Aiming for the Moon

Send a text In this interview, I’ll be talking with Prof. Andrew Pettegree who co-authored The Library: A Fragile History with Arthur Der Weduwen .  What I first thought was a self-explanatory symbol of scholarly righteousness I soon learned was an icon of the individual against the institution, a battleground of the “enlightened” elite and the “plebian” people, and a habitual testament of man’s i...

Send a text As a high school student, in the next few years, I’ll make some major life decisions about where I’ll go to college and whether I’ll riddle myself with decades of student debt. How will I make the best decision? My guest today, Dr. Maria Konnikova , had a similar question about her own life. How do you assess a situation and decide the best option for yourself? And, if Fate pulls a fas...

Send a text Having developed the Internet and connected the world to our fingertips, we tend to think of ourselves as enlightened beings very different from our medieval or ancient counterparts and with very separate problems. Are our modern problems really just modern problems? Or, are they just prevailing issues repackaged for our modern sensibilities? And, if so, how can classics help us addres...

Send a text In this episode, I sit down with teenage author, Suzette Sheft (full bio below). We discuss the story behind her debut book, Running for Shelter: A True Story , which is a novelization of her grandmother's survival in a Nazi-conquered Europe. We also cover how her father's passing motivated her to finish her story and catalog her family history as well as her advice to other...

Send a text Two decades ago, Dr. Richard Florida (full bio below) coined the term "Creative Class" when he identified a unique group of people who used their knowledge and expertise and creativity to generate income (i.e. tech innovators, musicians, bloggers, etc.). His work has shaped the thinking of modern economics and social sciences. In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Florida to d...

Send a text One of the most anticipated technologies of the future is AI. What will it be? What will it do? How will we react? But, before we can anticipate sentiency, which we will discuss in this episode,  we must train AI to do its jobs. However, that requires properly organized data sets, a new topic in the town square. If AI is to imitate the data it is given, how do we determine what data to...

Send a text In honor of the 100th episode, I am interviewed by guest host, Sarah Newman (full bio below)! Sarah Newman is Director of Art & Education at metaLAB at Harvard , at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Working at the intersection of research and art, her work engages with technology’s role in human experience, and interrelations between complex systems. In addition...

Send a text For centuries, we have been stuck in the matrix of "The Mindest," the need for ever-exponential, economic growth. Sucked into the "game" of capitalism, we have toiled for monetary benefits always searching to double, triple, and quadruple the GDP. But, beneath every socio-economic structure is the creator's perception of human nature. For us to understand the w...

Send a text In this episode, I talk to NYT  bestselling author, Ryan Holiday (full bio below), about the disciplined life . His latest book, Discipline is Destiny , comes out September 27 (2022). Topics: The Three Types of Discipline The Purpose of Discipline Why should we have self-control? Why to define a Primary Focus How to structure skill-building around assignments Practical habits for a dis...

Send a text Ethical hacking is essential in the tech world as it exposes the holes and bugs in systems before bad people can use them. This same mindset can be applied to the legal system in order to “hack” it before "black hat" hackers exploit the problems . In this episode, Dr. Bruce Schneier (full bio below) explains this philosophy and the steps to apply it. Topics: What are public-i...

Send a text In this episode, I talk with Dr. Carolyn Chen , author of Work Pray Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley and associate professor of ethics at the University of California, Berkeley, (scroll down for full bio), about the “religion of work” in “techtopias.” Topics: Work as religion Tech workers as believers The cult of productivity Should we let this happen? The sacraments...

Send a text In this episode, I talk with Dr. Margaret E. Roberts (scroll down for full bio) about China and the new age of censorship. Topics: Methods of modern censorship Why free speech is bad for regimes   How much does the average Chinese Citizen know ? How censorship creates factions in China Should the West intervene ? The global impact of censorship Democracies and censorship Censorship and...

Send a text Just announcing that I'm switching to a bi-weekly release schedule for the school year! Thanks!!

Send a text In this episode, I sit down with Alex Kaschuta , writer and host of the Subversive   Podcast . We discussed the importance of subversive ideas, how to become a free thinker as a young person, and how to create a career where you get paid to think .  Topics: Why Alex Kaschuta's podcast focuses on subversive ideas Should offensive ideas be censored ? How to become a free thinker as...

Send a text In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Sergei Guriev ( click here for full bio ). Dr. Guriev is the professor of economics and director of graduate programs in economics at Sciences Po, Paris as well as the Former Chief Economist and the Member of the Executive Committee of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). He also served as the former Rector of the New Economi...

Send a text Dr. Justin Grimmer , Professor in Stanford University's Department of Political Science and co-author of Text as Data , and I discuss how and why turning text into data will be the future of the social sciences . Topics: Researching in the social sciences now How machine learning turns text into data Privacy and data Examples and impact How to develop a career in this intersection...

Send a text Dr. Kate Darling , a Research Specialist at the MIT Media Lab and author of The New Breed: What Our History with Animals Reveals about Our Future with Robots , and I sit down to discuss the future of robots and the world. Are they replacements or are they a breed of their own? Topics: Thesis of the New Breed What is a robot? Do robots think? How does this "new breed" fit into...

Send a text I sit down with Solomon Burchfield , Program Director at New Beginnings NWA . New Beginnings is a rehabilitation community for people with a history of homelessness. For more on their mission and ways to help, visit: https://newbeginningsnwa.org/about/ ----------------------------------- Connect with New Beginnings: Website: https://newbeginningsnwa.org/about/ Instagram: https://www.in...

Send a text Zarah Hussain and I sit down to discuss the intersection of tradition and tech in her field of art. Topics: Islamic art v.s. Western art How geometry was used to represent divinity in Islamic culture Zarah Hussain's art and the intersection of tradition and tech Geometry as the rules of nature How the "rules of nature" point to intelligent design The books that had an im...

Send a text I discuss the two-year birthday of AFTM and announce my new, behind-the-scenes substack! Thank you, everyone, for listening! Why join the substack? I discuss how Mattie and I built AFTM up to this point. All of the stories and skills gathered along the way! Some of the topics will include how we set up interviews through elevator-pitch-style emails, network with guests, and prepare for...

Send a text Jenny Odell , New York Times bestselling author of How to Do Nothing , and I sit down to discuss the importance of unproductive activities for personal growth. Topics: Managing stress and creative pursuits in the midst of busyness  The prism of personality  How and why to do nothing The books that had an impact on Jenny Odell Jenny Odell's advice for teenagers The importance of jo...

Send a text I sit down with Bryan Fogel, Oscar-winning director of Icarus and The Dissident . We discuss the creative processes behind his films as well as the political corruption exposed in them. Topics: The creative processes behind his films How to build trust with film subjects Is there anything to do about political corruption ? The books that had an impact on Bryan Fogel Bryan Fogel's...

Send a text I sit down with Dr. Nina Kraus to discuss her book, Of Sound Mind: How our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World . Topics: The importance of sound What is the sound mind ? How sound shapes our brains How the mind replays sound in our heads How the mind adapts in musicians  The deaf vs hearing brain Resources: Of Sound Mind - https://amzn.to/3PD6x1A On Matter with Things: Our Brains...

Send a text After a long sabbatical of procrastination, I have returned to finish our trilogy on creativity. In today’s episode, I sit down with Mason Currey , the author of Daily Rituals and Daily Rituals: Women at Work . We tackle one of my leading questions about creativity - how to create when it feels like the world is swallowing you! Topics- Why and how Mason Currey wrote Daily Rituals Getti...

Send a text Living a life fueled by your own creativity is my dream as well as many others. The question always is, “How do you do that?” In this episode, I’ll be talking to designer Kevin Bethune about this and his new book, “Reimagining Design: Unlocking Strategic Innovation." Topics -  How did you go from nuclear engineering to design ? Why should designers be in the room when creating new...