Physicist J. Doyne Farmer wants a new kind of economics that takes account of what we've learned from chaos theory and that builds more accurate models of how humans actually behave. Listen as he makes the case for complexity economics with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. Farmer argues that complexity economics makes better predictions than standard economic theory ... Show More
Nov 3
Primal Intelligence (with Angus Fletcher)
<p>What do Shakespeare, Hollywood storytelling, and military special operations have in common? They all excel at inventing new plans, or improvising when we're facing radical uncertainty. Listen as professor of story science Angus Fletcher tells EconTalk's Russ Roberts how we've ... Show More
1h 20m
Apr 2025
Doyne Farmer on making sense of chaos for a better world
Doyne Farmer is something of a rebel. Back in the seventies, when he was a student, he walked into a casino in Las Vegas, sat down at a roulette table and beat the house. To anyone watching the wheel spin and the ball clatter to its final resting place, his choice of number would ... Show More
28m 32s
Sep 15
The Life Scientific: Doyne Farmer
Doyne Farmer is something of a rebel. Back in the seventies, when he was a student, he walked into a casino in Las Vegas, sat down at a roulette table and beat the house. To anyone watching the wheel spin and the ball clatter to its final resting place, his choice of number would ... Show More
26m 28s
Jun 2023
Doughnut Economics (with Andrew Fanning)
On its website, the Doughnut Economics Action Lab describes Doughnut Economics as “a compass for human prosperity in the 21st century.” Its proponents prioritize economic solutions that meet both the basic needs of all people—food, housing, equity, democratic inclusion—and the ec ... Show More
36m 24s
Nov 2024
The economics of irresponsibility
The classical economic assumption, from the days of Adam Smith, is that we all have free will and this freedom ensures the best possible outcomes for the economy, provided those decisions are based on greed and self-interest. This week’s episode opens with a student questioning M ... Show More
38m 46s
Feb 2025
AI won't plateau — if we give it time to think | Noam Brown
<p>To get smarter, traditional AI models rely on exponential increases in the scale of data and computing power. Noam Brown, a leading research scientist at OpenAI, presents a potentially transformative shift in this paradigm. He reveals his work on OpenAI's new o1 model, which f ... Show More
13m 28s
Oct 2024
The cycles of the economy
<p>What causes an economy to fall from a peak? Many economists will argue it’s exogenous shocks but, as Phil and Steve discuss, there’s not too many of those around. Maybe COVID was one, but even that came about because our economic system has drawn us closer to wildlife habitats ... Show More
36m 31s
Jan 2025
The cash only economy where economics works
This week Phil introduces Steve Keen to the fictional island of Cornucopia. It’s a simple place, where the only trade takes place with gold coins. Banks are not allowed to give loans, and the money supply remains constant, unless the Chancellor decides to mint new ones.  ... Show More
30m 15s