Mere Mortals Conversations

I can't seem to keep Pete Smissen away, he's coming back for his 5th appearance! In Conversation #89, Pete and I discuss: why you can't control your kid's actions, psychoanalysing our personalities when we were young, the types of language that people use to sound convincing, tangents into music and cool Japanese hobbies, how swearing differs across cultures and my fascinating...

Is learning coding the same thing as learning Spanish or German? In Episode #386 of 'Musings', I discuss: my recent chat with Dave Jones, how I learnt Spanish/German but failed with Python, why I believe that the differences between the languages are greater than the similarities, human-human communication vs human-computer, some helpful tips to think about whilst learning them and why C...

Dave Jones is a driver behind the Podcasting 2.0 movement & a repeat guest on the Mere Mortals (1st appearance in Conversation #54). In Conversation #88, Dave and I discuss: why fragmented social media might be losing steam, some of his favourite philosophy books, combining the value for value model with music, what a lot of people get wrong about V4V and how I saved him from being nicknamed t...

Juan's baby is coming, so what sort of childhood can she expect here? In Episode #385 of 'Musings', I discuss: Juan's brand new baby girl fresh out of the oven, why I was attacked by my friend's dog (probably because I was sadistic), my annoyance with Steve Irwin, why climate change or war probably won't effect the Australian environment, the beauty of Australian chil...

You taste that ....... it tastes like it's goal time. 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 monthly goals and how we will fix that for the month that co...

A critical question ..... 'should' you do anything? In Episode #384 of 'Musings', Juan and I discuss: whether duty is turned on by default, the prioritisation technique of must/should/could/would, areas in our life we believe we have obligations, real life hypotheticals of jury duty/military service/UBI, why Juan believes that personal health trumps everything else and why this...

Time to sweep the podcast house and let you know about upcoming changes! In Episode #383 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: how I forgot the cameras for our last hurrah, why recording convos with guests takes a lot of work, whether that work is producing something valuable, how I've let go of great opportunities, the dilemma of creating/consuming short clips and why we might start...

In the age of digital communication will this be enough to satisfy our need for connection? In Episode #382 of 'Musings', Juan and I discuss: the new remote livestream setup we have with Riverside, our personal preferences for interacting with others, studies that indicate our levels of connection, the handiness of being comfortable alone, why ultimately nearly everything will be digital...

Peter Winkler is a comedian and host of the 'Curious Pete' podcast. In Conversation #87, Pete and I discuss: bombing while headlining a comedy festival, stories from rural Qld, drop bears/hoop snakes/yowies, why you don't want to mess with Bigfoot or people from Montana, our personal favourite conspiracy theories and general cultural differences he has noticed after living in Austra...

What is the obsession people have for the past? In Episode #381 of 'Musings', only I discuss: the origin and definition of the word, my favourite time period to travel back to, why the present is better than any other time, the mini blissful periods of youth/travel and whether there are any cultures where people don't feel nostalgic. A huge thanks to Dave Jones, Cole McCormick, Whon...

And we also talk about AI, lots of stuff covered today! In Episode #380 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: the crazy stories of zany people, our unique names, whether we should be concerned about AI causing damage to our lives, the types of podcasts we listen to nowadays and what it's like jumping into the 2023 dating scene. As always, we hope you enjoy. Mere Mortals out! Timeline...

What's the most beautiful thing in existence? In Episode #379 of 'Musings', Juan and I discuss: what aesthetics actually means, our encounters with Aziz Shavershian and gym aesthetics, how attractive is complementary to aesthetic, appreciating beauty more when you are older/richer, why I find art to be a confusing minefield of subjectivity and why trying to explain beauty on a consc...

You taste that ....... it tastes like it's goal time. 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 monthly goals and how we will fix that for the month that co...

Sam Sethi is the CEO of the Podfans progressive web app, cohost of Podnews Weekly Review and the owner of the 'River Radio' radio station.  In Conversation #86, Sam and I discuss: participating actively during the birth of the internet, how digital money will change the world, his 4 focuses whilst creating Podfans, the cool new features in the PWA, why he is going all in on the 'Val...

At what point do you stop chasing idealism and accept reality for the way it is? In Episode #378 of 'Musings', Juan and I discuss: the current problems I'm having with dating and v4v support, ways in which being all or nothing is helpful, the impossibility of solving governance and interpersonal relations, why you have to let your ideals go and make some concessions, how being too &...

Best to think about death because in the end we're all just mere mortals. In Episode #377 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: using stoic principles to prepare for death, all the time Juan has spent on health and fitness recently, abstract math required to self diagnose elbow problems, the CrossFit masters competition, bank bailouts and why it's nice to have an independent cur...

How do you determine the tradeoff's when judging an opportunity? In Episode #376 of 'Musings', Juan and I discuss: the twitter threads popping up for Juan, why it's hard to judge risk, why I place physical safety above emotional well being and material concerns, a sad puppy week, why you don't want to handstand on cliff faces, subjective value changing the opportunities fo...

Alexander Watanabe is an artist, coder, architect and co-creator of the 'The Perfect NFT' on the Cardano blockchain. In Conversation #85, Alexander and I discuss: why Alex might has a more cynical disposition to NFT's, Sam Bankman-Fried and effective altruism, fun stories from travelling around the world, the cultural critique he is doing with The Perfect NFT and some tips for codin...

What would Benjamin Franklin want us to do? In Episode #375 of 'Musings', Juan and I discuss: a founding father's steps to self-improvement, why you must examine your weaknesses first, how ethics might not be captured in your normal habits, Juan's ethics as first discussed in Ep #138, my new plan to keep myself accountable and why you should only go 2-3 levels deep with self-de...

What's better than a bilingual child, only a trilingual child! In Episode #374 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: a couple of the cool but mostly strange people I met recently, why we only have 2500 books left to read between us, the differences between English/German/Spanish/French, why Juan and I lack finesse with out language skills, my recent chat with Alex again and the ridic...

Simple question, what is the best way to train? In Episode #373 of 'Musings', Juan and I discuss: our experience after training for decades, Juan's advice to a friend who needs a training plan, the difference between our session lengths, how the styles matter little in comparison to volume/time and why a plan is useful for continuing through the 7/10 workouts. A huge thanks to our o...

You smell that ....... it smells like it's goal time. 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 monthly goals and how we will fix that for the month that co...

Justin Fox is the founder of Zen Garage, graphic designer and first appeared on the Mere Mortals in Conversation #72. In Conversation #84, Justin and I discuss: how he is finding an artistic outlet in plants, how technology changes the art scene, the various behaviours found in digital communities, why it's valuable to have the ability to cold approach, finding a girl who isn't just a co...

We're going to be experimenting and altering our style soon, what can you expect? In Episode #372 of 'Musings', Juan and I discuss: why we're unlikely to need a trademark, how we will try to move forward but without breaking things too badly, the way to get a Mere Mortals shirt, Juan's creation of a new podcasting room, why I had to give up fixing Juan's spelling mist...

Juan thinks Gorillaz is trash. I think he is trash. In Episode #371 of 'Meanderings' Juan and I discuss: our reactions to the newly released Gorillaz songs, unpredictable feedback coming from YouTube, why I will continue with handstands basically no matter what, why we probably won't ever get cancelled, our daily uses of artificial intelligence and why the book reviews probably won&...