Wiser than Yesterday hosts open-ended discussions, breakdowns, and summaries of the world's most thought-provoking and inspiring books.
Our hosts, Nicolas Vereecke and Sam Harris digest non-fiction books from all centuries and genres. They discuss the biggest philosophical insights and practical lessons for health, wealth, wisdom, and happiness.
This podcast is here to help listeners become smarter. To learn about new ideas and to gain more perspectives on the books and ideas they are familiar with.
Each season we tackle a new field and read the best books on a given topic such as racism, startups, stoicism, or personal finance. We cast a wide net to summarise all sides of opinions in an area to come to a wider understanding of the topic at large as well as help listeners navigate the different opinions and ideas they haven't heard of.
We dive into topics such as philosophy, business, equality, psychology, politics, economics, and who knows what else. Our goal is to simply explore the best ideas and learn new things. You're most welcome to join us for the ride.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Wiser than Yesterday hosts open-ended discussions, breakdowns, and summaries of the world's most thought-provoking and inspiring books.
Our hosts, Nicolas Vereecke and Sam Harris digest non-fiction books from all centuries and genres. They discuss the biggest philosophical insights and practical lessons for health, wealth, wisdom, and happiness.
This podcast is here to help listeners become smarter. To learn about new ideas and to gain more perspectives on the books and ideas they are familiar with.
Each season we tackle a new field and read the best books on a given topic such as racism, startups, stoicism, or personal finance. We cast a wide net to summarise all sides of opinions in an area to come to a wider understanding of the topic at large as well as help listeners navigate the different opinions and ideas they haven't heard of.
We dive into topics such as philosophy, business, equality, psychology, politics, economics, and who knows what else. Our goal is to simply explore the best ideas and learn new things. You're most welcome to join us for the ride.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this stunningly original book, Richard Wrangham argues that it was cooking that caused the extraordinary transformation of our ancestors from apelike beings to Homo erectus. At the heart of Catching Fire lies an explosive new idea: the habit of eating cooked rather than raw food permitted the digestive tract to shrink and the human brain to grow, helped structure human society, and created the male-female division of labour. As our ancestors adapted to using fire, humans emerged as "the cooking apes".
Covering everything from food-labelling and overweight pets to raw-food faddists, Catching Fire offers a startlingly original argument about how we came to be the social, intelligent, and sexual species we are today.
- - -
About Wiser Pod
Nico and Sam set out to read the world's best books, from philosophy to sci-fi, economics to who knows what.
Sam Webster Harris
👋 LinkedIn - Sam Harris
🧠 Psychology Pod - Growth Mindset Psychology
🚀 New Pod - How to Change the World
Nicolas Vereecke
👋 LinkedIn - Nico Vereecke
🤖 AI world domination - Evil Plan Inc
- - -
How to Change the World: The History and Future of Innovation
Available on all podcast players:
Can't find it on your player?
RSS feed - https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/682b3b86696b5d1232d698a8
----
Chapters
00:00 The Role of Fire in Civilization
02:20 Introduction: Who is in control
03:55 Fire's Impact on Predators and Prey
05:59 First Fire - 500 million years ago
09:24 Humans and fire - ~2 million years ago
11:36 The Discovery of Fire
13:07 When did we discover Fire
13:48 Stadium of Grandmothers
14:51 Fire's Influence on Human Biology
17:22 Fire and Human Digestion
19:43 Light and Campfires
21:52 Mealtimes
23:00 Fire's Role in Human Birth and Survival
24:51 Why Only Humans Mastered Fire
27:22 Fire, Social Structures & Gender Roles
32:42 Role Change in the Information Age
34:45 Fire's Role in Human Expansion - 70,000 years ago
35:11 Second half of the episode on the new show
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Why is there more chance we'll believe something if it's in a bold type face? Why are judges more likely to deny parole before lunch? Why do we assume a good-looking person will be more competent?
The answer lies in the two ways we make choices: fast, intuitive thinking, and slow, rational thinking. This book reveals how our minds are tripped up by error and prejudice (even when we think we are being logical), and gives you practical techniques for slower, smarter thinking. It will enable to you make better decisions at work, at home, and in everything you do.
Sam gives a full break down of the main lessons in the book Thinking Fast and Slow. From our system 1 and system 2 thinking to how different biases form and why.
To hear about the psychology of biases you can listen to a full season on the Growth Mindset Pod
- - -
About Wiser Pod
Nico and Sam set out to read the world's best books, from philosophy to sci-fi, economics to who knows what.
Sam Webster Harris
Nicolas Vereecke
- - -
Can't find it on your player?
RSS feed - https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/682b3b86696b5d1232d698a8
----
Chapters
00:00 Cognitive Biases
02:40 System 1 and System 2
04:05 How both systems Work Together
05:31 System 1's Impact on Decision Making
07:08 System 1 and Politics
10:10 The Teenage Brain and System 2 Development
11:14 Cognitive Biases and Their Impact
17:20 The Law of Large Number
22:15 Prospect Theory and Risk Assessment
22:33 The Cookie Analogy: Understanding Loss Aversion
23:18 Rationality and Utility Theory in Economics
25:16 Prospect Theory: Perception of Value and Risk
26:52 Probability and Decision Making
29:05 The Experiencing Self vs. The Remembering Self
30:53 The Peak-End Rule and Its Impact on Memory
34:25 Pleasure vs Satisfaction
37:36 The Focusing Illusion: What Really Matters
43:17 Final Thoughts
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Is Brexit more important than Bitcoin? How do we rank Buddhism vs TikTok?
The world changes, technology advances, but what really matters and how much? Sam explains the Innovation Richter Scale, a framework for understanding impact at every level of technology and what it means to society.
In Nate Silver's book "On The Edge", he introduces a Technology Richter scale to determine the impact of AI. Sam takes the idea much, much further because it's cool.
- - -
About Wiser Pod
Nico and Sam set out to read the world's best books, from philosophy to sci-fi, economics to who knows what.
Sam Webster Harris
Nicolas Vereecke
- - -
How to Change the World: The History and Future of Innovation
Available on all podcast players:
Can't find it on your player?
RSS feed - https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/682b3b86696b5d1232d698a8
-------
Chapters
00:00 Innovation Richter Scale
01:47 Why create a Scale?
04:32 Earthquake Metaphor
06:54 Invention, Innovation, Technology
06:54 Ranking Magnitude not Morality
08:01 The Innovation Richter Scale - Level 1 - 10
08:04 Level 1 - Shower thoughts
08:23 Level 2 - Actioned Idea (In private)
08:42 Level 3 - Public ideas (Not popular)
10:10 Level 4 - Popular and commercial ideas
11:01 Level 5 - Defining Brand
12:31 Level 6 - Innovation of the year
15:53 Level 7 - Innovation of the Decade
18:12 Level 8 - Innovation of the Century
21:22 Level 9 - Innovation of the Era
23:46 Level 10 - Species Epoch
28:24 Wrap up and where to find part 2
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The favourite mental models and timeless lessons from Charlie Munger on how to build worldly wisdom.
Charlie Munger was the business partner of Warren Buffet and the cofounder of Berkshire Hathaway. The most successful investing company in history. He was obsessed with how ot make better decisions.
His book is full of ways to help you be less wrong and how to find an edge where you can perform at your best and minimise risk of losing. From the inversion principle to understanding opportunity cost and your own circle of competence. He has a no nonsense strategy and likeable charm that just oozes credibility and makes you wish you'd spent time working and learning from him.
- - -
About Wiser Pod 📚
Nico and Sam set out to read the world's best books, from philosophy to sci-fi, economics to who knows what.
Sam Webster Harris
👋 LinkedIn - Sam Harris
🧠 Psychology Pod - Growth Mindset Psychology
🚀 New Pod - How to Change the World
Nicolas Vereecke
👋 LinkedIn - Nico Vereecke
🤖 AI world domination - Evil Plan Inc
- - -
How to Change the World: The History and Future of Innovation
---
Chapters
00:00 Poor Charlie's Almanac
02:58 Interdisciplinary Thinking
05:44 Understanding Circle of Competence
06:54 Opportunity Costs in Decision Making
07:49 The Inversion Principle
10:43 Cognitive Biases Overview
11:51 Confirmation Bias and Clear Thinking
13:38 Authority Bias and Independent Thought
15:30 Social Proof and Individuality
16:55 Arguing Against Your Own Beliefs
17:37 Critiquing Charlie's Rationality
18:10 Lack of Emotion and suspension of belief
19:29 Binary thinking and fixed mindset
24:35 The Art of Rational Decision Making
25:48 First Principles Thinking
27:35 Probabilistic Thinking and Risks
29:11 The Margin of Safety
30:25 Chauffeur Knowledge vs. True Understanding
32:40 Applying Mental Models in Real Life
33:27 Sharing Wisdom and Building Community
34:51 Conclusions
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Heard enough lame insights about caveman psychology? Jared Diamond goes hard into what life was really like, how we thought and how it compares to today.
A masterclass of a book when it comes to truly understanding our history and humanity and packed full of insights.
Sam digests the book from a lens of innovation and what the reality of our life meant for taking risks and trying new ideas and making them happen.
We cover various tribe studies across the world and the episode is brimming with stories and statistics that will make you think and a little bit Wiser than Yesterday.
Part two is available on the How to Change the World: History and Future of Innovation podcast:
Note - Nico is taking a reading break, and Sam has a season to cover some of his favourite books in depth 🙃
- - -
About Wiser Pod 📚
Nico and Sam set out to read the world's best books, from philosophy to sci-fi, economics to who knows what.
Sam Webster Harris
👋 LinkedIn - Sam Harris
🧠 Psychology Pod - Growth Mindset Psychology
🚀 New Pod - How to Change the World
Nicolas Vereecke
👋 LinkedIn - Nico Vereecke
🤖 AI world domination - Evil Plan Inc
---
Chapters
00:00 Intro to The World Until Yesterday
02:12 The Hand Axe Conundrum
04:05 Episode Goals
05:21 1 - SURVIVAL LOCK
06:00 Energy requirements
08:09 Time Scarcity
10:38 Risk and Psychological Safety
12:56 2 - CULTURE LOCK
14:17 Culture in New Guinea
15:16 Results of trying ideas
17:01 The Grandmother Hypothesis
17:57 Widowhood statistics
19:21 Kaulong Tribe Widow killing
21:03 Catalhayuk - 1000 years of stasis
22:12 3 - KNOWLEDGE LOCK
24:18 Losing knowledge
25:41 Maths
26:28 Communication and Language
27:29 Ice Age Picasso Paradox
29:30 Wrap up - Book review and teasers
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
We share the 10 best mental models about innovation from tech titan Jeff Bezos.
This episode covers the story of Amazon and some of the incredible shifts it has created on the planet. From the obvious online shopping wave to things like the e-reading industry and audiobooks, web-servers giving us Uber and Netflix, devices like Alexa. We also learn about their failures like the Fire Phone and other things you probably haven't even heard of, Amazon Destinations, anyone?
Lessons to think like an innovator and be more decisive:
Note - Nico is taking a reading break, and Sam has a season to cover some of his favourite books in depth.
- - -
About Wiser Pod
Nico and Sam set out to read the world's best books, from philosophy to sci-fi, economics to who knows what.
Sam Webster Harris
👋 LinkedIn - Sam Harris
🧠 Psychology Pod - Growth Mindset Psychology
🚀 New Pod - How to Change the World
Nicolas Vereecke
👋 LinkedIn - Nico Vereecke
🤖 AI world domination - Evil Plan Inc
- - -
How to Change the World: The History and Future of Innovation
---
Chapters
00:00 The Everything Store & Jeff Bezos
02:53 Thinking in Primitives
04:10 Story of AWS
06:44 2 Customer Centric Obsession
08:25 Working backwards - Why they built Amazon Prime
10:23 3 Long Term Thinking
11:39 Story - Kindle and e-publishing industry
14:21 Willingness to be Misunderstood
15:01 Team - Single-Threaded Leadership
16:10 Team - Employ and Empower Builders
17:15 Culture - Meetings are for Decisions
18:15 High Velocity Decision making
20:27 Regret Minimisation Framework
22:03 Disagree and Commit
23:13 Embrace Failure
23:56 Total Fails - Fire Phone, Amazon Wallet etc...
26:14 Importance of Timing and Competition
28:28 Day 1 Thinking
31:10 Useful Bonus points
31:18 Flywheel effect
31:46 Word of Mouth Marketing
32:42 Opposing beliefs - Ignoring vs Crushing Competition
34:51 Opposing Beliefs - Stubborn and Flexible
35:22 Wrap up
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Every investment plan under the sun is, at best, an informed speculation of what may happen in the future, based on a systematic extrapolation from the known past.
Same as Ever reverses the process, inviting us to identify the many things that never, ever change.
Morgan Housel wrote this to be a master class on optimizing risk, seizing opportunity, and living your best life. But does he achieve it?
We break down the best ideas and mental models he shares and how they could be applied in your life.
- - -
About Wiser Pod
Nico and Sam set out to read the world's best books, from philosophy to sci-fi, economics to who knows what.
Sam Webster Harris
👋 LinkedIn - Sam Harris
🧠 Psychology Pod - Growth Mindset Psychology
🚀 New Pod - How to Change the World
Nicolas Vereecke
👋 LinkedIn - Nico Vereecke
🤖 AI world domination - Evil Plan Inc
- - -
How to Change the World: The History and Future of Innovation
Available on all podcast players:
Can't find it on your player?
- - -
Chapters
00:00 Welcome to The Wiser Than Yesterday Podcast
00:07 Life Updates: New Locations and Busy Schedules
00:07 Book Review: Same as Ever by Morgan Hausel
01:06 Understanding the Lindy Principle
01:45 Human Behavior and the Lindy Principle
02:24 Key Takeaway: Progress is Hard to See
03:26 The Impact of Evolution on Human Perception
06:40 The Risks We Don't See
07:17 The Role of Luck in Success
12:34 Happiness and Expectations
15:06 Balancing Stress and Relaxation
19:08 The Influence of Your Social Circle
24:02 The Impact of Age in Professional Hockey
24:58 The Role of Private Tutoring in Education
25:37 The Influence of Cohorts on Success
27:12 Permanent vs. Expiring Information
29:35 Books vs. Podcasts: A Debate
38:13 The Value of Taste and Enthusiasm
40:06 Book Review and Final Thoughts
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A philosophical discussion on part 2 of the Three-Body Problem series, The Dark Forest by Liu Cixin.
We ponder different answers to Fermi's paradox and how we'd deal with different levels of intelligence in the Universe. This of course requires pondering how different levels of intelligent beings might deal with us.
We also ponder at large adaptions of books into screenplays, why writers change the races of original characters and a lot of interesting stuff about aliens, the Universe and the space-time continuum.
- - -
Wiser Than Yesterday
Nico and Sam set out to read the world's best books, from philosophy to sci-fi, economics to who knows what.
Sam Webster Harris
👋 LinkedIn - Sam Harris
🧠 Psychology Pod - Growth Mindset Psychology
🚀 New Pod - How to Change the World
Nicolas Vereecke
👋 LinkedIn - Nico Vereecke
🤖 AI world domination - Evil Plan Inc
- - -
How to Change the World: The History and Future of Innovation
Available on all podcast players:
Can't find it on your player?
- - -
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Catching Up
01:06 Discussing 'The Dark Forest' Book
04:56 The Dark Forest Theory Explained
07:42 Philosophical Questions on Alien Life
12:33 Speculations on Alien Discoveries
13:50 Advanced Civilizations and Human Progress
16:35 Exploring the Concept of Lying in the Book
16:59 Humanity's Advantage Over the Tri Laurens
17:10 The Dark Forest Theory
17:52 Intra vs. Interspecies Communication
19:31 The Impact of Truth on Society
22:02 Philosophical Musings on Lying
24:37 Lessons from the Book
28:23 Humanity's Overcommitment to Goals
31:24 Breaking Rules and Asking for Forgiveness
34:09 Final Thoughts and Book Rating
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
How to have difficult conversations, for meaningful change.
We break down Gina Martin's book addressing how to navigate some of the worst conversation-stoppers and poor thinking in our culture today.
It also features chapters from other widely recognized speakers on the topics of equality and diversity.
Labeled as "An empowering guide to navigating difficult conversations from climate naysayers to the #notallmen brigade, featuring chapters from brilliant writers and activists like Cathy Reay, Ben Hurst, Salma El-Wardany, and many others."
Gina Martin is a gender equality activist, speaker, and writer whose work focuses on gender, misogyny, and sexual violence. She is a proud ambassador for UN Women UK and Beyond Equality.
We had conflicting opinions on the book that you'll have to listen to find out more.
- - -
Contact the hosts
Nico's projects
Sam's projects
- - -
Chapters
01:00 - Conversation Stoppers in Social Justice Topics
02:00 - Who is this for?
03:00 - Chapters analysis
05:00 - Personal stories causing difficult conversations
10:00 - Boys will be boys and other problematic phrases
15:00 - Identity Politics, Privilege, and Empathy in Conversations
20:00 - Patriarchy and Systemic Issues
30:00 - Reflecting on Personal and Societal Change
35:00 - Conclusions
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Making good predictions is tough. We think we know more than we do and let emotions and biases creep in. How do some forecasters beat the odds? Our hosts, Nico and Sam, chat about the book "The Signal and the Noise" by Nate Silver exploring why predictions fail and uncovering practical insights.
A little statistical training can go a long way! We geek out on Bayes' Theorem, discuss why poker develops useful reasoning skills, and tackle investing decisions using probabilities. Improving predictions requires tracking your results and having the courage to map what you don't know.
We dissect Signal versus noise in forecasting explained and Understanding data prediction with Nate Silver, offering an analytical perspective on how to distinguish meaningful patterns from mere noise.
If you want to enhance your critical thinking abilities and decision-making under uncertainty, tune in! We promise no boring academic lectures - just practical tips served with our signature blend of intellectual curiosity and humor.
- - -
Contact the hosts
Nico's projects
Sam's projects
- - -
Chapters
00:00 The Signal and The Noise
02:25 Moneyball - Importance of prediction
05:50 Poker as a Prediction Game
07:44 Base Theorem
11:57 Using poker to illustrate Bayes' theorem
15:53 Frequent feedback improves forecast skill
21:14 Overfitting - The problem of limited data and latching onto false patterns
23:23 Europe's healthcare system vs. USA
27:31 Improving prediction framework and minimising mistakes
29:15 Nico's company
33:10 Ratings & Reflection
35:16 Send off
Topics
Nate Silver prediction analysis book review
Practical insights from The Signal and the Noise
Why predictions fail book summary podcast
Signal versus noise in forecasting explained
Understanding data prediction with Nate Silver
Book podcast on successful forecasting methods
The Signal and the Noise summary insights
Learning predictive accuracy from Nate Silver
Exploring statistical forecasts in modern times
Book review on data-driven predictions podcast
Analyzing The Signal and the Noise themes
Nate Silver’s approach to accurate predictions
Practical lessons from prediction failures and successes
Book summary podcast on statistical significance
Why some predictions succeed: Nate Silver's insights
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene are described as amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive. This multi-million-copy New York Times bestselling book brands itself as the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.
50 Cent loved the book so much that he reached out to the author to work with him.
But what can we learn from this book about power, society, and morality and what are its limits?
Hosts Sam Webster Harris and Nicolas Vereecke provide a summary of the 48 laws of power, and discuss the book that launched Robert Greene's career.
- - -
Contact the hosts
Nico's projects
Sam's projects
- - -
Chapters
Topics
Power and manipulation
Trust and respect
Creating a cult
Attacking weakness
Laws of history
Happiness and control
Guarding reputation
The real source of true power
Never be greedy
Avoid perfection
The problems with the 48 laws of power
Common book mistakes
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
From legendary investor Ray Dalio, author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Principles, who has spent half a century studying global economies and markets, Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order examines history’s most turbulent economic and political periods to reveal why the times ahead will likely be radically different from those we’ve experienced in our lifetimes—and to offer practical advice on how to navigate them well.
He discusses how nations that control the world have seized and lost their global power in predictable cycles. He explores where we are at today with the United States as a world power and where we are going next.
A few years ago, Ray Dalio noticed a confluence of political and economic conditions he hadn’t encountered before. They included huge debts and zero or near-zero interest rates that led to massive printing of money in the world’s three major reserve currencies; big political and social conflicts within countries, especially the US, due to the largest wealth, political, and values disparities in more than 100 years; and the rising of a world power (China) to challenge the existing world power (US) and the existing world order. The last time that this confluence occurred was between 1930 and 1945. This realization sent Dalio on a search for the repeating patterns and cause/effect relationships underlying all major changes in wealth and power over the last 500 years.
In this remarkable and timely addition to his Principles series, Dalio brings readers along for his study of the major empires—including the Dutch, the British, and the American—putting into perspective the “Big Cycle” that has driven the successes and failures of all the world’s major countries throughout history. He reveals the timeless and universal forces behind these shifts and uses them to look into the future, offering practical principles for positioning oneself for what’s ahead.
- - -
Contact the hosts
Nico's projects
Sam's projects
- - -
Chapters
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Review of the Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, one of the most impactful hard-science fiction books this century.
Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion.
We discuss the book and its philosophical ideas as well as some of the more exciting science ideas within. It's a heavy book to wrap your head around but full of insights for the keen explorer.
- - -
Contact the hosts
Nico's projects
Sam's projects
- - -
Chapters
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In False Alarm, Bjorn Lomborg examines how climate change panic costs us trillions, hurts the poor, and fails to fix the planet. This is a divisive book and even had us as hosts disagreeing on subjects.
Bjorn Lomborg proposes to debunk the myths and hype surrounding climate change, revealing the true costs and benefits of our response to this global challenge. Lomborg argues that our current approach to climate change is doing more harm than good, and offers a bold and pragmatic alternative that puts the world's poor first.
This book is worth understanding and reading as healthy skepticism is always valuable. Of course, the book itself is worth some skepticism which you can definitely find in this episode.
- - -
Contact the hosts
Nico's projects
Sam's projects
- - -
Chapters
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Don't Forget to leave a comment on this episode
See podvine.com/privacy-policy for podcast listener privacy info.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Don't Forget to leave a comment on this episode
See podvine.com/privacy-policy for podcast listener privacy info.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Don't Forget to leave a comment on this episode
See podvine.com/privacy-policy for podcast listener privacy info.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Don't Forget to leave a comment on this episode
See podvine.com/privacy-policy for podcast listener privacy info.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Don't Forget to leave a comment on this episode
See podvine.com/privacy-policy for podcast listener privacy info.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Don't Forget to leave a comment on this episode
See podvine.com/privacy-policy for podcast listener privacy info.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.