Polymathic Being Podcast

Today's topic investigates the failure of so many proofs of concept, minimum viable products, innovation initiatives, and systems in general. The underlying reason might actually surprise you because very often the details look great, the people worked together really well, and all of the processes and artifacts were tip top. It’s only when we step back and look at the whole system that we discover that the main failure happened long beforehand, back in design, or the lack thereof.

Today's topic probes the trend of so much of our communications moving from voice to text. We’ll look at the patterns, the psychology of data ingestion, common pitfalls of text communications, and recommend some key opportunities to avoid the Con[of]text and ensure true context.

Today's topic looks at the hiring process and the tools, techniques, and tactics that are used in order to screen candidates and how these can lead to actually terrible behaviors. We’ll look at some of the current trends, how technology is being applied that drives this, and recommend a few new ways to look at hiring the right people with the right behaviors.

Today's topic shifts gears and explores the interesting sport of freediving I immersed myself in while living in Florida. Let’s plunge into the psychological and physiological challenges of the sport as well as the beauty of relaxing, being in the moment, and letting things go.

Today's topic is another collaboration, introducing co-author C.J. Unis, a Space Force systems engineer, aspiring polymath, and complexity wizard. It’s actually a double collaboration where this essay also sets a foundation for STO Realities from Progressive Plan Inc. to build on to optimize key processes in the petroleum industry. So what is this topic that has garnered so much interest and collaboration? It’s the concept we’ve been poking at in a lot of the previous essays: Systems thinking. While we think we understand systems most often analysis misses the mark in application in technical and non-technical domains. This essay aims to empower you to apply systems thinking properly to hit the mark and solve the wicked problems we face.

Today's topic straightforwardly addresses a lot of the underlying issues we’ve covered in essays thus far, specifically underlying the concept of the Successfully Unsuccessful. This essay looks to pull back the curtain of what allows the status quo to not only survive but thrive in most modern businesses. It actually has a pretty blunt name to describe the concept of this apathy? malaise? at a minimum, just a mediocre standard. It’s called Functional Stupidity and it has nothing to do with individual intelligence. Today we’ll explore what it is and how we can intentionally avoid it.

Today's topic evaluates a trite and therefore, often wrong concept known as the Wisdom of Crowds. This concept suggests that large groups of people are smarter than an elite few, no matter how brilliant, and are better at solving problems, fostering innovation, coming to wise decisions, and even predicting the future. While this appears to be very aligned with the Polymathic mindset, in application it misses the nuance of how this idea is grossly misapplied to our detriment. We’ll detail the concept, explain the limitations, and introduce other options to extract wisdom in a true Polymathic manner.

Today's topic tackles the recent discussion around whether AI can be creative when it comes to art, writing, and other content creation. We’ll dig into what being creative really means, and how creative we really are. Throughout this essay, we’ll actually have a conversation with ChatGPT to discuss and test whether it can be creative.

Today's topic is a collaboration with co-author Joshua Deiches, a fellow aspiring Polymath, and looks at our tradition of celebrating the New Year on January 1st in the Western World. What we uncover is a fantastic look at history as we chase the shifting of when the New Year actually occurred, why 11 days were removed in 1752, and the traditions that surround this holiday.

Today's topic is holiday inspired and investigates the history behind Christmas, the fusion of traditions, who Santa is, how it ties into our culture, and what it all means for us throughout the year.