Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Links

Shane Parrish talks to Jason Zweig in the latest The Knowledge Project podcast (LINK)
Related book: The Devil’s Financial Dictionary
Rationally Speaking podcast with Phil Tetlock [H/T @jasonzweigwsj] (LINK)
Related book: Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction
Jim Chanos' Grant’s Conference presentation (LINK)

An interview with Eric Schmidt [H/T Matt] (LINK)
There is a size at which companies begin to fall in on themselves. Google has done well because the founders are so talented and brilliant. Google, Amazon, Facebook — they all have strong founders and leaders. Steve Jobs thought Google was doing too many things. 
We spent two years arguing about whether we should change the logo. Our mission is to organize all the world’s information. The three of us visited Warren Buffett in Omaha. Alphabet is an attempt to build a holding company like Berkshire Hathaway out of an existing operating company. It’s never been done before. 
We didn’t even know how many Alphabet companies there would be. Google Life Sciences will be one. Calico, Google Fiber. 
We’re trying to push the Alphabet companies to be separate companies, not divisions. Warren Buffett loves to hire people who would run the companies whether he hired them or not.