Polina Pompliano is a writer, author & founder of The Profile. Polina spends her time assessing the world's highest performing & most interesting individuals. Today we break down some of the common traits of her favourite subjects. Expect to learn how David Goggins used post-it notes to change himself, why Elon Musk is able to have truly unique thoughts, what Polina learned from The Rock, how the highest performers on earth spend their time wisely and much more... Sponsors: Get 10% disco...
Mar 22, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 298
Brian Christian is a programmer, researcher and an author. You have a computer system, you want it to do X, you give it a set of examples and you say "do that" - what could go wrong? Well, lots apparently, and the implications are pretty scary. Expect to learn why it's so hard to code an artificial intelligence to do what we actually want it to, how a robot cheated at the game of football, why human biases can be absorbed by AI systems, the most effective way to teach machines to learn, the dang...
Mar 20, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 297
Kalle Sauerland is one of the most successful promoters in world boxing, Co-Founder of Sauerland Events and Co-Founder of the World Boxing Super Series. Boxing is a legendary sport which captures global attention, but the entire industry is held together by the promoters who make the matches and create the events we love to watch, how does it all work? Expect to learn Kalle's thoughts on Jake & Logan Paul's YouTube boxing careers, his wildest stories from press conferences, how terrifying De...
Mar 18, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 296
Ben Bergeron is a CrossFit Coach and the Owner of CrossFit New England. As far as we know, we only get one shot at life, so we'd better make it count. Fulfilling our potential and making the most of our abilities is the name of the game, but how do you do this? Expect to learn why core values are so important to achieving your goals, how Ben focusses on maximising his minutes, how to embrace adversity in your life, why intentionality and focus are so crucial and much more... Extra Stuff: Check o...
Mar 15, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 295
John Vervaeke is an Associate Professor at the University Of Toronto. There is a meaning crisis upon us. People are revisiting Stoicism and Buddhism and mindfulness and psychedelics in an attempt to understand themselves and connect with the world around them. John joins me today to try and give us a route out of this trench. Expect to learn the different types of learning, how John would construct a person who is ready to become wise and find meaning, the daily practises that John uses to conti...
Mar 13, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 294
Adam Alter is a Professor of Marketing at New York University's Stern School of Business and an author. Most adults report that they are within an arm's reach of their phone for 24 hours a day. Our devices have slotted themselves into our lives seamlessly, but controlling our screentime is becoming increasingly difficult. Expect to learn the psychological tricks tech companies are using to keep you hooked, what Adam thinks the best strategies are to control screentime, what our concerns should b...
Mar 11, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 293
Rob Henderson is a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge and a US Air Force Veteran. Signalling is something everyone is doing all of the time. We are constantly leaking information about ourselves and our motives, but most of that information is involuntary. Expect to learn why signalling and status are intrinsically linked, how a standing next to a Lexus can increase a man's attractiveness, why putting 20 expensive pens on your desk is a smart idea, why young men play loud music out of ...
Mar 08, 2021•1 hr 27 min
John Danaher is an author and a lecturer at the National University of Ireland. Having a job is valorised in modern society. But if our jobs are taken over by robots, will we find a sense of purpose in other things outside of work, or are we just going to lead meaningless lives? Expect to learn why technological unemployment might be desirable, what a cyborg utopia might look like, why John thinks losing work might not result in loss of purpose, the risks of sacrificing human values in pursuit o...
Mar 06, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 291
Dr Diana Fleischman is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Portsmouth and an author. When we get sick with a virus like Covid-19, our bodies respond, but our behaviour and personality also change in a number of important ways and sometimes, it doesn't change back. Expect to learn why avoiding new foods when ill makes evolutionary sense, whether needing the bathroom reduces your belief in free will, why extraversion is reduced when you're sick, what Diana thinks...
Mar 04, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 290
We hit 100k Subscribers on YouTube!! To celebrate I asked for questions on Instagram and Twitter. I was going to just make a short YouTube-only video but the questions were so good, I couldn't cut enough out, so here I am, answering your questions for an hour. Expect to learn whether I think Brian Rose is a sham, whether Sam Harris will ever get rid of his Trump Derangement Syndrome, my biggest tip for starting a successful podcast, whether I get annoyed by people calling me Chris Wills and much...
Mar 01, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 289
Diane Rehm is a former radio presenter, producer and an author. Talking about the end of life is uncomfortable, but watching someone you love be forced to live on through pain is even worse. Diane has interviewed hundreds of people on the topic of assisted dying from Doctors to Priests, terminally ill patients and ethicists. Expect to learn why Right To Die Laws are so complex, problematic and applied differently across the world. what the difference is between euthanasia and assisted dying, how...
Feb 27, 2021•52 min•Ep. 288
Sven Nyholm is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Ethics at Utrecht University. Robots are all around us. They perform actions, make decisions, collaborate with humans, be our friends, perhaps fall in love, and potentially harm us. What does this mean for our relationship to them and with them? Expect to learn why robots might need to have rights, whether it's ethical for robots to be sex slaves, why self-driving cars are being programmed to drive with human mistakes, who is responsible if...
Feb 25, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 287
Dr Zach Bush MD is a physician and educator specialising in internal medicine, endocrinology and hospice care. The last 12 months have been a challenge. Everyone has come up against difficulties and can't wait to get back to some sense of normality, but by aiming for normal, are we missing out on an opportunity to become something better? Expect to learn how to deal with a loss of meaning and identity during global crises, why unity and conformity are not the same thing, how losing diversity in ...
Feb 22, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 286
Aaron and Jocelyn Freeman are relationship coaches and authors. Success in relationships can be as much to do with dealing with disagreements as finding common ground, so arguing well might actually be an important skill we need to develop. Expect to learn what an argument hangover is, how you can make a disagreement with your partner better before it's even begun, how you can turn conflict into a good thing, why emotional triggers are a danger and much more... Sponsors: Get 20% discount & f...
Feb 20, 2021•55 min•Ep. 285
Hamilton Morris is a journalist, documentary producer and a chemist. Hamilton's Pharmacopeia is one of the most interesting documentaries around chemistry, psychoactive drugs, psychedelic culture and traditional uses for plant medicine ever. Sadly Season 3 is the last one, but Hamilton joins me today to talk about his interest in consciousness, why chemistry hasn't captured culture like other sciences, why Mkat failed because of a branding issue, why we should be synthesising DMT ourselves inste...
Feb 18, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 284
Andrew Doyle is Titania McGrath, a comedian and a writer. Free speech is one of the core tenants of a modern liberal society, and yet we are seeing restrictions being placed on it across the West. In the UK Hate Speech Laws have been introduced and even America is looking at amending the amendment. Expect to learn what Andrew thinks about Donald Trump being removed from Twitter, whether cancel culture exists, why Miley Cyrus' genital preference is dangerous, what future humans will think when th...
Feb 15, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 283
Dylan Werner is a yoga teacher and an author. Breathing is one of the few ways we can directly interact with how our physiology is operating, and yet no one ever taught us how to do it. Dylan Werner is one of the world's best known yoga teachers and today he gives us a breakdown of not only how the breath can impact our mood and performance but also explains the biology of how our breathing works, how you can implement breathwork into your daily routine, plus he guides us through an entire breat...
Feb 13, 2021•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 282
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 brought a potato to a podcast, my biggest productivity tip for 2021, how Jonny is generating ideas in the shower, Yusef's favourite journalling app, how to ensure you never miss your creatine again and much more... Sponsors: Get 20% discount on Reebok’s entir...
Feb 11, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 281
Carl Benjamin is the YouTuber formerly known as Sargon Of Akkad, a political commentator and host of The Lotus Eaters Podcast. It feels like a decade of history has happened already in 2021, so I invited Carl on to try and make sense of the madness. Expect to learn Carl's opinion on Steven Crowder suing Facebook, what a future with WallStreetBets in will look like, whether there is a common thread between JK Rowling and Jordan Peterson, whether American national pride is dwindling and much more....
Feb 08, 2021•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 281
Jonny joins me (without Yusef) to discuss the wild west of creating money on the internet. Given the living hell that real businesses have been through with Covid, many budding entrepreneurs are trying to get some of that sweet, sweet internet money. Expect to learn, the biggest tips Jonny has learned over 10 years of working on the internet, the fundamentals of creating an online business, why traffic & conversions are life, the most common problems everyone makes and much more... Sponsors:...
Feb 06, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 279
W Keith Campbell is Professor of Psychology at the University of Georgia's Franklin College and an author. Expect to learn what The Dark Triad is, how narcissists and psychopaths are linked, what social media's influence has been on narcissism, why you might want to increase narcissistic tendencies and much more... Sponsors: Get 10% off all LipoLife & Jigsaw Health products at https://naturesfix.co.uk/modernwisdom/ (use code MODERNWISDOM) Extra Stuff: Buy The New Science Of Narcissism - http...
Feb 04, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 278
Michael Malice is an author, political commentator & podcaster. The first few weeks of 2021 have been madness. Michael joins me today to connect the dots of chaos and give us an insight into why the world is slowly turning upside down. Expect to learn what a modern anarchist's perspective is on politics, what Michael thinks about the WallStreetBets and Gamespot debacle, what his predictions for a Biden presidency are, why the Capitol Hill Siege will never be forgotten and much more... Sponso...
Feb 01, 2021•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 277
Brian Muraresku is a lawyer and an author. The Mysteries of the ancient world are just getting stranger and stranger. Did Plato, Marcus Aurelius and thousands more attend a secret psychedelic ceremony which formed the basis for the Christian Sacrament? Expect to learn why an annual parade finished with a secret ceremony in ancient Greece, why the Christians may have wanted to keep this secret, what it was like to research in the Vatican secret archives, the implications if all this is true and m...
Jan 30, 2021•55 min•Ep. 276
Andy Ngo is a journalist and an author. Andy has been on the front lines to observe some of the most radical, intense rioting in America, including the barricading of cities downtown, shootings, calls to defund the police and attacks on federal buildings. Expect to learn what it was like going undercover with Antifa in Seattle's CHAZ, how it feels to live in Portland where Antifa are most prevalent, whether Andy thinks the Capitol Hill Riots would have happened if Trump had won and much more... ...
Jan 28, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 275
Donald Robertson is a Psychotherapist and an author. People are getting tattoos of Marcus Aurelius, copies of his Meditations sold out at the beginning of the pandemic and yet he was just some bloke two thousand years ago. What made him so special and what is there to learn from his life? Expect to learn how stoicism and cognitive behavioural therapy are intrinsically linked, why an existential crisis can be useful, how Marcus Aurelius dealt with his anger, why Donald thinks we lost the wisdom o...
Jan 25, 2021•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 274
John Sweeney is an investigative journalist and a writer. There is a fascinating and incredibly dangerous poker game going on in Russia at the moment. The establishment versus the newcomer. Expect to learn why Navalny is galvanising such support, how he survived poisoning with novichok, how he convinced one of his own assassins to admit to trying to kill him and why he once nearly became a pirate... Sponsors: Get 50% discount on your FitBook Membership at https://fitbook.co.uk/modernwisdom (use ...
Jan 23, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 273
Philip Goff is a Professor of Philosophy at Durham University and an author. Consciousness is the most evident of all phenomenons. It's the one thing we can actually be sure of, and yet we have a very limited understanding of what it is and why it's here. Expect to learn the main philosophical positions on consciousness, why Philip thinks the old proposals are insufficient to explain our awareness, what time racism means, why Deepak Chopra just won't me alone and much more... Sponsors: Get 20% d...
Jan 21, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 272
Dr Rangan Chatterjee is a British physician, author, television presenter and podcaster. How can we create the life where we don't just look fulfilled but genuinely are fulfilled? What does it mean to truly be successful? What use is fame if you don't like the person you see in the mirror? Expect to learn Rangan's most important daily routines, his biggest insights about personal development over the last year, what he thinks about Cosmopolitan's new campaign, how Tiger Woods' story is a warning...
Jan 18, 2021•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 271
Dr Stuart McGill is a professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo and a world expert in back pain. In the new WFH world, many people are changing their routines, desk setups and posture. Combined with limited access to gyms and less chance to move and exercise, this is a perfect storm for creating back pain. Expect to learn the number one cause of back pain Stu sees in his patients, why most physicians are wholly unprepared to deal with spinal injuries, why social media can stop you from be...
Jan 16, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 270
Richard Meadows is a journalist and author. Life doesn't come with an instruction manual. How to organise our lives to be efficient but have options, to be take advantage of routine and enjoy variety is one of the hardest balancing acts we face. Expect to learn why you should earn as much money as you can when you're young, how to make life changing choices under uncertain conditions, protect against financial disaster, develop a system to create our own luck and much more... Sponsors: Get 20% d...
Jan 14, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 269
