What happens when there’s no guest, no predetermined topic, and possibly only one host? It’s time to bring back the spirit of Free-Rider Friday.
With Ed potentially sidelined by jury duty, Ron raids his ever-growing stack of articles, ideas, observations, and assorted intellectual curiosities for a wide-ranging tour through whatever has captured his attention lately. Economics, business, technology, culture, pricing—and probably a few things that defy categorization—are all fair game.
No agenda. No guest. No guarantee where we’ll end up. Just the kind of intellectual free ride longtime listeners of The Soul of Enterprise will remember fondly.
SHOW NOTES
Segment one
“Can the AI arms race be stopped?” https://www.economist.com/leaders/2026/09/17/can-the-ai-arms-race-be-stopped
“Anthropic boss Dario Amodei calls for AI development to slow down” https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14dpgm0rg4o
“No amount of American competitive pressure should justify recklessness, or let capabilities get ahead of alignment and monitoring.” —Sam Altman, OpenAI CEO https://x.com/sama/status/2099348812305473766
“Newsom Signs AI Bills to Assign Auditors to Weigh Safety Risks” https://news.bgov.com/bloomberg-government-news/newsom-signs-ai-bills-to-assign-auditors-to-weigh-safety-risks
Segment two
“I’m an NYC death investigator — still fighting the sickening lie of 9/11’s ‘jumpers’” https://nypost.com/2026/09/10/opinion/im-an-nyc-death-investigator-fighting-the-lie-of-9-11-jumpers/
“The Brick and Mortar University Is Not Dead” https://thedispatch.com/article/university-history-surveillance-artificial-intelligence-physical/
What is a MOOC? “Massive open online course” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course
“A simple model of AI-aided economic growth” by Tyler Cowen https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2026/09/a-simple-model-of-ai-aided-economic-growth.html
Polanyi's Paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polanyi%27s_paradox
Segment three
“MPs vote against fresh attempt to legalise assisted dying” https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c17j91jenr8o
“Say goodbye to summer. Not just this year’s” https://www.economist.com/culture/2026/09/10/say-goodbye-to-summer-not-just-this-years
“Solving the Conundrum of Status Competition” by Marian Tupy https://www.cato.org/commentary/solving-conundrum-status-competition
“Elite Formation Is Fueling the Socialist Project” by Raleigh Adams https://www.nationalreview.com/2026/09/elite-formation-is-fueling-the-socialist-project/
Click this link at your peril. Ron and Ed discussed it today which is why I am providing the link: https://www.dsausa.org/
Segment four
“Firms have never been more profitable, and they have also never been more confused about why.” This is from “The Observability Problem Firms Are Not Talking About” on Jody Padar’s substack https://www.radical.cpa/p/the-observability-problem-firms-are
Brandolini's law (or the bullsh*t asymmetry principle) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandolini%27s_law
Schmidt’s Law states: "When the network becomes as fast as the backplane of your computer, the computer hollows out, its components dispersing across the Web, its value migrating to search and sort functions." https://www.forbes.com/2007/01/09/telecosm-jdsu-intel-pf-soapbox-in_gg_0109soapbox_inl.html
Anthem, Arizona - a master planned community https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthem,_Arizona
Bonus Content is Available As Well
Did you know that each week after our live show, Ron and Ed take to the microphone for a bonus show? Typically, this bonus show is an extension of the live show topic (sometimes even with the same guest) and a few other pieces of news, current events, or things that have caught our attention.
Click the “FANATIC” image to learn more about pricing and member benefits.