Modern Wisdom

Adam Mastroianni is a postdoctoral research scholar at Columbia Business School and a writer whose research focuses on how people perceive and misperceive their social worlds. Does being smart make you happy? Does being dumb make you miserable? Why did the guy who created eugenics also get published in Nature for a revolutionary way to cut a cake? Adam is one of my favourite writers so today I get to ask him all these things. Expect to learn why super smart people can be so stupid, Adam's issue with the productivity approach of eating frogs, whether you can learn arithmetic by smell, why humans misjudge what other people want to talk about, why we forget so many of the things that we've learned, how come it's trendy to call the general public stupid and much more... Sponsors: Get 83% discount & 3 months free from Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/MODERNWISDOM (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 5 Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitamin D and more from Athletic Greens at https://athleticgreens.com/modernwisdom (

Dr Gloria Mark is the Chancellor's professor in the Department of Informatics at the University of California and an author whose research focuses on human-computer interaction. Not being able to focus and suffering with distracted attention is one of the most common complaints amongst people in the modern world. The ability to stay focussed on a single task for a long period of time is hugely beneficial and yet has never been more difficult to achieve. Expect to learn what attention actually is and how it works, the average amount of time that people spend on a single task in the modern world, why attention is so easy to distract, whether multitasking is actually a thing, how to take back control from your distractions, how to deal with guilt around being distracted, the best way to design your daily routine for maximum focus and much more... Extra Stuff: Buy Attention Span - https://amzn.to/3HzL1ZC  Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on

Stephen J Shaw is a data scientist and filmmaker. Over the last 7 years, Stephen has visited 24 countries and analysed millions of piece of data to work out what is happening with global birthrates and predict the earth's future population. The answer is shocking and literally every person needs to be aware of it. Expect to learn how 70% of countries on earth are below the population tipping point, what the cause of such rapidly changing birthrates can be attributed to, why women seem to find motherhood less attractive in 2023, whether marriage rates need to be raised, if cost of living, hormonal birth control or environmentalism is to blame and much more... Sponsors: Get 10% discount on all Gymshark’s products at https://bit.ly/sharkwisdom (use code: MW10) Get the Whoop 4.0 for free and get your first month for free at http://join.whoop.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 20% discount on Cured Nutrition’s CBD at https://curednutrition.com/modernwisdom (use code MW20) Extra Stuff: Watch Birt

Zack Telander is a weightlifter, coach & YouTuber. TikTok may be a colossal waste of time, but at least most people consider it to be harmless. A recently blog post made me think differently and today we look at the world's first digital weapon of mass-destruction through pleasure rather than pain. Expect to learn why Digital Dementia is a real phenomenon, how young girls are developing tourettes-like tics from watching videos, the dangers of atrophying focus through watching too much TikTok, why Grammarly and ChatGPT are no longer impartial, the awkwardness of vlogging a day in the life at Google when you get laid-off, whether calling a man bald is sexual harassment and much more... Extra Stuff: Gurwinder’s article - https://gurwinder.substack.com/p/tiktok-may-be-a-chinese-bio-weapon Subscribe to Zack's YouTube Channel -https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC94_fvLx7abZgs9LIkM7jxw  Get Zack's Program for $1 - https://www.patreon.com/zacktelander Follow Zack on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/coach_zt Get my

Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist, planetary scientist, author and science communicator. The universe is filled with mystery. Science has answered a lot and yet there's still so many fundamental questions which we seem no closer to understanding. What is consciousness? Are we alone in the universe? And why do people argue so much on the internet? Expect to learn what would happen if the moon disappeared, how Neil has dealt with the fallout from Patrick Bet David's podcast, why Sir Christopher Wren was an architect troll, Neil's best answer to the fermi paradox, why the world of astropolitics will be very complicated, why your colon bacteria doesn't think very highly of you and much more... Sponsors: Get 5 Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitamin D and more from Athletic Greens at https://athleticgreens.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 10% discount on your first month from BetterHelp at https://betterhelp.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get a Free Sample Pack of all

Dr Tania Reynolds is an Assistant Professor in Psychology at the University of New Mexico whose research focuses on women's intrasexual competition, biases in moral evaluations and social and sexual selection. Ancestrally, men needed to go to war and hunt. Given this, it would be rather useful to be friends with the spear-wielding bloke next to you so that you know he's got your back. Women's use case for friends is much more subtle and difficult to determine however, and today we try to decipher the underpinnings of female friendships. Expect to learn why women dislike working underneath a female boss, the painful social existence that very attractive women have to endure, why both men and women bias seeing women as victims and men as perpetrators, why women develop opposite-sex friendships, the most common ways women derogate their rivals, why sexual gossip is a ruthless precision engineered tool and much more... Extra Stuff: Follow Tania on Twitter - https://twitter.com/taniaarline  Get my free Reading Lis

Peter Diamandis is an engineer, physician, founder of the X Prize Foundation and cofounder of Singularity University. If you got rid of Elon Musk's money, or Steve Jobs' factories, they would likely still end up in a successful place because of their mindset. Peter has incubated some of the fastest growing and most innovative CEOs, businesses and performers and developed a number of rules around how to optimise your mental state. Expect to learn the practises that Peter teaches his students to maximise their mindset's effectiveness, the most important principles of developing a big vision for life, how to overcome negativity and limiting beliefs, whether Peter believes humans are going to be able to live to 120 soon, what's happening with space tourism and much more... Sponsors: Get a Free Sample Pack of all LMNT Flavours with your first box at https://www.drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom (automatically applied at checkout) Get 10% discount on your first month from BetterHelp at https://betterhelp.com/modernwisdom

Robert Waldinger is a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, Zen priest and Director of the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the longest-running study of adult life ever conducted. What makes for a good life? That was one of the main questions I asked myself when I began this podcast. A far easier solution would have been to speak to Dr Waldinger as his team has been researching thousands of the same individuals for 75 years to answer this question definitively. Expect to learn how you operate a longitudinal study that spans more time than any researcher's career, just how in depth this study went with brain scans and blood tests, what the most important factors which determined life happiness were, how many friends people should have, whether being married makes you live longer, what role achievement has on happiness and much more... Extra Stuff: Buy The Good Life - https://amzn.to/3QwWQ5D  Check out Bob's website - http://www.robertwaldinger.com/  Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → http

David Goggins is a retired United States Navy SEAL, ultramarathon runner, triathlete, public speaker and an author.  The ability to overcome challenges in life is one we will all need sooner or later. Make no mistake, discomfort is coming for you whether you're ready or not. Goggins happens to be one of the best individuals on earth at dealing with hard things and after a long time without any podcast appearances, I met him in Vegas to find out what new insights he's uncovered. Expect to learn what most people get wrong about motivation, Goggins' thoughts on claims that SEAL selection is too hard, what the most painful experience of his life was, the danger of success making you soft, why he ran the MOAB 240 twice with no knee cartilage, why he recorded a mixtape of insults from the internet, how to overcome laziness, what David's entire daily routine looks like and much more... Sponsors: Get a Free Sample Pack of all LMNT Flavours with your first box at https://www.drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom (automatically a

Dr John Barry is a Chartered Psychologist and Professional Researcher, Co-Founder of The Centre for Male Psychology and a leading expert in men’s mental health. Men and women both need help with their mental wellbeing, now more than ever. Yet there seems to be a particular blindness when it comes to men's psychology and how to treat it, plus how to effectively communicate with men about their issues. Expect to learn why traditional masculinity is seen as problematic by the American Psychological Association, the most important factors that impact the wellbeing of a sample of over 4,000 men, the unique challenges that male psychology poses, how important it is for men to have a partner in life, whether men staring at women should be made illegal and much more... Sponsors: Get 10% discount on your first month from BetterHelp at https://betterhelp.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 5 Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitamin D and more from Athletic Greens at https://athleticgreens.com/modernwisd

Michael Malice is an author, political commentator & podcaster. The 1900s saw some of the worst atrocities in human history. Evil was abound and the bad guys were on top a lot, with the Soviet Union being one of the most brutal examples. Given this, what reason do we have for any hope in the modern world? Expect to learn just how brutal the Soviet jails and gulags were, the torture methods used to extract confessions, how the Western Press were complicit in covering up Russian crimes, the incredible heroism and ingenuity used by people to get through the Berlin wall, why the bad guys don't have to win, Michael's justification for there always being hope and much more... Sponsors: Get a Free Sample Pack of all LMNT Flavours at https://www.drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 20% discount & free shipping on your Lawnmower 4.0 at https://manscaped.com/modernwisdom (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 20% discount on Cured Nutrition’s CBD at https://curednutrition.com/modernwisdom (use code MW20

I hit 600k 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 Lex Fridman is coming on the podcast, who the most overrated thinker is and my plans for 2023. Expect to learn what my thoughts are on masculinity being in a crisis, my best advice for men in their 20's, whether it's possible to have a well meaning conversation about the Left without calling everyone woke, where I buy my t-shirts from, who I want to bring on the show in 2023, my biggest tips for starting a YouTube channel, why it's a good thing that Newton didn't have Twitter and much more... Extra Stuff: Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.c

Dr Victor Kumar is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Boston University, part of the Mind & Morality Lab's Moral Psychology Research Group and an author. Morality might seem like something that exists independently of humans. Things are either good or bad, the current evolutionary state humans in in should not impact this judgement. Yet it seems that culture and evolution heavily influenced each other, and they influenced morality too. Expect to learn why Asian people get red faces when they drink alcohol, which moral emotions can be detected in chimpanzees, why sympathy can be seen as investment advice, how come some people can consume milk and others can't, whether moral grandstanding and performative empathy on Twitter can be explained by evolution, the reason for altruism existing and much more... Sponsors: Get 83% discount & 3 months free from Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/MODERNWISDOM (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 5 Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitamin D and more from Athletic Greens at

Jonny & Yusef from Propane Fitness join me for a new year's 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 the best sleep supplements we've found, how to get served faster at every restaurant, how to fix tennis elbow, why you need multiple gym memberships, a fix for caffeine dependency, Jonny's best new app for tracking your diet, how to beat procrastination, where to find the secret Pret a Manger in Heathrow Terminal 5, how to never lose your way during a speech again and much more... Sponsors: Get 10% discount on all Gymshark’s products at https://bit.ly/sharkwisdom (use code: MW10) Get the Whoop 4.0 for free and get your first month for free at http://join.whoop.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 20% discount on Cured Nutrition’s CBD at https://curednutrition.com/modernwisdom (use code MW20) Extra Stuff: Access Propane's Free Training - https://propanefitness.com/moder

Joyce Benenson is a lecturer of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University whose research focuses on human social structures and sex differences in competition and cooperation. We're often told that men are more competitive, more status-driven and more ruthless with rivals for potential mates. In reality doesn't seem to be true, the difference is that women's competition takes a more subtle, cynical and sophisticated route to drive away their competitors. Expect to learn how women compete for status, why women exclude more than men, why women who promote an egalitarian world are less charitable than you might think, how you can interfere with a rivals' relationship without getting caught, the usefulness of gossip as an enforcement mechanism and much more... Extra Stuff: Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitt

Helen Lewis is a journalist at The Atlantic and an author Humanity has become much less religious and in the ruins of this fresh, listless world, bereft of traditional insight, a cadre of new gurus have risen to take the high priests' place of dispensing insights about how to live. Helen's new BBC Sounds documentary series delves into this world of secular gurus. Expect to learn why a Canadian man has started drinking his own urine, why Steve Jobs was much more than just a tech inventor, how much it costs to be accused of racism over dinner while being banned from crying, why so many people are turning away from mainstream media, Helen's post-mortem on the IDW, the mortal problem that productivity gurus are helping address and much more... Sponsors: Get a $250 discount on Sacred Hunting’s trips at https://www.sacredhunting.com/modernwisdom Get the Whoop 4.0 for free and get your first month for free at http://join.whoop.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get a Free Sample Pack of all LMNT Flavo

Chris Bailey is a productivity consultant, researcher and best selling author. Being productive is great. Everyone wants to get more done in less time and achieve their goals. But overshooting your tolerance for work can result in misery, fatigue, loss of creativity and days in bed. Finding a balance between the grind and being calm is vital. Expect to learn the scientific theory explaining why burnout exists, why calmness and productivity are intrinsically linked, how being dopamine-driven is a dangerous motivator, how to slow down without feeling idle and lazy, the science of savouring life, why people who watch the news get more PTSD than people who experienced a bombing attack and much more... Sponsors: Get 10% discount on all Gymshark’s products at https://bit.ly/sharkwisdom (use code: MW10) Get 20% discount on the best Ketone Drink at https://ketone-iq.com/ (use code MW10) Get 20% discount on House Of Macadamias’ nuts at https://houseofmacadamias.com/modernwisdom (use code MW20) Extra Stuff: Check out C

Dean Rickles is Professor of History and Philosophy of Modern Physics at the University of Sydney and a Director of the Sydney Centre for Time. Life doesn't last that long. The ever present spectre of death looms large, even if you life to be 100. This can feel like a tragedy in many ways. What use are our efforts if they'll all be turned to dust eventually? A philosopher is needed here, to give us a fresh perspective. Expect to learn why keeping your options open is a path to an early grave, how you can remind yourself of the miracle that you're alive at all, the solution to living a listless, unintentional life, whether death is actually the only thing that gives life any meaning, the danger of being a sailor without a journey or a route and much more... Sponsors: Get 5 Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitamin D and Free Shipping from Athletic Greens at https://athleticgreens.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 83% discount & 3 months free from Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/MODERN

Dr Jonathan Shedler is a psychologist, author, master clinician and clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of California. We do not understand ourselves. Almost all of what is inside of our minds is obscured from us. We don't need to exclusively despair though. With a little work and some good insights from psychoanalysis, the view can be made a little clearer. Expect to learn why people believe that their suffering makes them more moral than others, how you can create a false identity without realising, the ruthless danger of projective identification, how come it's easier for us to see people as either good or bad, how extreme envy can manifest, the manipulative strategies we all enact without thinking and much more... Extra Stuff: Check out Jonathan's website - https://jonathanshedler.com/  Follow Jonathan on Twitter - https://twitter.com/jonathanshedler  Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://ww

David Senra is a podcaster and a writer. Many of the most important insights you need to learn to improve your life have already been discovered in the past. Thankfully David spends all his time reading biographies of the greatest thinkers, founders, entrepreneurs and inventors from history and has synthesised those lessons so you can remember them too. Expect to learn how Steve Jobs came to think about time, what Kobe Bryant believed about the dangers of success making you soft, how the Rockefellers created their fortune, why crossing the Vanderbilts may result in you being very dead, whether anyone with extreme success managed to master a work-life balance, why you have to start reading Paul Graham's work, David's most recommended books and much more... Sponsors: Get $100 off plus an extra 15% discount on Qualia Mind at https://neurohacker.com/modernwisdom (use code MW15) Get 20% discount & free shipping on your Lawnmower 4.0 at https://manscaped.com/modernwisdom (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 20% discount on