The Point Blank Show

Gregory Zukerman writes for the Wall Street Journal. Over the last few decades he has written several books. In 2019 he wrote "The Man Who solved the market: How Jim Simons Launched The Quant Revolution" which became a runaway hit. It tells the story of a genius mathematician who used modern quantitative techniques to make money for himself and his investors. Since 1988 one of the fund’s operated by Mr Simons generated average annual returns of 66%. Legendary investors like Warren Buffet, George Soros and Peter Lynch, too, cannot claim to have made these outsized profits with such consistency. How did Mr Simons go about his business? How did he manage a stellar team while keeping them movitated? How did he use machine learning, artificial intelligence, data and analytics in an era when these terms were unheard of in the industry? Gregory Zukerman explains it all in this podcast.

Ananyo Bhattacharya's "The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John Von Neumann" is a fascinating book about the Hungarian-American mathematician. It's a shame that most of us know little about the man. Dr Bhattacharya digs deep into the mathematician's early days and how he went on to have a lasting impact in different fields including nanotechnology, game theory, artificial intelligence and quantum physics.

In this podcast Prof Dennis Yi Tenen, a software engineer turned literary scholar, leans on history of computer programming to tell modern tales of Artificial Intelligence. How did robots learn to write so quickly? Is it a good thing? Do technologies like ChatGPT make us lazy? Not quite, says Prof Tenen. He argues that such advances do not diminish our capacity to think. It may just make us better writers, on an average. Previously machines learned from human outputs but now they learn from machine outputs. What does this mean for us? He believes AI is neither Jesus nor a Terminator-like force as long as both the makers and users use it responsibly.

In February this year Facebook celebrated its 20th birthday. Tom Wainwright, tech and media editor of The Economist has written a brilliant cover story on the company's evolution since it began in a dorm room at Harvard. With a market capitalisation of $1.2trn and 3bn users, Facebook operates in a new social media order. Tom writes that "public posting is increasingly migrating to closed groups, rather like email. What Mr Zuckerberg calls the digital “town square” is being rebuilt—and posing problems." How is the outfit grappling with these changes? Over the years it has mastered the art (and science by relying on data) of cloning features and sometimes copying competition while managing to stay relevant. What does the future hold for the behemoth? How is Artificial Intelligence changing the industry? Tom covers a lot of ground in the podcast.

Do nice guys finish last? Not quite. David Bodani’s brilliant book, “The Art of Fairness:The Power of Decency in a World Turned Mean” is filled with anecdotes of leaders from various fields who may have been fair and firm to get the job done but never mean or condescending. In this podcast David shares some of his thoughts on why it might be worth emulating the Satya Nadellas of the world instead of the Steve Ballmers. Drawing from examples on the sports ground to battlefields, David makes a convincing argument that you can indeed succeed without being a jerk.

The cryptosphere is, well, cryptic. Even the best of the best find it hard to explain the whole thing without fumbling. Zeke Faux has managed to put it all together in his fascinating book, "Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall". Zeke planted himself within the crypto-mad community to learn more about the trade. He has interviewed Sam Bankman-Fried, among others, to understand what the biggies were up to. Incidentally, "Number Go Up" was referenced a few times during the former crypto king's recent trial where he was charged with multiple counts of fraud. To research the wider consequences, Zeke visited Cambodia to uncover the underbelly of the industry where people are being held captive or trafficked. We are yet to see a solid application of the technology that powers cryto. When that will be is anybody's guess. Until then, if there is one book that you should read to understand where we stand so far, read this one.

We spend almost a third of our lives sleeping. Give or take. And yet until fifty years ago, scientists didn’t know much about sleep. Kenneth Miller shines a spotlight on the subject in his fabulous book, Mapping the Darkness: The Visionary Scientists Who Unlocked the Mysteries of Sleep. Why do we sleep and why is it important that we get enough of it? What happens when we don’t? Who are those scientists whom we owe some amount of gratitude for helping us understand something that can literally be a matter of life and death? In this podcast Mr Miller, relying on years of research, takes a crack at explaining what was an esoteric topic not too long ago.

In this podcast, Daniel Knowles reflects upon a world with fewer cars. The use of a car becomes less effective once everyone has got one. Anyone who has been stuck for hours in Mumbai or New York traffic should know. Are electric cars a solution? What can we learn from places like Singapore, Tokyo, Amsterdam and London? It is reassuring that most of these cities made amends over the course of many decades. Today, the younger folk in some Western countries prefer taking the public transport wherever possible. But there is still a long way to go.

Kiran Verma has pledged to walk a staggering 21,000 km across India to raise awareness around blood donation in the country. His NGO, Simply Blood, world's first virtual blood donation platform, connects donors and seekers in real time. In this podcast Kiran talks about what got him to quit his day job and pursue his cause. "Nobody should die waiting for blood", he says. Many believed him to be crazy at first. Today, with over 15,300 km across 16 states, his walk has prompted officials to change things on ground. Thus far 26,252 people have donated blood to support his walk at 123 blood donation camps. "You have to be a little crazy if you wish to change the world".

Dr Anna Lembke is a psychiatrist and the chief of the Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic at Stanford University School of Medicine. She has treated patients with addiction of all kinds including alcoholism and drug use. And behavioural ones such as smartphone and the internet. Her book Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the age of Indulgence is a brilliant read. It brings to life real stories of her patients and how they struggled through addiction and broke it. In this podcast Dr Lembke recommends steps to avoid the trap of falling for our immediate impulses. How does the pleasure and pain balance work in our brains? When is it the best time to introduce technology to kids? Why dopamine is important and how we can make it work for us? And lots more.

You don't need to be an economics buff to enjoy Gavin Jackson's "Money In One Lesson". The fascinating book breaks down money and charts its history in a user-friendly manner. In this podcast Gavin talks about stuff like this: What's common between most of the monetary system, including banks, and the hawala system? How has it inspired entrepreneurs to enable peer-to-peer lending? How cryptocurrency takes a few lessons from the centuries-old diamond trade in Surat where angadias or young couriers in Gujarat transfer millions of dollars worth of diamonds everyday to rank strangers solely on trust. What did we learn from the 2008 financial crisis? It's almost always better, he says, to be faster at cleaning up the aftermath than to let banks live in their mess as a punishment. More recently, why did the Silicon Valley Bank implode despite all those learnings? In Dante's Inferno, sodomites and money lenders occupy the same circle of hell. Why does money get a bad rep? And a lot more.

Ludwig Siegele, considered among the top tech gurus at The Economist, has covered the global tech industry since 1995. He sees the same excitement and chatter around ChatGPT in the Silicon valley as there was when the internet was born. In this podcast, Ludwig shares his views on the new sensation, which can do itself some good if it can slow itself down a bit. Also, is the future in a hybrid open model which will only dig into text from verified research reports and news articles before responding to the user's questions? Should Google be worried? And can the whole thing be monetised?

Annie Lowrey's "Give People Money: How a Universal Basic Income Would End Poverty, Revolutionize Work, and Remake the World" is a richly reported book which brings to light some personal and often harrowing accounts of folks who could benefit instantly through cash transfers. Annie travelled to the boondocks in India and villages in Kenya where it was considered too rude to eat in the open, given the lack of food going around. Her trips to the sticks in South Korea and America gave her a peek into the life of ordinary citizens grappling to get by while battling a thicket of regulations and bureaucracy. In this podcast Annie offers compelling reasons why a UBI is a simple but effective solution to address deep poverty. She cites examples of countries and cities that have successfully experimented with such programmes and saw a perceptible rise in standard of living and dignity. Indeed it cannot replace all welfare schemes or subsidies but officials around the world could do well to give UBI a decent shot.

Philip Coggan's "Surviving the Daily Grind: Bartleby's Guide to Work" is an amusing account on corporate world's oddities. For instance, "Why so many managers pollute their utterances with so much inane jargon?" If we had a rupee for each time someone uses the word, "holistic" or recommends others to step outside their "comfort zone", we would all be rich. In this podcast, Philip talks about the merits of using normal English while citing examples of how it can help the bottom line. How has email changed our communication? What are some wacky ways of hiring people? What is the point of all those lenghtly meetings? Why lack of "empathy" from managers who rule with an iron hand can have dire consequences? And finally, what makes a good manager?

Tom Standage has authored seven history books. His most recent one charts the history of the wheel to self-driving cars and everything in between. Whereas the wheel remains among the most important inventions of mankind, it took thousands of years before we found mass applications for it. In this podcast Tom motors along different eras while describing the invention's bumpy ride and how it has shaped our society. Today, how have smartphones inherited the legacy of the car? Why are these pocket-sized gadgets an "internet of motion" and "a ticket to mobility"? How is the "Netflix for cars" model working out for startups? Back in the day how did McDonald's learn from Ford? And why spending more money on a mattress may be more expedient than on a car? Listen to this and more from the deputy editor of The Economist who also plays the drums in his band, Sebastopol when he isn't writing.

RB Ramesh started coaching when he was just 22 years old. His training institute "Chess Gurukul" has spawned champions who have brought over 100 medals for India in various competitions. Just last year his student, Praggnanandhaa or Pragg became the youngest player to defeat Magnus Carlsen, a giant of the game. In this podcast RB Ramesh talks about his experience of teaching folks from across different generations. What separates world beaters from the rest? How much of it all is psychological? How does he help his students deal with stress during big competitions? Did he have any superstitions during his playing career? And lots more.

Edward Carr, Foreign editor of The Economist takes us through his brilliant special report on US foreign policy. He argues that inspite of a dreadful decade abroad, Americans are unduly pessimistic about their place in the world. The rise of China as a formidable player in world affairs is undisputed, but its economic heft does not yet qualify it to be a geopolitical influence that America wields. In this podcast he talks about some of important keywords that have bothered US in the last few months. Syria, spying, counter insurgency and what are some of the alternatives, if any, to an American dominated international world order. And he does incredibly well in the rapid fire round, right at the end, which is reserved for our friends at The Economist.

In this podcast, Jon Fasman of The Economist talks about his on ground experience of covering the US presidential elections. Over the past few months Jon travelled across the country, attended rallies, conducted interviews, met strangers, filed articles, wrote online, did live blogging, recorded podcasts and met crazy deadlines. To report the greatest political event on the planet, a little bit of insomnia came in handy too. Given a chance, would he do it again. In a heartbeat, he says.

Paul Markillie, the Innovation Editor at The Economist joins us to talk about the magical world of digital manufacturing, the subject of his special report which was published earlier this year. In this 20 minute chat Paul shares his experiences which took him to some interesting places across the world. This third revolution has already taken off. For instance, in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics, 23 of the 25 world records in swimming were broken not just because the players trained hard, but they wore body suits which mimicked shark skin making them more hydro-dynamic. It had a lot to do with the new-age manufacturing process which has sprung up new kinds of materials. They help make groundbreaking products cheaply. Although the concept of 3D printing is relatively new, Paul reckons that we may soon see service engineers not having to scratch their heads for that elusive spare part which can fix your washing machine. They could just print that piece of plastic or metal to the exact specifications and get your machine up and running in a jiffy. From making high end jewellery to popping small food filaments for icing your cake, digital manufacturing is an exciting new domain.

The Economists deputy news editor, Simon Wright is so good at dismembering jargons that you might even start to care about knowing a little something about natural gas, the subject of his special report that was published this month. In this podcast, Simon gives us a crash course in Shale gas and explains why is it a big deal that America has started to mine more of it in the last few years. He reckons that it may still take a while for developing countries to get their hands on it, but this discovery could lead to some interesting political repercussions in world economy.