K Sera discusses the future of eating meat. Micah discusses the future of protein. Phil is sad about forced Russian conscription on the ongoing war.   Note: This episode was originally recorded in the Summer of 2022. Things have obviously changed. Unfortunately OTHER things have not (such as the war in Ukraine). Phil is also sad about the deaths of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, and wishes for a free and independent Ukraine as soon as possible.   Show notes: N/A

This episode talks about abortion, hypothetical terrible situations, and our absolute disgust in the supreme court decision to reverse Roe vs Wade. Originally recorded in the summer of 2022, this "time capsule" of a podcast is a snapshot in time of how we felt back when the news first dropped.   Sadly, our feelings on the subject remain much the same.   Show notes: N/A   K Sera's afterthoughts: I don’t have much to say except that all people should have access to healthcare, and that, to me, includes access to abortion. Women’s health is a minefield of social bullshit that people will pick at and dissect ad nauseum, looking for reasons, exceptions, exemptions, justifications, and outside interests - as if a woman can’t be trusted to make a decision for herself.   Being a woman is often not being listened to, not being believed, being told that their pain isn’t real or that their “primal purpose” is to have children. It is learning that your value as a person is directly related to your perceived attractiveness or how many children you have.   If you are a woman, you are a “failure” if you aren’t married with children by age 30. If you wear an arbitrary size 10 or larger, you are “ugly” and “unhealthy” and it is somehow also your fault. It is “normal” to starve yourself or exercise for hours to “make up” for eating.    We are kidding ourselves if we think we value and view women as socially equal to men. At best, women are treated like something between human and livestock. It’s been a little over a 100 years since women could vote. It has been just under 50 years since women (married or not) could open a credit or checking account that they have sole control over.    Women are going to be fighting for a long damn time to taken seriously and to have our choices respected. And in the meantime, I expect a lot of women are going to suffer and die because there are still too many people who refuse to see woman as fully human - as people deserving the same respect and rights as men.   Phil's afterthoughts: I am sad and angry about this whole thing. A year has passed and the fact that women have either suffered horridly, died, and/or both because of this Supreme Court decision has me enraged. I am also sad because since recording, things have only gotten worse.   I hope for things to get better, but I fail to see any evidence to support wishful thinking. At some point I wonder how many more civil liberties will be stripped before the obvious question becomes the main question: "do I leave this country for the sake of my family?" I am saddened and disappointed in this country.

Phil asks about conversations. Micah discusses the art of winning a conversation. K Sera likes conversations, to a point.   Show Notes: N/A

Micah brings up an obvious need for gun control, K Sera develops a great marketing slogan, and Phil talks about controlling a gun   Show notes: N/A   K Sera's after thoughts: The truth is humans are a dimorphic species. There is a general, observable physical difference between biological men and biological women. Testosterone plays a major role in size and strength of the human body. Biological men naturally produce higher levels of this hormone beginning in puberty. Women can put 10x the amount of effort into strength training and self-defense, but the reality is, if you put the average woman up against the average man in a test of strength, the man is almost always going to win. Even if they are of a similar height and weight. Any self-defense instructor worth their salt will tell you that if you are smaller/weaker, the best strategy is to run away. Period.   Having a gun in certain circumstances is a good equalizer when strength is uneven, but not every circumstance is a good one for a gun. As soon as you bring a gun into a situation, it escalates and heightens the mutual danger of everyone in the vicinity. Without training or the mental preparedness to take a life (potentially of someone you love), you are more likely to see that gun turned on you.   I actually really like the idea of a gun that is only fireable by the owner or whoever is in possession of the “key” mechanism that permits it to fire. Maybe we should be treating firearms more like cars. The government could create a licensing and education program where gun owners who wish to operate a firearm must pass a written exam and have a certain number of supervised hours of training with a licensed training instructor (similar to driver’s ed) in order to apply for and obtain a license and purchase firearms. Better yet, with an operational key designated to that weapon that is not easily removed from one’s person. Just a thought. Obviously, there’s a lot of loopholes with this idea. It’s not perfect. There will always be people who will break the law or circumvent security measures. A locked door won’t prevent a determined thief, but it tends to deter the lazier or heat-of-the-moment opportunists.   Anyway, there was a lot going on in this chat. I’m not even sure I can cover all of the tracks our trains derailed on. I will say, the company or campaign slogan “Y No Guns” is genius, even though it will never work in this country. But really, someone should steal some of our million dollar ideas and make them a reality. Someone with more energy and capital, that is.

K Sera discusses the need for better clothing options for professionals. Micah discusses first impressions. Phil realizes that in a world "make believe" he would still be a sad engineer.   Shownotes: JNCO: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JNCO   K Sera's after thoughts: This didn’t come up in the episode, but as I was listening to our conversation, Steve Jobs came to mind. He was certainly a trend setter in the business and tech world, but I wanted to point out that he also set trends for business fashion, wearing black mock turtlenecks, Levi’s and New Balance sneakers. This was a little too casual, maybe, but I think dressier blue jeans or dress pants would look more professional, along with simpler, well made dress shoes - that would be my suggestions for improvement. It’s unisex, simple and clean, which I think works well for a business setting. You can swap out the jeans for a modest skirt, or design a dress with a similar look and pair it with leggings or tights. More thoughts: will this wardrobe have the ability to look professional on all body types? Can you make changes to the design for different climates, keeping the same overall aesthetic, but adapting it to season and temperature? The biggest takeaway for this episode is that I think the professional aesthetic relies mostly on neatness and cleanliness with a nod to modesty. Minimalistic and well made. There’s room for boldness, but subtlety and presence are at the heart of professionalism. I think the full on business suit is ridiculous and should go away. No more heavy blazers, no more pencil skirts, no more ties. High heels are the worst. I don’t care if you think it makes your calves look amazing, they’re terrible for your feet. Be kinder to your body! All this to say -  ties are vestigial bibs, change my mind.   Phil's after thoughts: - Do clothes "maketh the man" (to borrow a quote from Kingsman)? -Also, fashion is something that I currently struggle with understanding. 

Micah discusses sports. K Sera has insightful thoughts on this subject. Phil can only talk about football because that's all he knows, and he doesn't know much about it.   Show notes: n/a   After thoughts: N/A

Phil asks about "sell by dates" and the validity of those dates. Micah and K Sera have different thoughts.   Show notes: N/A   After thoughts: N/A

In this episode Phil discusses the obvious that people should not talk while pooping. Micah disagrees. K Sera brings up the infamous poop knife story.   Shownotes: N/A   After thoughts: N/A  

K Sera discusses the ANTI-WORK. Micah discusses capitalism. And as the time of this recording, Phil is still using his spite as both motivation to work.   Shownotes: N/A   K Sera's after thoughts: I feel two ways (as I often do) about anti-work/anti-ambition. One way is that, yes, of course people need to work for society to function, and we “like” society because it makes us safer (or makes us feel safer?) and there is this sense (indoctrination? philosophy?) that if people want to reap the benefits of society, they need to pull their own weight and put in a “fair share” of work towards society’s upkeep. This isn’t wrong necessarily - or hasn’t been wrong - but let’s put a pin in that for a moment.   The other way I feel aligns a bit closer to what other philosophers describe in their criticism of the work ethic. We are expected to ‘work for our bread’ for the ‘right to live a decent life,’ which can be both sad and discouraging. I live in a very privileged position. I’ve never been so desperate for basic needs that I would go to creative and terrible lengths to obtain them. I have a hard time understanding the reality of having to survive on little to nothing. But I can imagine it to a point. I have an idea of what that could be, which gives me enough of an incentive to continue to grind away at a job, to make money, to live comfortably - oh joy.    So let me grab that pin back now. There are a lot of jobs that few people will ever find fulfilling, and yet they “need to be done” so we can keep living comfortable and convenient lives. So we convince people to sell their time and effort to do these things for capital to purchase goods that provide (a sense of?) fulfillment as an incentive.    But what if we design machines to replace the dangerous and undesirable jobs? Not a lot of people actually want to work in retail or fast-food. People die doing things like fishing and logging. So, let’s imagine that we replace those jobs with robots, or design a safe and sustainable system to produce and manage resources. Ok, I like this idea. You still need to maintain these machines and facilities. Human labor will need to be a factor at some level. So now what? Those undesirable jobs are suddenly gone. What work can those people who would have filled those positions do? Do they need to work? Will the ‘cost’ to manufacture goods go down at all because the robot workers don’t need to be paid? They still need to be maintained, but they don’t need rest or food, they don’t need healthcare benefits or a vehicle or a house to live in separate from the worksite. So, if the cost of manufacturing goes down, will the cost of goods go down? Will people who can’t find an open job be able to afford the cost to live comfortably? Or will we need a UBI to keep the people who can’t or won’t work alive and safe and comfortable enough to not rise up and riot or steal just to survive? A person’s sense of ‘fairness’ is really tested here. (But life has never been fair.)   What if we take ‘cost’ out of the equation?   Everything about the way our society functions reinforces the message that human lives are cheap. Individuals are only worth as much as they can add to the collective. You need some way to ‘prove’ your worth to the collective. Right now that’s money, but what if there was something a bit different? Something money adjacent? Now we are getting into creepy social credit territory. Nothing could possibly go wrong with recorded social credit, right? No one would ever cheat the system to establish power and control of the population for their own gain.    So… iio, humanity sucks and that’s why our lives are cheap and why we will forever be wage slaves. The end.  Keep striving for that magical unicorn occupation that fulfills all the ‘ikigai’ quadrants! And, if you can’t manage that, well, find something you can tolerate that will pay the bills and give you enough time to rest and find fulfillment in recreation. Status quo for the… win… yeah.     Phil's after thoughts: This is what I would call a “timeless episode” because our views remain unchanged even after a year. I will argue that our views will not change even after a decade. I suspect it is because we are running into a foundational issue, albeit from a different angle, that the universal truth is that humans do indeed suck. Yet we humans are very resilient and versatile when no other choice presents itself. And so, with these two contrasting truths, I have no idea what to make of our situation. For example, I keep thinking about this question (after listening to the episode): While we suffer a decline in our quality of life, there are places where the promise of the social contract is at least recognized (e.g. Nordic nations). The idea of “work hard and you will be rewarded” is laughably naïve here in the States, but perhaps in other societies this still holds true. My inquiry is the following: for those that are a developed country that also have an upward trend in their quality of life, do they also harbor ill resentment of the status-quo system? Do they subscribe to the anti-work/anti-ambition mindset? Do they see the same universal truth that humans do indeed suck? Or are they happy with their social contract? While we keep moving up the technology ladder and upgrading from brutish machines to smart AI servo-motored robotics, we (as a nation) seem incapable of addressing the political and human issues. We Min-Maxed on Technology while leaving Wisdom at absolute zero. To borrow another analogy: we missed leg day for far too long. This combination of advancement in human labor replacement while also removing social safety nets and/or neglecting retraining  will not bode well for our immediate future, and it may prove to be nightmarish for the next generation if we continue to remain on autopilot. And I think this conclusion (in its own right) means that the second universal truth is that while money is fiction, power is most definitely not. And in many ways, individuals being deemed viewed as worthy via “productivity” is a cross-product from the current vectors of Money and Time. To answer your question about what else could be money-adjacent, I believe that Power is the closest corollary. And honestly that is much more disturbing in my humble opinion. As far as teaching my children what to do about our dystopian society, the answer is the same as what Japan has discovered decades ago: compete to win and try not to be a god damn psychopath.

In this episode, Micah discusses the idea of having full transparency (of the audio kind) for our elected officials. K Sera is against, Micah is for it, and Phil talks about mustard and tan suits.   Shownotes: N/A   K Sera's afterthoughts: On the one hand, no. On the other hand, really no.  That said… I kinda get where Micah is coming from with this topic? The more stories I hear about unsecured classified documents being discovered in elected officials’ private residences, the less and less faith I have in them. The, “Oh, whoops, are those MY classified documents just chillin’ on my kitchen counter?” isn’t inspiring trust. I don’t really care about what politicians do in their ‘off hours’ - except, well, seems like I really should. What are ethics? Never heard of her? My feelings about and experience with no one wanting or willing to serve in a position of stewardship hasn’t changed. It’s incredibly hard to get people involved in social necessities when there’s really no incentive. And the incentives are another problem… but I’m not going to digress down that rabbit hole right now. The sad fact is, there are just not enough good people with hardline ethics, flexible thinking, and who are intrinsically motivated to work for society’s betterment. I don’t blame them. It’s thankless work for the most part. When everything is running smoothly, no one notices the effort.  I’m so tired of being outraged all the time. I’m tired of getting angry at things I have no intention of putting a foot forward to fix. This isn’t a good place to be. Frankly, I don’t need perfection out of my social leaders. But ideally, they should be a cut above in moral ethics and intelligence. Is that really so much to ask? Probably.  People are kind of terrible.   Phil's after thoughts: -At this point this would only hurt Democrats. From my experience living on this planet for almost 40 years, it is astounding just how little the voters hold the GOP accountable for anything. Perhaps I am old fashioned, but back in my day when our politicians at least pretended they care. Now, it seems that even when they are caught 100% doing terrible "against the law" things, they don't even have the common decency to deny it. Maybe someday we can go back to a world where republican politicians will respect the American people enough to lie to our face. Sadly now we just need to subside with their new version of deflection, which is as unpalatable as it is honest: "we don't care you caught us lying, and evidently  neither do you." -The strangest part about this is how paradoxical our situation is. WE LIVE off outrage-entertainment now (anger-based news is all the "rage" so to speak) but at the same time we have tons of firearms and weapons at our literal disposal. This is a very bad idea. For them and for us.