Crazy Wisdom

Ryan Delk is the CEO of Primer, a company that seeks to revolutionize and rebrand homeschooling, and his mission is to revamp the education system so that children grow up more ambitious, creative, and able to think for themselves. In this episode, we discuss homeschooling, education, what to aim for with education, and much more. You can visit Primer’s website at www.withprimer.com (6:03) Why preparing to homeschool a child can be more difficult than the day to day lessons themselves. (9:20) The various approaches parents take to homeschooling, and why this makes it difficult to create a one-size all fits app (12:33) What is the right way to educate a child? What are the factors involved? How people are responding to the changes needed to be made in educational goalposts and how Primer intends to provide a viable alternative. (16:00) Does AI have a role to play in the future of education? Ryan’s opinion on technology’s role in education. How technology is aiding the reformation of learning as a whole. (24:11) The biggest misconception people have about homeschooling, and the top reasons people opt for homeschooling rather than more conventional options. (26:49) How the increased popularity of remote work can afford more parents the time to prepare effective homeschooling experiences. (34:10) Will the alterations that COVID has wrought in the educational sector last? What will be the effects post-COVID? (36:11) The current immovable barrier to homeschooling, and Primer’s plans to tackle that. (41:01) How the incentive structures for teachers in public schools divert from the outcomes we want to see in society.    

Ashton is a martial artist and yoga instructor dedicated to the exploration of human consciousness. He spent six and a half years traveling the world and has spent even more time practicing with various yoga instructors. In this episode, we discuss tantra yoga, the nature of bliss, meditation, escapism, wisdom traditions, and so on. Ashton's forte is tantric yoga and you can interact with his ideas at his website: yogawithashton.com, on his podcast: The anatomy of living, and on Instagram @yogawithashton. Enjoy. (3:48) Tantra is not what pop-culture has made you think it is. (7:04) Do you know you can pick out caves in North India for meditation retreat purposes? (8:21) Is your meditation practice really a tool to help you better handle the world or are you just using it as an escape from the world? (10:10) The wrong way to approach Yoga. (13:27) Why we can never fully rely on our beliefs (17:10) What Tantra can teach us about navigating differences (21:44) The goal of tantra (Hint: it has very little to do with the sexual or supernatural stuff) (27:22) How tantra avoids the fall into escapism (31:36) The point of tantra is how you reintegrate the insights you gain from states of samadhi into your daily life, rather than falling back into autopilot. (37:00) Is integration a practice or an attitude? (38:52) Freedom isn’t really about being able to do whatever your impulses dictate (43:32) Bliss isn’t happiness or pleasure  

John Vervaeke is a professor of philosophy and cognitive science. He’s the mastermind behind the lecture series: ‘Awakening from the meaning crises.’ We explore, in this episode, the wonder of the human cognitive system; why our greatest strengths are our greatest weaknesses and how we’ve lost the society-wide ability to resolve this. You can find John on Twitter @vervaeke_john, check his ‘diologos’ series, called ‘Voices With Vervaeke,’ out, join his ‘Cultivation of Wisdom’ course, and community, or join his Discord community server. (4:07) Do you pass through deserts often? Does it feel like they play tricks on your cognition when you pass through? (5:26) Why the world feels alien to us. (11:12) The potential role of the virtual world (social media and internet culture) in bringing an axial age about. (16:22) Why everyone is actually seeking wisdom, even though it seems our society sees wisdom as irrelevant. (19:51 – 27:25) The most exhaustive description of wisdom, from a sensemaking perspective, you’ll hear this week (28:00) The mythos of crazy wisdom: what neural network techniques and transformational psychotechnology have in common. (38:41) The relationship between psychedelics and insight. (40:40) Why drugs should be decriminalized and yet treated with sacred respect. (43:27) Psychedelics and cognition cannot be reduced to the reductionist view that life is just the movement of atoms; how having an open mind towards the mechanics of these phenomena honors the ideals of science. (51:58) How do most people get postmodernism wrong? (57:52) Opponent processing: Why you always appear to be at war with yourself and why this is a good thing. Contradictory acceptance of self and others. (1:02:54) Spirituality is not just about the inside; inside and outside are one and the same; minds are group efforts  

Jude Gomila is the CEO and co-founder of Golden; a firm dedicating to mapping all of human knowledge. As you’ve come to expect a lot of topics were touched in this episode. Do enjoy. You can find Jude @judegomila on Twitter. (5:50) The hidden limitations of modern-day supply chains, despite their ultra-efficiency, with examples, and a better metric to work with. (7:51) The wonders of synthetic biology, and the possibilities (and hazards) it holds for the revolutionization of manufacturing and food production. (12:17) What is construction theory? And is there a connection between it and synthetic biology? (17:02) Are there contradictions between what is possible in quantum mechanics and not possible in classical dynamics? (24:22) How cats got a sweet deal by optimally navigating of the curiosity-survivability loop. (31:00) Modeling COVID-19 as a network problem; how this can allow for more flexible solutions; the uncertainties involved. (35:47) Atoms, bits, biotechnology and the dawn of a new Information Age (38:45) Why is science, which is one in actual reality, so fragmented in theory? (41:02) Why Jude believes our educational system, in its current form, is suboptimal. (46:06) A theory of U.B.I. as a means of making ownership, rather than income, more widely available; how making capitalist incentives and access to ownership widespread in a transparent market can make an economy flourish. (54:27) Is the loss of labor (increase in automation) leading to the loss of sovereignty among individuals? Is there anything we can do about it? (57:24) What can we do to steer the future in a different direction? How do we build a vision of where we want to go? (1:03:41) Does our generation have the courage to make the changes necessary to face our coming future? (1:12:31) Why social distancing should have been called physical distancing instead.

Thomas, like any other human being, is a lot of things and is working on a lot of stuff. He loves to code, play the bass guitar, and is devoted to truth and beauty, among others. You can interact with his ideas on life on his blog at thosmos.com. In this episode, we discuss identity politics, the battle between the left and the right, consciousness, plants, inequality, and of course, much more. Enjoy. (3:25) The strangest podcast intro you’ll listen to this week. (7:35) The consequences of modifying government policies to help the rich get richer (9:07) Is upward mobility possible for everyone? (12:44) Some business models that allow for more equality between employees and employers. (18:13) Why facts don’t change our minds (21:00) How are we to transcend identity politics? (24:55) What indigenous tribes can teach us about establishing a harmonious society (29:09) Are plants conscious? A scientists’ interesting experimental report on communicating with a plant. (30:25) Where do thoughts come from? And what exactly is consciousness? Is it produced from the brain or do we receive it? (39:17) The fundamental polarity at play in human relationships and cooperation (42:14) The 99% vs the 1% isn’t really a battle between the lower-class and the elite or at least it doesn’t have to be; there’s a better way to unify. (45:34) How Bernard Lietaer connected economics, psychology, and archetypes; how suppressing important archetypes creates a dysfunctional society, and how modern society incentivizes greed and fear (53:15) The government is reflective of the collective psyche of the people.    

Enzo is an investment professional at Dalus Capital, Mexico City, and an Angel investor as well. He has holdings in companies like Talently, and this episode discusses investing in Latin America, his unlikely journey to becoming an investment professional in Mexico City, his philosophies, the investing dynamics in different Latin American countries, his passion for the education sector, and a lot more. You can find Enzo on twitter @enzocavalie. Dive in! (3:37) His introduction to entrepreneurship, startups, markets and investing (5:05) How his desire for more and a job application with no expectation to be hired led to him ending up in Mexico City, all the way from Peru. (7:42) How market-size in Latin America affects where startups launch and how investment companies choose to fund these startups. (13:49) How college ignited his passion to reform the educational system. (16:00) Why are some people contrarians and others not? And why Enzo thinks it’s a trait that’s beyond choice (19:19) A difference between entrepreneurs in Latin America and those from places like Europe, or the U.S., that should be noted. (34:03) What types of backgrounds do the majority of the most successful founders in Latin America possess? (36:43) A lesson Latin American angel investors should learn from investors in San Francisco. (38:53) The value of social media, writing online, and building a reputation on the web; how it helps forge genuine connections; how it has helped in building his career and network, and how entrepreneurs can benefit from it. (43:36) The scarcity of original content in Spanish by Latin American venture capitalists and the opportunity it provides. (52:22) How Enzo comes up with content for his blog  

Yoshua and I explore the world of plants (Do you think they’re conscious?) We discuss the wide-ranging influence they have on our lives- from being food sources to medicine to tools for spiritual awakening and, weaving a winding path, we branch into topics like death, awakening, Yoshua’s You Enjoy Life project, what it means to be enlightened, dealing with emotional trauma and a bunch of other random topics because, of course, I don’t believe in themes. To see more of Yoshua’s content google his project: ‘You Enjoy Life’ (podcast, YouTube channel, and Instagram page) and his book ‘Conversations with Your Best Friend’ (4:52) A brief description of permaculture (10:17) What dies when we die? Is there something in us that doesn’t die when our connection to our senses go? (13:13) What is ‘You Enjoy Life?’ (13:54) How Yoshua learned to communicate with plants (15:55) Learning from ayahuasca and psilocybin; his beliefs about how these plants work, and how they helped his inner work. (Do you know that there’s a religion that integrates ayahuasca and Christianity?) (25:55) Innocence: why pursuing childhood innocence is the wrong thing to do and what to look for instead.   (28:10) A common misconception a lot of us have about enlightenment; what waking up to truth is really like; navigating this reality to continual growth and evolution (34:17) Is ‘science vs religion’ a valid debate? (36:08) Why depression is the most powerful tool for awakening and how it led to Yoshua’s experience of awakening. (41:05) Why Yoshua decided to ditch his ADD medication. (51:20) How we can all learn to be less wasteful without needing to be radical about it.

Pamela Valdez is the CEO and founder of Beek.io; one of the top-rated audio platforms in Latin America, known for its original, high-quality audio content, produced in Spanish. In this podcast we discuss the details of creating high-quality audio content in the Latin American market, the unique opportunities and experiences being the founder of the first Mexican company to be sponsored by Y Combinator have brought her, the challenges of growing a start-up and dealing with investors in Mexico, her philosophy and much more. You can find Pamela on Twitter on @pamevls and visit her company website: beek.io (4:38) The current big opportunity available for content creators in the Spanish speaking market. (10:30) What she learned from Netflix about localizing international content. (16:18) How she navigated investors and raising funds and what she feels investors who can afford less should focus on. (20:56) Getting into Y-combinator. (22:13) The major benefit of being part of the Y-combinator network for companies based outside Silicon Valley, asides the investments, and how Pamela takes advantage of it. (26:19) The one skill a founder needs that no one tells him or her to cultivate; the huge part it plays in helping Pamela refine her ideas for her company, and how she knows she’s used it effectively. (33:56) What meditation and God mean to her; how surfing helps her meditate, and what it has taught her about life.

What is the tripartite soul? What do we call people who thinking about thinking? What is the etymology of philosopher? What does it feel like to be unified by a scientific belief? What happens when we have disputes about the meaning of the truth? Is logic our instrument of finding the truth? What is polyproyism syndrome? How do we ensure equal opportunity? Why do people not like to ask questions? What is a stupid question?

Here are some other questions we discuss: What is the best way to take drugs? What is the relationship between creativity and drugs? What is the relationship between What is the ego? What is the difference between civilization and culture? What are accuator impulses? What is the control state? What is the motor state? What is the effect of the abundant virtual environments and how will that change evolution?