Complex Systems with Patrick McKenzie (patio11)
Business

Complex Systems with Patrick McKenzie (patio11)

by Patrick McKenzie

We live in a world where our civilization and daily lives depend upon institutions, infrastructure, and technological substrates that are _complicated_ but not _unknowable_. Join Patrick McKenzie (patio11) as he discusses how decisions, technology, culture, and incentives shape our finance, technology, government, and more, with the people who built (and build) those Complex Systems.

83 episodes
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1
Understanding consumer debt collections: the underbelly of finance
45:32 Mar 19, 2026
2
Inference engineering and the real-world deployment of LLMs, with Philip Kiely
1:23:45 Mar 12, 2026
3
Secrets designed to be divulged and other payment oddities
25:30 Mar 5, 2026
4
Understanding government procurement, with Luke Farrell
1:21:47 Feb 26, 2026
5
APIs of evil: studying fraud as infrastructure
51:21 Feb 12, 2026
6
Why check cashing businesses exist
38:25 Feb 5, 2026
7
Claude Code makes several thousand dollars in 30 minutes, with Patrick McKenzie
41:36 Jan 29, 2026
8
We should stop burning pharma trials’ lab notes, with Ruxandra Teslo
1:18:23 Jan 22, 2026
9
Your support rep is also trapped in this call, with Des Traynor of Intercom
54:15 Jan 15, 2026
10
The magic spell that makes banks give you your money back
38:51 Jan 8, 2026
11
2025 in review, with Sammy Cottrell
50:25 Jan 3, 2026
12
Gift cards and the fraud supply chain
15:53 Dec 26, 2025
13
Understanding perpetual futures
26:11 Dec 11, 2025
14
The economics of discovery, with Ben Reinhardt
47:21 Dec 4, 2025
15
Understanding equity at tech companies, with Billy Gallagher of Prospect
1:19:43 Nov 20, 2025
16
The $4,000 insurance policy designed to never pay out
28:31 Nov 13, 2025
17
How deposit insurance actually works
33:06 Nov 6, 2025
18
Home improvement lending with fewer bankers and more computers
30:05 Oct 30, 2025
19
Talking to the Bank of England about systemic risk and systems engineering
1:32:54 Oct 23, 2025
20
Narrative, mastery, and character bleed in games, with Ricki Heicklen
1:32:37 Oct 16, 2025
21
Bits and bricks: Oliver Habryka on LessWrong, LightHaven, and community infrastructure
1:16:01 Oct 9, 2025
22
Building institutions that bend towards truth, with Clara Collier of Asterisk Magazine
1:13:27 Oct 2, 2025
23
How blogging went legit, with Substack CEO Chris Best
48:07 Sep 25, 2025
24
Prestige media, new media, and the US government, with Kelsey Piper
1:32:45 Sep 19, 2025
25
AI alignment, with Emmett Shear
1:28:45 Sep 11, 2025
26
Building software that survives contact with reality, with Will Wilson
1:16:58 Sep 4, 2025
27
Defense, drones, and military procurement, with Bean of Naval Gazing
1:02:47 Aug 28, 2025
28
AI and the great developer speed-up, with Joel Becker of METR
1:04:04 Aug 21, 2025
29
How banks actually work (and don't work)
34:59 Aug 14, 2025
30
Building software in Japan, with Jim Weisser
1:17:12 Aug 7, 2025
31
Startup investing in Tokyo, with Coral Capital’s James Riney
1:04:10 Jul 31, 2025
32
How AI reshapes the craft of software engineering, with Yoav Tzfati
45:41 Jul 24, 2025
33
Stacking the odds: Cate Hall on agency and outlier success
46:39 Jul 17, 2025
34
Think like a trader, with Ricki Heicklen
1:55:18 Jul 10, 2025
35
Achieving results in the physical world, with Adam Jarvis of “Public Service”
1:09:10 Jul 3, 2025
36
The AI infrastructure stack with Jennifer Li, a16z
45:50 Jun 26, 2025
37
Getting better at LLMs, with Zvi Mowshowitz
51:50 Jun 12, 2025
38
Machine learning meets malware, with Caleb Fenton
1:21:16 Jun 5, 2025
39
How to negotiate your salary package
45:21 May 29, 2025
40
The capitalist's guide to podcasting, with Ross Rheingans-Yoo
1:03:27 May 22, 2025
41
Killing viruses with light, with Jacob Swett
1:01:43 May 15, 2025
42
Life insurance and your money, with Zac Townsend
1:20:53 May 8, 2025
43
Fixing government technology, with Mikey Dickerson
53:39 May 1, 2025
44
Understanding and wielding power in local government, with Daniel Golliher
59:35 Apr 24, 2025
45
The AI energy bottleneck, with Tim Fist
1:06:05 Apr 17, 2025
46
Taking stablecoins seriously, with Haseeb Qureshi
1:08:05 Apr 10, 2025
47
The past, present, and future of AI, with Stripe
1:33:48 Apr 3, 2025
48
No, poor people aren’t funding your credit card rewards
1:06:47 Mar 27, 2025
49
Points, profits, and packed planes, with Gary Leff
1:31:27 Mar 20, 2025
50
Tax the dirt, with Lars Doucet & Greg Miller
1:17:07 Mar 13, 2025
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