Talent, Time and Money: The Curse of General Magic episode artwork

EPISODE · Sep 11, 2026 · 38 MIN

Talent, Time and Money: The Curse of General Magic

from Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford · host Pushkin Industries

It's 1990. A new company called General Magic is going to build its vision of the future: the smart phone. They have talent, almost unlimited cash, and a 15 year head start on the iPhone. What could go wrong?  This episode was based, with permission, on David Epstein's book Inside the Box: How Constraints Make us Better. For a list of sources, see the show notes. Join our Cautionary Club to get episodes ad-free, hear bonus interviews and get an extra Cautionary Tale every month.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Sep 11, 2026

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Talent, Time and Money: The Curse of General Magic

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