Tickets to the annual Cluny Conference taking place July 16-18, 2026 in Napa, CA—ZOË: Life Abundant in an Artificial Age—are still available. Subscribers to this newsletter will receive 15% off with code ‘antimimetic’ at checkout. I’ve extended the discount through at least the end of this month because I have heard from several readers that you missed the original announcement, but would like to come. I hope to see you there!
In August, I sat down with one of my favorite thinkers, the economist
, in my hometown of Grand Rapids, MI. The last time Tyler had been to Grand Rapids was 1982—the year after I was born. So I was greatly amused to hear his commentary on how the city had changed since his last visit, while I was still in a bassinet.We made our way to an intimate concert venue with outstanding acoustics, where a jazz band played for our gathering of about 100 people during our Cluny Encounter, which I like to describe as mash-ups between unlikely collaborators around a topic that is not too well-grooved, where we can carve fresh snow and challenge assumptions at the intersection of Athens, Jerusalem, and Silicon Valley. The topic that we sat down to discuss on this day in August: The development of talent networks and the role of apprenticeship in a changing world.
Tyler and Daniel Gross wrote an excellent book on talent, Talent: How to Identify Energizers, Creatives, and Winners Around the World, which helped frame our discussion and has influenced the way I think about talent and conduct interviews. But I’m particularly interested in talent development for another reason: I see the Cluny Project as building a talent network of its own—a different kind of talent that will continue to emerge and become more important the further we get into the 21st century, as the cost of cognition trends toward zero.
Tyler and I talked Luca vs. LeBron (L.A. Lakers) talent dynamics, why certain Midwest towns once produced so much business talent, why Cowen thinks religious thinkers will be the most important thinkers of the coming decades, and much, much more. I hope you enjoy it!
Note: we had this conversation in a dark, jazz-club like setting with pretty terrible lighting. The Cluny team ended up having a lot of video and audio issues in post-production, which delayed our ability to publish this video for an embarrassingly long time. Please excuse the lack of quality in audio/video. Lessons were learned for when we do this in the future… You should still be able to fully watch/listen to the conversation with minimal distraction, though, as we put in a lot of work to get into a version that is serviceable these past couple of months. Thanks.
My best,
Luke
