The Neurodivergent Professor

I used to own a brewery. In our rural location and with our small customer pool, we struggled to be profitable.  My partners and I disagreed about how to best approach profitability. One had an MBA and swore by the neo-capitalist, Econ 101 approach to maximizing revenues. Following this popular approach, we were unable to generate returns on the money we threw at advertising, marketing, and solici...

This episode is inspired by the idea that the USA has the world's most expensive yet least h care. At least this has been the type of conclusion drawn from many analyses that compare things like GDP, cost of health care, and individual health. The idea is that we have come a long way, but we don’t necessarily have a lot to show for it. Or, maybe it’s about making all of this so-called ‘progre...

If I’ve said it once by now, I’ve said it a thousand times: It blows my mind that any two people can have a conversation and walk away feeling understood AND having understood the other person with any degree of accuracy. In other words, our communication sucks.  We often hear something other than the other person’s intent. And how often have you had a conversation and then have to have the same o...

Knowing yourself is an important part of being a complete human. Maybe this is just my opinion based on my own values, but it seems to be a theme. Throughout history there have been thinkers proclaiming the importance of knowing oneself. To justify this conclusion we can look at the opposite side of the coin.  What is NOT knowing yourself like?  To me, not knowing yourself leads to lots of misbeha...

If you listened to (or watched) KEW Episode 15 about the Rat Race, you’ll know my feelings on jobs. And consumerism. And keeping up with the Joneses. I think most human problems stem from our relationship with money. And possessions. And ownership.  Many smart people will say that this mess all started when the first (fat, white, male) humans decided they could own land. Prior to that, it never oc...

I spent most of my pre-teen and teenage years terrified of people. I was very shy. I stayed at home on Friday and Saturday nights while I was in high school. And don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my time. I played a lot of video games on my Commodore 64 computer. I learned to play guitar. I read cool books like the Carlos Castaneda series. I enjoyed my life. But I didn’t interact with people a lot bec...

While I don’t want to perpetuate the ‘capitalism sucks’ argument, I want to spend some time on degrowth. Pretty funny that the spell checkers keep correcting ‘degrowth’ to ‘regrowth’. See? This idea is manifested in everything. Because of capitalism, humans have become obsessed with growth. Mostly in the financial sense. The way our global economy is set up, growth is an essential requirement. May...

Divorce taught me that I had been very codependent in my first marriage. Many would argue that my ex-wife was narcissistic. As KEW readers and listeners know, I don't like either of those words but I think they describe some very human attributes. Some people are very confident and others are not so much. The extreme ends of this continuum result in things like narcissism and codependency.  I...

The words 'leader' and 'narcissist' bug me. I think these two words are overused. I also don't think we really know what they mean anymore. Maybe we never did. Maybe the words have been usurped by the very people defined by them. Let's start with leadership. What is this, exactly? If you look on LinkedIn (which I did, then I quit) you will see 'leadership' a...

For the past twenty-some Episodes, I have been trying to figure out how to formulate my current question of interest. Generally, I am trying to make the case that Nature provides a wealth of information. Further, I am pleading with humankind to CONSULT nature when making decisions. Especially decisions that affect our species' or planets' health. I have used evolution and natural selecti...

While this is not a definitive treatise on Systems Thinking, I wanted to talk a bit about this topic as it is relevant to many of my posts. People tell me that out-of-the-box thinking is atypical. Most people seem to think of the world in simplified, or at least minimized relationships. For example, you might think your job sucks. When thinking about how to change that or do something about it, yo...

I'm revisiting some of my favorite concepts in this episode. Awareness. Intent. Attention. Consciousness. Will. And how these things work together and facilitate growth. Being human.  Underneath all of this, I believe that growing to be a 'better' human is a critical requirement of being alive.  Or, if it is not a requirement, it is a meaningful element whose absence is a shame if n...

I say it all the time. The three most powerful words in the English language are, "I Don't Know'.  When I worked at a pet store, the boss publicly humiliated me for not being able to say, "I Don't Know'. I learned quickly that it is not only ok, it is not only a good idea, it is not only TRUE, but it is very freeing to say, "I Don't Know". If you'r...

This is really the third in a series about the evolutionary significance of sex. I recorded this Episode first, then forgot about it and recorded the previous two episodes (117 and 118). Funny that this was all on my mind to the point where I forgot talking about it. But that's how important this is. I can't stress it enough and so give it three Episodes. The evolution of sexual selectio...

In part 1 of this series, I introduced the difference between asexual reproduction and sexual reproduction.  Asexual reproduction is basically mitosis or simple cell division. This leaves little room for variation. Evolution and change are slow, and your kids are basically clones of you. With the onset and ultimate domination of sexual reproduction, much more change becomes possible. New concepts...

Sex. We're obsessed with it. And for good reason. Sexual reproduction is the mechanism that perpetuates life. We can't live forever, but we can become essentially immortal by passing on our genes to the next generation. Humans, and other life forms, don't live forever. But one can argue that our DNA does.  And it's not all sex, but it's more fun to talk about sex. We used...

What's the point? Of any of it? For me, it is the unrest that comes from acknowledging what is wrong in the world. Poverty. War. Violent crime. Social justice issues. Inequality. Racism. Choose your weapon. It isn't hard to see problems in the world. My point is not to point them out, but to try and posit solutions. Or pathways to solutions. Because I'm sick and tired of armchair, s...

My most pedantic episode ever. While I am a pretty touchy-feely hippie kind of guy, I shy away from the overly emotional and more 'woo-woo' concepts. I don't believe in the 'secret' (though I do think a positive attitude attracts positive things) and I don't like gratuitous cheesiness. But I have had multiple experiences that lead me toward Love. I have had somatic ex...

I continue to be inspired by the interviews on The Great Simplification Podcast , by the host Nate Havens, and by his guests. It is rewarding to find support for ideas I thought were my own. So many thoughts have been swirling around in my head, and this podcast/blog/video channel is my attempt to integrate them. It is happening. Slowly, but surely. And the process has been expedited lately. The A...

Are you a technologist? Do you think tech is going to solve all of our human problems? Do you see science, health advances, nuclear tech or some other human invention as being our salvation? Maybe you don't even see problems around us. I find it hard to believe that everyone, in some way, doesn't wonder where we are headed.  As any follower on KEW will know by now, I think we need to tak...

I recently came upon a podcast by a fella named Nate Hagens. The podcast, and Nate's piece de resistance is called The Great Simplification and his ideas center around the future of humans on Earth. The idea behind The Great Simplification is that humans will soon run out of energy to power or current levels of consumption and have to drastically simplify our lives to compensate for that loss...

I have been thinking a lot about the popular images of aggressive male competitors. Silverback gorillas. Wrestlemania or UFC fighters. These popular ideas feature 'Alpha males' bullying and pushing around 'weaker' males in order to get mates, habitat, or food. These toxic stereotypes probably spill over into popular culture and contribute to the issues we have among genders tod...

Like Competition, the concept of Enough is something I think about a lot. How much is enough? I think about it often in the context of an annual income. How much money does it take to be happy? Or satisfied. Or not upset. Or make ends meet plus a have a little fun. How much money do we really need? And then I think about how some people, maybe not many, but some, make WAY more than enough. And, of...

I really dislike Competition. And it is a touchy subject. In an article I published on Medium, I received several hateful comments defending the importance of competition in business and sports. In KEW Episode 95 I discuss Rugged Individualism vs. Unified Connection to make the point that competition focuses on isolation rather than community. I talk about this topic a lot. And it is important for...

It's a good question. Why? Maybe we should always be asking why. When we don't know why we're doing something, what's the point? Whether it's for money. Or for power. Or to get something. Or maybe it's a more altruistic reason. The 'why' we do things is critical and isn't it crazy to think we might not know it? It seems to me the tools we have tradition...