Modern Wisdom - podcast cover

Modern Wisdom

Chris Williamsonchriswillx.com
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, Sam Harris, Jocko Willink, Dr Andrew Huberman, Dr Julie Smith, Steven Bartlett, Ryan Holiday, James Clear, Robert Greene, Matthew McConaughey, Steven Pinker, Alex Hormozi, Douglas Murray, Chris Bumstead, Mark Manson and more.

Episodes

#629 - John Lisle - The Insane Tactics The CIA Used To Defeat Hitler In WWII

John Lisle is a historian and an author. Imagine a world where international spying and espionage is only just beginning. Exploding pens, cyanide pills, bats with bombs strapped to them and radioactive foxes all were not only ideas, but were real tools used by the CIA in World War 2. John's research has uncovered a reality far stranger and more intriguing than any spy novel. Expect to learn the origins of the Modern Day CIA, why a commander decided to single-handedly storm Normandy the day after...

May 18, 20231 hr 4 minEp. 629

#628 - Dr K Healthy Gamer - Why Are We All So Addicted To Our Screens?

Dr. Alok Kanojia (Dr. K) is a psychiatrist, Harvard Medical School instructor, co-founder of HealthyGamerGG, Twitch streamer and a YouTuber. Humans face a predicament that has never been seen in our history, a massive overload in daily stimulation and information. The effect of constant exposure to social media, video games, and porn is not good, but thankfully there are a number of powerful ways to take back control of your attention. Expect to learn the correlation between video game usage and...

May 15, 20232 hr 58 minEp. 628

#627 - Ryan Terry - Britain’s #1 Fitness Model Shares His Bodybuilding Secrets

Ryan Terry is a professional bodybuilder, fitness model and IFBB Pro. The realm of competitive bodybuilding demands extreme discipline that most people admire but few understand. Just what does it truly take to rise to the top of this sport? And how much do you have to sacrifice in the pursuit of excellence? Expect to learn the origins of Ryan's bodybuilding career, his top 10 best exercises for muscle growth, why he chooses to not monitor his blood levels, who fuels his motivation and serves as...

May 13, 20231 hr 3 minEp. 627

#626 - Richard Shotton - 8 Psychology Hacks Behind The World’s Biggest Businesses

Richard Shotton is a behavioural scientist, Founder of Astroten and an author. Humans are predictably irrational. By studying these behaviours through clever techniques, advertisers and marketers have been able to boost sales and influence you in ways you might not realise or expect. So it's pretty important to discover how you're being manipulated. Expect to learn what are the most powerful words in persuasion, which human biases are over tested & overrated, how a small commitment can be the be...

May 11, 20231 hr 29 minEp. 626

#625 - Matthew Hussey - #1 Dating Coach Reveals The Red Flags Everyone Should Know

Matthew Hussey is the world's best known female dating coach, aYouTuber, public speaker and an author. Choosing your ideal romantic partner is one of the most important choices you will make. However, men and women seriously struggle to understand each other, perhaps more than ever. Thankfully Matthew has spent 15 years coaching millions of women through their relationship struggles. Expect to learn what the women Matthew coaches actually want in a man, whether the dating landscape has actually ...

May 08, 20232 hr 13 minEp. 625

#624 - Ashley Cain - How To Overcome The Toughest Moment Of Your Life

Ashley Cain is a former professional footballer, reality TV star, endurance athlete and cancer charity fundraiser. Losing a child is the most painful experience parents ever face. But observing your child slowly passing away is a special kind of torture. What do you do when you’re faced with so much pain and trauma you stop wanting to exist? And how can you move beyond this to learn to live again. Expect to learn what Ashley’s most profound challenges in recent years were, how he managed to find...

May 06, 20232 hr 32 minEp. 624

#623 - Dr Jean Twenge - Why Do Young People Seem So Fragile?

Dr Jean Twenge is a Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University, generational researcher and an author. Each generation tends to view themselves as more refined than the one before them. But with Boomers, Millennials and Gen Z, something changed. Generations started to see life as easier in the past, less prosperous now and tougher to succeed. Jean has spent a career working out just why modern groups believe this, and how true it is. Expect to learn whether millennials actually did ha...

May 04, 20231 hr 19 minEp. 623

#622 - David Geary - Why Science Says Men & Women Will Never Be The Same

David Geary is a cognitive developmental and evolutionary psychology professor at The University of Missouri and an author. Men and women are different. This should not be a controversial statement, and yet it is. Thankfully David has spent a career assessing differences between men and women in every domain from physical to psychological and behavioural to cognitive. Expect to learn the real reason why women are underrepresented in STEM, why achieving true gender equality in prosperous countrie...

May 01, 20231 hr 25 minEp. 622

#621 - David Laid - Why Getting Shredded Won’t Make You Happy

David Laid is a fitness model, influencer, Creative Director at Gymshark and YouTuber. Being young, jacked and famous is a desire almost every 17-year-old guy can probably confess to wanting at one point. But what if the glamour isn’t all it’s made out to be? What happens when injuries threaten to take away the foundation of your self-worth? And what do you do when you need to grow up? Expect to learn how David uncovered self-worth beyond aesthetics, the setbacks that led to his lowest point in ...

Apr 29, 20231 hr 12 minEp. 621

#620 - Ray Dalio - How To Prepare For The Changing World Order

Ray Dalio is the founder of Bridgewater Associates, a billionaire investor, philanthropist and an author. The New World Order is mystical term. Is it a shadowy cabal of evil hooded figures? Or is it a cycle that our world's economy regularly runs on. Ray is here to explain the consequences of shifting global power dynamics, and what that means for the future of America and the rest of the world. Expect to learn why global events aren't getting more chaotic, they're unfolding right on schedule, w...

Apr 27, 20231 hrEp. 620

#619 - Ben Francis - Gymshark CEO Explains His Strategy For Global Success

Ben Francis is the CEO & founder of Gymshark. Bootstrapping a company from nothing to a multi-billion-dollar valuation at a young age is not easy. Starting a family, with twins, whilst navigating the changing political landscape and supplier tensions from the East makes this even harder. But there are some principles Ben has developed to survive this chaos. Expect to learn what 3 traits Ben has observed in all the high performers he's met, how his upbringing helped shape him into a successful CE...

Apr 24, 20231 hr 15 minEp. 619

#618 - Destiny - Why Are Liberals More Depressed Than Conservatives?

Destiny is a streamer and a YouTuber. The clash between left and right has reached unprecedented levels and the divide continues to widen. With increasing confusion and despair among young people, blurred identity lines, and individuals grappling to find their place, mental health is in tatters, but for some reason it's much worse for liberals than conservatives. Expect to learn Destiny’s thoughts on his debate with Milo Yiannopoulos, his best tips to beat someone in a debate, why the landscape ...

Apr 22, 20232 hr 40 minEp. 618

#617 - Dr Bjorn Lomborg - Climate Alarmists Are Getting It All Wrong

Dr Bjorn Lomborg is an environmental economist, Copenhagen Consensus Center president, public speaker and an author. Over the past two decades, the media has made some alarming predictions about the imminent end of the world due to global warming. But is this the priority that global efforts should be focussed on fixing? Does it have real world benefits, or are there better ways to improve human lives? Expect to learn why Greta Thunberg had to delete a tweet from half a decade ago, the reason wh...

Apr 20, 20231 hr 8 minEp. 617

#616 - 800k Q&A - Diary Of A CEO, Alex Hormozi & Body Positivity

I hit 800k 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 my experience on Steven Bartlett's Diary Of A Ceo, whether I think Alex Hormozi is the new Naval Ravikant and why there's no male body positivity movement. Expect to learn whether I understand females more or less after all the things I've read, my reflecti...

Apr 17, 20232 hr 42 min

#615 - Thomas DeLauer - Stop Making These Mistakes When Intermittent Fasting

Thomas DeLauer is a fitness expert, nutrition specialist, entrepreneur, YouTuber, and author. Improving your physique is one of the journeys that almost everyone faces challenges in, with both body and mind. Thomas has devoted his entire career to understanding the science of training and nutrition, specialising in the connection between mental and physical well-being. Expect to learn how to build muscle while fasting, what is the easiest step-by-step plan for fat loss, what takeaways can we gle...

Apr 15, 20231 hr 24 minEp. 615

#614 - Nicholas Eberstadt - Why Do Millions of Men Not Want to Work?

Nicholas Eberstadt is a political economist, demographer, American Enterprise Institute scholar, and an author. More than 7 million prime working age men in America are not looking for work, and each year that number continues to grow. Given that unemployment is at a massive low, why are so many capable men checking out of the workforce and don't intend on coming back? Expect to learn why massive cohorts of men aren’t looking for employment, the repercussions of mass joblessness, how these men a...

Apr 13, 202355 minEp. 614

#613 - Dr Peter Attia - The Health Metrics That Matter Most For Longevity

Dr Peter Attia is a physician, longevity expert, podcaster and an author. Working out what to actually do if we want to maximise our health and lifespan has become an increasingly difficult task. There are an unlimited number of wellness approaches available, but thankfully Dr Attia has spent his career assessing the most important strategies we all should be focussing on for fitness and longevity. Expect to learn how to best increase your chances of living longer, the role of fasting in longevi...

Apr 10, 20232 hr 5 minEp. 613

#612 - Kelly Starrett - 8 Essential Strategies To Maximise Your Fitness

Kelly Starrett is a physical therapist, speaker, author, and considered one of the most influential voices in the fitness industry. Deep down we know we should take better care of ourselves. The random aches, pains and cracks many of us have become accustomed to simply shouldn't be a part of our everyday experience. Thankfully, Kelly has broken down his philosophy into simple vital signs you should focus on to move smoother, sleep better, live longer and train harder. Expect to learn how to fix ...

Apr 08, 20231 hr 11 minEp. 612

#611 - Hannah Barnes -The Collapse Of The UK’s Gender Identity Clinic

Hannah Barnes is an award-winning investigative journalist, and an author. Finding your place in the world can be hard. However, some interventions for struggling children may cause more harm than good. Britain's Gender Identity Development Service at The Tavistock Clinic has recently been shut down after controversial use of puberty blockers and Hannah's investigation uncovers exactly what happened. Expect to learn why there was a huge increase in the number of children being referred for puber...

Apr 06, 20232 hr 32 minEp. 611

#610 - Alex Hormozi - 19 Harsh Truths About Human Nature

Alex Hormozi is a founder, investor and an author. Alex's Twitter has been one of my favourite sources of great insights over the last year. Today we get to go through some of my favourite lessons from him about life, human behaviour, psychology, business and resilience. This is really good. Expect to learn how your ego is keeping you poor, why you never need to care about what anyone else thinks of you, why having a life that sucks is actually a blessing, whether most easy opportunities are jus...

Apr 03, 20232 hr 46 minEp. 610

#609 - Uri Gneezy - How To Understand Psychological Incentives

Uri Gneezy is a behavioural economist, a professor at the University of California and an author who's research focuses on human incentives. Incentives encourage humans to do things. But they're not as straight forward as you might think. They often have unintended and disastrous consequences for our personal lives, businesses and societies. Basically, a bad incentive is worse than no incentive at all. Expect to learn why paying citizens 10p for a rat tail is a bad idea, how fining parents for t...

Apr 01, 20231 hr 14 minEp. 609

#608 - Paul Bloom - How Does The Human Mind Work?

Paul Bloom is Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Yale University and an author. The human mind is a mystery. If it wasn't for the fact that we experience it, the universe would give us absolutely no indication that consciousness existed. After an entire career studying psychology, Professor Bloom has some answers to the psychology questions we've all asked ourselves. Expect to learn whether you actually remember everything that you've ever e...

Mar 30, 20231 hr 29 minEp. 608

#607 - Mike Thurston - Why Are Young Men Feeling So Lost?

Mike Thurston is a podcaster, YouTuber and a fitness model. Me and Mike went to university together 15 years ago. Even though we were odd, awkward creatures, there was no pressure to get our life together. In 2023, it seems like there is much more pressure on both men and women to sort it out. What's changed, and why is life more confusing than ever before? Expect to learn why Mike wants Derek from More Plates More Dates to test him for steroids, why going to university wasn't a waste of time, w...

Mar 27, 20231 hr 20 minEp. 607

#606 - Katherine Dee - The Rise And Fall Of The Girlboss Meme

Katherine Dee is a writer, journalist and internet historian. There are lots of male subcultures. Incels, RedPill, Pickup Artists, Soy Boys. But what are women getting up to? Trends like Hot Girls Have IBS. Hot Girls Eat Fish. And most well known, the girlboss meme. Katherine is here to explain just what is happening in the oestrogen-fuelled underbelly of the internet. Expect to learn why the girlboss meme came about, why there is a coming wave of sex-negativity, whether it really is possible to...

Mar 25, 20231 hr 14 minEp. 606

#605 - Ben Carpenter - What Science Actually Says About How To Lose Body Fat

Ben Carpenter is a personal trainer, researcher, international speaker, fitness model and diet expert. There are a million diets out there. All of them claim to work. Many of us have tried many of them, and many failed. So which diet is the best? What are the principles of fat loss that science agrees on as the most effective? How do we all get a 6-pack? Expect to learn whether calories are a total lie, why the weight loss industry is filled with so much conflicting advice, the 4 key components ...

Mar 23, 20232 hr 33 minEp. 605

#604 - Robin Dunbar - The Evolutionary Story Of Human Friendship

Robin Dunbar is an anthropologist, evolutionary psychologist, head of the Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Research Group at the University of Oxford and an author. Most animals need friends to survive. But no other animal has as layered and complex a social life as humans. The last 2 million years from trees to plains to apartments has caused huge changes to the setup of our social groups, and it's a fascinating story. Expect to learn why any group size over 90 ends up with more people bein...

Mar 20, 20231 hr 26 minEp. 604

#603 - Abby Davisson - How To Make Life's Biggest Decisions

Abby Davisson is an author, social innovation leader and career development expert whose research focuses on decision making in money management and romance. There are some big decisions we all need to make. What job to take, what city to live in, whether to get married or divorced or have kids. Having a prescriptive formula for this might seem impossible, but Abby helped run the most popular course at Stanford on exactly this topic, and today we get to find out what she's discovered. Expect to ...

Mar 18, 20231 hr 2 minEp. 603

#602 - Gurwinder Bhogal - 14 Shocking Lessons About Human Nature

Gurwinder Bhogal is a programmer and a writer. Gurwinder is one of my favourite Twitter follows. He’s written yet another megathread exploring human nature, cognitive biases, mental models, status games, crowd behaviour and social media. It's fantastic, and today we go through some of my favourites. Expect to learn why asking questions is the most selfish thing you can do, why people create hatred in an attempt to feel love, the real danger of censorship, why it's more important to avoid being w...

Mar 16, 20232 hr 50 minEp. 602

#601 - Dr Andrew Thomas - Evolution's Secrets To Understanding Relationships

Dr Andrew Thomas is a senior lecturer of psychology at Swansea University whose research focuses on sex differences and relationship preferences from an evolutionary perspective. Evolution explains a large portion of why we like the things we like. Who we're attracted to, why we fall into and out of love, how our mental state affects our mating strategies. Therefore, if you are a human who ever intends on being in a relationship, this might be useful. Expect to learn the 5 evolutionary theories ...

Mar 13, 20232 hr 36 minEp. 601

#600 - 16 Lessons From 600 Episodes - Andrew Schulz, Douglas Murray & Alex Hormozi

To celebrate 600 episodes on Modern Wisdom, I broke down some of my favourite lessons, insights and quotes from the last hundred episodes. Expect to learn how to have unlimited charisma, why this might be the best your life ever gets, how to work out if the entire world is a coordinated conspiracy, what Douglas Murray taught me about not having an opinion, why stupid people are more dangerous than evil people, why female self-improvement is patronising, how to gauge the honesty of anyone in your...

Mar 11, 20231 hr 3 minEp. 600