The Curious Introvert

Ep. 277 Divorce Revolution: Living with Your Ex (& his new wife) [REMASTERED] Living together while divorced sounds crazy, but it’s the story of Suzanne Vickberg, PhD, an author & psychologist who chose a divorce by design rather than a divorce by default. She shares her thought process & divorce success story to answer the questions, can divorce be a good thing? When is divorce the be...

Dr. Michael P Masters is a professor of biological anthropology at Montana Tech University. Part of his research draws on anthropology, astronomy, physics & astrobiology to investigate UFO phenomenon, specifically the premise that aliens may be our human descendants, returning from the future to visit & study their own hominin evolutionary past. We discuss why thinking about this is more t...

Paul Ollinger was one of Facebook’s first 250 employees. At age 42, he walked out with a pocket full of cash in what most would consider an ideal situation, but what he found instead left him wondering what’s next while he explored the relationship between money, happiness, work, and meaning.  In this episode, we discuss how wealth changes us, leaves us the same and why it even matters for the ave...

Three guests. One fantastic conversation! Dr. Carol Queen from Good Vibes, a sex educator, a woman whose partner has a foot fetish (she doesn’t) & Ramon, a man who has a foot fetish along with his wife and who are the hosts of the Foot Fetish Podcast, join me for an educational (& hilarious) conversation about the most common of fetishes: feet. You’ll learn the difference between a kink &a...

According to the CDC, 1 in 36 children in the US are on the spectrum. Beth Lambert is the founder & Exec Dir of Documenting hope, a non-profit research org that over the last 15 years has collaborated with physicians, parents, scientists, & health organizations to examine the cumulative impact of environmental stressors in order to re-think the way we approach children’s health. In this ep...

Dima Ghawi grew up in a small Christian community in Amman, Jordan, the daughter of a man with an unpredictable temper & a mother who felt a decent marriage proposal for her daughter would be an opportunity out. In this episode, she shares how her dream suitor turned into a nightmare situation that included death threats from her father, a brave escape & a braver rebuilding of self.  You’l...

Paul F. Austin is the founder of Third Wave, research-based psychedelics education and community platform. In this episode, we explore the intersection of psychedelics, personal transformation, and professional success. You’ll hear macro vs micro dosing, which psychedelics deliver the best professional edge, how nicotine, caffeine and alcohol keep us in the industrial age & how AI will change...

A couple in their 50s happily married for over 20 years shares the hilarious story of how they accidentally became swingers, how it has improved their marriage & their tips for more open, vulnerable communication with your partner. You’ll also hear how they handle disclosing to friends & family, including their sons, her response to her mom who said, “Why don’t you just get divorced?” &amp...

Tom Incledon, PhD is the Founder & Chief Scientific Officer of Causenta Cancer Treatment Center. He not only has a number of published researches & serves as a reviewer for peer-reviewed journals, he’s also the guy that the heads of big cancer centers go to for treatment when they have cancer.  He’s combined his diverse academic & personalized medicine backgrounds to develop cutting ed...

Stephen Ng Qui Sang is a mechanical engineer who worked for the Ford Motor company & was looking for a way to be more efficient. This was the unlikely launching point down a path that led him to become the interim Executive Dir. Of the Monroe institute, a non-profit mostly famously known for partnering with the US Government to train soldiers for remote viewing. He’s now the president of Tech...

Dr. Alexys Hillman is a medical doctor specializing in grief advocacy. In this episode, we explore how to make room for grief in moments of joy, what unresolved grief looks like in physical symptoms & how to move through less recognized sources of grief like estrangement & loss of opportunity. This episode originally aired December 12, 2022 If you liked this episode, you’ll also like episo...

Dr. Bryan Caplan is an Economics Professor at George Mason University and a New York Times Bestselling author who often questions social norms. He’s the author of Build, Baby, Build: The Science and Ethics of Housing Regulation & in this episode, we discuss reasonable vs unreasonable approaches to risk, manufactured scarcity, environmental impact & gentrification. If you liked this episode...

Gill Tietz is a former pharmaceutical biochemist who uses science to approach the subject of sobriety in her podcast, Sober Powered.  In this episode, she explains the difference between a pastime & a problem, why WHY we drink matters & if it’s possible to be a heavy drinker, but not be an alcoholic. So whether you are wanting to better understand your newly sober friends, are sober curiou...

James Arrowood is the CEO & President of Alcor Life Extension Foundation, a non-profit that has been advocating for, researching, and performing cryonics to bodies & brains since 1972. Cryonics is the practice of preserving life by pausing the dying process using subfreezing temperatures in hopes of restoring good health with medical tech in the future. In this episode, we discuss the ways...

In 2014, Laila Mickelwait’s victim advocacy work lead her to take a closer look at the porn industry’s ties to sex trafficking & in 2020, her advocacy work led her to Pornhub, which at that time, was the 5th most visited website in the world & an unchecked cesspool of egregious child porn.  Through her public awareness efforts & collaboration from some unlikely sources, Pornhub has sin...

Dr Jenny Powers got her PhD in immunology from the University of Colorado & recently co-authored the book “On the Origin of Being: Understanding the Science of Evolution to Enhance Your Quality of Life.” Today we’re talking about Evolutionary mismatch, the idea that although our environment is quickly upgrading, our biology is still best suited for the hunter gatherer world. We cover how to ou...

Chris Bledsoe is considered the most credible experiencer in the world of phenomenon, someone whose experiences have been studied by NASA, the CIA, academics & the defense intelligence agency. He is set apart from many other experiencers in that he is a deeply religious man who continues to experience rejection & judgement from his spiritual community for sharing his message. But what othe...

James F Richardson is a cultural anthropologist who has studied American society for twenty years. He’s also the author of Our Worst Strength: American Individualism and Its Hidden Discontents. In this episode, we cover the impact of boundless optimism, options & the playground of autonomy. He speaks to the impact our individualism has on our work, mental health, friendships & romantic rel...

Louis Labrom is an experienced cameraman and camera technician who has worked on everyone’s favorite nature documentaries done by the BBC, Netflix, NatGeo, Disney & Discovery to name a few.  In this episode, you’ll hear him share behind the scenes of the greatest shots filming elephants, eagles, & snakes, the role of trained animals, how AI is changing the tools of the trade & the ethi...

Dr. Gwen Adshead is a forensic psychiatrist, consultant & therapist who spent most of her professional career working with homicide perpetrators in secure psychiatric hospitals.  She’s also the author of The Devil You Know, a book that documents her encounters at the Broadmoor Hospital, the oldest of England's three high-security psychiatric hospitals, known for housing its share of seria...

Aagie Dulzenrav was born & raised in Mongolia, spent time in Seattle, WA as an exchange student, served as the CEO to a leather company, worked at Cosmopolitan Mongolia, Burberry, Hugo Boss & now runs a music label along with working for Meanwhile in Mongolia, the tour company that hosted me while I was in Mongolia.  In this episode, Aagie & I discuss the challenges & opportunities...

Tom Wolf was a suburban Dad & city employee when he became addicted to drugs. He soon found himself sleeping in a doorway in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco getting high every 90 minutes.  Now six years sober, he serves on the leadership council of Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions & is a bridge between the reality of the streets & the meeting room of policy makers.  In thi...

Jesse Coomer suffered for years from what he calls “the modern condition,” cycles of stress & anxiety burdening our minds & bodies until he found relief & regained his passion for life with breath work & cold therapy. He was one of the first American certified Wim Hof instructors, is now an author & conducts breathwork & cold exposure trainings with a grounded & scienti...

Kinga Philipps is a journalist, TV presenter & shark conservationist who’s spent over two decades combining conservation & media conversation. You may recognize her from Discovery’s Shark Week shows Tiger Queen or Sharks in Paradise. In this episode, she shares how one village went from shark finning to shark preservation, the Disneyfication of nature, the grey areas of shark tourism &...

Dr Kate Mangino is a gender expert with a PhD in human rights & social development and the author of the book, Equal Partners: Improving Gender Equality at Home. In this episode, we unpack the tradwife trend to ask is it a harmless personal choice resulting from the options born of feminism or giant steps backwards for the women’s equality? You’ll hear the answer to what is a tradwife plus the...