The Curious Introvert

Dr. Bryan Caplan is an Economics Professor at George Mason University and a New York Times Bestselling author who often questions social norms. He’s the author of Build, Baby, Build: The Science and Ethics of Housing Regulation & in this episode, we discuss reasonable vs unreasonable approaches to risk, manufactured scarcity, environmental impact & gentrification. If you liked this episode...

Gill Tietz is a former pharmaceutical biochemist who uses science to approach the subject of sobriety in her podcast, Sober Powered.  In this episode, she explains the difference between a pastime & a problem, why WHY we drink matters & if it’s possible to be a heavy drinker, but not be an alcoholic. So whether you are wanting to better understand your newly sober friends, are sober curiou...

James Arrowood is the CEO & President of Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a non-profit that has been advocating for, researching, and performing cryonics to bodies & brains since 1972. Cryonics is the practice of preserving life by pausing the dying process using subfreezing temperatures in hopes of restoring good health with medical tech in the future. In this episode, we discuss the ways...

In 2014, Laila Mickelwait’s victim advocacy work lead her to take a closer look at the porn industry’s ties to sex trafficking & in 2020, her advocacy work led her to Pornhub, which at that time, was the 5th most visited website in the world & an unchecked cesspool of egregious child porn.  Through her public awareness efforts & collaboration from some unlikely sources, Pornhub has sin...

Dr Jenny Powers got her PhD in immunology from the University of Colorado & recently co-authored the book “On the Origin of Being: Understanding the Science of Evolution to Enhance Your Quality of Life.” Today we’re talking about Evolutionary mismatch, the idea that although our environment is quickly upgrading, our biology is still best suited for the hunter gatherer world. We cover how to ou...

Chris Bledsoe is considered the most credible experiencer in the world of phenomenon, someone whose experiences have been studied by NASA, the CIA, academics & the defense intelligence agency. He is set apart from many other experiencers in that he is a deeply religious man who continues to experience rejection & judgement from his spiritual community for sharing his message. But what othe...

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 the impact our individualism has on our work, mental health, friendships & romantic rel...

Louis Labrom is an experienced cameraman and camera technician who has worked on everyone’s favorite nature documentaries done by the BBC, Netflix, NatGeo, Disney & Discovery to name a few.  In this episode, you’ll hear him share behind the scenes of the greatest shots filming elephants, eagles, & snakes, the role of trained animals, how AI is changing the tools of the trade & the ethi...

Dr. Gwen Adshead is a forensic psychiatrist, consultant & therapist who spent most of her professional career working with homicide perpetrators in secure psychiatric hospitals.  She’s also the author of The Devil You Know, a book that documents her encounters at the Broadmoor Hospital, the oldest of England's three high-security psychiatric hospitals, known for housing its share of seria...

Aagie Dulzenrav was born & raised in Mongolia, spent time in Seattle, WA as an exchange student, served as the CEO to a leather company, worked at Cosmopolitan Mongolia, Burberry, Hugo Boss & now runs a music label along with working for Meanwhile in Mongolia, the tour company that hosted me while I was in Mongolia.  In this episode, Aagie & I discuss the challenges & opportunities...

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 bridge between the reality of the streets & the meeting room of policy makers.  In thi...

Jesse Coomer suffered for years from what he calls “the modern condition,” cycles of stress & anxiety burdening our minds & bodies until he found relief & regained his passion for life with breath work & cold therapy. He was one of the first American certified Wim Hof instructors, is now an author & conducts breathwork & cold exposure trainings with a grounded & scienti...

Kinga Philipps is a journalist, TV presenter & shark conservationist who’s spent over two decades combining conservation & media conversation. You may recognize her from Discovery’s Shark Week shows Tiger Queen or Sharks in Paradise. In this episode, she shares how one village went from shark finning to shark preservation, the Disneyfication of nature, the grey areas of shark tourism &...

Dr Kate Mangino is a gender expert with a PhD in human rights & social development and the author of the book, Equal Partners: Improving Gender Equality at Home. In this episode, we unpack the tradwife trend to ask is it a harmless personal choice resulting from the options born of feminism or giant steps backwards for the women’s equality? You’ll hear the answer to what is a tradwife plus the...

Dr. Bill Schutt, Author is a PhD zoologist, Emeritus Professor of Biology at Long Island University & a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History. He’s also the author of Bite: An Incisive History of Teeth, from Hagfish to Humans. In this episode, we cover the history behind we think of those with bad teeth as untrustworthy & less intelligent & those with straight, w...

Dr. Joan Ifland explains how the history of processed foods has led to an obesity or overweight percentage of 70% of Americans! She defines processed foods, explains the business model behind the messaging, the science of your brain's reaction to the foods & how quitting these can revive your taste buds & thought clarity. She also shares the practical tips you’ve been missing all thos...

At 7 years old, Erdne Ombadykow’s parents sent him from his birthplace of Philadelphia to live at a Tibetan Buddhist Monastery where he would spent most of his childhood learning Buddhism.  He was then recognized by the 14th Dalai Lama as the current reincarnation of the Buddhist saint, mahasiddha Tilopa and was tasked with leading the revival of Buddhism in Russia in the Kalmyk Republic.  Now cal...

Mark Wood is a polar explorer, a title normally associated with big ego and fame as core motivations. In this episode; however, he shares his personal motivational evolution of going from a place of ego to one of wonderment. He shares how this shift lead him to teaching children via livestream from the death zone of Mt Everest, the highs and lows of the Expedition Solo 100 trek (100 days alone in...

Because of his out-of-control behavior, Rocky Kandola’s parents sent to a nightmarish WWASP teen rehab center in Mexico, where he served an indefinite sentence with an arbitrary points system. He describes how this was the beginning of a cycle of abuse, imprisonment & bad decisions, but not the end of his life. Hear how he sifted identity from trauma and what gave him hope to keep going. This...

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 became a nutritional psychiatrist. In this episode, she covers questionnaire collecting vs research, a warn...

Bayarsaikhan Ganzorig grew up in Mongolia in the Ger District without running water or electricity, a type of shanty town established by nomadic herders who fled from the countryside after their herds were victims to one of the latest weather events to plague the area. And my next guest is someone who is eager to share all sides of his home country.  He's the mastermind behind the YouTube cha...

Rob Baedeker is the co-author of What to Talk About: On a Plane, at a Cocktail Party, in a Tiny Elevator with Your Boss's Boss . In this episode, he shares how to break free of the sleep-inducing conversation templates we’ve all had on repeat, deal with awkward political discussions & keep the conversational spark alive with our friends & family by converting small talk into real talk...

Dr. Steven Radowitz completed his MD at Chicago Medical School, worked in general medicine & HIV/AIDS units & was Medical Director of an alcohol & opioid detox & treatment unit. His traditional path was disrupted after seeing remarkable & measurable medical outcomes with patients who got psychedelic treatment. He has since refocused his practice & joined Nushama, a ketamine...

Vicki Robin is considered the mother of the FIRE movement & has appeared on hundreds of shows, including Oprah & Good Morning America. She’s the co-author of the international best-seller, Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence. Here we explore the heart-side of the balance sheet with concepts like money is life energy, the f...

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 & Sickening.  In this episode, he shares how the power of public conversa...