Tim UrbanEvery podcast appearance, updated as new ones drop

Isaac Saul interviews Tim Urban, author of the book What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies and creator of the popular blog Wait But Why. Tim does an incredible job at explaining how the big divide between the left and the right doesn't really explain whats going on in our country and what he thinks the solutions could be. You can subscribe to Tangle by clicking here or drop something in our tip jar by clicking here. Our Executive Editor and Founder is Isaac Saul. Our Executive Producer is Jon Lall. This podcast was hosted by: Isaac Saul and audio edited and mixed by Dewey Thomas. Music for the podcast was produced by Diet 75. Our newsletter is edited by Managing Editor Ari Weitzman, Senior Editor Will Kaback, Lindsey Knuth, Bailey Saul, and Audrey Moorehead. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim Urban — creator of Wait But Why and the mind behind one of the most-watched TED Talks of all time — reveals why courage might be the most underrated skill for living a fulfilling life. Tim takes us on a journey from his transformative solo trip to Thailand at age 20 to the systems he's built to trick himself into being productive, exploring how the habits we fall into can either expand or shrink our experience of time itself. Tim dissects the concept of "ladders of thinking," explaining how primitive and higher minds battle for control in both individuals and society, why universities have lost their immune systems against tribal thinking, and how social media amplifies our worst instincts. He shares candid insights about procrastination across different timescales: from doom scrolling in bed to avoiding life-changing decisions for decades, and offers a surprising perspective on religion's role in keeping humanity's darker impulses in check. From the "tail end" of time with loved ones to why he schedules his future self to work out, Tim reveals the mental frameworks that help him cut through irrationality and paralysis. This is a masterclass in self-awareness, wrapped in humour and served with a side of existential urgency. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:10 - Moving Cities 04:02 - Time Elasticity 08:05 - Ladders of Thinking 12:30 - Problem with Universities 20:08 - Low Rung Benefits? 23:25 - Procrastination Spectrum 27:49 - The Courage Problem 31:49 - Tim's Last Meal 33:15 - Vicarious Living 35:37 - Thailand 41:20 - Jaded is a Choice 46:01 - New Hobbies 53:02 - First Memory 57:18 - Is Religion Net Positive? 01:03:00 - One Big Idea 01:08:00 - Last Meal Context 01:14:36 - Future Tim vs Past Tim 01:21:15 - Repeat One Year 01:27:00 - Worth Every Cent 01:33:11 - Last Word Follow Tim https://x.com/waitbutwhy https://waitbutwhy.com/ Follow Tom https://www.instagram.com/djhookie About the Show: Last Meal is a deep-dive into life’s biggest questions—wisdom, legacy, regret, and everything in between. Join me, Tom Nash, as I serve up thought-provoking conversations with the world’s foremost thinkers.

My friend Tim Urban is one of the most influential writers and public intellectuals of the past decade. In 2015, his predictions about the coming AI wave shaped how many builders thought about the future. What happens next in the AI revolution? What new possibilities is he excited about and what concerns him the most? And why, despite technological progress, has our culture and politics descended into tribalism? We explore these questions and more with the writer and illustrator of the popular " Wait But Why " blog and author of " What's Our Problem? : A Self-Help Book for Societies." Tim's unique illustrations translate complex, technical topics in ways that are accessible and insightful to everyone from the layperson to our country’s top innovators. After studying government at Harvard, Tim noticed a glaring hole in online discourse: content was everywhere, but quality was lacking. So he began to write in-depth about pressing intellectual questions and debates. What is the nature of intelligence? Why does Mars matter? What does the Fermi Paradox teach us about the universe? His research led him to viral success and carved out his reputation as one of the most forward-thinking writers online, followed by Elon Musk and millions more. After exploring these themes, he noticed a troubling trend: technology was progressing but our culture and politics were not. He then dedicated six years to writing "What's Our Problem?" and developed powerful frameworks for understanding human nature, political dysfunction, and how illiberal movements conquer institutions. And he doesn't just diagnose our collective ailments, but also offers an antidote for how we can all draw from the higher aspects of our mind to transcend tribalism and move society forward. Tim's writings have been instrumental in the country's "vibe shift" and restoring sanity and intelligence to our national discourse. 00:00 Episode Intro 01:35 From Harvard to blogging 04:57 Understanding the Fermi Paradox 09:46 How Tim predicted the AI revolution 13:30 Narrow vs general intelligence 17:30 Should we pause AI research? 26:00 What's Our Problem? 31:00 Higher-rung vs lower-rung thinking 34:20 America vs wrecking balls 41:50 How to conquer a society 51:20 Tim's $10k bet on Mars & optimism for the future This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blog.joelonsdale.com

We live in interesting times. And they're getting interestinger! I keep my eyes open for big thinkers to help guide and inform me as I keep trying to make sense of the world. My friend Tim Urban (@waitbutwhy) is one of those people: Tim has a giant mind willing to engage with our fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence. The big questions! Tim's blog Wait Buy Why still scores millions of readers per month with big-name fans like Jonathan Haidt , Bari Weiss, Sam Harris, Bryan Johnson, and (yes) Elon Musk. Why? Because Tim has an incredible way of smallifying complex topics like artificial intelligence , time we have for loved ones , or why we haven't seen aliens into simple language. More recently Tim has self-published an incredible book called ' What's Our Problem: A Self-Help Book For Societies ' (which I review here !). He's a teacher and a philosopher. His Richard Feynman-like distillation abilities are on display in his TED Talk on procrastination which has 75 million views! Tim's intellectual curiosity is huge and we are very lucky to get a glimpse into how his brain works in this classic chapter of 3 Books . Fly down to New York City with me and let's sit in the corner of a crowded coffee shop in SoHo with Tim as we discuss breaking convention, retaining curiosity, the Stitches vs Band-aids test, why you should let your children wear shorts in the winter, the difference between cooks and chefs, and much, much more.... Let's flip the page back to Chapter 22 now...

Today, I'm joined by my old friend Tim Urban, the mastermind behind the wildly popular blog Wait But Why. Known for his ability to break down complex topics with humor and stick-figure drawings, Tim has captured the attention of millions worldwide. From his early days as a blogger to the release of his first book, "What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies," Tim has consistently delivered thought-provoking content that challenges our understanding of the world around us. In this episode, we dive into pressing issues like unfettered tribalism, the concept of "idea prisons," and the potential impact of AI on society. Tim also shares personal insights as a new parent and teases his upcoming book. It'll challenge your perspectives and leave you craving more of Tim's signature blend of depth, wit, and accessibility. Don't miss this captivating conversation that tackles the complexities of our modern world head-on. Sign up for my newsletter, Your Next Breakthrough. It will help make you a less awful person: https://markmanson.net/breakthrough Tim’s blog: Wait, But Why?: https://waitbutwhy.com/ Tim’s book: What’s Our Problem: https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Our-Problem-Self-Help-Societies-ebook/dp/B0BTJCTR58 Follow Tim: https://www.instagram.com/timurban https://x.com/waitbutwhy https://www.facebook.com/waitbutwhy Follow me: https://instagram.com/markmanson/ https://twitter.com/IAmMarkManson https://facebook.com/Markmansonnet/ https://linkedin.com/in/markmanson/ https://www.tiktok.com/@iammarkmanson Chapters 01:55 The virtue of changing your mind 05:31 What has Tim changed his mind about 11:43 Are we on the other side of insanity yet? 18:05 How new media platforms shape culture 29:30 AI and tribalism 40:11 Internal and external wars 44:04 Tim on being a new parent 47:34 How Tim's views changed after having a kid 50:29 Tim's next book Theme music: “Icarus Lives” by Periphery , used with permission from Periphery. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim Urban was in the news this month for quite unexpected reasons. It turns out the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s alleged assassin Luigi Mangione is a big fan. Mangione had posted several times about Tim’s work including in his pinned tweet on X. Well it just so happened I had sat down with Tim in Austin last month. Tim is an author and one of the Internet's most popular writers. With iconic illustrations and epic prose on everything from A.I. to politics. His wildly popular blog ‘Wait But Why’, has earnt him millions of fans. Not just Mangione, but a certain Elon Musk… We sat down to discuss Elon Musk and his work. Tim told me the real story of SpaceX - how Elon built a new space empire and the future of space travel… (For an exclusive extended discussion about Liberalism in America with Tim please head over to www.winstonmarshall.co.uk) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To see more exclusive content and interviews consider subscribing to my substack here: https://www.winstonmarshall.co.uk/ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Substack: https://www.winstonmarshall.co.uk/ X: https://twitter.com/mrwinmarshall Insta: https://www.instagram.com/winstonmarshall Linktree: https://linktr.ee/winstonmarshall ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapters 0:00 SpaceX and the Future of Space Travel 3:48 The Decline of NASA 7:58 The Role of Private Companies in Space Exploration 22:27 The Business Model and Future of SpaceX 26:04 The Ambition to Colonise Mars 43:55 The Significance of Space Travel and Its Impact on Society 54:38 The Philosophies and Divides in the Tech World 59:11 The Future of AI and Its Ethical Considerations 1:00:30 The Role of Elon Musk and His Vision 1:01:52 Impact of AI and Technology on Society 1:05:10 The Role of Technology in Shaping Culture and Politics 1:08:11 Tim Urban's Perspective on AI and Future Projects Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Is there a new divide in America? Thanks to our friends at The Village Square, join us this week as Manu sits down with Tim Urban, renowned writer and thinker shedding light on some of our most pressing problems.. Tune in as they address high rung and low rung thinking, the left vs right divide, as well as another divide that may be even more sinister…. Episode 71 guest: Tim Urban Tim Urban’s info: Twitter: https://x.com/VillageSquareUS?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/villagesquareus/ Blog: https://waitbutwhy.com/ Book: Check out Tim’s book The Village Square: https://tlh.villagesquare.us/ PODCAST INFO: Website: thehopefulmajority.com Spotify: spoti.fi/42GYjec Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hopeful-majority-with-manu-meel/id1690865971 Youtube: https://bit.ly/youtube-hopefulmajority Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manumeel_/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ManuMeel_ OUTLINE: 8:16 the primitive and higher mind 18:19 right vs left 22:08 truth 27:30 idea supremacy 31:25 dehumanizing your opponents 34:50 golems and genies 48:09 high rung vs low rung thinking 55:39 social media and outrage 1:05:07 navigating human nature 1:09:32 knowledge and conviction 1:12:49 Politicians 1:16:34 What can we do Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What, exactly, is our problem? Author Tim Urban, known for his extended riff on procrastination in his endlessly wise, sidesplittingly funny, stick-figure illustrated Wait But Why blog, emerged from a 6-year deep think with an answer that has the power to save humanity (from itself). In Urban's analysis, the primitive mind is a furry orange monster holding a burning torch, big dumb looking genies called golems roam the land — and we're going to need a resurgence of rival genies to save us. Oh and we're all moths wasting our lives circle the porch light. In this episode, Tim joins us to get us up to speed. This one is a must-listen. Learn more about Tim and his work online here. This program is part of the series in partnership with Florida Humanities — "UNUM: Democracy Reignited," a multi-year digital offering exploring the past, present and future of the American idea — as it exists on paper, in the hearts of our people, and as it manifests (or sometimes fails to manifest) in our lives. The Village Square is a proud member of The Democracy Group , a network of podcasts that examines what's broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it. Funding for this podcast was provided through a grant from Florida Humanities with funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities . Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of Florida Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities. This program is part of a larger project "Healing Starts Here" funded by New Pluralists. Learn more about our project, and other inspiring grantees here .

In this episode of Moment of Zen, Erik Torenberg sits down with Tim Urban, writer of the popular blog Wait But Why , and author of the 2023 book What’s Our Problem? where he offers a framework for thinking about our chaotic political landscape. Tim unpacks the clash between freedom and equality in modern society. He explores how social justice movements and political extremes threaten open dialogue. Urban argues for a return to classical liberal values, challenging listeners to consider: Are we fostering true diversity of thought, or silencing dissent in the name of progress? 🔥 Apply to join over 400 Founders and Execs in the Turpentine Network: https://hmplogxqz0y.typeform.com/to/JCkphVqj -- 🎙️ Dealcraft | Insights from Great Negotiators is the brand new weekly podcast that features interviews with world’s greatest dealmakers and diplomats, including Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman, and music industry super-lawyer John Branca, on their most challenging negotiations. Each episode, host Jim Sebenius (Harvard Business School professor and renowned negotiation expert) relates fascinating deal stories and distills useful insights for listeners to apply in their toughest deals and disputes. Subscribe on all platofrms: https://link.chtbl.com/3CG3TbHY?sid=Turpentine -- SPONSORS: GiveWell spends 50,000 hours every year doing deep-dives into different charitable programs to try to find the ways to do the most good for your dollar. GiveWell has now spent over 17 years researching charitable organizations and only directs funding to a few of the HIGHEST-IMPACT opportunities they’ve found. Visit https://www.givewell.org to find out more or make a donation. Select PODCAST and enter Econ 102 at checkout to make sure they know you heard about them from us. 💥 Head to Squad to access global engineering without the headache and at a fraction of the cost: head to https://choosesquad.com/ and mention “Turpentine” to skip the waitlist. -- RECOMMENDED PODCAST: 🎙️ This Won't Last - Eavesdrop on Keith Rabois, Kevin Ryan, Logan Bartlett, and Zach Weinberg's monthly backchannel. They unpack their hottest takes on the future of tech, business, venture, investing, and politics. Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/id1765665937 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HwSNeVLL1MXy0RjFPyOSz YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWontLastpodcast -- Follow on X: @eriktorenberg (Erik) @waitbutwhy (Tim) @turpentinemedia TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (01:04) Tim Urban Describes the Genesis of his Book (02:11) Why Does Tim Believe Classical Liberalism is the "Least Bad" System? (06:56) The Existential Threat of Today's Technology (07:36) The Anomalous Nature of Our Era (11:44) "What's Our Problem?": A Self-Help Book for Societies (14:15) Trump's "Full-Fledged Demagogue" Presidency (21:22) Summary of the Right & Left's Illiberal Actions (24:13) Mistake Theory vs. Conflict Theory (29:23) Sponsors: Givewell | Dealcraft (37:49) The Debate on Gender Disparities i

" Why do we need enlightenment in the first place? " - Tim Urban. Isra Garcia interviews Tim Urban about self-help for societies, seeing the big picture for solving our cultural problems, fixing the value crisis and overcoming the resistance and the ego, leaving aside the so dangerous survival mode, what he has learned from living six months with Elon Musk, most significant takeaways from writing and building one of the most successful blogs that today still thrives more than some media companies, productivity and procrastination hacks, life advice, building lifestyle hacking systems, and some other little treasures. " I'm just a human looking for the truth " - Tim Urban. " I am always doing a game with me to come up with systems that help me to achieve things " - Tim Urban. Tim Urban leads one of the most successful blogs on the Internet, Wait But Why; Tim also has one of the most well-known and popular TED talks about productivity and procrastination. Tim was invited by Elon Musk - a big fan of his blog - to spend six months with him on SpaceX and Tesla. Tim Urban is also acknowledged for his domain on writing, productivity, handling procrastination, building games for playing with systems and being creative. " All your values fall because you are in primitive survival mode " - Tim Urban. Index of contents - and what you will learn in this episode A previous notice about an unexpected ending. Intro. What is our problem? - and Tim's recipe for that. The most surprising thing Tim Urban discovered while writing his last book. Ego vs Value Crisis. Where and how Tim Urban finds daily wisdom. Biggest learning about writing his previous book, What is Our Problem. How bias changes when you sit to write a book about how biased we are. Learning from writing two posts a week for more than ten years. How Tim Urban sees blogs nowadays, and not only to keep them alive but to live too. Best practices from blogging from a master blogger. And best practices for writing a book. <span data-prese

Yascha Mounk and Tim Urban discuss making better choices, managing human foibles, and distilling big ideas into clear words. Tim Urban is a writer and author of the blog Wait But Why . He is the author of What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies . In this week’s conversation, Yascha Mounk and Tim Urban discuss how to develop strong productive habits; the human tendency towards “chronocentrism”; as well as how American society has become troubled and why finding real solutions will require courage. This transcript has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity . Please do listen and spread the word about The Good Fight. If you have not yet signed up for our podcast, please do so now by following this link on your phone . Email: podcast@persuasion.community Website: http://www.persuasion.community Podcast production by Jack Shields , and Brendan Ruberry Connect with us! Spotify | Apple | Google Twitter: @Yascha_Mounk & @joinpersuasion Youtube: Yascha Mounk LinkedIn: Persuasion Community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

PIRATE WIRES EP#19 🏴‍☠️ - This week on the pod, Tim Urban jumps on with Solana to discuss his new book, What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies. Topics include mental frameworks for thinking clearly about politics, staying cool when issues become heated, the gollums of the Trump right and the social justice left, and soberly navigating Israel and Palestine in a moment of mass hysteria. Featuring Mike Solana, Tim Urban Subscribe to Pirate Wires: https://www.piratewires.com/ Topics Discussed: https://waitbutwhy.com/whatsourproblem Pirate Wires Twitter: https://twitter.com/PirateWires Mike Twitter: https://twitter.com/micsolana Tim Twitter: https://twitter.com/waitbutwhy Brandon Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandongorrell River Twitter: https://twitter.com/river_is_nice Sanjana Twitter: https://twitter.com/metaversehell TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Intro IMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Intro 0:50 - Welcome Tim Urban To The Pod! Discussing His Book "What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies" 6:45 - What We Are Missing Right Now.. 11:45 - Existential Threats 21:30 - Group Think - How Gollums Take Over 40:30 - Social Wars 55:45 - What Do We Do? 59:00 - Where To Find Tim Online & Go Read Tim's Book - See You All Next Friday!

Tim Urban is a blogger who writes about a wide range of topics, from science and technology to psychology and philosophy. He is known for creating minimalist stick-figure illustrations to help explain complex concepts in a simple way. His musings are collected on his website, ‘Wait But Why’, and featured in his newly-released book, ‘What's Our Problem? A Self-Help Book for Societies’ - available here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BVGH6T1Q/ Become a Premium Member to receive exclusive benefits https://triggernometry.supercast.com/ OR Support TRIGGERnometry Here: Bitcoin: bc1qm6vvhduc6s3rvy8u76sllmrfpynfv94qw8p8d5 Music by: Music by: Xentric | info@xentricapc.com | https://www.xentricapc.com/ YouTube: @xentricapc Buy Merch Here: https://www.triggerpod.co.uk/shop/ Advertise on TRIGGERnometry: marketing@triggerpod.co.uk Join the Mailing List: https://www.triggerpod.co.uk/sign-up/ Find TRIGGERnometry on Social Media: https://twitter.com/triggerpod https://www.facebook.com/triggerpod/ https://www.instagram.com/triggerpod/ About TRIGGERnometry: Stand-up comedians Konstantin Kisin (@konstantinkisin) and Francis Foster (@francisjfoster) make sense of politics, economics, free speech, AI, drug policy and WW3 with the help of presidential advisors, renowned economists, award-winning journalists, controversial writers, leading scientists and notorious comedians. 00:00 Intro 01:18 Tim Urban’s Background 02:51 What's Causing All the Division? 06:34 The Largest Contributor to Tribalism 12:15 The Population’s Exposure to Information 15:30 Biological Aspects to Tribalism 19:42 When Will We Need to Take Responsibility for How We Act? 23:14 Tim’s Optimism for the Future of Social Media 28:15 What is Elon’s Vision For Twitter? 31:09 Elon Musk's Power to Disrupt 41:11 Sponsor Message: easyDNS 42:16 How To Live & Take Greater Risks 45:17 Overcoming The Fear of Embarrassment 51:48 The Reality of Our Agency & How Much Time We Have Left 55:39 What’s the One Thing We’re Not Talking About? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On his enormously popular blog, Wait But Why, Tim Urban writes about some pretty heavy topics. He’s covered North Korea, the state of American politics and culture, and Elon Musk’s rise to fame, to name just a few. So you might be surprised when you click onto the blog for the first time and see it’s overrun with… stick figure drawings? Tim’s writing style is playful and personable, but his unique illustrations do a lot of the heavy lifting to make his work so eye-catching and so memorable. Whether it’s a graph demonstrating just how few weeks make up a human life, or characters representing our inner demons, Tim’s constantly seeking novel ways to get his point across. Tim explains how he decides when to illustrate versus when to let his words do the talking, and highlights the most common cases where words alone don’t quite cut it. Connect with Tim on Twitter , or his website Wait But Why You can find the full interview here: Tim Urban on seeing the bigger picture and beating procrastination *** My new book Time Wise is out now. You can grab a copy here . Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin Twitter Instagram If you’re looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes. Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au CREDITS Produced by Inventium Host: Amantha Imber Sound Engineer: Martin Imber See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tim Urban is the writer/illustrator and co-founder of Wait But Why , a long-form, stick-figure-illustrated website with over 600,000 subscribers and a monthly average of half a million visitors. He has produced dozens of viral articles on a wide range of topics, from artificial intelligence to social anxiety to humans becoming a multi-planetary species. Tim’s 2016 TED main stage talk is the third most-watched TED talk in history with 66 million views. In 2023, Tim published his bestselling book What’s Our Problem? A Self Help Book for Societies. In Today's Episode with Tim Urban We Discuss: 1. The Founding of Wait by Why: What was the a-ha moment for Tim that Wait but Why should be his life's work and sole focus? What does Tim know now that he wishes he had known when he started? What does Tim believe he is running away from? Why is he so fearful of constraints? 2. Wait But Why: The Scaling Journey to 600,000 Subs: What was the first piece to really go viral? How did that change the trajectory? What single piece is Tim most proud of? What piece is he least proud of? What has been the hardest element of scaling Wait But Why? What was the most surprising and unexpected elements of Wait But Why's scaling? 3. Topic Selection: Choosing What To Write: What does the process look like for Tim when deciding what topic to write about? How does Tim know what his audience will want to hear about vs what they will not? What topics has Tim thought would be interesting but post initial research, are not? 4. The Writing Process: How does Tim approach the writing process? How has his changed over time? What mechanisms does Tim put in place to avoid writers block? What are some of Tim's biggest tips to aspiring writers and authors? 5. The Distribution Process: How does Tim approach distributing the content once produced? What works? What does not? Why did Tim choose newsletter, Twitter and Instagram as his channels of choice? How important has the newsletter been to the growth of the business? 6. AI: Super-Intelligence and The Future: On reviewing his pieces on AI back in 2015, what does he believe he got right? What would he change with the benefit of hindsight? Is Tim more or less positive looking forward at AI proliferating through all of society? What is Tim most concerned about in the world right now?

Tim Urban has become one of the Internet's most popular writers. With wry stick-figure illustrations and occasionally epic prose on everything from procrastination to artificial intelligence, Urban's blog, "Wait But Why", has garnered millions of unique page views, thousands of patrons and famous fans like Elon Musk. Urban has previously written long form posts on "The Road to Superintelligence", and his recent TED talk has more than 6 million views. Tim speaks about his blog "Wait but Why" and his writing on the impact of artificial intelligence. This talk was presented for Google's Singularity Network and hosted by John Bracaglia. Originally published in August of 2016. Visit YouTube.com/TalksatGoogle to watch the video.

This Week in Startups is brought to you by… Lemon.io - Hire pre-vetted remote developers, get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist MasterClass. Learn from the world’s best minds - anytime, anywhere, and at your own pace. Get 15% off an annual membership to MasterClass at https://masterclass.com/startups Superside. Design and creative are crucial for growth. Tech companies like Shopify, Amazon, and Meta have found the perfect solution: Superside. Get $2000 off with Superside's Startup Accelerator package https://www.superside.com/twist * Today’s show: Tim Urban joins Jason to break down the road to AGI(15:38), people's trust in organizations(57:31), trends in tech throughout history(25:36), and so much more! * Time stamps: (00:00) The creator of Wait But Why, Tim Urban joins Jason (1:49) Movies and social media creating dopamine addicts (11:16) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist (12:36) Tim’s “Procrastination” Ted Talk and talks on AI (15:38) Tim’s book and his outlook on framing human history (22:16) MasterClass - Get 15% off an annual membership at https://masterclass.com/startups (25:36) Trends in tech history and the road to AGI (33:29) The dark paths of AI (37:31) Superside - Go to https://superside.com/twist to get $2000 off with Superside's Startup Accelerator package (41:16) The exciting potential of AI (42:10) Breaking down the human operating system: What happens when there is no longer work? (46:56) The exponential growth of computing (50:26) Why it is difficult to predict the outcome of AI tech (52:35) Gains in AI and expanding our understanding of the universe (57:31) The history of trust in organizations (01:06:21) How to find the truth and how misinformation is spread * Check out Wait But Why: https://waitbutwhy.com/ Check out Tim’s Book: https://waitbutwhy.com/whatsourproblem Follow Tim: https://twitter.com/waitbutwhy * Read LAUNCH Fund 4 Deal Memo : https://www.launch.co/four Apply for Funding : https://www.launch.co/apply Buy ANGEL : https://www.angelthebook.com Great recent interviews: Steve Huffman , Brian Chesky , Aaron Levie , Sophia Amoruso , Reid Hoffman , Frank Slootman , <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com

I’m excited for the second part of this episode with Tim Urban, the man that turned his blog into a global movement who is now bringing us a new framework through which to through complex societal issues. You’re possibly one of over 65 million people that watched Tim Urban’s legendary TedTalk, Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator. We’re continuing this conversation where Tim introduces ideas from his book, What’s Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies, and this leads into the last part of this epic conversation unpacking the power games, why liberal games are a necessity and why the alternative to equal opportunity is possibly a disaster to steer clear from. Check out Tim’s book, What’s Our Problem: https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Our-Problem-Self-Help-Societies-ebook/dp/B0BTJCTR58 QUOTES: “The dictator and their little consortium have the power to do what they want, so they do and other people don't so they can't.” “It's a very disempowering thing to teach kids that this country, because there is inequality, is inherently oppressive and I think it is just demotivating.” “What concerns me about our current political environment is that we have so many hard problems ahead, big discussions we have to have as a species, and our society has to be able to have its wits about us. We have to have our wits about us going into this future where we're getting more godlike power and be wise about it because the stakes are going up.” Follow Tim Urban: Website: https://waitbutwhy.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/waitbutwhy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/waitbutwhy/ SPONSORS: elizabeth@advertisepurple.com Are You Ready for EXTRA Impact? If you’re ready to find true fulfillment, strengthen your focus, and ignite your true potential, the Impact Theory subscription was created just for you. Want to transform your health, sharpen your mindset, improve your relationship, or conquer the business world? This is your epicenter of greatness. This is not for the faint of heart. This is for those who dare to learn obsessively, every day, day after day. Subscription Benefits: Unlock the gates to a treasure trove of wisdom from inspiring guests like Andrew Huberman, Mel Robbins, Hal Elrod, Matthew McConaughey, and many, many, more New episodes delivered ad-free Exclusive access to Tom’s AMAs, keynote speeches, and suggestions from his personal reading list You’ll also get access to an 5 additional podcasts with hundreds of archived Impact Theory episodes, meticulously curated into themed playlists covering health, mindset, business, relationships, and more: Legendary Mindset : Mindset & Self-Improvement Money Mindset : Business & Finance <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/relationship-theory/id1683229040?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200&ls=1&at=1000l3anZ" target="_bla

I’m excited for the second part of this episode with Tim Urban, the man that turned his blog into a global movement who is now bringing us a new framework through which to through complex societal issues. You’re possibly one of over 65 million people that watched Tim Urban’s legendary TedTalk, Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator. We’re continuing this conversation where Tim introduces ideas from his book, What’s Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies, and this leads into the last part of this epic conversation unpacking the power games, why liberal games are a necessity and why the alternative to equal opportunity is possibly a disaster to steer clear from. Check out Tim’s book, What’s Our Problem: https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Our-Problem-Self-Help-Societies-ebook/dp/B0BTJCTR58 QUOTES: “The dictator and their little consortium have the power to do what they want, so they do and other people don't so they can't.” “It's a very disempowering thing to teach kids that this country, because there is inequality, is inherently oppressive and I think it is just demotivating.” “What concerns me about our current political environment is that we have so many hard problems ahead, big discussions we have to have as a species, and our society has to be able to have its wits about us. We have to have our wits about us going into this future where we're getting more godlike power and be wise about it because the stakes are going up.” Follow Tim Urban: Website: https://waitbutwhy.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/waitbutwhy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/waitbutwhy/ SPONSORS: elizabeth@advertisepurple.com Are You Ready for EXTRA Impact? If you’re ready to find true fulfillment, strengthen your focus, and ignite your true potential, the Impact Theory subscription was created just for you. Want to transform your health, sharpen your mindset, improve your relationship, or conquer the business world? This is your epicenter of greatness. This is not for the faint of heart. This is for those who dare to learn obsessively, every day, day after day. Subscription Benefits: Unlock the gates to a treasure trove of wisdom from inspiring guests like Andrew Huberman, Mel Robbins, Hal Elrod, Matthew McConaughey, and many, many, more New episodes delivered ad-free Exclusive access to Tom’s AMAs, keynote speeches, and suggestions from his personal reading list You’ll also get access to an 5 additional podcasts with hundreds of archived Impact Theory episodes, meticulously curated into themed playlists covering health, mindset, business, relationships, and more: Legendary Mindset : Mindset & Self-Improvement Money Mindset : Business & Finance <str

Are we putting our ability to progress as a society at risk giving into the primitive mind? I’m excited for the first part of this two-part episode with Tim Urban, the man that turned his blog into a global movement who is now bringing us a new framework through which to through complex societal issues. You’re possibly one of over 65 million people that watched Tim Urban’s legendary TedTalk, Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator. Tim is joining me today to introduce ideas from his book, What’s Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies, and this leads into the first part of an epic conversation unpacking the primitive mind, woke ideology that has weaponized words, and the tug of war between your individuality and society. Check out Tim’s book, What’s Our Problem: https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Our-Problem-Self-Help-Societies-ebook/dp/B0BTJCTR58 QUOTES: “We live in this advanced civilization where so much of our natural programming tendencies actually hurt us and misfire, so we're constantly in this kind of tug of war. “When we have a more accurate picture of the world, we can do more for the world.” “The fact that there is also subjective experience, which each person kind of has their own, to me that's part of objective truth. Objective truth is just reality.” “I see really well-intentioned people get lost in the sequence of, every answer is going to be nuanced and nuance is very hard if you can't talk out loud.” -Tom Bilyeu Follow Tim Urban: Website: https://waitbutwhy.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/waitbutwhy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/waitbutwhy/ SPONSORS: Get 5 free AG1 Travel Packs and a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D with your first purchase at https://bit.ly/AG1Impact . Get $300 into your brokerage account when you invest $5k within your first 90 days by going to https://bit.ly/FacetImpact . Head to www.insidetracker.com and use code “IMPACTTHEORY” to get 20% off! Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://bit.ly/ShopifyImpact . Are You Ready for EXTRA Impact? If you’re ready to find true fulfillment, strengthen your focus, and ignite your true potential, the Impact Theory subscription was created just for you. Want to transform your health, sharpen your mindset, improve your relationship, or conquer the business world? This is your epicenter of greatness. This is not for the faint of heart. This is for those who dare to learn obsessively, every day, day after day. Subscription Benefits: Unlock the gates to a treasure trove of wisdom from inspiring guests like Andrew Huberman, Mel Robbins, Hal Elrod, Matthew McConaughey, and many, many, more New episodes delivered ad-free Exclusive access to Tom’s AMAs, keynote speeches, and suggestions from his personal reading list You’ll also get access to an 5 additional podcasts with hundreds of archived Impact Theory episodes, meticulously curated into themed playlists covering health, mindset, business, relationships, and more: Legendary Mindset</strong

Are we putting our ability to progress as a society at risk giving into the primitive mind? I’m excited for the first part of this two-part episode with Tim Urban, the man that turned his blog into a global movement who is now bringing us a new framework through which to through complex societal issues. You’re possibly one of over 65 million people that watched Tim Urban’s legendary TedTalk, Inside the Mind of a Master Procrastinator. Tim is joining me today to introduce ideas from his book, What’s Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies, and this leads into the first part of an epic conversation unpacking the primitive mind, woke ideology that has weaponized words, and the tug of war between your individuality and society. Check out Tim’s book, What’s Our Problem: https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Our-Problem-Self-Help-Societies-ebook/dp/B0BTJCTR58 QUOTES: “We live in this advanced civilization where so much of our natural programming tendencies actually hurt us and misfire, so we're constantly in this kind of tug of war. “When we have a more accurate picture of the world, we can do more for the world.” “The fact that there is also subjective experience, which each person kind of has their own, to me that's part of objective truth. Objective truth is just reality.” “I see really well-intentioned people get lost in the sequence of, every answer is going to be nuanced and nuance is very hard if you can't talk out loud.” -Tom Bilyeu Follow Tim Urban: Website: https://waitbutwhy.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/waitbutwhy Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/waitbutwhy/ SPONSORS: Get 5 free AG1 Travel Packs and a FREE 1 year supply of Vitamin D with your first purchase at https://bit.ly/AG1Impact . Get $300 into your brokerage account when you invest $5k within your first 90 days by going to https://bit.ly/FacetImpact . Head to www.insidetracker.com and use code “IMPACTTHEORY” to get 20% off! Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at https://bit.ly/ShopifyImpact . Are You Ready for EXTRA Impact? If you’re ready to find true fulfillment, strengthen your focus, and ignite your true potential, the Impact Theory subscription was created just for you. Want to transform your health, sharpen your mindset, improve your relationship, or conquer the business world? This is your epicenter of greatness. This is not for the faint of heart. This is for those who dare to learn obsessively, every day, day after day. Subscription Benefits: Unlock the gates to a treasure trove of wisdom from inspiring guests like Andrew Huberman, Mel Robbins, Hal Elrod, Matthew McConaughey, and many, many, more New episodes delivered ad-free Exclusive access to Tom’s AMAs, keynote speeches, and suggestions from his personal reading list You’ll also get access to an 5 additional podcasts with hundreds of archived Impact Theory episodes, meticulously curated into themed playlists covering health, mindset, business, relationships, and more: Legendary Mindset : Mindset & Self-Improvement <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podc

Tim Urban is the Author of the blog "Wait But Why" and has one of the most listened-to Ted talks of all time. His work covers a broad range of topics from why we procrastinate, to how much time we have left with our parents, to breaking down the US involvement in the Iraq war. In this episode, Logan and Tim dive into some of the ideas that Tim has written about, as well as newer topics like the role AI will play in social relationships and how genetic engineering could impact the human lifespan. (0:00) Intro (1:23) Welcome Tim Urban (5:11) Thousand-page book (18:40) Living to 150 Years Old (24:04) Looking back on eating meat (29:39) Changing expectations of success (36:01) Shortform vs longform writing (42:11) TikTok and different internets for different audiences (49:10) College is an eternity (55:39) North star for writing (1:03:03) Tim's favorite part besides publishing (1:17:55) Tribalism, wokeness, and politics (1:43:25) Awareness and Courage (1:52:01) Keeping identity small (1:57:16) Feeling different about old blog posts (2:03:55) AI Girlfriends (2:08:19) Talking Elon (2:15:54) Advice on picking a career (2:21:43) AI and will it kill humanity? (2:30:51) Signing up for Cryonics (2:34:25) Twitter Talk (2:38:15) Disagreeing with conventional wisdom Mixed and edited: Justin Hrabovsky Produced: Rashad Assir Executive Producer: Josh Machiz Music: Griff Lawson 🎙 Listen to the show Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/three-cartoon-avatars/id1606770839 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5WqBqDb4br3LlyVrdqOYYb?si=3076e6c1b5c94d63&nd=1 Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9zb0hJZkhWbg 🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1 Follow on Socials 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow 🐦 Twitter - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow About the Show Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode, Logan goes behind the scenes with world-class entrepreneurs and investors. If you're interested in the real inside baseball of tech, entrepreneurship, and start-up investing, tune in every Friday for new episodes. Executive Producer: Rashad Assir Producer: Leah Clapper Mixing and editing: Justin Hrabovsky Check out Unsupervised Learning, Redpoint's AI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@UCUl-s_Vp-Kkk_XVyDylNwLA 🎥 Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCugS0jD5IAdoqzjaNYzns7w?sub_confirmation=1 Follow on Socials 📸 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theloganbartlettshow 📱 X - https://twitter.com/loganbartshow 🎬 Clips on TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theloganbartlettshow About the Show Logan Bartlett is a Software Investor at Redpoint Ventures - a Silicon Valley-based VC with $6B AUM and investments in Snowflake, DraftKings, Twilio, and Netflix. In each episode of The Logan Bartlett Show, we sit down with the people behind today’s most important startups and extract the tactics, lessons, and frameworks they’ve learned the hard way. Conversations span hiring to GTM, product, growth, fundraising and everything in between - collectively forming the ultimate playbook to make you a better CEO, investor or board member. Tap follow and enable notifications to stay ahead of the game.

Erik Torenberg sits down with Tim Urban, writer of the popular blog Wait But Why, and author of the 2023 book What’s Our Problem? where he offers a framework for thinking about our chaotic political landscape. In this discussion, Erik and Tim discuss liberalism, why heresy is important, and the notion of equality. If you’re looking for an ERP platform, check out our sponsor, NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/UPSTREAM Upstream is part of the Turpentine Network. You can learn more at turpentine.co -- We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com . TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Episode Preview (02:37) The story of Tim Urban’s new book “What’s Our Problem?” (09:01) Existential threat, technological innovation, and heresy (14:09) Why the left and the right aren’t respecting liberalism (16:51) Sponsor: Secureframe (19:42) Social justice fundamentalism vs liberal social justice (26:13) Social justice fundamentalism as a religion (29:39) Freedom vs Equality (50:42) Equality and specificity (55:08) What would change if Tim wrote the book in the next few years? TWITTER: Tim’s Twitter: @waitbutwhy Erik’s Twitter: @eriktorenberg Upstream : @upstream__pod SPONSORS: Please support our sponsors: Beehiiv | Shopify | Secureframe Head to Beehiiv, the newsletter platform built for growth, to power your own. Connect with premium brands, scale your audience, and deliver a beautiful UX that stands out in an inbox. 🐝to https://Beehiiv.com and use code "UPSTREAM" for 20% off your first three months -Shopify: https://shopify.com/torenberg for a $1/month trial period Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business. Shopify powers 10% of all ecommerce in the US. And Shopify's the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklinen, and 1,000,000s of other entrepreneurs across 175 countries. From their all-in-one ecommerce platform, to their in-person POS system – wherever and whatever you're selling, Shopify's got you covered. Sign up for $1/month trial period: https://shopify.com/torenberg . - Secureframe: https://secureframe.com/ Secureframe is the leading all-in-one platform for security and privacy compliance. Get SOC-2 audit ready in weeks, not months. I believe in Secureframe so much that I invested in it, and I recommend it to all my portfolio companies. Sign up for a free demo and mention UPSTREAM during your demo to get 20% off your first year. Secureframe has just released Secureframe Trust, a new product that lets you showcase your organization's security posture to build customer trust. -- This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We’re launching new shows every week, and we’re looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at erik@turpentine.co .

A few years ago, writer and cartoonist Tim Urban started becoming troubled by what he saw going on in the world around him. He noticed that while technology was progressing in unbelievable ways—people were going to space on private rocket ships and computers were the size of Starbucks coffee cups—it seemed like people were unhappier than ever before. We were petty. We were turning against each other. We were tribal. And he noticed that the very things that had allowed for unbelievable technological progress—things like democracy, liberalism, and humanism—were under siege. Why was everything such a mess? When did things get so tribal? And why do humans do this stuff to each other? Urban’s new book, What's Our Problem? A Self-Help Book for Societies , is an answer to those questions and more. Like his other work on his blog, Wait But Why , Urban uses comically simple drawings, stick figures, and charts, to make the most complex and profound questions that humans face tangible and affecting. In this book, Urban looks back at hundreds of thousands of years of history and explains how we are now living through more change, more rapidly, than at any other time—the stakes of that are almost too high to comprehend—but what he argues is that the danger we face in the end is not global warming. It’s not an asteroid racing toward Earth. It’s not an impending alien invasion. It’s ourselves. On today’s episode, Tim Urban explains how we got ourselves into this mess, and how we can also get ourselves out of it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Society is off track. We all feel it. What’s wrong? How do we fix it without throwing out all the good parts? We brought on Tim Urban to help us answer these questions. Tim Urban is a blogger, writer, and illustrator, who is best known for his blog "Wait But Why.” Started in 2013, “Wait But Why” covers various topics, from science and technology to social issues and human behavior. Tim recently wrote a book titled: “What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies,” which Ryan and David think offers a roadmap for the tribal crypto communities battling in the Web3 landscape. ------ ✨ DEBRIEF | Unpacking the episode: https://www.bankless.com/debrief-tim-urban ------ ✨ COLLECTIBLES | Collect this episode: https://collectibles.bankless.com/mint ------ 🚀 Airdrop Alpha is waiting for you on Bankless.com https://bankless.cc/Alpha ------ In today’s episode, Tim covers many questions, but the overarching ones are: 1) Power Games vs Liberal Games 2) The Importance of Liberalism to Crypto protocols 3) How to find out whether your crypto tribe is a low-rung echo chamber, or high-mind idea lab 4) Why we MUST solve this problem in order to survive as a society And of course, we had to ask him if AI is going to come kill us all…? Tim’s answer puts things into perspective. ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS: ⚖️ ARBITRUM | SCALING ETHEREUM https://bankless.cc/Arbitrum 🐙KRAKEN | MOST-TRUSTED CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://k.xyz/bankless-pod-q2 🦄UNISWAP | ON-CHAIN MARKETPLACE https://bankless.cc/uniswap 🦊METAMASK LEARN | HELPFUL WEB3 RESOURCE https://bankless.cc/MetaMask ------ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Intro 7:48 Why Are We Angry? 8:53 Defining Liberalism 17:09 Liberal vs. Power Games 29:45 Modernity, Liberalism, Institutions, & Norms 42:32 How Radical is Crypto? 46:29 Crypto and Tim’s Radical Levels Pyramid 51:05 Steelmanning the Liberalism Argument 1:03:31 Higher vs. Primitive Mind 1:13:51 How to Ascend the Ladder 1:19:50 Low Wrung Thinkers, Social Media, & Society 1:25:05 Tim’s Thoughts on AI 1:32:00 What Gives Tim Hope? 1:35:20 Closing & Disclaimers ------ RESOURCES: Tim Urban https://twitter.com/waitbutwhy Tim’s Blog https://waitbutwhy.com/ Tim’s New Book <a href= "https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Our-Problem-Self-Help-S

Author Tim Urban, who runs the popular comic blog “Wait But Why” has published a book about our current societal problems which took him six years to write, because the world changed so much during that time. An important read for everyone.

ABOUT TIM URBAN Tim Urban is a writer and bestselling author. Above all else, he spends a ton of time thinking about how we can think more effectively. Tim is the creator and author of the popular blog, Wait But Why, and the author of the new bestselling book What's Our Problem . In this episode of the Elevate Podcast , revisit Robert Glazer's conversation with Tim from 2019. In a wide ranging conversation, Robert and Tim dig into Tim’s career as a writer, his TED Talk on why everybody is a procrastinator, and an eye-opening post Tim wrote that creates a visual timeline of a human life and emphasizes that we have less time with loved ones than we think, even in the best case scenario. Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of the James Altucher Show, James sits down with Tim Urban, author of the popular blog "Wait But Why" to discuss his latest book What's Our Problem? A Self-Help Book for Societies.Tim Urban is known for his ability to explain complex topics in a relatable way, and this interview is no exception. James and Tim explore a variety of societal issues, including the increasing polarization of American society in the past decade. They delve into the reasons behind this polarization, including the concept of societal echo chambers versus idea labs.One of the key insights that Tim shares from his book is that there are two games being played in the socio-political world. The first game, which Tim calls "Political Disney World", is the game that both the left and the right are playing with each other. In this game, each side views themselves as heroes and the opposition as villains, with no middle ground. The second game, which is the unspoken nuance that many individuals silently agree with but are scared to voice their opinions for fear of being expelled from their spoken tribe, is what Tim calls "Game 2".Tim emphasizes the need for players of "Game 2" on both sides of the political spectrum to push back against "Game 1" because the current state of affairs is actually harmful to effectively promoting the ideals of either in the present.James and Tim also touch upon the concept of an idea spectrum, which gravitates between thinking like a scientist on one pole, a sports fan in the middle, and a zealot at the other pole. They discuss how individuals can move away from a zealot mindset and towards a more scientific mindset, which involves seeking out new information and being open to changing one's beliefs based on that new information.Throughout the conversation, Tim shares practical solutions for creating a more cohesive and harmonious society, emphasizing the importance of empathy and communication in solving societal issues.Listen on for a fresh perspective on the challenges we face as a society and actionable solutions for creating a better future. Buy What's Our Problem? A Self-Help Book for SocietiesRead Tim's Blog "Wait But Why?"------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book Skip the Line is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltucher.com/podcast.------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate,

Sometimes on this show, we talk about the news. This episode is about the diametric opposite of the news. It’s about thinking deeply about human history and trying to appreciate the awesome length of time and the finitude of our lives. It's an interview with Tim Urban, a blogger at the mind-expanding site Wait But Why, and the author of a new book What’s Our Problem: A Self-Help Book for Societies. If you don’t know Tim and his work, I would sum up his thing this way: Tim is a kind of alien. He has an incredible talent for seeing our world as if from the perspective of a goofy but smart extraterrestrial, who takes not the 30,000-foot view on life, but the 300,000-foot view of life, and history, and human nature. In this show, we talk about … you know what. I'm not even going to try to sum up the hour. Just enjoy. If you have questions, observations, or ideas for future episodes, email us at PlainEnglish@Spotify.com . You can find us on TikTok at www.tiktok.com/@plainenglish_ Host: Derek Thompson Guest: Tim Urban Producer: Devon Manze Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are you actually solving your procrastination problem, or are you just putting duct-tape over it and hoping you’ll stay afloat? Tim Urban, the writer behind the hugely popular blog, Wait But Why, is a self-described master procrastinator. He even delivered a Ted Talk on the topic, and most of the speech was about how long he procrastinated writing the speech! But as a master procrastinator, Tim has a lot of experience beating procrastination. And now his focus is on beating his bad habits for good, not just for now. Tim notes that our procrastination is often a signal that we’re not designing our work days or our goals very effectively, and explains how having more realistic expectations of ourselves might make us more productive in the long term. He also shares his favourite “duct-tape” methods for beating procrastination in the short term, so that he can actually get some work done while he pursues his higher goal of beating procrastination for good. Connect with Tim on Twitter or his website Wait But Why You can find the full interview here: Tim Urban on seeing the bigger picture and beating procrastination *** My new book Time Wise is out now. You can grab a copy here . Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin Twitter Instagram If you’re looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes. Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au CREDITS Produced by Inventium Host: Amantha Imber Sound Engineer: Martin Imber See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.