#95: Inside Humanity's Infinite Improbability Drive – Matt Ridley

Matt Ridley is an author, journalist, biologist, and businessman. His books have sold over a million copies.

Show notes

Selected links

• Follow Matt Ridley: Website | Twitter
• How Innovation Works, by Matt Ridley
• The Origins of Virtue, by Matt Ridley
• Zero to One, by Peter Thiel
• Born Standing Up, by Steve Martin
• The Innovator’s Dilemma, by Clayton Christensen
• ‘The Use of Knowledge in Society’, essay by Friedrich Hayek
• Bad Blood, by John Carreyrou
• The Great Stagnation, by Tyler Cowen
• The Rise and Fall of American Growth, by Robert Gordon

Topics discussed

• When did Matt first come to understand the disturbing notion of selfish gene theory? [8:55]
• How did Matt, a biologist, become so interested in innovation? [16:20]
• The infinite improbability drive. [20:30]
• What’s the difference between innovation and invention? [24:05]
• What do most people (wrongly) believe about how innovation works? [25:48]
• Why innovation relies on collaboration. [33:53]
• Innovation is the child of freedom. But what amount or types of freedom are sufficient to underpin innovation? [40:35]
• Why does innovation thrive in fragmented political systems? [46:39]
• Does unfettered economic freedom tend irresistibly towards monopolies? [50:37]
• Antitrust enforcement: have we been doing enough? [1:02:44]
• The relationship between uncertainty and innovation. [1:05:58]
• Frauds and visionaries. [1:14:20]
• Uncertainty and economics. [1:15:26]
• Are we in the midst of a Great Stagnation? [1:26:40]
• Can we escape stagnation? [1:40:30]