WDYT?

In this episode Bram & Smitty discuss… the possibility that we all carry the potential for good and evil, and whether recognizing that could fundamentally change how we see ourselves and others.

Starting with Joaquin Phoenix's portrayal of the Joker, we explore why understanding someone's circumstances doesn't necessarily excuse their actions, but might help us respond with more compassion and less judgment. The conversation takes us into Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov, the nature of consciousness, and the difficult question of why suffering exists.

We also explore whether the Catholic Church could regain cultural influence by positioning itself as a defender of humanity in the age of artificial intelligence. Is the Pope's concern about AI-generated art an attempt to protect something fundamentally human, a question of authority, or both?

And what would Jesus do if he had your day job? From the ordinary frustrations of work to Alan Watts' backwards law, we explore how chasing happiness, freedom, and control might be the very thing keeping us from experiencing them.

What do you think?

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🕑 TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - What Would Jesus Do at Work?

03:58 - Can You Find Peace Anywhere?

09:03 - Your Problems Follow You

14:27 - Dostoevsky on Freedom and Desire

20:10 - The Pope Against AI Art

24:37 - Can AI Restore Church Authority?

31:42 - The Market for Human Creativity

41:21 - The Joker and Human Evil

46:29 - Could You Also Become Evil?

53:25 - Dostoevsky and Compassion

56:30 - Can God Contain Evil?

01:01:47 - The Problem of Suffering

01:07:14 - Alan Watts' Backwards Law

01:10:00 - Stop Fighting the Water

01:12:46 - Acceptance in the Ambulance

01:17:18 - Learning to Meet Reality

ℹ️ ABOUT WDYT PODCAST

WDYT? (What Do You Think?) is a podcast where Bram and Smitty bring ideas, observations, theories and unfinished thoughts to each other, guests and interesting people from the internet, and ask one simple question: What do you think?

There’s no fixed category. One thought might take us into money, technology, culture, consciousness, science, philosophy, human behavior or somewhere completely unexpected.

We’re not here to debate, convince each other or pretend we have the answers. We explore the idea, question our assumptions, follow the rabbit holes and see what we discover.

Come with a thought. Leave more curious.

In this episode Bram & Smitty discuss… why making decisions can feel so difficult when we'll never know what would have happened if we'd chosen differently. Is regret just comparing our actual lives to imaginary alternatives? And what changes when we stop trying to control every possible outcome?

Smitty shares a strange experience involving a dream about a lion-like creature and a golden retriever, followed by two remarkable encounters in waking life. This leads to a conversation about dreams, synchronicity, Carl Jung, the unconscious, and whether there's more to dreaming than we understand.

Then Bram introduces Stuart Russell's gorilla problem: humans became Earth's dominant species largely through intelligence, so what happens when we create something smarter than ourselves? They explore AI safety, consciousness, the paperclip maximizer, and whether artificial intelligence might eventually see humanity very differently than we expect.

Finally, they explore the hero's journey through stories like The Matrix, Star Wars, and The Lord of the Rings. What if your call to adventure isn't something you need to search for? What if life keeps presenting it to you, and your only decision is whether to answer?

What do you think?

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🕑 TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - The lives we never choose

04:49 - Stop waiting for perfect decisions

07:26 - Regret and attachment to outcomes

09:40 - The illusion of control

14:03 - Why the ego resists flow

18:09 - Choosing with intuition

22:11 - Can dreams predict reality?

25:44 - The lion and orange cat

27:24 - The golden retriever coincidence

32:00 - Lucid dreaming and other realities

37:53 - AI and the gorilla problem

43:38 - Intelligence versus consciousness

47:34 - The paperclip maximizer

52:38 - Why AI changes everything

58:20 - Different approaches to building AI

01:02:05 - Why humans love hero stories

01:04:46 - The hero's journey explained

01:09:29 - The adventure finds you

01:17:50 - Jung, fate and the unconscious

ℹ️ ABOUT WDYT PODCAST

WDYT? (What Do You Think?) is a podcast where Bram and Smitty bring ideas, observations, theories and unfinished thoughts to each other, guests and interesting people from the internet, and ask one simple question: What do you think?

There’s no fixed category. One thought might take us into money, technology, culture, consciousness, science, philosophy, human behavior or somewhere completely unexpected.

We’re not here to debate, convince each other or pretend we have the answers. We explore the idea, question our assumptions, follow the rabbit holes and see what we discover.

Come with a thought. Leave more curious.

In this episode Bram & Smitty discusss UFOs showing up around humanity’s most dangerous technologies, whether AI could trigger something similar, synchronicities, collective attention, and the strange possibility that eight billion people are experiencing eight billion different versions of reality.

They explore why it can be so difficult to hold two contradictory truths at once, whether ideas are created or received, and what happens when you “wake up” to the game but still need money, work and ordinary life to function.

The conversation eventually turns to Rick Rubin, creativity as an offering rather than an outcome, AI as another creative tool, and what Van Gogh and the Trevi Fountain might teach us about how ideas, art and places become culturally important in the first place.

What do you think?

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🕑 TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - UFOs, intergalactic intervention, and nuclear technology

04:17 - Cyclic interest in UFOs and the connection to AI threats

08:40 - The multiverse and collective belief manifestation

16:18 - Synchronicities and meaningful coincidences

24:44 - Ideas as external phenomena, not internal possessions

36:45 - Reality as a shared, collective creation

55:04 - The act of creation as a spiritual offering

ℹ️ ABOUT WDYT PODCAST

WDYT? (What Do You Think?) is a podcast where Bram and Smitty bring ideas, observations, theories and unfinished thoughts to each other, guests and interesting people from the internet, and ask one simple question: What do you think?

There’s no fixed category. One thought might take us into money, technology, culture, consciousness, science, philosophy, human behavior or somewhere completely unexpected.

We’re not here to debate, convince each other or pretend we have the answers. We explore the idea, question our assumptions, follow the rabbit holes and see what we discover.

Come with a thought. Leave more curious.

In this episode Bram & Smitty discuss… what happens when reality doesn't match the version of it we have in our heads.

Starting with a Ram Dass teaching about preferences, they explore whether suffering comes from arguing with reality, why rage bait can expose hidden expectations, why real conviction may reduce the need to convince other people, and whether children are naturally better philosophers before social judgment and identity narrow the questions they're willing to ask.

The conversation eventually moves into meditation, mystical experiences, spiritual awakening and radical shifts in worldview — including whether some realizations can arrive faster than we're capable of integrating them. Is surrender the opposite of giving up? Can too much certainty close your mind? And is the goal somehow learning to stay in the middle while reality keeps pulling you toward either extreme?

What do you think?

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🕑 TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Stop arguing with reality

18:31 - Rage bait reveals your triggers

29:16 - The limits of control

37:17 - Faith, certainty and letting go

44:27 - Bitcoin and real conviction

52:36 - Children might be better philosophers

01:05:42 - Why social judgment changes us

01:17:46 - Can awakening happen too fast?

01:26:09 - Finding the golden middle

ℹ️ ABOUT WDYT PODCAST

WDYT? (What Do You Think?) is a podcast where Bram and Smitty bring ideas, observations, theories and unfinished thoughts to each other, guests and interesting people from the internet, and ask one simple question: What do you think?

There’s no fixed category. One thought might take us into money, technology, culture, consciousness, science, philosophy, human behavior or somewhere completely unexpected.

We’re not here to debate, convince each other or pretend we have the answers. We explore the idea, question our assumptions, follow the rabbit holes and see what we discover.

Come with a thought. Leave more curious.

In this episode Bram & Smitty discuss… whether trying to escape death might actually make us worse at living.

Starting with Bryan Johnson and the longevity movement, they explore whether mortality, scarcity and surrender are essential parts of a meaningful life—and whether our obsession with extending the physical experience can pull us away from its spiritual dimension.

They also explore whether believing you're lucky changes what you notice, Neville Goddard and manifestation, the ego as survival software, Rudolf Steiner's strange predictions about technology and machines, and whether freedom and equality inevitably pull in opposite directions.

Across all of it sits one recurring question: how much of our experience comes from trying to control the world, and how much changes when we change the way we see it?

What do you think?

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🕑 TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Does belief create luck?

07:37 - Neville Goddard and manifestation

15:34 - Is the ego even real?

21:52 - Bryan Johnson and defeating death

27:34 - Surrendering control of death

31:15 - Does scarcity make life meaningful?

36:28 - When life forces you awake

40:45 - Rudolf Steiner's strange predictions

48:55 - Technology versus spirituality

50:44 - Doomerism shapes your reality

56:15 - Can we trust strange ideas?

01:01:26 - Freedom versus equality

01:09:34 - Control versus acceptance

01:14:06 - Does everyone awaken?

ℹ️ ABOUT WDYT PODCAST

WDYT? (What Do You Think?) is a podcast where Bram and Smitty bring ideas, observations, theories and unfinished thoughts to each other, guests and interesting people from the internet—and ask one simple question: What do you think?

There’s no fixed category. One thought might take us into money, technology, culture, consciousness, science, philosophy, human behavior or somewhere completely unexpected.

We’re not here to debate, convince each other or pretend we have the answers. We explore the idea, question our assumptions, follow the rabbit holes and see what we discover.

Come with a thought. Leave more curious.

In this episode Bram & Smitty discuss… simulation theory, nested realities, fractals, “as above, so below,” and whether humans creating artificial worlds might tell us something about the reality we live inside.

From there they explore whether experience matters without memory, biological intelligence, Michael Levin, DNA, the complexity of the brain, and the strange human drive to keep building technology in search of deeper intelligence.

The conversation then turns to doomerism, Carl Jung, the Age of Pisces and Aquarius, Hermetic rhythm, civilizational cycles, and a strange possibility: what if the apocalypse and the awakening are actually the same transition viewed from opposite sides?

Finally, they question whether ideas like oneness and unconditional love help us understand reality—or sometimes give us a reason to stop looking deeper—and somehow end up asking where UFOs fit into all of it.

What do you think?

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🕑 TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Introduction and episode overview

01:38 - The universe as a fractal and simulation

04:10 - The emergence of God and patterns in history

07:24 - The search for truth and the limits of explanation

12:14 - The cycle of chaos and renewal in history

15:42 - The purpose of humanity and technological evolution

20:37 - Living in the now and the nature of memory

25:26 - Memory in biological systems and AI

30:00 - Complexity of the brain and the universe

35:44 - The end of cycles and the concept of unconditional love

41:29 - The idea of apocalypse and awakening

46:27 - Living with faith and acceptance

54:26 - The pursuit of knowledge and the infinite

01:00:10 - Love as the fundamental essence of existence

01:02:12 - The nature of reality and collective consciousness

01:04:42 - UFOs, consciousness, and the universe

01:05:09 - Closing thoughts and future directions

ℹ️ ABOUT WDYT PODCAST

WDYT? (What Do You Think?) is a podcast where Bram and Smitty bring ideas, observations, theories and unfinished thoughts to each other, guests and interesting people from the internet—and ask one simple question: What do you think?

There’s no fixed category. One thought might take us into money, technology, culture, consciousness, science, philosophy, human behavior or somewhere completely unexpected.

We’re not here to debate, convince each other or pretend we have the answers. We explore the idea, question our assumptions, follow the rabbit holes and see what we discover.

Come with a thought. Leave more curious.

Bram & Smitty discuss whether health has become unnecessarily complicated, and whether things like sunlight, circadian rhythm, grounding, water, electrolytes, and our natural environment might matter more than massive supplement stacks.

They follow that into the realization that nobody really knows what they’re doing, Socrates’ “I know that I know nothing,” Carl Jung, unearned wisdom, mental illness, shamans, consensus reality, Existential Kink, the unconscious mind, Alan Watts, and the idea that the life you’re living might reveal more about you than you realize.

The conversation then turns to AI, authenticity, and what happens when everything online can be convincingly faked. Could original thought, physical presence, real-world experiences, and human connection become the ultimate luxury—and could AI ironically make us more human?

What do you think?

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🕑 TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Health, consciousness, and natural principles

02:50 - Quantum biology and the alternative to biochemistry

07:05 - Maximizing sunlight, grounding, and water for health

12:08 - Ancient principles and modern disconnection from nature

15:52 - The illusion of knowing and improvising in life

18:35 - The reality of everyone winging it and embracing uncertainty

21:16 - The awareness of reality as a constructed dream

24:31 - The perception of madness and evolved consciousness

27:48 - The value of original thought and AI-generated content

33:48 - The significance of the now moment and interconnectedness

37:01 - The importance of in-person experiences and community

50:21 - The future of in-person, human-to-human experiences

52:39 - Exploring the potential of technology to enhance consciousness

ℹ️ ABOUT WDYT PODCAST

WDYT? (What Do You Think?) is a podcast where Bram and Smitty bring ideas, observations, theories and unfinished thoughts to each other, guests and interesting people from the internet—and ask one simple question: What do you think?

There’s no fixed category. One thought might take us into money, technology, culture, consciousness, science, philosophy, human behavior or somewhere completely unexpected.

We’re not here to debate, convince each other or pretend we have the answers. We explore the idea, question our assumptions, follow the rabbit holes and see what we discover.

Come with a thought. Leave more curious.

In this episode Bram & Smitty discuss whether there’s always another elite above the one you can see, and what actually makes someone powerful: money, access, knowledge, influence, ability, or awareness.

They follow the idea into manifestation, spirituality, Robert Monroe, the Gateway Experience, Gnosticism, consciousness, “loosh,” and the strange possibility that love and fear might play a much bigger role in reality than we understand.

The conversation then turns to whether anything is actually viral, whether a true “mainstream” exists, whether NPCs are real, and what separates attention, influence, status, and actual power in the internet age.

What do you think?

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🕑 TIMESTAMPS

00:00 - Starting WDYT?

01:35 - There’s always another elite

05:36 - Status, knowledge and enlightenment

10:22 - Two kinds of elite

13:46 - Talent opens elite doors

15:20 - Manifestation and unique genius

21:09 - Faith, trust and consciousness

23:12 - Spirituality and the golden mean

28:22 - Robert Monroe and astral travel

29:40 - Is Earth an energy farm?

32:04 - Is love being harvested?

33:26 - Gateway, Bentov and reality

36:29 - Consciousness in everything

42:35 - Literal truth or allegory?

45:49 - Dreams and all is mind

48:12 - As above, so below

50:18 - Earth as North Sentinel Island

53:02 - Nothing is actually viral

57:44 - Everyone lives different realities

1:00:47 - Who decides what’s controversial?

1:02:36 - Are NPCs actually real?

1:04:27 - Does mainstream even exist?

1:08:36 - Why clichés survive

1:13:42 - Attention versus real power

1:15:56 - Closing thoughts

ℹ️ ABOUT WDYT PODCAST

WDYT? (What Do You Think?) is a podcast where Bram and Smitty bring ideas, observations, theories and unfinished thoughts to each other, guests and interesting people from the internet—and ask one simple question: What do you think?

There’s no fixed category. One thought might take us into money, technology, culture, consciousness, science, philosophy, human behavior or somewhere completely unexpected.

We’re not here to debate, convince each other or pretend we have the answers. We explore the idea, question our assumptions, follow the rabbit holes and see what we discover.

Come with a thought. Leave more curious.