#669: Kevin Kelly — Excellent Advice for Living

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Kevin Kelly (@kevin2kelly) helped launch and
edit Wired magazine. He has written for The New York Times, and
The Wall Street Journal, among many other publications.


He is the author of the new book Excellent Advice for
Living: Wisdom I Wish I'd Known
Earlier. Other books by Kevin Kelly
include Out of Control, the 1994 classic book on decentralized
emergent systems; The Silver Cord, a graphic novel about robots
and angels; What Technology Wants, a robust theory of technology;
Vanishing Asia, his 50-year project to photograph the
disappearing cultures of Asia, and The Inevitable: Understanding
the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future, a New
York Times bestseller.


Kevin is currently co-chair of The Long Now Foundation, which is
building a clock in a mountain that will tick for 10,000 years.
He also has a daily blog; a weekly podcast about cool tools; and
a weekly newsletter, Recomendo, a free, one-page list of six very
brief recommendations of cool stuff. He is also a Senior Maverick
at Wired. He lives in Pacifica, California.


Please enjoy!


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*


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[05:51] Is Kevin Kelly the most interesting man in the world?


[08:37] Kevin’s long bet against the human population.


[15:00] Out Of Control.


[19:34] Why did it take 11 years to complete The Silver Cord?


[24:28] 1,000 True Fans.


[29:48] Kevin’s failed campaign to discover all the species of
life on Earth.


[31:31] Stewart Brand.


[36:20] Ressurecting extinct species.


[39:38] Why Kevin believes optimists shape the future.


[42:48] Active optimism vs. passive optimism.


[46:39] What constitutes progress?


[48:18] Is regression inevitable if we don’t embrace “degrowth?”


[52:38] Kevin’s $20 time machine.


[55:27] Will AI take our jobs?


[1:07:58] The future of AI is dumbsmarten.


[1:10:50] What’s currently underhyped?


[1:13:20] Posting an AI picture a day keeps Kevin at play.


[1:15:29] How Kevin uses AI chatbots to help write first drafts.


[1:21:40] Potential scenarios for where AI will be going soon.


[1:24:38] What prompted Kevin to write Excellent Advice for
Living?


[1:28:46] Examples of Kevin’s simple, tweetable advice.


[1:32:02] Don’t aim to be the best. Be the only.


[1:35:32] Good uses of time spent with one’s children.


[1:38:47] Tips for traveling with children.


[1:42:22] Being a tourist in your own town and troubleshooting
advice.


[1:45:06] What Kevin hopes readers will take away from Excellent
Advice for Living.


[1:46:37] Sabbaticals.


[1:52:17] How Kevin uses YouTube.


[1:56:03] Why is Kevin huge in China?


[1:59:16] Fully becoming yourself and other parting thoughts.


*


For show notes and past guests
on The Tim Ferriss Show,
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Past guests on The Tim Ferriss
Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh
Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin
Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew
McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth
Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah
Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine
Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary
Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael
Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria
Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de
Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly
Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard
Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael
Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan
Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit
Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim
Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval
Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth
Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard
Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid
Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick
Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren
Aronofsky, Margaret Atwood, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter
Thiel, Dr. Gabor Maté, Anne Lamott, Sarah
Silverman, Dr. Andrew Huberman, and many more.


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