Big Brain Channel

It's cold, it's dark, it's painful, and it's probably the best thing you can do to start your day. Cold showers are a great habit to get into, David and Tim explain why and give you their tips for the long-held practice of water torture. If you have any thoughts, questions, or want to present your argument, contact us and send us an audio clip at timwhiffen@auscastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/li...

David and Tim crack open some Prancing Pony Pale Ale with friends Josh Morrow of Momo Toons and Dr John Bruni of Sage International Australia. In this seminal episode of Blind Drunk, the fellas establish some structure to the show and enjoy their first beer of the series. Topics include, are sequels better than the original? What problems CGI pose for dead actors? Dubai Debauchery, and David's str...

David and Tim talk to Suzanne Eder about her excellent TED talk , The Dark Side of Self-Improvement, and how to get comfortable with the idea of loving yourself. To find out more about Suzanne's work, and read some of her writing, please check out her website . If you have any thoughts, questions, or want to present your argument, contact us and send us an audio clip at timwhiffen@auscastnetwork.c...

A lot has been said of the state of American global power. But in the US itself there is little appetite among the people to be on a constant state of military vigilance and arguably the Trump win in 2016 played to a sense of national public war weariness.  This is a time of confrontation with Iran in the Gulf, Kim Jong Un in North Korea, and most worrying of all, a rising China. Chinese powe...

We are joined by Dr. Gary Klein, President of Shadowbox LLC, to discuss Naturalistic Decision Making, how to do a PreMortem, and how to gain Insights. If you found this episode interesting, consider reading some of Gary's work . We hope later to talk to Gary about his new findings in training measures with Shadow Box LLC . If you have any thoughts, questions, or want to present your argument, cont...

Judging people based on their music tastes has become a part of the adolescent experience, and a large part of maturing. We allow ourselves to think and display judgments of others ears, using microaggressive quips to bag any taste that is other to our own, revealing an insecurity that we are part of a small tribe of music genre. But what about music makes the alternative so attractive, why is it...

Welcome to Blind Drunk, a spin-off podcast to the popular and thought provoking Blind Insights ! This is a podcast where Tim and David will wind down, have fun, and take life lightly. You can count on one thing, this is a podcast for spirited conversations, and ones we want you to be a part of! If you have any drink suggestions, or have a great idea for a spirited conversation, contact us and send...

This has been a great 32 episode start to the podcast Blind insights, but what are our goals, and what do we want for you, our audience? Catch up with this bonus episode or listen to it on the new Blind Drunk RSS feed !  Thanks for supporting us and make sure to share with your friends and family!  If you have any thoughts, questions, or want to present your argument, contact us and send...

David and Tim chat to one of David's former students who has successfully written an essay that stopped David in his tracks with the significance of the writing. Morris joins us in the studio to discuss the matter of evil in the real world. Given the word's religious history, it's not something we use in a serious way very often, but can and should we use evil to describe the wretched acts we see...

The European Parliament’s creation, national ambitions, identities and interests have had an imperfect execution throughout its history. The last elections demonstrated that nationalism is making a come-back in a significant way. British 'nationalists' won the Brexit debate hugely, Northern Italian ‘nationalists’ won in Italy signalling a divided Italy may be in its future. Thoug...

It's tax time in Australia and the Prime Minister Scott Morrison has passed a tax break for people to stimulate the economy. What are you meant to do with this money? Spend it! What would you do if you had even more guaranteed free money? There's such a thing as a Basic Income Guarantee (also known as Universal Basic Income) which is an idea that has been put forth by progressive and conservative...

Abiy Ahmed  election as Ethiopia’s Prime Minister in April 2018 was welcomed as good news around the world. Ethiopia is critical to the Horn of Africa, and since the end of its sixteen year long civil war, the victory of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, rapidly stabilised the state. Abiy Ahmed promised to enact reforms that would fully modernise and liberalis...

The 2019 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill has incited protests and political unrest in Hong Kong and Taiwan, evoking emotions across the globe. The protests are demanding a withdrawal of the Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation Bill 2019 proposed by the Government of Hong Kong. Though Hong Kong has extradition deals with other countries, it does not extradi...

David and Tim discuss the looming energy and resource crisis with Richard Heinberg, who is Senior Fellow at the Post Carbon Institute,  and hypothesise what the world and our lives might be like on the other side of The End of Growth. Please check out the Post Carbon Institute , their work with Resilience , and Richard's personal work on his website . If you have any thoughts, questions, or w...

In today’s episode David and Tim discuss Strategic Culture. Strategic Culture is a tool for analysing states’ security behaviour developed by Jack Snyder in the 1970s. Snyder argued that if we understand how security professionals and the political elite are trained to think about security and strategy, then we can understand how states might behave in relation to brinkmanship and warf...

What does the future of war look like? Do we expect armies of robots, lazer guns, and multi terrain transforming jet fighters? What about the strategic elements of future war, how will major powers react to the technical advances in weaponry and surveillance? This is a fun thought experiment, but there is a deeper consideration, in delving into the current trajectory of defence for many world play...

For some of us there is nothing more frustrating than a vegan announcing their presence, or lecturing you on food. Pushy people, no matter the cause, get on our nerves, but vegans are in the spotlight at the moment with protests around the country and plenty of "VEGAN DESTROYED" videos on YouTube. Tim and David invite some lovely vegans into the studio to have a discussion about what makes a norma...

Do you give to charity? Why or why not? It's complicated, right? Hopefully in this episode of Blind Insights we can offer you an explanation of why you don't give to charity, or if you do, what charities achieve the most. We turn to Peter Singer, a leader and proponent of Effective Altruism, to look for answers about what we could do, and discuss why his arguments, as logical as they are, haven't...

Penny Locaso is the world's first happiness hacker, someone concerned with helping others, or challenging others, to take control of their habits, vocabulary, and their approaches to learning. What Penny has to share is important and her conversation with David and Tim leads them to diagnose and approach complex problems. Between the faster pace of work, more digital distractions, less physical co...

Anti-fragility is a phrase coined by Professor Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his eponymous book. To build on centuries of ancient knowledge and wisdom, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger and Jess Freund is certainly alive and strong. During this episode we feature our first female guest, discuss the name of the podcast and address the considerations of antifragile people and antifragile societies...

We’ll start off with a quote from our friends at Wikipedia: "Truthiness is the belief or assertion that a particular statement is true based on the intuition or perceptions of some individual or individuals, without regard to evidence, logic, intellectual examination, or facts." Today we are joined by Dr Sharon Mascall-Dare, Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of South Au...

Bradley Wall is a special individual who did what most people do not - put himself in harm's way, in awful conditions, against his body's wishes, to experience some of Nature's splendour. David and Tim saw it fit to ask why anyone would do such a thing? Clearly Brad had a good idea of what he had to gain from this experience, and it goes to show that discipline has benefits in all of it's forms. I...

The Indian 2019 national election is upon us. Prime Minister Nanendra Modi has guided India as Prime Minister since his first electoral victory back in 2014. To discuss how Modi and the BJP are affecting the Indian polity, society and strategy, we speak to Prof. Purnendra Jain, member of the SIA Advisory Board, and Dr. Stuti Bhatnagar, formerly with the University of Adelaide and regular contribut...

Isometric exercise for tendinopathy has exploded onto the scene over the last few years. Unfortunately, the certainty of evidence surrounding their use is far less certain and compelling than what we are told about them but some people. They may work, but the reality is we don't fully understand how and for whom. This episode delves into this uncertainty and provides lots of top tips for how to us...

It's looking like a majority coalition government for Australia thanks to some very important seats being won for LNP - but this has a lot of people upset to say the least. The popular vote went to the Liberal and National parties but neither had as many votes individually compared to Labor. This was not expected by the media or the pollsters, but many individuals could have predicted it by virtue...