Polymathic Being Podcast

Today's topic rethinks and recontextualizes a theme within Polymathic Being of slowing down, stepping back, and analyzing more before executing. The challenge is that there is a case for taking action in the face of doubt and uncertainty especially when facing wicked problems. Let’s find out how to balance these two ideas together. Get full access to Polymathic Being at www.polymathicbeing.com/sub...

Today's topic continues a collaboration between I as we write on the history, culture, and science of our favorite indulgences. Today we’ll explore whisky and you can also look back at our previous “Odes” for more fun and informative insights. Get full access to Polymathic Being at www.polymathicbeing.com/subscribe

Today's topic dives once more into the middle of techno-optimists and pessimists ripping social media and the news into what feels like two camps of utopia or apocalypse regarding our relationship with AI. Once again, I’m going to try to bridge the two camps with a pragmatic approach on how to use AI to augment intelligence. Get full access to Polymathic Being at www.polymathicbeing.com/subscribe

Today's topic continues to explore what happens when we force a narrative on a story that doesn’t need to be there. We’ll find how that typically makes the story fragile and, worse, causes the original value to be lost. Come join us and discover how antifragility can apply to mythology and theology to unlock new insights. Get full access to Polymathic Being at www.polymathicbeing.com/subscribe

Today's topic is one I’ve been wanting to write for a while about how the human perception of risk often puts us at even greater danger because we don’t apply the right systems thinking perspectives to contextualize it properly. We’re going to investigate the topic of risk compensation and provide some useful tips for analyzing risk better. Get full access to Polymathic Being at www.polymathicbein...

Today's topic addresses a growing trend of labeling antisocial behavior as introversion and why that characterization misses the superpower that humans have. We’ll explore our foundation as social creatures and how introverts and extroverts aren’t at odds on this spectrum. Get full access to Polymathic Being at www.polymathicbeing.com/subscribe

Today's topic pulls the thread on a specific behavior within the workforce that I’ve seen quite a lot from people who should know better. It’s particularly problematic in Data Science and Operations Research which are supposed to avoid this and it also permeates research in science, politics, and more. We’ll explore when people confidently answer the wrong question and how to avoid it. Get full ac...

Today's topic is one we’ve talked a lot about here on Polymathic Being: Antifragility. It’s popped up enough times that I think we should probably pause and make sure everyone fully understands this seemingly obvious, but completely counterintuitive concept. Without further ado, let’s dive in! Get full access to Polymathic Being at www.polymathicbeing.com/subscribe

Today's topic is a practical guide to exerting your control over social media and training your algorithm to avoid the downward spiral of content that permeates everything. We’ll explore the problem and provide a simple set of solutions for how to train your algorithm. Get full access to Polymathic Being at www.polymathicbeing.com/subscribe

Today's topic is a fun segue that explores a bit of the craziness of my life, specifically regarding my early relationship with my wife. From Airborne School, to Korea, to Iraq, today we explore the crazy things we do for love. Get full access to Polymathic Being at www.polymathicbeing.com/subscribe

Today's topic is part book review and part insight into how our brains work on interpreting the world around us. It’ll challenge our bias to look for anything that agrees with our worldview and open up new possibilities to learning and adapting. Get full access to Polymathic Being at www.polymathicbeing.com/subscribe

Welcome to Polymathic Being , a place to explore counterintuitive insights across multiple domains.  These essays take common topics and investigate them from different perspectives and disciplines to come up with unique insights and solutions.  Today's topic focuses on being a good team player and when it can go too far. The key is, sometimes it is OK to say “It’s not my job.” We’ll explore when...

Today's topic looks at governing structures that humans seem to do best under and explores why we seem inclined toward a benevolent dictator. When we step back, we find that this construct permeates almost all political philosophy whether that dictator is human or divine. Let’s dive in and poke at this odd idiosyncrasy. Get full access to Polymathic Being at www.polymathicbeing.com/subscribe

Today's topic continues to build on our understanding of what I might be so bold as to call ‘true’ leadership. Today we investigate a simple but often very accurate measure of a good vs. a bad leader. It’ll be counterintuitive because it goes against almost all of the corporate processes for rewards. Yet these rewards are almost always focused on the wrong behaviors, not true leadership. Get full...

Today's topic is my answer to from who recently asked: "Can Generative AI make us all Polymaths and company founders?" This essay was first published on his substack under the same title and is modified here to focus more on enabling polymathic thinking. Get full access to Polymathic Being at www.polymathicbeing.com/subscribe

Today's topic provides an example of real-time analysis, adjustment, and adaptation specifically regarding my debut novel . As much as I talk on these topics of adaptability and change, it still isn’t easy. I hope that sharing my experience can help others. Get full access to Polymathic Being at www.polymathicbeing.com/subscribe

Today's topic follows up on a previous essay where we explored the structure of Biblical Law. There, I promised to investigate just how many of the Biblical laws we still follow. This essay is another dip into Systems Thinking applied to Theology and how, by stepping back, we can improve the context and better understand what’s actually going on. Get full access to Polymathic Being at www.polymath...

Today's topic takes a step back from a valuable concept of how we view the elements of success and looks hard at how we even define success and whether those definitions actually align with the outcomes we want. It’s part leadership insight part just a great concept to bear in mind in our personal lives as we face a ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ as we see figments of reality on social media or eve...

Today's topic addresses the concept that almost everything requires a statement of faith and that we are largely completely comfortable with this. Unless it’s a different statement of faith than our own. Lest we think this applies only to religion, science requires the same so that we can explore the complex world around us. Get full access to Polymathic Being at www.polymathicbeing.com/subscribe

Today's topic focuses on Personal Agency as an antidote to an Addiction Economy. I’ve been contemplating this one for a while, unsure how to write it but knowing it needed to be written. We’ll explore addiction, agency, and how many efforts to regulate behavior just don’t work as well as applying our own personal agency. Get full access to Polymathic Being at www.polymathicbeing.com/subscribe

Today's topic is motivated by an engagement with a subscriber on Substack chat . (which you all can join via the link at the end) It highlighted that some people view the idea of a Polymath more like a mythical creature than the real and very ordinary humans they are. Today we’ll address that idea and invite everyone to join in breaking down the barriers of silos of expertise and bring the Polymat...

Today's topic started as a much more technical article that I’ve distilled down to capture one of the single most important insights I’ve come across in the conversations around AI and Autonomous Systems. It’s the topic of trust and we’ll explore why that concept is so fickle and how one simple, yet counterintuitive change of perspective can unlock an incredible method to ascertain ethics, complex...

Today's topic is about making you into a superhero! We are going to help you improve your strength and agility. You’ll be able to soar above everyone else. People will look for you to solve wickedly complex problems. Even better, it helps to avoid conflicts to begin with and improves your interpersonal engagements. We are going to teach you how to be Steel[wo]man (pick which one you want) Get full...

Today's topic is a second exploration into the strength of the feminine and forces us to address something many find problematic in that the ancient archetypes depict the feminine as chaos and the masculine as order. This seems to offend our sensibilities but only because we have a deeply encoded bias that the masculine order is somehow preferred. We’ll dive into the history of the feminine, of ou...

Today's topic is painful for me to write as I’m an environmental conservationist who has spent the better part of my life recycling. Over the past years, I’ve realized that what I thought was helping the environment may not be having any benefit at all. Today we dig into our broken recycling system and find out why we need to forthrightly address and fix these issues versus just feeling good about...