The Lord of the Rings has flabbergasted many generations.

Iskren and Maria met at Oxford and realized they were two kids which were overly excited about LOTR.

And they still are.

Iliya, on the other hand, is not convinced that LOTR is the best thing ever.

In this episode, Iskren and Maria will do everything to prove that LOTR is worth the hype.

Amazon Prime TV Series: 'The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power' is coming up on Sep 2.

Make sure you (re)watch LOTR before that.

Useful links:
- Best LOTR memes on Facebook
- LOTR Reddit
- Amazon Prime TV Series

Recording date: 8 Oct 2021.

In this episode we discuss a number of interesting ideas around Flow, Process, Theory of Motivation and much more.

It is a great starting point for anyone who is remotely interested in Philosophy.

Useful links that came out of the conversation:

The definitive book on flow - Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Elijah’s favorite podcast, which he referenced several times: John Vervaeke’s Awakening from the Meaning Crisis. 

Books to get started with philosophy that Elijah suggests: 

• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values by Robert M. Pirsig
• Lila: An Inquiry Into Morals by Robert M. Pirsig
• The Passion of the Western Mind: Understanding the Ideas that Have Shaped Our World View by Richard Tarnas
• The Republic by Plato

Books to get started with philosophy that Iskren suggests:

• A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
• The Problems of Philosophy by Bertrand Russell

Elijah Logozar's contacts:

• Chessable: https://www.chessable.com/author/logozar/ 
• YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ElijahLogozar?app=desktop
• Chess Lessons: https://bookme.name/chessknight 

Here's a long awaited episode - a collection of bloopers.

To give more context, while recording our other episodes, we obviously really wanted to talk about Formula 1. We came back to it a couple of times and most of them turned out to be classic bloopers.

We are considering doing a full episode on F1 and this is a teaser for it, I guess.

Sponsored: The easiest way to Gift NFTs Online

Get the Life Math Podcast Deep Dream Collection (only 2 left)

***

How much does an NFT cost?

The most expensive NFT so far has been sold for $69.3 million.

NFT... What? Why?

We researched a bit and tried to understand.

Then we minted (created) some NFTs.

Then we sold some.

In the end, we built a platform where you can gift NFTs (to yourself or to others).

This is your 20min intro to NFTs.

Iskren and Iliya are replaced by voice overs (Giulia and Masha respectively).

These are the voices in their heads that tell them what to do anyways.  

The show discusses the feedback that Life Math Podcast received in its first season and promises to address it:

• Better voices (thus the voiceover thing)
• New people (guests on the show)
• Shorter episodes

That is also what you should expect in the future!

Have fun!

[Special Episode]

More than 1 year ago we started working together on our startup project 3veta.com.

This is a status update of sorts where we look back on the good and bad decisions that we have made in this period.

05-2020: Came up with the idea for 3veta.

06-2020: Started assembling the team.

07-2020: We set up a legal entity.

09-2020: Software development began.

01-2021: MVP (minimum viable product) was out together with a closed beta.

05-2021: 3veta entered open beta.

06-2021: Officially launched on Product Hunt.

09-2021: We had a major breakthrough in terms of users.

10-2021: We recorded this episode - our first status update.

***

Get on the email list and never miss an episode. 

Discuss this episode on Reddit.

Connect with us directly on LinkedIn: Iskren Vankov and Iliya Valchanov.

***Season Finale***

Both hosts are ex-Math competitors.

In this episode, though, the numbers are the ones competing.

Each host picks several numbers and makes a case for or against them.

At the end, Iskren and Iliya democratically vote and determine the best number ever.

And you really want to hear this. 

Why?

Well, some numbers contribute more to humanity than others. You just have to know which ones and why. 

More importantly, imagine that your favorite number is an absolute buls**t of a number. You cannot let others laugh at you for not knowing this beforehand.

No matter if a numberphile or a numberphobe - get your number facts straight! 

This is the Life Math Podcast - Season 1 Finale.

Two guys who don't watch football discuss football.

They say football is the greatest game ever. So our hosts decided to investigate this claim.

Is there anything about the nature of football that makes it so popular? 

Is it about the physics of the game?  Or is it about the lack of tech? How about the economics of football? 

How do people get interested in football? Is it the nature of it or the nurture by some relative?

Or maybe there is some intrinsic structural appeal that no other sport can match.

Lots of frameworks, lots of structure, unnecessary complications. 

This is Life Math’s take on football. 

A Matryoshka, known in English as a Russian nesting doll, can only fascinate a child or a babushka.

If you haven't seen a matryoshka, it is looks like the same object, inside the same object but smaller, inside the same object and so on. Here's a link to one.

Iskren and Iliya borrow the concept and try to apply it to other fields.

As it can be foreseen, the whole conversation is in this style.

It opens like a matryoshka and closes like one.

Interestingly enough, only one of the hosts is aware of this...

From the episode:
- What is a poset?

Continuing their responsibility from last time, Iskren and Iliya complete the duology.

Here, they focus on shared responsibility.

This implies unclear group responsibilities, such as:

• families
• sports' teams
• sometimes but rarely work
• any group of people (be it the whole planet Earth)

In the spirit of 'two AIs agreeing', they do agree that shared responsibility is the death of everything nice.

But what is most interesting is what they learn on this path to agreeing.

And last but definitely not least: What is Iskren's fascination with snakes about???

***

Get on the email list and never miss an episode. 

Discuss this episode on Reddit.

Connect with us directly on LinkedIn: Iskren Vankov and Iliya Valchanov.