Lofty Darwinism

We are joined by Dr. Colton Atkins to discuss the Barbie Movie, Succession, Trump vs DeSantis, and Matt's terrible neglect of an office plant.

'Pause Giant AI Experiments' - Letter Breakdown w/ Research Papers, Altman, Sutskever and morehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OpW5qboDDs&t=2s

We dive into an historic week in AI development, but only after touching on Jon Stewart's critical interview with Larry Summers about monetary policy. Finally we talk about the upcoming season of Succession and Darwin's criticism of The Last of Us.

We return from a 2-year hiatus to dive into politics and culture once again - this time with the help of a new chatbot. It's all hands on deck to try and catch up to speed as we dive into why we decided to restart the pod.

We discuss the Mandalorian finale, and also the ongoing political drama circa New Year's Eve.

We are joined by old podcasting friend Kerry Chestnutt, who first joined us on our third episode in 2014. In that earlier episode, we discussed an article by The Daily Beast describing a 1929 book "The Revolt of the Masses", which prescribed in humanity a hatred of "experts". In the wake of Donald Trump and the Jill Biden "Doctor" controversy, it seems prescient. https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-smartest-book-about-our-digital-age-was-published-in-1929 Kerry reached out to provide the following thoughts after our discussion: "I would like to provide a teeny bit of clarity to go with my Hobbit analogy at the end there lol, in regards to MeToo and BLM. While I do think they were effective at directly aiming at this ‘dragon,’ so to speak, I am not in any way trying to imply that is the sole function of either moment. They are both unconfined by the limitations of current events, and both vital steps along our path as humans, away from the residual affects of slavery, racism and sexism at large, and the toxic parts of patriarchy, as we all walk together towards a more egalitarian future in this age of information."

We go over the Mandalorian episode Tragedy, the latest Trump attempts to thwart the 2020 election, and COVID.

We argue over a Jezebel article criticizing Obama's critique of the Left. Plus Trump, Mandalorian, and Cancel Culture.

We dive into the aftermath of the 2020 election, from Trump's pathetic coup to cancel culture to the 2nd Amendment.

Sitting down in person, we hash it out over Trump and the cities.

We convene on our predictions for the first debate, and also veer slightly off topic.

We chat with Shalom Agalaba and Jonathan Edwards about America's history with race and policing. Recorded months ago, but finally got it out.

Recorded just a few days after protests rocked the nation in the aftermath of George Floyd's death at the hands of police.

We are joined by Gus Trujillo as he discusses his race for the US House of Representatives.

We hash it out over the karma we're currently experiencing for eating meat. Plus some quibbling on masks, the ethics of opening back up, and some Amarillo elections.

We sit down to discuss the newest Star Wars, Rick and Morty, and the Tara Reade saga.

A month old, but never too late to discuss the changing nature of economic forces in the 21st century.

We talk with Shanghai resident and very old friend Burke Moore.

We are joined by Dionna Chambers (IG @dionnachambers) to chat about hustling as LA gig workers in a recession, as well as spirituality, the power of speech, and of course, the coronavirus.

We are joined by clinical psychologist Dr. Madalina Yellico to discuss mental health in a pandemic.

We rant and rant and rant about Corona.

We somehow managed to get in a conversation about the coronavirus days before it blew up in the US. Also recapping Warren's withdraws and Bernie's continuing bad luck.

We convene and basically spend 40 minutes in stunned silence over Biden's win.

Ugh.

We cover hyperrealism, art in the modern world, the strength of Biden and Warren (pre Iowa lol), and also chat about what Amarillo needs to be a modern city.

We return to the podcast in 2020, refreshed and ready to chat about the world after a brief hiatus at the end of last year. We touch on the best art of the decade, and veer into talking about religion and bigotry.

We are joined by economist John Early to discuss his YouTube video "Wage Wars". He makes the case for raising the income tax. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2OBpdr1VcM&t=649s

Walker Carlisle joins us to hash it out on one of the central issues of the day - the rise of cancel culture and whether we should fear it or embrace it?

We break down Biden's record player women, plus some Dark Crystal and economics.

Darwin thinks Dave Chappelle's new standup is his best work. Matt wonders about its impact.

We sit down with Shalom Agalaba of the Not-Historians podcast to discuss student loans, the value of conversing about politics face to face, and guns.

We process the motivations and reactions to the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton

We chat with Ben Eisenberg, who worked with Marianne Williamson on her 2014 US House race, about his take on her candidacy.

This is probably our best episode, a giant and amazing clash about free speech vs serving the interests of Nazis.

We dive into Biden's horrible moment, Swalwell's broadside, and Marianne Williamson's language of love.

Warren Goes Full Socialist, Castro KOs Beto, Tulsi KOs Ryan, DeBlasio Captures America's Heart With His Warmth and Charm.

We cover episode 5 of the last season of Game of Thrones.

Biden, Obstruction, Reactions to 1-4 of GoT Season 8.

We dive into the Mueller Report and wildly get our Game of Thrones predictions wrong.

Debating what will happen upcoming in Game of Thrones, getting it wildly wrong. Also we react to Barr's initial memo on the Mueller report.

Darwin criticizes the media after the Jussie Smollett affair, Matt defends. Darwin criticizes socialism, Matt defends. Matt criticizes the national emergency declaring, but we don't really get into it.

And we're back. Recorded over the holidays, it's a free-wheeling episode heavy on economics.

We have a wide-ranging checkin about the midterms, the 08 crash, and veganism.

Blast from the past part 2. Kavanaugh and other things on the table.

Recorded back in September - we break down McCain's legacy.

We dive into the controversy surrounding Mark Duplass' tweet supporting Ben Shapiro.

We discuss the Putin summit, along with our recent flareups on the Facebook comments section.

We discuss the rising partisan rancor over Russia, from Peter Strzok's hearing to the indictment of 12 Russian nationals.

Darwin talks about the previous episode. PLUS we recap the 3rd season of Billions.

We delve into the myriad controversies involving freedom of speech that have cropped up over the past month. PLUS the immigration crisis.

We cover two topics that cover the same question - what happens when politics get in the way of science?