Critical Nonsense

This week, a takeover! Aaron shares his latest edition from SYLVAIN’s Progress Report newsletter:  Automating Our Instincts: How AI Can Be Embraced Rather Than Feared By Creatives . For more from SYLVAIN's Progress Report, see  progressbysylvain.co .

How do y'all deal with your digital poltergeists?  This week, Aaron, Joey, and Jess talk about search results, the endless repository of stuff, digital cleanup, emails, collateral distraction, and friendly ghosts. They don’t talk about warlocks.  references  Dinosaurs eating Joey   Toe beans  and  the art of reading them   poltergeist   They're here!   Woah, my love, my darling ...   Linda Ronstad...

How do we age right?  This week, Joey, Aaron, and Jess talk about aching, supplements, cognitive decline, Tom Brady, LeBron James, and the future. They don’t talk about Alphaville.  references  L.A. Times:  "Talking 'Men of a Certain Age' with Ray Romano, Scott Bakula and Andre Braugher"   Radiolab Podcast: The Secret to a Long Life   John Meyer's "Why Georgia?"   The 5 Regrets Of The Dying: Life...

What types of folk knowledge or rules of thumb do you live by?  This week, Joey and Jess talk about cheating at science fairs, sleep, the rule of threes, tenets, the How I Met Your Mother pause, and concavity. They don’t talk about  what Werner Herzog's thumb tastes like .  references  Chris Brunet's X thread on the ISEF cheating scandal   Jean Yang's life lessons   Pause   The Idea of You (and Ma...

Why don't we have more public art?  This week, Joey and Jess talk about toy poodles, graffiti, sidewalk chalk, murals, face painting, and sandals. They don’t talk about  ESPO .  references  Tom Otterness' Life Underground sculptures   The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon   Street art by David Zinn   Mural Arts Philadelphia   5Pointz  

How does one deal with being an acquired taste?  This week, Aaron and Joey talk about stinky fish, mole vs. mayonanaise, blue cheese, safe spaces, leadership, and sandwich lubricants. They don’t talk about surströmming.  references  Holiday in Spain   Did they ruin it for you? ( Yeah  |  No )  Thelma and Louise   Stinky Fish activity   rumspringa   Aaron:  We need antiheroes in the boardroom to sp...

How are we using bowls?  This week, Jess and Joey talk about diversification of delivery methods, quick-serve restaurants, slushies, mush, ratios, and salads. They don’t talk about  Prince .  references  Fascinator   "Frozen in the Face of Tech" : Joey @ Web Summit Rio 2024  Ramekin  

How has neighborliness changed in the past five years?  This week, Aaron and Jess talk about lost dogs, trash pandas, the pandemic, masking, isolation, and marble runs. They don’t talk about the McFeelys or Cousin Mary Owl.  references  Aaron  keeps your head ringing  while The Sequence  funks you up .  Honey, I Shrunk the Kids   "Frozen in the Face of Tech" : Joey @ Web Summit Rio 2024  Petco's L...

Why should we be concerned wth generationally slow timebombs?  This week, Joey and Jess talk about trees, the Bradford pear, city planning, Barcelona, pilot programs, and the candy bowl theory. They don’t talk about  Cameo .  references  @jjvincent  on the tree timebomb in the UK.  The Guardian:  Hidden giants: how the UK’s 500,000 redwoods put California in the shade   The New York Times from 196...

What does this "trend-mill" mean, what does it say about us as people, and how bad is it, really?  This week, special guests Claire and Chloe join Jess and Joey to talk about the mob-wife aesthetic, accessibility, TikTok, blueberry milk nails, social networks vs. social media, and Trader Joe's totes. They don’t talk about why the combination of peanut butter and jelly is a gotdamn abomination.  re...

What happens if we're all deathly affraid of the cringe?  This week, Jess, Joey, and Aaron talk about pain, yips, shame, fremdschämen, the Apple Vision Pro, and Michael Jordan. They don’t talk about  Gracious K .  references  Skanking   Revisiting  Critical Nonsense 253! Teaching Agency  and the Scandinavian Swimmers  Fremdschämen   The actual King of Belgium  

Why is cheating in some places treated differently than cheating in other places?  This week, Joey, Aaron, and Jess talk about fairness, tribalism, insider trading, meritocracy, winning, and wallpaper. They don’t talk about Pete Shelley.  references  Veridis Quo   USA Today:  Who is Shohei Ohtani and what is his connection to the gambling scandal that's rocked baseball?   ESPN:  NBA eyes Raptors'...

This week, a takeover! Joey shares his latest edition from SYLVAIN’s Progress Report newsletter:  Awaiting the Eruption: Innovation Strategies for a Post-ZIRP Era . For more from SYLVAIN's Progress Report, see  progressbysylvain.co .

Why are we always searching for the right answer?   This week, Jess and Joey talk about gray spaces, equifinality, value judgments, hiring, multifinality, and quantum physics. They don’t talk about the Alignment Theory.   references   Joey's nerd piece:  Progress Report: The State Of...Awaiting the Eruption   equifinality   multifinality   the secretary problem   The New York Times:  ‘I’m Sick of...

What are the rules about crying in public?  This week, Jess and Joey talk about benchmarking emotions, psychic tears, showing your belly, laughter yoga, pickled sadness, and ... farts. They don’t talk about  Mary .  references  When Joeys cry   Lacrymatory   Kristen Bell's Sloth Meltdown   National Library of Medicine:  "The social impact of emotional tears"   The Swaddle:  Psychic Tears and the S...

How do we survive dopamine culture? This week, Aaron, Joey and Jess talk about neurotransmitters, The Good Place, Sheryl Crowe, Wall-E, Type 2 fun, and the mortal sins. They don't talk about the important nuance of the many antihistamines for all you allergic people out there. references Cleveland Clinic: On Neurotransmitters Inc: "Why Your Brain Prioritizes Instant Gratification Over Long-Term Go...

What's our responsibility to teach agency for the next generation of workers?  This week, Joey and Jess talk about Scandinavian Swimmers, in-flight wifi, lawnmower parenting, consent, waffles and ice cream, and pipe cleaners. They don’t talk about ABBA.  references  Scandinavian Swimmers  

Is it better to be a nerd with your analogies and attempt to be right, or is it better just to be relatable?  This week, Joey and Jess talk about Mister Rogers and his (boring) neighborhood, The Big Bang Theory, nerds, the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon, linking things, and the Ig Noble Awards. They don’t talk about Lewis Skolnick or Gilbert Lowe.  references  "Stop trying to make 'fetch' happen!"   Ba...

Why do people love rituals so much?  This week, Jess, Aaron, and Joey talk about medicine, Lunar New Year, habits, disease, leg washing, and flossing. They don’t talk about Jane's Addiction.  references  twitterpated   Yale School of Medicine:  Phenylephrine, a Common Decongestant, Is Ineffective, Say FDA Advisors. It’s Not Alone   Gregorian calendar   Ritual, Play and Belief, in Evolution and Ear...

What can we learn about reality from aquariums?  This week, Jess, Joey, and Aaron talk about Barbie, virtual reality, augmented reality, Sphere, interactivity, and raccoons. They don’t talk about Phish.  references  BBC:  Aquariums 'deliver significant health benefits'   Sphere   This Is Water  by David Foster Wallace  Disney Imagineer Makes History  

When should we change the target?  This week, Joey, Aaron, and Jess talk about SATs, grade inflation, games, goals, dating, and wine. They don’t talk about  French Kiss .  references  Joey missed you.   The New York Times' The Daily Podcast:  The Messy Fight Over the SAT   @AnthonyLeeZhang on former-Twitter discussing the Goodhart Overhang   vintner   Concord grapes   How Save Scumming Makes Baldu...

When is it okay to correct someone?  This week, Jess and Joey talk about Vander-ism, otaku, pedantry, language, Ryan-ing, and comments sections. Thankfully, they don’t talk about the Oxford comma.  references  Otaku   Corrections Department (because of course):  Like, Literally, Dude: Arguing for the Good in Bad English  by Valerie Fridland  easter eggs   propinquity   Merriam-Webster on X   Seth...

How did our predictions play out in 2023, and what's to come in 2024?  This week, Joey, Aaron, and Jess serve a combo platter of Wild Prognostications, reviewing nogs past from  Episode 206  and progging forward into the new year. They talk about influencers, chickens, stuffies, egg nogs, algae, and AI hardware. They don’t talk about quail eggs.  references  Happy New Year for Cutie   Puffer Onesi...

Thank you for the love and support you've shown us in light of Alain's passing. If you want to make a donation in Alain's memory, his family suggested they be made to the following organizations:  Family Defense Practicum at Main Street Legal Services  (write "Family Defense Practicum" in the Additional Comments section)  Anseye Pou Haiti   Haitian Education Leadership Program   Typically, we clos...

How do we loosen the reins?  This week, Joey and Jess talk about latchkey kids, parenting, protectiveness, perfectionism, social narrative, and lawnmowers. They don’t talk about driveways vs. parkways.  references  Latchkey kids   "Decline in Independent Activity as a Cause of Decline in Children’s Mental Wellbeing: Summary of the Evidence"  (PDF)  Science Daily:  'All work, no independent play' c...