The James Altucher Show cover art

The James Altucher Show

The James Altucher Show

By: James Altucher
Listen for free

James Altucher interviews the world's leading peak performers in every area of life. But instead of giving you the typical success story, James digs deeper to find the "Choose Yourself" story - these are the moments we relate to... when someone rises up from personal struggle to reinvent themselves. The James Altucher Show brings you into the lives of peak-performers: billionaires, best-selling authors, rappers, astronauts, athletes, comedians, actors, and the world champions in every field, all who forged their own paths, found financial freedom and harnessed the power to create more meaningful and fulfilling lives.© Copyright © 2002-2025 PodcastOne.com. All rights reserved. Economics
Episodes
  • From the Archive: Garry Kasparov on Deep Blue, Fear, and the Future of AI

    From the Archive: Garry Kasparov on Deep Blue, Fear, and the Future of AI
    Jul 12 2026

    A Note from James:

    I’ve done several hundred podcasts, but if people asked me who were the one or two people I most wanted to have on the show, Garry Kasparov would be at the top of the list. He was World Chess Champion for twenty years, and I’ve followed his career since the early ’80s.

    His book, Deep Thinking, tells the story of his matches against Deep Blue, but it’s really about what may be the most important relationship of this century: humans and machines.


    Episode Description:

    In this From the Archive episode, James talks with Garry Kasparov in his first appearance on the show. Kasparov looks back at the matches that shaped him: his comeback from a 5–0 deficit against Anatoly Karpov, the psychological side of elite competition, and his historic showdown with IBM’s Deep Blue.

    They also talk about why a computer beating a world champion did not settle the question of intelligence, how technology changes the kind of work people do, and why fear of making a mistake often causes the mistake itself. Kasparov shares what chess taught him about preparation, adaptability, mentorship, and making decisions when there is no obvious right move.

    This conversation was recorded in 2017; the political discussion reflects that moment in time.


    What You’ll Learn:

    • Why adaptability—not strength or intelligence alone—is what helps people survive major change.
    • How Kasparov used a 5–0 deficit against Karpov to build confidence, patience, and resilience.
    • Why fear can paralyze decision-making when the stakes are high.
    • How to think about AI and automation as forces that create new possibilities as they eliminate old roles.
    • Why mentors, pattern recognition, and disciplined practice matter in chess and every other field.


    Timestamped Chapters:

    • [02:05] Fear, choices, and the danger of paralysis
    • [03:06] James meets Garry Kasparov
    • [05:11] Deep Thinking and the question of machine intelligence
    • [06:35] Growing up with chess in the Soviet Union
    • [10:11] Botvinnik, preparation, and training through distraction
    • [12:30] Facing Karpov and falling behind 5–0
    • [20:20] The value of adapting under pressure
    • [23:53] Psychology and what separates champions
    • [26:16] Kasparov’s playing style and coaching Magnus Carlsen
    • [30:18] Why Deep Blue forced Kasparov to change his game
    • [31:25] AI, automation, and the future of work
    • [38:38] What happened in the Deep Blue matches
    • [42:32] Chess, Go, and the limits of human accuracy
    • [46:08] Fear, risk, and making better decisions
    • [48:56] The Kasparov Chess Foundation and education
    • [57:08] Russia, Putin, and political opposition in 2017
    • [63:46] How to adapt to technological change


    Additional Resources:

    • Deep Thinking: Where Machine Intelligence Ends and Human Creativity Begins
    • Winter Is Coming: Why Vladimir Putin and the Enemies of the Free World Must Be Stopped
    • IBM’s history of Deep Blue
    • Kasparov Chess Foundation


    See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 8 mins
  • Frank Miller on Push the Wall, Batman, and Having No Plan B

    Frank Miller on Push the Wall, Batman, and Having No Plan B
    Jul 8 2026
    A Note from James:This is a very special episode for me.There have only been a few times in the history of this podcast when I’ve had the chance to sit down with one of my heroes. This is one of those times.Frank Miller is one of the most important storytellers of my life. When I first picked up Batman: The Dark Knight Returns in 1986, it completely changed what I thought comics could be. This wasn’t just another Batman story. It was a revolution. Frank took Batman out of the colorful, campy world I grew up with and turned him into something darker, mythic, terrifying, and psychologically real.There is a comic book industry before The Dark Knight Returns, and there is a comic book industry after The Dark Knight Returns. Every Batman movie since then carries Frank’s fingerprints in some way. But it wasn’t just Batman. Frank changed Daredevil. He created Ronin. He created Sin City. He showed that comics could handle adult stories, painful arcs, crime, tragedy, mythology, obsession, and moral ambiguity.But what matters most to me is that Frank is a master storyteller. And I love storytelling. Whether it’s books, podcasts, articles, comics, or just how we make sense of our lives, story is everything.So getting to sit down with Frank Miller and talk about Batman, myth, creativity, mentorship, discipline, and his new book, Push the Wall: My Life, Writing, Drawing, and the Art of Storytelling, was a dream come true.This was my first in-person podcast in years. Jay drove up from Atlanta. I flew into the city. And yes, I brought my copy of The Dark Knight Returns for Frank to sign.Episode Description:Frank Miller didn’t just write and draw some of the most influential comics of the modern era. He changed the grammar of comics.In this conversation, James sits down with Miller to talk about Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Daredevil, Ronin, Sin City, and Miller’s new book, Push the Wall. The conversation begins with Batman, but quickly becomes a larger discussion about how characters become myths.For Miller, Batman was never just a rich detective in a costume. The material was already there from the beginning: a child witnessing the murder of his parents, growing up without powers, building himself into a force through discipline, intelligence, and obsession. Miller’s goal was to pull that core truth out and make Batman stand beside older pulp and mythic figures like Zorro, The Shadow, and the hard-edged heroes of crime cinema.James and Frank also talk about how myths are built around simple central values. Superman is hope. Batman is justice, vengeance, effort, and fear. The art is not in making those ideas complicated. The art is in placing them inside a human context so they feel emotionally true.The discussion moves into the craft of comics itself: page layouts, panel borders, visual rhythm, and how the pictures carry most of the story. Miller reflects on the influence of Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, Denny O’Neil, Japanese samurai films, martial arts movies, Greek tragedy, Jean Giraud/Moebius, Lone Wolf and Cub, and the creative power of combining worlds that do not obviously belong together.They also talk about mentorship. Miller describes calling Neal Adams from the phone book, bringing him drawings, and enduring brutally honest criticism. That toughness, he says, was part of the training. To survive as an artist, you need egoism without egotism: enough belief to keep coming back, but enough humility to keep learning.The episode closes with practical advice for young artists today: go to conventions, build the strongest portfolio you can, seek out hard criticism, don’t chase only the biggest titles, protect your original ideas, and look for “losers” you can make great.What You’ll Learn:Why Frank Miller wanted Batman to become a myth, not just another superhero.How The Dark Knight Returns helped move comics toward darker, more adult storytelling.Why Batman’s lack of superpowers is exactly what makes him compelling.How mythic characters are built around simple core themes like hope, vengeance, justice, or discipline.Why comics are not just written stories with pictures, but a visual storytelling machine.How Miller learned from Jack Kirby, Neal Adams, Denny O’Neil, samurai films, noir, Greek tragedy, and European comics.Why creativity often comes from combining unrelated influences.What Miller means by “egoism, but not egotism.”Why young artists should seek out hard lessons instead of easy praise.How to enter comics today without giving away original work too early.Why determination, stamina, and a lack of Plan B shaped Miller’s career.What Miller is working on next, including a new Western-style Sin City story.Timestamped Chapters:[03:41] Meeting Frank MillerJames begins by holding up Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and asking what it means to be known through one defining work.[04:00] Before and After The Dark Knight ReturnsWhy James sees Miller’s Batman as a dividing line in...
    Show More Show Less
    41 mins
  • Dr. David Sinclair: The First Human Trial of an Age-Reversal Therapy

    Dr. David Sinclair: The First Human Trial of an Age-Reversal Therapy
    Jul 3 2026
    A Note from James:I’ve been obsessed with anti-aging and longevity science for a long time. I’ve had many longevity researchers on the podcast, but this episode feels different because something we’ve been discussing for years has now moved into human trials.David Sinclair first came on the show in 2019, when his book Lifespan was published. He’s a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, and that first conversation changed how I lived. I started experimenting with intermittent fasting, paid much more attention to sleep, and began researching many of the supplements and lifestyle changes he discussed.But the most important idea David talked about wasn’t a supplement. It was the possibility of reversing cellular age using Yamanaka factors—genes that can reset the instructions cells use to function. At the time, nobody knew whether this could be done safely without causing cancer or making cells lose their identities.Now, a therapy based on three of those factors has entered its first human clinical trial. The initial target is age-related damage to the optic nerve, including open-angle glaucoma and non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy. The trial is designed primarily to evaluate safety, but researchers will also measure visual function.David explains how this technology worked in mice and nonhuman primates, why the eye was chosen as the first organ, and how the same approach might eventually be applied to the liver, lungs, joints, skin, and brain.We also cover the practical questions people always ask him: NMN, NAD, metformin, berberine, testosterone, growth hormone, diet, fasting, sleep, exercise, and what David himself has started—or stopped—taking.This is still experimental science. Nobody yet knows whether the animal results will translate into meaningful benefits for humans. But for the first time, researchers are beginning to test that question directly.About Lifespan: Dr. David Sinclair founded Lifespan to deliver clear, science-backed health insights that help people live longer, more vibrant lives.He's now building the world's largest community dedicated to extending human longevity well beyond today’s limits. Join early access at lifespan.com. New episodes of Lifespan with Dr. David Sinclair -- the #1 health and wellness podcast in its first season -- are now available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Lifespan.com.Episode Description:For years, longevity researchers have looked for ways to slow the biological processes associated with aging. Dr. David Sinclair and his collaborators are now testing a more ambitious possibility: whether damaged human cells can be restored to a younger, more functional state.The experimental therapy, ER-100, uses controlled expression of three transcription factors—OCT4, SOX2, and KLF4, collectively known as OSK. These are three of the four Yamanaka factors originally used to transform adult cells into pluripotent stem cells.Turning on all four factors can erase too much of a cell’s identity and has produced tumors and fatal outcomes in animal experiments. Sinclair’s team found that removing one factor, c-MYC, allowed cells to regain younger patterns of gene expression without completely returning to a stem-cell state.In preclinical studies, OSK restored youthful epigenetic patterns, promoted optic-nerve regeneration, and reversed vision loss in mouse models. Life Biosciences, a company Sinclair co-founded, has now moved the technology into a first-in-human Phase 1 trial involving people with open-angle glaucoma or non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.David explains how the therapy is delivered directly into the eye and activated using doxycycline, allowing clinicians to control when and for how long the genes are expressed. He also describes the development path that could follow if the treatment proves safe, including therapies targeting the liver and other organs, as well as future medicines that may reproduce similar effects without gene delivery.The conversation then turns to interventions available today. David distinguishes between promising research and claims that have moved ahead of the evidence, discussing NMN, injected NAD, growth hormone, testosterone, taurine, nattokinase, metformin, berberine, and nootropics.Throughout the episode, he emphasizes that no supplement has been shown to reproduce the effects researchers are attempting to achieve through partial epigenetic reprogramming—and that many of the most dramatic claims circulating online remain unsupported.Editorial Note:ER-100 is an investigational therapy. Authorization to begin a clinical trial does not mean the treatment has been proven safe or effective, nor has it been approved for clinical use.The Phase 1 study is primarily evaluating safety and tolerability, with additional measurements of visual function. Results from mice and nonhuman primates do not establish that the therapy will restore vision or reverse biological ...
    Show More Show Less
    49 mins
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet