Life is hard. This podcast will help. Lessons from the greatest thinkers on the planet with Chris Williamson. Including guests like David Goggins, Dr Jordan Peterson, Naval Ravikant, Sam Harris, Jocko Willink, Dr Andrew Huberman, Dr Julie Smith, Steven Bartlett, Ryan Holiday, Robert Greene, Matthew McConaughey, Alain de Botton, Alex Hormozi, Tony Robbins, Chris Bumstead, Mark Manson and more.
Dr Kevin Dutton is a psychologist, author, and elite performance consultant whose research focuses on persuasion and social influence, psychopathic personality and elite cognition. Psychopaths get a bad rap. Perhaps understandably. They have a branding problem to say the least. But there are some personality traits like emotional control, focus, drive and single-mindedness that elite performers can model off of psychopaths to improve their effectiveness. Expect to learn how psychopathy exists at...
Patrick House is a neuroscientist and writer whose research focuses on free will and how mind-control parasites alter their host's behaviour. If it wasn't for us experiencing it, the universe would give us no indication that consciousness even exists. The most fundamental part of human experience has many proposed explanations, but just how well-grounded are these, and what are we missing? Expect to learn why removing parts of the brain change some aspects of the self but not all of them, what i...
Dr James Cantor is a clinical psychologist and sexologist specialising in hypersexuality and paraphilias. There are a broad range of things that turn humans on. Some are common, some are uncommon and some are very illegal. James' study of paraphilias exposes him to some of the world's most interesting and unusual sexual desires with the goal of working out why they exist. Expect to learn how asexuality could evolve at all, why some able-bodied people feel that they should be amputees, why adults...
Mark Bell is a world record-breaking powerlifter, owner of Super Training Gym and inventor of the Sling Shot. A lack of support killed more dreams than a lack of competence ever did. There's a modern trend that trying hard at things and taking them seriously is uncool. Disincentivising excellence is one of the worst habits a society can have and it's time to put a stop to it. Expect to learn why taking a compliment is a skill that many of us don't have, why there is no growth without having a go...
Tim Harford is an economist, associate member of Nuffield College, Oxford and an honorary fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, a journalist and an author. Humans need to be able to accurately judge the world around them. With more information than ever, this should be getting easier by the year and yet clear thinking seems to be ever more elusive. Why are we so prone to biases and what are some of the biggest rationality blunders from history? Expect to learn why Sir Arthur Conan Doyle got o...
Dr Cassie Holmes is a Professor at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, an author and an award-winning researcher of time and happiness. Time management in the modern world is hard. Many people don't feel like they have sufficient space to complete their to do list, let alone manifest their spare-time dreams. With some new strategies and a different mindset around time however, this problem might be fixed. Expect to learn what time habits the happiest people all have, how to truly value things ...
Baggage Claim is a YouTuber and movie critic. There have been a lot of female leads in TV and cinema over the last few years. She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Dr Strange 2 and The Rings Of Power all showed women leading the charge, but just how aspirational and admirable are these role models for the women that watch them? Is it treating them like mature humans or patronising them like fragile idiots? Expect to learn how cultural narcissism has taken hold of Hollywood, why perfect female characters tea...
Chris von Rueden is an anthropologist and Associate Professor at the University of Richmond who researches how humans form status hierarchies and the evolution of human cooperation. We take it for granted that there are leaders in modern society. Presidents, prime ministers, kings and queens. Hierarchies are baked into our world, but what did leadership look like in an ancestral environment and why did it evolve in the first place? Expect to learn the two ways that primitive leaders could comman...
Dr Carole Hooven is Co-director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and an author. Testosterone is a hell of a drug. It causes many things to happen in both men and women. But it's dividing opinion even more than it's dividing the sexes. This isn't great for calming conversations, bridging differences or finding common ground however it's a fascinating topic to dig into. Expect to learn what it's like for women who go on testosterone to ...
Scott Galloway is a clinical professor of marketing at the New York University Stern School of Business, a public speaker, entrepreneur and an author. Millennials are the first generation who have not done better than their parents. Educational outcomes, finances, home ownership, mental health and marriage rates are all thrown up in the air. Why has this happened and what can we do about it? Expect to learn why covid worsened the wealth gap more than it already was, why TikTok is a trojan stalli...
Randy Nesse is a physician, author and founder of the field of evolutionary medicine and evolutionary psychiatry. Evolution created an odd creature in humans. We're able to fly to the moon and cure diseases. But we also get anxious in the supermarket or depressed if we have a bad week. Why would mother nature make us so fragile? If natural selection is powerful why are mental disorders so common? Expect to learn why the capacity for low mood exists at all, how low mood and depression could be ev...
Ryan Holiday is a podcaster, marketer and an author. Discipline is one of the modern world's hot topics. Because it's become apparent that in order to achieve anything, you must be able to temper your desires and direct your efforts. The Stoics believed this 2000 years ago and between then and now there's been a plethora of historical examples which can teach us how to build and sustain discipline. Expect to learn why sanity is your most precious resource, why discipline without an end goal is p...
Destiny is a streamer and a YouTuber. As the mainstream media abandons talking to anyone male in a reasonable manner, men's advice has been pushed underground. It's good to have someone helping men to become better people, friends and partners for women, but what are the errors in this new wave of advice? Expect to learn whether cancellation actually makes creators grow bigger or if that's just a cope, whether the Red Pill movement is a net benefit for men, why the Right seems to have dominated ...
Sam Tatam is the Head of Behavioural Science at Ogilvy Growth & Innovation and an author. When it comes to solving modern problems, it turns out that evolution might have a lot of the answers. Rather than revolutionary ideas, evolutionary ideas and solutions that already exist in the animal kingdom can help us with all manner of challenges. Expect to learn how the wings of an owl helped fix problems in the bullet train, how the ears of a hare assist wind turbines, why Google Glass failed, how co...
Andrew Bustamante is a Former CIA Intelligence Officer and a Private Intelligence consultant. The CIA is one of the world's most advanced, secretive, shadowy organisations. Only 10% of their officers are field agents and actually have spent time undercover, Andrew is one of those agents. He's also been in charge of nuclear missiles and been multiple cover stories. Expect to learn why an alarm goes off at least once per hour at every nuclear missile silo across America, how the CIA protects itsel...
Richard Reeves discusses the struggles men face in education, employment, and family life. He argues that structural factors, rather than individual failings, contribute to these issues. The conversation covers the toxicity of "toxic masculinity," the need for male role models, and the importance of engaged fatherhood. Reeves advocates for policies that support men without undermining women's progress, highlighting the need to address gender inequalities running in both directions.
Dr Becky Smethurst is an astrophysicist, author, YouTuber and a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Oxford. Black holes are the weirdest, densest, most mysterious objects in the universe. However they're not black, and they're not holes. In fact pretty much everything you think you know about them is probably wrong. Expect to learn why galaxies don't actually orbit black holes, why the biggest black hole in the universe needed an entirely different name, whether black holes can form with...
James Smith is an author, podcaster, online trainer and not a life coach. Many people say that their number one personal development goal is to be more confident. But what if you don't have anything to be confident about? Is competence a required prerequisite to becoming confident or can you fake it until you make it? Expect to learn why most entrepreneurs are miserable, how leaving unasked questions can eat up your mental energy, the relationship between anxiety and confidence, how to deal with...
Dr Stuart Ritchie is a psychologist and science communicator known for his research in human intelligence and an author. The influence of our genes on the outcomes we get in life has been long established and replicated in science. However the public response to this has been very unhappy, making Behavioural Genetics one of the most heated areas of research there is. Expect to learn why some people dislike behavioural genetics so much, what happened with the recent SSRI rug pull, whether Emotion...
Matthew Cobb is a zoologist, professor of zoology at the University of Manchester and an author. Genetic engineering has given humans the ability to modify crops to be resistant to disease and synthesise insulin without needing to kill and extract it from animals. But what are its dangers? Especially in a world where CRISPR and human gene editing is just around the corner. Expect to learn whether we can select and edit embryos to increase IQ or athletic abilities, the biggest close calls we've f...
Catherine Salmon is an evolutionary psychology researcher, professor of Psychology at the University of Redlands and an author. Women can be a mystery, sometimes even to themselves. Modern culture is making many proclamations about what women like and why they should like it, but are these new headlines accurate, or even desirable? Expect to learn why women love erotic stories so much, whether evolutionary psychology is sexist, why Catherine did a study where people rated the attractiveness of f...
Russ Roberts is an economist, a research fellow at Stanford University, an author and a podcaster. Economics promised us a model which works for all of life's decisions. From what to buy for lunch to investing in a company. But when you're faced with decisions like where to live, how many children to have, whether to get married or what sort of person you want to be, it falls short. Thankfully Russ has a new toolkit. Expect to learn why Charles Darwin made a checklist before marriage which said ...
Shawn Ryan is a former US Navy SEAL, former contractor for the CIA and a podcaster. The world's special operations are done in the darkness. If Navy SEALs are a spectre then CIA Contractors are their shadows. Shawn spent decades working behind enemy lines all over the world and has some crazy insights into that life, plus how it feels to re-integrate back into normal society. Expect to learn what it's like to train Keanu Reeves for John Wick, why physical abuse from your fellow SEALs might be ju...
Jonny & Yusef from Propane Fitness join me for another Life Hacks episode. Sit back & enjoy as we run through our favourite tools, apps, websites, strategies & resources for a productive and efficient life. Expect to learn why I've become fully obsessed with my new desk bike, Jonny's solution for protein cereal, how to get free Amazon delivery within a couple of hours, the best tricks to get the most out of Spotify, why Yusef is obsessed with his new pressure cooker, Apple's fantastic new iPhone...
Kristina Durante is a professor of marketing at Rutgers Business School and a social psychologist who studies the biology of decision-making and evolution of female psychology. For the first time in history, many women have the opportunity to pursue a career as their primary life path. But does this prohibit them from also having a family? Do women actually want to be mothers or was it their only option? Do women actually want careers or is it just a shiny new opportunity? Expect to learn if wom...
Ben Greenfield is a Biohacker, Coach, Author, Speaker and Ironman Triathlete. Boosting your performance in the bedroom is a goal many people want. Thankfully Ben experimented with pretty much every strategy there is from gas station pills to penis stem cell injections, soundwave treatment and red light therapy so we don't have to. Expect to learn why turning your penis black and blue might not be a bad thing long term, why Zevia is as healthy of a soda drink as you can get, how my friend decided...
William Costello is an evolutionary psychologist, writer and Ph.D. student at the University of Texas. Men being hopeless with women is not a new phenomenon. But them self-identifying and creating a subculture around being "genetic dead ends" definitely is. William conducted some of the world's first research into the underlying psychological profile of incels to find out just what's going on. Expect to learn why 45% of working age women will be single and childless by 2030, why many incels woul...
I hit 500k Subscribers on YouTube!! To celebrate, I asked for questions from YouTube, Twitter, Locals and Instagram, so here's another 90 minutes of me trying to answer as many as possible. As always there's some great questions in here about whether Andrew Tate should have been banned, whether I'm autistic and my views on casual sex. Expect to learn how long I spend reading each day, how rarely I drink alcohol and caffeine, whether I think the Red Pill is positive for young men, how to avoid th...
Charlie Walker is an explorer, writer and public speaker. What happens when the Russian government catch you taking photos and writing articles shortly after a war breaks out? Very little that is good. Unfortunately Charlie stumbled into precisely this situation, but thankfully he got out too so he can tell us what happened. Expect to learn what it feels like to travel over 50,000 miles by bicycle, foot, horse, raft, ski and dugout canoe, how close Charlie came to spending his life in a Russian ...
Dr Christian Jarrett is deputy editor of Psyche and an author. Most people believe that they are their personalities. That it's an immutable, unchanging, central part of them as a person. But psychologists and neuroscientists have been studying the science of personality change for many years and have uncovered strategies to nudge your personality in the direction you want. Expect to learn why most personality tests are basically useless, how genetically heritable our personalities are, just how...
