Melissa Kearney is a Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland, and an author known for her research in the field of economic demography. Declining marriage and birthrates frequently dominate discussions about the future of society, but what is the impact of separated parents on the kids who grow up in these homes? Melissa has spent years assessing the data, and her findings are absolutely terrifying. Expect to learn how single-parent households are massively worsening class divides, ...
Oct 05, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 689
Steven Bartlett is the Founder of Social Chain, an entrepreneur, a podcaster and an author. How to become a functioning human is a difficult skill to work out. Should I focus on achieving goals or inner peace? Can I become confident without being arrogant? Thankfully Steven has spent the last 2 years distilling a ton of lessons into his new book, and today we get to go through my favourites. Expect to learn Steven’s equation for unbreakable discipline, the biggest lesson from dealing with mainst...
Oct 02, 2023•2 hr 9 min•Ep. 688
Steven Bridges is a professional gambler and mostly-legal card counter. If you've seen the movie 21, you'll know that it's possible to count cards while playing Blackjack in a casino to beat the house. But this isn't just limited to the movies, Steven is part of a team who takes on the biggest casinos in the world using hardcore maths, disguises and secret signals to win big. Expect to learn the details of how a team of players is needed to take on a casino, how Steven chooses which casinos to c...
Sep 30, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 687
Dr Gad Saad is an Evolutionary Psychologist, Professor of Marketing at Concordia University, a podcaster and an author. In today’s fast-paced world, happiness and contentment often seem elusive. By taking an evolutionary lens on happiness, we can gain deeper insight into why we are the way we are and decode the contributing elements to living a good life. Expect to learn where happiness comes from, why evolution cursed humans with the ability to feel existential discontent, what people get wrong...
Sep 28, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 686
Rich Roll is an ultra-endurance athlete, podcaster and an author. In today’s modern world, relentless pursuit of goals often leads to being overworked and burnout. Finding the balance between working hard enough to achieve your dreams without destroying your sanity along the way is a difficult balance, but Rich seems to have found a solution. Expect to learn what it means to have “lower companions” who hold you back, why we all are so addicted to progress, why you might be more dependent than yo...
Sep 25, 2023•2 hr 54 min•Ep. 685
Vincent Harinam is a data scientist, law enforcement consultant and a writer. Vincent came on Modern Wisdom 2 years ago. Shortly after that, he was pulled into a meeting at a prestigious British University where he was teaching to be reprimanded for his comments. Today we get to break down what happened, and continue our dating discussion that got him in so much hot water. Expect to learn why academia has such a problem with independent media, what has changed in the dating market over the last ...
Sep 23, 2023•2 hr 30 min•Ep. 684
Shaan Puri is an entrepreneur, former CEO, podcaster and an angel investor. Shaan is kind of an anti-guru. He's a self-identified lazy person but also managed to exit multiple companies for millions of dollars. So today, we’re delving into 7 of his most semi-controversial insights and discuss why much of the advice from business gurus might just be useless. Expect to learn why hard work is massively overrated, what the two most understated skills in the word are, how to get out of your head and ...
Sep 21, 2023•2 hr 42 min•Ep. 683
Stan Efferding is a professional bodybuilder, powerlifter, entrepreneur, author and a nutrition expert known for creating “The Vertical Diet”. Earning the title of the world’s strongest bodybuilder isn’t an overnight achievement. With 35 years of experience in bodybuilding, powerlifting, and dieting, Stan is one of the most accomplished and knowledgeable coaches on the planet, and today we get to dig into his biggest lessons. Expect to learn what the main causes of the obesity epidemic are, why ...
Sep 18, 2023•2 hr 25 min•Ep. 682
Ben Lamm is an entrepreneur, CEO of Colossal and a founder. What if Jurassic Park's dream of bringing extinct creatures back to life was possible? Well it kind of is. And Ben's company is forging ahead in the new frontier of de-extinction, starting with some of the most legendary animals from history. Expect to learn why Ben is bringing Wooly Mammoths back to life, how you give birth to an animal that died out thousands of years ago, where Ben gets the genetic material from, how bringing back Ma...
Sep 16, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 681
Dr Anna Machin is an evolutionary anthropologist at Oxford University, a researcher into the role of fatherhood across time and an author. The modern world has made dads surplus to requirements in many ways. The deadbeat dad is such a meme in sitcoms and cartoons now that it's no surprise men don't feel they have a role in child rearing. But just how important are fathers to the development of boys and girls? And what don't we know about their impact? Expect to learn how fathers saved the human ...
Sep 14, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 680
Sara Saffari is a fitness model, influencer, athlete and a YouTuber. Many young people dream of being young, fit, and famous. Lots of us are seduced by the idea of the attention this brings, but what's the reality of being so exposed in a world filled with scrutiny, stalkers and haters? Expect to learn what Sara thinks about the muscle mommy movement, what makes women genuinely attractive, the biggest problem with dating Gen Z boys, Sara’s thoughts on the Bradley Martyn vs Logan Paul fight, Sara...
Sep 11, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 679
Avi Loeb is a theoretical physicist specialising in astrophysics and cosmology, Professor of Science at Harvard University and an author. Humanity travelling to different planets is a huge undertaking. Yet we're already looking further afield. If we are to survive out into the far future, we need to travel to different solar systems and this presents a ton of unique challenges, today we get to find out about the biggest ones. Expect to learn how Avi discovered and collected the first ever materi...
Sep 09, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 678
Zack Telander is a weightlifter, coach & YouTuber. I haven't seen my housemate in months because we've both been travelling. So here is 90 minutes of us discussing some of the biggest stories that have happened recently in our lives and within the insanity of the internet. Expect to learn Zack’s thoughts on Billy MacFarland coming back with Fyre Festival 2.0, the massive change to trans athletes in sports, whether watching porn is considered cheating, why Oppenheimer might be a threat to your re...
Sep 07, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 677
Eric Weinstein is a mathematician, economist, managing director of Thiel Capital and a podcaster. The last 3 years have been a time of massive confusion. No one can agree on what is real, or true, or who is good faith, or a grifter. No matter what you believe in, we can all agree that this epidemic of uncertainty can't continue. Expect to learn what you learn from being around the most rich and powerful people in the world, what it was like to meet Jeffrey Epstein face to face, what Eric thinks ...
Sep 04, 2023•3 hr 13 min•Ep. 676
Niall Ferguson is a historian, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution & Stanford University and an author. We often hear that history tends to repeat itself. But if you're a professional historian, just how accurate is that statement? What are the big lessons that we keep missing? And how doomed is our future if we don’t learn from the past? Expect to learn Niall's opinion on the quote “History Doesn’t Repeat Itself, but It Often Rhymes”, why everyone should read more history, the biggest lesso...
Sep 02, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 675
Adam Lane Smith is a psychotherapist and an author. Adam has helped thousands of patients and couples to deal with problems from childhood, their relationships and their sex lives. He also writes amazing Twitter threads filled with insights from his time as a therapist and today we get to go through some of my favourites. Expect to learn why having sex with a man on the first date won't make him fall in love with you, why it shouldn't be a surprise to most men when their partner divorces them, t...
Aug 31, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 674
Phil Heath is a professional bodybuilder, 7-time Mr. Olympia winner, entrepreneur and an author. Phil Heath is one of the greatest and most dominant bodybuilders of all time. But what does it take to win Mr Olympia for 7 consecutive years and just what are the inner workings of his mind that led him to success? Expect to learn Phil’s reflections on his rivalry with Kai Greene, what it was like being a part of the Generation Iron documentary, how to improve your relationship with pain, how to con...
Aug 28, 2023•2 hr 8 min•Ep. 673
Paul Hutchinson is an entrepreneur, former fund manager and undercover operative known for his role in rescuing trafficked children depicted in the film the Sound of Freedom. Paul has had a non-typical journey. Transitioning from a career in real estate asset management to dismantling some of the world’s largest child sex trafficking rings, he's sacrificed and risked an awful lot to try and stop some of the most evil people on the planet. Expect to learn what it was like to find an Epstein Islan...
Aug 26, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 674
Dr Steve Peters is a psychiatrist, sports psychology consultant, a professor and an author. Our brain is largely a black box. It's very important to how we experience life and yet we have very little insight into why it behaves the way it does. Steve has spent an entire career researching the strategies that empower the human mind to perform at its best and the secret to unlocking our full potential? Expect to learn how the Chimp Paradox can help you understand your brain, how to work with our n...
Aug 24, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 671
Alex Hormozi is a founder, investor and an author. Alex’s Twitter continually has been one of my favourite sources of great insights over the last few years. Today we get to go through some of my favourite lessons from him about life, human behaviour, psychology, business and resilience. Again, this is really good. Expect to learn Alex’s most controversial opinions and mindset reframes. strategies to overcome self-doubt, why your revenge fantasy is a petty life goal, how to overcome regrets, how...
Aug 21, 2023•3 hr 54 min•Ep. 670
Scott Walker is a former Scotland Yard detective, world renowned hostage negotiator and an author. Having successfully resolved over 300 cases, from hostage negotiations to piracy, ransom and cyber extortion attacks, Scott has gained deep insights into how human communication works and today we get to find out his wildest stories and best tips. Expect to learn how the science of negotiating actually works, the questions should you ask at the beginning of a negotiation to set the tone, how you ca...
Aug 19, 2023•52 min•Ep. 669
David Pinsof is a research scientist at UCLA, co-creator of Cards Against Humanity and an author. Humans want things. Then we tell ourselves stories about why we want those things. And these reasons are often very flattering, but almost exclusively bullshit. We do not understand our motivations, and this is part of our brain's design. So, given this limit on introspection, is it possible to ever truly understand ourselves? Expect to learn the difference between bullshitting and lying, why we can...
Aug 17, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 668
Nancy Segal is a professor at California State University, an author and one of the most prominent twin-study researchers on the planet. What makes you the person you are? Is it your genetics or your environment? When twins are either accidentally or purposefully separated at birth, it presents a fascinating view into this debate, shedding light on the influence of both traits and environments on the outcomes we get in life. Expect to learn the craziest similarities between twins who have been r...
Aug 14, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 667
John Lovell is a former United States Army Ranger, firearms instructor and founder of Warrior Poet Society, known for his expertise in tactical training and philosophy. It's often quoted that “it’s better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war“, but how should you cultivate this state of readiness? How can you become capable of standing strong when there is a battle to be fought, and sufficiently peaceful to be in touch with your emotions once it's over? Expect to learn what it mea...
Aug 12, 2023•56 min•Ep. 666
Cory Clark is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, a social psychologist and an author. Academia is supposed to be a bastion of intellectual purity where curiosity and the truth reign supreme. But what happens when the findings of research start to become inconvenient? What happens when conclusions may be scientifically accurate, but politically incorrect? Expect to learn what happens when you conduct a study on self-censorship in academic psychology and get reported for it,...
Aug 10, 2023•2 hr 34 min•Ep. 665
Christine Emba is an opinion columnist at The Washington Post, journalist, social commentator, and an author. Christine wrote one of the best articles on modern masculinity that I've ever read and it absolutely broke the internet. But it begs the question of why it's come down to a woman to raise the topic of men's issues. Expect to learn why making men and women equal is good but overreaching into making men and women the same is terrible, whether Christine thinks it is harder to be a man in 20...
Aug 07, 2023•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 664
Erik Hoel is a research professor at Tufts University, theoretical neuroscientist, and an author known for his work on understanding consciousness and the complexity of the brain. Consciousness and free will are two of the most puzzling aspects of human existence. The question now is whether emerging scientific discoveries and technological advancements can unravel what's going on under the hood of our experience. Expect to learn what the newest cutting edge research on consciousness can teach u...
Aug 05, 2023•58 min•Ep. 663
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 every debate is fundamentally an argument about the definition of words, whether modern men are right to believe they would be better off living in medieval times, why people figh...
Aug 03, 2023•2 hr 4 min•Ep. 668
Sam Harris is a best selling author, moral philosopher, neuroscientist and a podcaster. The entire world seems to be at each other's throats and finding peace in the chaos is becoming increasingly difficult. But there are tools at our disposal to improve the quality of our lives. As Sam says on this episode, “Wisdom is a matter of making your mind your friend”. Expect to learn what Sam’s life is like after Twitter, Sam’s reflections on his famous talk on death and the present moment, how to live...
Jul 31, 2023•3 hr 13 min•Ep. 661
Peter Akkies is a productivity consultant, YouTuber and a blogger known for his expertise on time management and personal efficiency. Almost everyone is chronically distracted. The world fragments our attention into slivers so small it's a miracle we get anything done at all. Thankfully, there are strategies to take back control of your time and productivity and today we get to go through 7 of Peter's most impactful hacks. Expect to learn how to set up your own productivity system, what most peo...
Jul 29, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 660
