October 15, 2020

Happiness, Reducing Anxiety, Crypto Stablecoins, and Crypto Strategy | Naval Ravikant on The Tim Ferriss Show

 Check out The Tim Ferriss Show Episode Page & Show Notes

Key Takeaways

• “My heroes are scientists because I think applied science is the engine that pulls humanity forward. It eventually becomes technology.” – Naval Ravikant 
• “I think the nature of what science is is being corrupted and that started the day we let the so-called social sciences masquerade as sciences” – Naval Ravikant 
  • What does Naval consider to be real science?
    • Physics, molecular biology, chemistry, mathematics, theory of computation, etc.
      • “If there isn’t some experiment that could theoretically disprove it then it’s not science” 
• “You’re not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity – a piece of a business – to gain your financial freedom.” – Naval Ravikant
  • You can own other businesses (private or public stock) or you can create your own business, but either way, you need to own equity to become wealthy
• “The ideal would be to make money with your mind, not with your time. So if I can make just one good decision a year and that makes me all the money I need for that year, then that’s perfect.” – Naval Ravikant
  • A lot of the greatest inventors of our time just sit around reading and thinking just to make a few decisions a year
• “Proper meditation, proper examination should ruin the life that you’re currently living.” – Naval Ravikant
  • “It should cause you to leave relationships. It should cause you to re-establish boundaries with family members and colleagues. It should cause you to quit your job. It should cause you to change your eating patterns. It should cause you to spend more time with yourself. It should cause you to change what books you read. It should cause you to change who your friends are. If it doesn’t do that, it’s not real examination. If it doesn’t come attached with destruction of your current life, then you can’t create the new life in which you will not have the anxiety” 

• Sitting and meditating for 60 minutes every day has been lifechanging for Naval:
  • “I will tell you it’s the single most important thing that I do” – Naval Ravikant
    • “When the best hour of my day is spent by myself, then the world has very little to offer me”
• “I think we’re building a better Wall Street using cryptocurrencies” – Naval Ravikant
• “Money is just a bubble that never pops” – Naval Ravikant
• Since the pandemic, Naval has seen an increase in the number of people who hold Bitcoin as a store of wealth:
  • “I would say the number of people that have gotten involved in crypto recently as a true wealth protection mechanism is the largest I have ever seen” – Naval Ravikant

Intro

• Naval Ravikant (@naval) is a venture capitalist, co-founder of AngelList, and co-host of both The Naval Podcast and the Spearhead podcast
• Host: Tim Ferriss (@tferriss)

Books Mentioned

• The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness complied by Eric Jorgenson
• “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman”: Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard P. Feynman
• “What Do You Care What Other People Think?”: Further Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard P. Feynman
• The Way to Love by  Anthony de Mello
• Awareness by Anthony de Mello
• Siddhartha: A Novel by Hermann Hesse
• Vasistha’s Yoga by Swami Venkatesananda
• Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation by Stephen Mitchell
• Tao Te Ching: A New English Version by Lao Tzu and Stephen Mitchell
• The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer
• Think on These Things by Jiddu Krishnamurti
• The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti by Jiddu Krishnamurti
• The Great Challenge by Osho
• Counsels and Maxims by Arthur Schopenhauer
• Direct Truth: Uncompromising, Non-Prescriptive Truths to the Enduring Questions of Life by Kapil Gupta

Why Naval Doesn’t Do Podcasts

• Naval doesn’t go on other people’s podcasts any more but made an exception for Tim because he is a long time friend and helped Naval get to where he is in life 
• Why doesn’t Naval do podcasts any more?
  • “I just don’t believe in sequels. I think sequels suck.” – Naval Ravikant
    • E.g: The sequels to most movies suck
  • When someone writes their first book or movie, they’ve been thinking about that idea for a decade or so but when it comes to the sequel, they’ve had a lot less time to think about it so the quality of it will be subpar to the original
    • “Maybe the first run they took an idea they had for a decade…and then in the sequel…they have to come up with something equally good but they only have two years to do it” 
      • However, sequels are popular because people crave familiarity and they make the creators a lot of money 

Scientists Are Heroes

• The person on Naval’s Twitter banner is professor Richard P. Feynman
  • He is known for his work in physics and the books,“Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman”: Adventures of a Curious Character and “What Do You Care What Other People Think?”: Further Adventures of a Curious Character
• Growing up, Naval looked up to Richard Feynman because he was an intellectual who was a happy character and also successful in the real world
• “My heroes are scientists because I think applied science is the engine that pulls humanity forward. It eventually becomes technology.” – Naval Ravikant 
• “I think scientists are still the most unsung heroes of human history and Feynman was one of the greats” – Naval Ravikant 

Social Sciences ≠ Science

• Social science isn’t true science:
  • “Social science does kind of lead you down the road to ignorance because it is about social. And anything social is about groupthink and group behavior and individuals can search for truth but groups search for consensus.” – Naval Ravikant 
    • “The last place you’re going to find truth is in large groups”
• Naval recites a tweet from Nassim Taleb: “The opposite of education is not ignorance; it is education in social science.”
• “I think the nature of what science is is being corrupted and that started the day we let the so-called social sciences masquerade as sciences” – Naval Ravikant 
  • What does Naval consider to be real science?
    • Physics, molecular biology, chemistry, mathematics, the theory of computation, etc.
      • “If there isn’t some experiment that could theoretically disprove it then it’s not science” 

How To Get Rich

• Naval’s most popular tweet is How to Get Rich (without getting lucky)
  • There are many ways to get rich in life, but Naval wanted to share advice on how to do it in an ethical and repeatable manner
• What’s the important piece of advice in the thread?
  • “You’re not going to get rich renting out your time. You must own equity – a piece of a business – to gain your financial freedom.” – Naval Ravikant
    • You can own other businesses (private or public stock) or you can create your own business, but either way, you need to own equity to become wealthy
      • E.g: Tim Ferriss created his own podcast and books, and turned himself into a brand, and as a result, Tim is set for life
• “To me the purpose of money is freedom and for that, you need to create wealth” – Naval Ravikant
• “The ideal would be to make money with your mind, not with your time. So if I can make just one good decision a year and that makes me all the money I need for that year, then that’s perfect.” – Naval Ravikant
  • A lot of the greatest inventors of our time just sit around reading and thinking just to make a few decisions a year
• Money will take care of your money problems, but it won’t take care of all your problems

Anxiety & Meditation 

• There are many things that have helped Naval reduce his anxiety:
  • Yoga
  • Having kids
  • Psychedelic experiences
    • But meditation has had the biggest impact:
      • “I would say the number one thing that has been very, very important for me is meditation” – Naval Ravikant
• When Naval says meditation, he doesn’t mean sitting down and chanting, he means spending time examining yourself, your thoughts, and emotions:
  • “Sitting there with yourself and letting your mind run crazy and then seeing what’s actually in your mind that your mind wants to tell you and have you listen to and have you resolve that is unresolved” – Naval Ravikant 
    • You could also go to therapy, read philosophy and reflect on life, take long walks, etc. there are many ways to examine yourself
• “Proper meditation, proper examination should ruin the life that you’re currently living.” – Naval Ravikant
  • “It should cause you to leave relationships. It should cause you to re-establish boundaries with family members and colleagues. It should cause you to quit your job. It should cause you to change your eating patterns. It should cause you to spend more time with yourself. It should cause you to change what books you read. It should cause you to change who your friends are. If it doesn’t do that, it’s not real examination.” 

The Process of Self-Examination

• 3 Things that help Naval with self-examination:
  • 1) Reading philosophy
    • Some of Naval’s favorite philosophers: Arthur Schopenhauer, Osho, Kapil Gupta, Anthony de Mello
    • “If you’re going to start with one book, start with Anthony de Mello’s The Way to Love or his book Awareness, they’re both really good” – Naval Ravikant
    • More philosophy books Naval recommends:
      • Siddhartha: A Novel by Hermann Hesse
      • Vasistha’s Yoga by Swami Venkatesananda
      • Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation by Stephen Mitchell
      • Tao Te Ching: A New English Version by Lao Tzu and Stephen Mitchell
  • 2) Being aware of your thoughts
    • “Where is this coming from? Who is this person? What is this person saying? Is this true? Is this correct?” – Naval Ravikant
      • To learn more about where your thoughts come from, Naval recommends the book The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer
  • 3) Sitting down and meditating 
    • First thing in the morning, sit up with your back straight for 60 minutes every day for 60 days
      • “Whatever your mind wants to do, you just let it do. If it wants to talk, let it talk. If it wants to fight, let it fight. If it wants to be quiet, you let it be quiet.” – Naval Ravikant
        • Don’t force anything, just let things happen. If you do this for 60 days, you’ll clear out your mental inbox. 
• Sitting and meditating for 60 minutes every day has been lifechanging for Naval:
  • “I will tell you it’s the single most important thing that I do” – Naval Ravikant
    • Naval has been doing this for about 2.5 years now and only missed about 12 days so far
      • Since starting this practice, Naval:
        • Doesn’t fear aging
        • Doesn’t fear death
        • Doesn’t lust after things
        • Doesn’t seek approval from others
        • Doesn’t feel the need to drink or do drugs
          • “When the best hour of my day is spent by myself, then the world has very little to offer me”
            • The best part is that anyone can do it and it’s free

More Philosophy Book Recommendations

• More philosophy book recommendations from Naval:
  • Think on These Things by Jiddu Krishnamurti
  • The Book of Life: Daily Meditations with Krishnamurti by Jiddu Krishnamurti
  • The Great Challenge by Osho
  • Counsels and Maxims by Arthur Schopenhauer
  • Direct Truth: Uncompromising, Non-Prescriptive Truths to the Enduring Questions of Life by Kapil Gupta
  • The Tao of Seneca: Practical Letters from a Stoic Master by Seneca
• However, remember the point isn’t to read all of these books, it is to find inspiration to spend more time reflecting on life and examining yourself
  • “All of these are basically there to inspire you to self-reflect” – Naval Ravikant

Thoughts on Cryptocurrency 

• “I think cryptocurrencies are probably one of the greatest inventions in human history” – Naval Ravikant
  • Cryptocurrencies are decentralized, you don’t need the violence power of a state to enforce the value of the currency, and you don’t need any middleman to complete a transaction
    • Crypto is like a Swiss bank account that no government can break into
• “It’s very liberating to disconnect wealth creation, wealth storage, and wealth protection, from the state and that’s what cryptocurrency is really enabling” – Naval Ravikant
• The pros of Bitcoin:
  • It’s easy to send across the globe
  • It’s easy to divide  
  • It’s easy to verify
• The cons of Bitcoin:
  • It’s new and many people still don’t trust it
  • It’s extremely volatile 
  • It’s a speculative asset
• “I think we’re building a better Wall Street using cryptocurrencies” – Naval Ravikant
• How would someone use cryptocurrencies in a new country?
  • 1) Buy crypto on Coinbase or a similar platform
  • 2) Move it into a dedicated custodian like Anchorage
  • 3) Log in to a local crypto exchange, go through their verification process, and sell your crypto for cash
    • In the future, it’s possible that people will accept Bitcoin directly
• Bitcoin, and any other currency, only works because believe in it as a storage of value:
  • “Money is just a bubble that never pops” – Naval Ravikant
• Since the pandemic, Naval has seen an increase in the number of people who hold Bitcoin as a store of wealth:
  • “I would say the number of people that have gotten involved in crypto recently as a true wealth protection mechanism is the largest I have ever seen” – Naval Ravikant
    • “I do think more and more smart people are coming into it every single day”

Thoughts on Crypto Stablecoins

• Crypto stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that attempt to peg their market value to some external reference (like the US dollar)
• There are 3 main risks with crypto stablecoins:
  • Fraud risk: It’s said that each stablecoin is backed by a hard currency but there’s a chance that isn’t true
  • Censorship risk: If your stablecoins are held by a third-party, the government or company could freeze your assets
  • Blowup risk: If the underlying asset goes to zero, so will your stablecoin
    • There’s no such thing as a free lunch, if you want the reward you have to take on the risk

The Ultimate Lifehack: Play Long Term Games

• All effective self-help books can be boiled down to one lesson: play long-term games
  • “If you can adopt a long term mindset, you’re just going to have a much easier life” – Naval Ravikant
• Compound interest applies everywhere:
  • Relationships
  • Money
  • Health
• You want to find things in life that feel like play instead of work, that will help you play long term games
  • Find healthy foods that you enjoy eating
  • Find a job or career that you enjoy doing
  • Find books you enjoy reading
    • “Read what you love until you love to read” – Naval Ravikant
      • “It’s okay to read the junk foodstuff, just fall in love with reading and eventually you’ll get bored of the simple stuff and you’ll go to the most interesting stuff.”
        • “I love to read enough that I don’t like watching TV. I don’t watch movies…People start talking to me about shows that they’re watching on Netflix and what have you and I give them this empty look. I don’t watch shows on Netflix, they’re not interesting. It’s far more interesting to me to go for a walk and be meditative, and I’ll be in a very happy place or to read a book which will be intellectually stimulating…I would never watch a movie on my own.” 

Everything In Life Is A Game

• Life is filled with games:
  • Get good grades game
  • Get a good job game
  • Get a good partner game
    • These games are multiplayer and you’re competing with other people 
      • There are also single-player games such as meditation
• If there’s a game you’re winning at, but it’s making you miserable, then you should probably quit that game
• “Not wanting something is as good as having it” – Naval Ravikant
• In life, you want to choose your games very careful so you aren’t playing games you don’t care about
• “The reason to win the game is to be free of it” – Naval Ravikant
  • “It’s a reminder to myself that for the games that I won, it’s time to let go of them and to be free of them” 

Additional Notes

• “You always want to strive for understanding, not for memorization” – Naval Ravikant
• 70% of the US dollars that exist are held by countries outside the US
• The US gained 5 million new gun owners in 2020 (likely due to people prepping for the worst during the pandemic)
• “The modern devil is cheap dopamine” – Naval Ravikant

Tim Ferriss Show : anxiety, meditation, naval ravikant, popular, science, wealth
Notes By Alex Wiec