I’m not the first to say it. A team of researchers including Donella H. Meadows and Dennis L. Meadows wrote The Limits to Growth in 1971. French philosopher André Gorz coined the term “degrowth” in the 1970s as well. Most recently, Greta Thunberg is something of a degrowth proponent; by calling attention to the poly-crisis caused by a global economic system of endless extraction and growth, we all are. For me the key to implementing degrowth is to see it both at a systems and person level, and to deploy our response locally. Finally, I’m trying something new with this podcast — making video a part of it.
#63 My Gen X Career Crisis
If you’re like me and you’ve spent the past decades building and maintaining a career in the arts, media, etc., then the AI revolution is no joke. I see you, I hear you — let’s figure out what to do next.
#62 DNA is the afterlife
This is a big one.
#61 Raising Kids and the Dreaded Empty Nest
Will you be ready when your kids are all gone from the house? Will it be liberating or destabilizing? I believe I’ve cracked the code on what it will be like for most parents…
#60 The Hard Truth About Working Out at 49
A breathless summary of the past 18 months I’ve been exercising in earnest. I’m rushing here a little bit to get it all documented, and I make a couple of mistakes. When I talk about the Better Me app and say “cardio” I mean to say “calisthenics.” Later, when I’m talking about body fat percentage, I say I am on the upper limit of “athletic,” but I mean “fitness” (the general consensus is athletes = 6%—13%, fitness = 14%—17% and I am 17%).
With those corrections in mind, please enjoy my honest understanding of fitness for a man my age.
#59 The Truth About Free Will - Part II
I felt like this topic deserved a little more. E.g., what it means to hold yourself accountable for your life decisions, versus blame yourself or feel shame about them.
#58 The Truth About Free Will
“Free will” is a misnomer. We are susceptible to influence based on prior conditioning. What exactly does that mean? Let’s discuss.
#57 Was Trump Really Talking About Transgender Mice?
I have reason to believe he actually was. Some claim he was citing a University of Cincinnati study on transGENIC mice. But I don’t think that’s right. And in our winner-take-all social media world, there’s no room for disagreement. (Which is a bigger problem than transgender mice.)
We have to be impeccable. Any misstep lends credence to Trump’s claims about “fake news” and only proves him right.
#56 Gene Hackman Dies -- Just Like Everyone Dies
Let’s talk about death. How is it possible we can live these long stories lives, like Gene Hackman, or Jimmy Carter, or anyone who puts in decades in this brutal world… and just die? Lose a spouse? Lie bedridden for months? What’s wrong with this picture?
#55 What Carl Sagan Couldn't Know
A clip of Carl Sagan on Charlie Rose in the 1990s goes viral. Sagan warns of an ignorant polity, unwieldy technology and authoritarian government, and this elicits the expected arguments over which authoritarian regime (Trump? Biden?) demonstrates Sagan’s warning. Which is, in my view, what Sagan couldn’t predict — how severely media has divided us.
NB#1: Sagan died of pneumonia after a two-year battle with bone marrow disease. In the podcast, I wrongly suggest it was cancer.
NB#2: I recorded this early with some people in my house asleep, hence the quiet voice.
#54 Everything That's Wrong in Six Minutes
T.J. lays out the entire problem in the United States (and much of the rest of the world) in six minutes
#53 The Great Binary
How social media and the national political news media exacerbate our tendency to bifurcate into two groups… and what to do about it.
Edit: Crenshaw is a Representative, not a Senator
#52 Laundry
A mother and son debate the changing times…
#51 The Thing About Climate Change No One Wants to Say
No more being afraid to say what climate disavowal and inaction really mean.
It’s time to call it out.
Note: I say “Goddard’s Law” at the beginning of this episode but mean “Godwin’s Law.”
#50 In the Future Will Be Two Types of People - Part II
TJ predicts another major dividing line in the near-term future: those who use AI and those who eschew it. But not for the reasons this prominent YouTuber thinks…
#49 In the Future There Will Be Two Types of People
What does the future look like? In a very short time — 5-10 years — we will see a marked difference in people, in our very realities. Here’s why.
#48 How Can You Debug a Trump Supporter?
Social psychologist Steve Hassan likens MAGA enthusiasts to cult members and uses his own experience being “deprogrammed” from the popular 1970s Sun Myung Moon cult, the “Unification Church,” with Hak Ja Han.
Hassan’s insights are important, but I’m always left wondering — how can anyone be sure they’re not the brainwashed ones? Where can we find objectivity enough to base our reality and know right from wrong?
For further edification:
https://youtu.be/YNXk102BEz8?si=7DjN6Rcji9mpU2g5
https://youtu.be/hvJJwNzfT88?si=YPwz6TlA921tHfYA
https://youtu.be/eo4gIihETu8?si=OmrLECCd9MMSwLvk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQksC-8fqpM
#47 We're Being Sold Artifice
I reflect ( *ahem* rant) on the specious nature of goods and services we’re sold today in our hyper-consumption society.
#46 "Blessed" versus "Lucky"
When I told someone I felt “lucky” for my life, he said he needed to “correct” me that I was “blessed,” not lucky. This rant of mine ensued.