In 2016, a Florida court delivered an astounding $140 million verdict against Gawker media for publishing a sex tape of Hulk Hogan. The company was bankrupted. Two months later, it was revealed that billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel had secretly funded the case. In this episode, Joe discusses the why and how of Thiel’s conspiracy with author Ryan Holiday, who had unparalleled access to the characters of this incredible story.

Ryan is a bestselling author of books including Trust Me, I’m Lying, The Obstacle is the Way, and now, Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker and the Anatomy of Intrigue. Before his writing career he was a marketing specialist and was appointed Director of Marketing for American Apparel at the age of 22.

#46: How Peter Thiel Destroyed Gawker - Ryan Holiday

Leonard Susskind is the Felix Bloch professor of Theoretical physics at Stanford University.  He is widely regarded as the father of String Theory.

In this episode, Joe joins Leonard at Stanford to remember Leonard’s friend and mentor Richard Feynman, one of the great physicists of the twentieth century. They also discuss Leonard’s famous ‘Black Hole War’ with Stephen Hawking, String Theory, the multiverse, and what it’s like to be a 78-year-old physicist.

#48: My Friend Richard, and Theories of the Universe - Leonard Susskind

Weekly conversations with world-famous philosophers, investors, love-makers, risk-takers and academics. ‘Swagmen’ were Australian flaneurs who followed ideas wherever they led.

The Jolly Swagmen Podcast

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