Mere Mortals Conversations

What topic do you feel that you are most qualified or comfortable to talk about? In Episode #204 of 'Musings' Juan and I discuss: my new Barry White voice, how and where we gain our information and wisdom on a day to day basis, a hypothetical of appearing on a panel with world experts on a certain topic, hobbies that will appear on the Mere Mortal channel in the future (bouldering, wood...

What would be the best strategy to win a gameshow comprised solely of other gameshows? In Episode #203 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: Juan's cool new lensless glasses, another Juan story of terrible customer service (the bank version!), a difficult hypothetical for Juan, macro vs micro and when it might be important to be aware of the micro, my fabulous new idea for a TV show...

What is your tolerance level for communication that is not presented in the most accessible way possible? In Episode #202 of 'Musings' Juan and I discuss: Juan's recent humbling experience of seeing people who are the best in the world at what they do, what I want to change after my silent retreat, not wanting to speak in platitudes but sometimes needing to, peak experiences that yo...

Would you rather run or meditate for half a day? What about daily for a month or a whole year? In Episode #201 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: why junk food is trash and now that we are old it just sucks, I finally (FINALLY!!!) completed a marathon and why it sucked balls, a fun little game to see what time I ran, a hypothetical about running/meditating and why I got offered coke ju...

Would you ever want to try a silent retreat and meditate all day? In a celebratory (but quietly so) Episode #200 on 'Solitude' Juan and I discuss: my recent experience of going on a self-organised silent retreat, how I prepared for being alone and what rules I would implement, immense suffering and pain from strong determination sittings, some intriguing moments during the retreat, some...

Do you set yourself monthly goals and if so, how many do you set? Juan and I on the first week of every month go over our progress from the previous month and where we are heading for the next. Emphasis as always is on the shortcomings; what we didn't achieve in the previous month's goals and how we will fix that for the month that comes. We hope you get some value from this series, show...

Have you ever asked yourself what the difference is between purposeful pain and pointless suffering? In Episode #199 of 'Musings' Juan and I discuss: Juan's purchase of a Vee Friend, some of the basics behind non-fungible tokens and gas fees, what NFT's are actually used for, the reasons for doing something painful, why we do the things we don't want to do, a story of drin...

Would you describe yourself as gullible? In Episode #198 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: using epistemic modals to communicate more effectively, Juan's direct style of conveying information, the release of CIA/FBI documents related to aliens, why we wouldn't be overly worried about the probing upon a first meeting, questions we would ask the aliens, the difference between...

What does freedom mean to you? In Episode #197 on 'Freedom' Juan and I discuss: why Juan thinks it is a difficult topic to talk about, what we would do if put in charge of Australia, the difference between freedom of an individual vs having a free society, why I personally didn't like Sebastian much and how this conversation has saved me a lot of time. Just FYI. Our discussion was b...

I don't even have a good explanation for why these topics came up. In Episode #196 of 'Musings' Juan and I discuss: Gary Vee's non-fungible tokens, how NFT's might be used in the future, the absurd stories that appear in Buddhist texts, how it is possible to completely change your deepest held beliefs, why coding will be important and everyone should know it, Harry Potter...

Have you ever had an opportunity that just seemed too easy to be real? In Episode #195 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: the absolute apes on Wall St Bets, my brother's recent experience of the infinite money pool, a hilarious study that showed monkeys are better at picking stocks than retail investors, gaining unwarranted confidence from having more and more data, how people of...

What makes a person wise & how can one judge if advice received is wisdom? In Episode #194 on 'Wisdom' Juan and I discuss: the meaning behind the word 'wisdom', how wealth is different to having lots of money, why most competition is useless and better off jettisoned, the 4 different types of luck, avoiding the trap of feeling productive while 'networking', readin...

How many times a day do you swear, the answer may surprise you (shocked emoji face)! In Episode #193 of 'Musings' Juan and I discuss: the difference between deeply knowing a subject vs being able to communicate on it, my story of accidently insulting someone while trying to give a compliment, insulting nicknames and casual racism, some statistics behind swearing, the actual reasons why p...

What kind of book can you expect from the Mere Mortals in the future? In Episode #192 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: Stephen King's book 'On Writing' and what techniques are required to be a successful writer, Juan's books about adventure on Mars and his Mere Mortal Maxims, my book's about being weird and zany outlandish shenanigans, what we might look back...

What is important to you right now and is there anything you can do now to ensure it will be there in 30-50 years time? In Episode #191 on 'Keeping Your Edge' Juan and I discuss: what we consider to be our edges right now, why having the ability to think is important, what it means to be a physical polymath, how Juan's training is definitely unsustainable and will require changing i...

How will the entertainment of the future be different than today? In Episode #190 of 'Musings' Juan and I discuss: the continued presence of live entertainment, virtual reality and on demand viewing, requiring realness even if it could be faked, why you would want to be your first and last customer, how CRISPR could even the beauty standard playing field, how we would personally use CRIS...

What would you do to make the UFC or watching MMA more exciting? In Episode #189 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: advertising on product features that doesn't make us want to buy it, the mask you can use for doing drug deals and collar to spy on your dog, adding electrified cages to the UFC, adding elements of WWE to real fighting and Juan's experience getting dragged down...

Would you walk away from a utopia if its very existence was dependent on the abject suffering of one child? In Episode #188 on 'Injustice' Juan and I discuss: the basic plot of the fantastic short story by Ursula K. Le Guin, why people might actively create injustice in the world, the internal processes we use to justify with doing morally dubious things, times in our life when we have f...

Paul Boyd is the Head of Academy Program (Upper Levels) and Choreographer in Residence for Queensland Ballet. Paul grew up in Wagga Wagga during the 1960's and found his passion for dance, and in particular for ballet. Over his long career as a dancer he got to perform across the world and even in front of royalty. After retiring from actively dancing he still maintains an absolute passion fo...

What has Juan learned about being humble since joining a CrossFit gym? In Episode #187 of 'Musings' Juan and I discuss: starting as a beginner (even in an area where you are experienced), whether there is any benefit to showing off in a training sense, how to criticise someone's ideas in a useful manner, how to cope with stress and areas in life where trying to improve would be detr...

Why are there so many rules in the Buddhist texts that forbid monks from having intercourse with sexy monkeys?  In Episode #186 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: my recent hilarious reading of the Vinaya Pitaka, the strict rules of monastic Buddhism, biting caterpillars that cause erections, more and more cryptoscams, the impure motives of scientists, some funny hypotheticals on how w...

After a turbulent 2020 what did the Mere Mortals takeaway from the whole Corona madness? In Episode #185 on 'COVID Learnings' Juan and I discuss: that feeling in the air when everybody is anxious, why we went through a collective period of grief, stoicism and how one can prepare for hard times, the changing perception of health to take a longer-term outlook, why excessive news consumptio...

Do you set yourself monthly goals and if so, how many do you set? Juan and I on the first week of every month go over our progress from the previous month and where we are heading for the next. Emphasis as always is on the shortcomings; what we didn't achieve in the previous month's goals and how we will fix that for the month that comes. We hope you get some value from this series, show...

What happened to me (and my calves) after I attempted my first 3/4 marathon, unbelievable pain is what happened! In Episode #184 of 'Musings' Juan and I discuss: my longest run of 31.65 km and Juan's description of the aftermath, some of the stats that show the point of hitting the wall, learnings I gained from running this distance, why the universe might not make sense but that do...

What are some creative ways you would use $1 Million in cash if there were some questions of its legality? In Episode #183 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: forcing people to jump in rivers and setting up a lemonade stand gang, creating art and opening a museum, stories of criminals who were hunted by the police, a funny tale of the stoner nerds I encountered at the park and how we wo...