I share the 8 biggest things I learned from my Australian policy series. The conversations totaled more than 12 hours of discussion.

Grateful to my guests and to everyone who attended the live events. Was really fun to meet and hang out with you all!

I share the 8 biggest things I learned from my Australian policy series. The conversations totaled more than 12 hours of discussion.
Grateful to my guests and to everyone who attended the live events. Was really fun to meet and hang out with you all!

Joe Walker hosts refreshingly in-depth conversations with founders, scientists, scholars, economists, and public intellectuals.

(Formerly 'The Jolly Swagman Podcast'.)

Joe Walker hosts refreshingly in-depth conversations with founders, scientists, scholars, economists, and public intellectuals.
(Formerly 'The Jolly Swagman Podcast'.)

Joe Walker hosts refreshingly in-depth conversations with founders, scientists, scholars, economists, and public intellectuals.

The Joe Walker Podcast

The JSP is a weekly exploration of questions that are both important and overlooked. Joe Walker, a former political speechwriter helping to build a Y Combinator-backed startup, hosts refreshingly in-depth conversations. Topics cover capitalism, science, business, culture and politics. Guests include Nobel laureates, former prime ministers, authors, entrepreneurs, investors and thought-leaders. Australia's best long-form podcast. A space for curious contrarians.

The Jolly Swagman Podcast

Eight Things I Learned From My Aussie Policy Series

Laura Deming is a technologist and venture capitalist focused on anti-ageing and life extension. At 17, she founded The Longevity Fund (followed by age1), the first VC firm dedicated to longevity biotech, after being selected in the initial cohort of Thiel fellows (2011). Today she is also CEO and co-founder of Cradle, a startup pursuing human whole-body reversible cryopreservation.

I speak with Laura at Cradle’s San Francisco office. We start with the philosophical question of personal identity, and ask a deceptively simple question: what, exactly, do we want to preserve? From there we explore what a “more humane transhumanism” might look like, the game-theory of 200-year lives, scientific awe as a research tool, embodied thought-experiments to see inside the cell, how the FDA could shave years off longevity-drug timelines, the anti-memetic qualities of reversible cryopreservation, and why it might be the most leveraged problem in longevity.

Laura Deming is a technologist and venture capitalist focused on anti-ageing and life extension. At 17, she founded The Longevity Fund (followed by age1), the first VC firm dedicated to longevity biotech, after being selected in the initial cohort of Thiel fellows (2011). Today she is also CEO and co-founder of Cradle, a startup pursuing human whole-body reversible cryopreservation.
I speak with Laura at Cradle&rsquo;s San Francisco office. We start with the philosophical question of personal identity, and ask a deceptively simple question: what, exactly, do we want to preserve? From there we explore what a &ldquo;more humane transhumanism&rdquo; might look like, the game-theory of 200-year lives, scientific awe as a research tool, embodied thought-experiments to see inside the cell, how the FDA could shave years off longevity-drug timelines, the anti-memetic qualities of reversible cryopreservation, and why it might be the most leveraged problem in longevity.

Laura Deming — On Pausing Biological Time & Preserving the Continuous Self

This episode is the seventh instalment of my Australian policy series, recorded live in Sydney on April 29, 2025. 

I speak with Ken Henry—former Treasury Secretary and chair of the landmark Henry Tax Review—about why Australia hasn’t achieved major economic reform since the GST, and what must change to restart it. 

We discuss how AGI could reshape the public service, intergenerational unfairness in the tax system, the collapse in business investment, how to build a new Australian city, and the roots of Australia's long-standing policy complacency.

Video available here:

Transcript available here:

This episode is the seventh instalment of my Australian policy series, recorded live in Sydney on April 29, 2025.&nbsp;
I speak with Ken Henry&mdash;former Treasury Secretary and chair of the landmark Henry Tax Review&mdash;about why Australia hasn&rsquo;t achieved major economic reform since the GST, and what must change to restart it.&nbsp;
We discuss how AGI could reshape the public service, intergenerational unfairness in the tax system, the collapse in business investment, how to build a new Australian city, and the roots of Australia's long-standing policy complacency.
Video available here:
Transcript available here:

Ken Henry — What Killed the Reform Era? [Aus. Policy Series - LIVE]

This episode is the sixth instalment of my Australian policy series, recorded live in Sydney on February 26, 2025.

I speak with Sam Roggeveen—Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program, and a former senior analyst at the Office of National Assessments—about why the United States won’t fight China for dominance in Asia, and what that means for an Australia long reliant on American protection.

We explore the limits of America’s resolve in Asia, why an alliance with Indonesia should be the top priority of Australian statecraft, whether new technologies like drones are reversing the long-held advantage of the defender, the possibility that Australia might one day acquire nuclear weapons, and how Sam’s “echidna strategy” could let us defend ourselves from a major Asian power without substantially boosting defence spending.

Video available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq9n62A07mE

Transcript available here: https://josephnoelwalker.com/sam-roggeveen-aus-policy-series/ 

This episode is the sixth instalment of my Australian policy series, recorded live in Sydney on February 26, 2025.
I speak with Sam Roggeveen&mdash;Director of the Lowy Institute&rsquo;s International Security Program, and a former senior analyst at the Office of National Assessments&mdash;about why the United States won&rsquo;t fight China for dominance in Asia, and what that means for an Australia long reliant on American protection.
We explore the limits of America&rsquo;s resolve in Asia, why an alliance with Indonesia should be the top priority of Australian statecraft, whether new technologies like drones are reversing the long-held advantage of the defender, the possibility that Australia might one day acquire nuclear weapons, and how Sam&rsquo;s &ldquo;echidna strategy&rdquo; could let us defend ourselves from a major Asian power without substantially boosting defence spending. Video available here: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq9n62A07mE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uq9n62A07mE</a>
Transcript available here: <a href="https://josephnoelwalker.com/sam-roggeveen-aus-policy-series/">https://josephnoelwalker.com/sam-roggeveen-aus-policy-series/</a>&nbsp;

Eight Things I Learned From My Aussie Policy Series

The Jolly Swagman Podcast

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