Hey, Mark. Nice to see you. How are you doing?

I'm doing well, Steven. Can you hear me?

I can hear you loud and clear.

Thankfully, we've cleared the first hurdle there.

Everything's going to be great.

Okay. Going forward now.

Mark, maybe you could tell our listeners and viewers a little bit about

yourself before we get into some of your books and some of your work.

How would you describe what you do?

Sure. Well, my background is somewhat traditional.

I used to work in investment banking in New York and then I was a partner

of the Silicon Valley strategy firm.

But while I was working out in Silicon Valley around 2015, 2016,

I became exposed to ideas that challenged my world view basically.

And since then, I've written five books and have been looking at the nature of reality,

but also looking at the world around us and what's actually going on.

All the big stuff, basically.

Okay, great. So, I mean, looking back at that time,

your time in investment banking and the rap race in New York,

what was your world view? What would best describe the way you perceived the world?

I was nihilistic, materialistic in that I thought life was random and meaningless,

that we're just kind of a material blob.

...