When any idea or act is normalized within a group of people, it's easy and safe to criticize anything outside of that group that contradicts it. Normalization works so hypnotically that those under the influence begin to assume these ideas and actions to be universal. This makes people arrogant and even fascistic. What is more important than criticizing others who contradict your normalized values is to ask yourself what sort of hypnosis you yourself are under.

Although every school teacher and parent touts the value of "critical thinking," there is no critical thinking about critical thinking. Everyone seems to accept it as a virtue but when their own fundamental assumptions are questioned by critical thinking, they are appalled by that act of critical thinking.

We have our own narratives to explain why we did what we did. Not having any narratives makes us uncomfortable. Ultimately we have our narratives for why we exist and who we are.

What does authenticity mean today? Everyone from artists, musicians to marketers talk about "authenticity" but what exactly are we looking for? How do we define it?

We talk about the ethnic food in the US, particularly in New York City, and the cross-cultural functions food plays.

Being rich or poor is a state of mind. Some people feel poor even if they have money, and others feel rich even if they don't have money. Likewise, some people are time-poor even if they have time, while others are time-rich even if they don't have time.

On racial segregation and integration. We talked about Anthony Bourdain’s criticism of “Northeastern Liberals,” exploitation of immigrants, slavery, Hasidic Jewish community, public vs. private schools.

In the West, we tend to assume that who we are is an unchanging essence of ourselves but when our lives change dramatically, we realize that it's impossible to define our identity without the context in which we live.

We tend to use the words "wise" and "smart" in different ways. We postulate that smartness can be taught, shared, and passed on, but wisdom cannot be. We all have to become wiser on our own from scratch.

We discuss how the perception of being street smart and book smart impact politicians' careers.