Shark Attacks On Goats, The Ethics Of Hunting, Human Stress Resilience & Much More! (Special Hawaii Hunting Episode)
Boundless Life
Nature's Duality and Human Storytelling
This chapter explores the complex relationship between humans and nature, challenging the perception of nature as merely violent while suggesting that moments of fear can evoke unexpected feelings of calm. The speakers also examine the ethics of hunting, societal attitudes toward death, and the art of storytelling, emphasizing the importance of being present in our experiences. Additionally, they discuss how narratives shape our understanding of reality and the impact of media culture on empathy and altruism.
In today's podcast, I am joined by my friends Kyle Thiermann, Chris Ryan and Mark Healey for witty banter, philosophizing, and intellectually stimulating conversation straight from the island of Hawaii, where we - along with several others mentioned in this podcast episode, such as Dr. Peter Attia, Kyle Kingsbury and Hawaii hunting guide Justin Lee - took a break from hunting, hiking, spearfishing and dressing meat to gather round the podcasting mics.
In this conversation, you'll hear... -Recap of the trip...6:47- Chris was a last minute substitute
- Primal surroundings: goat head in the back of the pickup
- They were all dropped off by helicopter on various spots on the Big Island
- Ben engaged in spearfishing; caught Hawaiian lobster, opi'i fish
- Impossible to replicate their meals in a restaurant
- If you're in an extreme dehydration situation, you're probably starving to death, so don't throw them out
- They could potentially be used as a water filter because they're so thick
- Coffee and beer don't actually dehydrate you
- Energy bars have moisture in them
- Depends on salt content, moisture level, etc.
- Sharks would attack as they were loaded onto ships for transport
- Ranchers pushed a herd of goats tied to each other off a cliff
- The cattle was transported while the sharks feasted on the goats
- Hunting is necessary in Hawai'i for sustainability of the land
- It's not cheaper when you factor in ammo, time spent hunting, obtaining permits, etc.
- Large amounts of money from hunting is invested into environmental sustainability
- Eradication vs. management
- Killing an animal is a deeply personal experience
- Everyone who eats meat should hunt at least once
- We are what we eat: cruelty, apathy, torture, etc.
- Book: The Biology of Belief by Dr. Bruce Lipton
- Book: Mind to Matter by Dr. Dawson Church
- Epigenetics: Behavior of parents/ancestors affects their children's behavior and instincts
- Do humans have instincts?
- Going for the nipple
- Fear of snakes
- "Comparing notes" after a hunt separated humans from other animals
- Coordinated hunting
- Research suggests we become more sensitive to stress rather than more resilient
- Chronic stressors (business responsibilities) our ancestors didn't deal with
- Experiencing stress without realizing it, or thinking you're relaxed
- Practice makes automatic
- Difference between stress and excitement
- Alpha vs. beta brain waves
- Alpha: what you experience in "the flow"; familiar, happy, focused
- Beta: Higher level of excitement; less predictability
- Parasympathetic vs. sympathetic nervous system
- Sympathetic: fight and flight nervous system
- Parasympathetic: rest and digestive nervous system
- Vagus nerve feeds into the sinoatrial node of the heart
- You want high heart rate variability (HRV)
- Vagus nerve is operating the parasympathetic system properly
- Meditating, chanting, cold water assist with maintaining high HRV
- Deer reach rigor mortis in 20 minutes when corralled (stressed) and over an hour when killed in the wild
- You cramp in stressful situations while exercising due to calcium release
- Sour, spicy taste overrides neuronal reflex
- Golgi tendon organ limits the contraction, but is overridden by neuronal reflex
- Other animals don't have this, and put far more stress on their muscles
- When mom lifts a car to save the baby, the brain, because of extreme stress, overrides the golgi tendon organ
- Brain over brawn: why humans have the golgi tendon organ and other animals don't
- Infant formula: no colostrum, fatty acid,
- Breast milk is a fatty, highly addictive food; you'd be obese if you drank it all your life
- The microbiome is a gift to the environmental movement
- Your surroundings impact your gut health
- FDA treats bottled water as a food product; tap water is treated as water, so it's tested far more often
- Chlorine, fluoride is in the tap water
- Bottled water comes from a filtered source
- Hawai'i had cattle ranchers before California
- Beach as well as mountain culture
- Cultural holocaust: Christian missionaries
- Hawaiian language stayed alive in the cattle ranchers:
- It was more functional
- Perhaps reflective of the number of colors, sights and scents in Hawai'i
- Akin to why podcasts are popular: you can break down concepts you can't on CNN
- Grew up on North Shore of Oahu; got noticed by important surfer dudes
- Ended up going to Fiji for his first professional trip at age 14; had visualized Fiji for years
- Was in one of the most iconic surfing photos in history
- Hobbes: Everything eats life
- Things that appear to be important are not in evolutionary terms
- Human chin - where two bones come together
- An arrow is a much better way to die than dying in nature
- We speak of death as though it's not going to happen
- Non-Western cultures celebrate death
- Perhaps explains animosity surrounding hunting
- Narrative: knowing which dots to connect, and what to leave out
- Being present and in the moment vs. on auto-pilot
- Writing the story before it happens
- Specificity is key. Too much information is overwhelming, prevents people from taking action (for example, charity donations)
- Source of food, amusement, protection, comfort
- Movement of fire is reflected in the nature of human consciousness
- They can alter landscapes, be very destructive
- Large swaths of the Amazon have been cleared by fire
- Podcasts around a fire never work well
- Water is the greatest source of "awe" that we know of
- People with nothing live as though they have everything. People with everything live as though there's not enough
- Perspective, born of experience, helps to understand the disparity between real and perceived scarcity
- We spend money to isolate ourselves from others as soon as we get it
- Inconvenience puts you in touch with other people (hitch-hiking, taking the bus)
- Many of the clients are very wealthy and successful in business and life
- They know a red herring when they see or hear it
- They enjoy having Mark run the show, tell them what to do; it allows them to relax for a bit
- Treat your business like a big dog; assert dominance
- We don't have boredom anymore with social media, smartphones, etc.
- Silence often precedes a maturation in a relationship
- Learn how to hunt without a guide; self-taught
- Allow kids to work out conflict on their own
- Preventive medicine
-Book: The Biology of Belief by Dr. Bruce Lipton
-Book: Mind to Matter by Dr. Dawson Church
-Podcast: 32 Ways to Stimulate Your Vagus Nerve, Fine-Tune Your Nervous System & Self-Hack Your Hormones
-Article: The History of Hawaiian Cowboys
-Book: Ni'ihau: The Last Hawaiian Island
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