The Curious Introvert

Why do we shrug at grown men in body paint at a football game but cringe at an adult in Mickey ears? Are we judging an entire community by the loudest 1% the algorithm shows us?    AJ Wolfe is a writer, speaker, entrepreneur, and media creator. She is a New York Times Bestselling author of  Disney Adults: Exploring (And Falling In Love With) A Magical Subculture. She is also the founder and owner...

Why isn’t there a consistent message about alcohol and health? How do you know if you’re putting yourself at risk? Is it really “all things in moderation”?   Courtney Conley, D.C holds a doctorate in chiropractic medicine & 2 bachelor’s degrees in kinesiology & human biology & is the founder of Gait Happens. Milicia McDowell, DPT holds a doctorate in physical therapy & has over 20...

Why isn’t there a consistent message about alcohol and health? How do you know if you’re putting yourself at risk? Is it really “all things in moderation”?   Rachel Bernstein is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Cult Specialist & the Host of the IndoctriNation Podcast. She has spent the last 35 years helping former cult members & those who have had loved ones in cults, focusing on...

Why isn’t there a consistent message about alcohol and health? How do you know if you’re putting yourself at risk? Is it really “all things in moderation”?   Dr. Sarah Wakeman is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School & Sr. Medical Director for Substance Use Disorder at Mass General Brigham. She is also the author of Treatable: Rethinking Addiction and How to Get Care Rig...

Can you befriend someone OUT of racism? Are Klan members just misguided? Is racism a permanent state?   Daryl Davis is a musician & author. He’s also a black man who chooses to be friends with Klansmen. Over his lifetime, he has inspired over 200 Klu Klux Klan members to give up their robes.    In this episode he shares about the boyscout parade where he got a race reality check, FBI files, th...

What's the difference between a fetish, a kink, and just really liking something? Where do fetishes come from?   Niki Davis-Fainbloom’s entire job is to help people make peace with their fetish. She holds a masters in psychology, studied sex therapy at the Kinsey Institute & has been working with clients for 8 years. She’s also the author of Fetish: smash taboos & celebrate what turns...

Could the very thing that makes America work also be what's quietly breaking us?   James F Richardson is a cultural anthropologist who has studied American society for twenty years. He’s also the author of Our Worst Strength: American Individualism and Its Hidden Discontents.   In this episode, we cover the impact of boundless optimism, options & the playground of autonomy. He speaks to t...

How does a suburban dad end up addicted & sleeping in a Tenderloin doorway?   Tom Wolf was a suburban Dad & city employee when he became addicted to drugs. He soon found himself sleeping in a doorway in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco getting high every 90 minutes.     Now six years sober, he serves on the leadership council of Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions & is a bridg...

What if your "chemical imbalance" was never actually in your brain — but on your plate?   Dr. Georgia Ede is a Harvard trained psychiatrist who began to experience a host of mystery symptoms in her 40s, including fibromyalgia, migraines, chronic fatigue syndrome, and IBS.    When she got relief after experimenting with her diet, she began her path of nutritional studies & later becam...

What happened to ontological shock?   Michael Glawson, PhD, is a philosopher of science and technology with a background in theology. He’s also the host of the podcast Anomalous Review & the UAP Studies Podcast. In this video, we cover the public’s love affair with cryptids, why new information is unlikely to smash our world view, ancient aliens, data vs entertainment & how the Scientific...

Should voters have to prove their competence? How do balance ethics & efficacy in the world of politics?   Dr. Jason Brennan is a Flanigan Family professor at Georgetown Business School who agrees that democracies outperform most historical alternatives, but suggests that some form of Epistocracy (meaning the rule of the knowledgeable) could be worth experimenting with. In other words, the mor...

What if the villain isn't high cortisol, but low? Does the idea of relaxing make you cringe?   Erin Kinney, ND, is a Naturopathic Doctor who specializes in helping type A patients use cortisol as a currency to generate energy, handle stress, heal, & perform. She is also the author of The Cortisol Cure: The Secret to Resetting Your Stress Response, Boosting Energy & Feeling Better Than...

Who convinced us that the fate of the world rests on our personal recycling habits? Does it even make a difference?   Melissa Valliant serves as the communications director at Beyond Plastics, a nationwide environmental advocacy group.   In this episode, Melissa shares how recycling isn't just imperfect, but a decades-old PR strategy engineered by the same fossil fuel, petrochemical, and cons...

Paul Ollinger was one of Facebook’s first 250 employees. At age 42, he walked out with a pocket full of cash in what most would consider an ideal situation, but what he found instead left him wondering what’s next while he explored the relationship between money, happiness, work, and meaning.     In this episode, we discuss how wealth changes us, leaves us the same and why it even matters for the...

Why are Americans paying MORE for healthcare with WORSE results?   Dr. John Abramson was a family physician for 20 years who left his practice in 2002 to devote himself to researching the commercial takeover of medical knowledge. He has since served as an expert in medical litigation, served as a consultant to the FBI & US Dept of Justice & authored two books – Overdosed America & Sick...

Does “tough on crime” actually work? Could Ban the Box policies backfire?   Jen Doleac, PhD, is Executive Vice President of Criminal Justice at Arnold Ventures, a philanthropy maximizing evidence based policy & minimizing injustice. She is an economist & the author of The Science of Second Chances who prefers the reliable lens of data over personal values & has a particular interest in...

She used to ask "how could anybody do that?" Then it happened to her family.   Laura & Aaron Beck were devoted parents who, like many, were in the habit of judging other parents who left their child in the back seat of a car until the day it happened to them. In this episode, Laura shares the circumstances leading up to the accident, her new perspective on parenting, how you can prev...

Is the skepticism around breast implant illness driven by science or the cosmetic surgery industry? What protocols (for keeping & removing) are working for patients?   Robert Whitfield, MD is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons, a board-certified breast explant specialist who has performed over 2,000 explant procedures, published 15 peer reviewed publications & testified at the 20...

Could your mouthwash be causing high blood pressure? Can your spit predict cancer?   Nikki Eisenhauer is a licensed professional counselor, chemical dependency counselor, and professional psychotherapist. She is also an incest & abuse survivor.    In this episode, we discuss if trigger warnings are a tool for healing or a crutch for victimhood, we explore symptoms that your entire childhood ma...

Could your mouthwash be causing high blood pressure? Can your spit predict cancer?   Dr. Staci Whitman is a Functional Dentist board-certified in pediatrics with additional certifications in functional medicine, integrative and naturopathic dentistry.   In this episode, she unpacks why common dental complaints like cavities & bleeding gums shouldn’t be interpreted as normal, which at-home sali...

What is it like to change your mind on something you wrote a best seller on?   Joshua Harris is the author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, a best-selling book in the late ’90s touting courtship as the superior way to find God’s perfect match for you & avoid the perils of sexual sin. It was a required read for many in the evangelical Christian community. In this episode, Josh shares how he changed...

Do dreams happen in our minds? What can lucid dreaming tell us about the nature of consciousness?    Dave Green is a London-based artist who creates drawings not FROM his dreams, but IN his dreams, which he re-creates upon waking. He’s the author of Doodles In the Dark: An Artist's Guide to Lucid Dreaming & has participated in lucid & precognitive dream research with my other guest, D...

Would you go to a psychic Olympics? Does psi have real-world benefits or is it just a way to make people feel like their special?   Hakim Isler served 4 years in the Army as a psi op specialist in special operations forces, is a 6th degree blackbelt in Ninjitsu, a trained remote viewer under Joe McMoneagle himself. He’s also the founder of the Psi Games, a family-friendly competition & confere...

What is orgasmic meditation? Where is the line between cutting-edge wellness & cult behavior? Is the word “cult” too divisive to be helpful?   Ellen Huet is an award-winning investigative journalist who writes for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Businessweek. Gher investigative piece on OneTaste lead to the FBI investigation & eventually arrest of Nicole Daedone and Rachel Cherwitz. She also...

"We made an agreement with each other that we would not eat each other no matter how hungry we got." Douglas Robertson is the author of The Last Voyage of the Lucette . He was just a teenager when his family was lost at sea for 38 days.     In this episode he shares more than just a survival story. He shares his unique coming of age story & an opportunity to recalibrate what crisis i...