AI Summary
5 min read“Most people have no idea where their testosterone levels sit.” That’s not a quote from the episode, but it captures the spirit of a rambling, erudite conversation between Chris Williamson and George Mack that roams from the biochemistry of tears to the heroism of a Soviet fin swimmer, from the psychology of worrying to the economics of certification programs. The episode is a cabinet of curiosities, held together by Mack’s insistence that the things we treat as normal are largely accidents of time and place.
The Geography of Norms
Mack leans heavily on the 16th-century French philosopher Montaigne, who kept lists of cultural practices that seemed bizarre to him—growing hair only on the right side of the body, filing teeth black because white was ugly, killing one’s father at a certain age, or judging a wedding by how many of the groom’s friends slept with the bride. Montaigne’s point, and Mack’s, is that “whatever it is that you think is normal is just consensus because of where you are.” To illustrate the point, Mack offers a list of what is “normal” today: consuming 17 teaspoons of sugar per day, carrying $104,755 in debt, being 30 pounds overweight, spending 22.3 hours indoors, and more time on the toilet than exercising. The implication is not that these are bad, but that they are arbitrary—the product of a specific ecology, not universal human nature.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (07:43) **AI Writing: Why LLMs Produce Mediocre Fiction** - George explains that LLMs trained on massive, unweighted datasets learn from the vast majority of bad writing (e.g., anime fanfiction) rather than great literature, resulting in clunky metaphors.
- 2 (11:02) **Why AI Coding is Better Than AI Writing** - Discusses the asymmetry between AI's coding and writing abilities, rooted in the objectivity of feedback loops.
- 3 (12:53) **The Most Important Question of Our Time: Who Attracts the Biggest Crowd?** - A playful, mimetic debate on which living man could get the most women to show up at his house if he posted his address.
- 4 (17:43) **Dopamine Websites & The Myth of Asian Trends** - George introduces South Korea's "dopamine websites" (e.g., virtual smoke breaks) and the flawed assumption that Asian trends always predict Western ones.
- 5 (19:14) **Montaigne's Lists: A Mirror to Normalcy** - George explains how the philosopher Montaigne collected bizarre cultural norms to remind himself that "normal" is just consensus.
- 6 (22:53) **Live Shopping & The Ecology of Norms** - The failure of "live shopping" to fully take off in the West compared to Asia, and how much of identity is just "postcode."
- 7 (26:53) **California's Gay Certification Program** - George breaks down a story from City Journal about California's program to award $633 million in utility contracts to LGBT-owned firms.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
George Mack is a writer, marketer and entrepreneur.
What are the most important questions of our time? Some search for the meaning of life. Others wonder how to leverage California’s gay subsidy. Both are equally valid, but one is definitely more interesting. So what are today’s biggest questions, and do any of the answers actually matter?
Expect to learn if AI-generated stories can win awards, what qualifies for California’s gay certification program, who the chicken farmer who fooled Hitler was, why men aren’t great at receiving and expressing their emotions, why George is obsessed with Gymshark’s finances, the best lessons Chris and George have learned from this past year and much more…
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Who Is Cristiano Ronaldo Named After? (03:13) Is This the Worst Walkout Song? (07:41) Should AI Be Winning Writing Awards? (12:46) Beckham vs Pitt: Who Do Women Prefer? (17:43) Do Trends in the East Always Translate to the West? (27:24) The Truth Behind California’s “Gay Certification” (32:02) How a Chicken Farmer Defeated Hitler (38:52) Is This the Greatest Civilian Hero Story? (45:37) Why We Experience Survivor’s Guilt (55:53) Are Men Homophobic or Femmephobic? (01:04:05) Why Cash Flow Cycles Matter More Than You Think (01:09:27) The Life Lessons You Come Back to Most (01:22:08) Where to Find George
Extra Stuff:
Get my free reading list of 100 books to read before you die: https://chriswillx.com/books
Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic: https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom
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