The James Altucher Show

A Note from James:
This is a very special episode for me.
There have only been a few times in the history of this podcast when I’ve had the chance to sit down with one of my heroes. This is one of those times.
Frank Miller is one of the most important storytellers of my life. When I first picked up Batman: The Dark Knight Returns in 1986, it completely changed what I thought comics could be. This wasn’t just another Batman story. It was a revolution. Frank took Batman out of the colorful, campy world I grew up with and turned him into something darker, mythic, terrifying, and psychologically real.
There is a comic book industry before The Dark Knight Returns, and there is a comic book industry after The Dark Knight Returns. Every Batman movie since then carries Frank’s fingerprints in some way. But it wasn’t just Batman. Frank changed Daredevil. He created Ronin. He created Sin City. He showed that comics could handle adult stories, painful arcs, crime, tragedy, mythology, obsession, and moral ambiguity.
But what matters most to me is that Frank is a master storyteller. And I love storytelling. Whether it’s books, podcasts, articles, comics, or just how we make sense of our lives, story is everything.
So getting to sit down with Frank Miller and talk about Batman, myth, creativity, mentorship, discipline, and his new book, Push the Wall: My Life, Writing, Drawing, and the Art of Storytelling, was a dream come true.
This was my first in-person podcast in years. Jay drove up from Atlanta. I flew into the city. And yes, I brought my copy of The Dark Knight Returns for Frank to sign.

Episode Description:
Frank Miller didn’t just write and draw some of the most influential comics of the modern era. He changed the grammar of comics.
In this conversation, James sits down with Miller to talk about Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Daredevil, Ronin, Sin City, and Miller’s new book, Push the Wall. The conversation begins with Batman, but quickly becomes a larger discussion about how characters become myths.
For Miller, Batman was never just a rich detective in a costume. The material was already there from the beginning: a child witnessing the murder of his parents, growing up without powers, building himself into a force through discipline, intelligence, and obsession. Miller’s goal was to pull that core truth out and make Batman stand beside older pulp and mythic figures like Zorro, The Shadow, and the hard-edged heroes of crime cinema.
James and Frank also talk about how myths are built around simple central values. Superman is hope. Batman is justice, vengeance, effort, and fear. The art is not in making those ideas complicated. The art is in placing them inside a human context so they feel emotionally true.
The discussion moves into the craft of comics itself: page layouts, panel borders, visual rhythm, and how the pictures carry most of the story. Miller reflects on the influence of Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, Denny O’Neil, Japanese samurai films, martial arts movies, Greek tragedy, Jean Giraud/Moebius, Lone Wolf and Cub, and the creative power of combining worlds that do not obviously belong together.
They also talk about mentorship. Miller describes calling Neal Adams from the phone book, bringing him drawings, and enduring brutally honest criticism. That toughness, he says, was part of the training. To survive as an artist, you need egoism without egotism: enough belief to keep coming back, but enough humility to keep learning.
The episode closes with practical advice for young artists today: go to conventions, build the strongest portfolio you can, seek out hard criticism, don’t chase only the biggest titles, protect your original ideas, and look for “losers” you can make great.

What You’ll Learn:
Why Frank Miller wanted Batman to become a myth, not just another superhero.
How The Dark Knight Returns helped move comics toward darker, more adult storytelling.
Why Batman’s lack of superpowers is exactly what makes him compelling.
How mythic characters are built around simple core themes like hope, vengeance, justice, or discipline.
Why comics are not just written stories with pictures, but a visual storytelling machine.
How Miller learned from Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, Denny O’Neil, samurai films, noir, Greek tragedy, and European comics.
Why creativity often comes from combining unrelated influences.
What Miller means by “egoism, but not egotism.”
Why young artists should seek out hard lessons instead of easy praise.
How to enter comics today without giving away original work too early.
Why determination, stamina, and a lack of Plan B shaped Miller’s career.
What Miller is working on next, including a new Western-style Sin City story.

Timestamped Chapters:
[03:41] Meeting Frank Miller
James begins by holding up Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and asking what it means to be known through one defining work.
[04:00] Before and After The Dark Knight Returns
Why James sees Miller’s Batman as a dividing line in comic book history.
[05:07] Turning Batman Into a Psychological Condition
James asks how Miller transformed Batman from a campy hero into something darker, mythic, and terrifying.
[05:49] Batman as Myth
Frank explains that his first impulse was to make Batman stand with figures like The Shadow, Zorro, and the hard-edged heroes of crime cinema.
[06:37] Pulling Comics Out of Childhood
Miller describes his desire to push comics into adolescence and beyond the conventions of disposable monthly stories.
[06:59] The Origin Was Always There
Why Batman’s trauma, lack of powers, and self-made discipline were already embedded in the character from the beginning.
[07:50] Superman Descends, Batman Rises
Frank contrasts Superman as a figure of light with Batman as something that comes up from the darkness.
[08:44] What Makes a Character Mythic?
Miller explains that great characters usually have a simple central theme: hope, justice, vengeance, effort, or fear.
[10:30] King Arthur, Luke Skywalker, and the Power of Objects
The conversation turns to swords, lightsabers, utility belts, and how mythic symbols carry stories across generations.
[11:54] Breaking the Page
James and Frank discuss how Kirby, Neal Adams, and others shattered conventional panel layouts before Miller pushed those techniques further.
[12:35] A Tradition of Revolution
Frank explains why creativity means breaking a few eggs while still working inside a lineage.
[13:00] When the Page Tells the Story
How panel size, shape, and visual composition can carry emotional meaning without words.
[14:10] What Would Frank Do With Batman Now?
Miller says the point is not to reinvent Batman for novelty’s sake, but to find a good story.
[15:00] Moving Daredevil Into Hell’s Kitchen
James asks how Miller brought his own New York experience into Daredevil’s world.
[15:45] Fear, Editors, and Media Conglomerates
Frank reflects on how creative fear moves through artists, editors, bosses, and corporate structures.
[16:17] Are New Comic Stories Still Possible?
Miller argues that the talent and creative energy are still there, even if it does not always come from predictable places.
[17:40] How Comics Survived Their Own Deaths
Frank traces comic books from the attacks of the 1950s to Marvel, underground comics, and the direct market.
[19:30] What Young Artists Need Today
When James asks what skill matters beyond drawing and storytelling, Miller answers: determination.
[20:01] No Plan B
Frank explains that he never had a concept of failure because comics were what he had wanted to do since his earliest memories.
[20:47] Writing vs. Storytelling
Why, in comics, most of the storytelling happens in the pictures.
[21:00] Neal Adams and the Hard Lessons
Miller remembers calling Neal Adams from the phone book and receiving tough critiques that tested his character.
[22:34] Egoism, Not Egotism
Frank explains the balance an artist needs: enough ego to return after criticism, but not so much that they stop learning.
[22:51] Stealing From the Greats
Why artists must study and learn from earlier practitioners rather than pretending genius arrives fully formed.
[23:47] Batman Is Possessed, Not Obsessed
Frank corrects James’s description of Batman and explains that Batman is filled with an eternal force.
[24:50] Daredevil, Samurai, Crime, and Greek Tragedy
How Miller fused martial arts films, ninja stories, crime movies, and Greek tragedy into his Daredevil run.
[27:01] Stick, Elektra, and the Sensei Archetype
James and Frank trace the mentor-student relationship through Daredevil, samurai stories, and mythic training narratives.
[27:47] Lone Wolf and Cub, Moebius, and Ronin
How Forbidden Planet exposed Miller to Japanese and European comics, leading to the hybrid world of Ronin.
[28:35] The Power of Intersections
Why combining Westerns, samurai stories, science fiction, noir, and mythology can create something new.
[30:08] Discipline vs. Chaos
James identifies a recurring theme in Miller’s work: taking chaos and molding it into purpose.
[30:40] Batman Becomes the Father
Frank explains the final image of The Dark Knight Returns: the orphan becoming the father.
[31:24] Why So Many Heroes Are Orphans
Miller says the lone child against the elements is at the heart of heroic storytelling.
[32:36] Guilt, Control, and Batman’s Unhealed Wound
James and Frank discuss whether Batman is driven by guilt or by the need to take control after childhood trauma.
[33:43] Pushing Batman to the Extreme
Why Miller made the Batmobile a tank and amplified the character’s core qualities.
[33:50] How Frank Would Start Today
Miller advises young artists to attend conventions, show their work, use the internet, and seek honest feedback.
[34:36] Seek Hard Criticism
Why young creators should avoid people who only make them feel good.
[34:59] Don’t Chase the Biggest Titles
Miller advises artists to look for overlooked characters—or better yet, create something themselves.
[35:21] Find a Loser and Do It Right
A practical creative strategy: identify something bad, understand why it fails, and build the better version.
[35:41] Gatekeepers and New Avenues
Frank weighs the traditional obstacles against new channels for artists to get discovered.
[36:27] Protect Your Original Ideas
Why young artists should be careful about handing over original material too early.
[37:00] Humility, Listening, and Surviving the Business
Miller adds that determination must be paired with humility and a willingness to learn how the industry works.
[37:58] Batman at 55—and What Comes Next
James reflects on Batman’s age in The Dark Knight Returns, and Frank jokes that next time Batman may be 80.
[38:36] A New Western Sin City
Frank talks about working on a new Sin City story with a Western angle.
[38:52] Push the Wall and the Art of Creativity
James closes by describing Miller’s new book as a guide to creativity and inspiration.
[39:20] A Dream Interview Comes Full Circle
James thanks Frank, explains the personal significance of the episode, and asks him to sign The Dark Knight Returns.

Additional Resources:
Push the Wall by Frank Miller — Miller’s memoir and guide to writing, drawing, and storytelling.
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns — Miller’s landmark Batman story.
Batman: Year One — Written by Frank Miller with art by David Mazzucchelli.
Frank Miller’s Sin City Deluxe Editions — Dark Horse’s deluxe editions of the noir series.
Lone Wolf and Cub — The samurai manga series Miller discusses as a major influence.
Moebius / Jean Giraud — The European comics artist whose visual world influenced Ronin and modern science-fiction imagery.
Joseph Campbell Foundation — Background on the mythic storytelling ideas referenced in the conversation.
Neal Adams — DC’s remembrance of the artist and mentor Miller discusses.
Jack Kirby Museum — Archive and background on one of Miller’s central comics influences.

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A Note from James:
I’ve been obsessed with anti-aging and longevity science for a long time. I’ve had many longevity researchers on the podcast, but this episode feels different because something we’ve been discussing for years has now moved into human trials.
David Sinclair first came on the show in 2019, when his book Lifespan was published. He’s a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, and that first conversation changed how I lived. I started experimenting with intermittent fasting, paid much more attention to sleep, and began researching many of the supplements and lifestyle changes he discussed.
But the most important idea David talked about wasn’t a supplement. It was the possibility of reversing cellular age using Yamanaka factors—genes that can reset the instructions cells use to function. At the time, nobody knew whether this could be done safely without causing cancer or making cells lose their identities.
Now, a therapy based on three of those factors has entered its first human clinical trial. The initial target is age-related damage to the optic nerve, including open-angle glaucoma and non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy. The trial is designed primarily to evaluate safety, but researchers will also measure visual function.
David explains how this technology worked in mice and nonhuman primates, why the eye was chosen as the first organ, and how the same approach might eventually be applied to the liver, lungs, joints, skin, and brain.
We also cover the practical questions people always ask him: NMN, NAD, metformin, berberine, testosterone, growth hormone, diet, fasting, sleep, exercise, and what David himself has started—or stopped—taking.
This is still experimental science. Nobody yet knows whether the animal results will translate into meaningful benefits for humans. But for the first time, researchers are beginning to test that question directly.

About Lifespan:
Dr. David Sinclair founded Lifespan to deliver clear, science-backed health insights that help people live longer, more vibrant lives.
He's now building the world's largest community dedicated to extending human longevity well beyond today’s limits. Join early access at lifespan.com.
New episodes of Lifespan with Dr. David Sinclair -- the #1 health and wellness podcast in its first season -- are now available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Lifespan.com.

Episode Description:
For years, longevity researchers have looked for ways to slow the biological processes associated with aging. Dr. David Sinclair and his collaborators are now testing a more ambitious possibility: whether damaged human cells can be restored to a younger, more functional state.
The experimental therapy, ER-100, uses controlled expression of three transcription factors—OCT4, SOX2, and KLF4, collectively known as OSK. These are three of the four Yamanaka factors originally used to transform adult cells into pluripotent stem cells.
Turning on all four factors can erase too much of a cell’s identity and has produced tumors and fatal outcomes in animal experiments. Sinclair’s team found that removing one factor, c-MYC, allowed cells to regain younger patterns of gene expression without completely returning to a stem-cell state.
In preclinical studies, OSK restored youthful epigenetic patterns, promoted optic-nerve regeneration, and reversed vision loss in mouse models. Life Biosciences, a company Sinclair co-founded, has now moved the technology into a first-in-human Phase 1 trial involving people with open-angle glaucoma or non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.
David explains how the therapy is delivered directly into the eye and activated using doxycycline, allowing clinicians to control when and for how long the genes are expressed. He also describes the development path that could follow if the treatment proves safe, including therapies targeting the liver and other organs, as well as future medicines that may reproduce similar effects without gene delivery.
The conversation then turns to interventions available today. David distinguishes between promising research and claims that have moved ahead of the evidence, discussing NMN, injected NAD, growth hormone, testosterone, taurine, nattokinase, metformin, berberine, and nootropics.
Throughout the episode, he emphasizes that no supplement has been shown to reproduce the effects researchers are attempting to achieve through partial epigenetic reprogramming—and that many of the most dramatic claims circulating online remain unsupported.

Editorial Note:
ER-100 is an investigational therapy. Authorization to begin a clinical trial does not mean the treatment has been proven safe or effective, nor has it been approved for clinical use.
The Phase 1 study is primarily evaluating safety and tolerability, with additional measurements of visual function. Results from mice and nonhuman primates do not establish that the therapy will restore vision or reverse biological aging in people.
The discussion of supplements, prescription medications, hormones, and lifestyle practices reflects the speakers’ personal views and interpretation of the research. It should not be treated as individualized medical advice. Prescription drugs, hormones, supplements, and experimental longevity treatments should be discussed with an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.

What You’ll Learn:
How partial epigenetic reprogramming differs from completely resetting a cell into a stem cell.
Why researchers selected three Yamanaka factors—OCT4, SOX2, and KLF4—instead of using all four.
What ER-100 is designed to do and why the first human trial focuses on the optic nerve.
How doxycycline acts as an external switch controlling when the therapeutic genes are expressed.
What Phase 1 researchers will measure and what would need to happen before ER-100 could become an approved treatment.
Why the eye provides a useful starting point for testing cellular rejuvenation.
What animal studies suggest about restoring vision, memory, liver function, joints, and skin.
Why delivering rejuvenation therapies throughout the body is more difficult than treating one localized organ.
The difference between oral NMN supplementation and intravenous or subcutaneous NAD.
What current research does—and does not—show about growth hormone, testosterone, taurine, metformin, and berberine.
Why muscle, exercise, sleep, diet, glucose regulation, and inflammation remain important even if rejuvenation therapies eventually succeed.
How Sinclair’s laboratory is searching for pills and small molecules that could mimic epigenetic reprogramming without gene therapy.

Timestamped Chapters:
[04:53] The First Human Trial Begins
David discusses ER-100, FDA authorization, and the treatment of open-angle glaucoma and ischemic optic neuropathy.
[06:52] What Are the Yamanaka Factors?
How reprogramming genes can reset cellular instructions—and why using all four factors can be dangerous.
[08:56] Reversing Vision Loss and Memory Problems in Animals
David describes studies involving the eyes, brain, skin, kidneys, liver, and age-related cognitive decline.
[10:09] Why Four Factors Can Cause Cancer
The difference between restoring youthful function and erasing a cell’s identity completely.
[10:54] The Three-Gene Breakthrough
How Sinclair’s student Yuancheng Lu persisted through years of failure and identified the OSK combination.
[12:03] Pulsing the Genes vs. Leaving Them Activated
Earlier four-factor experiments required intermittent activation, while OSK showed a different safety profile in animal eyes.
[13:36] The Doxycycline Safety Switch
How clinicians may use an antibiotic to activate and deactivate the therapy after it has been delivered.
[14:51] Treating the Cause Instead of the Symptoms
David argues that restoring younger tissue function could allow the body to repair damage associated with age-related disease.
[16:02] Why the Trial Starts With the Eye
Localized delivery reduces systemic exposure and makes visual changes easier to observe and measure.
[16:50] Can the Therapy Reach the Brain and the Rest of the Body?
The challenges of distributing gene-based treatments evenly across organs and through the blood-brain barrier.
[18:25] What the Phase 1 Trial Will Measure
Safety, tolerability, visual function, and the possibility of an accelerated development path.
[20:36] Expanding Beyond Glaucoma
Why each organ may require a different delivery vehicle—and how the liver could become another early target.
[21:38] How Shinya Yamanaka Found the Original Four Factors
The trial-and-error process that turned adult cells into induced pluripotent stem cells.
[22:38] How ER-100 Is Delivered
David explains the OSK genes, the AAV delivery system, doxycycline activation, and why manufacturing is expensive.
[25:21] When Could the Treatment Become Available?
David gives his most optimistic development timeline and discusses parallel programs targeting other organs.
[27:31] NMN, NAD, Sirtuins, and the Information Theory of Aging
How declining NAD levels may affect cellular defenses and the regulation of gene expression.
[31:34] Oral NMN vs. Injected NAD
Why David believes oral supplementation currently has more rigorous evidence than NAD injections.
[32:20] Longevity Misinformation Online
David explains why he is restarting his show and warns against confident recommendations unsupported by research.
[32:41] Growth Hormone and Lifespan
Why growth hormone may improve certain functions but has not been shown to slow aging or extend human life.
[34:05] Testosterone, Muscle Mass, and Healthy Aging
Potential benefits for maintaining muscle—and why testosterone alone should not be considered a longevity treatment.
[36:01] Taurine, Nattokinase, and Changing Your Mind
Why David stopped taking taurine regularly and what prompted his interest in nattokinase.
[37:30] David’s Current Diet and His 86-Year-Old Father
Lower meat and cheese consumption, little alcohol, exercise, supplements, and tracking inflammation through biomarkers.
[39:33] James’s Longevity Routine
Limited processed sugar, intermittent fasting, reduced meat and alcohol, and prioritizing eight hours of sleep.
[40:07] Why Sleep Cleans the Brain
The relationship between sleep, waste removal, protein accumulation, cognition, and dementia risk.
[40:33] Metformin as a Possible Longevity Drug
Why a medication developed for type 2 diabetes remains central to aging research.
[41:41] Berberine and Mitochondrial Function
What clinical studies suggest about glucose regulation and why David sometimes alternates berberine with metformin.
[43:10] Modafinil, Adderall, and Nootropics
Possible short-term benefits for focus weighed against uncertainty about long-term consequences.
[43:43] What Comes After the Eye Trial?
Potential applications involving the liver, lungs, kidneys, joints, brain, and other age-related conditions.
[45:14] Can Rejuvenation Make Skin Look Younger?
David describes unpublished work involving human skin, wound healing, and orally delivered compounds in mice.
[46:17] Beyond Gene Therapy: A Rejuvenation Pill
How AI and chemical screening may help reproduce the effects of early embryonic reprogramming more cheaply and simply.
[47:31] When Could Chemical Reprogramming Reach Humans?
David discusses the preclinical safety work and the uncertainty surrounding future human studies.
[48:11] The Lifespan Community and Foundation
David introduces his new show, longevity community, and support for scientific research.

Additional Resources:
ER-100 Phase 1 Trial — ClinicalTrials.gov
Official registration for the first-in-human study evaluating ER-100 in open-angle glaucoma and non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.
Life Biosciences: FDA Clearance for ER-100
The company’s January 2026 announcement that the FDA cleared its Investigational New Drug application.
Life Biosciences: First Participant Dosed
The June 2026 announcement marking the start of dosing in the Phase 1 trial.
“Reprogramming to Recover Youthful Epigenetic Information and Restore Vision” — Nature
The 2020 mouse study reporting that OSK expression restored youthful epigenetic patterns, promoted nerve regeneration, and reversed vision loss.
The Sinclair Lab at Harvard Medical School
Research, publications, laboratory members, and information about David’s work on the biology of aging.
Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don’t Have To
David Sinclair and Matthew LaPlante’s 2019 book about the biology of aging and emerging longevity research.
Lifespan
David’s longevity show, research magazine, community, and information about the Lifespan Foundation.
NMN Human-Trial Review — PubMed
A review of the safety evidence and proposed effects of nicotinamide mononucleotide in human clinical studies.
NMN and Physical Performance — PubMed
A systematic review examining randomized trials of NMN and physical-performance measurements.
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Episode Description:
Prediction markets allow people to trade contracts tied to real-world events—from elections and weather to rocket launches, airport traffic, awards, and the words a public figure might use during a speech.
But James argues that having an opinion isn’t enough. Betting on your favorite team, preferred candidate, or a vague feeling about what might happen is speculation without an edge. His rule is simple: only participate when you believe you have an unfair advantage.
In this solo episode, James explains the two advantages he looks for. The first comes from understanding how prediction-market participants behave—especially their tendency to overlook outcomes that appear almost certain because the potential payout looks small. The second comes from researching a particular market more thoroughly than the other participants.
He walks through three trades he made: whether the U.S. government will confirm the existence of extraterrestrial life before 2027, whether SpaceX will exceed a specified number of June launches, and whether Donald Trump will use the phrase “movie star” during an upcoming speech. He also examines TSA passenger data to show why good research sometimes leads to the most important decision of all: not making the trade.
The larger lesson is not that any outcome is guaranteed. It is that a repeatable process—researching the data, comparing your estimated probability with the market price, diversifying, and walking away when the edge is unclear—is more useful than betting on instinct.

Editorial Note:
Prediction-market contracts are speculative and can result in the loss of the full amount committed to a position. Short-term returns expressed on an annualized basis are hypothetical comparisons, not guarantees that the same opportunity can be repeated throughout a year. This episode is educational and reflects James’s personal reasoning, not individualized financial advice.

What You’ll Learn:
How binary prediction-market contracts are priced and settled.
Why James avoids trades based only on personal preference or intuition.
The two types of informational advantage he looks for before entering a market.
Why apparently likely outcomes can still be priced below James’s estimate of their probability.
How to compare a contract’s price with your independent estimate of the outcome.
Why diversification matters when a single losing contract can erase several smaller gains.
How historical speeches, launch schedules, and public datasets can inform a trade.
Why declining to place a bet is often the correct conclusion when the evidence is inconclusive.

Timestamped Chapters:
[02:00] The Search for an Unfair Advantage
Why James believes a feeling or personal preference is not a sufficient reason to place a bet.
[02:43] What Is a Prediction Market?
How event contracts cover subjects ranging from weather and elections to entertainment, sports, and public speeches.
[03:29] How Yes-or-No Contracts Work
A hypothetical presidential contract illustrates pricing, payouts, and profit.
[04:26] Don’t Bet on What You Want to Happen
Why fandom, political preference, and intuition can distort judgment.
[05:12] Two Types of Informational Advantage
James distinguishes between understanding market behavior and possessing unusually strong research about one event.
[06:30] Why Traders May Overlook Near-Certainties
How small-looking payouts and the cost of tying up capital can leave heavily favored outcomes below full value.
[07:52] Will the Government Confirm That Aliens Exist?
James explains why he bought “No” contracts on an official confirmation occurring before 2027.
[10:40] Diversifying a Basket of High-Probability Trades
Why James prefers multiple positions rather than concentrating everything in one supposedly certain outcome.
[11:20] The SpaceX Launch Trade
Using completed launches, the remaining calendar, and an upcoming mission to evaluate a five-day contract.
[13:38] Turning Presidential Speeches Into Data
How James analyzes recurring words and phrases instead of relying on opinions about Donald Trump.
[15:38] Betting Against “Movie Star”
Why past speeches, synonyms, context, and the market price led James to take the “No” side.
[18:30] TSA Passenger Data—and Knowing When to Pass
Historical checkpoint volume offers useful evidence, but not necessarily enough of an edge to justify a trade.
[21:01] Three Trades and One Repeatable System
James reviews his positions and the difference between market-level and event-specific advantages.
[23:00] Prediction Markets as a Continuing Experiment
Why James plans to keep testing the approach and sharing shorter updates.

Additional Resources:
Kalshi: What Are Prediction Markets? — An introduction to event contracts, pricing, and settlement.
Kalshi: How Prices Are Determined — How opposing orders are matched and market prices are established.
Kalshi FAQ — Platform rules, prohibited conduct, trading mechanics, and account information.
CFTC: Understanding Prediction Markets and Event Contracts — The federal regulator’s overview of event contracts and their uses.
CFTC: Contracts and Products — Regulatory information about derivatives and event contracts.
TSA Checkpoint Travel Numbers — Official daily passenger-screening figures used for historical comparisons.
SpaceX Launches — Official information about completed and upcoming SpaceX missions.

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A Note from James:
Mark Pincus is one of the true OGs of the internet. You probably know him as the founder of Zynga, the company behind FarmVille, Zynga Poker, and Words With Friends. Zynga was eventually acquired by Take-Two in a transaction valued at approximately $12.7 billion. Before Zynga, Mark started Tribe, one of the first social networks—before MySpace and Facebook.
He has spent more than 25 years building, failing, and studying what gets millions of people to click, play, share, and come back. His new book, Life at the Speed of Play, inspired me to start coming up with new business ideas while we were still recording.
What I really love is how Mark teaches people to copy like a master without looking like a copycat. He has a framework called “Proven–Better–New.” Start with something that has already been proven. Make it obviously better. Then isolate the new idea you want to test. It’s one of the best systems I’ve heard for creating products people actually want.
We talk about the early days of Facebook and MySpace, the failure of Tribe, the gaming industry, consumer psychology, AI coding, and how agents could eventually network and work for us while we’re doing something else.
I loved talking with Mark. I was still thinking about this conversation afterward—and I’m literally building businesses based on what I learned. His new book is called Life at the Speed of Play. Listen to this episode, and then read the book.

Episode Description:
Most founders begin with an idea and then spend months—or years—trying to prove that people want it. Mark Pincus thinks that process is backward.
At Zynga, Mark’s teams built “failure machines”: simple systems that allowed them to test hundreds of concepts before writing the code. They put unfinished ideas in front of real users, watched what people clicked, and refused to build anything until the demand was obvious. The objective wasn’t to avoid failure. It was to make failure fast, cheap, and useful.
Mark explains the framework behind that process: Proven–Better–New. First, study an existing success down to every screen, click, and design decision. Then identify one improvement that current users would immediately recognize as better. Only after that should a team add the unproven idea—the part most likely to fail.
James and Mark also examine the problems facing today’s consumer entrepreneurs. AI has made software easier to build, but distribution has become harder. People aren’t searching for new apps, established platforms restrict organic growth, and algorithmic reach isn’t the same as users actively sharing something with friends.
Mark uses the failure of his early social network, Tribe, to explain why virality is not enough. Tribe grew quickly but lacked retention and trust. He ignored the communities users loved because they didn’t match the business model he had already chosen. That painful mistake became the foundation for much of his later product philosophy.
The conversation ends with Mark’s current experiments: personal AI agents modeled after members of his family, a proposed work network built specifically for agents, an enterprise AI company called Hivemind, and the difficult decision to end a four-year passion project without abandoning the instinct behind it.
This is a practical conversation about testing ideas, separating instinct from ego, learning from the past, and killing the wrong product before it consumes the right opportunity.

What You’ll Learn:
How to build a failure machine: Test headlines, offers, videos, and fake doors before investing in a finished product.
How to apply Proven–Better–New: Begin with a proven behavior, make one unmistakable improvement, and isolate the risky innovation.
Why distribution is now harder than development: AI can generate a prototype quickly, but it cannot guarantee attention, trust, or adoption.
Why Tribe failed despite rapid growth: Virality without retention, safety, and alignment with user behavior does not create a lasting network.
How to copy without becoming a copycat: Study successful products at the pixel level, preserve what works, and innovate only where it matters.
When to abandon an idea: Preserve the underlying instinct, but stop funding the particular expression of it when the evidence turns against you.
How AI agents may change networking: Agents could eventually search for opportunities, exchange work, build reputations, and bring useful leads back to their users.

Timestamped Chapters:
[02:00] Finding the “OMFG” Moment
[02:58] A Note from James
[05:00] Build a Failure Machine Before Building a Product
[06:25] Testing Demand With Fake Doors and Broken Links
[08:08] Writing Copy That People Actually Notice
[10:52] Test More Ideas in a Week Than the Industry Tests in a Year
[11:53] Why Neglected Products Become Innovation Labs
[13:26] How Mobile Apps Slowed Product Experimentation
[15:09] Can AI Bring Rapid Testing Back?
[17:08] Why Consumer Technology Feels Uninvestable
[18:38] The 90/10 Rule for Investable Platforms
[20:08] Why Nobody Downloads New Apps Anymore
[21:20] Franchises, “Spicy New,” and Healthy Platforms
[23:21] The Internet’s Lost Cocktail Party
[27:58] Why Tribe Failed While Facebook Won
[30:26] Virality Without Trust or Retention
[31:31] Ignoring What Tribe’s Users Actually Wanted
[33:22] Facebook, Raya, and Designing for Trust
[35:03] Social Networks as Lead-Generation Engines
[37:12] Facebook, Instagram, and the App Nobody Knew It Wanted
[37:51] Net Promoter Scores and the Feeling of Quitting a Drug
[40:25] Algorithmic Virality vs. People Sharing With Friends
[42:00] Building Products That Help People Create
[43:47] What Entrepreneurs Should Build With AI
[44:54] The Proven–Better–New Framework
[47:12] What “Obviously Better” Actually Means
[48:25] Why “All New Fails”
[50:23] Zynga Poker and the Power of Removing One Click
[52:00] What AI Does Well—and Where Humans Still Matter
[54:25] Picasso, Slack, and Copying the Past
[55:11] Adding Fun to Boring Enterprise Products
[57:39] The Moral Arbitrage of Killing Your Ego
[57:58] How to Copy Without Looking Like a Copy
[59:10] Why Old Internet Mechanics Keep Returning
[01:00:16] Anonymous Social Apps With an AI Twist
[01:01:17] Don’t Invent a New Business—Reinvent a Big One
[01:02:00] Test 20 Variants Before Building One
[01:02:58] Mark’s Frustrating Experiments With AI Coding
[01:05:29] Creating a Personal Team of AI Agents
[01:07:57] Killing a Four-Year Passion Project
[01:09:29] The “Social Membrane” of the Agentic Internet
[01:09:57] Building a Work Network for AI Agents
[01:12:16] Hivemind and the Human Side of Enterprise AI
[01:13:52] Missing Twitch—and Knowing Your Zone
[01:15:06] Why the Gaming Industry Still Isn’t Social Enough
[01:16:30] Chess Ratings, Competition, and Mark’s Daughter
[01:19:19] Writing Life at the Speed of Play
[01:21:18] Don’t Chase Every New Technology Race
[01:22:05] Final Thoughts

Additional Resources:
Mark Pincus and the Book
Life at the Speed of Play — official website
Life at the Speed of Play — HarperCollins — published June 23, 2026.
Mark Pincus on X — the account Mark recommends for updates on his agent-network experiments.
Mark Pincus on LinkedIn
Mark’s interview about open-sourcing Stem Studio

Zynga, Games, and Product Examples
Zynga’s company history — covers its launch as a Facebook poker project and the development of FarmVille, CityVille, and Words With Friends.
Words With Friends
FarmVille
Take-Two and Zynga acquisition announcement — the transaction carried an enterprise value of approximately $12.7 billion.
Tribe.net history — the early social network Mark analyzes as a major product failure.
Raya — the private community Mark discusses as an example of building trust through curation.
Grow a Garden on Roblox

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A Note from James:
If I could tell my children to read one post of mine, it would be this post.
Influence is how they will navigate a world of uncertainty.
Robert Cialdini is the most influential person in the world. And by that I mean, he wrote the book Influence, which sold 3 million copies and defines the six critical aspects of all influence.
Now he has a new book, Pre-Suasion, going 10x deeper into the concepts of persuasion. I got him on my podcast so I could ask the 1,000 questions I have.
Small story from the book:
If you name a restaurant “Studio 97” instead of “Studio 17,” people are more likely to tip higher.
If you ask a girl for her phone number outside a flower store, triggering feelings of romance, she is more likely to give it to you than if you ask her outside a motorcycle store.
And 500 other stories.
The environment is just as important as what you say.
Before the podcast began, I gave him a book as a gift: The Anxiety of Influence, a history of poetry.
What would poetry have to do with influence and marketing?
In all art, since the beginning of time, artists have built on the work of the artists of the generation before them.
Beethoven depended on a Mozart to be a Beethoven. Picasso depended on a Cézanne. Without Michelson, there would be no Einstein.
But poets, for some reason, would deny being influenced.
“I never even read Ezra Pound,” shouted one poet at a critic.
Poets want to be seen as original.
Nobody is 100% original.
This is the anxiety of influence.
Almost all of our decisions, and even our creativity, are outsourced to the people around us who influence us: peers, teachers, religion, parents, bosses, etc.
Our personality is our own particular mishmash of influences.
How we deal with that anxiety, how we recognize the influences, learn from them, and build from them, is the birth of all of our creativity.
Let me summarize the seven aspects of influence:
Reciprocity: If you give someone a Christmas card, they will want to return the favor.
Likability: Make yourself trustworthy. For instance, outline the negatives of dealing with you.
Consistency: Ask someone for a favor. Now they will say to themselves, “I am the type of person who does James a favor.”
Social Proof: If you are trying to get someone to do X, show them that “a lot of your peers do X.” For instance, if you are at a bar and you are a guy trying to meet women, bring your women friends and not your guy friends with you.
Authority: “Four out of five dentists say…”
Scarcity: “Only 100 iPhones left at this store!”
Unity: You and I are the same because of location, values, religion, etc.

I’ve used each of the above in business.
They work.
They will make you money.
The entire purpose of language is to influence.
We are not strong animals. We are weak.
The language of influence saved us.
Probably a word like “Run!” was the first word spoken.
A word of influence.
And it worked.
I’m still running from the things I fear.
So speak to influence.
Don’t speak to call a flower yellow.
Speak to breathe spirit into an idea, to be enthusiastic, to convey emotion, to influence.
This is the only way to have an impact with your unique creativity.
I gave Robert the book as a gift — reciprocity — assuming we would have a great podcast.
And we did.
But then I thought later, I can’t even remember how Robert got on my podcast.
I highly recommend his book in the podcast and even in this post.
As he got into his car after the podcast in order to go to his next interview, I started thinking:
“Hmmm, who influenced who?”

Episode Description:
Robert Cialdini wrote the book on persuasion — literally. His classic Influence became one of the defining books on why people say yes, how decisions get shaped, and why the smallest cue in the room can change the outcome of a conversation.
In this episode from the archive, James talks with Cialdini about Pre-Suasion, the idea that persuasion starts before the actual pitch. It begins with what people notice, what they feel, what is in the environment, and what frame has already been set before the first real ask is made.
They talk about flower shops, restaurant names, voting booths, Warren Buffett’s shareholder letters, Anwar Sadat’s negotiation instincts, and the rabbi who helped save thousands of lives with one sentence. But the episode is not just about marketing. It is about how people make decisions under uncertainty — and how to use influence ethically, whether you are asking for a job, building a business, negotiating a deal, writing a sales letter, or trying to become more trusted.

What You’ll Learn:
Why persuasion often begins before the message — and how small cues in the environment can make people more receptive.
How Cialdini’s original six principles of influence work: reciprocity, consistency, social proof, scarcity, authority, and liking.
Why Cialdini added a seventh principle, unity — the feeling that “we are the same” — and why it can be even stronger than liking.
When to use social proof versus authority, and how to decide which kind of evidence matters most in a given situation.
Why admitting weakness first can build trust, and how Warren Buffett uses honesty as a persuasion tool instead of a liability.

Timestamped Chapters:
[00:00] Introduction and episode preview
[01:25] Interview begins — James introduces Robert Cialdini and Pre-Suasion
[03:12] The flower shop study: why context changes the answer before the question is asked
[05:48] Valentine Street and the hidden power of unrelated cues
[06:42] Wine stores, voting booths, and fluffy cloud mattresses
[08:10] Are humans irrational, or are shortcuts necessary?
[10:17] How the pictures on your wall can change what you write
[11:36] The six — now seven — principles of influence
[12:00] Reciprocity: the Hare Krishna flower example and the power of personalized gifts
[16:40] Consistency: Anwar Sadat, Henry Kissinger, and giving people a reputation to live up to
[19:30] Cialdini’s undercover research with sales organizations
[23:30] Social proof: medical no-shows, restaurant menus, and what happens when a message backfires
[26:43] Social proof as feasibility: “people like me can do this”
[29:07] Authority: when expert endorsement beats crowd validation
[33:55] Why companies lose with better products when they fail to frame the decision properly
[35:10] Building authority from zero by using honesty and scarcity
[37:05] The Avis “We’re number two” campaign and the trust value of admitting weakness
[38:24] Warren Buffett’s shareholder letters and the persuasive power of leading with mistakes
[41:30] Unity: Cialdini’s seventh principle of influence
[44:24] The rabbi, the Japanese tribunal, and the sentence that saved a community
[48:30] Applying unity in job interviews, dating, and negotiations
[51:10] Loss aversion and how uncertainty changes persuasion
[55:00] Why long sales letters can outperform short ones
[55:30] Cialdini’s practical framework: find what is true, direct attention to it, then make the case
[59:00] Fake scarcity and why false urgency destroys trust
[65:00] Closing thoughts on ethical influence and genuine specificity

Additional Resources:
Robert Cialdini — Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion — Cialdini’s classic book on the core principles of persuasion and compliance.
Robert Cialdini — Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade — the follow-up book discussed throughout the episode, focused on what happens before the persuasive message itself.
Berkshire Hathaway Shareholder Letters — referenced in the episode as a real-world example of trust-building through candor and weakness-first communication.
Daniel Kahneman and Prospect Theory — Cialdini references the role of loss aversion and uncertainty in persuasion; Kahneman received the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for integrating psychological research into economic decision-making.
Chiune Sugihara — the Japanese diplomat connected to the story Cialdini uses to explain unity and shared identity.
The Avis “We’re Number Two” Campaign — discussed as an example of turning a weakness into credibility by being honest before making the positive case.

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