations are indeed needed, but not in the way Deutsch thinks. Rather than “good” explanations leading to progress, it is “bad” explanations that move us forward, and in fact, almost all explanations are bad. I argue that ultimately it does not matter if an explanation is correct, as long as we believe they are, since this is what motivates us to keep trying. More to the point, it is not an explanation’s proximity to truth that solves problems, but rather movement and naivete that make problems tractable. I will argue that explanations are not truly testable for most natural phenomena, and as such, are not aligned to the culture of critique as Deutsch suggests. I will argue that the notion of unlimited knowledge growth is problematic, running counter to what we know about the convergence and cyclical nature of ideas. I will contend that philosophies that reject explanation should be preferred, and that ultimately, knowledge is not required for progress.
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In this episode I talk about the role that magic, superstition, irrationality has played in human progress, specifically the so-called Enlightenment. I will use the life of Paracelsus, the Swiss physician, alchemist and lay theologian of the German Renaissance, as an exemplar of one who paved the way for progress, yet believed wholeheartedly in things that today we would not associate with intellectual advancement.
I want to show how much of science and engineering came not from some departure from myth and magic as the usual narrative goes, but because of beliefs in things that today seem counter to enlightened thinking.
I will argue that there are strong evolutionary mechanisms behind superstition and irrational thinking, and that to continue making progress humanity will need to return to magic.
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The way we normally think of technology is as an extension of what humans do in the absence of technology. Technology extends our eyes, ears and muscles, and also our memories and even our thinking. But in this episode I argue that technology and humanity are actually one in the same; that technology is not an extension of humanity but rather an integral, and inevitable, part of human evolution. I'll be touching on a number of fundamental patterns and concepts, including external stressors, emergence, complexity thresholds, feedback loops and negentropy (negative entropy). I'll end with some deep questions about the fate of humanity, and ultimately, what it means to be human.
In this episode I talk about systems that reach out into their environment for new resources, but are unable to backfill their growth with sustainability. This is a common pattern throughout many fields of science, but is perhaps less recognized in other areas, such as business. I will show how the infamous WeWork fiasco of 2019 was a manifestation of this pattern in the world of business and VC investments. I will discuss the book The Cult of We by Elliot Brown and Maureen Farrell to highlight these patterns.
Now that we’ve discussed many of the core patterns at the intersection of science, complexity and philosophy, I want to showcase how these patterns play out across countless areas in life. To do this, I’ll be taking NonTrivial on a slightly different path where I plan on discussing a new book each week. It won’t be a review of the book as much as showcasing how deep and familiar patterns are occurring throughout its narrative.
This is obviously not what the authors of these books are trying to convey but the patterns are there nonetheless, because of their universality. It is these patterns that hold the key to whatever set of ultimate truths govern our world. And it is these patterns that have immense utility in one’s life and brings us a deeper understanding to how the world works.
The best way to understand something is not to look at it directly, but to notice the parts of it that remain unchanged while everything else around it moves.
And so we’ll be taking a tour of books of great variety, to notice what remains unchanged despite inconstant narratives.
The books I choose will be mostly nonfiction, but I’ll throw a few fiction titles in as well. Of course if there’s a book you’d like me to cover, mention those on Twitter, and I’ll discuss which fundamental patterns it contains.
I’m looking forward to a brand new season of NonTrivial. As always, thanks for listening, and stay tuned.
In this episode I talk about the current paradigm of science, and challenge it, by arguing that much of today's science is not growing knowledge over time, contrary to what most people assume. That while science keeps saying more, it only does so by explaining less.
In this episode I talk about snowballs, more specifically, the runaway process that happens when we take an action we think is confined to that instance but ends up becoming something so much bigger. We're all familiar with this process, but I want to peel back its nature and expose its underlying mechanisms in order to truly understand how it works. In doing this, I believe we can better appreciate just how prevalent snowballing is in our lives and how we can use such knowledge to make better decisions. I'll be using the much-debated topic of "freedom of speech" as my example, and putting forward what I think is the best solution to this problem.
In this episode I discuss how the only way to become good at anything is to start at the end, acting as though we already know how to do the thing. By placing ourselves directly into real-world environments related to the challenge, we are forced to rise to the occasion and inevitably learn the skill, achieve the objective, accomplish the goal. We are creatures of adaptation, and as such, the only way to truly become what we want to be is by adapting.
In this episode I discuss how the best preparation is no preparation. I will argue that despite its paradoxical nature there is deep truth to this idea, founded on how information accumulates over time. I will argue that the ongoing effort to solve problems in the moment leads to superior competence relative to that which we get from planning. I'll discuss how preparation creates brittle dependencies to things prearranged, and how entering moments authentically produces far greater skill and confidence than that which is possible through preparation.
In this episode I discuss how detailed knowledge falls short, and how high-level thinking is a far superior way to make sense of the world and solve real problems. I'll discuss how the abstraction inherent in high-level thinking is what brings us into the environments where real problems exist, and how the only detailed knowledge worth having is that which comes after we've solved the problem. We'll look at how conceptual connections are made, and explore the underlying mechanism that brings meaning to situations. And finally, I'll argue that if you don’t recognize most things in a textbook the first time you touch it, it means you’re doing things backwards.
In this episode I argue that the patterns we notice and study in life cannot be used as the basis for improving things. The inspection of bird's wings does not lead to human flight, the admiration of a wise man's character traits cannot tell you how to achieve inner peace, and the government's preoccupation with desired outcomes cannot be used to direct funding, and other examples. It's likely going to challenge some deep-seated beliefs you have about how things work, but I'll be supporting my argument with known properties and mechanisms related to information, uncertainty, risk and complexity.
In this episode I talk about penny-pinching, which I take to mean any kind of nit-picking or hyper-detailed behavior, that I argue leads to bad long-term outcomes. Penny-pinching is when we try to use all the information available to weigh pros and cons, and make some informed decision as how to best act. I will argue that while this might make us feel better in the moment, and sound smart to others, it's in fact more often than not, unintelligent because it doesn't take into account how things play out over the long run. I use the term "rich" in this episode to mean any kind of prosperity whether that's money, family, friends, contentment. What's important to understand here is that when I say the Rich Don't Penny Pinch, the non-penny-pinching behavior came before the person got rich. It's an approach to life that is high-level, approximate, and often looks "dumb" or "uninformed" in the moment, yet leads to truly successful outcomes.
In this episode I'll be challenging the idea that human progress owes its advancement to the efforts of a few, that society has progressed by riding the coattails of giants; those individuals that history tells us made the greatest contributions. While the narrative that so-called geniuses contribute far more than others seems to make sense, does it hold up to what we know about how problems are solved? While history paints the picture that geniuses bring forth the momentous, the memorable, the profound, is it possible this attribution to the few is more narrative fallacy than reality?
Suggested Reading
https://bit.ly/3pBVgBk
This is part 2 of my episode on facts and logic. In this part we're going to look at 2 hot debates as examples for when logic does and does not work. We'll discuss whether or not to wear a mask, and whether or not a God exists. We'll end the episode with a resolution on how to strike these conversations around mutual respect.
In this episode I talk about facts and logic;when they work and when they don't. I explain the power of logic and how it helps us structure arguments. I discuss how to know when arguments are done well and how to know when they're not. I also cover the severe limitations of logic. I explain the mechanism behind why and how logic falls short, specifically in complex situations. I provide real-world examples of controversial issues, and furnish listeners with a potential resolution that balances the power of logic with a deep appreciation for its limitations.
Logical Fallacy Tree: https://bit.ly/3guvF8q
In this episode I talk about the difference between consuming and creating. I discuss how we often assume the process of creating is supposed to resemble how we read about it, when in reality the creative process is fundamentally different. I show how this leads to a conflict between consumption and creation, hindering our ability to create effectively. Ultimately, I delve into the intrinsic difference between how we consume and how we create, outlining the latter as a process of wrapping a problem around a solution, rather than the usual narrative of bringing a solution to a problem.
In this episode I talk about the apparent dichotomy between specialization and generalization, and how choosing just one leaves us unfulfilled. I look at our inevitable attempt to balance both sides, leaving us ultimately defeated, and bound to making a choice between them. I contend that specialization and generalization are actually a unified concept when viewed correctly, and can be reconciled such that we go deep in one thing while engaging in many different aspects of life.
In this episode I talk about skill, specifically how skill is often not what we think it is. I take a look at our perception of skill and what I think is wrong with that perception, specifically how it's rooted in the idea that a deep foundation of knowledge must come before we can be considered skilled at something. I reframe skill in terms of solving complex problems, and take a deep dive into the difference simple and complex challenges.