AMA 180 - Why Knowing Things Still Matters When Facts Are So Easy to Look Up with William Poundstone

For this 10th Episode, Jason goes off topic and welcomes William Poundstone, author of the new book, Head in the Cloud: Why Knowing Things Still Matters When Facts are So Easy to Look Up. Mr. Poundstone is also the author of the New York Times best-selling books, Fortune’s Formula: The Untold Story of Scientific Betting System that Beat the Casinos and Wall Street, Priceless: The Myth of Fair Value and How to Take Advantage of It and Gaming the Vote: Why Elections Aren’t Fair and What We Can Do About it.

Key Takeaways:

[1:12] William explains the premise of his latest book, Head in the Cloud.

[5:03] Having a general knowledge of baseline facts and the Dunning-Kruger effect have humbling assets.

[7:28] The larger a person’s vocabulary is akin to their ability to think.

[11:12] How does America stack up on the map of ignorance?

[13:43] Americans will vote for judges with less ethnic sounding names if they don’t know the candidates.

[19:51] The Kelly Formula informs a user of the optimal amount you should be putting on each bet or investment.

Website:

www.William-Poundstone.com