While We're On The Subject

Jon and Mike talk about recent trips to liverpool and Milan, hate listening to podcasts like “the Joe Rogan Experience”, Mike’s new job in the property management industry, and how it feels to listen to recordings of yourself.  They then examine some ideas about change, how and why people are resistant to it, and how integral it is to the way we perceive the world.  Following this conversation they break down generational change, what kinds of beliefs become entrenched in people after adolescence, and how this has growing importance due to potential changes to technology, demographics and lifespans.  They close with a discussion of how power is shifting into the hands of much older people and how, if we develop technologies to extend life spans substantially, we’ll see even more drastic shifts in power and authority.

Listen to this Episode and Learn:

Some history of social change and the the issue of gay marriage in the USA

How demographics, birth rates, and life spans are changing around the world

Our thoughts on why people struggle with change and how integral change is to human perception

How Generational change is unique

The importance of the aging of the populace and how that will affect society in the coming decades

Mentioned in the episode:

Hate listening to podcasts: The Joe Rogan Experience

Books:

The righteous mind  - Jonathan Haidt - People make political choices due to morality more than economic interests

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Demographic changes and life extension in asia: Japan, China, India, Indonesia

Japan Population is in Decline

China population will decline by 2025

Mike has been having a lot of great days lately.  Jon and Mike discuss what makes for a good day and how to keep your momentum and good energy.  They argue about commuting, and car ownership, then explore what makes a city nice to live in.  After that they delve into their opinions on how Halloween compares to their favorite holidays, and what it’s like to celebrate American holidays while living abroad.

Links:

New York, USA vs Seoul, South Korea: average temp: 12.7°C vs 12.2°C

Chicago winters

Buffalo moved NFL game after 220,000 tons of snow fell on the stadium

New York City Hurricane history

Halloween comes from Samhain and old celtic festival from Ireland

Cinco de mayo remembers the battle of Puebla.

The origins of Thanksgiving, mostly not Genocide

“I got you a handshake for Christmas.”

After a summer break Mike and Jon return to discuss their travels in Peru, California, and Ireland, new jobs, settling into a new city and country, the American educational system, how we learn, the distinctions between skills and knowledge, how society thinks about failure, life long learning, and a some recommended reading.

Links:

What we did instead of recording:

Shrugging at a waterfall

Making faces at a river

Taking in the Sierra Nevadas

Skills versus Knowledge

Rote memorization

Improving Memory:Mnemonics; Narratives; Spaced Repetition Systems

Questions if you want to learn marine biology:

How do you learn that?

What do you do?

What techniques do you use?

What materials do you use?

How do you determine how good those materials are?

Not just teaching information but teaching people how to learn information

We know how to learn skills:

1) Look at skill

2) Break it into its component parts

3) Practice those parts

4) Reintegrate them

5) Practice them together

Thinking: look at information, understand it, and break it down

Learning: retain new information, develop a new skill, understand concepts

People are ashamed of failure, is it just part of the process of learning

How do interest and curiosity affect memory?

Recomendations:

Book - Getting things done - David Allen - Introduction to thinking about Organization and task management

Article - Some Of My Best Friends Are Germs - Michael Pollan - NY Times - Microbiome and immunology

Mike and Jon discuss some new gadgets they’ve bought, how to get money out of China $500 at a time, Jon’s long path toward personal development and organization, the value of tracking how we spend time, how to assess goals and measure success, a trip to South Korea, Jon’s total lack of punctuality, Mike’s tooth infection, dental insurance, medical insurance, and how and why insurance is structured like it is.

Mike and Jon touch on: fitness and stretching, traveling from China to Peru, and some of their pet peeves.  They then go in depth on an archeological breakthrough regarding the origins of humans in the Americas and discuss the types of information they consume and how they think about the news media.

MIke and Jon Introduce themselves and While We’re On The Subject.  They then discuss China and break down its ethnic makeup, how it compares with Korea, and how the very diverse people of China interact with a regime that often doesn’t relate to them at all.