César Hidalgo has spent years trying to answer a deceptively simple question: What is knowledge, and why is it so hard to move around?
We all have this intuition that knowledge is just... information. Write it down in a book, upload it to GitHub, train an AI on it—done. But César argues that's completely wrong. Knowledge isn't a thing you can copy and paste. It's more like a living organism that needs the right environment, the right people, and constant exercise to survive.
Guest: César Hidalgo, Director of the Center for Collective Learning
1. Knowledge Follows Laws (Like Physics)
2. You Can't Download Expertise
3. Why Big Companies Fail to Adapt
4. The "Infinite Alphabet" of Economies
If you think AI can just "copy" human knowledge, or that development is just about throwing money at poor countries, or that writing things down preserves them forever—this conversation will change your mind. Knowledge is fragile, specific, and collective. It decays fast if you don't use it.
The Infinite Alphabet [César A. Hidalgo]
https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/458054/the-infinite-alphabet-by-hidalgo-cesar-a/9780241655672
Rescript link.
https://app.rescript.info/public/share/eaBHbEo9xamwbwpxzcVVm4NQjMh7lsOQKeWwNxmw0JQ
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TIMESTAMPS:
The Three Laws of Knowledge
Rival vs. Non-Rival: The Economics of Ideas
Why You Can't Just 'Download' Knowledge
The Detective Novel Analogy
Collective Learning & Organizational Networks
Architectural Innovation: Amazon vs. Barnes & Noble
The First Law: Learning Curves
The Samuel Slater Story: Treason & Memory
Physics of Knowledge: Joule's Cannon
Extensive vs. Intensive Properties
Knowledge Decay: Ise Temple & Polaroid
Absorptive Capacity: Sony & Donetsk
Disruptive Innovation & S-Curves
Team Size & The Cost of Innovation
Geography of Knowledge: Vespa's Origin
Migration, Diversity & 'Planet China'
Institutions vs. Knowledge: The China Story
Economic Complexity & The Infinite Alphabet
Do LLMs Have Knowledge?
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REFERENCES:
Book:
[] The Innovator's Dilemma (Christensen)
https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Change-Business/dp/0062060244
[] Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned
https://amazon.com/dp/3319155237
[] Why Information Grows
https://amazon.com/dp/0465048994
Paper:
[] Endogenous Technological Change (Romer, 1990)
https://web.stanford.edu/~klenow/Romer_1990.pdf
[] A Model of Growth Through Creative Destruction (Aghion & Howitt, 1992)
https://dash.harvard.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/7312037d-2b2d-6bd4-e053-0100007fdf3b/content
[] Organizational Learning: From Experience to Knowledge (Argote & Miron-Spektor, 2011)
[] Architectural Innovation (Henderson & Clark, 1990)
[] The Learning Curve Equation (Thurstone, 1916)
https://dn790007.ca.archive.org/0/items/learningcurveequ00thurrich/learningcurveequ00thurrich.pdf
[] Factors Affecting the Cost of Airplanes (Wright, 1936)
https://pdodds.w3.uvm.edu/research/papers/others/1936/wright1936a.pdf
[] Are Ideas Getting Harder to Find? (Bloom et al.)
https://web.stanford.edu/~chadj/IdeaPF.pdf
[] LLMs/ Emergence
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.11135
Person:
[] Samuel Slater
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Slater
[] Masaru Ibuka (Sony)
https://www.sony.com/en/SonyInfo/CorporateInfo/History/SonyHistory/1-02.html
