Satellite Haiku

We talk about first world (tech) problems, choosing convenience over what’s right, the tragedy of the commons, the atheism debate, the purpose of religion, Hegseth’s planned/cancelled public execution, the real root of our political differences, harmful versus harmless false beliefs, FAFO, cognitive biases, what it means to live in a society, consolidates power, the midterm elections, where common ground exists (and doesn’t), the scientific method, the cycle of dark ages, just asking questions, institutions, technocracy in politics and its limits, witch trials in Scotland and elsewhere, something the founding fathers got wrong, MiLo’s new songs.

We talk about working in large organizations, meeting to agree to decide, Zeno’s paradox, internal thoughts, the experience of listening to podcasts these days, f*cking with the algorithm, the Jean Claude Vandamme Volvo commercial, humans vs AI, Soylent, infinite personalized music, Elon Musk’s Grokipedia, Time Magazine’s Trump interview, cults, and the death of Liquid Death.

Mentioned in this episode

Guy Ritchie’s “The Gentlemen” (film and Netflix series)

B******t Jobs (book) by David Graeber

The Volvo ad from “Crazy People” (1990 Dudley Moore film)

The Jean Claude Van Damme Volvo commercial:

Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself”

Do money and power corrupt, or are corrupt people drawn to chase money and power? Both surely. We start with this question and return to it at various points. In-between we talk about the human propensity to latch onto gurus and saviors, the power of rizz, Elon Musk, Elizabeth Holmes, Tony Robbins, Tim Tebow / Life Surge, two questions to always ask a self-proclaimed guru or spiritual leader, scammers and their victims, FOMO and greater-fool theory, the “please run for president” reflex, the pain of uncertainty, rejecting false binaries, false equivalences, double-standard traps, the God of the Old Testament, a theory of wealth corruption, chasing the next billion, CEOs and psychopathy, Paul Piff’s money+corruption experiments, NYC mayors’ approaches to panhandling and poverty.

We talk about how an AI might “evolve,” Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, recursive self-improvement, scaling up to super-intelligence from LLMs, the nuclear disarmament analogy, lifespan disparities, Waymo rollouts, anthropomorphizing chatbots, chatbots emulating human niceties, Siri getting spicy in Spanish, Google Maps of late, AI in Gmail, the new COVID strain (“cicada”), evolution of the human immune system, the leap past neanderthals, the Hugging Face hack, AI regulation schemes, the AI financial bubble, AI as a useful technology (today) vs magical super-intelligence (future), nationalizing AGI, neurosymbolic AI vs deep learning, what happened to IBM Watson, Uber, enshitification and willingness to buy, jobs that are/aren’t vulnerable to AI, unit economics, when bubbles collapse, the fall of Borders books and the rise of Amazon, our personal places on the anxiety vs hope scale, what human “extinction” means.

We talk about the 6-7 meme, generational divides, our old friend Peter, prank comedy, entrapment as a law enforcement tactic, the Lake Ontario name change and CEO boot-lickers, late-stage Trumpism, dishonest discourse (about Hasan Piker, zionism/antisemitism, socialism, etc), John Ratcliffe’s Trip to Moscow, the human costs of Russia’s war in Ukraine, and pet peeves.

Mentioned in this episode

Sacha Baron Cohen as “Erran Morad” and the “Kinder Guardians” program

Mentalist Derren Brown’s special,“The Push”

We remember where we were on 9/11, and MiLo shares a song he wrote in the immediate aftermath, an anthem for hope and lasting peace. Then we talk about how our individual political views have changed (or not over the years).

We talk about the paradox of ‘brown MAGA,’ the Natalie Harp saga, quitting Bill Maher and Sam Harris, the ‘socialism’ debate, correcting the online discourse, straw men and slippery slope arguments, marriage vs domestic partnership, Trump vs reality, concentration camps in America, rationalizing Trump, revisiting Kamala, and the meaningless courage of outsider candidates.

Mentioned in this episode

Nick Hanaur on Diary of a CEO and The.Ink

Neil DeGrasse Tyson on the trans athlete issue

Mark Kelly vs Tommy Tuberville

We talk about the urge to create art and confronting the voice that asks, “what’s the point?” Before and after that, we riff on mental health, therapy, trauma, male vs female friendships, the manosphere, Sean Ryan, peer groups and mental health, solitude, calibrating your inside voice, gratitude vs avoidance, quitting Sam Harris and Bill Maher, church camp, feeling called to the priesthood, quitting religion, priests who are secret atheists, people leaving MAGA, and ideological blind spots. Finally, we share some harmless pet peeves.

We talk about penalty kicks and tiebreakers, the offsides rule, high-tech swimsuits, augmented sports, ABS, swim race time precision, Jude Bellingham vs Harry Kane, England vs Norway, biohacking, body optimization, fitness trackers, the stigmatization of pleasure, Tim Ferris, the five-minute mile, the purpose of meditation, Iron Man competitions, Dean Karnazes, ad hoc competitions with strangers, skiing until the mountain closes, the Orwell future vs the Huxley future, and a movie trope that needs to die.

We talk about forgetfulness, routine, middle age as a metaphor for Europe, San Francisco weather vs east coast weather, security vs convenience, the Jefferson-Adams death coincidence, birth/death synchronicities in general, Max Muncy x2 as proof of the simulation, dystopias, caterpillar epigenetics, past lives, the difference between personality and self, summer tomatoes, CA’s top predator, jet lag

Mentioned in this episode

Rutger Bregman / Reith lectures

The Truman Show (1998 film)

My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor

This American Life: “Testosterone”

Bob Odenkirk answers “who are you jealous of?”