We share some nuggets of wisdom we have gathered during our fiftysomething years on this bluegreen rock, and we try to fashion it into advice….

* Use “I” statements

* Don’t take things personally; own your own experience

* “Expand your threshold before your recoil” (respond instead of reacting, and be aware of the “unseen possibility”)

* Don’t shun the shadow side of yourself; integrate it

* Recognize emotions as a somatic experience, versus stories we attach to them

* Be here now; fully see and accept the present moment

Then we talk for a while about how some of this wisdom has helped us navigate parenting, marriage, and divorce.

We talk about last week’s election results (mini blue wave), what natural political talent looks like (Mamdani, AOC), factions in the Democratic party, theories about what voters actually want, what MTG is doing, MiLo’s “high dopamine dynamic range,” Shawn’s opinion on term limits, gerrymandering, our top potential election reforms, people’s reasons for not voting, Trump’s unlikely coalition, the Puerto Rico statehood debate, expanding SCOTUS, the mid-decade redistricting gambit, how everything is now seen through a partisan lens, how Putin punches above his weight, the universal healthcare debate, and snappy comebacks (including Churchill to Nancy Astor).

Mentioned in this episode

Gerrymandering explainer from the Washington Post

“The Lowest Bar” - Shawn’s quick take on last week’s election

Shawn has more to say about social sharing on the internet. Then we talk about therapy, the paradox of wisdom, the creative process, qualifications for becoming POTUS, codes of ethics, the complete capitulation of SCOTUS and the GOP Congress, the two-party system, the optics of action, ignoring the fine print, MFAs, MBAs, choosing a college major, Bisbee Arizona, the rightward shift of Silicon Valley, AI versus the demand for authenticity and sincerity, UBI, Andrew Yang, what Marx might think about A.I., the oil industry as a way to think about A.I., the success of Mamdani, the deep unpopularity of the Trump Admin and why that’s not actually comforting.

Mentioned in this episode

Utne Reader

Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Art - Sci Fi author Ted Chiang in The New Yorker

We talk about the term “Gerry-rigged,” something called semantic bleaching, the “6-7” meme and other Gen Z slang, the f-word, hot sauce as a metaphor for cussing, Eddie Murphy, South Park, the court jester, dominatrixes, “John Barron,” immunity to shame as a superpower, Maoist China, Peter Thiel, psychopaths, the devolution of language in Mike Judge’s film “Idiocracy,” Trump’s limited vocabulary, measuring language, Isak Dinesen, learning versus mastering English, translation as an art, Robert Bly, Yoko Tawada, screen adaptations that are better than the books (John Irving, Stephen King, Station Eleven), Game of Thrones, Black Rabbit (Netflix).

Mentioned in this episode:

The World According to Garp (1982 Robin Williams film, adapted from the novel by John Irving, directed by George Roy Hill)

The Number 23 (2007 Jim Carrey film, directed by Joel Schumacher)

South Park s09e09 “Marjorine” where Butters fakes his own death to infiltrate the girls and steal their fortune-telling device.

Foxcatcher (2014 film starring Steve Carrell as John DuPont and Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffalo as the champion wrestler Schultz brothers)

Black Rabbit (Netflix)

Dr. Taylor Jones (PhD in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania) analyzes the 6-7 meme: https://youtu.be/laZpTO7IFtA

We talk about life with extended family, vacation homes, generational entropy, the evolution of sunscreen, Bob Marley, “Modern Jackass” magazine, pancakes, Maui, long swims, calf cramps, the Toyota ‘stuck accelerator’ incidents, memories that still make you cringe, G.I. Joe grip, catching arrows, skateboarding, ‘No Kings’ protests, scaling up ICE operations in SF, Mayor Lurie, USB cables, getting scammed.

Mentioned in this Episode

Malcom Gladwell’s “Revisionist History” episode about the famous Toyota crash supposedly involving a stuck accelerator, one of many such stories that prompted a massive recall of vehicles between 2009-2011.

Please pardon some audio issues with this episode

We talk about sourdough bread-making techniques, types of knowledge, short order cooks, adopting and abandoning hobbies, revenge of the incels, audience capture, sensemaking, the COVID lab leak theory, participating in online discourse, Angry Birds, self-promotion & attention seeking, Tony Gilroy, empathy as an artist’s currency, the original Apple logo:

Mentioned in this episode

Carl Sandberg - Lincoln biographer who talked about his experience as a restaurant cook

A Complete Unknown (Bob Dylan biopic)

Intelligence Without Wisdom - recent essay by Shawn on AGI

Tony Gilroy, writer and director (Michael Clayton, Andor) guest appearance on Ross Douthat, on Marc Maron

How to Save the American Experiment by John Fabian Witt (NY Times article, gift link)

We talk about MacOS names, the right preposition to use for islands, expired cream, mold species, rebooting leftovers, rotisserie chickens, food safety, diabetes, fiber supplements, poop, engaging with the world vs escaping, the Hegseth-Trump meeting with the generals in Quantico, loyalty tests, what MAGA see when they look at Trump, regretting one’s vote, psychological defenses against truth, Moral Foundations Theory, immunity to shame, another mindset shifting trick, becoming awake, Jung and the “dark night of the soul,” walking away from the climate crisis.

Mentioned in this episode

Apparently it’s possible to lower the glucose level of rice by cooking it with a little fat and then refrigerating it for at least 12 hours (source).

Moral Foundations Theory (Shawn mistakenly referred to it as Moral Framework Theory)

Play of Consciousness book by Muktananda

Milo talks about meeting his dad’s long-secret half-sister, which leads into the topic of nature and nurture and also Canadian parking ticket bureaucracy. Shawn reveals his weird superpower. We talk about how approaches to public works and urban planning differ in California versus New York and other places. We return to the question of how to unstick your life and spend quite a bit of time on that.

Mentioned in this episode

Touching the void (2003) film about a pair of climbers, a fateful decision, and the aftermath

Into Thin Air book by Jon Krakauer about an ill-fated expedition to climb Everest

The Only Constant is Change (text animation by MiLo)

We’re back after a couple weeks of travel, work, and schedule challenges. Shawn reports that he’s feeling a bit stuck and lost in his life at the moment. Milo pitches “Designing Your Life.” We talk about job hunting—networking, soul-killing jobs, being like a shark. We question the saying, “an unexamined life is not worth living,” because the flip side, examining your life all the time, makes you miserable. Then we talk about cringey comedy and empathy, a hack for posting questions on forums, “films” versus “movies,” the internet as “Gutenberg on steroids,” robot plumbers, harbor pilots, and tech bros inventing things that already exist.

Also, f**k ICE

Mentioned in this episode

Designing Your Life (book by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans)

Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High

Penny for your Thoughts (episode of This American Life that touches on the inner monologue we all hear, except people who don’t!), as well as other studies of the “inner voice” as a phenomenon, mentioned here and here for example.

The origin of the Odon Device, which is used during difficult births to pull the baby through the birth canal.

The “Up” film series

Robot Plumbers and the Limits of Extrapolation (Shawn’s recent piece about the future of AI)

We talk about being late, airports, slow walkers, networking in Latin American lobbies, trains, standardized time, life and death by bureaucracy, Chiune Sugihara (Japan’s Oscar Schindler), the Japan-Germany alliance during WWII, frenemies, a story of escape, the fall of the USSR, motifs and gimmicks in art and literature (Haruki Murakami, Ridley Scott, Wong Kar Wai, Peter Greenaway, Wes Anderson), BTS, evading the algorithms, Phoenix vs Tucson philosophies of lawns, and Asimov’s rules of robotics.

Mentioned in this episode

Jenny Odell's books How to Do Nothing and Saving Time

The Man in the High Castle television series

Kleo television series

The Windup Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover (Peter Greenaway film)

Stinkweeds Record Store

Foundation television series adapted from Asimov

The Bear television series