Tangentially Speaking with Christopher Ryan

Tao Ruspoli is a dear friend of mine and one of the most creative, magical people I know. He makes films, music, photographs, festivals ... worlds. We had this conversation in the music studio (former garage) at his compound near Joshua Tree, CA. Tao's podcast is called Being in the World . Find me on Instagram or Twitter . Please consider supporting this podcast. This Amazon affiliate link kicks...

Kraig Adams is a filmmaker, hiker and minimalist living in New York City. I like this dude. Kraig on Instagram and YouTube . Find me on Instagram or Twitter . Please consider supporting this podcast. This Amazon affiliate link kicks a few bucks back my way. Intro music: “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range; "Little Gardens," by Eric Vitoff ; "Faith," by Joshua Redman ; "Smoke Alarm," by Car...

Dr. Paul Saladino is the author of The Carnivore Code: Unlocking the Secrets to Optimal Health by Returning to Our Ancestral Diet. He has used the carnivore diet to "reverse autoimmunity, chronic inflammation and mental health issues in hundreds of patients, many of whom had been told their conditions were untreatable." In addition to his personal podcast,  Fundamental Health , he can be found fea...

Dean Radin, PhD, is Chief Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and Associated Distinguished Professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies. He earned a BS in electrical engineering (magna cum laude, with honors in physics), and then an MS in electrical engineering and a PhD in psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Before joining the IONS research staff i...

A few amazing intro snips from listeners (including a guy up a tree rescuing a cat), some talk about the nature of "friendship" in Hollywood, and an in-depth rant about this article and the problem with contemporary tendencies to argue backwards from a desired belief, rather than forward from data. Music: "Beyond Belief," by Elvis Costello. Find me on Instagram or Twitter . Please consider support...

Here's the audio from this month's video ROMA that I make for supporters of the podcast. No video for you (!) but some extras, including talking about when/how to offer advice to friends, and how sometimes it's not about what the friend needs, it's what YOU need. Plus, what to do when you can't find your path, how to negotiate (or not) at the beginning of a relationship, and lots of other interest...

ERIC BERKOWITZ  is a writer, lawyer, and journalist. He has a degree in print journalism from University of Southern California and has published in  The Los Angeles Times  and  The Los Angeles Weekly , and for the  Associated Press . He was an editor of the West Coast’s premier daily legal publication,  The Los Angeles Daily Journal . He lives in San Francisco. He is the author of:  The Boundarie...

Jamie is an expert in peak performance and leadership, specializing in neuroanthropology––the intersection of culture, biology and psychology. He is the co-author of the global bestseller and Pulitzer Prize nominated Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, Navy SEALs and Maverick Scientists are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work and the founder of the Flow Genome Project, an international organiz...

" Tracy Clark-Flory grew up wedged between fizzy declarations of “girl power” and the sexualized mandates of pop culture. It was “broken glass ceilings” and Girls Gone Wild infomercials. With a vague aim toward sexual empowerment, she set out to become what men wanted—or, at least, understand it." Tracy's book, Want Me: A Sex Writer's Journey Into the Heart of Desire , is intimate, courageous, vul...

Steven Donziger is a renowned lawyer, writer, and public speaker with a focus on addressing human rights abuses and corporate malfeasance.  He is part of the team working with indigenous and farmer communities in an area of the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest suffering from high cancer rates and other health ailments related to the massive oil pollution caused by Texaco, now owned by Chevron. Due to...

Robert Wright is an American journalist and author who writes about science, history, politics, and religion. He has written five books:  Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information  (1988),  The Moral Animal  (1994),  Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny  (1999),  The Evolution of God  (2009), and  Why Buddhism is True (2017). He is the co-founder and editor-in-ch...

Rafe Kelley is an unusual guy. As focused on ideas as he is on physical movement, Rafe has studied martial arts, philosophy, parkour, anthropology, gymnastics, and evolution. He comes from an unusual family background (to put it mildly), and now teaches natural movement to everyone from UFC fighters to retired grandmothers. Super interesting, introspective, honest guy. Rafe on Insta and Twitter ....

This is one of those "flush the pipes" ROMAs, where I talk about a slew of things that seemed unrelated until I started talking about them. By the end, I realized that they're all aspects of the same issue. Anyway, it goes from a defense of Dan Savage to the demise of organized religion to the necessary irrationality of group identity to institutional momentum to whether sex and gender are biologi...

Jenny is a multi-disciplinary artist and writer based in Oakland, California, whose work generally involves acts of close observation, whether it's birdwatching ,  collecting screen shots , or  trying to parse bizarre forms of e-commerce . Her work has been exhibited at many prestigious museums and galleries, and she was the artist in residence at the San Francisco dump! Her writing has appeared i...

Dr. Brian Hare is a core member of the Center of Cognitive Neuroscience, a Professor in Evolutionary Anthropology, and Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 2004, and in 2005, following his work at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig was awarded the Sofia Kovalevskaja Award, Germany’s most prestigious award for scientist under 40. In 2007, S...

Roger Nygard   is perhaps best known for his acclaimed documentary  Trekkies , about the most obsessive fans in the Universe. Nygard’s previous documentary  The Nature of Existence , addressed the subject of the world’s philosophies, religions, and belief systems. Nygard has also directed  television series  such as  The Office  and  The Bernie Mac Show . His work as a film editor includes  Grey’s...

Bryan Callen is a stand-up comedian, actor, writer, podcaster, and a friend of mine.  Bryan, on Instagram and Twitter . Find me on Instagram or Twitter . Please consider supporting this podcast. This Amazon affiliate link kicks a few bucks back my way. Intro music: “Brightside of the Sun,” by Basin and Range; "Sometimes," by Daniel Lanois; "Smoke Alarm," by Carsie Blanton . This is a public episod...

John Colapinto is a journalist, author and a staff writer at The New Yorker . In 2000, he wrote the  New York Times  bestseller  As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl , which exposed the details of the  David Reimer case, a boy who had undergone a sex change in infancy—a medical experiment long heralded as a success, but which was, in fact, a failure. In 2007, The New Yorker publish...

Over the past few years, people keep asking me if I'd read The Way of the Superior Man , by David Deida. Having long ago given up on being a superior man, I hadn't. Finally got around to reading it, and as you'll hear in this episode, I have some things to say about what I think Mr. Deida gets right and some equally passionate thoughts on what he gets very, very wrong. Find me on Instagram or Twit...

Niles is a documentary photographer, filmmaker, and essayist who's work focuses around themes of ageless wisdom for our modern times. Sharing insights in his films, spoken-word essays, podcast "An Infinite Path," alternate media appearances, street photography blog "Philosophical Photography," and in mentorships with others. He is the director of the feature film Transmutation, the documentary ser...

What a woman! Deborah Copaken has slept in caves in Afghanistan, produced documentaries, raised three kids, and written best-selling books on the A train under the cold streets of Manhattan. She's smart, funny, tough, and honest. A perfect podcast guest, in other words. Deborah on Instagram and Twitter . Find me on Instagram or Twitter . This episode is sponsored by Lelo , maker of the world's fin...

Welcome to another Ramblin' ROMA. Lots to cover in this one. I talk about: Current events (of course); How/why to compliment the women/men in your life; Why we need to think globally, but act locally; The life and death of my friend Diego Fresco; Why there's no shame in changing course in life; Some suggestions for taking advantage of COVID; Ideas for how to communicate with people enthralled with...

Hear that? That's the sound of shit hitting the fan. In this episode (not for the faint of heart), I trace current events back to the marriage of modern advertising and politics in the 1980s and the fragmentation of media. We're in for a wild ride, folks. It's just beginning.  Find me on Instagram or Twitter . Please consider supporting this podcast. This Amazon affiliate link kicks a few bucks ba...

Eleanor Janega is a very smart, very funny medieval historian, specializing in late medieval sexuality, apocalyptic thought, propaganda, and the urban experience in general, and in central Europe more particularly. She teaches medieval and early modern history at a number of universities across London. She considers herself to be "a sad, sad medievalist," who hopes to "explain the medieval influen...

In this episode, I answer listener questions about whether to savor or defend a world that may be dying, how to be single but not alone, how to choose a safe place to make a stand, and my feelings about the holiday season. Check What Makes This Thing Great? Find me on Instagram or Twitter . Please consider supporting this podcast. This Amazon affiliate link kicks a few bucks back my way. Intro mus...