When we go on holiday or experience an interruption to our daily lives, we are often reminded that a change can be as good as a rest. But is doing something different actually better than doing nothing? If true, what kind of implications would this have for our society?

In this week’s episode, we discuss change vs rest. We discuss the origins of the proverb, models of fatigue, data on industrial productivity, psychology of rest, and ego depletion. Finally, we share the best and most recent change we’ve experienced.

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

People who spread lies and deceive others are treated with contempt by society, and rightfully so. But what happens when the people we lie to and deceive are ourselves? Using the case of Walter Mitties as a starting point, we explore the prevalence of exaggeration, fantasy and our inner selves.

In this week’s episode, we look at figments of the imagination. We discuss Herbie Popnecker, differences between US and UK attitudes to military valorisation, virtue imposters, intention vs self-delusion, cosplay, Aesop’s Fox and the Grapes fable, catfishing, authenticity and status. Finally, we reveal the biggest self-serving exaggerations we committed ourselves

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

- The military imposters who can’t resist wearing an unearned medal https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/01/military-imposters-unearned-medal-nick-adderley/

- Waltenkommando https://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/Waltenkommando

- Alan Mcilwraith https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alan_Mcilwraith&oldid=25222978

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

Some of our listeners may be familiar with the popular Roman Empire meme doing the rounds on TikTok recently. The meme illuminates many nebulous concepts from our collective psychology in a humorous way, but there seems to be one central principal: we are sharing the world with people who often have radically different thoughts to our own. So, what does it mean to think about the Roman Empire? Why does it appear to be gendered? What does it mean to think about something in the first place?

In this week’s episode, we discuss thinking about the Romans. We speak about gender disparities in thoughts and interests, thought as a philosophical concept, thought modelling, computational thinking, narrative and storytelling, data scarcity, AI and Peter shares his wishlist of thought-enhancing technologies.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

- How Often Do You Think About the Roman Empire? https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/how-often-do-you-think-about-the-roman-empire

- How Often Do Women Think About … ? https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/20/arts/roman-empire-women-tiktok.html

- Men and things, women and people: a meta-analysis of sex differences in interests https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19883140/

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

Political returns are not unusual, but there are varying degrees of success. With the recent return of David Cameron to politics as Foreign Secretary, we started to think about how to stage a triumphal return. Are there predictable pitfalls that must be avoided? How do you know the time is right? Why are we so intrigued by the idea of a return in the first place?

In this week’s podcast, we discuss the art of the return. We discuss the return of David Cameron, the history of political returns, the theme of returns and homecomings in literature, Lord of the Rings, Homer’s Odyssey, prisoner’s dilemma and Nick presents typologies for different categories of return. Finally, we share examples of our own returns and future returns we would like to see happen.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

- David Cameron returns to cabinet table after seven years https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67411550

- British Prime Ministers who returned to government https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-prime-ministers-who-returned-to-government

- TV Tropes: One Last Job https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OneLastJob

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

What springs to mind when you think of McDonalds, Apple or BT? When it comes to the reputation of companies, first impressions seem to matter. But how does a reputation work? Is a negative reputation stickier than a positive one? and how long does reputation last?

In this week’s podcast, we discuss reputation. We unpick company and football statistics and data for listed companies. We also discuss the relationship between reputation and quality, Apple vs Microsoft, the scale vs quality trade-off, the concept of reputation in the judicial system and OBEs. Finally, we present what we consider to be some of the most glaring mismatches between reputation and quality.

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

Many of our listeners will be familiar with Black Swan events - rare occurrences that have significant, often unforeseen consequences - yet fewer will be aware of Grey Rhinos. Like a large, lumbering rhino charging towards us, these are highly probable threats that we can see coming, but choose to ignore. So how can we communicate risk more accurately? Are there ways to improve our powers of predictability to mitigate the associated risks?

In this week’s podcast, we discuss Grey Rhinos with our special guest Jerry Smith from CHC Global. We discuss the UK inquiry into Covid-19, pandemics, insurance, the psychology of risk, short-termism, probabilistic thinking, black jellyfish events and the climate crisis. Finally, we nominate some of our own Grey Rhino events.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

- Healthcare Capacity, Health Expenditure, and Civil Society as Predictors of COVID-19 Case Fatalities: A Global Analysis https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00347/full

- The Animals in the Jungle of Risk https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/animals-jungle-risk-aminath-shaeera-cpa-irmcert/

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

Incentives and punishments are opposite ends of the same spectrum. In their opposing ways, both attempt to steer people towards a prescribed set of goals and behaviours. But which is most effective in getting people to behave better? Or is a society of universally well-behaved individuals simply a utopian fantasy?

In this week’s episode, we discuss the carrot and stick approach. We unpack the carrot and stick metaphor, discuss the concept of zero tolerance, toilet passes in schools, Plutarch, dictatorships, corporal punishment and data on punishments.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

- Parents say strict Spilsby school is breaching human rights https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-67139220

- Carrot and Stick https://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-car4.htm

- Blame https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/blame/

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

Models are widely used in science to represent complex real-world phenomena in simplified forms to advance understanding. Though often overlooked, models can facilitate analysis by reducing scale and complexity and help to visualise things that are difficult to understand. But what makes for a good model and how does an approximation of something tell us more about the thing itself?

In this week’s podcast, we discuss models. We explore the desert kites of Asia and Africa, discuss heuristics, cartography, Borges, AI and machine learning, the historical development of models and examples of models that may surprise you. Finally, we describe some of our favourite model memories.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

- The oldest plans to scale of humanmade mega-structures https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0277927

- On Exactitude in Science https://kwarc.info/teaching/TDM/Borges.pdf

- Spinal Tap - Stonehenge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAXzzHM8zLw

- Bourton-on-the-Water model village https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bourton-on-the-Water_model_village

- Mary Poppins: Let’s Go Fly a Kite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyhJhf6Q7lg

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

If you’re a fan of JK Rowling, Jack Vettriano or Manchester United you’re probably not surprised by the denigration they receive from critics. There is a whole host of cultural artefacts that seem to be universally popular yet despised by critics. Is it just gatekeeping or do the critics have a point?

In this week’s podcast, we discuss criticism. We speak about the role of the critic, James Wood, Matthew Arnold, Richard Feynman, status-seeking, thrifting, gatekeepers and wargaming. Finally, we share examples of art and media where we are undecided on whether it is good or bad.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

- Upset by Einaudi? https://interlude.hk/upset-by-einaudi/

- Twilight vampires? Bah! Fangs ain't what they used to be… https://www.theguardian.com/global/booksblog/2009/jan/08/twilight-vampire

- The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millennial https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2017/08/17/the-premium-mediocre-life-of-maya-millennial/

- Unpopular Opinions https://xkcd.com/2184/

- Geeks, MOPs, and sociopaths in subculture evolution https://meaningness.com/geeks-mops-sociopaths

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

Image by Jack Vettriano / PA Wire via Flickr

What would the world be like if we could instantly teleport to different places and parts of the world in seconds? How might it work and what impact would it have on society? What kinds of questions does it raise about the identity of the teleported entity?

In this week’s episode, we discuss teleportation. We explain how teleportation could theoretically work and discuss matter manipulation, 3D printers, Hisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Tsar Bomba, anti-matter, energy requirements, the history of transportation, Derek Parfit’s Teleportation Paradox and on-demand streaming services. Finally, we discuss our most memorably awful travelling experiences.

A few things we mentioned in this podcast:

- Collisions of Light Produce Matter/Antimatter from Pure Energy https://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=119023

- Teletransportation Paradox https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletransportation_paradox

- To infinity and beyond: Teleporting humans into space https://phys.org/news/2013-07-infinity-teleporting-humans-space.html

For more information on Aleph Insights visit our website https://alephinsights.com or to get in touch about our podcast email [email protected]

Image: Jason Jacobs via Flickr