Seize the Moment Podcast

On episode 136, we welcome behavioral scientist Stuart Vyse to discuss the practical benefits of certain delusional beliefs; love-at-first-sight as a defense mechanism to foster romance; whether we can prevent the emotional crash that normally results from idealizing our partners; the mindset of defensive pessimism as a way to reduce the probably of future physical and emotional harm; the benefits...

On episode 135, we welcome philosopher Christian Miller to discuss the importance of honesty, why people prefer that virtue in relationships over others, the replication crisis in psychology and why it doesn't necessarily mean that researchers were dishonest, honesty as a seldom researched construct, being honest for the wrong reasons and what the right ones are, utilizing research-backed methods...

On episode 134, we welcome Darryl Stickel to discuss the elements of building trust in various types of relationships, the levers of trust - integrity, benevolence, ability, how to foster all three and why we need to, confirmation bias and why positive perceptions of others become more positive over time and negative ones become increasingly more negative, our overly positive self-conceptions and...

On episode 133, we welcome Avram Alpert to discuss creating a good-enough world as opposed to one that solely benefits greatness, the myth of meritocracy and how it engenders biased outcomes, the talent that's frequently overlooked in Western culture, the Buddhist belief that life is inherently unsatisfactory despite how wealthy or successful you are, the future-oriented mindset of obsessive striv...

On episode 132, we welcome former hip-hop journalist Loupy D to discuss his career in the music industry, his relationship with Notorious B.I.G. and being impressed with his character when they initially met, meeting and photographing 2Pac during the 2Pacalypse Now album release party, NFTs and blockchain technology, the creation of hip-hop as a tool to unite and foster empathy through storytellin...

On episode 131, we welcome Daniel Bergner to discuss his new book 'The Mind and the Moon'; the history of psychotropic medications and their limitations; the neurological underpinnings of mental illness; psychotic disorders and the hearing voices movement; the anti-psychiatry movement and R.D. Laing's imperative to take hallucinations seriously; psychiatry's history of subduing symptoms instead of...

On episode 130, we welcome Professor Bryonn Bain to discuss his new book 'Rebel Speak'; critical race theory and its principles; the history of racism and how it became codified into law; the critics of CRT and their desire to maintain a sense of purity about American history and our legal system; the American prison system as a form of modern slavery; whether free-market capitalism can coincide w...

On episode 129, we welcome Dr. Sara Manning Peskin to discuss her new book 'A Molecule Away from Madness'; the fascinating stories of the scientists who discovered the molecules that cause neurological diseases and their cures, including Alois Alzheimer (who discovered the tangles and plaques of Alzheimer's) and Joseph Goldberger (who helped discover the cause of pellagra by ingesting pills of poo...

On episode 128, we welcome philosopher William Irwin to discuss his new book 'The Meaning of Metallica', the band's rise to fame and why so many identified with their music, 'Master of Puppets' and the insidious nature of addiction, the narrator's resentment in 'Unforgiven' toward others and how authenticity can become stifled by the collective, vulnerability and discovering the need for intimacy...

On episode 127, we welcome philosopher Mark White to discuss the philosophy of Thor; how his hammer was used to distinguish and judge worthiness; the similarities and differences between the various schools of ethics - virtue ethics, deontology, and utilitarianism; the golden mean of virtue ethics and its allowance of moral imperfection; the necessity of self-doubt to moral character and the balan...

On episode 126, we welcome Professor Christian Madbjerg to discuss the elements of 'sense-making', the benefits and limits of data collection, Moneyball and why some of the sports teams implementing purely statistical approaches aren't as successful as one may think they are, analytic empathy and using data to form deeper understandings of inter-subjective experiences, how to integrate various per...

On episode 125, we welcome philosopher Jessica Gordon-Roth to discuss John Locke and 'The Prince and the Cobbler' thought experiment, what makes up someone's identity and if it's more than just a bundle of memories, if people remain the same as they age, Locke's notion of consciousness and its distinction from the body, applying Locke's notion of personhood to transgender people to explain why inn...

On episode 124, we welcome philosopher Andy West to discuss teaching philosophy in prisons, how the prisoners initially surprised him with their insights, Sisyphean freedom and how we can become free in rebelling against authority, the juxtaposition of the prisoners' beliefs in free will and determinism, living in the moment vs continuing to hope for a better future, the Ring of Gyges and what the...

On episode 123, we welcome philosopher Ben Burgis to discuss the intellectual development of the late Christopher Hitchens, his early socialist ideals, the different versions of socialism and why Stalinist communism is sometimes considered to be state capitalism, Hitchens' criticisms of the Clintons and Mother Teresa, Hitchens' hopelessness about fostering widespread socialism and what he may have...

On episode 122, we welcome philosophers Constantine Sandis and Gary Browning to discuss the cultural legacy of the iconic singer Bob Dylan, what separated him from other artists of his era, his creative genius in piecing together elements from varied sources (including literature, film, and poetry), his desire to buck the trends for the sake of authenticity, Dylan's political activism (including c...

On episode 121, we welcome podcaster Chris Boutté to discuss his journey from drug dependency to becoming a YouTube sensation, tribalism and how cognitive biases help foster disdain for outsiders, the Joe Rogan controversy, how Chris was cancelled and his resiliency, content creation and the elements of growing a platform, how cancel culture tends to harm the ones cancelling, and why understanding...

On episode 120, we welcome philosopher Jack Symes of The Panpsychast to discuss the major competing theories of consciousness, the illusions of panpsychist idealism and materialist illusionism, Philip Goff and how his version of pansychism allows for the existence of a material universe, Massimo Piggliuci's understanding of consciousness as having evolved to help us plan and simulate difficult sit...

On episode 119, we welcome political scientist Bonnie Honig to discuss John Rawls' A Theory of Justice, utilitarianism vs Kantianism and whether the majority has the right to impose their will on the minority, neurodiversity and why peculiarities scare us, the happy grass-counter as a symbol of homosexuality, our incessant drive to be useful and tendency to shame people who aren't, and the reasons...

On episode 118, we welcome neuroscientist and literary scholar Angus Fletcher to discuss literary tools for personal character development; how literature can be therapeutic and spark creativity, reduce stress and anxiety, and promote personal growth; why archetypes in storytelling don't exist and stories are actually helpful adaptations to various environments; the downsides of formulaic thinking...

On episode 117, we welcome philosopher Richard Pettigrew to discuss 'The Russian Nobleman' thought experiment, what makes you a self, whether we should be held to the commitments made earlier in life, the notion of the perpetually dying self and how it can alleviate the terror of death, how the philosophical construct of the self can help but also harm others, the self in clinical psychology and w...

On episode 116, we welcome philosopher Lewis Gordon to discuss his new book 'Fear of Black Consciousness', how Critical Race Theory is misunderstood and why it's challenged, the parable of the Anglican minister and what it teaches us about systemic oppression, Harriet Bailey and how her radical love for Frederick Douglass fostered his sense of responsibility for the well-being of marginalized peop...

On episode 115, Alen and Leon discuss how having boundaries is crucial to the wellbeing of the relationship to yourself and others, the challenges that people face with setting boundaries for themselves and in their relationships, the difference between being liked and respected, passive-aggressive behavior and its consequences, when jokes are just jokes and when they aren't, the boundaries that t...

On episode 114, we welcome philosopher Christian Miller to discuss the nuances of moral character; why most people aren't fully good or fully bad; how their ethical choices fluctuate in various situations and sometimes because of minor environmental influences; the famous Stanley Milgram experiment and the more obscure versions of it, which highlight the brighter sides of human nature; the roles e...

On episode 113, we welcome philosopher Constantine Sandis to discuss the new book 'Philosophy Illustrated', Ludwig Wittgenstein's beetle in the box thought experiment, whether we can experience another's pain specifically and understand their experiences broadly, why Wittgenstein was skeptical of the skeptic argument that we can't, Wittgenstein's belief that philosophical problems were essentially...

On episode 112, we welcome back philosopher Bryan Van Norden to discuss the new book 'Philosophy Illustrated', the philosophy of Mengzi and the sprout of benevolence, the argument that human nature is fundamentally good, how it can become corrupted, egoistic drives and their relationship to depression, the significance of community for cultivating a sense of meaning, emotions and why they're the f...