Ryan and I talk about the best and strangest current movies and tv including Tiger King, Chris Nolan movies, JoJo Rabbit, Fargo, American Crime Story, The Boys, Watchmen and a bunch more I can't remember.

Plus we talk about staying sane and maintaining morale during quarantine using personal planning and learning time mixed with social conversation and laughter.

Spencer talks about his transformation of attitude, self-perception and identity over the 8 years since high school. Starting from a place of depression, he now has forward momentum and a sense of purpose.

We share our thoughts on why forcing yourself to fit into a mold, live a performance or walk somebody else's path will ultimately leave you hollow unless you upgrade your personal accountability.

Recorded in Alex's Healing Hemp dispensary, the conversation goes a lot deeper than societal warming toward marijuana.

Alex and I talk about the propaganda, thoughtless compliance and lack of creative fulfillment that deepen the despair, desperation and recklessness of empty consumption.

We suspect that the path forward requires a change of attitude and the productive, ethical use of our new capabilities, tools and resources.

We shuffle along, looking at our feet. But connection, collaboration and creation give us reason to find our pioneer spirit and look across new frontiers toward the future.

Gerald and I begin by talking about his early years as a lawyer. Intensive pro bono legal work for victims of Nazi medical experiments began his foray into investigative journalism and authoring. His first book, Mengele, is about the Auschwitz doctor known as the Angel of Death due to his cruel curiosity.

Gerald has since written a dozen books on topics as far-ranging as Chinese triads, the JFK and Kennedy assassinations, 9/11 and the Vatican bank.

PHARMA, which came out just this month—and with a chapter called 'The Next Pandemic', is a timely release. For the majority of this episode, Gerald and I discuss how a wild west of pharmaceutical drugs became the consolidated empire of high-priced addiction we know today.

Mark Censky returns for the second half of our conversation about the planning/improvising balance of professional life in an era defined by immense change and opportunity.

Topics include versatility in the changing market, encore careers, being an introvert, extrovert or omnivert, and honest self-assessment.

Mark recommends checking out George Kao's classes on Zoom (the video conferencing app made popular by quarantine).

Mark* and I talk about the unique opportunities for the adaptable during life under quarantine.

We share the boredom and frustrations of networking done wrong and the exciting free exchange of ideas with networking done right.

The bulk of our conversation centers around how to handle a bad boss and knowing when to go out on your own.

To be continued in Part 2: The changing job market, encore careers and the unique challenges and opportunities for introverts and extroverts.

*Mark Censky, partnered with the Staples Connect community event spaces, hosts interactive seminars for integrating technology into entrepreneurial ventures. Find him on LinkedIn and EventBrite.

Chandu and I talk about his experience with being manipulated by charm and stories at a time of vulnerability. He talks about the uncomfortable realization of having to face oneself and one's insecurities.

Chandu also talks about growing up gay while surrounded by the taboos of Indian culture. We discuss the empowerment of curating people who are supportive but not deferential as your closest friends.

Things are changing and adaptation is difficult but we have much to look forward to. Be smart. How will we let this moment define what we would like to see our society become?

And oh yeah, Jack and I talk about the cultural impact of memes.

Truth is, we're all a little bit narcissistic—vocally advocating personal preference and increasingly self-promoting. But Narcissistic Personality Disorder is where things go from arrogant to darkly manipulative, entitled while territorial and of course downright delusional.

Sarah and I talk about our personal experiences with the endlessly strange, socially isolating, and personally invalidating depths of narcissistic relations.

Why does this matter? Because you or someone you know directly has a close family member, partner or boss who sucks the joy out of their existence like a dementor. Somebody who diminishes but entraps and saps the will to leave. Someone who scapegoats and creates human punching bags to compensate for their own lack of self-worth.

This pattern of behavior is disproportionately seen in men and rewarded in positions of power and influence because it is often coupled with charismatic charm. It need not be the price we all pay for leaders if not only do we recognize and acknowledge these minds for what they are, but also refuse conceding to a world defined by their terms.

Know thyself and others cannot tell you who you are.

Disclaimer: We are not psychologists and (probably) neither are you. Diagnosing people without training, familiarity and intense study of mental disorders is irresponsible. Labels can easily be wrongly applied. Well-researched suspicion, however, can save you.

This episode is about the near future. We have something to look forward to if we share the vision and aim for it.

I explain the following:

-Our ideas, narrative and institutions are ready for renewal

-Societal crises are cyclical and are followed by creation

-The need to avoid totalitarian and authoritarian tendencies despite a large portion of the population preferring the simplest stories, ideas and labels

-Today's generation gap is larger than ever before because the young have embraced technology and access to information

-Progressives create and innovate, conservatives implement and preserve and a stable 21st century society demands both

-Narcissists, sociopaths and psychopaths use charisma to achieve a disproportionate amount of power and spread misery to others

-The economic engines of the superpower American economy, greed and consumption, are not sustainable and must be transitioned to restore economic and environmental health

-The successive collapse of shared social narratives has led us to where we are today

-The 2020 election and it's aftermath will be the greatest near-term challenge to our vision of the future

-The only political candidates with compelling stories are Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders and Andrew Yang

-Bernie Sanders will likely win the nomination but not without a contested convention and violence similar to Chicago in 1968

-2020 is going to be populist vs populist and Trump will likely defeat Bernie Sanders then preside over an economic downturn

-Ultimately we will prevail through these hardships if we resist violence and anxiety, collaborate and maintain the free flow of ideas

-We're not through the storm yet but this is the seedbed of a 21st century America and world