Henry Oliver is the author of the book "Second Act: What Late Bloomers Can Tell You About Success and Reinventing Your Life" and prolific blogger on literature.

Episode transcript

--

Timestamps

(0:00:00) Intro

(0:00:38) Late Bloomers

(0:07:28) Great Man theory of history

(0:16:14) The Common Reader

(0:20:56) Rear Window

(0:22:58) Literature vs film or music

(0:26:41) Mimesis

(0:30:07) Artistic themes

(0:38:11) Knausgaard, Bolano, Ferrante

(0:39:27) Misreading

(0:42:54) Harold Bloom

(0:45:47) Art and economic growth

(0:47:25) LLMs

(0:50:55) Hayek

(0:52:20) Keats

(0:54:35) Literature vs philosophy

(0:57:25) Morality

(0:59:11) Nepotism

(1:00:00) Shakespeare

(1:06:57) Henry’s output

--

Links

- Henry’s Substack

- Henry’s book, “Second Act”

- Follow Henry on X

- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Dan on X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

- Subscribe to Undertone on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

- Watch or listen to previous episodes of Undertone with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tyler Cowen⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Vitalik Buterin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Scott Sumner⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Samo Burja⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Steve Hsu⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠more⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

- I love hearing from listeners. Email me any time at dan@danschulz.co

- Share anonymous feedback on the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/w7LXMCXhdJ5Q2eB9A⁠

Jan Swafford is an author and composer of classical music. He's written canonical biographies on Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Ives, and is a composer of works such as Landscape with Traveler, From the Shadow of the Mountain, and The Silence at Yuma Point.

Episode transcript

--

Timestamps

(0:00:00) Intro

(0:00:43) Beethoven and immortality

(0:02:35) Mozart and human nature

(0:04:43) Mozart and romanticism

(0:08:13) Artistic genius

(0:12:38) Beethoven’s late period

(0:15:10) Composers and virtuosos

(0:19:00) Beethoven’s father

(0:21:02) Influence of the enlightenment

(0:26:08) Identifying the next Beethoven

(0:31:23) Aristocratic patrons

(0:34:11) The German genius

(0:38:45) Modern art

(0:41:54) Artistic influences

(0:45:45) Explaining your art

(0:49:55) The solo composer

(0:51:50) What would Beethoven say today?

(0:55:39) Modern recordings

(1:02:22) Future of art

(1:04:57) Jan’s compositions

(1:11:47) Enthusiasts and the internet

(1:13:29) Interpreting history

(1:18:02) Music v literature

(1:23:07) Three great spiritual forces

--

Links

- ⁠Jan's homepage⁠

- ⁠Jan's piece "They That Mourn"⁠

- ⁠Mozart biography⁠

- ⁠Beethoven biography⁠

- ⁠Brahms biography⁠

- ⁠Ives biography⁠

- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Dan on X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

- Subscribe to Undertone on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

- Watch or listen to previous episodes of Undertone with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Tyler Cowen⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Vitalik Buterin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Scott Sumner⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Samo Burja⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Steve Hsu⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠more⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

- I love hearing from listeners. Email me any time at dan@danschulz.co

- Share anonymous feedback on the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/w7LXMCXhdJ5Q2eB9A

Eli Dourado is the chief economist at the Abundance Institute and writes and thinks about how to increase the pace of American economic growth.

Episode transcript

--

Timestamps

(0:00:00) Intro

(0:00:43) Non-TFP econ metrics

(0:04:59) Are ideas getting harder to find?

(0:06:52) Economics as a field

(0:10:43) Tyler Cowen’s influence

(0:13:00) Culture and economic growth

(0:16:13) Uniqueness of the United States

(0:19:43) Education

(0:23:54) Revisiting “notes on technology”

(0:37:28) Investing in hard-tech

(0:44:30) Government’s role in tech

(0:49:22) Talent

(0:54:34) NEPA

(0:56:56) AI

(1:01:20) Societal collapse

(1:09:54) Advice to grow the economy

--

Links

- Follow Eli on X

- Eli's blog

- ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Dan on X⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

- Subscribe to Undertone on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

- Watch or listen to previous episodes of Undertone with ⁠⁠⁠⁠Tyler Cowen⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Vitalik Buterin⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Scott Sumner⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Samo Burja⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Steve Hsu⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠more⁠⁠⁠⁠

- I love hearing from listeners. Email me any time at dan@danschulz.co

- Share anonymous feedback on the podcast: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://forms.gle/w7LXMCXhdJ5Q2eB9A