The Armen Show

What can we think about with regards to the upper end of the economic spectrum in the United States, other than the top 0.1%? The next 9.9 percent fit into a specific category of relevance in this country, competing in a different form than the other brackets, and their scenario comes with its own qualms. In episode 322 of The Armen Show, author and philosopher Matthew Stewart joins us in discussing concepts from his latest book The 9.9 Percent: The New Aristocracy That Is Entrenching Inequality and Warping Our Culture. Matthew Stewart is an American philosopher and author currently living in the Boston, Massachusetts area. He is the author of Nature’s God, The Management Myth, The Courtier and the Heretic, Monturiol’s Dream, and The Truth About Everything. He graduated from Princeton University in 1985 with a concentration in political philosophy and was awarded the Sachs Scholarship from Princeton for study at Oxford University, where he earned a D.Phil. in philosophy in 1988. He worked as a management consultant prior to writing full-time. Glad to have Matthew on the show. You can check out The 9.9 Percent on Amazon.

Hello and welcome to episode 321 of the show, and we are glad to bring one full of messages about joy, being, and philosophy. Understanding the life we live is key. This one is an episode in person, and brings together discussion about creation in music, comedy, and social interaction. There is something good about going from one tangent to another, such that the connections of thoughts along the way represent more. Joining me on this one is Emanuelle C. Wright, also known by his rap name of Yungcameltoe, and we discussed a variety of topics in person here. We covered items from making of music and comedy, to philosophy like that of the story of Sisyphus, and more related content. May you continue to enjoy the content, as we make our way through 2021.

Here we are at episode 320 of the show, where I discuss various concepts from messages I had written down in snippets. From taking advantage of the specificity of the moment, responding effectively to the shock of life entropy, and keeping messages simple for prolific network spread, this episode covers a variety of material. The moment is a key element of this episode, because each moment in our time is one that speaks to us in one way or another. Check this one out to hear more about making use of the current moment.

Does our influence go further than we think of? Are people taking cues and guidance from us, when we are not even aware of it? Professor Vanessa Bohns of Cornell University is a social psychologist who has explored this topic in her latest book You Have More Influence Than You Think: How We Underestimate Our Power of Persuasion, and Why It Matters. Professor Bohns received her PhD in Social Psychology from Columbia University and her AB in Psychology from Brown University. Prior to joining Cornell, she taught at the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo in Canada. Her research focuses broadly on social influence and the psychology of compliance and consent. In particular, she examines the extent to which people recognize the influence they have over others in various interpersonal interactions, including when asking for help, suggesting that someone engage in unethical behavior, and making romantic advances. Links: Book | Faculty Page | Twitter

Actress and filmmaker Kat Fairaway returns on episode 318 of The Armen Show, and we discuss havaya, mindfulness, updates, and 9 quotes from the stoic philosophers Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius. Kat is an actress living in Los Angeles, who recently starred in three feature films released on Amazon and Lifetime, including: Kidnapped by a Classmate opposite Adam Zastrow (The Kaminsky Method & American Horror Story) and Psycho Escort. Her theater experience includes the world debut of Who You See Here working alongside Tony Award winning writer Matt Hoverman, playing opposite Mather Zickel (I Love you, Man & Rachel Getting Married) and a regional run of Assassins (Squeaky Fromme). Kat’s passion is expanding and elevating human consciousness, which led to her facilitating with havaya, a group wellness company. You can find them at havaya.one and on IG @havaya.one Here are the 9 quotes that were discussed in the episode: Epictetus The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best.If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid.The greater the difficulty the more glory in surmounting it. Skillful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests. Seneca True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so, wants nothing.It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that things are difficult.You act like mortals in all that you fear, and like immortals in all that you desire. Marcus Aurelius Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinion of himself than on the opinion of others. Links: Kat on IMDb, IG, Amazon Prime Video, and our previous episode Jim Carrey Interview mentioned The School of Life by Alain de Botton Filming location credit: Boutiq Venice

Welcome to episode 317 of the show with Dr. Brandy Schillace, where we go into the story of surgeon Dr. Robert White and his transplant efforts. We discuss the story represented in her book Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher: A Monkey’s Head, the Pope’s Neuroscientist, and the Quest to Transplant the Soul. Dr. Brandy Schillace is a historian of medicine and the critically acclaimed author of Death’s Summers Coat, Clockwork Futures, and most recently Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher, described by the New York Times as a “macabre delight.” Her books have been reviewed in Science Magazine, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, New Yorker, Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and more. Dr. Schillace is host of the Peculiar Book Club, a livestream community of authors and readers, and has appeared on Travel Channel’s Mysteries at the Museum,  NPR’s Here and Now, and FOX’s American Built. She has bylines at Scientific American, Globe and Mail, HuffPo, SLATE, and Crime Reads. Dr. Schillace is a 2018 winner of the Arthur P. Sloan Science Foundation award, and in addition to her work as an author, is editor-in-chief of BMJ’s Medical Humanities Journal. Links: Twitter Peculiar Book Club Mr. Humble & Dr. Butcher TikTok

What can the lessons of the stoics do for us in 2021? What did these philosophers and thinkers know that could guide us in managing our emotions for a better outcome? Has stoicism become popularized in recent years, and what can we take from this change of pace? Professor Nancy Sherman of Georgetown University joins on episode 316 of the show to discuss these topics and more from her latest book Stoic Wisdom: Ancient Lessons for Modern Resilience. Nancy Sherman is a Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University. She was also the inaugural Distinguished Chair in Ethics at the United States Naval Academy. She is the author of Afterwar: Healing the Moral Wounds of our Soldiers; The Untold War: Inside the Hearts, Minds, and Souls of our Soldiers a New York Times Editors’ pick; Stoic Warriors: The Ancient Philosophy Behind the Military Mind; Making a Necessity of Virtue: Aristotle and Kant on Virtue; The Fabric of Character: Aristotle’s Theory of Virtue, and the editor of Critical Essays on the Classics: Aristotle’s Ethics. She has written over 60 articles in the area of ethics, military ethics, the history of moral philosophy, ancient ethics, the emotions, moral psychology, and psychoanalysis. She has delivered over 60 named or keynote lectures and plenary addresses here and abroad. Links: Twitter | Stoic Wisdom | Faculty page

What causes cooperation when there is potential to exploit? Why is cooperation commonplace in nature, when there is clear benefit from selfish behavior. Examining humans and non-human animals, Professor Nichola Raihani of University College London explores this topic in The Social Instinct: How Cooperation Shaped the World, and joins us on episode 315 of the show. Dr. Nichola Raihani is a British psychologist who is a Professor of Evolution and Behaviour at University College London. She earned a Bachelor of Arts (Natural Sciences) at Girton College in the University of Cambridge in 2003. She stayed at Cambridge for her graduate studies, where she studied cooperation in pied babblers in the Kalahari Desert. Her doctoral research was supervised by Tim Clutton-Brock. In 2008 she worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute of Zoology (Zoological Society of London). In 2011, she moved to University College London, where she studies the evolution of punishment and cooperation. Links: Twitter | Faculty Page | Research | The Social Instinct

What can we learn from 17th century economic discourse? A crucial transformation in economic thinking happened at the time, and analysis of the discussion of the time period is informative regarding a shift from a more moral view to one of company growth. Professor Emily Erikson of Yale University discusses these concepts from her latest book Trade and Nation: How Companies and Politics Reshaped Economic Thought on episode 314. Emily Erikson is the Joseph C. Fox Academic Director of the Fox International Fellowship and associate professor of sociology and the school of management (by courtesy). She works on the emergence and development of global networks, organizations, and the institutions of capitalism and democracy. Her work has appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, Annual Review of Sociology, Sociology Theory, The Journal of Economic History, and Social Science History, among others. She serves on the council for the economic sociology section of the American Sociological Association, the editorial board for Social Science History, the editorial committee for the Relational Sociology Series. She is a founding member of the advisory board for the Journal of Historical Network Research and sits of the executive council of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Senate. You can check out her faculty page, or see Trade and Nation on Columbia University Press.

What is meritocracy, and how are the dynamics associated with its proliferation affecting equality and culture? Professor Daniel Markovits of Yale Law School joins on episode 313 of the show, and we discuss these concepts from his book The Meritocracy Trap: How America’s Foundational Myth Feeds Inequality, Dismantles the Middle Class, and Devours the Elite. “Daniel Markovits is Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School and Founding Director of the Center for the Study of Private Law. Markovits works in the philosophical foundations of private law, moral and political philosophy, and behavioral economics. He publishes in a range of disciplines, including in Science, The American Economic Review, and The Yale Law Journal. After earning a B.A. in Mathematics, summa cum laude from Yale University, Markovits received a British Marshall Scholarship to study in England, where he was awarded an M.Sc. in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics from the L.S.E. and a B.Phil. and D.Phil. in Philosophy from the University of Oxford. Markovits then returned to Yale to study law and, after clerking for the Honorable Guido Calabresi, joined the faculty at Yale.” You can check out The Meritocracy Trap on Amazon, or Professor Markovits’ faculty page.