Engaging Optimism: Gupta and Bronson Talk Cancer, Bitcoin, and Philosophy in New Book

Anxious about the future? You're not alone. Rapid change plus overflow of information has pushed many to adapt a dystopian outlook on the future. This podcast shares a conversation with two authors who are challenging that mindset. Po Bronson and Arvind Gupta discuss their new book, Decoding the World. Listeners will hear

• How the background and mindset of each author informs the direction of the book,
• Why the book tries to get "science out of its silo," and why that's important for a brighter future, and
• How the book applies this mindset to subjects from cancer causes and the chemotherapy process to cryptocurrency trading and bitcoin currency explained.

Arvind Gupta is founder and venture advisor at Indie Bio and co-leads Mayfield's engineering biology practice. Po Bronson is a journalist, author, and managing director and partner at Indie Bio. Together they've written Decoding the World: A Roadmap for the Questioner (The Convergence Trilogy). Po opens up the premise of the book by talking about the work of Indie Bio, which took biotech out the limits of the health care sector and applied it to food, materials, and energy. This book wants to do the same with the reader's mindset, and take the domain of genetics out into the real world. Arvind adds, "we have a lot to look forward to . . . we can use the tools that we have to make a better future." Both authors emphasize getting out of a deterministic mindset; rather, nothing is inevitable, even climate change. We can do something.

They give some enlightening examples from the book, including a chapter on cancer and how they address cancer causes and prevention through a personal story alongside facts about cancer cells, which serves to elucidate the present and future in a unique way. They also take on the idea of bitcoin as the currency of the future, explaining why, in particular, venture industries use cryptocurrency. This chapter opens up the subject in a way that uses bitcoin future predictions to make the process understandable and free from deterministic economics. Finally, the authors even discuss a chapter based on the Jason Borne story. Listen in to find out how that theme fits with an exciting way to determine our futures.

For more about Indie Bio, see their website: indiebio.co. Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK