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(The episode as a whole has the format of Russ Roberts interviewing himself, partly based on frequent listener questions and partly noodling around with some questions brainstormed with the help of generative AI machines.)

If every single episode was suddenly wiped from the Internet tomorrow and you had five minutes to record a single seed message for future listeners, what core idea or ethos would you preserve and why that above everything else you’ve explored over almost 20 years?

I don’t think that’s an answerable question because the brain is not connected to the ears, so no five minutes would make magic. There’s no five minutes I could record where you’d go, Wow, those are deep truths. I’m going to live by those.

That’s why you can’t learn the lessons of Homer’s Odyssey by reading the comic book version or the ChatGPT summary. You’ve got to explore. You’ve got to struggle. You got to grapple with it. And, those of you who’ve been on this journey at my side, I assume you, too, have gone through some transformation–or at least I like to think so. And I’ve tried to share some of that in this conversation. It’s not a conversation–well, it is with me and you. But the Twitter version or X version of what we’re doing here can’t be done.

The transformation that I’ve gone through came from the experience of reading and listening to my guests for over a thousand hours. And for those of you who’ve gone on that journey with me, to the extent you’ve been paying attention and the things we talked about were relevant for your life and your way of thinking, I hope you’ve had some changes, too. And, as the poet says, That has made all the difference. . . .

What toast would I make to my audience if we were together and had a glass of champagne to hoist? Or maybe even better, a shot of Ardbeg or Lagvulin?^[1]

I’d say to you: Stay curious and be lovely. I could ask for nothing more for myself or for you who are listening.

— Russ Roberts, EconTalk # 1000
EconTalk: Conversations for the Curious, June 2, 2025.

1. ^[1][Editor’s Correction: That would not be even better. Let’s go with the champagne. Sto lat! —R.G.]↩