Kevin Systrom is the co-founder and former CEO of Instagram. In this episode we talk about his time after leaving the company, whether becoming a billionaire made him happier, how to decide what to work on, the Japanese concept of Ikigai, or a reason for being, and meditation.

We then dive into his current project -- rt.live -- a website which tracks the spread characteristics of COVID-19. The statistical model underlying the website is Bayesian and built using PyMC3. Kevin shares why he chose that approach and how he got started on PyMC3.

Show notes

• Kevin Systrom on Twitter and his blog
• Instagram
• Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life
• The Mind Illuminated
• COVID-19 tracking: https://rt.live
• An Intuitive Guide to Bayesian Statistics
• PyMC3
• Statistical Rethinking by McElreath
• Bayesian Methods for Hackers by Cam Davidson-Pilon

Special thanks to all my patrons, specifically Jonathan Ng, Richard Craib, Daniel Gerlanc, and Ayan Doss.

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