While We're On The Subject
Jon Roberts and Michael Draper get together every week to discuss education, building a career as a millennial, social issues, personal development, technology, anything really.
Episodes
Mike and Job discuss conspiracy theories and the complicated and public nature of the modern digital world. They then discuss how people underestimate the progress of democracy around the world and how some ideas in evolution and economics relate to one another.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:
How conspiracy theories come to be
The difficulties of improving in public
How democracy is advancing and thriving around the world
Mentioned i...
There is a pervasive and growing mood of pessimism in many parts of society. Our hosts struggle to understand and deal with it. They then tell some of their worst stories from work. The show closes with a discussion of potential university reforms to increase flexibility and practicality.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:
How to deal with the negative mood of the day
Our worst work experiences
How everyone would benefit from the rise o...
Mike and Jon follow up on their discussion on repeated processes before debating what makes some revolutions successful. They then argue over the merits of the Irish abortion referendum and direct democracy more broadly. They close with a discussion of the Netflix Documentary Wild Wild Country about the sannyasin commune in rural Oregon.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:
Why some revolutions succeed
The Irish abortion referendum
Our an...
The hosts argue about the usage democratize, capitalism, democracy, and communism and then explore the downsides of capitalism. They debate the merits of single issue voting and contrast the events of the Latin American independence revolutions and that of the United States.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:
How democratize is misused
The issues with capitalism
Our thoughts on single issue voters
Mentioned in the Episode:
Mike and Jon start out complaining about people with terrible grammar but quickly move on to an attempt to make boring things interesting and a far ranging conversation about the possibilities of terraforming Mars and Venus. They finish it all off with an examination of automation and the difference between scarcity and abundance.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:
Why dials are interesting
Why Venus and not Mars will be terraformed
The...
Mike and Jon complain about walking etiquette before exploring how society treats the elderly and experience. They then discuss creating new things and what goes into it. They close with a conversation on giant tech firms, and why there are none in Europe.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:
The importance of experience
How process and execution interact in creative endeavours
Why new technologies come from so few countries
Mentioned ...
To celebrate their twentieth episode Mike and Jon decided to try something a little different. Avoiding even the whiff of anything serious they discuss a series of peculiar questions written by the Author Chuck Klosterman. They discuss questions: 1,2,4,13,7,19, and 8 in that order with all of the awkwardness and unnecessary seriousness they bring to everything.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:
Why it’s hard to kill a horse
The perils...
Mike and Jon talk about the potential use of DNA for data storage and the progression of science through the centuries. They then discuss their second quarter plans and the growing complexity of and conflicts between intellectual and tangible property rights.
Mentioned in the Episode:
The brain uses 20 watts/day (Laptops use 50-100 watts/hour or 1200-2400 watts...
Mike and Jon discuss how words for specific places or things generalize before exploring some simple strategies for improving memory retention when studying or reading books. They then break down the relationships between population decline, economic growth, and national debts, and Japan’s acute dangers with these.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:
How words with specific means expand and generalize
How to remember more of what you re...
Mike and Jon clarify the importance simplicity when learning science. Then they discuss playing pool and the difference between knowing about and knowing how to do something. They follow that with an exploration of potential impacts of Autonomous Vehicles and then close by talking through some of the dangers around cults of personality and the rise of strong men in politics.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:
The difference b...
Mike and Jon start with a conversation about jobs their not suited for and the dull life of house painters before some follow up on the wilder side of genetic engineering. They then explain why they always rank things in their mind and go into how constraints and limitations can spur creative problem solving and help us to think of novel solutions.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:
How Genetic Engineering is advancing...
Mike and Jon discuss the differences between people who nitpick endlessly or make sweeping generalizations as well as how people wrap their identities up in their ideas. They also go over Jon’s condemnation of contemporary scientific units and the importance of feedback whether provided by yourself or others.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:
The problems with the Metric system
The problems with scientific notation
How o...
Mike and Jon start with a conversation on the mentality of immigrants and the difference between risk and the unknown followed by a meandering walk through marginal cost how to evaluate friendships and the dangerous virality of long dead ideas.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:
The difference between risky outcomes and unknown outcomes
The value of having relationships with people you disagree with
How old ideas made new can c...
Our hosts examine the difficulties of migration and demographic decline in Eastern Europe and how this is exacerbating populism in Poland, Bulgaria, and Hungary. They go over what mike wants in a place he lives and talk about the history of number systems as well as what an ideal system might look like. They close out with some speculation about the future impact of fusion, solar energy, and genetic engineering upon societies...
Mike and Jon recap their conversation on time tracking and rank the three most underrated U.S. Presidents and the three worst periods of history. They then discuss why branding and advertising are so despised and the often ignored intrinsic value they bring to society.
Listen to this Episode and Learn:
The value of time tracking
Interesting facts about underrated Presidents
The upside of branding and advertising
Me...
Mike ruminates on the origins of stairs, housing and doors before challenging Jon to find something interesting in the mundane topic of rope. They continue with a discussion of commuting, getting gas in LA, and how traits like optimism, caution, responsibility, and age might impact decision making around things we all do. They then explore the contemporary political realignment seen around the world in the decades since...
Mike and Jon begin by discussing how our expectations around marriage, schooling, and work are influenced by our families, the media, and society at large. They examine how desires interact with expectations and some of theirs growing up. After touching on some of the failings of the educational system they go into how the search for passions in work distracts from true satisfaction and how passion is actually developed...
WWOTS 009: What's Interesting Today, Will Be Interesting Tomorrow, And Was Interesting 10 Years Ago?
Our hosts broaden their conversation of grammar by complaining about people not using the plural possessive, schools not teaching grammar, and an exploration of German cases and the echoes of these that remain in English. They continue with a discussion of people’s interests and why different people are interested in such different things; examining sports and history in particular. They close by analyzing the media the...
Our hosts start off contrasting the snow in Korea to the fires all over California. Jon then complains about speed bumps and somehow generalizes them as a symptom of greater evil in society. They suggest a way to think about implementing long term permanent changes whether as a city planner or for yourself. They then touch on the hidden French etymological origins of some word families and how finding these connec...
Mike and Jon follow up on the cost of cabs and Ryanair flights, and make corrections about car ownership and New York hurricanes. They also talk about the Economist Newspaper’s odd practice of collective authorship, and why we trust certain media sources sources. After this they explain the Catalan independence movement and have a discussion on various secession movements and the future of the European Union more ...
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