Here was an odd yet very welcome collision of my worlds: Peter McCormack (ex-Bitcoiner? Now sponsored by Monetary Metals... LOL FUNNY #1291642) interviewed Hans Niemann, up-and-coming chess super-GM, coming off the recent Netflix documentary on the Hans Niemann-Magnus Carlsen cheating scandal from Sept 2022 ("ANAL BEADS?!" can't find the Elon Musk tweet, but he weighed in too, of course.)

The Chess Speaks for ItselfThe Chess Speaks for Itself

Hans is young, cocky, and ambitious -- which, when backed up by competence and results, is kind of OK... but in his case, it's backed up by 99% competence. He's still not better than Hikaru, Magnus etc, routinely lose to them Doubtful if he'll ever get to the top, with the youngsters from India and Uzbekistan literally killing it these days. #1471309

Still, the cheating accusations and cancellations were a little too ridiculous and melodramatic. The podcast is well worth watching. Plenty of non-chess convos as well:

"people are so addicted to TikToks and Reels that the perception of a lot of these people is defined in 15 seconds.""people are so addicted to TikToks and Reels that the perception of a lot of these people is defined in 15 seconds."

Wishing for people to have more critical thinking, do more research (40:15):

I think that's lacking in our society, but obviously people seem to be taking the mainstream media less seriously...
I never take negative clips seriously, on a short-term video... If there's a a short-term video taken out of context, I just can't take it seriously. Because it's just become the entire definition of society (

I would hope that some people have a more measured view.

Yes a little, but also life/pop philosophy and mainstream media. Amazing:

Once you start thinking, "would I change this? Would I change that?" You stop being grateful for the gift of life and all the opportunities. I'm *personally a very faithful and spiritual person, and I believe that you should accept whatever the universe bestows upon you. (37:45)