Critical Nonsense

Why are we so obsessed with trying to live forever? 

This week, special guest Chandler Saunders joins Jess and Joey to talk about adult superlatives, aging, the soul, compounding experience, afterlife FOMO, and aging reversal. They don’t talk about Irene Cara. 

references 

• Piaget's 4 Stages of Cognitive Development Explained 
• Ray Kurzweil 
• Ship of Theseus 
• Fermi paradox 
• Spin by Robert Charles Wilson 
• Kardashev scale 
• Telomere 
• Dr. David Sinclair 

What is it about certain settings that just piss us off? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about Maggie Rogers, live concerts, the unflustered mom, road rage, cycling, and liminality. They don’t talk about mosh pits. 

references 

• Maggie Rogers 
• The Unflustered Mom: How Understanding the Five Anxiety Styles Transforms the Way We Parent, Partner, Live, and Love by Amber Trueblood 
• This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion, about Living a Compassionate Life by David Foster Wallace 
• liminality 
• Boom 

Bonus episode: A takeover! Kristy shares a recent edition from SYLVAIN’s Progress Report newsletter: The State of Youth: A New Paradigm for Growing Up, written by Chief Strategy Officer Chris Konya.

For more from SYLVAIN's Progress Report, see progressbysylvain.co.

What's the best way to unlock a sense of financial security in all of us? 

This week, Aaron, Joey, and Jess talk about voting, the economy, financial insecurity, the post-scarcity world, unequal distribution, and intergenerational trauma. They don’t talk about A$AP Rocky. 

references 

• Werewolf Bar Mitzvah 
• The Ballad of the Witches' Road (Agatha Through Time Version) 
• Pascal's wager 
• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs 
• Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE): How It Works 
• r/Fire 
• Run's House 

What happens when your mind changes? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about nuclear power, Three Mile Island, solar power, the Overton window, abortion, and tokamaks. They don’t talk about Eddie Kendricks. 

references 

• Hemingway on bankruptcy 
• The Three Mile Island accident 
• Overton window 
• Tokamaks 

What do we do about power distance? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about organizational hierarchy, Geert Hofstede, authoratative leadership, omakase, decision-making, and Mr. Oizo. They don’t talk about Flat Stanley. 

references 

• IF 
• This is 40 
• Mark Menjívar's "Refrigerators" 
• Geert Hofstede's 6-D model of national culture 
• Mr. Oizo's "Flat Beat" 
• Mr. Oizo aka Quentin Dupieux 

How many things are we surrounded by that have use cases that we're not thinking about? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about Ozempic, Cialis, blockchain, invention, solar panels, and pessimism vs. optimism. They don’t talk about chainsaws. 

references 

• Semaglutide (Ozempic) 
• Tadalafil (Cialis) 

How do you do spontaneous brilliance? 

This week, Aaron, Joey, and Jess talk about pressure, boredom and safety, theatre, peopling, jewelry making, and Quiplash. They don’t talk about combustion. 

references 

• "Orinoco Flow" by Enya 
• Quiplash 
• Athena 
• Podcast: Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum: PATTON OSWALT: Refusing to Settle, The Issue for Comedians Today & Emotions Reconciling Loss 
• "Streest of Philadelphia" by Bruce Springsteen 

Can we learn about coming up with creative ideas from bikes today? 

This week, Jess and Joey talk about bike infrastructure, dad wagons, folding bikes, stacked bikes, e-bikes, and mobility mixes. Oddly, they don’t talk about Bike Kill. 

references 

• The Science of Cycology: can you draw a bicycle? 
• Penny-farthing 
• Tall bike 
• Brompton 
• Velocipede 
• The Asahi Shimbun: High school kids build Edo Period tricycle out of home center buys 
• Rack City, bitch 
• The New York Times: The Hustlers Who Make $6,000 a Month by Gaming Citi Bikes 
• Red Panda 
• Rascal Rides: 10 Best Family Cargo Bikes For Hauling Your Kids 

How do we know if we're doing the right thing for potentially the wrong reasons? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about The Anxious Generation, social media, polio, experimentation, modes, rodents, and sesame paste. They don’t talk about Yusei Kikuchi. 

references 

• The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt 
• Hank Green on X 
• How to Bake Pi: An Edible Exploration of the Mathematics of Mathematics by Eugenia Cheng 
• The Ezra Klein Show podcast: On Children, Meaning, Media and Psychedelics 
• The New Yorker How CoComelon Captures Our Children’s Attention 
• Corrections Department: Colloid