Riskgaming Lux Capital

Welcome to the ongoing mini-series The Orthogonal Bet. Hosted by ⁠Samuel Arbesman⁠, a Complexity Scientist, Author, and Scientist in Residence at Lux Capital.

In this episode, Sam speaks with Amy Kuceyeski, a mathematician and biologist who is a professor at Cornell University in computational biology, statistics, and data science, as well as in radiology at Weill Cornell Medical College. Amy studies the workings of the human brain, the nature of neurological diseases, and the use of machine learning and neuroimaging to better understand these topics.



Sam wanted to talk to Amy because she has been using sophisticated AI techniques for years to understand the brain. She is full of innovative ideas and experiments about how to explore how we process the world, including building AI models that mimic brain processes. These models have deep connections and implications for non-invasively stimulating the brain to treat neurodegenerative diseases or neurological injuries.

Produced by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christopher Gates⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠George Ko⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & Suno

The history of pharmaceutical development has traditionally been one of exploration on the frontiers of life on Earth. From fungi to molds, we’ve sourced many of our most important drugs from some of the unlikeliest places, and it’s all due to evolution. Nature’s intense competition and selection forces has made it the ultimate developer of pharmaceuticals, with potential cures lying in wait for someone to find them.

Searching nature is expensive though, and thus, pharmaceutical companies re-centered around synthetic chemistry over the past few decades, hoping to realize a more reliable and inexpensive drug discovery model. Unfortunately, we have hit a logjam with such an approach, and the evidence is clear that natural products are often regularly superior to synthetics.

We wanted to dive deeper into the future of biopharma, and so we brought together our own Tess Van Stekelenburg and Elliot Hershberg, the writer of Century of Bio, to work on a new two-part mini-series for the Riskgaming podcast, titled Evolved Technology. It’s an extension of a series of talks that Tess and Elliot (“two crazy bio-optimists”) have conducted in SF, and we hope it illuminates a critical scientific frontier with implications for all of us.

In this first episode, Tess and Elliot talk about the editing of life; why thousands head to the Himalayas to find tiny caterpillars in the dirt; the business history of natural products in pharma; the transition from natural products to synthetic chemistry; the limitations of our current biochem toolkits; and finally, how AI/ML are bringing us back to the search for natural products using higher-order models.

Produced by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christopher Gates⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠George Ko⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & Suno

Welcome to the ongoing mini-series The Orthogonal Bet. Hosted by ⁠Samuel Arbesman⁠, a Complexity Scientist, Author, and Scientist in Residence at Lux Capital.

In this episode, Sam delves into the recent CrowdStrike/Microsoft outage, providing insights on how to understand this event through the lens of complexity science. The episode was inspired by Sam's very timely post in the Atlantic: "What the Microsoft Outage Reveals"

Join us as Sam answers Producer Christopher Gates’ questions, exploring the intricate web of factors that led to this global system failure and offering a unique perspective on navigating and preventing such crises in the future.

Produced by ⁠⁠⁠Christopher Gates⁠⁠⁠

Music by ⁠⁠⁠George Ko⁠⁠⁠ & Suno

Welcome to the ongoing mini-series The Orthogonal Bet. Hosted by Samuel Arbesman, a Complexity Scientist, Author, and Scientist in Residence at Lux Capital.

In this episode, Sam speaks with Kristoffer Tjalve. Kristoffer is hard to categorize, and in the best possible way. However, if one had to provide a description, it could be said that he is a curator and impresario of a burgeoning online community that celebrates the “quiet, odd, and poetic web.”



What does this phrase mean? It can mean a lot, but it basically refers to anything that is the opposite of the large, corporate, and bland version of the Internet most people use today. The web that Kristoffer seeks out and tries to promote is playful, small, weird, and deeply human. Even though these features might have been eclipsed by social media and the current version of online experiences, this web—which feels like a throwback to the earlier days of the Internet—is still out there, and Kristoffer works to help cultivate it. He does this through a newsletter, an award, an event, and more.

Produced by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christopher Gates⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠George Ko⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ & Suno

The media world has been rocked by artificial intelligence, labor strife, the creator economy, the decimation of business models and so much more. But sometimes it's not collapse and crisis that's the most interesting story, but rather just another day of a assiduously growing a platform. That's the story I want to talk about today on risk gaming, and we're going to zoom in on Medium. It's a venerable media business founded by Ev Williams all the way back in 2012. And one that has become notorious for its pivoting dance to a brighter media future. But under Tony Stubblebine who became CEO two years ago. The company has reached cash flow break even, and he believes Medium has found a balanced business and media model for the decade ahead. I wanted to learn more, so let's dive in.

Produced by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Christopher Gates⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Music by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠George Ko⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Hello and welcome to the ongoing miniseries The Orthogonal Bet

Hosted by Samuel Arbesman, Complexity Scientist, Author, and Scientist in Residence at Lux Capital

In this episode, Samuel speaks with Alice Albrecht, the founder and CEO of Recollect, a startup in the AI and tools for thought space. Alice, trained in cognitive neuroscience, has had a long career in machine learning and artificial intelligence.

Samuel wanted to talk to Alice because of her extensive experience in AI, machine learning, and cognitive science. She has studied brains, witnessed the hype cycles in AI, and excels at discerning the reality from the noise in the field. Alice shares her wisdom on the nature of artificial intelligence, the current excitement surrounding it, and the related domain of computational tools for thinking. She also provides unique perspectives on artificial intelligence.

Episode Produced by ⁠Christopher Gates⁠

Music by ⁠George Ko⁠ & Suno