Conspirituality co-author Julian Walker joins us to discuss how influencers have curdled New Age spirituality and wellness with the politics of paranoia. What We Discuss with Julian Walker: Why have so many wellness influencers gone off the conspiracy deep end since COVID began? What do these conspiracies have in common, and who benefits from their proliferation? How do otherwise reasonable people get sucked down conspiracy rabbit holes? How "The female-dominated New Age (with its positive focus on self) and the male-dominated realm of conspiracy theory (with its negative focus on global politics)" has synthesized into a hybrid system of belief dubbed "Conspirituality" by sociologists Charlotte Ward and David Voas. Why a privately owned platform's refusal to host and perpetuate the views of disinformation peddlers isn't censorship or a violation of free speech. And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/871 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course! Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

Are personality tests valuable tools based on science, or just horoscopes in a lab coat? Comedian Michael Regilio joins us for Skeptical Sunday to find out! On This Week's Skeptical Sunday, We Discuss: Personality tests, like the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, are widely used by individuals and organizations as a way to understand who we are and how we interact with one another. But how accurate are they? The Myers-Briggs test was developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers — neither of whom were scientists or psychologists. Companies use personality tests in hiring practices, potentially leading to discrimination and exclusion of qualified candidates. The Big 5 (5-Factor Model) is a more accurate alternative, but even it assumes personality traits remain relatively static over time. Psychologists and researchers should continue studying personality and behavior to develop more accurate and fair assessment tools that can better predict job performance and workplace success, but we should take the results of current personality tests with a grain of salt. Connect with Jordan on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. If you have something you'd like us to tackle here on Skeptical Sunday, drop Jordan a line at jordan@jordanharbinger.com and let him know! Connect with Michael Regilio at his website, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, and make sure to check out the Michael Regilio Plagues Well With Others podcast here or wherever you enjoy listening to fine podcasts! Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/870 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course! Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

Your boyfriend's not been the same since accidentally killing his mother's assailant. What can you do to help him? Welcome to Feedback Friday! And in case you didn't already know it, Jordan Harbinger (@JordanHarbinger) and Gabriel Mizrahi (@GabeMizrahi) banter and take your comments and questions for Feedback Friday right here every week! If you want us to answer your question, register your feedback, or tell your story on one of our upcoming weekly Feedback Friday episodes, drop us a line at friday@jordanharbinger.com. Now let's dive in! On This Week's Feedback Friday, We Discuss: Your boyfriend's not been the same since accidentally killing his mother's assailant. What can you do to help him through this difficult time? You never intended to be a father, but your girlfriend's unintentional pregnancy has you wondering what your ultimate role should be when the child is born. Your wife reveals detailed sexual fantasies when her memory-impairing sleep meds kick in, but shies away from acting on them when lucid. How can you communicate to find out what she really wants from you? How do you balance going the extra mile at work with protecting and valuing your time? How much is too much? A former two-time MLM victim shares how he was able to break free from their phony "inner circle" nonsense and what he's learned since. Have any questions, comments, or stories you'd like to share with us? Drop us a line at friday@jordanharbinger.com! Connect with Jordan on Twitter at @JordanHarbinger and Instagram at @jordanharbinger. Connect with Gabriel on Twitter at @GabeMizrahi and Instagram @gabrielmizrahi. Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/869 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course! Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

Ex-royal/Ex-SEAL Remi Adeleke shares an adventurous life spent between two continents and his efforts to end human trafficking and illegal organ harvesting. What We Discuss with Remi Adeleke: How Remi Adeleke's royal Nigerian family lost everything to the corrupt government when his father passed away. What it was like growing up in the Bronx, where drugs and drive-bys were plentiful. The unlikely movie that catalyzed Remi's decision to pursue a career as a US Navy SEAL. How Remi managed to pass BUD/S training in spite of entering the program before knowing how to swim. The grim realities of human trafficking and illegal organ harvesting — and what Remi is doing to fight back against them. And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/868 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course! Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

GiveDirectly President Rory Stewart talks about "mad" politics, long walks in warzones, and ensuring our charitable donations actually aid people in need. What We Discuss with Rory Stewart: What makes the UK's system of government "slightly mad" (even when compared to that of the US)? How the kind of skills that get someone elected as a politician can get in the way of governing well. How did Rory survive a walk across post-9/11 Afghanistan — just weeks after the fall of the Taliban, in the middle of winter, during a war, stalked by hungry wolves — despite being "guaranteed" it would mean certain death? What it was like to be one of the first people to see the ruins of a once-thriving city since Genghis Khan had destroyed it over 800 years before. How we can ensure that every penny of our charitable donations to developing places like Afghanistan and Kenya helps the people who really need it instead of stuffing the pockets of warlords, corrupt officials, and middlemen. And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/867 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course! Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

Do zodiac signs dictate demeanors and destinies, or are horoscopes hogwash? Dave Farina consults the stars about astrology with us here on Skeptical Sunday! On This Week's Skeptical Sunday, We Discuss: The pseudoscience of astrology (not to be confused with astronomy — the legitimate study of space) purports that the position of celestial bodies relative to Earth influences events and human behavior. Initially designed as calendrical systems for predicting seasonal shifts and divining the will of the gods, astrology has been observed across cultures since at least the second millennium BC. From a scientific standpoint, astrology lacks a coherent explanation and fails to make statistically significant predictions. Experiments with natal charts and horoscopes consistently show no correlation between astrological predictions and real-life traits or events. Belief in astrology may offer comfort and purpose, but it hinders scientific progress and critical thinking. Connect with Jordan on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. If you have something you'd like us to tackle here on Skeptical Sunday, drop Jordan a line at jordan@jordanharbinger.com and let him know! Connect with Dave Farina on YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, and check out the Professor Dave Debates podcast here or wherever you enjoy listening to fine podcasts. Dave's book, Is This Wi-Fi Organic?: A Guide to Spotting Misleading Science Online is out now! Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/866 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course! Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one...

How can you convince your politically active girlfriend to flee with you to safety should China ever invade Taiwan? Welcome to Feedback Friday! And in case you didn't already know it, Jordan Harbinger (@JordanHarbinger) and Gabriel Mizrahi (@GabeMizrahi) banter and take your comments and questions for Feedback Friday right here every week! If you want us to answer your question, register your feedback, or tell your story on one of our upcoming weekly Feedback Friday episodes, drop us a line at friday@jordanharbinger.com. Now let's dive in! On This Week's Feedback Friday, We Discuss: You moved to Taiwan to be with your politically active girlfriend, but the threat of Chinese invasion always looms large. She's made it clear that she wants to stay and help resist should this ever come to pass, but how can you convince her to flee with you to safety and fight from afar instead? Should a rekindled old flame's dedication to an MLM "company" be a deal-breaker? He insists it's not a scam! Because you don't have the financial capacity or mental bandwidth to indefinitely support your brother — who struggles with severe depression, anxiety, and self-harm — you need him to step up and take responsibility for his own life. How do you make him understand? Your fiancée is so insecure about her appearance that she wants to skip a friend's wedding so she won't ruin the pictures, and has suggested hiring an actress to stand in for her at your wedding! What can you do to get her to see herself as the extremely smart, beautiful, kind, and overall amazing person that you fell in love with? You're a high school student with a dream to study abroad. How do you get over the fear of asking your parents for permission and the chance they might deny you this dream? Have any questions, comments, or stories you'd like to share with us? Drop us a line at friday@jordanharbinger.com! Connect with Jordan on Twitter at @JordanHarbinger and Instagram at @jordanharbinger. Connect with Gabriel on Twitter at @GabeMizrahi and Instagram @gabrielmizrahi. Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/865 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course!

New Lines Institute's Caroline Rose explains how captagon, a drug you may have never heard of, is propping up genocidal regimes in the Middle East. What We Discuss with Caroline Rose: What is captagon? Where did it originate, what are its effects, and why don't we hear about it in the United States? How captagon — with a potential trade value of over $5.7 billion annually — has transformed Assad's Syria into a Mediterranean narco-state. Who uses captagon on such a massive scale, and how is it manufactured and smuggled across borders? Why is Syria allowed a seat at INTERPOL, the organization established to reign in international crime — like the captagon trade? What can be done to stem the tide of captagon and prevent it from expanding its range and influence even further? And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/864 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course! Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

Treasury's War author Juan Zarate joins us to discuss how the US wields its financial power against terrorism, rogue states, and global crime syndicates. What We Discuss with Juan Zarate: Why the Treasury Department became part of the intelligence apparatus of the United States post-9/11 — after resisting such integration for years. Sanctions: what are they good for and how do they work? How and why criminals (whether they're of the independent, organized, or state-sponsored variety) need banks and financial institutions for any major crime to succeed. What the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) system is and how it's used to disrupt terrorist financing around the world. For better or worse, what role does cryptocurrency play in all of this? And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/863  This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals  Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course!  Like this show? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your Twitter handle so we can thank you personally!

Do personalized ads enhance our online experience or intolerably invade our privacy? Andrew Gold joins us on this Skeptical Sunday to uncover the truth! On This Week's Skeptical Sunday: Personalized advertising relies on algorithms that collect and analyze user data to tailor ads to individual preferences. While personalized ads can be effective in engaging users and providing relevant content, they raise concerns about privacy invasion and potential manipulation. Voice-activated devices like Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri are designed to listen for wake-up words, but there have been instances of accidental recordings and privacy breaches. The use of personal data in advertising can lead to discrimination and perpetuate existing inequalities. Stakeholders including tech companies, advertisers, regulators, and users have roles to play in ensuring ethical and privacy-respecting practices in personalized advertising. Users can — and should — take steps to protect their privacy and advocate for stronger privacy protections. Connect with Jordan on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. If you have something you'd like us to tackle here on Skeptical Sunday, drop Jordan a line at jordan@jordanharbinger.com and let him know! Connect with Andrew on Twitter and Instagram, and check out On the Edge with Andrew Gold here or wherever you enjoy listening to fine podcasts! Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/862 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course!