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Wild with Sarah Wilson

Latest episodes

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Feb 21, 2023 • 49min

REBECCA GIBLIN: Chokepoint capitalism is screwing creatives…and you!

Rebecca Giblin, Melbourne Law School professor, discusses how Big Tech billionaires are choking creatives and customers in various industries. They explore examples from music, live events, and the content industry, highlighting the consequences of corporate concentration. The podcast also covers the impact of targeted ads, the need for systemic change, and the power of collective action for positive change.
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Feb 14, 2023 • 45min

NICK RIGGLE: A philosophical case for being awesome

Nick Riggle (Ex-pro skater, philosophy professor at the University of California, YOLO expert) has become known for dissecting contemporary phenomena in a distinctly Socratic manner.In this chat, we delve into the philosophical significance of awesomeness (and its antonym, suckiness), the existential imperative of YOLO (!) and the aetiology of the high five. Nick’s theses on these cliched expressions ultimately lead to a wonderfully wild answer to the quandary of what makes life worth living in such a fraught era. To flesh it all out we draw on sporting analogies, the poetry of Mary Oliver and each other’s really rather near-death experiences. We mention philosopher Kieran Setiya, here you can listen to Kieran’s Wild episode featuring his take on how to love living a hard life.You can read more about Nick via his website and follow him on TwitterNicks books can be purchased via the below links:On Being Awesome This Beauty: A Philosophy of Being Alive If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageSubscribe to my Substack newsletter for more such conversationGet your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious Life Let’s connect on Instagram! It’s where I interact the most Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Feb 8, 2023 • 44min

DR SIMON LONGSTAFF: The world needs ethical heroes (here’s how to be one)

Dr Simon Longstaff (Philosopher, Festival of Dangerous Ideas, The Ethics Centre) is one of Australia’s most ethical thinkers. He mindfully stokes the national debate on cancel culture, corporate conduct, mask-wearing and psychedelic drugs (via his role as chair of Mind Medicine Australia). Simon guides contemporary moral thinking as the ethics commissioner for Cricket Australia, the executive director of The Ethics Centre, which advises corporates on how to make better decisions, and as a fellow of CPA Australia, the World Economic Forum and…oh, the list goes on. Simon also co-founded the contentious Festival of Dangerous Ideas!In this wonderful conversation we discuss his harrowing childhood experience with an ethical decision made by his mother and how it shaped his moral journey, how to counter “Free Speech at All Costs” evangelists and whether it’s ethical to quit Twitter... and much more!If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageSubscribe to my Substack newsletter for more such conversationGet your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious Life Let’s connect on Instagram! It’s where I interact the mostSimon mentions 10 videos to help you navigate ethical quandaries…you’ll find them hereYou can join The Ethics Centre community hereLearn more about the Festival of Dangerous IdeasSimon also recommends Ethi-Call. You can call for free ethical advice here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Feb 1, 2023 • 43min

YAEL STONE: On loving the messiness of wokism and being wrong

Yael Stone (Star of Orange is the New Black, Founder of Hi Neighbour, Climate Activist) and I have been IG friends, supporting each other’s climate work, for some years. In 2021 Yael Stone gave up her Green Card to combat climate change and committed to offsetting future overseas gigs by donating 50% of earnings to climate charities. Now she runs Hi Neighbour, a community platform that assists in the “just transition” for fossil fuel workers into low-carbon jobs.I have admired Yael's wildness from afar but decided it was time to meet IRL. For this conversation we sit in her garage in the small town of Bulli and discuss how much we love “wokism” intricacies, the complexities of the Geoffrey Rush case and how getting arrested as “a middle-class white lady” does no one any good. Be warned, this episode gets raw.Follow Yael on Instagram. This is best.And it’s worth watching Yael’s explainer for donating to climate charities hereHere’s a link to her awesome Hi Neighbour platform, with materials for rolling out her concept in your neighbourhood.You might also like to listen to the Saul Griffith episode I mention – about how to electrify your home.If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageSubscribe to my Substack newsletter for more such conversationGet your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious Life Let’s connect on Instagram! It’s where I interact the most Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Jan 24, 2023 • 46min

BEST OF: TIM BROWN. This chat with my meditation teacher is one of the most

It’s the time of year when we all need some inspiring, expansive perspectives and I reckon this chat with Tim, which I recorded a little while back, might be a great listen as you go about your summer road trips and making 2023 commitments.Tim trained with the Vedic tradition and has taught meditation to elite athletes, jail inmates, billionaires and kids for more than 20 years. The guy’s been part of my spiritual journey for 12 years and has guided me with my career, love life and various calamities. We meet for coffee and peanut butter toast most weeks…this episode we bring a recorder and discuss: trusting in the logic of the universe (the wild idea for the week) and how (and why) we should render ourselves choiceless (it's the ultimate freedom!). We also talk about the spiritual brilliance that is the movie Groundhog Day… which he likes to watch again. And Again. And again. Ha!The movie we mention, Groundhog DayYou can learn to meditate (and more!) with Tim hereFor more wonderful insights follow Tim on Instagram  If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageSubscribe to my Substack newsletter for more such conversationGet your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious Life Let’s connect on Instagram! It’s where I interact the most Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Jan 17, 2023 • 1h 5min

BEST OF: OLIVER BURKEMAN. Because his 4000 weeks theory became very hot.

This interview got a lot of (shocked!) feedback, so I figured I’d run it again as we start thinking about heading back to work. Again. And contemplating “what it’s all about”.British writer Oliver Burkeman has investigated pretty much every productivity hack, mindfulness trick, list-making system and happiness boost we've ever been fed. He concludes, almost none work. Ha!I followed Oliver's column in The Guardian, which he wrote from his home in Brooklyn, New York, for about 10 years and he is definitely my favourite anti-self-help self-help writer! It's been a few years since his last book, The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking, and just as I found myself asking where Oliver Burkeman was at since quitting his popular column last year, I noticed he had a new book out that makes the startling point - we have a very short time on this planet, about Four Thousand Weeks (also the title of the book).  This is the wild idea we discuss in this episode. Oliver asks, given life is short, what are you going to do about it? Oliver’s books that we spoke about:The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive ThinkingFour Thousand Weeks The Pomodoro timer app here  If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageSubscribe to my Substack newsletter for more such conversationsGet your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious Life Let’s connect on Instagram! It’s where I interact the most Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Jan 10, 2023 • 1h 8min

BEST OF: DR JILL BOLTE TAYLOR. Learning to live in the right brain – possibly the best New Year hack ever.

I discovered Jill's story in her viral TED Talk from 2008 (it became the most-watched TED talk ever!) in which the brain scientist describes watching the left side of her brain deteriorate over the course of four hours on the morning of her stroke and how she used her right brain to stay present and get help. I was transfixed. Ever since I've wondered, whatever happened to Jill Bolte Taylor? Did she go back to normal? Is she still living in her right brain and able to experience the “oneness” that spiritualists and quantum physicists can only point to? If so, is she lonely?This chat is one of my favourites in the Wild series and the wisdom Jill shares, I think, is perfectly placed to guide those of us seeking fresh thinking into the New Year.In this chat we get into her how stroke stripped her of her relationships and emotions, understanding the power of each hemisphere of the brain and techniques we can all use to go right and be legitimately and neuroscientifically wilder!You can purchase Jill's booksWhole Brain Living: The Anatomy of Choice and the Four Characters That Drive Our LifeMy Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal JourneyWatch her TED Talk hereIf you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageSubscribe to my Substack newsletter for more such conversation Get your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious Life Let’s connect on Instagram! It’s where I interact the most Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Jan 3, 2023 • 1h 3min

BEST OF: DAVID POCOCK. Want to know more about the Australian Senator making waves in Canberra?

He was the captain of the Wallabies, the only Australian player to be included in World Rugby's team of the decade, but - wildly – retired at the height of his career to devote his life to climate activist projects here in Australia and in Africa. I recorded this interview shortly after David quit rugby and several months before he decided to run as an independent Senator in the Australian Parliament. He won the ticket and has gone on to become an extremely powerful and highly regarded political voice in this country and a bit of a figure of intrigue…how did such an introverted, considered WEAPON OF A FOOTBALL player wind up here? It seemingly makes no sense. This is why I figured many of you would love to listen to this chat (perhaps for a second time) in which he wrestles with how he can best make an impact. It provides some wonderful insight into the thinking that preceded his decision to enter politics.Dave and I became friends talking about activism, Jungian psychology and the meaning of life over Instagram some time back. In this chat, he talks with me about grief, why Australian men aren't waking up, the sadness of facing the climate reality, and – yeah – how to make a wild decision. Dave promised to send a list of the books that have shaped his wildness. He's a man of his word; Living Between Worlds - James Hollis Food Fix - Mark HymanFinding Resilience - Brian WalkerEverything is Spiritual - Rob BellThe Will to Change - bell hooksA Life on Our Planet - David AttenboroughCall of the Reed Warbler - Charles MassyIf you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" pageSubscribe to my Substack newsletter for more such conversations Get your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious Life Let’s connect on Instagram! It’s where I interact the most Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Dec 27, 2022 • 33min

BEST OF: SIA.The chat where I make the artist cry.

Sia is one of the most gifted and wild creatives on the planet, best known for the hundreds of hit pop songs she's written for herself, Beyonce, Rihanna and Kanye West, and for being notoriously private, rarely doing interviews. This is why I remain so damn chuffed that she agreed to be my FIRST guest here on Wild. I recall being soooo nervous and out of my depth. But also thoroughly enjoying this incredible human’s quirky company.In this chat, Sia gets intimate with me about fostering, why she uses medication to support her art (and keep her alive), and her wild idea - how she, as an artist, “runs with an idea” without apology. Oh, and I make her cry.You can find the details of Sia's film Music, her music and art here. Follow SIA on InstagramIf you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" page Subscribe to my Substack newsletter for more such conversations Get your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious Life Let’s connect on Instagram! It’s where I interact the most Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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Dec 20, 2022 • 39min

I FOUND MAMMOTH DUDE: Special episode

I share a glorious, wild, life-affirming story in this special episode. Some of you might have read my book This One Wild and Precious Life and remember the bit where I wind up in Mammoth in the Sierra Nevada and rant at a young guy sitting in a vegan smoothie café about his single-use plastic cups (he was drinking several vegan beverages). He takes it well and asks to read a few pages of the book (I was working on the draft of the climate chapter as we spoke). "Wow! Can you put that mind-blasting stuff in dot points?" he asks. I said I would if he quit his stinking single-use habit. I kept my end of the deal (I shoehorned the whole climate catastrophe into bullets!!). And, it turns out, so did he!! It was an adventure to find “Mammoth Dude” because - wait for it - he’s now quit consumption altogether(!), lives off-grid in a trailer in the forest with his dog and... had read my book! This chat brought me so much joy. We cover capitalism, loneliness, leaning into people, the magic of meeting strangers and those margins I put in my books for writing notes in. But the story gets even better…following our chat, Mammoth Dude (Avi Pell is his name) went on to live out one of the life dreams he flags in our conversation. If you want to see the video version of our conversation, and the details of the epic Mammoth Lakes hike I did, as well as the beautiful email convo between Avi and I (clue: he's started a hiking company and I'll be joining him on one of his tours!) I'll be sharing this with my membership community. Join the family at sarahwilson.substack.comYou can grab your copy of This One Wild and Precious Life here.I mention Sylvain Tesson's book Consolations of the Forest, you can get it here.And don't forget to favourite Wild on Apple and Spotify.If you need to know a bit more about me… head to my "about" page. Subscribe to my Substack newsletter for more such conversations. Get your copy of my book, This One Wild and Precious Life Let’s connect on Instagram! It’s where I interact the most. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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