Category: Podcast

After interviewing Bryan Caplan about his book, The Case Against Education, I had so many thoughts rolling around my head that I decided to record a separate follow up episode.

In this episode, I cover where I think Bryan is right, where I think he is wrong, and where I don’t think he goes far enough.

If you haven’t listened to the full interview with Bryan yet, check it out first.

Topics Covered:

• How economic thinking and rational choice theory explain the choice to go to college.
• The role of parents in their kid’s choices to go to college.
• Do you need to be a super genius to succeed without college?
• People choose college out of fear for bucking the dominant belief system.
• Getting cheap easy praise from college and how that creates entitlement.
• College grads are free to blame the economy when they are unemployed.
• College degrees as a social signal, not an economic signal.

Links: 

• The Case Against Education by Bryan Caplan
• For more background on where we disagree, check out:
  • Belief in College has Become Religious
  • What do Employers Want is a Stupid Question
  • Your College Degree is Worthless
  • Want to do Cool Stuff Build a Better Signal

All episodes of the Isaac Morehouse Podcast are available on SoundCloud, YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher

Bryan Caplan’s new book The Case Against Education, argues against the common arguments the value of school and college. Most people would consider his view pretty radical. He recommends massive cuts to education spending and that many people should not go to college. In this episode of the podcast, I argue that he doesn’t go far enough.

Topics Discussed:

• How Bryan got started thinking and writing about education
• Degrees as a signal
• Credential inflation
• Arguments about the quality of education
• Parents the motivation for college
• Do employers really want conformity?
• Working for free as a signal
• Even though it’s just a signal, should you still go to college?
• Bryan’s upcoming graphic novel on immigration

Links:

• The Case Against Education by Bryan Caplan
• www.bcaplan.com
• Episode 41: Bryan Caplan on Education, Immigration, and Procreation
• Robin Hanson on The Elephant in The Brain

For more background on where we disagree, check out:

• Belief in College has Become Religious
• What do Employers Want is a Stupid Question
• Your College Degree is Worthless
• Want to do Cool Stuff Build a Better Signal

All episodes of the Isaac Morehouse Podcast are available on SoundCloud, YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher

Ryan X Charles is the co-founder and CEO of Yours.org, a social media platform that uses cryptocurrency micropayments to incentive creators and support better content.

Ryan has a fascinating backstory of leaving academia and diving headfirst into Cryptocurrency. In this episode, Isaac and Ryan talk about that backstory, his time at Reddit, the origin story of Yours, and how Yours is helping to improve content on the internet.

Topics Discussed:

• What the X means in Ryan X Charles
• What got Ryan interested in Bitcoin
• Deciding to go full-time into Bitcoin in 2013
• The idea for Yours.org
• The problems with micro-payments
• Working on payment channels for Yours
• Changing the infrastructure from Bitcoin to Litecoin to Bitcoin Cash
• How the payments work on Yours.org
• The different ways of creating value on social media
• How economics helps create better content on the internet

Links and Resources:

• Yours.org
• www.ryanxcharles.com
• Connect with Ryan on Twitter
• PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) 

If you are a fan of the show, make sure to leave a review on iTunes.

All episodes of the Isaac Morehouse Podcast are available on SoundCloud, YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher

Tom W. Bell is a lawyer, author, and professor focused on the future of legal systems and government. Whether it is Seasteading, double democracy, or special economic zones, Tom is at the cutting edge for ideas about the future of government.

In this episode, we dive deep into his new book “Your Next Government? From the Nation State to Stateless Nations” and the evolution of government through history and into the future.

Topics Discussed:

• How the nation-state took over governance
• The trend over the past century towards more centralized government and then recently to more decentralized governance
• Different forms of governance
• Special economic zones and foreign trade zones
• Fordlandia
• The potential for special economic zones in the U.S.
• Is there too much democracy, or not enough?
• Double democracy
• How 100% ownership makes cities better
• Governments as a computer operating system
• Gold swans and why we should be optimistic about the future of government

• Tom’s first appearance on the podcast 
• Your Next Government? From Nation State to Stateless Nations by Tom Bell
• The Art of Not Being Governed by James Scott
• www.tomwbell.com

If you are a fan of the show, make sure to leave a review on iTunes.

All episodes of the Isaac Morehouse Podcast are available on SoundCloud, YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher

Robin Hanson is a professor of economics at George Mason University. He is the author of The Age of Em and co-author of the new book The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life which is a facilitating look into the real reasons that motivate people and society.

In this episode, Isaac and Robin dive into some of the ideas from Elephant in the Brain and unravel the reasons why people continue to do things that don’t seem to work or help them achieve their stated goals.

Topics Discussed:

• Robin’s new book, The Elephant in the Brain
• Split-brain patients
• The reasons for vague language
• The lack of correlation between medicine and health
• Using gifts to show how much we care
• The cost of violating norms
• Why religious people are healthier and wealthier
• Demonstrating group loyalty through ritual
• Religion and politics
• Signaling and education
• Our choices have audiences
• How signals change over time

Links:

• The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life by Robin Hanson
• The Overcoming Bias blog
• Shall We Vote on Values, But Bet on Beliefs? by Robin Hanson

If you are a fan of the show, make sure to leave a review on iTunes.

All episodes of the Isaac Morehouse Podcast are available on SoundCloud, YouTube, iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher

Thaddeus Russell is the author of Renegade History of the United States, founder of Renegade University, host of the Unregistered Podcast, and an intellectual entrepreneur.

In this episode, Thaddeus and I dive into World War Two. The reasons why the US joined the war, why Franklin Roosevelt wanted war with Japan and Nazi Germany, what stopped Jewish immigrants from leaving Europe, and more.

Topics Discussed:

• Renegade University
• The reasons people believe the US entered WW2
• FDR and the war in the Pacific
• Roosevelt’s desire for war with Japan
• Jewish immigration to the United States
• Trust in the media
• Self-censorship in the media before and during WW2
• The argument for going to war with Nazi Germany in 1942
• Why Roosevelt wanted to go to war with Nazi Germany
• Germany post WW1
• Autarky in Nazi Germany and Japan
• The US controlling international trade
• US refusal of Jewish Immigrants before and during WW2
• Immigration quotas

Links:

• http://www.thaddeusrussell.com/
• Renegade History of the United States
• Support Thaddeus’ work 
• Regester for Thaddeus’ WW2 course
• Thaddeus’ previous episodes:
  • Episode 57 on the Launch of Renegade University
  • Episode 24 on Renegades Puritanism and Pleasure 

If you are a fan of the show, make sure to leave a review on iTunes.

All episodes of the Isaac Morehouse Podcast are available on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher

The most popular guest in show history is back! NL joins the show to talk about a wide range of topics including celebrating Day of the Dead, unschooling, starting a business, and a lot more.

Topics Discussed:

• Why did NL decide to celebrate Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead)
• Celebrations from other cultures
• Why has Marvel been so successful with bringing comic book heroes to movies, when DC hasn’t
• Pop culture trends
• Professionals trying to be unprofessional
• NL’s book
• Dire perfume names
• Starting to use Facebook
• Unschooling & Creating your own structure
• Starting a sandwich business
• The biggest differences for in life as a 12-year-old today vs. twenty years ago

Links:

• IM Podcast Episode 17 What It’s Like to Be an Unschooled with NL Morehouse
• Star Wars Review Episode with NL Morehouse
• Interview with a Nine Year Old 
• Interview with an Eight-Year-Old
• blogofnl.wordpress.com

If you are a fan of the show, make sure to leave a review on iTunes.

All episodes of the Isaac Morehouse Podcast are available on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher

Dave Lukas is the Vice President and CSO of Grasp Technologies and the host of the Misfit Entrepreneur podcast. Dave grew up in an entrepreneurial family, and from a young age he was creating small businesses and finding opportunities to create businesses. That entrepreneurial spark has stuck with him as he built a great career and now a thriving company.

On the Misfit Entrepreneur Podcast, Dave interviews top entrepreneurs and explores their non-traditional methods for achieving success.

In this episode, Isaac and Dave follow along with Dave’s entrepreneurial journey from selling flags on Independence day as a five-year-old to selling Cutco Knives in college to becoming VP and CSO of Grasp Technologies.

If you’re young and interested in starting a business there is a ton to learn from Dave’s story.

Topics Covered: 

• Dave’s entrepreneurial start as a five-year-old
• Does having kids change the way you see the world as an entrepreneur?
• Selling Cutco knives
• Going to work for a Fortune 500 business
• The value of working sales for an aspiring entrepreneur
• Starting a business while working a full-time job
• Deciding to start Misfit Entrepreneur
• The Misfit Three

Links: 

• www.misfitentrepreneur.com
• www.grasptech.com
• Misfit Entrepreneur episode with Louis Bruno

If you are a fan of the show, make sure to leave a review on iTunes.

All episodes of the Isaac Morehouse Podcast are available on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher

Peter Leeson is a professor of economics and law at George Mason University, known for his work applying rational choice theory to unusual rituals and superstitions, piracy, and anarchy.

His most recent book WTF?! an Economic Tour of the Weird, dives into some of the strangest rituals and events around the world and explains them using rational choice theory.

In the face of the mainstream popularity of behavioral economics claiming humans are irrational, Peter looks at some of the bizarre, weird, unexplainable, and crazy parts of societies around the world and uses clear economic thinking to explain the logic and rationality behind them.

In this episode, Isaac and Peter dive into some weird examples covered in the book and then some frustrating and confusing behavior from the world around us like the price of razors, or why people speed up when you go to pass them on the highway.

Links:

• www.peterleeson.com
• Peter’s first appearance on the show
• WTF?! An Economic Tour of the Weird by Peter Lesson
• The Third Law of Demand

Topics Covered:

• Peter’s new book WTF?! an Economic Tour of the Weird
• Ordeals to try accused of crimes in medieval Europe
• The logic behind ordeals
• Ball don’t lie
• The value of oracles
• The difference between rational beliefs and rational actions
• Wife selling in 18th century England
• Why are razors so expensive?
• Why slow drivers speed up when you go to pass them?
• Are people rational?
• Beliefs as a constraint
• The risk in trying to change beliefs
• The criminal prosecution of insects and rodents
• Peter’s upcoming projects (the economics of panhandlers)

If you are a fan of the show, make sure to leave a review on iTunes.

All episodes of the Isaac Morehouse Podcast are available on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher.

Roger Ver is the CEO of Bitcoin.com and an early investor in bitcoin and many Bitcoin startups.

His passion for free-market economics led him to bitcoin in the early days of the cryptocurrency and he has been a passionate advocate and investor ever since.

In this conversation, we start with the basics, cover the most common objections and criticism about bitcoin, and then discuss the future of bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

In this episode:

• What was the philosophy that made you find bitcoin interesting?
• How did Roger come to start studying economics?
• Being prosecuted for selling “firecrackers” on eBay
• Not sleeping for days when he discovered bitcoin
• The elevator pitch for bitcoin
• Common objections to bitcoin
• Decentralization isn’t the goal, it is a tool with the goal of censorship resistance
• The debate around blocksize
• Cryptocurrency regulation
• Starting a non-nation nation

Links:

• Socialism by Ludwig Von Mises
• bitcoin.com
• freesociety.com

If you are a fan of the show, make sure to leave a review on iTunes.

All episodes of the Isaac Morehouse Podcast are available on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher.

The first episode of Office Hours is out! Every Tuesday on Office Hours, TK Coleman and I give actionable advice on listener questions about life and career.

Got a job your trying to get? A work-related issue you’re trying to resolve? An obstacle that’s holding you up? Send in your questions and check out a new episode every Tuesday.

Subscribe to Office Hours on iTunes!

This week, on the first episode of Office Hours, TK and I tackle questions about an ambitious young person that feels stuck in college, an entrepreneur who doesn’t know how to pitch her business, and a successful professional who feels bored with life.

Check out the first episode of Office Hours now on iTunes, YouTube, direct download and all major podcast platforms.

In this episode:

• A handwritten letter from a mom with an ambitious daughter who can’t stand college.
• How to create experience around your interests as a young person
• Answering the classic question, “What Do You Do?”
• How to develop your elevator pitch for what you do
• Describe what you do with honesty and don’t panic
• What to do when life is good, but you feel bored?
• Choosing projects that stretch your boundaries

Links and Recommendations:

• Unconditional Parenting by Alfie Kohn
• Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn

On this episode, I’m joined by my brother Levi Morehouse, the CEO of Ceterus. Levi is fantastic at cutting down to the crucial aspects of accounting and in this episode, we dive into the most important numbers and accounting concepts you need to know as an entrepreneur, freelancer, or small business owner.

One of the resources Levi recommends for new entrepreneurs is Quickbooks. Because he feels passionately about small business entrepreneurship, Levi is offering to help entrepreneurs set up their QuickBooks Online accounts – free of charge. Click here to request for a member of Ceterus’ team to walk you through setting up your account.

In this episode:

• Update on Ceterus’ growth
• Accounting for non-numbers people
• How to track personal finances
• Holistically looking at expenses
• Basic accounting for small business
• The most important numbers for any business
• Accounting basics for new freelancers and self-employed

Listen to previous episodes with Levi:

• Episode 12
• Episode 53

If you are a fan of the show, make sure to leave a review on iTunes.

All episodes of the Isaac Morehouse Podcast are available on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher.

Robert Murphy is a professor of economics at the Free Market Institute at Texas Tech University, co-host of Contra-Krugman with Tom Woods, and author of many great books on economics including The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism.

This is a wide-ranging conversation that goes from what sparked Bob’s intellectual in free-market economics, to starting the Contra-Krugman Podcast, to a deep dive into Economics and specifically Austrian Business Cycle Theory.

In This Episode:

• What sparked Robert’s interests in free market economics?
• Writing The Politically Incorrect Guide to Capitalism.
• The back story behind the Contra-Krugman podcast.
• Overviewing the different schools of economics.
• Austrian Business Cycle Theory
• Would a perfectly free economy be stable?
• Why do waves of bankruptcies all line up together?
• The difference between what the Austrian School says and the Efficient Market Hypothesis
• Is it harder for the Fed to manipulate the economy now?
• From an Austrian perspective, what is concerning with the economy today?
• Staying positive when you know that there will be large negative consequences to monetary policy.

Links:

• Robert Murphy
• Contra-Krugman Podcast
• Bursting Eugene Fama’s Bubble by Robert Murphy
• Contra-Krugman Episode # 99 on the 2008 Financial Crisis
• FEE‘s “The House That Uncle Sam Built”

If you are a fan of the show, make sure to leave a review on iTunes.

All episodes of the Isaac Morehouse Podcast are available on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher.

This is the second part of an in-depth conversation with TK about his career path.

We finished the last episode with TK moving to LA to pursue acting. Part two starts with the story of launching an entertainment start-up before continuing all the way to working as the education director for Praxis.

TK’s roundabout career path shows the importance of focusing on doing well in whatever work you are doing. It is almost impossible to know what opportunities will come your way in the future. The job you will want in ten years most likely doesn’t exist yet. You don’t have to have an elaborate plan to build a great career, as long as you show up and do good work it will serve you in the long term and help you attract great opportunities.

In this episode:

• What did TK want to do for a career as a kid?
• Joining the founding team of an entertainment tech startup
• Going out to raise funding around the time of the financial crisis
• Knowing when it’s time to give up
• Getting a shot at film production
• Never working from a position of desperation
• How doggy day care almost led to a movie
• Creating without permission
• Blogging for three years straight
• TK’s key takeaways from his career

Links:

• Part One
• tkcoleman.com

If you are a fan of the show, make sure to leave a review on iTunes.

All episodes of the Isaac Morehouse Podcast are available on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher.

TK has been on the show many times, but in all of our conversations, we have never taken a deep dive into his career path.

TK’s taken a fascinating path and worked as a bartender, server, financial planner, seminar leader, startup founder, assistant philosophy professor and many other roles before becoming Education Director for Praxis.

In today’s episode, we start with the first part of his career journey from childhood career aspirations, to college, and then making the move to LA.

 In this episode:

• What did TK want to do for a career as a kid?
• Falling in love with theater
• Deciding to become a financial advisor
• Feeling a calling to leave Michigan to pursue acting
• Confusing family and friends with career choices
• Leaving a job in the philosophy department at WMU to try out for American Idol
• Learning that failure in real life isn’t nearly as bad as failure in theory
• Becoming an accounting trainer
• Learning without a scarcity mindset
• Getting on Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader
• TK’s first startup

Links:

• Rich Dad, Poor Dad
• tkcoleman.com

If you are a fan of the show, make sure to leave a review on iTunes.

All episodes of the Isaac Morehouse Podcast are available on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher.