Pros & Concepts

Episode 13: Transitional Stress - Change is Challenging

May 19th, 2021  |  1 hr 9 secs

change, psychology, sociology, travel

Steve introduces the idea of Transitional Stress, which can come from major shifts in life, including changing jobs, moving to a new location, or otherwise altering your life in a significant way. The episode focuses a lot on travel and culture shock, as well.

Episode 12: Idea Excavation - Finding Treasure in a Dump

May 12th, 2021  |  59 mins 40 secs

archaeology, excavation, ideas, nomological networks, philosophy, psychology, sociology

Phil introduces the concept of Idea Excavation, which can be shortly summarized as “take what’s valuable, leave what’s not”. Through Steve’s clarification, they also talk about “Learning from the Negative”, examining the traits something or someone lacks, and learning to better foster that missing trait in one’s self, such as patience, gratitude, compassion.

Episode 11: Internalized Capitalism - Throwing Ourselves Thanklessly into the Machine

May 7th, 2021  |  1 hr 2 mins

capitalism, economics, progressive, socialism

Phil and Steve talk about Internal Capitalism, a new idea that has sprung up lately and which they tie to the religion of economy worship.

Episode 10: Actor-Observer Bias - It's Not Me; But It's You

April 30th, 2021  |  46 mins 10 secs

internalized capitalism, meritocracy, philosophy, polisci, psychology

Phil and Steve talk about the Fundamental Attribution Error / Actor Observer Bias and how to use it to maintain empathy for others. They also touched on free will, internalized capitalism, compassion, and meritocracy.

More from Phil can be found at HittingEject.com and MakeASkillCheck.com
More from Steve can be found at SteveRosePhD.com

Episode 9: Design Thinking - Making Things That Work

April 22nd, 2021  |  52 mins 32 secs

design, design thinking, don norman, psychology

In this Episode, Phil explains his rudimentary understanding of “Design Thinking”. The episodes were almost entirely pulled from the books The Design of Everyday Things, and The Design of Future Things, both written by the Design God, Don Norman.

Episode 8: Straw and Steel Men - Strength through Strong Opponents

April 15th, 2021  |  49 mins 14 secs

Phil and Steve discuss a common bad-faith argumentation feature, the “straw man” argument. They talk about identifying it, provide examples, and discuss how to deal with it. They also go further and talk about doing the opposite; evoking the “steel man” approach to argument.
Informal Definition of Strawmanning: “Putting words into someone’s mouth, then making fun of them for saying them - even though they didn’t.”

Episode 7: Survivorship Bias - Forgetting the Lost

April 9th, 2021  |  56 mins 1 sec

In this episode, Phil and Steve discuss Survivorship Bias and the ways that it can affect our perception of the world. They go through many, many examples from various fields, and touch on the Replication Crisis, “Back-in-my-Day-ism", the Toyota way, and much more.

Episode 6: Cognitive Distortions - Learning to Think Clearly

March 31st, 2021  |  47 mins 27 secs

Phil and Steve discuss common cognitive distortions, how to identify them, and how to deal with them effectively. They also discuss mindfulness, the ineffable processes of memory, and more.

Episode 5: Emergence - Complexity from Simplicity

March 25th, 2021  |  40 mins 20 secs

economics, emergence, futurism, psychology, sociology, technology, unintended consequences

Phil and Steve discuss emergence, the various areas where it applies, and how it could affect the future. Topics range from society, law of unintended consequences, asteroid mining, the future of tech and design, and much more.

Episode 4: Memento Mori - What Will You Do with the Time Left?

March 19th, 2021  |  43 mins 26 secs

career, life, memento mori, philosophy, psychology, self development, stoicism

Phil and Steve talk about Memento Mori, a piece of stoic philosophy that encourages you to keep your death in mind. As such, the discussion revolves around death, the purpose of life, suicide, and death as a framing device.

Episode 3: Fixed vs Growth Mindsets - Reaching Your Potential

March 12th, 2021  |  49 mins 17 secs

In this episode, Phil and Steve discuss the fixed and growth mindsets, a touch of positive psychology, the myth of talent, and what it means to be a loser.

Episode 2: Poe's Law - Making Sense of the Internet

March 5th, 2021  |  53 mins 16 secs

doublespeak, horseshoe theory, language, language tricks, nihilism, poess law, politics, post-truth, propaganda, psychology, usenet

Phil and Steve discuss the various "bad faith" ways that conversations can go in both politics and on the internet. They touch on various issues that were happening at the time of recording, such as the Capitol Riots and Trump.

Episode 1: The Fox and The Hedgehog - To Generalize or Focus

February 24th, 2021  |  58 mins 13 secs

career, isaiah, philosophy, psychology, self-development, sociology

Phil and Steve explore these two approaches to the world first introduced by Isaiah Berlin