This episode is a two-for-one, and that’s because the podcast recently hit its 10-year anniversary and passed one billion downloads. To celebrate, I’ve curated some of the best of the best—some of my favorites—from more than 700 episodes over the last decade. I could not be more excited.
The episode features segments from episode #691 “Nassim Nicholas Taleb & Scott Patterson — How Traders Make Billions in The New Age of Crisis, Defending Against Silent Risks, Personal Independence, Skepticism Where It (Really) Counts, The Bishop and The Economist, and Much More” and #639 “Todd McFarlane, Legendary Comic Book Artist — How to Make Iconic Art, Reinvent Spider-Man, Live Life on Your Own Terms, and Meet Every Deadline.”
Bios of guests may be found at tim.blog/combo.
Please enjoy!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, YouTube, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Audible, or on your favorite podcast platform.
This episode is brought to you by Momentous high-quality supplements, Eight Sleep’s Pod 4 Ultra sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating, and LMNT electrolyte supplement.
Transcript for the full Nassim N. Taleb & Scott Patterson episode | Transcript for the full Todd McFarlane episode | Transcripts for all episodes
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What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SHOW NOTES
- [04:51] Notes about this supercombo format.
- [05:54] Enter Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Scott Patterson.
- [06:32] The joy of writing a preemptive resignation letter.
- [07:13] Developing resilience against criticism.
- [10:04] Nassim: contrarian, or simply independent?
- [12:27] Jiving with skeptical turkeys.
- [17:21] Persisting through the polycrisis.
- [19:18] Introducing the precautionary principle.
- [21:37] Nassim’s preferred legacy.
- [23:50] Precautionary principle 101.
- [25:14] Fat tails, thin tails, the COVID vaccine, and GMOs.
- [32:51] Enter Todd McFarlane.
- [33:21] Baseball.
- [38:46] Rejection letters.
- [42:38] Compelling storytelling and meeting deadlines.
- [45:46] Deadlines pre-Internet vs. deadlines today.
- [48:36] How industry status quo led to the founding of Image Comic Books.
- [1:00:30] The Comics Code and the last straw.
- [1:06:52] The Marvel Dream Team exodus.
- [1:25:13] How is Todd’s camel bladder a competitive advantage?
- [1:31:02] Career bouncing and double-shifting as a penciler and inker.
- [1:49:08] The happy accident of Venom.
- [1:55:46] De-Rockwelling the company icon and inventing “spaghetti webbing.”
- [2:03:31] Bucking the status quo to become the status quo.
- [2:07:13] Parting thoughts and a promise for round two.
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE
Connect with Nassim Nicholas Taleb:
Connect with Scott Patterson:
- Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb | Amazon
- The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb | Amazon
- Fooled by Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and in the Markets by Nassim Nicholas Taleb | Amazon
- The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms by Nassim Nicholas Taleb | Amazon
- Skin in the Game: Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life by Nassim Nicholas Taleb | Amazon
- Chaos Kings: How Wall Street Traders Make Billions in the New Age of Crisis by Scott Patterson | Amazon
- Nassim Taleb: My Rules for Life | The Guardian
- Eight Terrific Tactics for Dealing with Haters, According to Tim Ferriss | Maxim
- A Dozen Things I’ve Learned from Charlie Munger about Ethics | 25iq
- Taleb-Asness Black Swan Spat Is a Teaching Moment | Yahoo!
- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller | Amazon
- Kurt Vonnegut’s Remembrance of Joseph Heller in The New Yorker | Scripting News
- What Is Stoicism? A Definition & 9 Stoic Exercises To Get You Started | Daily Stoic
- The Opiates of the Middle Classes by Nassim Taleb | Edge
- Skepticism | Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Incerto by Nassim Nicholas Taleb | Amazon
- We’re in a ‘Polycrisis’ — A Historian Explains What That Means | World Economic Forum
- Precautionary Principle | Wikipedia
- The Precautionary Principle | New England Complex Systems Institute
- How Did George Soros Break the Bank of England? | Investopedia
- The Precautionary Principle Explained by Nassim Taleb | Atlas Geographica
- Is Nassim Taleb Right About Monsanto Company and GMOs? | The Motley Fool
- Mediocristan and Extremistan: The Two Categories of Random Events | Coffee and Junk
- Fat Tails | American Scientist
- Where Do Thin Tails Come From? by Nassim N. Taleb | arXiv: Risk Management
- Universa Investments LP
- On Fox News, Dr. Phil Said 360,000 Americans Die in Swimming Pools Every Year. He’s Wrong by Magnitudes. | Poynter
- RE: Drowning in Swimming Pools | Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Twitter
- Mini Lecture 12: How to Look at the Risks of COVID Vaccines | N.N. Taleb’s Probability Moocs
Connect with Todd McFarlane:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
- Spawn | Image Comics
- The Amazing Spider-Man | Marvel
- Todd McFarlane’s Spawn | HBO
- Spawn | Prime Video
- Spawn #301 | Image Comics
- Incredible Hulk #340 | Marvel
- Legendary Artist Todd McFarlane Talks Baseball and Toys | SI Kids
- A Selection from 350 Rejection Letters | Todd McFarlane, Facebook
- Frank Miller Batman Reading Order | Comic Book Herald
- 300 by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley | Amazon
- 300 | Prime Video
- Sin City Volume 1: The Hard Goodbye by Frank Miller | Amazon
- Sin City – Recut, Extended, Unrated | Prime Video
- How Frank Miller Brought Daredevil Out of the Shadows and Into Comic-Book History | Mashable
- Batman/Spawn: DC Comics Crossover Coming in December 2022! | Bloody Disgusting
- Marvel, Jack Kirby Estate Settlement Brings End to High-Stakes Battle | The Hollywood Reporter
- Todd McFarlane: Comics | Marvel
- Todd McFarlane and His Ever-Increasing Guinness Record | Comics Beat
- Comics Code History: The Seal of Approval | Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
- The Atlas Era: Before Marvel Became Marvel | Marvel
- Comics Bogeyman: A Look Back At ‘Seduction of the Innocent’ | Comics Alliance
- Comic History: Bullseye Kills Elektra (Daredevil #181) │ RNS Entertainment
- Why Did Todd McFarlane Leave Marvel Comics? | Comic Book Legends Revealed #482
- Andre Agassi: “Image Is Everything,” Canon (1990) | YouTube
- 1992 United States Men’s Olympic Basketball Team | Wikipedia
- Coyote 1-16 | Steve Englehart
- Infinity, Inc. | Wikipedia
- The Rejected Todd McFarlane Version of a G.I. Joe Classic | CBR
- Todd McFarlane Draws Batman: Year Two — Batman’s Got a Gun! | Cartoonist Kayfabe
- Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 300 | Marvel Database
- Amazing Spider-Man Vol 1 320 | Marvel Database
- Venom Through History: A Look at the Origins and Past Iterations of the Lethal Protector | Los Angeles Times
- Comic Legends: The Secret Origin of Spider-Man’s Spaghetti Webbing! | CBR
- Historical Components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average | Wikipedia
- 5 Iconic Airlines That No Longer Exist | Investopedia
- Kmart | Wikipedia
PEOPLE MENTIONED
- Charlie Munger
- Mark Spitznagel
- Joseph Heller
- Kurt Vonnegut
- Seneca the Younger
- Pierre Daniel Huet
- Joseph Justus Scaliger
- Pierre Bayle
- David Hume
- al-Ghazali
- Baruch Spinoza
- Adam Tooze
- George Soros
- Karl Popper
- Warren Buffett
- Elon Musk
- Rupert Read
- Phil McGraw
- Spawn
- Spider-Man
- Venom
- Grey Hulk
- Wolverine
- Frank Miller
- Batman
- Daredevil
- Jim Lee
- Jack Kirby
- Iron Man
- Stan Lee
- Fredric Wertham
- Joseph McCarthy
- Deadpool
- Cable
- Juggernaut
- Bullseye
- Elektra
- Rob Liefeld
- Erik Larsen
- Andre Agassi
- Jim Valentino
- Terry Stewart
- Earvin Magic Johnson
- Larry Bird
- Whilce Portacio
- Marc Silvestri
- Bob McFarlane
- Benito Mussolini
- Tom DeFalco
- Steve Englehart
- Coyote
- Don Newton
- G.I. Joe
- Larry Hama
- Dick Giordano
- James Gordon
- Dennis O’Neil
- Jim Salicrup
- Bob Harras
- David Michelinie
- Jim Shooter
- Norman Rockwell
- Charlie Brown
- Eddie Vedder
The post Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Todd McFarlane (#759) appeared first on The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss.