Dr David Kipping is an astronomer, a professor at Columbia University and a YouTuber. Expect to learn David’s thoughts on Terrence Howard’s appearance on Joe Rogan, what actually happens as you approach the speed of light, if there is any chance of finding intelligent life out there in the universe, how big the universe actually is, the biggest questions we still have about black holes, how the moon was created, whether time is infinite or if the universe will ever end and much more... Sponsors:...
Jul 11, 2024•2 hr 22 min•Ep. 808
Alex O’Connor is a YouTuber, writer and a podcaster. Christianity is nothing new. But it's seeing a resurgence in popularity among some unexpected groups - public intellectuals and Gen Z. What is going on that only shortly after it was cool to be an atheist, it's now cool to go to church on a Sunday again? Expect to learn whether we are actually seeing a Christian revival, if the new wave of Christianity is just right wing conservatism in disguise, whether you can ‘choose’ to believe in God, if ...
Jul 08, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 807
Brian Klaas is a political scientist, a professor at University College London and an author. Small, seemingly insignificant events can have profound effects on the world. But how much of our fate is truly determined by chance, and if chaos plays such a huge role, how much control do we actually have over anything? Expect to learn the chance story of the atomic bomb's targeting, the difference between contingency and convergence, why our brains are so good at distorting reality, the link between...
Jul 06, 2024•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 806
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 our mental model of the world assumes people are just like us, why Narcissists tend to inject themselves into every story no matter how unrelated or tenuous, the role of Postjourn...
Jul 04, 2024•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 805
Dr Mike Israetel is a Professor of Exercise and Sport Science at Lehman College and the Co-Founder of Renaissance Periodization. If you’ve ever wondered “is this diet actually working” then you're probably not alone. However there are now scientifically proven optimal methods for losing fat in the most efficient way possible. And today we get a full breakdown of the optimal approach for fat loss from the best teacher on the planet. Expect to learn how the physiology of fat loss actually works, w...
Jul 01, 2024•2 hr 23 min•Ep. 804
Nick Bostrom is a philosopher, professor at the University of Oxford and an author For generations, the future of humanity was envisioned as a sleek, vibrant utopia filled with remarkable technological advancements where machines and humans would thrive together. As we stand on the supposed brink of that future, it appears quite different from our expectations. So what does humanity's future actually hold? Expect to learn what it means to live in a perfectly solved world, whether we are more lik...
Jun 29, 2024•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 803
Arthur Brooks is a social scientist, professor at Harvard University, and an author. Chasing happiness appears to be the ultimate desire for many people, yet almost everyone struggles to understand what happiness actually is and how to achieve it. So if you speak to a specialist researcher, what does science say is the best way to actually cultivate happiness? Expect to learn what most people get wrong about happiness, the tension between a desire for success and a desire to feel like we’re enou...
Jun 27, 2024•1 hr 45 min•Ep. 802
George Mack is a writer, marketer and an entrepreneur. George is one of my favourite writers and probably delivers the highest insights-per-minute of anyone on Twitter. Today we get to go through some of my favourite ideas from him over the last few months on human nature, tribalism, happiness and politics. Expect to learn what the Busy Trap is and how to avoid it, the biggest differences between the US and the UK, the contrarian argument for why money doesn’t buy happiness, why strategic ignora...
Jun 24, 2024•2 hr 14 min•Ep. 801
To celebrate 800 episodes of Modern Wisdom, I broke down some of my favourite lessons, insights and quotes from the last hundred episodes. Expect to learn why starting the day with an imagined productivity debt is making you miserable, why being competent can be more of a curse than a blessing, how to easily assess how good an idea is, why obesity is a bigger problem than starvation, what I learned from Winston Churchill's father, how to predict culture war news stories, why it's so important to...
Jun 22, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 800
David Robson is a science writer, journalist, and an author. Loneliness is the real pandemic. Many people yearning for connection but struggle to hold onto it. David has uncovered 13 laws of human connection which you can apply to build and deepen relationships with the people in your life. Expect to learn whether we are actually in a loneliness crisis, how solitude impacts our health, why people are struggling to make deeper connections, how you can express appreciation more freely to others, h...
Jun 20, 2024•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 799
Layne Norton is a Doctor of Nutritional Science, a powerlifter and an author. Choosing the right diet and training plan for health can be complicated. Science offers one view, while your trainer suggests another. Fortunately, Layne provides all the expertise you need to find the best diets, foods, and lifestyle for you to build the healthiest and best version of yourself. Expect to learn why people keep failing at their diets, if there is a best diet for overall health and wellness, Laynes thoug...
Jun 17, 2024•2 hr 28 min•Ep. 798
Mike Solana is a writer, Vice President at Founders Fund, Editor-in-Chief at Pirate Wires and a podcaster. To no one’s surprise, the future of American media and politics is upside down. A pervasive lack of trust leaves everyone uncertain about the rest of the year. So what does the future have in store, and what facts can we be certain about in a time of turmoil and confusion? Expect to learn why the new app Fly Me Out is a fantastic inditement of modern dating culture, why the tide is turning ...
Jun 15, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 797
Rob Kurzban is a psychologist and an author. What is morality? Why did it come about? Have humans always had it? Is it universal or temporary? Does it exist as a truth independent of humanity or is it entirely contingent on our culture? Expect to learn the evolutionary psychology of abortion policy, where the evolution of morality came from, the best examples of modern moral rules you might not think about, the biggest issues with being a moral hypocrite, the role that reputation plays in judgin...
Jun 13, 2024•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 796
Ryan Holiday is a podcaster, marketer and an author. Stoicism is like the hot new girl in school. A popular, perfect blend of ancient philosophy which is applicable to modern challenges. Given that Ryan is probably the world's most famous Stoicism expert, what are the most important insights he's learned about how to apply this wisdom to daily life? Expect to learn why Ryan doesn’t talk about the projects he’s working on before finishing them, why Ryan thinks that competition is for losers, how ...
Jun 10, 2024•2 hr 6 min•Ep. 795
Scott Galloway is a professor of marketing at the New York University Stern School of Business, a public speaker, entrepreneur and an author. The modern economy is a confusing mess. Inflation, interest rates, wage stagnation, property prices. It's all complex and may feel like you're swimming up stream. Thankfully Scott has broken down his entire wealth strategy into an algorithm of 4 steps which anyone can follow. Expect to learn why wealth is a whole-person project, what all financially succes...
Jun 08, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 794
Menno Henselmans is a fitness coach, researcher and an author. The evidence-based nutrition movement is taking off right now. Gone are the days when you trawl random bro forums looking for the special blueberry extract which will improve your protein synthesis. We're using science now baby! So let's speak to a scientist about how to eat for gains. Expect to learn if your body can actually absorb more than 20g of protein per meal, if flexible dieting or IIFYM is a sustainable approach for weight ...
Jun 06, 2024•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 793
Craig Jones is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu athlete, owner of B-Team and Founder of the Craig Jones Invitational. Craig has decided to go to the front lines of the Ukraine war, and since returning to America has entered an even more dangerous territory - combat tournament promotion. Today we find out which is more ruthless. Expect to learn the crazy, dangerous parts of the world Craig Jones has been living in recently,the reason Craig Jones is going to fight a woman in August, where you can get $1m dol...
Jun 03, 2024•2 hr 2 min•Ep. 792
Dr Robert Glover is a therapist, coach and an author. Everyone wants a quality partner. Yet both sexes seem to be struggling to find a mate that makes them feel the way they want. Safe, whole, excited, interested, loved. Why is it so hard and what can we do to make it easier? Expect to learn how you can make your needs a priority, ways you can learn to be authentic, how men can learn to have more self compassion, what men often don’t understand about female attraction, the problem with needing a...
Jun 01, 2024•1 hr 59 min•Ep. 791
Vienna Pharaon is a licensed marriage and family therapist and an author. Learning to understand yourself can be the most powerful form of self-care. It helps you fix bad habits and improve your relationships with others. But how do you actually begin to understand who you are, and how do you start the process of becoming unstuck? Expect to learn how to reconcile what you needed as a child emotionally but never actually got, where your patterns in life come from, why people have so much resistan...
May 30, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 790
Neil Strauss is a journalist, writer, and an author. Neil was the world's most famous pickup artist who kickstarted much of the modern dating discourse. So looking back 20 years later, what has he come to realise about what really matters in life and how to find love and connection? Expect to learn the trajectory of Neil’s views on relationships over the years, how Neil reflects on his book The Game, why Neil is having a baby with his ex-wife, what went wrong with the world of pickup, why faking...
May 27, 2024•1 hr 49 min•Ep. 789
Mo Gawdat is an entrepreneur, former Chief Business Officer at Google, and an author. We often experience stress without knowing where it's coming from. Although we feel overwhelmed, we struggle to pinpoint the source. So how should we go about assessing our lives and reducing our stress? Expect to learn why the modern world is so stressful for everyone, what Mo means when he says young people are comfortably numb, how to assess stress and where it is probably coming from, the things you’re not ...
May 25, 2024•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 788
Bessel van der Kolk is a psychiatrist, researcher, and an author. Trauma is often discussed as a mental and psychological issue. But what if it affects more than just the mind? What does it mean if your body is holding onto trauma, and how might these memories manifest outside of our brains? Expect to learn what is meant by the body keeping the score, what is wrong with the traditional way we talk about trauma, how you can learn to be more self compassionate, how trauma manifests and masks itsel...
May 23, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 787
Steve Stewart-Williams is an evolutionary psychologist, a professor and an author. If you follow the thread of evolution long enough, you see that humans are simply a product of adaptations. So why are humans so peculiar? Does everything we do have a rational explanation, or are there aspects of our lives and psychology we have yet to understand? Expect to learn how aliens would view our species if they were observing from above, what most people get wrong about understanding sex differences, St...
May 20, 2024•1 hr 31 min•Ep. 786
Jimmy Rex is a mens work coach, author and a podcaster. What does it mean to be a better man today? Is it driving a Bugatti? Praying to God? Making a lot of money? Building a family? Turning into a monk? The options are endless, so are there any underlying principles which can help guide your way? Expect to learn what it means to be a healthy authentic man, the problems most men struggle with, how more men can learn to face their fears, what it means to be a warrior and give full devotion, the r...
May 18, 2024•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 785
Robin Sharma is a leadership expert, motivational speaker and an author. Often we tell ourselves, ‘Once I make X amount of money then I’ll be free to enjoy my life. However, when we reach that milestone, the fulfillment we hoped for isn’t always there. So what is the key to finding happiness in life while also achieving material success? Expect to learn the types of wealth that money can't buy and how to cultivate them, what true wealth looks like, how to ensure you are choosing the path that’s ...
May 16, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 784
Johann Hari is a journalist, a writer and an author. From fad diets and fasting to vibrating plates, the quest for easier weight loss has been endless. The recent emergence of Ozempic and similar drugs promises a no-strings-attached solution to achieving the body you've always wanted, but is this actually a new miracle drug or a bundle of hidden side effects? Expect to learn the biggest impact Ozempic is having on people’s lives, why these drugs work so well, what it's like taking Ozempic, the p...
May 13, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 783
Roanne van Voorst is an anthropologist, researcher and an author. Given that many people are already struggling to find partners in the modern world, what does the future of love have in store? Is it AI girlfriends, rentable cuddle partners and sex robots? Or a return to something more traditional? Expect to learn what is happening with modern sexuality, what the future of sex work may look like, whether polyamory is going to become more popular, why so many young people aren’t having as much se...
May 11, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 782
Connor Beaton is a men’s life coach, founder of ManTalks and an author focusing on men’s wellness and personal growth. Attachment styles are the hot new idea to understand how we relate and connect to others. Today we get a great overview of the entire field, an understanding of the limitations of Attachment Theory and practical insights on how to improve yours. Expect to learn how to identify what your attachment style is, where the core of attachment comes from, which attachment style suits yo...
May 09, 2024•1 hr 44 min•Ep. 781
Tim Ferriss is an entrepreneur, author, and podcaster. Tim is one of the world’s leading thinkers and his podcast recently crossed 1 billion downloads. Today get to hear his biggest lessons from 2 decades of hacking life and self-improvement. Expect to learn Tim’s ultimate hack for productivity, what his morning routine looks like, what Tim thought would make him happier when he was younger but didn't, how to deal with depression, which books Tim most often gifts, Tim's best 10 exercises for hea...
May 06, 2024•3 hr 11 min•Ep. 780
Hamza Ahmed is a YouTuber, personal development coach and a community leader. "What does it mean to be a man today?" is a question many young guys try to answer, with varied success. Hamza has a huge community of young guys looking for advice so I figured it would be useful to find out what they're struggling with and try to offer some solutions. Expect to learn about how monk mode can go wrong, the dangers of audience capture, why young men are struggling to find direction in life, the role of ...
May 04, 2024•1 hr 52 min•Ep. 779
