3 episodes
Scaling Theory Thibault Schrepel
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- Science
Scaling Theory is a podcast dedicated to the power laws behind the growth of companies, technologies, legal and living systems. The host, Dr. Thibault Schrepel, has a PhD in antitrust law and looks at the regulation of digital ecosystems through the lens of complexity theory. The podcast is hosted by the Network Law Review. It features scholarly discussions with select guests and deep dives into the academic literature.
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#3 – Thomas Wolf: Open-Source AI Scaling Laws
Thomas Wolf is the co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Hugging Face, the company at the center of the open-source AI ecosystem. He has a Ph.D. in statistical & quantum physics.
In this episode, we explore why open-source (“OS”) AI may be preferable to closed-source, whether OS has a real chance to take over the space, the challenges OS developers must overcome to scale their foundational models, the role of data and infrastructure in scaling dynamics, how big tech companies are positioning themselves in the ecosystem and responding to other companies' strategies in a true complexity science fashion, and overall, the power laws that undermine the growth of the ecosystem. I hope you enjoy the conversation. I hope you enjoy the conversation.
Find me on X at @ProfSchrepel. Also, be sure to subscribe to the Scaling Theory podcast; it helps its growth.
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#2 – Geoffrey West: The Scaling Laws Behind Living Organisms, Cities, Businesses, and Technologies
Geoffrey West is a physicist, former president and distinguished professor of the Santa Fe Institute. His book, “Scale: The Universal Laws of Life, Growth, and Death in Organisms, Cities, and Businesses” (2017), is a masterpiece.
In this episode, we talk about the power laws behind living organisms, cities, businesses, and technologies. By the end of this episode, you will know more about the power law behind the heartbeat of all mammals, the number of patents and crime in big cities compared to small cities, innovation, the way technology scales, and more. I hope you enjoy the conversation.
Find me on X at @ProfSchrepel. Also, be sure to subscribe to the Scaling Theory podcast; it helps its growth.
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References
Geoffrey West, Scale: The Universal Laws of Life, Growth, and Death in Organisms, Cities, and Businesses (Penguin Books, 2017)
George J. Stigler, “The Economies of Scale”, The Journal of Law & Economics 1 (1958): 54–71
Michael HR Stanley, et al. “Scaling Behaviour in the Growth of Companies”, Nature 379.6568 (1996): 804-806.APA
W. Brian. Arthur, “Competing Technologies, Increasing Returns, and Lock-In by Historical Events”, The Economic Journal 99.394 (1989): 116-131.
Madeleine IG Daepp, et al. “The Mortality of Companies”, Journal of the Royal Society Interface 12.106 (2015): 20150120.APA
Jiang Zhang, et al. “Scaling Laws and a General Theory for the Growth of Public Companies”, arXiv preprint arXiv:2109.10379 (2021) -
Why “Scaling Theory”
In this first episode, Dr. Thibault Schrepel (@ProfSchrepel) introduces “Scaling Theory”, a podcast dedicated to the power laws behind the growth of companies, technologies, legal and living systems.
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References:
➝ Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species (1859)
➝ Melanie Mitchell, Complexity: A Guided Tour (2011)
➝ Mitchell Waldrop, Complexity The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos (2019)
➝ John H. Miller & Scott Page, Complex Adaptive Systems: An Introduction to Computational Models of Social Life (2007)
➝ W. Brian Arthur, Complexity and the Economy (2014)
➝ Geoffrey West, Scale: The Universal Laws of Life and Death in Organisms, Cities and Companies (2017)