Positive Feedback Loop

In this episode, you’ll learn what midwifery is all about from a professional midwife who runs a birth center in Northern California. Our special guest Allison Blackham talks about the relationship midwifery has with the healthcare industry, the history of midwifery, the risks and rewards of childbirth, and even the odd requests she has gotten from expecting families. Learn about how COVID-19 has impacted her practice and what childbirth might look like in the future.

When you think of authority, what is the first color that you think of? What is authority? What are social contracts? Where does authority come from? What is the difference between power and authority? Commercial: Listen to more episodes! Looking through The Power of Political Authority, a book by Michael Huemer. Implicit and explicit consent. What if you started as a non-citizen? What is the role of religion in political authority? What is a nation state? Is the United States a nation state? We discuss a little about diversity and geography and how that affects power dynamics globally. Does power belong with the strongest person? How has warfare changed? If the president is removed from office and loses authority, will he lose power and influence?

Why do we have leap day and when does the world actually skip leap day? What is your preferred calendar? Let’s ponder how and why we measure time in this episode all about everything you might not know about calendar systems.

In this episode, we begin by pondering past moments of jealousy and defining what jealousy really is. Then we dig into: jealousy vs. envy, comparing ourselves to others, and resources as limited vs. abundant. We also talk about how to deal with jealousy, including giving a word to the opposite of jealousy (inspired by Stella the dog!) and how we feel empathy. Commercial brought to you by Thieves. Bonus material: we try to invent a musical version of “Stay Crazy”.

In this episode, we talk about what quantum internet is and how it differs from the internet as we know it today. Photons, hacking, teleporting, qubits, quantum state, entanglement, and more. If you want to understand more about quantum internet, listen to this episode! Brought to you by Positive Feedback Loop. Commercial: Deep Space Realtors.

What is a consumer?

Producers vs. consumers in the ecological world

What is the difference between consumerism and materialism?

Are consumers more empowered than before?

Protecting consumers

Marketing and consumer behavior

The obsession with acquisition

Black Friday

Morality and Spending (e.g., “Fair Trade”)

Customizing consumerism

Clothing subscription services

Waste vs. Giving to the Needy

Minimalism

With guest Pascal Guyon! Pascal is a musician, an investor, and more. In this episode, he shares his insights about the music industry and where it’s headed.

Our guest was Lyn Ulbricht of the Free Ross movement. Ross Ulbricht was convicted of crimes associated with the Silk Road. Topics discussed in this episode: Ross’s experience in federal prison. Libertarian philosophy. Becoming a public figure; opportunities for public speaking. Learning about law, government, and rights. Seeking clemency. Experiences with the media. Having a family member in prison. The courtroom experience. Internet privacy. Is the law keeping up with technology? The War on Drugs. Is understanding of new technologies a generational capability—can someone of another generation fairly judge a crime done with a technology he/she doesn’t understand? Is Ross’s sentence fair, and what was the purpose of his sentence? Will other marketplaces like Silk Road exist after this? Is this a tipping point in history? The petition (started July 2018); 60k signatures in the first month, now nearing 141k. What should a nonviolent charge look like? The damage of nonviolent crimes. Vicarious liability. What is life like in federal prison? What does this mean for the future of nonviolent crimes, especially those that use new technologies like bitcoin and the dark web?

Is memory reliable? Has technology changed how we remember? What is the purpose of memory? How do you want to be remembered? All this and more in this episode about memory.

Ray and Steph recorded this week without Luis, but he’ll be back next week! In this episode about events, Ray and Steph discuss some memorable events and try to determine what defines an event. Does an event have to have a purpose, a focus? Hackathons, VR, Facebook Live. Event logs in computing. Event as initiation. Burning man. An unplanned event. In this episode, we wax philosophical to analyze how culture has shaped events (and how events have shaped culture). Commercial: Escape the Event.