A Note from James I’m really concerned about the level of discourse in this country. It’s almost a cliché to say that now, but especially after the Charlie Kirk assassination, the division feels overwhelming. I even got invited to speak at the Oxford Union—the most prestigious debate society in the world—but ultimately

Episode Description Right after wrapping up their main conversation, James and Brian hit record again for a bonus session. What came out is an unfiltered talk on humility, arrogance, and the strange mix of traits needed to achieve great things. From the wisdom of the Talmud to the Dunning–Kruger effect, they explore wh

Episode Description James sits down once again with cosmologist Brian Keating—longtime friend of the show and author of Into the Impossible: Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner. In this candid conversation, they challenge each other’s views on focus, curiosity, and the trade-offs of staying in your lane. Brian shares behin

A Note from James: We kept recording because the conversation wasn’t done. Part 1 was about writing and honesty. Part 2? It’s about consequences—what happens when people believe their own hype, when we confuse being loud with being right, and when storytelling gets weaponized. Ryan Holiday has written about ego, stilln

A Note from James: Ryan Holiday is one of the few writers I consider a peer—not just because of the work he’s done, but because of the choices he's made along the way. We’ve both published a lot of books. We've both dealt with audiences, platforms, and the weight of having a “point of view” in a world that increasingly

The greatest work isn’t what goes viral, it’s what endures. Podcaster, writer, and venture capitalist James Altucher joins Ryan to talk about why podcasting might be doing more harm than good, what makes a medium “healthy” for creativity, why some stories survive history and others disappear, and how the algorithm subt