#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.

#45 Why Trump Will Win in 2024

#44 Why "Se7en" is a Perfect Story (The Kind of Idea I Want to Have)

#43 Nature is Cruel, Staros

What movie is this from? (Minus the “spoonman”)

#42 Oppenheimer

Is Christopher Nolan’s 2023 film about Robert J. Oppenheimer and the A-Bomb the masterpiece many seem to think it is? I’m not so sure.

Please forgive my stuffy nose and traffic commentary as I record this analysis.

#41 The Kid Who Leaked Classified Documents

Thoughts on retributive justice, re: 21 year old Airman Jack Teixeira leaking classified Pentagon intelligence on the war in Ukraine

#40 How Technology Obliterated Objective Reality

What’s real? Can we believe anything we see or hear or read online in a world of divisive politics, massive multinational corporations, ChatGPT or deepfakes? Where is it all going from here?

#39 Does God Only Give You What You Can Handle?

Of a piece with the previous episode, T.J. explores the idea behind this oft-used religious phrase.

#38 The Only One Solving the Problem is the Light

A brief exploration of Kabbalah Mysticism

#37 Why We Grieve When We Quit an Addiction

When we quit something bad for us, it can paradoxically cause sadness, even grief. As if we’ve lost a friend…

#36 Why we don't care about the death of others

I mean, of course we do. But not really.