Avsnitt
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"Change your name—your failures will follow you."
That was the worst advice Dhar Mann got—from someone he admired. Instead, he built his entire brand on that very name. Now? 60+ billion views.
Growing up, he never fit in—too Indian for Americans, too American for Indians. Even ate lunch in the bathroom to avoid judgment. But later, he realized: he didn’t need to fit into any box at all.
At 30, rock bottom hit: broke, depressed, facing public failure. That’s when he stopped blaming the world—and took full ownership of his life. "If I'm not the problem, I can't be the solution."
Then COVID hit his family hard—his daughter nearly died. That moment rewired his values. Success isn’t one more video—it’s showing up. For his kids. For himself. Every single day.
Dhar Mann’s life looked perfect on the outside—but behind the scenes, he was completely falling apart. He shares how he changed his mindset and his habits to overcome the most difficult moments of his life.
For Mann, success used to mean financial achievement, but after years of chasing the next big milestone, his priorities shifted. Now, it’s about being present, especially for his family. Whether it’s taking his kids to school or setting personal goals, he’s learned that real success isn’t just about numbers—it’s about the people who count on you to show up.
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About Dhar Mann:
Dhar Mann is a filmmaker, entrepreneur, and the founder of Dhar Mann Studios, known for creating viral videos that share powerful life lessons. With over 70 million followers and 60 billion views on YouTube, his stories inspire people to make better choices and treat others with kindness. After going through his own tough times, Dhar started making videos to help others who might be struggling too — turning his past into a purpose that connects with millions.
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Can the power of community transform our educational systems for the better? This neuroscientist says absolutely.
Mary Helen Immordino-Yang is a neuroscientist and USC professor, and she has spent her career studying education and the ways we can enhance it. Her findings claim that diversity has a huge impact on brain growth and even life experience. She explains that similarly to how fabric is composed of thousands of intricately woven threads, our schools need the active coordination of many people and skills, making them stronger together.
Immordino-Yang stresses the importance of this strong social fabric, explaining that spending time around those who differ from us can help us become adaptable and truly deepen our understanding of the world around us. This idea calls for a new approach to education, where teachers and students work together to create systems of learning that help them grow alongside one another, instead of on confined and isolated paths.
**🎓 Rethinking Education: From Standardized to Human-Centered**
Our current education system is built on a “single story” — one path, one right answer, one judgment that matters. But this model fails to capture the true potential of young minds.
---
### 🌍 A New Center:
We need a *Copernican shift* in education:
- **From** testing outcomes
- **To** lived experiences, relationships, and agency
Ask:
- What thinking happens in this space?
- How do we co-create meaning?
- What power do students and teachers have to shape learning?
---
### 🧠 Humans as Ecosystems:
We're not just individuals learning in isolation — we are **part of each other’s environments**. Our development is shaped by our social worlds, and in turn, shapes them.
---
### 🛠️ What Needs Repair:
- Standardized systems **disconnect knowledge from purpose**
- They suppress agency — the very thing that fuels real thinking
- We must **rebuild education as a community project** that nurtures human development
---
> 🎯 True learning happens when students feel ownership, think deeply, and build meaning **together** — not just when they get the “right answer.”
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About Mary Helen Immordino-Yang:
Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, EdD, is an expert on the psychological and neurobiological foundations of social emotion, self-awareness, and culture, and how they impact learning, development, and education.
She is a Professor of Education at the USC Rossier School of Education, a Professor of Psychology at the Brain and Creativity Institute, a faculty member in the Neuroscience Graduate Program at the University of Southern California, and the Director of the USC Center for Affective Neuroscience, Development, Learning, and Education (CANDLE).
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Saknas det avsnitt?
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"Welcome to the multiverse. Or should I say our one universe within a multiverse of possibilities?"
Do we have proof of a multiverse?
Our idea of the multiverse stems from the notion of quantum mechanics: The idea that every time we enter a situation there are potentially infinite possibilities to arise as the outcome. But when we make a decision, we only get one of these outcomes.
Science fiction as well as our media and films are bewitched by the concept of the multiverse. But what can science tell us about its legitimacy? Dr. Ethan Siegel explores.
Chapters for easier navigation:-
0:00 Is there a multiverse?
3:32 The “many worlds” interpretation
4:43 The notion of infinity
8:45 Types of infinity
10:16 Degrees of freedom
17:01 Quantum mechanical spreading
19:22 The universe beyond our universe
21:46 How fast do universes get created?
27:15 The hope of the multiverse
The idea of the Multiverse suggests that every quantum possibility—every outcome that could happen—does happen, in a different universe. From choices we make to random atomic events, reality may split endlessly.
Cosmic inflation—a rapid expansion after the Big Bang—might have created countless "bubble universes." Each one with different physical laws or histories. These bubbles never touch, separated by ever-expanding space.
But here's the twist: Quantum mechanics produces a combinatoric explosion of outcomes—far more than the exponential growth from cosmic inflation. So, can the inflationary Multiverse actually contain all quantum possibilities?
Only if inflation has been going on forever, into the infinite past and future.
Otherwise, the full-blown sci-fi-style Multiverse? It's just in our minds.
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About Ethan Siegel:
Ethan Siegel is a Ph.D. astrophysicist and author of "Starts with a Bang!" He is a science communicator, who professes physics and astronomy at various colleges. He has won numerous awards for science writing since 2008 for his blog, including the award for best science blog by the Institute of Physics. His two books "Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive" and "Beyond the Galaxy: How humanity looked beyond our Milky Way and discovered the entire Universe" are available for purchase at Amazon.
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**🌌 What If the Universe Expands Because of… Selection?**
Sounds wild? It is. But maybe it’s not nonsense.
Let’s dive into this provocative idea — that **life, selection, and novelty** might be *fueling* the Universe’s expansion.
---
### 🌀 The Setup: A Universe in Motion
The Universe, as far as we can tell, has been **expanding** ever since the Big Bang.
Not just drifting outward — **accelerating**.
But **why** is it expanding faster?
And what’s it expanding *into*?
(Trick question — probably *nothing*. There’s no “outside” to space-time.)
---
### ❓ A Bigger Question: What If Selection Drives Expansion?
Now for the bold idea:
> **Could the Universe be expanding because of selection?**
Not natural selection in the Darwinian sense, but a **broader concept**:
- Wherever **matter interacts**,
- Wherever **patterns emerge**,
- Wherever **choices are made**,
there’s **selection** — and selection may be the engine of **novelty**.
---
### 🧠 Here’s the Thought Experiment:
1. **Big Bang** happens → universe starts expanding.
2. **Complexity arises** — atoms, molecules, stars, life.
3. **Life generates novelty**, explores possibilities, selects paths.
4. **Selection** becomes embedded in physical processes.
5. That selection might be **linked to the flow of time** — and maybe even **fuels the expansion**.
Think of it as:
> **The more selection, the more expansion.**
Wherever *stuff* interacts and selects — from particles to consciousness —
**space inflates** to accommodate complexity.
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### 🔄 But What Even *Is* Time?
Time, in this view, isn’t just a backdrop — it’s **active**, driven by **irreversible change**, the one-way arrow of causality.
And if time is real — and not reversible — then maybe **selection through matter** is what keeps the clock ticking.
And keeps the cosmos stretching.
---
### 🔬 Is It Testable?
No, not yet. Maybe not ever.
But maybe we’ve been asking the wrong questions.
Instead of:
> “What force is driving expansion?”
Try asking:
> “What role does *novelty* play in the evolution of the cosmos?”
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### 🧬 Life as Localized Selection
If selection per unit volume = life,
then maybe **life isn’t separate from the cosmos** — it’s just **one expression of the Universe’s selection process**.
That means:
- Even if no humans exist,
- Even if no Earth exists,
- **Wherever there’s interaction, there’s selection.**
And **where there’s selection… the Universe expands**.
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### 🤯 Final Thought
This isn’t settled science. It might even be nonsense.
But **isn’t it thrilling** to wonder if your thoughts, your choices, your very existence
are *not just observers of the cosmos* —
but **contributors to its expansion**?
> What if we’re not just in the Universe…
> **What if we’re part of what keeps it growing?**
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**Are you trapped in a narrative that isn’t really yours?** From childhood, we absorb beliefs about who we are—“the smart one,” “the creative one,” “the failure.” These labels, shaped by family and environment, become our **Perception Box**, limiting what we believe is possible. But neuroscience reveals that we can rewrite our stories. By recognizing negative thought patterns, questioning old identities, and celebrating small wins, we can **rewire our brains** and reshape our reality. **So, who do you really want to be?**
Your brain is wired to repeat the familiar. Change this wiring, and it will change your life.
Nicole Vignola, a neuroscientist and organizational psychologist, explains how deeply rooted beliefs can limit our potential and keep us trapped in patterns of thought. These perceptions, often shaped by our upbringing and environment, aren’t necessarily our own—but they can be changed.Nicole shares how the brain’s natural biases, like negativity bias and confirmation bias, reinforce these limiting beliefs. However, with the right approach, it’s possible to reshape our mental patterns. By practicing metacognition—observing and naming our thoughts—we can start to rewire our perception and create new, empowering narratives.Our brains are capable of change at any age. By focusing on small wins and challenging automatic thoughts, we can break free from old beliefs and begin using a mindset that better serves ourselves and our futures.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Nicole Vignola:Nicole Vignola is a neuroscientist, author and corporate consultant. With a BSc in Neuroscience and an MSc in Organizational Psychology, Nicole works with companies and individuals worldwide, educating them on the science of human optimisation, health and longevity, and how to enable employees to perform better in their daily lives and in turn, bring peak performance to the workplace. Recent clients include Lloyds Bank, Makers Mark and Smeg Ltd.
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**🌍 Humanity Stands at the Shore of a New Continent — AI. What Now?**
For 200,000 years, humans were the smartest beings on the planet.
But today, **AI is forcing us to question what it *really* means to live a human life**.
From **Copernicus** to **Darwin** to **Einstein**, science has repeatedly humbled us — displacing us from the center of the universe, showing us we are animals, and revealing that our intuition is flawed.
Now, in the **age of Turing**, it’s AI’s turn to push us toward philosophy again.
---
### 🤖 From Tool… to Architect?
For centuries, technology served *us*. It helped us *do* things — but it never told us *what to do*.
That’s changed.
Today, algorithms decide what you read, what you watch, and even how you think about right and wrong.
Tomorrow, **AI might diagnose disease, invent cures, and guide global decisions**.
But what if it doesn’t just assist us — what if it begins to **shape our very goals**?
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### ⚖️ The Big Risks
1. **Convenience becomes dependency** — we outsource thinking, creativity, even values.
2. **Governance structures built to protect us** become the very systems that **control us**.
3. **Human freedom — our core superpower — slowly erodes**.
---
### 🧭 Three Steps Toward a Human-Centered Future
#### **Step 1: The North Star – Human Flourishing**
We must re-orient AI not around power or profit, but around helping each person **realize their potential**.
> Not to build gods. Not to build replacements.
> But to build *tools* for better lives.
#### **Step 2: The Compass – Principles for Progress**
A new AI philosophy must be built on three pillars:
- **Autonomy**: The freedom to think and act without manipulation.
- **Reason**: The ability to weigh ideas, debate, and discover truth.
- **Decentralization**: Power spread across many, not hoarded by a few.
These are the values that **preserve our humanity** in a world shaped by machines.
#### **Step 3: Navigate the New World – From Philosophy to Code**
Just like America’s founders built a **philosophy-to-law pipeline**, we need a **philosophy-to-code pipeline**.
Enter:
🧪 **The Human-Centered AI Lab at Oxford**
— the first lab dedicated to building open-source AI aligned with human flourishing.
---
### 🧠 The Future Needs a New Kind of Technologist
One who combines:
- **World-class AI skills**
- **And deep philosophical grounding**
These pioneers will prototype systems where **tech empowers humanity**, not erases it.
---
### 🚀 Final Thought
We are at a pivotal moment.
A once-in-a-civilization inflection point.
Like setting foot on a new world — with no map.
But with a **North Star to guide us**,
and a **Compass to keep us grounded**,
we can build a future where technology serves humanity — not the other way around.
> From Copernicus to Turing, it’s time to once again **find our place in the cosmos** —
> **not as obsolete beings**,
> but as stewards of the future.
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"We're awash in lies and misinformation to a degree that was not possible before we got the internet and in particular before we got social media."
Our world seems more fragmented than ever. Author and podcaster Sam Harris thinks that an open conversation with 8 billion strangers could solve that. Here's his full Big Think interview, in its entirety.
Sam argues that the real problem isn’t bad people but bad ideas. He believes there’s a growing “crisis of meaning” caused by secularism, social media, and political division, making honest discussions harder.
He points out how online platforms spread misinformation, push people to extremes, and make cooperation difficult. He values reason over blind faith and encourages open conversations. He also promotes mindfulness and meditation to quiet the constant noise in our minds.
He’s worried about rising populism and authoritarianism, warning that ignoring big issues like climate change and AI could have serious consequences. To protect free societies, he says we need to stay rational and deal with these threats wisely.
Chapters for easier navigation:
00:00:00 - Finding meaning in a world of disinformation00:00:21 - When did you first become interested in debate?00:01:28 - What is causing the polarization we are seeing in our society?00:08:46 - How do we experience meaning?00:14:37 - What concerns you most about the future?00:21:49 - Why is freedom of speech such a powerful concept?00:28:48 - How do our belief systems affect the world around us?00:37:05 - How do we navigate the current landscape?00:45:00 - What can individuals do to make the world a better place?00:51:15 - How can we become better versions of ourselves?01:04:44 - How can we reframe our mental state into a positive experience?01:14:01 - Is artificial intelligence friend or foe?01:22:08 - How can we develop artificial intelligence responsibly?01:26:39 - How can the media regain lost trust?01:36:13 - How can you tell who is telling the truth in media?
About Sam Harris:Sam Harris is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation. The End of Faith won the 2005 PEN Award for Nonfiction.Mr. Harris' writing has been published in over ten languages. He and his work have been discussed in Newsweek, TIME, The New York Times, Scientific American, Rolling Stone, and many other journals. His writing has appeared in Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times, The Times (London), The Boston Globe, The Atlantic, Nature, The Annals of Neurology, and elsewhere.
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The winners of the remote work boom? Utah, Arizona, and Maine. Here’s what the US’ post-pandemic migration looks like.
In the wake of COVID, rising populations are shifting out of states like New York and California and moving to previously less-popular landscapes. The biggest beneficiaries of the post-pandemic economy have been states in the American South, including Texas and Florida, which has seen the fastest GDP growth of any state since the start of COVID, at more than a 20% increase.
What is driving these shifts in economic geography? Economist Joseph Politano points out that the most obvious factor is the increasing remote work possibilities. Some of the biggest states to lose residents have been dense, urbanized, unaffordable areas, and some of the biggest winners have been less dense, suburban, more affordable areas. People, when given the flexibility to tele-work, choose places that are more spacious suburban states than they did before the pandemic.
California and New York are going to have to reform a lot of their policies around housing, construction, and transportation if they want to compete in this new economy. And if they don't, the exodus to states like Texas and Florida will only continue.
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**📦 America’s Post-COVID Migration: Who’s Winning and Losing**
Since COVID, Americans have been relocating in droves — and it's reshaping the U.S. economy.
---
### 🏆 Winners:
- **Florida** (+20% GDP) and **Texas** (+14% GDP): Booming jobs, fast growth, lots of new housing.
- **Rocky Mountain states** (Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Colorado): Gaining people thanks to remote work.
### 📉 Losers:
- **New York** and **Illinois**: Weak job recovery, slow GDP growth.
- **California**: Strong GDP but losing jobs due to high costs and limited housing.
---
### 💡 Why?
1. **Remote work**: People are ditching dense, pricey cities for affordable suburbs.
2. **Housing construction**: States that build more (like TX & FL) attract more people.
3. **Industry spread**: Tech, finance, and entertainment are no longer stuck in one place.
---
### 🏙️ The California Problem:
Still dominant in tech, but too expensive to keep everyone. Without policy reforms, outmigration will continue.
---
> 📍 Bottom line: In the new economy, **mobility + affordability = growth**.
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About Joseph Politano:
Joseph Politano is a Financial Management Analyst at the Bureau of Labor Statistics working to support the Labor Market Information and Occupational Health and Safety surveys that BLS conducts. He writes independently about economics, business, and public policy for a better world at apricitas.substack.com.
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Welcome to The Freethink Interview, a interview series from our sister channel @freethink where we talk to the new generation of builders, leaders and thinkers shaping technological progress. Join us for thought-provoking conversations with some of the world’s most interesting and ambitious technologists.
What if the world's most critical technology isn't software, but the tiny pieces of silicon that power it? In an age where chips are everywhere, from smartphones to coffee makers, their manufacturing complexity might surprise you. It's harder to make a modern semiconductor than a nuclear weapon.Inside Taiwan's cutting-edge fabrication plants, machines worth $350 million each orchestrate an atomic ballet. These marvels of engineering use the flattest mirrors ever made and lasers that create temperatures 40 times hotter than the sun's surface – all to carve transistors smaller than a coronavirus.From Silicon Valley to Taiwan, from the Netherlands to Japan, making modern chips is a global dance of unprecedented complexity. Each processor requires ultra-purified materials, billion-dollar machines, and a supply chain spanning multiple continents. But this intricate network faces its greatest challenge yet.As artificial intelligence reshapes our world, the demand for advanced chips is skyrocketing. Tech giants are pouring billions into new semiconductor designs, while startups race to create specialized AI chips that could make artificial intelligence as accessible as a Google search. Join us as we explore how these tiny silicon marvels are shaping humanity's future.
This episode delves into the fascinating and high-stakes world of semiconductors, exploring their critical role in modern technology and geopolitics. Author and professor Chris Miller discusses the complexity of chip manufacturing, the global supply chain's vulnerabilities, and the strategic importance of Taiwan in the semiconductor industry. He explains how advancements in chip technology have far outpaced other fields, how AI demand is driving innovation, and how tensions between the U.S. and China over chip production could reshape the global economy. The episode highlights the crucial role chips play in everything from smartphones to AI development, and the potential risks if supply chains are disrupted.
Chapters For easier Navigation:
0:00: The Freethink Interview: Chris Miller00:39: A single factory in Taiwan02:31: The first transistor 03:31: The first chip04:50: Moore’s Law 07:40: A global industry10:01: The most important company in the world12:08: Why chips are central to US and China13:45: AI and chips
About Chris Miller: He is an American historian, professor, and author specializing in international affairs, economics, and technology. He teaches at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and is best known for his book Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology, which explores the geopolitical significance of semiconductors. His research focuses on global power struggles, particularly between the U.S. and China, and his work has appeared in major publications like The New York Times and Foreign Affairs.
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**🧬 What *Is* Life, Really? And Could We Build It From Scratch?**
What if the key to understanding life… is not *what it’s made of* — but *how it assembles*?
Ask ten scientists “What is life?” and you’ll get a thousand different answers. But **Lee Cronin**, the chemist behind **Assembly Theory**, offers a radical simplification:
> **Life is any system that can produce complexity at scale.**
Not DNA, not metabolism — just *non-random complexity*, multiplied.
### 🔧 Enter “Assembly Theory” — Life by the Numbers
Instead of asking “Does it have genes?” Cronin asks:
**How much *selection* went into producing these objects?**
- **Assembly Index**: How complex is an object — how many steps to make it?
- **Multiply that by how many copies of it exist**, and you get a system’s *Assembly*.
- The more **non-random complexity** at scale? The more likely you’re looking at life.
In essence:
> **Life is what happens when the universe gets choosy — and does it over and over again.**
### 🌌 Why This Changes Everything
1. **We can *measure* life**, not just define it vaguely.
2. **We can trace its evolution** anywhere — even on other planets.
3. **We might even build it.**
Yep — **we might be close to creating life in a lab.**
### 🧪 The “Origin of Life” Machine
Cronin and his team are building a **selection engine** — a machine designed to sift through random chemistry and spot the emergence of life-like behavior.
They're targeting three critical time factors:
1. **Time to create** the object.
2. **Time until it decays** if left alone.
3. **Time it can persist** through generations in a living system.
If a molecule scores high on all three? It might just be alive — or close.
### 🚀 How soon will we create synthetic life?
No one knows.
But Cronin believes it's not decades away.
> “We now know what we’re looking for — and we’re building the tools to find it.”
---
**✨ Big Idea:**
What if “life” isn’t some magical property… but an **inevitable result** of chemistry and selection?
If so, life may not be rare. It may be **written into the fabric of the universe**.
About Lee Cronin:
Leroy Cronin has one of the largest multidisciplinary, chemistry-based research teams in the world. He has given over 300 international talks and has authored over 350 peer-reviewed papers with recent work published in Nature, Science, and PNAS. He and his team are trying to make artificial life forms, find alien life, explore the digitization of chemistry, understand how information can be encoded into chemicals, and construct chemical computers.
He went to the University of York where he completed both a degree and PhD in chemistry and then went on to do postdocs in Edinburgh and Germany before becoming a lecturer at the Universities of Birmingham, and then Glasgow where he has been since 2002, working up the ranks to become the Regius Professor of Chemistry in 2013 at age 39.
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"We try to stick to routines and we try to go through very long lists of tasks, often ignoring our mental health in the process. There is a lot more to think about on a daily basis, but our brains haven't evolved."
This episode explores how cognitive overload and the pressure to maximize productivity lead to anxiety, burnout, and rigid goal-setting. Neuroscientist Anne-Laure Le Cunff introduces the concept of the "maximized brain," where ambition overrides curiosity, often resulting in overwhelm. She contrasts this with the "experimental mindset," which embraces small, curiosity-driven experiments instead of rigid goals. Drawing from her own journey—leaving Google, failing at a startup, and rediscovering her passion for neuroscience—she explains how tiny experiments can lead to personal growth. She also discusses three limiting mindsets (cynical, escapist, and perfectionist) and how shifting to an experimental approach can lead to a more fulfilling, conscious life.
00:00 Taking control of your mindset00:16 The experimental mindset01:22 What is the maximalist brain?02:20 How did you discover the experimental mindset?04:29 Why is mindset so important?05:18 What are the mindsets that hold us back?07:29 What mindset should we strive for?08:39 How do you cultivate an experimental mindset?12:04 How do you analyze the collected data?13:43 How have you personally employed the experimental mindset?15:20 What are some tiny experiments anyone can do?16:33 Why should we commit to curiosity?17:29 The illusion of certainty19:13 How are uncertainty and anxiety linked?20:07 Why did our brains evolve to fear uncertainty?21:10 How should we approach uncertainty instead?22:20 What is the linear model of success?23:50 How can we go from linear success to fluid experimentation?24:36 How can labeling emotions help manage uncertainty?27:28 Why do humans struggle with transitional periods?30:04 The 3 cognitive scripts that rule your life30:44 What is a cognitive script?32:11 What is the sequel script?33:35 What is the crowd pleaser script?34:20 What is the epic script?36:29 What should we do when we notice we are following a cognitive script?38:04 In defense of procrastination40:38 How can the triple check inform what we do next?42:09 What are magic windows?43:02 What is mindful productivity?43:41 What is mindful productivity’s most valuable resource?44:27 How does managing emotions influence productivity?45:10 What does death by two arrows mean?45:54 What’s the hardest part of knowing what to do next?46:34 How can we practice self-anthropology?
About Anne-Laure Le Cunff:Anne-Laure Le Cunff is a neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and writer. A former Google executive, she went back to university to earn a Ph.D. in Psychology & Neuroscience from King’s College London. As the founder of Ness Labs and author of its widely read newsletter, she writes about evidence-based ways for people to make the most of their minds, navigate uncertainty, and practice lifelong learning. Her work has been featured in peer-reviewed academic journals and mainstream publications such as WIRED, Forbes, Rolling Stone, Fortune, Entrepreneur, and more
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**🧭 Who Decides What’s “Normal” Anymore? Rethinking Social Norms in a Shifting World**
Why do we follow social norms — and how do we know when they’ve expired?
Social norms act as **shortcuts**, like a guidebook for fitting into your time and place. They offer structure, a sense of belonging, and even emotional rewards like pride or guilt. They help us function — not just because we believe in them, but because *everyone else* does too.
But today, the old rules feel... wobbly.
From door-opening etiquette to gender roles, many norms seem out of place in a rapidly changing world. So how do we decide what to keep — and what to toss?
💡 Enter *Chesterton’s Fence* — a concept that says: **before tearing down a fence, find out why it was put there.**
Even if a social norm feels outdated, it might have served a purpose worth understanding before dismissing it outright.
Take the example: *Should men open doors for women?*
It may feel old-fashioned now, but originally, it might’ve symbolized respect or protection. The key is asking: **Does it still serve a helpful function today? Or has the context changed too much?**
In the past, people looked to parents, clergy, or state leaders for guidance.
Now? We turn to **influencers**, coaches, and self-described gurus on everything from success to masculinity. But here’s the catch: **self-proclaimed experts might not be experts at all.**
And that raises a new question:
🌍 **Are today’s norms built for *you* — or are they just viral advice designed to sell?**
Norms should be adaptive — customized to the community, time, and individual. What works for a niche internet following may not work in your real life.
**3 key takeaways:**
1. 🧠 *Don’t discard old norms blindly.* First, ask what purpose they served.
2. 🧍♂️ *Be wary of self-appointed experts.* Charisma doesn’t equal wisdom.
3. 🌐 *Seek context over consensus.* Norms should flex with culture, not freeze in time.
**✨ Big idea:** Social norms aren't just rules — they’re cultural technology. If we want to upgrade them, we need to understand the code they were written in.
About Christine Emba:
Christine Emba is an opinion columnist and editor at The Washington Post, where she focuses on ideas, society, and culture. She is also a contributing editor at Comment Magazine and an editor at large at Wisdom of Crowds, which includes a podcast and newsletter. Before this, Emba was the Hilton Kramer Fellow in Criticism at The New Criterion and a deputy editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit, focusing on technology and innovation. Her book, Rethinking Sex: A Provocation, is about the failures and potential of the sexual revolution in a post-#MeToo world. Emba was named one of the World’s Top 50 Thinkers by Prospect Magazine in 2022.
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Gracie Gold’s battle with mental health nearly ended her career—and her life. This is how she found her way back to herself.
Gracie Gold, a two-time national champion and Olympic medalist, seemed to embody perfection. But behind the medals and the headlines, her obsession with being flawless led her to a breaking point. After the 2016 World Championships, she spiraled into depression, binge-eating, and a complete loss of identity. Feeling trapped and out of place, Gold hit rock bottom before seeking help at a treatment facility. There, she finally “met herself,” learning to let go of perfection and accepting “okay” as enough. Now, she’s a mental health advocate and a New York Times bestselling author.
Summary:
Gracie Gold, once an Olympic figure skating superstar, shares her deeply personal journey of struggling with perfectionism, self-worth, and mental health. Despite growing up in ice rinks, she often felt trapped and disconnected from the world, likening her experience to being stuck inside a snow globe. As her skating career faltered, she internalized failure, leading to disordered eating, depression, and eventually suicidal ideation.
Her relentless pursuit of perfection left her feeling worthless when she fell short. The pressure to meet external expectations, combined with personal struggles, led to a complete breakdown. A turning point came when she entered a treatment facility, where she finally felt seen and heard. Therapy helped her realize that not everything needed to be perfect and that she could exist outside of others’ expectations.
By shattering the image of the "perfect ice princess," Gracie was able to reclaim her identity and step forward as her true self. She now embraces imperfection, proving that recovery and self-acceptance are possible.
Key Takeaways:
Perfectionism can be both a motivator and a destructive force.
External validation is not a sustainable source of self-worth.
Mental health treatment can be life-changing and lifesaving.
Breaking free from unrealistic expectations allows for true self-discovery.
About Gracie Gold:Gracie Gold is an American figure skater known for her technical skill, artistry, and resilience. Born in 1995, she rose to prominence by winning the U.S. national title in 2014 and earning a bronze medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in the team event. Gold also claimed silver at the 2016 World Championships, solidifying her status as one of the sport’s top competitors. After facing mental health challenges that led to a hiatus, she made a remarkable comeback, advocating for mental health awareness in athletics.
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“I think the key point is that doesn't mean game over. That doesn't mean we're flipped into a world, and to a point of no return.”
**🌍 The 1.5°C Climate Goal Might Be Slipping Away — But It’s Not Game Over**
The once-ambitious goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C? It’s likely no longer within reach, says a climate expert. But that’s not a reason to give up. Every fraction of a degree matters — and fighting for 1.6, 1.7, or 1.8°C still means reducing risk, damage, and loss.
The Paris Agreement aimed to keep temperatures "well below 2°C" and ideally at 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. While 1.5°C now seems nearly impossible due to the sheer scale of emissions cuts required, staying under 2°C is *still* feasible — *if* countries hit their current targets.
What needs to change? Four key sectors:
**1. Energy** – Replace fossil fuels with low-carbon sources like solar, wind, geothermal, and especially **nuclear**, which has the *lowest land footprint*.
**2. Transport** – Shift to electric where possible, using decarbonized electricity.
**3. Food** – Reform agriculture, which uses *half* of all habitable land.
**4. Construction** – Build greener, more sustainable infrastructure.
The shift to renewables is now *economically viable*, with solar and wind already cheaper than coal or gas in many places. Land use fears? Overblown. Solar needs <1% of global land; even wind’s impact is mostly *visual*, not physical — and farming can continue around turbines. Nuclear, meanwhile, needs just 0.1% of land to power the world.
🌱 **The message is clear**: We may not hit 1.5°C, but every bit of progress still counts. The climate fight isn’t all or nothing — it’s a long game where every decimal degree saved can mean lives, ecosystems, and futures protected.
About Hannah Ritchie:
Dr. Hannah Ritchie is Senior Researcher in the Programme for Global Development at the University of Oxford. She is also Deputy Editor and Lead Researcher at Our World in Data. Her research appears regularly in the New York Times, The Economist, and the Financial Times, and in bestselling books including Steven Pinker’s Enlightenment Now. She is the author of Not the End of the World.
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Timestamps:
0:00: The library of Herculaneum
1:17: The Vesuvius Challenge
2:30: A unique approach
3:49: Deciphering ‘crackle’
5:01: Solving an ancient puzzle
Summary:
In AD 79, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried the Roman town of Herculaneum, home to the only surviving ancient library. The scrolls, carbonized by the disaster, remained unreadable for centuries. However, modern technology is changing that.
A team led by Brent Seales at the University of Kentucky has worked for 20 years to decode these scrolls. A competition, supported by Nat Friedman and later funded by Elon Musk, challenged researchers to develop AI-powered methods to "virtually unroll" and decipher the texts.
One participant, after weeks of studying CT scans of the scrolls, identified patterns resembling Greek letters. This discovery led to breakthroughs by others, including SpaceX engineer Luke Farritor and researcher Youssef Nader, who used AI to automate text recognition. Their efforts revealed 15 columns of ancient Greek text for the first time in nearly 2,000 years.
With further advancements, reading these scrolls could become significantly cheaper, unlocking lost knowledge from ancient Rome. Future excavations may uncover even more hidden libraries beneath Vesuvius.
Key Takeaways:
AI and CT scanning technology are revolutionizing archaeology.
Newly uncovered texts could double the known corpus of ancient Roman literature.
Future excavations may reveal even more lost knowledge.
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Expanding your worldview starts with understanding your brain. Stanford neuroscientist David Eagleman explains.
David Eagleman, a neuroscientist at Stanford and host of the Inner Cosmos podcast, explores how our brains shape the reality we experience and why we often accept our perceptions as the only truth. From a young age, we develop our understanding of the world based on limited experiences and biases, which can lead us to form narrow views about what's true.
**🧠 “Your Reality Is Just One Version” — Why Expanding Your Mind Could Save Humanity**
What if everything you believe to be *true* is just one narrow version of reality? According to neuroscientist David Eagleman, that’s exactly what’s happening — and it’s shaping not just your thoughts, but society itself.
We’re **born into a tiny slice of the world**, gathering experiences from a limited time, place, and culture. Our brains build internal models based on that — models we confuse with *universal truth*. But here’s the kicker: **no two brains experience the world the same way**, thanks to differences in genetics and life experiences.
This isn’t just philosophical. It’s biological.
🔬 Eagleman’s work in *perceptual genomics* explores how tiny differences in our genes change how we *see* reality. You might visualize a crawling ant in vivid detail; someone else sees only the concept. Both are “true” — just different.
But this brain wiring also makes us tribal.
We divide into **ingroups** and **outgroups**, trusting the familiar and fearing the unfamiliar — an ancient survival instinct. And it affects empathy, **literally**. Eagleman’s experiment showed people’s brains *cared less* when an outgroup member was hurt versus an ingroup one. The same action (like a needle stab) triggered weaker pain responses if the person wasn’t “one of us.”
This leads to dehumanization in conflicts, where we stop seeing the “other side” as fully human. The brain’s empathy centers don’t even light up. It’s how wars, hate, and division thrive.
But there’s hope. Eagleman lays out **3 strategies** to overcome this:
1. **Recognize and blind your biases** – Like orchestras using blind auditions, remove visual cues that trigger unconscious judgments.
2. **Learn the tactics of dehumanization** – Spot things like “moral pollution,” where groups are smeared to make them seem disgusting. Awareness is your shield.
3. **Complexify your identity** – Form bonds over shared interests *before* you discover differences. That connection builds understanding and curiosity instead of rejection.
🤝 The more we **entangle our identities** — across sports, hobbies, stories, struggles — the more we see each other as *people*, not strangers. That’s the key to bridging the gap between 8 billion different inner worlds.
**✨ Big idea:** You don’t live in *the* reality. You live in *a* reality. And the more you understand that, the more human the world becomes.
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About David Eagleman:
David Eagleman is a neuroscientist at Stanford University and an internationally bestselling author. He is co-founder of two venture-backed companies, Neosensory and BrainCheck, and he also directs the Center for Science and Law, a national non-profit institute. He is best known for his work on sensory substitution, time perception, brain plasticity, synesthesia, and neurolaw
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“I want people to know that their lives matter and that their deaths ultimately will too.” How a journey to Cuba made Alua Arthur confront her own mortality, and ultimately led her to her career as a death doula.
Alua Arthur, a death doula, never expected to find her calling in the space between life and death. Struggling with depression and a sense of not belonging, she was searching for meaning when a chance encounter in Cuba changed everything. After encountering death in her personal life, she began to confront her own mortality—and realize she wasn’t truly living. This moment, combined with the loss of her brother-in-law, set her on a path to becoming a death doula, someone who supports people through their final days. Now, she is an author, a (public speaker), and has dedicated her career to helping others embrace life by acknowledging its inevitable end.
Alua Arthur, a death doula, shares her journey from feeling like an outsider to finding purpose in helping others face death with grace. She describes struggling with depression while working as a lawyer, feeling disconnected from life. A transformative conversation with a terminally ill woman in Cuba made her confront her own mortality and realize the importance of truly living.
When her brother-in-law fell ill and passed away, it deepened her understanding of life and death. She then chose to become a death doula—providing emotional and logistical support to the dying and their loved ones. Through this work, she has learned to live with urgency, be fully present, and embrace herself as she is.
Key Takeaways:
Facing death helps clarify what truly matters in life.
Living fully means embracing every moment without holding back.
Supporting people in their final moments can be a deeply healing and meaningful role.
About Alua Arthur: Alua Arthur is a death doula, end-of-life care expert, and founder of Going with Grace, a nonprofit dedicated to helping individuals navigate the final chapter of their lives. After struggling with depression and identity, Alua found purpose in guiding others through the dying process with compassion and dignity. She has dedicated her life to empowering people to face death with grace, offering support to both individuals and their families.
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"Being aware of your mindsets is the difference between living a conscious life, where you're making choices in accord with what you actually want and going where you actually wanna go, versus being on autopilot and having those mindsets subconsciously drive all of your decisions."
Chapters:
0:00 Our mindsets’ influences
0:50 Linear vs. experimental
2:50 3 subconscious mindsets
4:58 The experimental mindset
6:30 Designing experiments
8:35 Habit vs. experiment
🔥 Are Your Mindsets Secretly Controlling Your Life?
We all have default ways of seeing the world—our *mindsets*. And these mindsets silently shape everything: our decisions, relationships, feelings, and even the path we take in life. But here’s the catch: most of us aren’t even aware of them.
💭 The Turning Point
The speaker shares their journey—initially chasing traditional success: good grades, a job at Google, and startup life. But despite achieving all of it, they felt empty. It wasn’t until their startup failed that they paused to ask: *What do I really want?* This question led them to neuroscience, curiosity, and ultimately, fulfillment.
⚠️ The 3 Mindsets Holding Us Back
1. Cynical Mindset – Low ambition, low curiosity. You’re checked out and stuck in survival mode.
2. Escapist Mindset – High curiosity, low ambition. You binge-watch, dream-plan, and avoid responsibility.
3. Perfectionist Mindset – High ambition, low curiosity. You’re overworking, chasing success, but losing joy.
These mindsets are fluid—not fixed traits. You can shift them.
🔬 Enter: The Experimental Mindset
This mindset thrives on *both* high curiosity and ambition. It embraces uncertainty, treats failure as data, and turns life into a series of small experiments—each one helping you grow.
🧪 How to Build It: The Pact Method
A “pact” is a mini-experiment:
- Purposeful: You care about it.
- Actionable: You can start it *now*.
- Continuous: You repeat it regularly.
- Trackable: You only track if you did it—yes or no.
It’s not a habit, KPI, or resolution. It’s a test to see what *actually* works for you.
**📊 Internal vs External Data**
After an experiment, analyze both:
- **External**: Did it bring recognition, money, results?
- **Internal**: Did it *feel* good? Was it energizing or draining?
The speaker tried becoming a YouTuber. It “succeeded” externally—but internally, it felt awful. So they quit. That’s the power of self-awareness.
**🧠 Neuroscience Backs It Up**
When we’re curious, our brain lights up the same way it does when we’re thirsty. Curiosity isn’t fluff—it’s fuel.
**✨ Final Message:**
Your mindset determines whether you live consciously or on autopilot. Choose curiosity. Run tiny experiments. Design a life that’s yours.
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About Anne-Laure Le Cunff:
Anne-Laure Le Cunff is a neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and writer. A former Google executive, she went back to university to earn a Ph.D. in Psychology & Neuroscience from King’s College London. As the founder of Ness Labs and author of its widely read newsletter, she writes about evidence-based ways for people to make the most of their minds, navigate uncertainty, and practice lifelong learning. Her work has been featured in peer-reviewed academic journals and mainstream publications such as WIRED, Forbes, Rolling Stone, Fortune, Entrepreneur, and more
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Asian-American comedian Atsuko Okatsuka shares her experience as an immigrant, navigating personal insecurities, and ultimately finding belonging in comedy.
**In this episode,** comedian **Atsuko Okatsuka** reflects on identity, perfectionism, and feeling *not good enough*. She shares her experience growing up as an immigrant with a schizophrenic mother and how her grandmother secretly brought her to the U.S., separating her from her father.
Atsuko explores people-pleasing, fear of disappointment, and how pain has shaped her. Through comedy and self-reflection, she confronts the past and finds connection.
The weight of cultural dislocation, family turmoil, and the constant quest for perfection can trap us in roles we don’t truly belong in. Asian-American comedian Atsuko Okatsuka—armed with a raw immigrant perspective—shares how early missteps with English and personal familial hardships left her feeling less than enough.
About Atsuko Okatsuka:Atsuko Okatsuka is an Asian-American comedian, writer, and actor born in Taiwan and raised in the U.S. She is known for her stand-up special The Intruder and her viral “drop challenge.” Her comedy explores identity, belonging, and personal insecurities. She has performed on HBO, written for TV, and appeared on various comedy platforms, establishing herself as a distinct voice in the stand-up scene.
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"Everything that we care about, everything we experience, everything we know, we know it through our conscious awareness of it."
Consciousness is everything we know, everything we experience. The mystery at the heart of consciousness lies in why our universe – despite teeming with non-conscious matter – is configured in a way where it's having a felt experience from the inside. Modern neuroscience suggests that our intuitions about consciousness are incorrect. And so, it's possible that we've been thinking about consciousness the wrong way entirely, says bestselling author Annaka Harris.
Consciousness is everything we know, everything we experience. The mystery at the heart of consciousness lies in why our universe – despite teeming with non-conscious matter – is configured in a way where it's having a felt experience from the inside. Modern neuroscience suggests that our intuitions about consciousness are incorrect. And so, it's possible that we've been thinking about consciousness the wrong way entirely, says bestselling author Annaka Harris.
0:00- The Hard Problem of Consciousness
0:39- Defining consciousness
2:20- Is consciousness more basic in nature?
4:29- Thomas Nagel’s perspective.
6:02- Consciousness vs. thought
7:06- Decision making processes
**Summary of the Episode on Consciousness**
**1. The Hard Problem of Consciousness**
- The central mystery: How does non-conscious matter (atoms, electrons) configure in a way that creates conscious experience?
- Why does some matter "feel" something while the rest of the universe does not?
**2. Defining Consciousness**
- Consciousness is central to everything we know and experience.
- It is our direct connection to reality—without it, nothing would matter.
- Despite its importance, consciousness remains a scientific and philosophical mystery.
**3. Consciousness as a Fundamental Property**
- Some theories suggest that consciousness isn’t just a result of complex brain activity.
- It may be a fundamental aspect of nature, similar to gravity.
- If true, it could mean consciousness exists in more forms than previously thought.
**4. The Concept of "Umwelt"**
- Different organisms experience reality differently.
- Example: Bats use sonar instead of vision, leading to a completely different sensory world.
- This challenges our ability to define consciousness in a human-centric way.
**5. Decision-Making Without Thought**
- Even simple organisms and plants show behaviors that resemble decision-making.
- Example: Pea seedlings grow toward water, even responding to the sound of running water.
- The parasitic dodder vine chooses its host plant based on light frequencies.
- Suggests that basic forms of "awareness" might exist outside of brains.
**6. Rethinking Consciousness**
- If consciousness is not just a product of complexity, it might be everywhere in some form.
- This could mean that even simple processes in nature have a "felt experience."
- The idea challenges traditional science but opens new possibilities for understanding life.
**Conclusion**
- The nature of consciousness remains an open question.
- If it’s a fundamental property of the universe, it might extend far beyond human and animal minds.
.
About Annaka Harris:Annaka Harris is the New York Times bestselling author of CONSCIOUS: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind and writer and producer of the forthcoming audio documentary series, LIGHTS ON. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Nautilus Magazine, the Journal of Consciousness Studies, and IAI Magazine. She is also an editor and consultant for science writers, specializing in neuroscience and physics. Annaka is the author of the children’s book I Wonder, coauthor of the Mindful Games Activity Cards, and a volunteer mindfulness teacher for the organization Inner Kids.
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