Unlatched Mind

Steven Kotler is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist, and the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective. He is one of the world's leading experts on human performance. Steven is the author of eleven bestsellers (out of fourteen books), including The Art of Impossible, The Future is Faster Than You Think, Stealing Fire, The Rise of Superman, Bold and Abundance. His work has been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes, translated into over 50 languages, and has appeared in over 100 publications, including the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Atlantic Monthly, Wall Street Journal, TIME, and the Harvard Business Review. Alongside his wife, author Joy Nicholson, he is also the co-founder of The Buddy Sue Hospice Home for Old Dogs, a canine elder care facility, and Rancho de Chihuahua, a dog rescue and sanctuary.

Steven joins Unlatched Mind to discuss his newest book, Gnar Country. In Gnar Country, Steven shows there is no age limit for peak performance and our best years are still to come!

Checkout Gnar Country at https://www.gnarcountry.com and connect with Steven's work at https://www.flowresearchcollective.com or https://www.stevenkotler.com.

Peg O'Connor, Ph.D., is a Professor of Philosophy at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. Her training is in moral philosophy, feminist philosophy, addiction studies, and the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein. She believes that philosophy helped her to get and remain sober. Avoiding Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) for the first 20 years of her sobriety because of the concept of a "higher power," she is focused on using some of the great canonical thinkers in western philosophy to illuminate dimensions of addiction. She further shares this in her new book, Higher and Friendly Powers: Transforming Addiction and Suffering.

Dr. Peg O'Connor is a recovering alcoholic who maintains that Philosophy got and helped her to stay sober. For the last twelve years, she has shifted the focus of her work to using some of the great canonical thinkers in western Philosophy to illuminate dimensions of addiction. She understands addiction as a meaning of life problem and no discipline is as well suited as Philosophy to address meaning of life questions.

In Higher and Friendly Powers, Dr. O'Connor addresses an audience much like herself: those in recovery who have struggled with the Christian-centric God at the heart of AA. She brings our attention to a little-known fact: the term "higher power," a touchstone in the twelve steps of AA, was coined by William James, philosopher, psychologist, and intellectual giant of the early 20th century.

Find Dr. O'Conner at http://pegoconnorauthor.com

Video Clips of this episode: https://www.youtube.com/c/unlatchedmind

Philosopher, emerging public intellectual, and the Director of Great Philosophical Problems, Dr. Timothy Shaw joins the show. Dr. Shaw has undertaken original research into how existential concepts impact and are reflected in the psychological distress models of the "Signature Wound" of contemporary war, Moral Injury.

Moral Injury is the damage done to one's conscience or moral compass when that person perpetrates, witnesses, or fails to prevent acts that transgress one's own moral beliefs, values, or ethical codes of conduct. Moral injury can occur in reaction to a traumatic event in which deeply held morals or values are violated. The resulting distress may lead to PTSD, depression, and other disorders in which feelings such as guilt, shame, betrayal and anger are predominant, although these feelings may occur in the absence of a formal disorder. Although most research that has been conducted has focused on military Veterans, moral injury can occur outside of the military context.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The definitive meaning and utility of Frederik Nietzche's masterwork, Thus Spake Zarathustra: A Book for All and None, being used as the framework to define Moral Injury and provide commentary on the current Western psyche.
• The alignment of war and recourse to the Kosovo experience as expressed by Chomsky
• Understanding the origin and use of nuclear weapons and how they can be understood as bones to philosophy, but milk to faith
• The historical development and understandings of the terms of genocide and crimes against humanity, and how these have disseminated throughout our culture and societies since the Nuremberg trials

Joel Green is CEO of Pro Level Training, the National Director of Nike Sports Camps, a former professional basketball player, and a renowned motivational speaker. After retiring from his career in professional basketball, Joel Green founded Pro Level Training (PLT), which has become a 7-figure company. In addition to running PLT, Green is also the National Director for Nike Sports Camps as well as an accomplished speaker. He was honored to speak to thousands and deliver his own TED Talk.

Joel Green's unique differentiator in business and as an individual, is his ability to see life objectively from multiple vantage points. Unfortunate circumstances as a youth helped to groom and refine Joel into adulthood. Growing up in an abandoned home and seeing both sides of life has really helped him to connect with people over time.

A thought leader in the motivational category, Joel Green has a B.A. in Psychology from Rider University, which has helped to fuel his ambition to inspire others. He has developed a reputation for personal excellence and motivational talks that contribute tangible advice for attaining desired goals. Many of the messages he has delivered on are conveyed in his first book, Filtering: The Way to Extract Strength from the Struggle, is available now.

In addition, Green is a professional sports and fitness model and actor, and he has been featured in commercials, ads and on television. Most recently he was the face of Cheez-It crackers Celebrity Crunch Classic campaign, in which he was solely featured on millions of snack boxes.

Green is known for setting very ambitious goals for himself, most recently his own challenge of reading 30 books in 30 weeks. He has unflinchingly put in 18-20-hour workdays with great joy to make his dreams a physical manifestation. He attributes his work ethic to his unwavering faith and his passionate desire for excellence – both of which have allowed him to overcome many difficulties and life challenges.

Learn more about Joel Green at http://www.joelbgreen.com

Video clips of the Unlatched Mind Podcast can be found at https://youtube.com/c/unlatchedmind

Former Air Force Chief Software Officer, Nicolas Chaillan was the Special Advisor for Cloud Security and DevSecOps for the U.S. Department of Defense. Mr. Chaillan is recognized as one of France's youngest entrepreneurs, has founded 12 companies and has created and sold over 180 innovative software products to 45 Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Chaillan is also recognized as a pioneer of the computer language PHP. Nicolas joins us to discuss the state of the U.S. Defense Department and the threat of the Chinese Communist Party.

Check out https://www.learnwithnic.com to learn about the massively informative and tactically relevant "Learn with Nic" technical learning platform, just recently launched!

Video clips of the Unlatched Mind Podcast can be found at https://youtube.com/c/unlatchedmind

Po Chi Wu, Ph.D., is an active advisor/investor supporting startups at SkyDeck, the accelerator/incubator program at the University of California at Berkeley. He has taught entrepreneurship at several universities in China and Hong Kong. Po Chi joins Unlatched Mind to discuss entrepreneurship, philosophy, blockchain, NFTs, the Metaverse, and how the next generation and technology will impact each other.

When prominent psychologist Dr. Howard J. Rankin, Ph.D., has his license permanently revoked for a brief consensual encounter with a former client, he has to learn to deal with the fallout including, shame, humiliation and disgrace as well as fake news and haters. Howard J. Rankin, Ph.D., joins Unlatched Mind to discuss his redemption after making the single biggest mistake of his life.

https://www.drhowardjrankin.com

Jeremy Sherman, Ph.D., MPP, is a social science writer/researcher with a Masters in Public Policy and a Ph.D. in evolutionary epistemology, which simply means a focus on how different kinds of organisms make an interpretive effort. Dr Sherman joins us to discuss the real reasons why we struggle to get along with one another.

You can find Jeremy at https://jeremysherman.com

Amy Sandler is the chief content officer at Radical Candor, where she also serves as a Candor Coach and is the host of the Radical Candor podcast. She has shared Radical Candor around the world, from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies, in industries ranging from aerospace to technology, financial services to franchising, and education to healthcare. Amy has trained tens of thousands across a spectrum of roles, from seasoned CEOs to individual contributors just starting on their career path.

Check out some of Jett's content at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/contributors/jett-stone-phd