Home / The Tim Ferriss Show / #827: Pablos Holman — One of The Scariest Hackers I’ve Ever Met

#827: Pablos Holman — One of The Scariest Hackers I’ve Ever Met

Sep 16, 2025

2h 31m

Description

Pablos Holman is a hacker and inventor and the author of Deep Future: Creating Technology that Matters, the indispensable guide to deep tech. Previously, Pablos worked on spaceships at Blue Origin and helped build The Intellectual Ventures Lab to invent a wide variety of breakthroughs. Pablos als...

Pablos Holman is a hacker and inventor and the author of Deep Future: Creating Technology that Matters, the indispensable guide to deep tech. Previously, Pablos worked on spaceships at Blue Origin and helped build The Intellectual Ventures Lab to invent a wide variety of breakthroughs. Pablos also hosts the Deep Future Podcast and is managing partner at Deep Future.

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Timestamps:

[00:00:00] Start.
[00:02:12] The first time I witnessed Pablos’ digital sleight of hand.
[00:04:33] How did Pablos become what he considers to be a hacker?
[00:08:04] The off-label mindset that makes a good hacker (like Samy Kamkar) great.
[00:17:07] The magic of Rodney Mullen.
[00:20:28] How Eric Johanson and Pablos gave life to adorable password thief Hackerbot.
[00:23:44] Hacker self-defense and the zero-click exploit market.
[00:27:11] International pockets of hacker density.
[00:30:13] Conventions where modern hackers congregate.
[00:30:48] Why, in geopolitics, technology is a game lost by the non-players.
[00:33:05] The case to rally behind new nuclear power.
[00:36:54] Sequencing priorities so the US can remain technologically competitive.
[00:44:49] Evaluating risk and reward in deep tech investment.
[00:50:40] Shoring up the shape of shipping.
[00:56:59] How Pablos gained his name and famous frames.
[00:58:48] Pablos is a possible-ist.
[00:59:45] What makes Pablos an attractive hire for the world’s richest people?
[01:02:06] From Silicon Valley to Seattle: the Blue Origin origin story.
[01:08:55] Why Pablos prevails over his M-dash peers.
[01:11:41] Zero Effect and WarGames: The only movies that matter?
[01:15:58] A major security malfunction exploited by Major Malfunction.
[01:18:30] The enigmatic Neal Stephenson.
[01:19:38] Long-form lessons gleaned from Jeff Bezos and the Blue Origin mission.
[01:27:15] For solving the world’s problems, communities are crucial.
[01:31:03] Newlab PSYOPS.
[01:34:44] AI and the ripple effects of China’s engineering-minded vs. America’s attorney-heavy leadership.
[01:48:20] Unearthing like-minded inventors and innovators.
[01:50:42] How Pablos learned salsa dancing via aikido vs. my own tango experience.
[02:08:27] Why you should invest or get involved in deep tech.
[02:14:45] Clearing up fusion confusion.
[02:21:17] Making progress happen is a team effort.
[02:24:19] Parting thoughts.

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