Podcast notes: Stanford prof Andrew Huberman on all things cannabis and weed (1000x more powerful than your body’s natural cannabinoids)

Contains # of psychoactive compounds, main one is THC, also CBD (cannabidiol), also CBN (cannabinol)

THC = largely responsible for psychoactive fx of cannabis
CBD / CBN = profound effects, but not same altered perceptions / moods

“High” = number of changes in brain and body, some of which are actually result of CBD but this is not widely known

Cannabis plant has 400+ biologically active compounds

1 Sativa
2 Indica
3 Ruderalis – not often consumed; not widely known
4 hybrids of all three

Sativa taller longer plant, Indica is shorter stouter, different morphologies

Sativa = more stimulant, invigorated and alert, not as sedative, reported heightened focus / creativity, less susceptible to pain / noxious stimuli, “head biased effect”

Indica = more full body effect, full body relaxation, sedative effect, state of sleep, relieve anxiety, less stimulant
**Indica = “in the couch”

Many hybrid strains
Growers are growing strains with very nuanced effects on brain and body

**Now there’s type 1, type 2, type 3 for any given eg indica, sativa, hybrid – differing THC/CBD ratios
Type 1 = THC>CBD
Type 2 = more balanced THC:CBD
Type 3 = CBD>THC

Why is there any effect (of weed) at all?

**Top 3 most used drugs – #1 alcohol, #2 nicotine (1-2B users), #3 cannabis
Caffeine would be above all 3 if it were considered a drug

**From early conception (still in womb), you have cannabinoid receptors – because body has endogenous cannabinoids (EC) which you make from conception to death
Cannabis has compounds that bind to those same cannabinoid receptors —> biological fx
**THC / CBD bind to those receptors with greater affinity, have greater fx than our endogenous (naturally made) chemicals – 1000x greater potency – your endogenous cannabinoids are out-competed
This is why dependence starts to emerge
This is also why you can experience worse mood, anxiety, etc when not consuming – because your own body’s compounds stop working as well

Similar to how our body makes its own testosterone, but you can take synthetic (artificial) testosterone that gives “super physiological effects” – much stronger than our own body-made testosterone
Same with nicotine + nicotinic receptors

Just because it’s from a plant / naturally occurring does not mean it’s safe or healthy for the human body – depends highly on the plant, compound, person, genetics, etc

Two main kinds of EC (endo cannabinoids)
Released from neurons (nerve cells) – pre-synaptic > post-synaptic – excitation and inhibition
ECs are post-synaptic – they’re a brake on system, adjusting levels
**While marijuana can disrupt short-term memory, these natural ECs can actually strengthen the neuronal connections
ECs work in number of ways, not straight-forward fx

Two kinds of EC receptors – CB1 is highly enriched in brain (found everywhere) / nervous system, CB2 is immune system / liver / genitals
ECs interact with both CB1 and CB2

Cannabis has THC / CBD that potently bind CB1 receptor – 1000x stronger than ECs – “essentially leave ECs dysfunctional”

**Cannabis is fast entering bloodstream = 30 seconds
Faster than alcohol and nicotine
After 30-60 min will have peak concentrations and biological fx
**Effects last 3-4 hours – can depend on familiarity / frequency of use

Lypophilic – affinity for fatty cells, can remain in those cells for long time
**After consumption, typically stay in those cells and can be detected for 80 days (!)

CB1 receptors present in many nerve cells / brain
Sativa acts on those receptors in pre-frontal cortex (PFC)
PFC = brake on amygdala (which detects threats)
**Sativa compounds eg, calm down the amygdala, and ramp up the PFC – seesaw effect – enables states of flow / focus / creativity / elevated mood
Except in some individuals – fx are opposite and can experience intense anxiety / paranoia
THC / CBD simply increase fx (“potentiate”) of your existing systems – thus likely to experience similar effect every time

**No good predictors of how an individual will respond to a given strain – lots of street lore but no scientific proof

**Indica also suppresses amygdala, but also shuts down hippocampus (memory) – indica can harm short and even long-term memory

Brain / body areas impacted
-deficits in memory (reductions in hippocampus activity)
-PFC – activated by sativa, indica turns off (=relaxation, promoting sleep)
-suppression of basal ganglia and cerebellum (action planning, balancing, motor planning and sequencing) – less physically mobile, reddening of eyes, drier mouth, etc
-increase in appetite – high density of CB1 receptors in hypothalamus – narrow focus to food, hypothalamus signaling to gut that regulate blood sugar leading to increases in appetite
-CB1 receptors in spinal cord – can provide some pain relief – big component of this is a perceptive shift of pain (qualitative)

Most studies detail THC amount, but don’t distinguish sativa vs indica strains

Does cannabis increase creativity?
“Depends”
Convergent (synthesis, analysis) vs divergent (brainstorming, exploration) thinking
**When dopamine is high, divergent thinking more likely = throw out lots of disconnected ideas
From review of scientific literature: in professions where creativity is required, find more manic depression (manic = elevated dopamine) and schizophrenia (also elevated dopamine)
**Creativity involves both – first divergent (high dopamine), then convergent (lower dopamine)
Creativity = process, not an event

Note: only 1/2 finished – will add more notes if I finish the rest

Prescient paper from former OECD chair William White in 2012: “Rising inflation along with stagnant demand…would clearly imply other serious problems”

From William White, formerly of the OECD. PDF link here.

A few choice excerpts below, I’ll add more as I finish the paper (it’s slow going for me, I was at best a B+ Econ student in college)

AME = Advanced market economy (eg, the US or Europe or Japan)

Rising inflation along with stagnant demand in AME’s would clearly imply other serious problems for the central banks of AMEs. On the one hand, raising policy rates to confront rising inflation could exacerbate continuing problems of slack demand and financial instability. On the other hand, failing to raise policy rates could cause inflationary expectations to rise. Further, were different central banks to respond differently, as they did in 2008, there might also be unwelcome effects on exchange rates.

One disquieting fact is that these long rates have been trending down, in both nominal and real terms, for almost a decade and there is no agreement as to why this has occurred. Many commentators have thus raised the possibility of a bond market bubble that will inevitably burst.

The famous “Minsky moment” is likely to be shorter, harder to predict, and even more self-fulfilling than Minsky suggested. The failure of Bear Stearns and Lehman provide good examples of these dangers. As well, the shadow banking system has an increasingly international flavor. This not only reduces transparency and the quality of regulatory oversight, but also produces a degree of “balance sheet” exposure that could easily precipitate or aggravate foreign exchange crises.

Third, with central banks so active in so many markets, the danger rises that the prices in those markets will increasingly be determined by the central bank’s actions. While there are both positive and negative implications for the broader economy, as described in earlier sections, there is one clear negative for central banks. The information normally provided to central banks by market movements, information which ought to help in the conduct of monetary policy, will be increasingly absent.

The Japanese crisis of the 1990s began with a very high household saving rate, a very strong home bias for portfolio investment and the world’s largest trade surplus. Contrast this, for example, with the almost opposite position of the US today. A marked shift in market confidence in US Treasury debt would then seem likely to lead to a dollar crisis as well.

Oct 25 addendum: Here’s a September 2022 presentation that he gives on the global economy:
https://williamwhite.ca/2022/09/15/what-next-for-the-global-economy/

Veteran schoolteacher says school is a place where “bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned”

Thought provoking insights from a veteran award winning teacher who taught 8th graders for 30 years in a particularly challenged part of the New York public school system.

School is like starting life with a 12-year jail sentence in which bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned. I teach school and win awards doing it. I should know.

Here’s the source: https://www.cantrip.org/gatto.html

And here are his lessons, verbatim:

—

The first lesson I teach is: “Stay in the class where you belong.”

The second lesson I teach kids is to turn on and off like a light switch

The third lesson I teach you is to surrender your will to a predestined chain of command

The fourth lesson I teach is that only I determine what curriculum you will study

In lesson five I teach that your self-respect should depend on an observer’s measure of your worth

In lesson six I teach children that they are being watched

—

The whole thing is worth a read and here’s a similar version that you can watch / listen to on YouTube:

Podcast notes – George Yeo’s speech and Q&A at Bukit Timah dialogue

Theme: ASEAN adjusting to geopolitical tides
Talk given April 2022

**ASEAN is consequential because we’re weak, don’t threaten anybody – neighbors much bigger
Succeed by being neutral, soft, friendly to everybody
Most diverse region in world – ethnicity, religion, political systems, languages
Diversity result of geography

SEA is mishmash – find bit of China and India in every country
**Singapore is most ASEAN-ized – because it has more people from all of these countries
Singapore reflects ASEAN

**World going thru interesting period – sense that something big is happening, feeling uneasy, like background easy, like distant thunder

China threatening US dominance
When America talks rules-based order, it’s an American-dominated one

As Asia grows, do not want to be talked down to by Americans or Europeans
Increasing they’re hitting back – you’re not perfect either

When US criticizes China in Xinjiang, China shows what American settlers did to Native Americans

**China prepared for long period of struggle with US

China plays along, but don’t show weakness – dual circulation economy (internal economy robust against foreign interference)
Preparing internationally for de-coupling
Preparing solutions for each potential attack vector – financial system, technology, military

US discomfort that China is rising – non-whites are pushing back
A bit hypocritical – allowed to criticize China but won’t take criticism

India has unique reaction because of its own conflicts with China
1962 – India-China war
India will play its own game – even though US wants it as an ally
India is too big to wanna be dependent on anyone
**There’s no settled India-China border – British drew it with Tibet
Like to put pressure on each other

**Putin wrote thoughtful essay about Ukraine+Russian history – about how Russia begin in Kiev
Putin in KGB watched Soviet Union collapse, became taxi driver, saw how Yeltsin was manipulated by west and oligarchs
He wanted put stop to this
He knew America preferred Russia be broken up further
NATO keeps expanding eastward – Poland, Romania – for long time they’ve suffered under Soviet Union
Kissinger wrote long time ago, Ukraine must always be a buffer state
NATO can’t say they’re against Ukraine joining
Russians asking for formal agreement that Ukraine won’t join – but US / Europe reluctant to give

Both Russia and China expect some storm to come – so they’re making it clear where they can and can’t cooperate

You have situation – US-China which includes South China Sea, Taiwan; on other side Ukraine, future of Europe

ASEAN tries not to get involved
These are big player games
Don’t get involved – there’s no profit to get involved

**ASEAN has overtaken Europe as China’s #1 trading partner – much greater than even US-China trade
China per-capita is low, huge market – China GDP will be size of Europe + America combined
Sense of uneasiness when China is buying up properties, assets
**Suspicion of China is result of rapid change
China not very good at PR – new to them; don’t have facility with English (unlike India which was colonized by Britain)

Philippines has love-hate relationship with America
Many Filipinos have wish to go to America

**Vietnam has love-hate relationship with America and China – 1000 year history with China, have been tributary state
Vietnam language is romanized, but its history is Chinese
Chinese and Vietnamese communist parties have historically had good relationship – settled land border, but quarrel over South China Sea

Thailand – has been successful at balancing external parties
Indonesia – great sense of self, independence

Some great data on web3 / crypto from @ttunguz

A few that really stood out to me:

  • 2.5m wallets are active daily across web3. Flat wallet count likely means relatively constant GDP in the ecosystem. We need more products to attract new users to bring in more GDP.
  • NFT buyers outnumber DEX traders about 35:1 over the last 6 months but the traded volume is roughly equal between the two groups.
  • Developers push about 300,000 smart contracts to Ethereum every month, a figure that has been flat for the last five months.

Source: https://tomtunguz.com/state-of-crypto-2022-dunecon