Garret "G Mac" McNamara is one of the best big wave surfers of all time. He surfed one of the best waves ever at Jaws in 2003, put Nazare Portgual on the map as a surf spot and broke the world record for biggest wave ever surfed in 2013. All of this became the subject of an excellent HBO docuseries called 100 foot wave. An incredible surfer, he's an even better father, husband and a friend. He and his wife Nicole have created an incredible foundation to make the youth better stewards of the plan...
Oct 05, 2024•29 min
*** AMERICAN ALCHEMY is an original series hosted by Jesse Michels that explores the frontier of science and tech. Each week, we bring you exclusive interviews with some of the leading thinkers of our time. INSTAGRAM ➤ https://www.instagram.com/jessemichels TWITTER ➤ https://twitter.com/AlchemyAmerican EMAIL/BOOKINGS ➤ [email protected] SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7eOJzNRWY4l2UTDvIquxYg?app=desktop original music: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6LlLRudDi60Uy4...
Oct 05, 2024•54 min
In this week's American Alchemy, we interview Tom O'Neill, author of the new bestselling book Chaos: Charles Manson, The CIA and the Secret History of the Sixties. O'Neill and I went to Spahn Ranch, the famous old western movie set in Chatsworth California where the Mansons lived plotted a lot of their murders. We go through his book and its crazy thesis: that Charles Manson could have been an MK Ultra patient. What do you think? *** AMERICAN ALCHEMY is an original series hosted by Jesse Michels...
Oct 05, 2024•11 min
Did mushrooms come from outer space to spawn humanity and guide its evolution? From stoned ape theory to ancient mystery rituals, this week’s American Alchemist Tero Isokauppila (Founder/CEO of Foursigmatic) makes a pretty compelling case 🍄 👽🛸 *** AMERICAN ALCHEMY is an original series hosted by Jesse Michels that explores the frontier of science and tech. Each week, we bring you exclusive interviews with some of the leading thinkers of our time. INSTAGRAM ➤ https://www.instagram.com/jessemic...
Oct 05, 2024•18 min
From 2013 - 2022, Eric Weinstein was a Managing Director at Thiel Capital. He is the creator of geometric unity, a unified theory in physics, and the intellectual dark web, a loose coalition of intellectuals dedicated to free thought. Hal Puthoff is former CIA, NSA and AATIP (the government’s official UFO investigation program). In the 70’s, he oversaw Stargate: the government’s psychic spy program at Stanford Research Institute. In this conversation, we discuss the physics of UFO’s, private aer...
Oct 05, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Professor Loeb received a Ph.D. in plasma physics at age 24 from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1986) and was subsequently a long-term member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (1988-1993), where he started to work in theoretical astrophysics. In 1993 he moved to Harvard University where he was tenured three years later. In 2021, Avi founded the Galileo Project whose goal is to bring the search for extraterrestrial technological signatures of Extraterrestrial Technological Civ...
Oct 05, 2024•28 min
Meet Deep Prasad. Deep is a 26 year old self taught prodigy working on quantum computing and with a deep interest in UFO’s. In this video we discuss how he combines those interests by attempting to solve the schrodinger many body equation at scale with quantum computing; we also discuss quantum biology, quantum sensing and what, if anything, the aliens have planned for us 🛸👽 *** AMERICAN ALCHEMY is an original series hosted by Jesse Michels that explores the frontier of science and tech. Each ...
Oct 05, 2024•32 min
Robert Greene and Ryan Holiday: How to Find your Calling A modern Machiavelli, Robert Greene is the bestselling author of the 48 Laws of Power, The Laws of Human Nature and now, The Daily Laws. Ryan Holiday is the bestselling author of Trust Me I’m Lying, The Obstacle is the Way, Ego is the Enemy and now Courage is Calling. Robert and Ryan have a long relationship but have never been interviewed together. It was an hour to get them in the same room on this weeks episode of American Alchemy, wher...
Oct 05, 2024•32 min
Wim Hof, AKA The Iceman, is a Dutch motivational speaker and extreme athlete noted for his ability to withstand freezing temperatures. He has set Guinness World Records for swimming under ice and prolonged full-body contact with ice, and previously held the record for a barefoot half marathon on ice and snow. He’s hiked Mount Everest barefoot in shorts and run a marathon in the desert with no water. He attributes these feats to his Wim Hof Method (WHM), a combination of frequent cold exposure. I...
Oct 05, 2024•37 min
This weeks American Alchemist is Josh Wolfe. Josh co-founded Lux Capital to support scientists and entrepreneurs who pursue counter-conventional solutions to the most vexing puzzles of our time in order to lead us into a brighter future. The more ambitious the project, the better—like, say, creating matter from light. Josh is a Director at Shapeways, Strateos, Lux Research, Kallyope, CTRL-labs, Variant, and Varda, and helped lead the firm’s investments in Anduril, Planet, Echodyne, Clarifai, Aut...
Oct 05, 2024•27 min
Dr. Garry Nolan is the Rachford and Carlota A. Harris Professor in the Department of Pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine. He has published over 300 research articles and is the holder of 40 US patents, and has been honored as one of the top 25 inventors at Stanford University. Dr. Nolan was the founder of Rigel Inc. (NASDAQ: RIGL), and Nodality, Inc. (a diagnostics development company), BINA (a genomics computational infrastructure company sold to Roche Diagnostics), Founder of A...
Oct 05, 2024•28 min
Shanna H. Swan, Ph.D., is one of the world’s leading environmental and reproductive epidemiologists and a professor of environmental medicine and public health at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. An award-winning scientist, her work examines the impact of environmental exposures, including chemicals such as phthalates and Bisphenol A, on men’s and women’s reproductive health and the neurodevelopment of children. In this conversation, we focus on her new bestselling b...
Oct 05, 2024•22 min
Steve Horvath is a German–American aging researcher, geneticist, and biostatistician. He is a professor at the University of California Los Angeles known for developing the Horvath aging clock, which is a highly accurate molecular biomarker of aging. Having a clock that’s able to predict age is incredibly important for longevity research and begets important philosophical questions that we discuss in this episode. Please enjoy this conversation with Dr. Steve Horvath. *** AMERICAN ALCHEMY is an ...
Oct 05, 2024•20 min
Delian Asparouhov and Will Bruey are the cofounders of Varda space. With backgrounds in building the dragon capsule at SpaceX and at Founders Fund, the team wants to build stepwise better materials in microgravity environments (fiber optics, pharmaceuticals etc). On this episode, we talk about their revolutionary approach, the macro trends that allow for it (i.e. cheaper launch costs), the important idea that space commercialization will likely precede colonization and the various risks involved...
Oct 05, 2024•21 min
Parapsychology is a fringey field of physics that involves the study of mind over matter effects. Many elite universities had parapsychology departments in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. At American Alchemy, we think the field is worthy of further inquiry. On this episode, we explore two of parapsychology’s most mind blowing instantiations. The first is a government psychic spy program called Stargate. I interview one of the psychic spies in the program, a guy named Paul Smith, who now teaches people ...
Oct 05, 2024•25 min
This week’s American Alchemist is Rob Rhinehart: Rob is the founder of Soylent, partner at Mars Bio, and author of the blog mostly harmless. He’s incredibly intelligent and incredibly eccentric. He lives on a secluded Malibu with goats and horses and eats homemade ice cream all day. He also dabbles in poetry. John Fiorentino, his neighbor, is the founder of gravity blanket (one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns in history), Moonpods, birthdate candles, and now MoonPals. He’s an outspo...
Oct 04, 2024•27 min
This week’s American Alchemist is Ross Douthat: Ross is an American political analyst, blogger, author and New York Times columnist. He was a senior editor of The Atlantic. He has written on a variety of conservative topics, including the state of elite education and Christianity in America and "sustainable decadence" in contemporary society. On this episode, we talk about his battle with Lyme disease and its mysterious origins. *** AMERICAN ALCHEMY is an original series hosted by Jesse Michels ...
Oct 04, 2024•26 min
This week’s American Alchemist is Brian Muraresku: Brian is the New York Times bestselling author of the book, The Immortality Key. It documents the Ancient Greek mystery rituals that many said held civilization together and that the fathers of western civilization (Plato, Aristotle etc.) all underwent. Many of these great thinkers claimed the rituals helped them encounter “their immortal soul”. In The Immortality Key, Brian makes a strong case that the drink they consumed in the mystery rituals...
Oct 04, 2024•24 min
This week’s American Alchemist is Christian Angermayer: entrepreneur, investor, and head of Apeiron Investment Group, which manages 3.5 Billion Dollars. Born and bred in Germany, Christian is the first investor in Compass Pathways and founder of Atai Life Sciences, demarginalizing psychedelics and bringing them into the mainstream as FDA-approved treatments and therapies for ailments like depression, addiction, and PTSD. Perhaps more interesting than his business track record is his personality;...
Oct 04, 2024•25 min
Today’s American Alchemist is Justin Mateen. Justin cofounded Tinder in 2012 and currently runs JAM Fund, a $400 million dollar fund that invests in high-growth tech startups. We discuss his deal flow, what he looks for in founders, pattern recognition, and even did some holotropic breathwork together. Justin also forced me to take shots hot sauce after losing to him in Corn Hole. I’ll get him back though. Ranked #1 Seed Investor in the country by Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.co...
Oct 04, 2024•15 min
Eric Weinstein is a mathematician, cultural commentator and Managing Director of Thiel Capital. He has a theory in physics, called Geometric Unity, which attempts to reconcile quantum field theory and relativity. He's a walking anomaly and a complete polymath; genius doesn't do him justice. In this episode, we grab in n' out, talk about intergenerational theft, malaise among young people, artificial general intelligence, UFO's and the "theoretical" media company of the future. *** AMERICAN ALCHE...
Oct 04, 2024•47 min
Today’s American Alchemist is the one and only Jake Paul. Come explore the radical mind of one of the Internet’s most notorious personalities and get to know the man behind the name. From revitalizing the sport of boxing, to investing in tech, Jake is a true trailblazer... and he’s just getting started. *** AMERICAN ALCHEMY is an original series hosted by Jesse Michels that explores the frontier of ideas, science and tech. Each week, we bring you exclusive interviews. INSTAGRAM ➤ https://www.ins...
Oct 02, 2024•12 min
