The guest
Kevin Rose: Kevin Rose with Tim Ferriss
What this episode covers
This installment of The Random Show finds Tim Ferriss and Kevin Rose in Kevin's home talking through affordable luxuries (rare IPAs, single-origin coffee, fine chocolate, soap), hangovers, and the ZBiotics pre-alcohol probiotic. Kevin details how ChatGPT-4 has transformed his coding and art workflow, leading to a long riff on AI companions, Replika, and the movie Her. They dissect Balaji Srinivasan's million-dollar bet that Bitcoin will hit $1M in 90 days, debating hyperinflation, gold as a safe haven, and crypto's correlation to the S&P. Lighter segments cover Kevin learning to write right-handed from a kids' workbook, his Tokyo trip and Zen meeting, Japanese death poems, escape rooms, and Tim's first high-fidelity immersive audio experience.
Recommended on this episode
ProductRecommended
Pliny the Younger
Russian River Brewing
“probably the most sought-after IPA in the world; it is quite good; I wanted to share it with you”
“I would argue that this is probably the most sought-after IPA in the world. It is $75 a bottle... but it is quite good.”— Kevin Rose
BookRecommended
The Luxury Strategy
Jean-Noel Kapferer and Vincent Bastien
“It's actually another really good one”
“It's actually another really good one. It talks about just brand positioning and just how to set yourself up as a really sought-after, premier brand.”— Kevin Rose
ProductRecommended
Dick Taylor Chocolate
Dick Taylor
“I like Dick Taylor”
“even the best chocolate in the world... What's your go-to? I like Dick Taylor.”— Kevin Rose
ProductRecommended
Proud Mary Coffee (Geisha single origin)
Proud Mary
“the most delicate, awesome, floral, beautiful, elegant coffee you can consume; the coffee is one that I do pay up for”
“a subscription, which is their single origin, high-end coffee from a roaster called Proud Mary... the most delicate, awesome, floral, beautiful, elegant coffee you can consume.”— Kevin Rose
ProductRecommended
Aesop body soap
Aesop
“it's just amazing”
“you spend $25-30 more and you get something from Aesop or a similar brand and it's just amazing.”— Kevin Rose
ProductRecommended
Dr. Bronner's Baby Unscented Soap
Dr. Bronner's
“all I use, I have for years only used Dr. Bronner's baby soap; I never feel like I have dry skin”
“all I use, I have for years only used Dr. Bronner's baby soap. Basically unscented baby soap... That stuff is so simple.”— Tim Ferriss
MediaRecommended
Her
Spike Jonze
“you've got to go and watch this; it's a great movie”
“remember the movie Her... for people that haven't watched it, you've got to go and watch this because it's going to be become a reality.”— Kevin Rose
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Liar's Poker
Michael Lewis
“It's a great book”
“this section in Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis. It's the book that made Michael Lewis famous... It's a great book.”— Tim Ferriss
MediaRecommended
Eleeza (Eliza Ivanova) Instagram / art book
Eliza Ivanova
“One of my favorite artists out there. She's spectacular; I bought her most recent book”
“Eliza Ivanova. And her account on Instagram is Eleeza... One of my favorite artists out there. She's spectacular.”— Tim Ferriss
ProductRecommended
Belkin iPhone Privacy Screen Protector
Belkin
“which is fantastic; it's really helpful”
“I ended up getting a privacy screen for my iPhone, which is fantastic. I mean, it's such a simple solution. Also protects the screen.”— Tim Ferriss
ProductRecommended
Hanafuda Cards
Nintendo
“one of my favorite games I played; beautiful drawings; super cool”
“one of my favorite games I played when I was an exchange student is called Hanafuda. Hanafuda has these beautiful drawings.”— Tim Ferriss
MediaRecommended
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Nintendo
“I am very excited for this release”
“There's a new Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, opening May 12th... I am very excited for this release.”— Kevin Rose
ProductRecommended
Nintendo Entertainment System Controller (for Nintendo Switch)
Nintendo
“Everything about it is legit; That's brilliant; super awesome”
“This is the original Nintendo controller that you can get... That has the same feel. Everything about it is legit... they charge when you slide them on the side of the Switch.”— Kevin Rose
BookRecommended
Japanese Death Poems
Yoel Hoffmann (Tuttle Publishing)
“incredibly well researched; a phenomenal window into an aspect of Japanese culture”
“this is Japanese Death Poems, by Tuttle Publishing compiled and with an introduction by Yoel Hoffmann... incredibly well researched.”— Tim Ferriss
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Three Simple Lines
Natalie Goldberg
“It's a fantastic book; Definitely worth picking up”
“It's a fantastic book that is written by a Zen practitioner that covers a lot of the Zen masters of haiku... Definitely worth picking up.”— Kevin Rose
ProductRecommended
Bowers & Wilkins PX7 Headphones
Bowers & Wilkins
“they're fantastic; sound amazing”
“I got a Bowers and Wilkins, I think it's the PX7... they can do a lossless codec... you can listen to insanely high-fidelity audio... they're fantastic.”— Kevin Rose
BookRecommendedISBN verified
Cryptonomicon
Neal Stephenson
“My favorite book actually; I just absolutely loved it”
“My favorite book actually, Cryptonomicon. And a lot of people hate on Cryptonomicon, but I just absolutely loved it.”— Tim Ferriss
ProductRecommended
Nanoblock Himeji Castle
Kawada
“check out Nanoblock; it's actually really cool; you might be really into”
“They have something called Nanoblock... check out Nanoblock because they have a bunch of stuff that has very obviously Japanese influence that you might be really into.”— Kevin Rose
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
ProductReferenced
Heady Topper
The Alchemist
“the number-one ranked IPA is called Heady Topper, and it is in production year round.”— Kevin Rose
ProductReferenced
Pliny the Elder
Russian River Brewing
“Now you may have heard Pliny the Elder, which is, you typically find at Whole Foods and things like that.”— Kevin Rose
BookReferenced
How Luxury Lost Its Luster
Dana Thomas
“there's a book called How Luxury Lost Its Luster, so a lot of alliteration, which I read a long time ago.”— Tim Ferriss
ProductReferenced
ZBiotics Pre-Alcohol Probiotic Drink
ZBiotics
“he started using this product called ZBiotics. And ZBiotics is a pre-alcohol probiotic drink.”— Tim Ferriss
ProductReferenced
Replika
Luka, Inc.
“Have you heard of Replika with a K?... They claim to have 10 million registered users.”— Tim Ferriss
ProductReferenced
ABC Letter Tracing Practice Workbook for Kids (Ages 3+)
“It says ABC Letter Tracing Practice Workbook for Kids. Ages what? Ages 3+.”— Tim Ferriss
ProductReferenced
Apple Music (lossless)
Apple
“And Apple Music now supports lossless as well. And so you can listen to insanely high-fidelity audio.”— Kevin Rose
ProductReferenced
Sonos Speakers
Sonos
“I literally told the person, I was like, I just want Sonos. I just want Sonos and a decent pair of speakers.”— Kevin Rose
BookReferencedISBN verified
The Diamond Age
Neal Stephenson
“Darya's saying The Diamond Age book by Neal Stephenson... I've heard great things about The Diamond Age.”— Tim Ferriss
BookReferencedISBN verified
Snow Crash
Neal Stephenson
“Neal Stephenson, author of Snow Crash, some people will recognize.”— Tim Ferriss
Big reveals from this episode
- Kevin shares Pliny the Younger by Russian River Brewing as his rare-beer obsession, calling it the most sought-after IPA in the world at $75 a one-pint bottle, sourced via the peer-to-peer marketplace MyBeerCollectibles.com which sells the bottles as collectibles to skirt online alcohol-sale rules.
- Tim introduces ZBiotics, a pre-alcohol probiotic drink built on genetically engineered Bacillus subtilis (ZB183) that claims to break down acetaldehyde; he asks listeners with scientific backgrounds to weigh in, while Kevin reports it didn't work for him after heavy drinking.
- Kevin argues that 'if software ate the world, AI is going to eat the software,' predicting AI will reimagine every productivity tool and that his ChatGPT usage jumped from 30 minutes to about five hours a week once GPT-4 launched.
- Both discuss AI companions as a coming relationship crisis, citing Replika (which Kevin nearly invested in) and the movie Her; Kevin predicts AI partners within three years and Darya weighs in that an AI relationship would count as cheating.
- They break down Balaji Srinivasan's bet of $1M that Bitcoin hits $1 million per coin within 90 days (by ~June 17), with Tim calling the public pronouncement irresponsible and both noting that if hyperinflation drove Bitcoin to $1M, a million dollars might only buy a sandwich.
- Kevin reveals a New Year's resolution: learning to write with his right hand using an 'ABC Letter Tracing Practice Workbook for Kids, Ages 3+,' inspired by watching his kids learn and wanting to activate something new in his brain.
- Kevin recounts meeting the head of the Sanbo Zen lineage in Tokyo, whose key advice was 'don't miss a day' of practice, even five minutes; since then Kevin hasn't broken his daily meditation streak.
- Tim describes his first high-fidelity immersive audio experience at a store called Common Wave, comparing it to a psychedelic experience and realizing how much detail he'd been missing at low bit rates.
Worth remembering
- Tim notes Erewhon is an anagram of 'nowhere' and recounts paying $147 for roughly two meals, a kombucha, and a water there.
- Kevin pays up for Proud Mary's single-origin Geisha varietal coffee, brewing it pour-over with 32 grams of coffee to 350 ml of water and no additives.
- Both confess to abandoning Bulletproof coffee (MCT oil and butter) after Peter Attia flagged jacked-up cholesterol markers.
- Tim's CØCKPUNCH NFT art competition raised roughly $1.7-2 million for scientific research, and he announces plans for new AI art competitions.
- Kevin describes 'Unstable Diffusion,' a Discord that stripped the guardrails off open-sourced Stable Diffusion to generate hyper-realistic explicit imagery.
- Bitcoin's Lightning Network is a layer-two that the whitepaper claims can scale to roughly a million transactions per second, versus base-layer Bitcoin's low double-digit TPS.
- Bitcoin undergoes a halving roughly every four years, with the next due in a little over a year; prices have historically risen around halving events.
- Since November, gold has run up about 40 percent as China and Russia buy gold (not Bitcoin), which Kevin reads as a flight to safety rather than a new world currency.
- Nintendo was founded in the late 1800s and first became famous making Hanafuda playing cards, a Japanese matching game Tim played as an exchange student.
- Kevin recommends Bowers & Wilkins PX7 headphones (around $800) for lossless over-the-air audio, now that Apple Music supports lossless, as a far cheaper alternative to six-figure in-home hi-fi rigs.
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