Critical Nonsense

How many other things do we have that we think of as imprecise but are actually pretty precise and agreed upon?  This week, Joey and Jess talk about box plots, New York neighborhood names, Australian colloquialisms, measurement language, baking, and square roots. They don’t talk about  The Smiths .  references  Box plot   Reading a Box and Whisker Plot   Perceptions of Probability   The New York T...

What if we've become less willing to sacrifice our pawns to take the queen?  This week, Jess and Joey talk about Ezra Klein, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Obama, game theory, defaulting to passion, and nuclear weapons. They don’t talk about David Lightman.  references  The Ezra Klein Show:  Ta-Nehisi Coates on Bridging Gaps vs. Drawing Lines   Nash equilibrium   Mutual assured destruction   A Beautiful Mind  ...

What's in your notes?  This week, Aaron and Jess talk about internet chalk, bottle lining, the Pantry Challenge, gold bars, word clothes, and golden milk. They don’t talk about Gold Bond powder.  references  Heinz Breakfast Ketchup   Paris is Burning  trailer  The Song of Achilles  by Madeline Miller  Chinotto   Astral Chain   Bossa Bros and Nara   Sky Full of Elephants  by Cebo Campbell 

How much do you think you can change your personality?  This week, Joey and Jess talk about life satisfaction, sad auras, nominative determinism, nature versus nurture, Martin Seligman, magical meat sacks. They don’t talk about marinade bags.  references  Forbes:  How Singer-Songwriter EJAE Found Rumi’s Voice In ‘KPop Demon Hunters’   @thetalesoftayls' sad aura tweet   Journal of Personality and S...

What are places where wisdom exists where it shouldn't?  This week, Joey and Jess talk about the Benner Cycle, feng shui, jelly shoes, BMW dashboards, the bullshit asymmetry principle, and Hitchens's razor. They don’t talk about Christopher Robin.  references  Human League   Benner Cycle   Bagua   Black–Scholes model   Joseph Henrich   Enneagram of Personality   Strauss–Howe generational theory  ...

Why do we wave from trains and boats?  This week, Aaron and Jess talk about kids, duck boats, kerchiefs, air travel, cruise ships, and roller coasters. They don’t talk about chucking the deuce.  references  Knott's Berry Farm   Medieval Times   New York Transit Museum   L.A. Train Festival 2025   Some Kind of Quest  

How are you personally preparing mentally, psychologically for the increased engagement with AI?  This week, Joey and Jess talk about AI psychosis, Blake Lemoine, the Turing Test, cognative security, red teaming, and hats. They don’t (yet) talk about NonsenseLLM.  references  Psycho Killer  and  the big suit   X:  Keith Sakata, MD   The New York Times:  They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The An...

When is old good and when is old bad?  This week, Jess, Aaron, and Joey talk about The Bible, first editions, berries, Final Destination, whiskey, and Rick Astley. They don’t talk about Flavor Flav.  references  Dayspring  by Anthony Oliveira  sarcophagus  

How do you make sense?  This week, Aaron, Jess, and Joey talk about intention, trust, assumption, context windows, synchronicity, and drinking. They don’t talk about  Pal Joey .  references  Click, Clack, Moo in book form Click, Clack, Moo Read Aloud   Palworld  

Why do we do hard things?  This week, Joey and Jess talk about the Baddie Performance Index, Barkley Marathons, fun types, self flagellation, dessert stomachs, and natural childbirth. They don’t talk about Saquon.  references  Barkley Marathons   Running so far away  

Why is it so important to be cool?  This week, Jess, Aaron, and Joey talk about Black culture, 21 Jump Street, social approval, bandwaggoning, alternative hierarchies, and Lauryn Hill. They don’t talk about  Digable Planets .  references  Dru Hill's "5 Steps"   Old Man, look at my life.   Journal of Experimental Psychology:  "Cool is cool wherever you are"   Miles Davis'  The Birth of the Cool   U...

How is it we've convinced ourselves sometimes that we like things that we don't really like?  This week, Jess and Joey talk about the big light, the beach, group vacations, going to the movies, nature bathing, and bad drinks. They don’t talk about Mr. Nice Guy.  references  Rest easy, Brian Wilson   Lord have mercy  

What new rules should we have?  This week, Joey and Jess talk about the Irish Goodbye, music at the beach, phones on the train, zipper merging, gift obligations, and desire paths. They don’t talk about Dua Lipa or New Rochelle.  references  Zipper Merging  

How do y'all protect your sense of possibility?  This week, Aaron, Joey, and Jess talk about optimism, imagination, resilience, cultural technology, escape rooms, and rules. They don’t talk about the endless persistence of existential dread.  references  A Thousand Miles  to the  Pink Pony Club   Traitors   Dinosaur Island   Parkitect   Monument Valley   Royal Kingdom   Hollow Night   Thank Goodne...

What are the important analog activities in an increasingly digital world?  This week, Joey and Jess talk about luddites, handwriting, typewriting, mashing tomatoes, kinetic learning, and carbon dioxide. They don’t talk about  Folkways Records .  references  Taki Taki   Luddites   Study:  Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity: a high-density EEG study with implicat...

In April, SYLVAIN released an open letter of resistance in response to the chaos of the moment we're in. This is a live reading of that letter, and a reminder that resistance is ongoing. Too many in our industry have been quiet in the face of injustice and uncertainty. Too many important conversations have been relegated to back channels. So we put pen to paper, naming simple truths that have guid...

What universal truths do you believe in?  This week, Joey and Jess talk about database shapes, LLMs, collective human intelligence, apple eating, folk wisdom, and Pi. They don’t talk about apple pie, though.  references  West End Girls   Ethan Mollic on the "universal geometry" of meaning   The Platonic Representation Hypothesis   Doctor Dillamond’s Classroom   Algospeak: How Social Media is Trans...

How do you feel about no-phone zones?  This week, Joey and Aaron talk about AI, parenting, over-responsibility, constant access, bluetooth speakers, and biking while texting. They don’t talk about  Nowadays .  references  Rabbit r1 AI agent   The Humane AI Pin   The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue  by Mackenzi Lee  The Last Sun  by K. D. Edwards  The Bobiverse   The Traitors   Quad Press Rele...

Do we need to create more with friends?  This week, Joey and Jess talk about consuming, the value cycle, parallel play, time horizons, water-based cooking, and Ciabatta. They don’t talk about  Real Genius .  references  Superstar   "My grand theory of life is to just hammer the shit out of quadrant 4"  

How do we muster the courage?  This week, Jess and Joey talk about fear, Inside Out 2, Andor, The Mandalorian, stoking action, and antidotes. They don’t talk about booze.  references  I can run the world from my mama's house.   The New York Times:  A.G. Sulzberger: A Free People Need a Free Press  

How do we stress professionally?  This week, Aaron, Jess, and Joey talk about Cowboy Carter, self-regulation, Frozen, tears, being "professional," and anger. They don’t talk about  Organized Konfusion .  references  Self-regulation for adults: Strategies for getting a handle on emotions and behavior   Emmanuel Acho on the myth of the 'Angry Black Man'   Sister Wives  

How is this world optimized for dating?  This week, special guest Chloe returns to chat with Joey about high yield investment strategies, influencers, gender polarization, crushes, the butterfly effect, and Russian hackers. They don’t talk about the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-14.  references  Nonsense 259! The Trend-Mill   Marie Claire:  Who is Becca Bloom?   Looking for an Explanation in Financ...

How do you approach reclaiming or disavowing your creative outputs that you don't love?  This week, Aaron, Joey, and Jess talk about Smithee-ing, TV edits, résumé writing, Spike Jonze, sportsball, and the DC Universe. They don’t talk about Cordwainer Bird.  references  "God of Wine"   Alan Smithee  on  IMDB   Spike Jonze   Charles Barkley   The Room   Spread your wings  

How good is hi-res for our imagination?  This week, Aaron and Jess talk about smoothing, the boundless powers of creativity, Smell-O-Phone/Vision, imagination reconstruction, gaming, and nurturing our sense of play. They don’t talk about NHL 98 on Sega Genesis.  references  The Rainbow Fish  by Marcus Pfister  Why It's SO Hard to Find a Game You ACTUALLY Like   Harvard Business Review:  How Genera...

How do we make people feel seen?  This week, Joey, Jess, and Aaron talk about the burden of eyes, privacy, showing, acknowledging, surprise parties, and social anxieties. They don’t talk about the  Talking Heads .  references  Dreaming about Cranberries, sans muffin.   Revisiting  Critical Nonsense 302! Thought Bottling   Critical Incident Stress Debriefing: Helpful, Harmful, or Neither?   Observe...