Modern Wisdom

Eric Weinstein is a mathematician, economist, former managing director of Thiel Capital and a podcaster. It's a rough time to be a human. The massive increase in information we have access to has made understanding the world harder, not easier. Whether it's higher education, culture, physics, or pretty much anything else, life can be very confusing. Expect to learn what Eric thinks about the most...

Morgan Housel is a partner at The Collaborative Fund, an investor and an author. The world continues to change, but the hairless apes that inhabit it stay the same. So there must be some laws of human psychology which remain true, no matter what time and place you're in, and today we get to go through some of the most fascinating ones. Expect to learn what reasonable optimism looks like, the diffe...

Brad Wilcox is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Virginia and Director of the National Marriage Project. Many online discussions are casting doubt on the role of marriage. Is it actually a bad deal for men and women? Is it dangerous for people to get into? What does the evidence actually suggest, especially in the face of widespread skepticism about the institution of marriage? Expect...

Dr Mike Israetel is a Professor of Exercise and Sport Science at Lehman College and the Co-Founder of Renaissance Periodization. If you've ever wondered "is this exercise actually working" then you are not alone. However there are now scientifically proven optimal methods for building muscle in the most efficient way possible. And today we get to learn from the best teacher on the planet. Expect t...

Hannah Ritchie is a data scientist, senior researcher at the University of Oxford and Deputy Editor at Our World In Data. Climate alarmism dominates headlines, painting a grim picture of impending global catastrophe. But what if the actual data reveals a less worrying situation, one where we don't all end up in a fiery inferno? Expect to learn why everyone thinks the world is doomed due to climate...

Gurwinder Bhogal is a programmer and a writer. Gurwinder is one of my favourite Twitter follows. He’s written yet another megathread exploring human nature, cognitive biases, mental models, status games, crowd behaviour and social media. It's fantastic, and today we go through some of my favourites. Expect to learn whether cynical people are actually smarter, why people tend to find uncertain outc...

Dr. Joe Dispenza is a researcher and an author specialising in neuroscience and known for his work on neuroplasticity and epigenetics. If your thoughts can make you sick, the obvious question is whether your thoughts can make you well. Just how instrumental are the things we think to the way our mind and body operate, and how much is this crossing over from experimental subculture to legitimate sc...

Andrew Henderson is the founder of Nomad Capitalist, a global citizenship expert and financial consultant known for helping people with offshore strategies. Should you stay in the country you were born in? Is that the best, happiest place for you to be? What if there was a different option? Well, that's Andrew's entire philosophy - to go where you're treated best. Expect to learn the best travel h...

Dr Robert Glover is a therapist, coach and an author. Being nice is something many of us aspire to become. After all, who doesn't want to be nice? Well Nice Guy Syndrome has been ruining the lives of many men for decades, so perhaps we should aspire to be something else. Expect to learn what is actually wrong with being a nice guy, why men become so afraid of putting their needs first, how to stop...

Alex Hormozi is a founder, investor and an author. Alex’s Twitter continually has been one of my favourite sources of great insights over the last few years. Today we get to go through some of my favourite lessons from him about life, human behaviour, psychology, business and resilience. Yet again this is so, so good. Expect to learn why being called a control freak isn’t an insult, how to stop ma...

Dr. Karan Rajan is a surgeon, clinical lecturer at The University of Sunderland and an author A lot of health advice can be extremely difficult to verify. Does this actually make me healthier? Is it grounded in science, or whimsy? Thankfully there are actual doctors we can ask who can determine science fiction from medical fact. Expect to learn why you shouldn’t hold in your farts, what Dr Karan w...

Dr. Paul Conti is a Stanford and Harvard trained psychiatrist and author specialising in unconscious trauma. If our mind was an iceberg, our conscious thoughts are the tip, and the huge mass below the surface are our unconscious thoughts. Dr Conti's research works on bringing the, forgotten, traumatic, painful and unseen into the light so you can heal and improve. Expect to learn what people mean...

Rory Sutherland is one of the world’s leading consumer behaviour experts, the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Advertising and an author. The advertising industry creates a unique intersection between psychology and creativity. By looking at what works in the world of ad campaigns, we can learn even more about the human mind and Rory might have the best insight on the planet for this. Expect to learn how d...

Dean Phillips is a member of the U.S House of Representatives, presidential candidate and former owner of Talenti Gelato and Belvedere Vodka. Whether it's stories in the press or scenes in House Of Cards, no one seems to have much faith in the American political system at the moment. Dean has had a front row seat to this world for a long time and is now running for president, so he should be able...

Rikki Schlott is a journalist, columnist, free speech activist, and author. Saying "you can't say anything any more" is the internet's tagline. Cancel culture has been the hot topic over the last few years. But why has it taken over the discourse so much and just how much truth is there that it's getting worse than ever before? Expect to learn what Rikki uncovered from a mass analysis of Twitter b...

Mary Harrington is writer, columnist and author. Everyone has the temptation to share their life on the internet, but where does the line of sharing stop and oversharing begin? How has our performance for the crowd crept into our morals and changed the way we see the role of privacy around our personal lives? Expect to learn what Digital Modesty is, why liberals would more likely date an Only Fans...

Danny Polishchuk is a writer, YouTuber, comedian and a podcaster. I was on tour in NYC so stopped in to see one half of The Boyscast and work out why hundreds of thousands of people were drunk and dressed as santa. Expect to learn why Instagram banned Danny from their platform, what's happening with Britney Spears & Taylor Swift lately, whether Danny thinks getting a vasectomy to save the climate...

Mike Thurston is a podcaster, YouTuber and a fitness model. Me and Mike went to university together 15 years ago. And yet in 2024 many of the problems we encountered back then have gotten even worse. Why is a lack of confidence, overly comparative mindsets and body dysmorphia so persistent and how do we go about fixing it? Expect to learn why male body dysmorphia is on track to overtake female bod...

Alex O’Connor is a YouTuber, writer and a podcaster. Grappling with difficult moral questions is a part of human life, but in the age of Wikipedia and ChatGPT, are we now outsourcing our morality? Are people becoming less moral over time? Expect to learn why Peter Hitchens really does not like Alex, whether ChatGPT can be convinced of the existence of God, what the non-identity problem is, if Nihi...

Gregory Clark is a Professor of Economics at the University of California, Davis, researcher and an author. Everyone has a dream of making a better life for their family. But fascinating new research suggests that your social status is heavily predetermined by your genetics, and that your descendants escaping the position they've always been in is very unlikely. Expect to learn if social status is...

James Smith is an author, podcaster, online trainer and not a life coach. I just finished a full month of live shows with James. We didn't kill each other but did learn a lot, so today we're reflecting on a month on the road while digging into some of James' biggest realisations of finally becoming an adult. Expect to learn what my first ever live tour experience was like, how to increase your luc...

Shawn Stevenson is an American nutritionist, bestselling author, and podcaster. You spend more time asleep than any other activity, and yet no one teaches you how to do it properly. Thankfully there are some simple routines, hacks, foods and habits you can implement to improve your sleep and longevity immediately. Expect to learn if poor circadian rhythm is responsible for the modern mental health...

Seerut Chawla is a licensed psychotherapist and founder of The Trenches, an organisation focusing on mental health and social media dynamics. There is a trend of online influencers who can identify your trauma and diagnose your attachment problems over social media. Is this an important new frontier for discussing mental health? Or cod-psychology over the internet. Expect to learn the biggest prob...

I hit 1.5 million Subscribers on YouTube!! To celebrate, I asked for questions from YouTube, Twitter, Locals and Instagram, so here’s another 90 minutes of me trying to answer as many as possible. As always there’s some great questions in here about whether I'll bring Dr Joe Dispenza on the show, if you can grow a podcast without going on Love Island and how I deal with negativity online. Expect t...

2023 has been crazy. I'm back on my old couch in Newcastle with Jonny, Yusef & George to catch up on their favourite lessons from the past 12 months plus their best new hacks and plans for 2024. Expect to learn why you need two duvets to improve your sleep when sharing a bed, the new productivity system that everyone now uses except me, what you can learn about using a fitness tracker without actu...