5-Bullet Friday

Hi All!

Here is your weekly dose of 5-Bullet Friday, a list of what I’m pondering and exploring.

This edition is brought to you by Our Place, makers of the ​Titanium Always Pan Pro​​​, my go-to cooking pan​. Most nonstick pans can release PFAS, also referred to as “forever chemicals,” and I prefer to dodge the toxins. Read more in the P.S.

Where I’m pulling back the curtain

“Has AI Already Killed How-To Nonfiction? Sales Trends, My Personal Data, and What It Might Mean for the Future.”

Song I’m listening to

“Mama Clo” (YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music) by Thornato and Benjamín Vanegas.

What I’m listening to

“A rational conversation on where AI is actually going” on Lenny Rachitsky’s podcast. This is the best AI-related podcast episode I’ve heard in months. This middle-ground discussion, based on a lot of real data, stands out, as I’m tired of armies of techno-optimists selling near-instant superabundance and techno-doomers forecasting Mad Max without any citations. Benedict is sharp, and many of his comparisons and lenses were new to me.
​
The official description from Lenny’s site:​
​
​Benedict Evans is an independent analyst and former partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he spent years as their in-house “thinker” tracking the most important technology trends. For the past six years, he’s been publishing deeply researched presentations on where tech is heading, most recently focused on AI’s transformation of the economy. His work is read by founders, investors, and operators trying to make sense of a noisy field. His most controversial opinion: AI is as big a deal as the internet or mobile—and only as big.

Documentary I’m watching

​Waste Land (Amazon, Apple). This Oscar-nominated 2010 documentary, directed by Lucy Walker, follows famous Brazilian-born artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn back to his native Brazil and Jardim Gramacho, then the world’s largest garbage dump. Can a great artist help turn despair into something else through his craft? It’s a riveting watch.
​
At the least, take a minute and watch the short trailer here.

Book highlight I’m pondering

The below is from Sebastian Mallaby’s The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for Superintelligence:
​
​I recalled a line from the Life Story movie, which had inspired Hassabis [co-founder of DeepMind] to apply to Cambridge. “I’m one of the believers,” says Watson, the codiscoverer of DNA. “Blessed are they who believed before there was any evidence.”​
​
TF: This one alludes to believing a problem is soluble without much evidence to support the conviction. How does that square—or not—with science itself? Can you artfully combine limited faith with science to drive breakthroughs, or is it a slippery slope to intellectual perdition? If possibly both, how do you bias towards the former?

You can complement this edition of 5-Bullet Friday with my brand-new interview with Max Levchin, a serial entrepreneur, computer scientist, philanthropist, and active investor in more than 100 startups. Max is the founder and CEO of Affirm and was one of the original co-founders of PayPal.
​
And, as always, please give me feedback on X. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know. Just send a tweet to @tferriss and put #5BulletFriday at the end so I can find it.
​
Have a wonderful weekend, all.
​
Much love to you and yours,
​
Tim

P.S. Deal of the Week — The Titanium Pro Cookware Set from Our Place​​​!

Home cooks have always had to choose between stainless steel and nonstick. Stainless steel is durable and safe, but food sticks. Nonstick is easy to clean, but the coatings can slough off over time and be toxic. That’s why I use the Titanium Always Pan Pro from Our Place. It’s built on a stainless steel foundation, and it’s the first nonstick pan with zero coating—meaning no PFAS “forever chemicals,” no coating to flake or chip, and durability designed to last a lifetime.
​
I literally use Our Place daily at home.
​
Our Place has now expanded the lineup with the Titanium Pro Cookware Set, bringing the same PFAS-free, high-performance design to a full collection of cookware. You get the durability and performance of stainless steel with the easy cleaning of nonstick. Head to FromOurPlace.com/Tim and use code TIM for 10% off your first order.