Hello, I'm Minni Driver and I'm excited to be returning with the rest of season two of my podcast Many Questions. Next week. I had to take a little break because my book, Managing Expectations came out and I had to go and talk about it in the US and in the UK, and it was amazing and if you haven't read it, read it or listen to it. I can't wait this brand new round of guests and how they answered our seven questions. So in the second half of season two, my friend and we just co starred in
a movie together and he's the most amazing person. Simon peg is one of my guests. Happiness is a continuum which includes despair and everything, you know, because you can't have happiness unless you experience the other stuff as well. So you need those things as part of your happiness, you know what. I think back to the birth of my daughter, and I was actually in the midst of
quite a crisis at that time. Personally. I remember those four days in the hospital and she was born on the first of July, so we were still in there on the fourth sitting on the little window sill where I was sleeping and watching the fireworks and having this new little life. It was like a little bubble of happiness inside a period where I was very, very unhappier. Author and psychotherapist and grief expert Juliet Samuel is another guest.
The first line of a roadless traveled was life is difficult, and I thought, hang on, No one ever told me that, although it had been my entire life. But somehow it's the secret that no one had said. It's normal that it's difficult, not like I'm struggling through it and I'm the one that's failing and everyone else has got it sorted. Life's difficult, right, okay Boom The legendary iconic actress and model Brookshields. When I lost my first child, I lost
a lot of my youthfulness. By that next day, I remember thinking, oh, you're an adult now, you know. I immediately went to my fault. Of course, it had to be my fault, and it was really important for me to learn I didn't take too many yoga classes or I didn't do anything wrong, you know, it wasn't a fault of mine. And that was kind of that. I grew up a lot. Neuroscientists and author David Eagleman who
will blow your mind. The top question for me is the question of consciousness, which is why does it feel like something to be you or me? Because the brain is built of eight six billion neurons. Fundamentally, it's just a big biological machine. But the question is why does it feel like something to be alive? Why do you experience the beauty of a sunset or the smell of cinnamon or the taste of fetted cheese on your tongue. Why aren't we just like you know, my computer, my
laptop here. Presumably it's not conscious. And when I watch YouTube video that I think is funny, it presumably doesn't think it's funny. It's just sending zero, you know, it's just sending zeros in one drowd. This is the question is how do you build a biological machine and have
it be self aware? And actor and former Associate Director of Public Engagement in the Obama administration Cal pen But the stories they would tell us, you know, grandparents telling you stories to course you into eating vegetables at the dinner table when they visit. And my grandparents would talk
about how they marched with Gandhi. They're trying to get you to eat your vegetables, and Grandpa's talking about getting thrown in jail and beaten by British soldiers for standing up for his human rights, and of course the eight year old you was like, there he goes again, Grandpa with another gunsy story and many more. We'll be back next Wednesday, October five with a brand new episode. And if you missed any episodes from earlier in the season or from season one, now is your chance to go
back and listen. Each episode is a new entry in the archive, a new opportunity ty to examine how has people were both similar and individual. Join me as we continue this exploration on season two of many questions on the I Heart radio app, Apple podcast or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Seven questions, limitless answers. See you next Wednesday, October five,