The Glass

We all love our pets, they're all the most fabulous, unique creatures ever to grace the planet, but what else can Jeff and Steve tease out from all that adoration? What is that special quality that exists between a pet and their owner? And what can we learn from how people treat pets, and animals in general? Especially animals they don't particularly like? Of the many mysteries of evolution, what brought wolves into the ring of human society to become the dog? Why not other animals that fill that same niche? So many questions to consider! And about the other side of that coin of human enrichment; why does it hurt so much to lose a cherished pet? Let's talk about the pure joy that is a pet.

Originally recorded 06 April 2026.

Setting the stage with some interesting linguistic definitions and quirks of the word "child" and its plural, "children," Steve and Jeff assemble to discuss the highs and lows, joys and pains, very purposes of childhood (is it just to prepare us for DEATH?)--and if childhood is so great, why do we look down our noses on adults who act with childish abandon?! Obviously two cis-queer gentlemen in their 40s are the perspectives you've been seeking! Originally recorded 22 June 2026.

We have, all of us, flown into a blind rage at least once in our lives. Some people struggle far more frequently with it. But what is rage, where does it come from, what is that propulsive energy, and why does it feel like it is becoming more and more prevalent? Steve and Jeff gathered to discuss employment, driving, and the fundamental qualities of anger and rage that make it so useful for us as a species, but less-so as a civilization as it seems to be equally useless in a society--or is it really the only real thing? Originally recorded 23 March 2026.

Stephen and Jeff assemble to discuss the primal emotion of fear. Starting with definitional principles and possible evolutionary & biological utility of fear, as it manifests among humans and, potentially, others. They meander through depression, anxiety, and the other more unpleasant reactions to fear, but also the less-paralytic aspects that fear can inspire. And, as always, just how does capitalism get in and try to make money off your fears, and how do our fears inform our political beliefs?

Originally recorded 18th May 2026.

There's a core part of our beings, as humans, that wants to do something well. Sometimes, in a capitalistic society, people are rewarded for doing something well, but what if that thing is just being known? From movie stars and influencers through some modern political leaders, just being special, being unique can be the most important thing we, as Americans, can achieve. Listen in as Jeff and Steve meander around geopolitics, psychology, history, and more.

Originally recorded 21st September 2026.

In the midst of increasing worries about "AI", Jeff and Steve sit down to ruminate on the topic, trying to wrap their layman's minds around the huge complexities related to them, from definitional questions relating to what intelligence is through to the doomsday scenarios "predicted" by hype-mongers today.

Originally recorded 14th September 2026.

Twenty-five years after, Steve and Jeff discuss their memories of the attacks on 11th September 2001. A watershed moment in American history, certainly, and an important fracturing in the mind of the 90's American mind, but also a pivotal alteration to the social contract from that moment on. What's changed, what hasn't, and how should we feel twenty-five years on. How has the job of "making safe the world for democracy" changed for America since then?

Jeff and Steve get together to stare at the world in surprise and fear: the amalgamation emotion of "awe." They meander from classical depictions of awe (the great vistas of the world and the galaxy and the gods) but also applying awe to the more everyday experiences of life. Find your own pair of awe-gasm goggles. (Originally recorded 2026-07-13.)

Dr. Gold and Steve assemble to ponder conspiracy: definitions; how media contributes to a theory's creation and popularization; the secret "They" and how they're capable of assembling so many complex systems that are controlling so much without anyone having any proof of their existence; the cognitive biases and logical fallacies that offer so much evidence for a theory's propagation; and, even, some theories that aren't theories at all. All that and more, but the real, meaning can only be understood if you figure out the secret code.

This week, Jeff & Steve go about setting boundaries around their discussion - from those mathematical boundaries we all encounter that are insurmountable and controlled by systems and cultures, to those internal boundaries we set with how we manage our worlds and interactions with others.