Outstanding People Have One Thing In Common

Welcome to The Art of The Impossible, the weekly newsletter where I unearth five pieces of content which I hope will both inspire and embolden you.

When I was in the depths of working in startups, I always wished I could find some respite and inspiration on my weekends, and this newsletter is the thing I wish existed - a curated list of content to devour - so I do hope you enjoy it.

PODCAST

Patrick Collison on programming languages, AI, and Stripe's biggest engineering decisions

Michael Truell (CEO of Cursor) sits down with Patrick Collison (founder/CEO of Stripe) to discuss programming languages, the role of AI in programming, and building long-lasting software.

They also discus Patrick's first startup in Smalltalk, LISP chatbots, ideas from esoteric programming languages, Bret Victor and Dynamicland, programming human organizations, Codebase's "Big Bang" and MongoDB, rewriting Stripe, how does Patrick use AI? Programming human biology and the unexpected beneficiaries of AI.

Watch/listen here.

QUOTE

Outstanding people have one thing in common: An absolute sense of mission.

Zig Ziglar

INTERVIEW

Pessimism Has Been Wrong For 50 Years: Matt Ridley

Why do we take progress for granted?

In this Abundance Institute interview, The Rational Optimist author Matt Ridley walks through the quiet miracle of human advancement, from lighting a room to transforming entire economies. He explains why pessimism about the future has been wrong for decades, and how innovation, trade, and idea exchange fuel prosperity around the world. This is the story you’ve never been told about how the modern world came to be and why there’s every reason to believe it can keep getting better.

Questions answered:

• Why don’t rabbits experience prosperity?
• What we get wrong about pessimism and progress
• The hidden history of artificial light
• Specialization, exchange, and the miracle of trade
• A morning routine powered by global collaboration
• Why trade is older than farming. And more fundamental
• Innovation is bottom-up, not top-down
• Hope is a moral responsibility
• What to expect from the pave of innovation

Watch the short interview here.

BOOK

Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading by Nadia Asparouhova

Why do some ideas spread like wildfire, while others resist being seen — despite their importance? A new book by Nadia Asparouhova explores the emerging phenomenon of antimemetics.

It's easier than ever to share ideas, yet some of the most interesting ideas are burrowing deeper underground, circulating quietly among group chats, texts, and whisper networks. While memes – self-replicating bits of culture – thrive in an attention-driven economy, other ideas are becoming strangely harder to find. Antimemetics: Why Some Ideas Resist Spreading explores this paradox, uncovering the hidden forces that determine what we remember, what we forget, and why some ideas – no matter how compelling – resist going viral.

Drawing on historical examples, internet phenomena, and the mechanics of attention, as well as her experiences in the technology sector, Nadia Asparouhova examines how cultural and technological systems shape what enters the public consciousness. She argues that while some ideas spread effortlessly, others are structurally resistant to spread, whether due to their complexity, our personal discomfort with these ideas, or a lack of incentives to share them.

As we collectively navigate a highly charged, memetic world where the hive mind dictates what we see and think about, Antimemetics offers a new way to think about our place in the information ecosystem. It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the tide of viral noise, and often it seems like the only options are to either disengage or be swept away. But withdrawing from the conversation isn’t the only answer. By noticing what gets lost in the memetic churn, we can reclaim our attention, find thoughtful ways to participate, and shape the exchange of ideas – rather than letting it unconsciously shape us.

Buy the book here.

WATCH

Richard Sutton: The Era of Experience & The Age of Design

In his first large-scale public presentation after receiving the Turing Award, Dr. Richard S. Sutton presents, "The Era of Experience & The Age of Design," recorded live at Upper Bound conference.

In this presentation, Dr. Sutton lays the groundwork and shares a few key insights from his latest paper with David Silver (Alpha Go), "Welcome to the Era of Experience", where he explores a pivotal shift in Artificial Intelligence: moving beyond learning solely from human data to an "era of experience," where AI systems learn autonomously through their own interactions and observations.

Watch the talk here.

As always, thank you so much for reading this newsletter and for listening to the podcast. If you have a minute spare, I would so appreciate a review of the pod or a heart on this newsletter - both help others to find it and my goal is to inspire as many people as possible with the stories I share.

Thank you and I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Danielle