In this episode, I spoke with Kris Newby, the author of Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons. You may be skeptical about the premise of this book but I promise there is a lot more here than a baseless conspiracy theory. Kris has top tier technical credentials and spent a large chunk of her career at Stanford. Much of her book is based on primary research, which involved Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and interviews with individuals directly involved in the biological weapons program. Most importantly, her work shows that the tragedy of Lyme disease in our medical system isn’t some movie-like conspiracy but instead, mostly made up of good people operating under bad incentives. I’ve linked to a lot of material in the show notes so check those out if you’re inclined to dig deeper.

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Timestamps

(2:25) How Kris and her family were personally affected by Lyme Disease

(8:30) Overview of Lyme Disease

(10:30) Willy Burgdorfer and his connection with Lyme Disease

(17:26) How the US bug-borne weapons program came about and what they worked on

(25:00) The misaligned incentives in government funding that create opportunity for self-inflicted harmful experiments

(32:00) The strange circumstances surrounding "The Swiss Agent"

(36:58) How a change in patent law complicated the treatment of Lyme Disease

(39:05) Lyme Disease as the prequel to COVID-19

(41:05) Science, especially in Lyme Disease, is a small club that doesn't encourage thinking outside of the established paradigm. Similarities to Alzheimer's Disease research.

(45:54) How the incentive structure of the medical-industrial complex discourages simple treatments. Similarities to COVID-19 vaccination incentive vs possible treatments.

(49:44) The incentive structure that encourages the denial of chronic disease and even penalizes physicians who come up with effective treatments using cheap antibiotics

(52:04) The suppression of Bitten by NIH and other influential groups

Links and Resources

The Bitten Files - Substack

Bitten: The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons

Project 112 - Wiki

Plum Island

Willy Burgdorfer

The Swiss Agent

Lyme Disease Cabal Primary Research Document Cloud (Part 1)

Lyme Disease Cabal Primary Research Document Cloud (Part 2)

Under Our Skin (documentary)

Kris Newby website

Cat Scratch Disease article

Lead Poisoning article

Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic by Pam Weintraub

In this episode of Outside The System, I spoke with Eric Jorgenson, an author and investor, whose latest book is The Anthology of Balaji, a collection of wisdom, ideas, and quotes from technologist Balaji Srinivasan. Balaji is an electrical and chemical engineer, investor (Andreesen Horowitz), and successful entrepreneur, notably in both biotech (Counsyl) and cryptocurrency (Earn.com), which led to him becoming Coinbase's first CTO (post-Earn.com acquisition). The Anthology of Balaji packs a huge punch on a wisdom per word basis and is well worth your time.  

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Timestamps

(3:00) Our shared love for Where Is My Flying Car and how it has influenced Balaji's philosophy

(4:55) The differences and similarites between The Anthology of Balaji and The Almanck of Naval Ravikant. How the books feel like being at a long dinner with Balaji (or Naval) and you're both at your best and are able to get deep but succinct answers to all the questions you've had for them

(7:45) The moral importance of technology and the benefits that come from it

(12:03) When Balaji is wrong, it's because he over-extrapolated instead of under-extrapolated 

(21:08) Tracing the path of technological innovations and how they get adopted

(26:07) Self-measurement devices leading to personalized supplements and nutrition

(30:05) Bro science vs medical science

(41:30) The moral case for innovation. One example: saving people time extends their lifespan

(43:00) The media is incentivized for doom and gloom, so they make technology sound more dystopian and risky instead of a way to literally extend your life and make you powerful

(49:20) Decentralized media (social media) leads to different problems than centralized media

(49:53) How the FDA has lost the plot, and instead of curing diseases, its goal now seems to be to perpetuate itself. If you were designing the FDA from scratch today, it would probably look very different

(53:20) The beauty of the American governmental system and how federalism allows experimentation

(56:30) Discussion on Balaji's book The Network State

(1:00:53) Eric's pitch for making the United States a frontier nation again

(1:02:30) How writing this book influenced Eric personally and professionally

(1:11:42) Getting Eric's podcast Smart Friends on podcasting 2.0 to enable value-for-value

Links & Resources:

Eric's website

Smart Friends, Eric's podcast

Balaji Srinivasan's biography

The Anthology of Balaji by Eric Jorgenson

Where Is My Flying Car by J. Storrs Hall

TFTC Podcast - The Fiat Crisis with Balaji

Nik Bhatia's Outside The System episode about Layered Money

Aleks Svetski's Outside The System episode about the Three Generation Theory of Bitcoin

Elo Health - smart protein and supplements

The Systems Bible

The Network State: How To Start A New Country by Balaji Srinivasan

In this episode, I spoke with my friend John Ganotis. John is the creator of a popular iPhone app called Pee & See (the number one number one app!) which helps users measure their hydration and health. John’s progression and journey as an independent creator is super inspiring to me. When he was in middle school, he created a YouTube esque show before YouTube was a thing, that somehow made it to TV. John is also a DJ and you can find links to his mixes in the show notes.

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Timestamps

(2:12) - John Ganotis, the creator of the popular iPhone app Pee & See, talks about his innovative approach to hydration tracking, focusing on output rather than input. He discusses the development of the app, how it came about, and how it is helping people improve their health.

(12:08) - John shares insights about the development process of Pee & See, including its original creation as a website and its evolution into an iPhone app. He details how the app saves data privately, creating a low-effort journal of users' lives.

(19:23) - John recalls his journey of getting a show on public access television, beginning with a YouTube-like show in middle school. He discusses the challenges of digital editing and the value of these early entrepreneurial experiences.

(29:13) - John discusses his first career venture as a high schooler and the lessons he learned about taking risks and avoiding a traditional nine-to-five job. He reflects on how these experiences helped him become more confident in undertaking independent projects.

(36:43) - John talks about embracing the idea of being a solo entrepreneur and the benefits it brings, such as infusing projects with personal character and building a strong rapport with users. He discusses the development of self-service tools for users and his thoughts on customer service.

(45:24) - John shares his journey into DJ-ing, starting with Logic Pro and transitioning to an iPad and a physical controller. He discusses his experiences with podcasting and website projects, and his decision to pursue his own independent projects.

Resources

Pee & See (John's hydration tracking app)

John's Twitter

John's YouTube

John's Deep House Mix #1

John's Deep House Mix #2