Episode · This Week in Startups · 2019-11-29
Jason Calacanis & Alexandr Wang: books mentioned on This Week in Startups
E1005: Scale AI CEO & Co-founder Alexandr Wang creates training data for all AI applications to improve machine learning, shares insights on the future of autonomous vehicles, China's AI advantages over US, importance of humans focusing on higher-value
1:04 Jason intros Alexandr 2:19 Alexandr shares his personal startup history 5:17 How & why did Scale start? 8:26 What is the best example of Scale in practice?
Jason Calacanis discussed The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Black Swan
The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is an influential examination of how highly improbable, unpredictable events profoundly impact history, finance, and human society.
Discussed“I think a hundred is fine I mean again it's like it's your Black Swan farming so you know takes as many as it takes yeah that's what people don't understand see systems like the Y Combinator”
Where to get it
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Antifragile
Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb is a groundbreaking exploration of systems that not only withstand shocks and disorder but actually thrive and grow stronger when exposed to volatility, stress, and uncertainty.
Discussed“what a great book really good did you ever read anti fragile yeah that's my favorite developing companies and systems that do better in chaos”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“like Fight Club you just did like some stupid prank yeah that's exactly right”