Taco's LAST MEAL

Steven Pinker's Last Meal

This week I sit down with Steven Pinker — cognitive scientist, Harvard professor, and one of the most consequential public intellectuals alive — for a conversation that ranged from the architecture of power to the nature of free will, from the hard data on human progress to why changing your mind might be the bravest thing you can do. What struck me most about Steven is that his optimism is more of a conclusion than a disposition. When you plot measures of human wellbeing over time, good things go up and bad things go down. Not because of magic or destiny, but because we're smart, we solve problems, and when we build institutions designed to seek the truth, we compound those gains across generations. We get into why our brains are wired to believe the world is falling apart even when it isn't — and why the structure of news almost guarantees a distorted picture of reality. We talk about Enlightenment values not as historical artefacts but as living, anti-fragile tools; about super forecasters and the hard limits of prediction. We also discuss Steven's lates work, the theory of common knowledge, which turns out to explain everything from why money has value, to how dictatorships fall, to why a child pointing out that the emperor has no clothes changes the world. We also go deep on collective rationality — the strange and somewhat hopeful fact that irrational individuals consistently build rational civilisations. Steven makes the case that our institutions of science, law, and journalism are essentially gadgets engineered to make us smarter than we are individually. And we argue about AI, free will, Marshall McLuhan, and whether anyone actually forms their beliefs based on evidence. This is one of those conversations I'll be thinking about for a long time. CHAPTERS: 0:00 – Introduction 1:30 – An Era from Which You Can't Return 6:00 – Is the World Getting Better? 11:40 – Wired for Pessimism 17:50 – Anti-Fragile Enlightenment 20:40 – Steven's Last Meal 32:40 – First Memories 35:40 – The Montreal Police Strike 45:10 – Common vs. Private Knowledge 50:10 – How Dictatorships Fall 58:10 – Collective Rationality 1:03:30 – Why We Don't Change Our Minds 1:08:30 – The Case for Irrationality 1:13:00 – AI & the Future of the Mind 1:24:50 – Quickfire Questions 1:35:20 – Free Will & the Performance of Life 1:45:01 – Last Word Follow Steven: https://x.com/sapinker Follow Tom https://www.instagram.com/djhookie/ Last Meal is conversation series where I sit down with some of the world's sharpest thinkers to go deep on the questions that actually matter — rationality, identity, legacy, progress, and what it means to live well. Hosted by Tom Nash.

Taco's LAST MEAL

Kenneth "Taco" Cockrell is a five-time space shuttle astronaut, retired US Navy fighter pilot, and cancer survivor who has confronted mortality more than once — and come out the other side smiling. In this conversation, Taco and I explore what happens to a man's sense of purpose, faith, and priorities when he's spent a career dancing with the edge of human existence. From earning his callsign in a Navy squadron to clocking five missions aboard the Space Shuttle, Taco's path to NASA was anything but straight — including a first interview he was certain had ended his chances forever. But it's what happened after he retired from the skies that reveals the most about the man: two battles with blood cancer, a year living in Russia, and a growing willingness to talk openly about a faith he once kept close to his chest. This is one of those conversations that quietly shifts your thinking. We go deep on the weight of mortality, what lasting happiness actually looks like when the things you've always relied on start to slip away, and why — after everything he's seen and survived — Taco's definition of heaven has nothing to do with streets of gold. Chapters: 00:00 – Intro 05:28 – Born to Wear That Name 08:29 – Aiming for the Stars 13:00 – Watch Your Words 17:41 – Life in Orbit 22:00 – Beyond the Atmosphere 26:00 – Five Missions, One Year 31:00 – Worth Every Cent 35:00 – A Faith He Won't Hide 40:06 – Confronting Mortality 44:00 – The Downwind Lounge 51:35 -- Last Word Shot on location at Chelsea Wine Bar https://chelseawinebartexas.com/ Special Thanks to John Devereux at Chelsea Follow Tom instagram.com/djhookie About the Show: Last Meal is a deep-dive into life’s biggest questions—wisdom, legacy, regret, and everything in between. Join me, Tom Nash, as I serve up thought-provoking conversations with the world’s foremost thinkers.

Bill Perkins' LAST MEAL

Bill Perkins joins us on this episode of Last Meal to challenge everything you thought you knew about personal finance and life optimisation. As a successful trader, high-stakes poker player, and author of the groundbreaking book Die with Zero, Bill argues that our obsession with hoarding wealth often comes at the expense of our most valuable resource: time. This conversation dives deep into how to break free from the "autopilot" trap and start maximising your life experiences before it’s too late. Rather than focusing on traditional retirement savings, we explore the philosophy of "memory dividends" and the strategic use of time buckets. Bill explains why saving for a future you might never see is a mathematical error and how to balance your health, wealth, and time to live a more fulfilling existence. We discuss the psychological barriers to spending and why giving your wealth away while you’re alive provides far more impact and satisfaction than a posthumous inheritance. This isn't just a discussion about money; it’s a masterclass in self-development and redefining success. By shifting the focus from net worth to net fulfilment, Bill Perkins provides a blueprint for anyone looking to reclaim their life from the grind of constant accumulation. Whether you're just starting your career or nearing retirement, this episode offers essential wisdom on how to truly live instead of just existing. Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:41 Memory Dividends 09:30 Breaking Life's Autopilot 18:15 Building Memory Dividends 29:00 Wealth vs. Health Balance 44:20 Why You Should Give Now 56:10 The Math of Life Fulfilment 01:06:30 The Fear of Spending 01:14:00 Final Reflections 01:15:13 Last Word Shot on location at Jupiter Supper Club https://www.jupitersupperclub.com/ Special Thanks to the amazing Baxter Murrell Follow Bill https://x.com/bp22 Follow Tom https://www.instagram.com/djhookie About the Show: Last Meal is a deep-dive into life’s biggest questions—wisdom, legacy, regret, and everything in between. Join me, Tom Nash, as I serve up thought-provoking conversations with the world’s foremost thinkers.

Tim Urban's Last Meal

Tim Urban — creator of Wait But Why and the mind behind one of the most-watched TED Talks of all time — reveals why courage might be the most underrated skill for living a fulfilling life. Tim takes us on a journey from his transformative solo trip to Thailand at age 20 to the systems he's built to trick himself into being productive, exploring how the habits we fall into can either expand or shrink our experience of time itself. Tim dissects the concept of "ladders of thinking," explaining how primitive and higher minds battle for control in both individuals and society, why universities have lost their immune systems against tribal thinking, and how social media amplifies our worst instincts. He shares candid insights about procrastination across different timescales: from doom scrolling in bed to avoiding life-changing decisions for decades, and offers a surprising perspective on religion's role in keeping humanity's darker impulses in check. From the "tail end" of time with loved ones to why he schedules his future self to work out, Tim reveals the mental frameworks that help him cut through irrationality and paralysis. This is a masterclass in self-awareness, wrapped in humour and served with a side of existential urgency. Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 01:10 - Moving Cities 04:02 - Time Elasticity 08:05 - Ladders of Thinking 12:30 - Problem with Universities 20:08 - Low Rung Benefits? 23:25 - Procrastination Spectrum 27:49 - The Courage Problem 31:49 - Tim's Last Meal 33:15 - Vicarious Living 35:37 - Thailand 41:20 - Jaded is a Choice 46:01 - New Hobbies 53:02 - First Memory 57:18 - Is Religion Net Positive? 01:03:00 - One Big Idea 01:08:00 - Last Meal Context 01:14:36 - Future Tim vs Past Tim 01:21:15 - Repeat One Year 01:27:00 - Worth Every Cent 01:33:11 - Last Word Follow Tim https://x.com/waitbutwhy https://waitbutwhy.com/ Follow Tom https://www.instagram.com/djhookie About the Show: Last Meal is a deep-dive into life’s biggest questions—wisdom, legacy, regret, and everything in between. Join me, Tom Nash, as I serve up thought-provoking conversations with the world’s foremost thinkers.

Thomas Chatterton Williams' Last Meal

In this episode of Last Meal, I’m in Montmartre, Paris, sitting down with a thinker I’ve long admired: author and Atlantic staff writer Thomas Chatterton Williams. Thomas is someone who fundamentally refuses to be pinned down. Whether we’re discussing the "artificial intimacy" of our digital age or the weight of an inherited name, our conversation always returns to a central theme: the courage required to outgrow the identity you were born into. We recorded this in a city that runs at a different speed, and that environment opened up a profound dialogue about the cost of convenience in the West, the psychological danger of stagnation, and why the most important work often happens when we are "hungry"—both literally and figuratively. This isn't a show about recipes. It’s a deep-dive into the wisdom, legacy, and ethics that define us. I prepare the dish my guests would choose for their final feast not for the food itself, but to unlock the conversations that truly matter before the clock runs out. In this episode, we explore: ✅ The Ritual of the Daily: Why optimising for convenience has cost us our connection to community. ✅ The Digital Loneliness Crisis: How "artificial intimacy" creates the illusion of connection while leaving us more isolated than ever. ✅ Identity and Progress: Thomas reflects on three generations of change—from his father’s grandmother being married to a man born into slavery, to his own life in Paris. ✅ The "Hungry" Writer: Why high stakes and survival often produce the most focused and urgent intellectual work. ✅ The Philosophy of Effort: The vital lesson Thomas’s father taught him: you have to work twice as hard to bring honour to your name. CHAPTERS: 00:00 – Intro 01:23 – France vs America 08:08 – The “August Pause” 13:39 – Is interconnectivity toxic? 21:43 – Outgrowing Identity 27:25 – Traveling to appreciate home 28:31 - Thomas' Last Meal 33:37 – The Wine of Two Lives 38:22 – Madeleine de Proust 45:00 - Confronting Mortality 53:00 - Stagnation vs Growth 58:20 - Writer's Journey Begins 1:08:00 - Hunger Drives Excellence 1:14:00 - Lesson Optimisation 1:22:45 - Praswell Grass Cutting 1:25:25 - The Origins of the Name Thomas Chatterton 1:32:50 - Experience Worth Every Cent 1:36:06 - A Father's Pride 1:41:27 - Last Word Follow Thomas https://x.com/thomaschattwill Follow Tom https://www.instagram.com/djhookie/