Desire is a positive thing. It's one of the things that makes us human. I think of desire like the parable of the two wolves, right?

You know, we all have these two wolves inside of us that are kind of at war and

You know, you need to sort of find out which one of those wolves to starve and which one of those wolves to feed and

It's not always easy to tell which one is which when it comes to the things that we want when it comes to our desires

I actually believe that we should feed those enduring desires and that those enduring desires do ultimately sort of see us through the hard times

Welcome to the Knowledge Project podcast. I'm your host Shane Persch. The goal of this show is to master the best of what other people have already figured out so that you can unlock your potential.

To that end, I sit down with people at the top of their game to uncover what they've learned along the way. Every episode is packed with timeless ideas and insights that you can use in life and business.

If you're listening to this, you're missing out. If you'd like special member-only episodes, access before anyone else, transcripts and other member-only content you can join at

FS.blog slash membership. Check out the show notes for a link. Today I'm talking with Luke Burgess.

Luke has founded and led four companies from e-commerce to food distribution and consumer products.

He's the managing partner of fourth-wall ventures which invests in people and companies contributing to a healthy human ecology.

Luke studied finance, philosophy and theology and he's the author of the book Wanting, the power of memetic desire in everyday life.

And that's what we're here to talk about. This podcast is a deep dive into memetic desire, the core theory of René Gerard and its implications.

Now if the name René Gerard sounds familiar, that could be because Gerard has influenced the likes of Peter Theall and Chimath Polyhapatia.

Gerard's memetic theory rests on the assumption that all of our behaviors are imitive. This is both helpful and destructive. For instance when it comes to learning, imitation is a fast track to getting to a decent level.

We have no idea what we're doing so we imitate others. Think of how you learn to play music. You must imitate before you can create.

When it comes to wanting things however, it can lead to envy, jealousy and violence.

Imitation leads us to desire things we don't want by things we don't need and in the process for go things that are far more meaningful and valuable.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. It's time to listen and learn.

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