At the beginning of The Fabric of Reality, David Deutsch presents this idea that you don’t need to know every single fact to fundamentally understand everything that can be understood. He presents this vision that there are four fundamental theories from science and outside science: quantum theory, the theory of computation, evolution by natural selection, and epistemology—which is the theory of knowledge. More

The Beginning of Infinity is not an easy book to read. Deutsch wrote it for other physicists and philosophers. He has a certain peer group that he respects, and that respects him, and he has to meet them at their level. I wanted to understand the principles in the book so I could confirm or refute them for myself. More

I was pleasantly surprised a couple of years back when I opened an old book that I’d read a decade ago called The Beginning of Infinity by David Deutsch.  Sometimes you read a book and it makes a difference right away. Sometimes you read a book and you don’t understand it; then you read it at the right time and it makes a difference. More

Welcome, Brett, to the eponymous Naval podcast. The topic that we started out on was the timeless principles of wealth creation. And then we touched a little bit on internal happiness and peace and well-being. I’m first and foremost a student of science. I’m a failed physicist, in the sense that I loved physics, I wanted to pursue it, but I never felt I was going to be great at it. More

Naval interviews Matt Ridley, the author of The Red Queen and, recently, How Innovation Works. Also see Part 1. Innovation Famine I have a chapter towards the end of the book where I complain about the fact that we are living through an innovation famine, not an innovation feast—particularly in areas other than digital. More

Naval interviews Matt Ridley, the author of The Red Queen and, recently, How Innovation Works. Transcript I don’t have heroes, but there are people who I look up to and have learned a lot from, and Matt Ridley, who is on the line, has got to be near the top of that list. More

We have another podcast called Spearhead, where we discuss startups and angel investing. This is a compilation of recent episodes. Also, see Part 1. Everybody Thinks They Already Have Good Judgment It takes years to know if you have good judgment For the past few episodes, we talked about why you should angel invest and how to get proprietary dealflow by building a brand. More

What’s considered to be true is fought over. Individuals search for truth but groups search for consensus—and society is the largest group. So the biggest problem we run into is this: What society wants for you is not always what’s good for you. Even smart, critical thinkers go along with many of society’s truths, knowing deep down they are lies.  Here’s a simple example: “Money won’t make you happy” More