Beautiful Illusions

Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episode

Selected References:

• 2:10 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 33 - The Post-Entertainment Culture of Addiction from June 2024,  in which Dopamine Nation (2021) by Anna Lembke, MD is referenced and the idea of a “dopamine fast” is discussed.
• 8:28 - See “The State of the Culture, 2024” by Ted Gioia (The Honest Broker, 2024)
• 8:56 - According to Russian literary theorist and critic Victor Shklovsky, “Art makes the familiar strange so that it can be freshly perceived. To do this it presents its material in unexpected, even outlandish ways: the shock of the new” and “Art exists to help us recover the sensation of life; it exists to make us feel things, to make the stone stony. The end of art is to give a sensation of the object seen, not as recognized. The technique of art is to make things 'unfamiliar,' to make forms obscure, so as to increase the difficulty and the duration of perception.”
• 10:40 - See “What is AI?” (IBM) for a good general overview
• 10:55 - See “What Are Large Language Models?” (IBM) and the relevant LLM Wikipedia entry
• 16:20 - Suno and Udio are two popular generative AI-powered music creation tools that work based on prompting
• 17:40 - Listen to “Beautiful Illusions” or “Beautiful Illusions” which are two initial alternate song versions created by Suno (in about 1 minute) using the following prompt and no additional iterating beyond the original output: An early 60's style acoustic folk song called Beautiful Illusions with lyrics about how we all live our own perceived reality, solo acoustic, guitar, strumming, harmonica, folk, coffee house 
• 20:30 - See “Detecting AI fingerprints: A guide to watermarking and beyond” (Brookings Institution, 2024)
• 25:43 - See “Bias against AI art can enhance perceptions of human creativity” (Nature, 2023)
• 28:10 - See Darron’s “Vonnegut-Style Quotations Challenge,” which was expressly created to test Jeff’s thesis here and see if he can identify genuine Vonnegut quotes versus ones that AI generates
• 30:58 - See “Humans in the Loop: The Design of Interactive AI Systems” (Stanford University Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, 2019) and “Artificial Intelligence and Keeping Humans “in the Loop”” (Center for International Governance Innovation, 2020)
• 31:35 - See “What are AI Agents?” (IBM) and “What is Strong AI?” (IBM) for good overviews 
• 34:46 - See Artistree or MadeMay for examples of online spaces where art can be commissioned directly from artists
• 36:15 - See “Glue in Pizza? Eat Rocks? Google's AI Search Is Mocked for Bizarre Answers” (CNET, 2024) and “Google Search Is Now a Giant Hallucination” (Gizmodo, 2024) and “What are AI hallucinations?” (Google Cloud)
• 40:30 - See “In Experiment, AI Successfully Impersonates Famous Philosopher” (Vice, 2022) and “Creating a large language model of a philosopher” (Mind & Language, 2023)
• 41:18 - See character.ai
• 42:48 - Read the op-ed “ChatGPT is at odds with what education is for” (The Boston Globe, 2024)
• 49:31 - Listen to “If I Were A Carpenter” by Tim Hardin
• 54:41 - Watch “The Real Reason Why Music Is Getting Worse” by Rick Beato

This episode was recorded in June 2024

The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti

Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episode

Selected References:

• 2:25 - “The State of the Culture, 2024” by Ted Gioia (The Honest Broker, 2024)
• 4:10 - Gioia cites Huxley’s Brave New World, which takes place in a future dystopia where the populace is essentially oppressed by their addiction to amusement, as the more likely outcome than the oppressive government control depicted in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. See “Pleasures” - a 1923 essay by Huxley published in Vanity Fair for more on his thoughts regarding the problematic ease of entertainment in the early 20th century.
• 6:15 - See Gioia’s “fish” model
• 8:16 - See “The Tiktokification of Everything” (Single Grain) and “The ‘TikTokification’ of the next generation” (Empoword Journalism, 2023)
• 11:33 - Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985) by Neil Postman
• 13:06 - “The medium is the message” is a phrase and chapter title that comes from a 1964 book by Marshall McLuhan called Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, and it posits that that a communication medium itself, not the messages it carries, needs to be carefully considered because while the content of the medium is a message that can be easily grasped, the character of the medium is another message which can be easily overlooked, and it is this message that ultimately shapes “the scale and form of human action.”
• 13:50 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 32 - We Read So We Can Talk from April 2024
• 21:53 - Dopamine Nation (2021) by Anna Lembke, MD explores the interconnection of pleasure and pain in the brain and helps explain addictive behaviors — not just to drugs and alcohol, but also to food, sex, and smartphones. For more see “In 'Dopamine Nation,' Overabundance Keeps Us Craving More” (NPR, 2021) and watch Dr. Lembke discuss the science behind the book in a YouTube clip.
• 22:01 - See the “Anhedonia” Wikipedia entry
• 23:24 - The Anxious Generation (2024) by Jonathan Haidt
• 23:38 - Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It  (2022) by Richard Reeves
• 27:53 - See “Skim reading is the new normal. The effect on society is profound.” by Maryanne Wolf (The Guardian, 2018) and her book Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World
• 28:10 - Reading in the Brain by Stanislas Dehaene
• 33:04 - See “TikTok’s ‘Roman Empire’ Meme, Explained” (Forbes, 2023)
• 34:30 - Read “Tradition and the Individual Talent” by T.S. Eliot (Poetry Foundation)
• 34:52 - Watch the “8 Led Zeppelin Songs That 'Rip Off' Other Songs” YouTube video
• 37:07 - The Righteous Mind (2012) by Jonathan Haidt
• 37:48 - Ready Player One (book, 2011) by Ernest Cline and movie (2018)
• 38:14 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 16 - Partisan Pizza from July 2021
• 41:48 - See “Humans can barely distinguish AI-generated content from human-created content” (The Decoder, 2024)
• 42:22 - See “Socrates on the Invention of Writing and the Relationship of Writing to Memory” and “Socrates on the Forgetfulness that Comes with Writing”
• 46:50 - See “Boredom: A History of Western Philosophical Perspectives”  (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy) and “Heidegger’s “Profound Boredom”: using boredom to cultivate the soul” (blog post from Eric Hyde)

This episode was recorded in April 2024

The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti

Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episode

Selected References:

• 2:26 - See “Something Went Terribly Wrong With Online Ads” (The Atlantic, 2024) and “Uber’s Ad Network Continues To Grow” (Marketing Brew, 2023)
• 4:00 - Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human by Harold Bloom
• 4:15 - See “The Western Canon” Wikipedia entry
• 12:10 - See “Shakespeare Contra Nietzsche” (Marginalia, 2016)
• 16:41 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 29 - Vacation Part 2: It’s A Process from October 2023
• 22:35 - See the Great American Novel Wikipedia entry and list
• 22:54 - In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
• 22:25 - The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
• 25:30 - Sean M. Carroll
• 25:40 - Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• 26:10 - Babel and The Poppy War Trilogy by R.F. Kuang
• 27:55 - Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
• 31:48 - The Shining novel by Stephen King and The Shining movie directed by Stanley Kubrick
• 33:20 - One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest novel by Ken Kesey and One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest movie
• 36:15 - The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub
• 42:40 - The Scream painting by Edvard Munch
• 43:40 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 15 - The Mind of Gatsby: A Look Through the Cognitive Lens from June 2021
• 47:25 - Shark Heart by Emily Habeck
• 55:36 - Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction directed by Quentin Tarrantino
• 58:49 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 31 - Life, Art, & Experience: A Conversation, recorded in November 2023 and released in January 2024

Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episode

Selected References:

• 2:30 - Listen to “Now And Then” by The Beatles (YouTube)
• 3:24 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 22 - What is Life? from March 2022
• 6:44 - Bruce Springsteen at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, September 3, 2023
• 10:57 - boygenius at Westville Music Bowl in New Haven, September 28, 2023
• 11:05 - boygenius is Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker
• 12:05 - See “The Infinite Gay Joy of Boygenius” and “Boygenius’ Big, Emotional, Gay-as-Hell Night Out at Madison Square Garden” (this happened to be the next show after the New Haven show)
• 14:10 - Collective effervescence is a sociological concept coined by Émile Durkheim, read the Wikipedia entry
• 14:20 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 21 - The Myth of the Desert Island Self from January 2022
• 16:57 - Writing in The Atlantic about his new book, World Within A Song, Jeff Tweedy says “No matter how many people hear the Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” there’s only one version that belongs to you. Our appraisals might align, but I doubt your version includes a memory of waiting for the doors to open at an all-ages Jodie Foster’s Army concert on Laclede’s Landing, in St. Louis, as a flooding Mississippi River rages down Wharf Street and heaves up onto the steps of the Gateway Arch. Your mind melting down on mushrooms, watching a husband-and-wife street-performing duo sing “A Day in the Life” while their toddler does laps around you keeping shockingly good time on a tambourine. It’d be cool if we could see the worlds within the songs inside one another’s heads. But I also love how impenetrable it all is. I love that what’s mine can’t be yours, and we still get to call it ours. Songs are the best way I know to make peace with our lack of a shared consciousness.”
• 17:55 - Read “Tradition and the Individual Talent” by T.S. Eliot (Poetry Foundation)
• 18:15 - Read “The Wasteland” by T.S. Eliot (Poetry Foundation)
• 21:48 - The exact quote comes from chapter 7 of The Great Gatsby - "What'll we do with ourselves this afternoon?" cried Daisy, "and the day after that, and the next thirty years?" "Don't be morbid," Jordan said. "Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall."
• 26:55 - Listen to the 2023 mix of “Love Me Do” and the 2009 remaster of the original mono recording by The Beatles
• 28:00 - Watch “Now And Then - The Last Beatles Song,” a short film about how the song was made using old recordings, new recordings, and modern technology
• 44:25 - For (much much) more on Jeff and Darron’s experiences with Bob Dylan listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 2 - Our Back Pages from September 2020

This episode was recorded remotely in November 2023

The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti

Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episode

Selected References:

• 5:40 - See the toxic masculinity Wikipedia entry
• 6:04 - Listen to the August 7, 2023 episode of The Gray Area podcast, “The New Crisis of Masculinity,” and the May 12, 2023 of The Bulwark podcast, “Richard Reeves: The Trouble with Boys and Men”
• 6:05 - Read “Men are lost. Here’s a map out of the wilderness.” (Washington Post, 2023) and “In Praise of Heroic Masculinity” (The Atlantic, 2023)
• 6:08 - See The Art of Manliness website and podcast
• 8:46 - See “The Enduring Grip of the Gender Wage Gap” (Pew Research Center, 2023) and “The Women’s Leadership Gap” (American Progress, 2018), and for much more detail on a global scale see the World Economic Forum’s “Global Gender Gap Report 2023”
• 9:33 - See the Marlboro Man Wikipedia entry
• 19:40 - See “What’s the Difference Between Sex and Gender?” (WebMD, 2023)
• 39:36 - See “Annual Sheehan-Lyman Hall powder puff game continues to draw attention in its 50th year” (Hartford Courant, 2021)
• 49:50 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 22 - What is Life? from March 2022

This episode was recorded in October 2023

The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti

Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episode

Selected References:

• 4:12 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 26 - Vacation: The Pedantics & Semantics from November 2022
• 8:40 - Sometimes vacations are the opposite of fun, for more see this definitely NSFW clip from National Lampoon’s Vacation
• 15:39 - Avatar Flight of Passage is a 3D thrill ride at Disney’s Animal Kingdom
• 18:20 - The Beach Club Resort at Disney is an amazing hotel that not only has the best pool in Disney, but is a quick 5-minute walk from EPCOT’s International Gateway
• 19:53 - Get a baguette and a variety of other amazing baked goods at Les Halles Boulangerie & Patisserie
• 22:00 - Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in EPCOT’s World Discovery section is a simply astounding reverse-launch coaster that opened in 2022
• 23:49 - Try the famous school bread at the Norway Pavilion’s Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe in EPCOT’s World Showcase
• 28:48 - Ted’s Restaurant in Meriden, Connecticut is known for its steamed cheeseburgers, which is a somewhat idiosyncratic style featured in this small region of central Connecticut
• 33:00 - Listen to the 6-part podcast series “The Road That Killed A City” from journalist Jim Krueger which chronicles the construction of I-84 through Hartford and its impact on the local community
• 36:38 - The Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Site in Tuskegee, Alabama celebrates and commemorates the group of African American military pilots (fighter and bomber) and airmen who fought in World War II
• 37:28 - Bahia Honda State Park and Curry Hammock State Park in the Florida Keys
• 39:05 - See “Florida ocean temperature topped 100F, setting potential record” (Phys.org, 2023)
• 39:51 - See “Duke Heat Expert: ‘2023 May Be the Coolest Summer For the Rest of Our Lives’” (Duke Today, 2023)
• 47:46 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 28 - Alcohol: To Drink, Or Not To Drink? from July 2023

This episode was recorded in August 2023

The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti

Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episode

Selected References:

• 2:30 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 10 - Craft Beer Culture: A Personal History from January 2021
• 3:07 - Listen to Sean Carroll’s Mindscape Episode 160 - Edward Slingerland on Confucianism, Daoism, and Wu Wei from 2021
• 3:13 - Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization, by Edward Slingerland
• 3:18 - Read “The Meaning of Dry January” (The Atlantic, 2023)
• 7:36 - See “No, moderate drinking isn’t good for your health” (Washington Post, 2023) and “No Amount Of Alcohol Is Good For Your Health, Global Study Says” (NPR, 2018)
• 11:50 See the “Alcohol Facts and Statistics” page from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
• 26:30 - Listen to the “What Alcohol Does to Your Body, Brain & Health” episode of the Huberman Lab podcast with Andrew Huberman, Ph.D.
• 33:20 - In general Gen Y, or Millenials (born between 1980 and 1994) drink less than previous generations, and Gen Z (born between 1995 and 2009) drink less than Gen Y. See “Millennials and Gen Zers Embrace “Life Can Take You Higher than Alcohol” (National Public Health Information Coalition, 2022) and “Why GenZ Is Drinking Less And What This Means For The Alcohol Industry” (Forbes, 2023)
• 34:35 - See “Is a Glass of Wine Harmless? Wrong Question.” by Emily Oster (The Atlantic, 2023) which opines that “Excessive alcohol consumption clearly leads to significant problems, physical and emotional. That is not up for debate. However: Recent rhetoric, veering in the direction of abstinence, goes well beyond the sound advice to avoid heavy drinking and ignores the value of pleasure.”
• 36:23 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 21 - The Myth of the Desert Island Self  from January 2022

This episode was recorded remotely in January 2023

The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti

Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episode

Selected References:

• 2:05 - See “What is Celiac Disease?” and “What is Gluten?” (Celiac Disease Foundation)
• 9:24 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 16 - Partisan Pizza from July 2021
• 17:45 - See “Confirmation Bias And the Power of Disconfirming Evidence” (Farnam Street Blog)
• 21:42 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 21 - The Myth of the Desert Island Self from January 2022
• 21:46 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 19 - How We Learn Like A Scout: Critically Thinking About Critical Thinking from October 2021, where we discuss The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't by Julia Galef
• 29:58 - See “Celiac Disease vs. Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity vs. Food Allergy” (Cleveland Clinic)
• 31:22 - The Hidden Spring by Mark Solms
• 33:45 - See “Fred Rogers on Education and Teaching”   (YouTube) - “The best teacher in the world is someone who loves what he or she does and just loves it in front of you.”

This episode was recorded remotely in January 2023

The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti

Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episode

Selected References:

• 2:50 - The “Hunting House” is in Clarendon, VT
• 7:10 - See “Are Burgers and Hot Dog Sandwiches?” (The Daily Meal, 2021)
• 7:40 - See “It Was Shoes On, No Boarding Pass Or ID. But Airport Security Forever Changed On 9/11” (NPR, 2021)
• 10:23 - Walt Disney World
• 10:45 - See “The dream Disney World vacation is too expensive for the average American family” (Insider, 2021), and “How Much Does a Disney World Vacation Cost in 2023?” (Disney Tourist Blog, 2022)
• 13:35 - Sleeping Giant State Park in Hamden, Connecticut
• 18:29 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 16 - Partisan Pizza from July 2021
• 21:06 - Neil’s Donuts in Wallingford, Connecticut
• 25:10 - See “Boredom is a warning sign. Here’s what it’s telling you.” (The Washington Post, 2022)
• 26:09 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 25 - Living the Dream from November 2022
• 27:37 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 22 - What is Life? from March 2022

This episode was recorded remotely in Vermont in November 2022

The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti

Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episode

Selected References:

• 7:28 - See “Negativity Bias” (The Decision Lab) and the abstract of “Not all emotions are created equal: The negativity bias in social-emotional development” (Psychological Bulletin, 2008)
• 8:52 - See “Teacher Salary Benchmarks” (National Education Association), “Ranking all 50 states on highest teacher pay shows the pinch of inflation” (District Administration, 2022), “Connecticut Teacher Income” (Teach Connecticut), “Income in the United States: 2021” (United States Census Bureau), “High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being” (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2010), “Experienced well-being rises with income, even above $75,000 per year” (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2021), and “Money matters to happiness—perhaps more than previously thought” (Penn Today, 2021)
• 21:00 - See “Positive attitude toward math predicts math achievement in kids” (Stanford Medicine, 2018)
• 21:24 - See “A Brief Guide to Embodied Cognition: Why You Are Not Your Brain” (Scientific American, 2011) and the “Embodied cognition” Wikipedia entry
• 22:20 - See “What is the FISH! Philosophy?”
• 27:20 - See “The Bright and Dark Side of Gossip for Cooperation in Groups” (Frontiers in Psychology, 2019)
• 28:05 - See “How to Respond to Negativity” (Harvard Business Review, 2012)
• 28:19 - Toxic positivity (Wikipedia)

This episode was recorded in October 2022

The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti