The Orthogonal Bet

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with Julian Gough — a writer, musician, and now researcher in cosmology. Julian was part of Toasted Heretic, an Irish rock group, has written novels for both children and adults, and even composed Minecraft’s end poem. More recently, he has turned his attention to cosmology, exploring ideas at the intersection of evolution and universe formation to better un...

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with Étienne Fortier-Dubois , a writer and programmer whose work has appeared in publications such as Asterisk Magazine and Works in Progress . He also authors the newsletter Hopeful Monsters . With a vast and eclectic set of interests—from the intricate details of technological history to the sweeping arcs of human civilization—Fortier-Dubois recently creat...

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with Chris Ferrie , an associate professor of quantum information at the University of Technology Sydney and the author of an impressive range of books for audiences of all ages — from adults and children to even babies. Ferrie is best known for Quantum Physics for Babies , but his prolific output spans titles such as Night Night Tyrannosaurus , Newtonian Ph...

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with Evan Armstrong, the writer behind The Leverage , a newsletter devoted to exploring and explaining the rapid changes in technology markets. Before launching his own publication, Evan was the lead writer at Every , where he helped grow the platform to over 100,000 subscribers. Samuel and Evan discuss Evan’s path to writing and what it takes to build a new...

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman sits down with writer Gabe Henry , whose latest book Enough is Enuf delves into the long-running crusade to simplify English spelling (note the purposeful “ENUF” in the title). Everyone senses that English orthography can feel downright irrational, yet spelling-reform campaigns often make readers bristle. Henry unpacks those efforts—missteps, breakthroughs, and all...

In this episode, host Samuel Arbesman sits down with novelist Daryl Gregory , celebrated author of numerous science-fiction and fantasy works—including the newly released When We Were Real . Set seven years after humanity discovers that reality is a vast computer simulation, Gregory’s novel follows a cross-country bus tour of Americans seeking out the strangest “glitches” in their digital world. T...

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with Kenneth Stanley , a renowned computer scientist and AI researcher whose career spans academia, industry, and startup innovation. Stanley has been a professor, a cofounder of multiple companies, and a researcher at both OpenAI and Uber. He currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Open-Endedness at Lila Sciences. He is also the coauthor of Why Gre...

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with journalist and author Clive Thompson. Known for his thoughtful writing on science and technology—particularly in the realms of computing and programming—Clive contributes to Wired , The New York Times Magazine , Smithsonian , and more. He is also the author of Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World (2019). With the rise of gener...

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman sits down with Alec Nevala-Lee , author of numerous books, including Inventor of the Future , a definitive biography of Buckminster Fuller. Buckminster Fuller was an architect, designer, and public intellectual whose influence stretched far beyond blueprints and prototypes. Later in life, he became a lodestar for the counterculture, inspiring the pages of the Whole...

In this episode of The Orthogonal Bet , host Samuel Arbesman welcomes back return guest Eliot Peper . Eliot is a science fiction writer and the author of numerous books, and is currently collaborating with the tech company Portola, which is developing Tolans — AI friends and companions that blur the line between lore and code. Samuel and Eliot delve into how Eliot found himself shaping the mythos...

In this episode, host Samuel Arbesman speaks with Anna Gat, founder and CEO of Interintellect. Described as “a curated marketplace of high-quality events hosted by intellectual seekers from all walks of life,” Interintellect is reimagining the salon for the digital age. Arbesman and Gat discuss the origins and evolution of Interintellect, as well as the deeper nature of conversation itself—what ma...

It’s not every day that we get to fete the launch of a new book by one of our colleagues at Lux Capital, so today is a very special day. Lux’s scientist-in-residence, ⁠Samuel Arbesman⁠ , just published his new book, ⁠ “The Magic of Code: How Digital Language Created and Connects Our World―and Shapes Our Future.”⁠ It’s a deep dive into the wonderful conjuring that comes from coding computers, and S...

In this episode, host Samuel Arbesman speaks with Michael Rosen, a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a lawyer focused on technology and intellectual property. Rosen is the author of Like Silicon From Clay: What Ancient Jewish Wisdom Can Teach Us About AI , a provocative new book that offers a framework for understanding artificial intelligence and how humans might...

In this episode of The Orthogonal Bet , host Samuel Arbesman speaks with Nick Bowden, CEO of Replica—a company that models mobility in urban environments through a blend of data and simulation. Think of it as a real-world version of SimCity. Arbesman and Bowden explore Nick’s journey from urban planning into the world of public-sector technology. Their conversation spans the inherent messiness of...

In this episode of The Orthogonal Bet , host Samuel Arbesman speaks with Lu Wilson, a programmer and creative coder who also works as a software engineer at tldraw, a Lux Capital portfolio company. Lu’s creative work is broad, strange, and delightful in all the best ways—perhaps best exemplified by the Todepond videos, a mindbending series that reimagines computing through playful, experimental le...

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with Sara Imari Walker , a theoretical physicist and astrobiologist at Arizona State University. Walker is the author of Life as No One Knows It: The Physics of Life’s Emergence , a book that explores the nature of life through the lens of physics and highlights her pioneering contributions at the frontier of this field. Their conversation delves into how Wa...

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with Peter Bebergal . Peter is a writer and the author of numerous books, and the editor, most recently, of Appendix N: Weird Tales From the Roots of Dungeons & Dragons . Dungeons and Dragons was created by Gary Gygax and draws from numerous sources, which Gygax listed in Appendix N of his Dungeon Master’s Guide. Peter took this list as the basis for cre...

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with Samantha John, co-founder of Hopscotch—a delightful programming environment designed for children. Samuel wanted to explore the origins of Hopscotch, its underlying philosophy, and how we might think more broadly about teaching programming to young people. Their conversation spans the history of programming, the unique powers and possibilities of comput...

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman sits down with Torie Bosch —now an editor at STAT News and formerly a longtime editor at Slate Magazine. Building on a groundbreaking Slate project, Bosch edited the acclaimed anthology Y ou Are Not Expected to Understand This: How 26 Lines of Code Changed the World , which explores the pivotal snippets of software that have profoundly shaped society. Arbesman and...

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with Jason Crawford , a writer and thinker who explores the idea of progress in modern society. Jason is the founder and president of the Roots of Progress Institute , an organization dedicated to developing a modern philosophy of progress. As part of this mission, the institute runs a fellowship for individuals writing about progress-related themes. Jason h...

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with John Hendrix . John is a writer and illustrator whose work appears widely across books and publications. His most recent book is the graphic novel The Mythmakers : The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien . This compelling work delves into the enduring friendship between Lewis, author of the Narnia series, and Tolkien, author of The Ho...

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with Nadia Asparouhova . Nadia is a writer and thinker who explores the ideas that suffuse the tech world. She is the author of Working in Public , a book about the culture of open source software, as well as the forthcoming Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading . Antimemetics is a fascinating exploration of why some ideas are far less likely to spre...

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with Alex Pang , author of several influential books on rethinking work—particularly how we rest and why spending less time in the office can lead to greater productivity. Pang’s most recent works include REST: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less and SHORTER : Work Better, Smarter and Less—Here’s How . His work focuses deeply on the four-day workweek, a...

In this episode, Samuel Arbesman speaks with Lawrence Lundy-Bryan , a partner at the venture capital firm Lunar Ventures who specializes in researching the landscape of cutting-edge technological advances. Lawrence has been examining technologies as part of a project called the State of the Future , providing analyses into a large number of new technological developments. And the current state of...

On November 16, 1974, the first message meant for the stars was broadcast into space, using a series of zeros and ones to encode an image. This image was designed by Frank Drake, an astronomer who helped develop the modern field of SETI as well as the Drake Equation, a formula which helps scientists think about the likelihood of intelligent life in our galaxy. Fifty years later, the science journa...