Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Todd McFarlane (#759)

This episode is a two-for-one, and that’s because the podcast recently hit its 10-year anniversary and passed one billion downloads. To celebrate, I’ve curated some of the best of the best—some of my favorites—from more than 700 episodes over the last decade. I could not be more excited.

The episode features segments from episode #691 “Nassim Nicholas Taleb & Scott Patterson — How Traders Make Billions in The New Age of Crisis, Defending Against Silent Risks, Personal Independence, Skepticism Where It (Really) Counts, The Bishop and The Economist, and Much More” and #639 “Todd McFarlane, Legendary Comic Book Artist — How to Make Iconic Art, Reinvent Spider-Man, Live Life on Your Own Terms, and Meet Every Deadline.”

Bios of guests may be found at tim.blog/combo.

Please enjoy!

Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, YouTube, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Audible, or on your favorite podcast platform.

This episode is brought to you by Momentous high-quality supplements, Eight Sleep’s Pod 4 Ultra sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating, and LMNT electrolyte supplement.

Transcript for the full Nassim N. Taleb & Scott Patterson episode | Transcript for the full Todd McFarlane episode | Transcripts for all episodes

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#759: Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Todd McFarlane

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What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.

SHOW NOTES

[04:51] Notes about this supercombo format.
[05:54] Enter Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Scott Patterson.
[06:32] The joy of writing a preemptive resignation letter.
[07:13] Developing resilience against criticism.
[10:04] Nassim: contrarian, or simply independent?
[12:27] Jiving with skeptical turkeys.
[17:21] Persisting through the polycrisis.
[19:18] Introducing the precautionary principle.
[21:37] Nassim’s preferred legacy.
[23:50] Precautionary principle 101.
[25:14] Fat tails, thin tails, the COVID vaccine, and GMOs.
[32:51] Enter Todd McFarlane.
[33:21] Baseball.
[38:46] Rejection letters.
[42:38] Compelling storytelling and meeting deadlines.
[45:46] Deadlines pre-Internet vs. deadlines today.
[48:36] How industry status quo led to the founding of Image Comic Books.
[1:00:30] The Comics Code and the last straw.
[1:06:52] The Marvel Dream Team exodus.
[1:25:13] How is Todd’s camel bladder a competitive advantage?
[1:31:02] Career bouncing and double-shifting as a penciler and inker.
[1:49:08] The happy accident of Venom.
[1:55:46] De-Rockwelling the company icon and inventing “spaghetti webbing.”
[2:03:31] Bucking the status quo to become the status quo.
[2:07:13] Parting thoughts and a promise for round two.

SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE

Connect with Nassim Nicholas Taleb:

Website | Twitter

Connect with Scott Patterson:

Website | Twitter

Connect with Todd McFarlane:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

PEOPLE MENTIONED

Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That's how we're gonna be — cool. Critical is fine, but if you're rude, we'll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Brian Oberkirch for the inspiration.)

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Char

1 year ago

Cannot believe I skipped Todd the first time – holy shit!! He’s incredible!! I pray you have him back for a round two. I feel like I just listened to a masterclass on the exact lessons I needed to learn to bring my
business to the next level.

Thanks for resharing Tim

Mike Colbourne

Reply to Char

he signed my Spawn tattoo 😎

Vanessa Johnson

I can’t believe I skipped Todd the first time – holy shit!! He’s incredible!! I pray you have him back for round two. I feel like I just listened to a masterclass on the exact lessons I needed to learn to bring my business to the next level.