Episodes

About How to change the world where we explore the history and future of invention, innovation, and era defining technology

About the show How to change the world where we explore the history and future of invention, innovation, and era defining technology

Timeless lessons on what really creates human progress

What really matters to humanity and what is just noise? How to rank the impact of a given invention, innovation or technology on humanity and the wider world.

How fire changed our species, let us take over the world and drove the industrial revolution

The three laws of biology presented in the lessons of history that determine the survival of inventions, movements and populations

How complex language evolved with our imagination and transformed human society completely

Understanding the currents the change the world and our lives. Looking beyond cause and effects we study the interconnected nature of reality and what shapes outcomes all around us

The evolution of weapons across ancient history as stone tools shaped humanity.From the first stone flakes with a sharp edge to refined spears and eventually the bow and arrow. This episode traces the arc of human progress and how our weapons shaped our own bodies and societies.

Understanding the building blocks of the world around us that unlock creativity and innovation.You can't make a good cake without the right ingredients. Likewise you can't invent new technology without the components required for it. This episode looks at the idea of how to create new forms of building blocks that unlock new paradigms of invention.From the building blocks of life to cloud hosting, we tour through the history of invention to learn about this mental model in the masterclass of innovation. Thinking in Primitives was popularised by Jeff Bezos's shareholder letters for Amazon but is a timeless idea as ancient as life itself.

Behind the scenes access to extra content, surprising stories and all sorts of chaos from the weird pages of history and the even weirder insides of Sam's mind.Learn how to support the show and support our philosophical dissection of the entire history of innovation.

How humanity invented clothes. Accidentally warping our psychology, sparking civilization, and changing what it means to be human forever.A quick tour though the entire ancient history of clothing. From the first time a human stole an animal skin to the invention of the loom and farming cotton.We learn where the human obsession with nakedness came from and how we separated ourselves from nature completely and came to think of ourselves as other. When we invented the needle we accidentally invented a whole heap of status games and fashion trends leading to all sorts of weirdness that hasn't stopped since.

The Hidden History of Innovation tracing the evolution the universes most successful replicating beings and the game theory of how they compete, creating Mental Models for the Future of Technology and Society

The human superpower that is completely misunderstood