The guest
Kevin Rose: Tech entrepreneur and investor (founder of Digg, partner at True Ventures, host of the Modern Finance/Diggnation podcasts) and Tim Ferriss's recurring co-host on The Random Show.
What this episode covers
In this Random Show, Tim Ferriss and co-host Kevin Rose trade updates on preventative health screening, with Kevin describing his roughly 26-day stretch of complete sobriety after scary liver-enzyme results and a 12-step-style support network. They cover gadget recommendations (the new medical-grade Whoop, a Stanford-developed nasal gel called Profy), travel recommendations from Tim's recent trips to Taiwan and Japan, and deep dives into accelerated TMS for OCD/anxiety and whole-genome sequencing used with AI. A recurring thread is how AI is collapsing online trust, including a deepfake of Kevin pushing stock tips and the social platform Kevin is building with Alexis Ohanian. They close with a small-group Zen meditation retreat with Henry Shoukman and several quotes on discipline and drinking.
Recommended on this episode
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Bad Science
Ben Goldacre
“I actually excerpted for the 4-Hour Body”
“There's a book called Bad Science that I actually excerpted for the 4-Hour Body at one point just to give you an idea of what matters”— Tim Ferriss
MediaRecommended
32 Sounds
Sam Green
“that's a recommendation to get us out of Deathland”
“it's a documentary. It's called 32 Sounds... If you're going to watch it, watch it with a headset”— Kevin Rose
MediaRecommended
Flow
Gints Zilbalodis
“I highly recommend checking it out”
“$3.5 million budget to create this... 36 million in the box office... anyway, I highly recommend checking it out”— Kevin Rose
ProductRecommended
Lego The Great Wave off Kanagawa
Lego
“which is amazing. So much fun”
“I spent like three days making this with my oldest daughter, which is amazing. So much fun... the fact that Lego makes adult Legos now, it's so much fun”— Kevin Rose
ProductRecommended
Nanoblock Cherry Blossom Tree
Nanoblock
“They're fun to do, but it just gives you something”
“This one's called Nanoblocks. It's like a Lego competitor... this is a cherry blossom tree... They're fun to do”— Kevin Rose
BookRecommendedISBN verified
I Don't Want to Talk About It
Terrence Real
“love that book”
“his first book which put him on the map is I don't want to talk about it. love that book which is specifically focused on male depression”— Tim Ferriss
ProductRecommended
Oriental Beauty Oolong Tea
“do not miss out on the tea”
“this one in particular was recommended, which is called Oriental Beauty Oolong Tea... do not miss out on the tea”— Tim Ferriss
ProductRecommended
Glitch Coffee (Ginza)
Glitch Coffee
“I would highly recommend checking it out”
“the latte at Glitch Coffee in Ginza... the way that they blended it and put the whole thing together was so obscenely good... I would highly recommend checking it out”— Tim Ferriss
ProductRecommended
Sendai Coffee
“they really know their coffee, man. They really do”
“Sendai coffee and people can check that out as well... This stuff right here, they really know their coffee, man”— Tim Ferriss
ProductRecommended
Coffee Mameya (Tokyo)
Mameya
“Mamea is by far my favorite in Tokyo”
“Mamea is by far my favorite in Tokyo. It is insanely legit... they're just making this fantastic varietal of coffee”— Kevin Rose
ProductRecommended
Bearpond Espresso (Tokyo)
Bearpond
“Bearpond's amazing... I think it's some of the best”
“Bearpond's amazing. There's a guy there. He does the angel stain... I think it's some of the best”— Kevin Rose
ProductRecommended
Red Blossom Tea Company
Red Blossom Tea Company
“they are the best importer... The website has fantastic oolong and they're reasonably priced”
“I think they are the best importer domestic importer at least in the United States of high quality oolong tea... The website has fantastic oolong”— Kevin Rose
ProductRecommended
Whoop MG
Whoop
“So, I like it... it gives you the most data points and the most insights”
“the new Whoop finally came out... out of all the devices that I've played with and own, the Whoop is the geekiest of them all... So, I like it”— Kevin Rose
MediaRecommended
The Quantified Scientist (YouTube channel)
“a great YouTuber that I like... the quantified scientist is awesome”
“there is a great YouTuber that I like called the quantified scientist... the quantified scientist is awesome”— Kevin Rose
ProductRecommended
Profy nasal spray
Profy
“I've been using it when I travel... recommend checking it out”
“this nasal spray called Profy... I've been using it when I travel and knock on wood... haven't got sick at all... recommend checking it out”— Kevin Rose
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Awareness
Anthony de Mello
“always recommend it”
“this is awareness by Anthony de Mello... this book is fast acting medicine... Anthony de Mello, Awareness, always recommend it”— Tim Ferriss
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Everything Is Its Own Reward
Paul Madonna
“I ended up sitting there and reading it for about 2 hours. Completely forgot to have dinner”
“It's called Everything is Its Own Reward by Paul Madonna... I ended up sitting there and reading it for about 2 hours. Completely forgot to have dinner”— Tim Ferriss
BookRecommendedISBN verified
The Well of Being
Jean-Pierre Weill
“It's a great book. It's outstanding”
“that's still one of your favorites. Yeah. It's a great book. It's outstanding... That's the children's book for adults”— Tim Ferriss
ProductRecommended
POJ Studio (Japanese goods)
POJ Studio
“one of the best curators of fine Japanese goods... this stuff is absolutely stunning”
“is one of the best curators of fine Japanese goods... It's called pojstudio.com... this stuff is absolutely stunning”— Kevin Rose
MediaRecommended
Why We Sleep
Matthew Walker
“It'll scare the out of you in a productive way”
“why we sleep, I believe, is the title of of Matt's book. It'll scare the [__] out of you in I think a productive way”— Tim Ferriss
ProductRecommended
Versa Gripps
Versa Gripps
“much more straightforward to use pretty much for everything”
“what I'm holding is called Versa Grips... it's a lifting strap that is much more amenable, much more straightforward to use pretty much for everything”— Tim Ferriss
ProductRecommended
Okumura dashi
Okumura
“a dose of dashi and broth couple times a week does a lot to keep the doctor away”
“it's got dried bonito and dried anchovies and dried flying fish and sweet kelp... a dose of dashi and broth couple times a week does a lot to keep the doctor away”— Tim Ferriss
ProductRecommended
The Way (meditation app)
Henry Shukman
“it's just a awesome app”
“99% of the time I just use the app which should tell you something... it's just a [__] awesome app”— Tim Ferriss
MediaRecommended
Ex Machina
Alex Garland
“a great movie, Ex Machina... Fantastic movie. So good”
“Have you seen a great movie, Ex Machina? Oh, of course. Fantastic movie. So good”— Kevin Rose
ProductRecommended
Grail (Galleri) cancer screening test
Grail
“I think the Grail is probably the best to market for just general blood work cancer screening”
“there's another test called Grail... I think the Grail is probably the best to market for just general blood work cancer screening”— Kevin Rose
ProductRecommended
NAC (N-acetylcysteine)
“it was the NAC that was the methyl donor that got me over the hurdle here and dropped it down dramatically”
“it ended up being NAC was the thing that we had to add to the mix as a methyl donor to get it to work and hack around my MTHFR mutation”— Kevin Rose
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
MediaReferenced
Her
Spike Jonze
“We also need to watch her again. That'd be another one to watch again”— Kevin Rose
ProductReferenced
Somni
Matthew Walker
“Matt Walker... he had a device called Somni, which I haven't tried, which does transcranial electric stimulation 15 minutes before you go to bed”— Kevin Rose
Big reveals from this episode
- Kevin Rose dumped his whole genome into AI, identified his MTHFR mutation, and after 8 weeks of supplements (NAC as the key methyl donor) got his chronically elevated homocysteine to normal levels for the first time in years.
- After getting scary blood work showing liver enzymes around 150 (should be under 20), Kevin committed to sobriety and is 26 days completely sober, crediting a 12-step-style support network of friends and a weekly men's Zoom.
- Tim details his accelerated TMS treatment (50 sessions over 5 days) for OCD/anxiety, which produced a roughly 2-week-delayed onset followed by 3-4 weeks of near-complete symptom remission after his first round.
- Tim reveals a side effect of his first TMS round was inability to ejaculate, and lower-dose boosters (1-day and 3-day) did nothing; he now hypothesizes prior psychedelic exposure acted synergistically with the 5-day treatment.
- Tim was targeted by a deepfake video, ~90% indistinguishable from him, telling viewers to sign up for stock-pick services, raising the question of how audiences will tell real from fake.
- Kevin and Alexis Ohanian bought back Digg and are building a social platform focused on proving humanness and verifiable authority using ZK proofs in an AI-agent world.
- Tim had his eyeball scanned at Sam Altman's World project to get a World ID proving his humanness, with the ID sharded and stored only on his device.
Worth remembering
- Kevin recommends the Grail blood test as a general cancer screen for people too claustrophobic for full-body MRIs.
- Tim notes that without the Cultural Revolution, Taiwan preserved older Chinese and indigenous culture, and predicts it could be reabsorbed by mainland China within a few years.
- The new Whoop MG (medical grade) is ~12% smaller, adds blood-pressure monitoring (calibrated with a cuff), ECG, a 'Whoop age' metric, and an AI agent; the version Kevin has costs $359/year.
- Profy is a Stanford-developed nasal-spray hydrogel (~$15 on Amazon) that traps and destroys inhaled viruses and bacteria to reduce getting sick while traveling.
- Tim suspects his delayed ejaculation was caused by Trazodone (a sleep aid with that known side effect) rather than the TMS, and symptoms resolved after stopping it.
- Whole-genome sequencing now costs about $700, down from roughly $20,000 a few years ago and an estimated $10 million for Craig Venter's personal genome in 2007.
- Kevin put $15 million via True Ventures into a UCSF novel protein targeting dementia and Alzheimer's and joined the company's board.
- Kevin recounts a NASA scientist's 2010 warning that a public figure's released genome could be used to design a customized biological weapon.
- A friend of Kevin's estimates roughly 30% of internet traffic is now bots, some building months-long rapport to manipulate a single outcome.
- Kevin's group game Coyote (with Exploding Kittens) became a top seller at Walmart, with gameplay videos getting tens of millions of views.
More from Tim Ferriss
All 35816 recommended