Epsilon Theory Podcast

With primary season getting into full swing, there is a lot going on in the political world. Candidates are taking things up a notch with their aggressive tweets and comments to try to stay relevant as a Trump vs. Biden election seems more likely every day. And Trump and Biden themselves seem happy to sit back and stay out of the fray while enjoying their leads in the polls. In this episode, we break down the current state of election 2024. We discuss whether the primaries matter anymore and how things are playing out in narrative world. We also cover why inflation may not have been as low as it seemed in the most recent CPI report, whether Jack's pivot on Jared Kushner is warranted and the benefits of keeping a personal archive.

We know that Hollywood is a multibillion dollar industry that shows no signs of slowing anytime soon. So then why do so many studios report that their movies failed? Especially when most of these movies are incredibly popular and by all accounts should be financially successful. Well turns out Hollywood has some tricks up their sleeves and, as The Producers taught us, under the right circumstances you can make more money with a flop than a hit.

People traditionally look at war as something that is fought on a battlefield. And that is certainly true. But it is also fought in the world of narrative. The stories that are told by both the combatants in a war and other parties outside the war with a vested interest in its outcome can play a major role in how it plays out. In this episode, we look at the current Israel Hamas war through a narrative lens and how that is impacting the conflict.

Earthquakes, storms, volcanos, oh my. It seems the earth is always trying to kill us one way or another. These are dangerous powerful spectacles that can literally reshape the world. It’s understandable that we’re so fascinated by them. But why aren’t we afraid of them?

There was an explosion in the vicinity of a hospital in Gaza. The media immediately began reporting on it. Major newspapers put out front page headlines. Television stations brought on experts to voice their opinions, But there was one major problem: much of the information that was reported as fact turned out to be wrong. In this episode, we dig into the incident to try to understand what happened in the reporting of this story, why it happened, and what it tells us about the way the media operates in our world today.

Reality TV is a constant and ever growing part of pop culture. Everyone has a guilty pleasure show that they watch every week. It's created stars and scandals that have gained international attention. It's dominated the small screen for almost 30 years and the line between tv and reality has never been thinner.

The political world is becoming more polarized by the day. Whether it be on social media, in the news, or in the real world, extreme opinions continue to dominate any attempt to take a more balanced view. In our previous episodes, we have looked at why this is occurring, and why it is likely to get worse before it gets better. But that doesn't mean we should give up. There are many things those of us who don't want to give in to this polarization can do to better navigate this world and to find like minded people who also feel the same way. In this episode, we explore them and have an honest conversation about how all of us can be better citizens, and better people as the world around us becomes more challenging.

Invasive species are a known "bad thing". An organism that's introduced to an environment and ruins it. So why don't we do anything about them? Is there anything we can do?

Poll numbers show that the majority of Americans are not happy about the choice between Joe Biden and Donald Trump that we are likely to face in the next election. In this episode, we discuss how we got to this point. We look at the embedded problems in our political system that favor incumbents and how it has led us to where we are today. We also look at the political strategy used by incumbents and how they attempt to stave off upstart candidates by altering the system itself.

Airbnb has reshaped how we travel and disrupted the hotel industry. But most of the stories from both guests and hosts reveal nothing but disasters. So what's really going on? What's the real story of Airbnb?

In this episode, we take a deep dive into the tactics and tools used by upstart political entrepreneurs. Our political system is setup to heavily favor incumbents and candidates that are part of the political establishment. This presents an exceptionally difficult challenge for candidates who come from outside of that system. But social media and technology have given upstart candidates more tools at their disposal than they have ever had in history. And they are using them to both gain our votes and influence our opinions. We discuss how they do that and how all of us can maintain clear eyes and full hearts in the midst of their influence.

We live in a very safe world. And we've worked hard to make it safe. But sometimes we take that safety for granted. And sometimes we think that safety applies even when it really really doesn't.

Every virus needs carriers to spread. Even a narrative virus. We can learn a lot from what they have in common.

Political entrepreneurs are all around us. They influence what we think. They influence how we think. But we often don't recognize it. In this episode, we pull back the curtain on the world of political entrepreneurs. We explain who they are, what they do and why they do it. We also look at what we can all do to protect ourselves from their influence.

The Bone Wars. A decade long battle of ego between two dueling paleontologists. It's a tale of obsession, sabotage, and academic backstabbing. This clash of titans brought new attention to the theory of evolution and helped make dinosaurs the cultural juggernauts we know them as now.

This is a story about a virus and the gain-of-function research that produced it. It's not what you think.

High inflation was the story of the investing world in the past couple of years. But that has recently changed. The common knowledge around inflation has now shifted from one that high inflation is here to stay to one that inflation is over. But is that change premature? In this episode, we finish off our discussion from our first episode and head back to narrative world to discuss the current story of inflation and the risks it might present for investors going forward.

Harper and Ben finally get a chance to talk about the Wizard of Oz and the not so wonderful behind the scenes production. Of course this was par for the course in the Golden Age of Hollywood as the studio star making system controlled everything. And we do mean everything.

Join Ben Hunt, Matt Zeigler and Jack Forehand as we break open the news to reveal the nudging language behind the headlines. Media bias is real, but not in the way you think. In our kick-off episode, Ben, Matt and Jack talk about why we're here - to break open the news reported by mainstream media to reveal the nudging language of narrative and story that drives us. We focus on the reporting of inflation as a perfect example of what we call Fiat News.

A revamped Cursed Knowledge is back! This episode, Harper and Ben talk about the all too common trope of killing off female characters to motivate male characters. It's everywhere and it can tell us a lot about how hard it is to capture audience attention.