Inexplicable Podcast

In this episode, Danny and Stephen talk about whether lying is always wrong, starting with Danny's habit of lying to door-to-door salesmen. Along the way, they play a game of Two Truths and a Lie, work through Augustine's eight degrees of lying, and get into white lies, Santa Claus, withholding information, and whether confessing an old lie can do more harm than good.

A conversation about honesty, deception, and where we draw the line.

In this Halloween episode, Danny and Stephen talk about strange experiences they can't explain, whether aliens and other worlds might actually exist, and how much of reality we really understand. Along the way, they get into C.S. Lewis, the supernatural, materialism, consciousness, superstition, and whether believing something can actually make it real.

Plus, they share some unsettling personal stories and draft their ultimate teams of monsters for a Halloween battle royale.

A conversation about the unexplained, the limits of what we know, and why reality might be stranger than we think.

In this episode, Danny and Stephen talk about corporate greed, whether greed can ever be a good thing, and how the incentives meant to make companies successful can actually make them worse. Along the way, they get into quarterly earnings, companies rewarding the wrong things, Goodhart's Law, and why the things easiest to measure aren't always the things that matter most.

A conversation about good greed, bad incentives, and what happens when chasing success gets in the way of actually succeeding.

Next week: We're getting into the Halloween spirit with a conversation about superstition, the supernatural, and whether there's more to reality than we can explain. Are we more superstitious than we think?

In this episode, Danny and Stephen talk about boredom, why it feels harder to sit with now, and whether constant stimulation has made us worse at being interested in ordinary things. Along the way, they get into hazing, imagination, people watching, Jerry Seinfeld, boring jobs, waiting, rewatching movies, and Stephen’s ability to play Inception in his head from memory.A conversation about what boredom actually is, why we’re so quick to escape it, and whether becoming a more interesting person starts with learning how to be interested in less interesting things.

In this episode, Danny and Stephen talk about what education is actually for, whether school is the best way to get there, and why the current system can sometimes make learning harder instead of easier. Along the way, they get into homework, mandatory schooling, curiosity, teacher incentives, technology, and the difference between having information and actually understanding something.

A conversation about school, learning, and whether education has become too far removed from curiosity.

How self-aware is too self-aware?

In this episode, Danny and Stephen talk about the difference between self-awareness and self-consciousness, whether thinking about yourself actually helps you improve, and how easily reflection can turn into overthinking. Along the way, they get into external processing, silence, confidence, persuasion, and a surprisingly long debate over whether manipulation can ever be a good thing.

A conversation about knowing yourself, thinking less about yourself, and what happens when self-awareness goes too far.

Some people can hold a room, sound confident, and talk for 20 minutes without actually communicating much of anything.

Stephen and Danny talk about the difference between speaking well and communicating well, why intelligence can sometimes make teaching harder, what good listeners do differently, and whether communication is a skill almost anyone can learn.

Also: pointless meetings, golf swing revelations, fake listening, a professor with three whiteboards full of differential equations, and an unexpectedly serious investigation into whether mimes are lying to us.

How much of success is skill—and how much is just luck?

After Danny tells the story of the golf swing that ended his career before it started, we try to figure out whether you can actually create your own luck. We get into billionaires, sports, careers, marriage, beginner's luck, confidence, preparation, opportunity, and why taking more shots might actually change your odds.

Plus: why other people's preparation can look like luck, what to do when life deals people very different hands, and whether luck opens the door while skill keeps you in the room.

**We are not doctors, and this is not medial advice**

What if the world isn’t as scary as your brain says it is?

Stephen tells the story of leaving a bag—with his wallet inside—in a Chicago park for four hours and somehow finding it exactly where he left it. Danny explains why perfectly normal people voluntarily run 26.2 miles, and we talk about World Cup visitors discovering an America that didn’t quite match the caricature they expected.

Along the way: tipping culture, Dungeons & Dragons, marathon suffering, red flags vs. unfamiliarity, why some people are just hard to understand, and what it looks like to be wise without becoming suspicious.

Maybe most things look a little crazier from the outside.

What if your dream job isn’t something you find—but something you help create?

This week, Stephen and Danny ask whether loving your job is overrated, what we should actually expect work to give us, whether meaningful work is worth making less money, and how much responsibility we have for turning the job we already have into a good one.

Then we play Pick Your Pain: five years in one job, same pay, same status—and some truly terrible career options.

And on The Internet Made Me Think: the remarkable story of Market Basket employees rallying around their fired CEO, and what companies might be missing when they treat good employees as replaceable.

Would you take less money for a job you loved? Or is a job ultimately just a job?