The Peterkins Podcast

Today I talk about status. In the past, prestige was one of the few ways to gain status, but now people are recognizing that low-status projects can quickly become high-status. Early adoption is the key to gaining status in this new paradigm.

Today I talk about societal inequality. With inequality on the rise, people are asking "how do we fix it"? China's focus on "common prosperity" shows that to address the problem, short-term economic harm must be tolerated to improve long-term economic stability

Today I talk about Stoicism and emotion. People assume stoicism is centered around emotional regulation, but this is not true. Stoicism asks us to live virtuous lives, and deeply examine our emotions to understand if we are succeeding in doing so.

Today I talk about the erosion of societal trust. Across the board, there's a decline in the trust in society's most important institutions. Without trust, greater methods of surveillance and enforcement are deployed to ensure compliance of the population.

Today I talk about work and purpose. We learn an important lesson when we're young: who we are is determined by where we focus our time and energy. It's an incredible tragedy that most people work bullshit jobs instead of doing work that is meaningful.

Today I talk about cringe. Nobody wants to be cringe, being cringe is weird and embarrassing. But to create something novel and interesting requires taking a risk, and that risk is falling flat on our face and being cringe in front of the whole world.

Today I talk about declining readership. We're consuming more digital media than ever, yet we simultaneously mock its popularity. We are aware that we're missing something important, but reading is an investment we're not willing to make anymore.

Today I talk about the real cause of the obesity epidemic. Obesity is a major health problem that is systemic, and if we truly care about solving the obesity crisis then we need to fix the system and stop bullying the victims of it

Today I talk about why more people should be fired. Firing someone makes everyone feel uncomfortable, but it's often a necessary process to uphold a great organizational culture. Often our compassion is used as an excuse to avoid doing what's necessary.

Today I talk about the baboon and the salt trap. Baboons famously can be trapped because of their stubbornness and their love for salt. Like the baboons, we humans frequently find ourselves trapped because we also fall victim to our desires.

Today I talk about power and incompetence. Afghanistan, Iraq, COVID, the 2008 Financial Crisis; all of these are gross failures from the incompetence of the powerful. Why are there no consequences or accountability for them despite these failures?

Today I talk about strong opinions loosely held. We are not the ideas that we hold, it's possible to have strong views with limited information if we allow ourselves the ability to iteratively change them in light of new information.

Today I talk about power and love. Those who worship love see no need for power, and those who worship power see no need for love. Power is only good when it is realizing what is beautiful, and what is beautiful can only be found in love

Today we're going to talk about solving other people's problems. It's good to want to help people, but sometimes we attempt to solve other people's problems to distract from our own. Fixing our own life makes us more capable of helping others

Today I talk about airports and adventure. Airport travel is the perfect level of adventure for most middle-class suburbanites. The stakes are high enough where there's skin in the game, yet low enough for safety-focused people to participate

Today I talk about speaking with confidence. Speaking with confidence is a super-power, you can influence people simply by speaking with a calm, steady demeanor. It's not enough to be competent, we also must be confident to put our skills into action.

Today I talk about why Only Fans is dropping porn. If you know OnlyFans, their recent decision to drop porn is like McDonald's deciding to stop selling hamburgers. The reason behind their decision isn't because they want to, it's because they have to.

Today I talk about the Alexander Technique. We discover how much stress we unknowingly carry by being aware of our habits. Once we gain this awareness, The Alexander Technique provides practical steps for removing this stress and establishing motor efficiency.

Today I talk about the Four Laws of Behaviour Change. We often feel strongly about wanting to change our behaviour, but when the time comes we fail to follow through. Following the four laws significantly increases our chances of implementing new habits.

Today I talk about concentration. Concentration is so valuable because it gives us the power to use our time as we desire. Distractions will steal our precious time, and if we consistently succumb to them they'll turn our goals into wishes and regrets.

Today I talk about societies of control. You are no longer an individual. You are a set of aggregated data, which is being used to predict, classify, and control all of your present and future actions. Welcome to the world of machines.

Today I talk about the cost of human efficiency. When we develop technology that transforms human beings and increases their productivity, we almost always leave human beings feeling poorer, more one-dimensional than ever before.

Today I talk about outgrowing our parents. Freud said, "No one can be a man unless his father has died". Becoming an individual requires us to remove ourselves from our parents' authority, and in doing so they undergo a symbolic death.

Today I talk about why Kim K. is smarter than you. Now that Kim is getting her law degree, people will finally and begrudgingly admit her intelligence. But her business savvy has always been proof of her intelligence, we just never wanted to admit it.

Today I talk about rites of passage. We still have many rites of passage around birth, death, and weddings, but many rites of passage for manhood have been lost. The rituals turning a boy into a man contribute a ton to securing men in their masculinity.

Today I talk about how progress happens. We'd like to believe that new ideas will spread based on whether they're true and factual, but that's not the case. As Max Planck, the German Physicist once said: "Progress happens one funeral at a time"

Today I talk about misunderstanding Nietzsche. There has never been someone so mischaracterized for his beliefs than Nietzsche. After spending his life trying to create new values after the decline of religion, all he's remembered for is "God is dead"

Today I talk about being happier. Being happier is a solved problem; we know exactly what activities to do to make ourselves a happier person. If that's the case, why isn't everyone happy then? What's stopping people from living their best lives?

Today I talk about the psychic powers of human beings. Studies on the existence of psychic powers have never been conclusive. Two scientists, an optimist, and a skeptic ran an experiment together to figure it out, only to be baffled by what they found.

Today I talk about the Chinese Demographic Crisis. China's latest sweeping policy decisions show that it is willing to do whatever it takes to tackle its social problems; its greatest problem being its upcoming demographic crisis

Today I talk about Amazon and modern anti-trust. The current paradigm of anti-trust has failed, as it's been too focused on short-term consumer welfare, and not focused enough on the broader set of ills and hazards that a lack of competition breeds.

Today I talk about misguided finances with Juwan Rohan, from The Misguided Podcast. I had a chance to talk with Juwan Rohan, an entrepreneur and fellow podcaster, about how we've been misguided about finances, taxes, and how to build real wealth.

Today I talk about Martin Luther. Posting is often only associated with the internet, but it has a long history. Martin Luther's posting brought about the Reformation and the creation of the Protestant movement, which makes him the greatest poster of all time.

Today I talk about the taste gap. There's always a gap between what beginners create and their own standards. Many people quit because of disappointment, but those who continue to create will eventually have their ambitions match their work.

Today I talk about the dangers of snoozing. Snoozing once and a while is fine, but making it a daily habit has both short-term and long-term health effects. It's tempting to indulge, but it's a battle we must fight and win every day.

Today I talk about the weight of knowledge. Knowledge of our world can help us to make sense of it. While knowledge of the world's evils can disillusion and discourage us, most ideally it can also help us to realize that a better world is possible.

Today I talk about the tolerance paradox. In the era where there is debate of online censorship and who has the authority to dictate what is true and what is false, it's important to remember what the goal is: cultivating and maintaining a free and open society.

Today I give a short history of hell. We've had many different ideas of what is in store for the wicked once they die. While these ideas are often interesting, in practice the idea of hell can cause more harm than it's worth.

Today I talk about marrying the right person. Choosing a life partner is an incredibly important decision, one that often gets decided based on the wrong set of criteria. Choose right and your life is amazing, but choose wrong and your life is a disaster.

Today I talk about having a servant's heart. No matter how independent we think we are, we're always serving someone. It's important then that we choose to serve people who will help enrich our lives, as serving the right people makes our own lives more fulfilling.

Today I talk about curating your internet diet. The struggle of our era is to stop ourselves from getting addicted to the "low-quality" information diet being pushed at us and instead find the things that will benefit and improve our lives.

Today I talk about how specialization is for insects. We are all capable of experiencing life very broadly, so why are our lives so narrow? Life is too short to do only one thing, we should do everything we want to do and let nothing stand in our way.

Today I talk about taking data management seriously. While we're told "data is the new oil", we're often flippant with our own data. It takes discipline, but being organized with our data and protecting it should be a huge priority in our digital world.

Today I talk about shaping our self-image. Our identities are constrained based on our innate traits, but that doesn't mean that we aren't capable of transforming ourselves. It's on us to find a role we wish to play and learn our lines to the best of our ability.

Today I talk about conquering my fear of birds. We're all afraid of something; fear is a part of being alive. I've found having the courage to expose ourselves to new experiences is the best way to vanquish our fears.

Today I talk about expanding my time horizon. Figuring out what activities are going to pay dividends 10, 20, even 30 years down the road is an excellent way to help prioritize how to spend our time.

Today I talk about our loss of leisure. Leisure was once considered necessary for education, discovery, and innovation. Now, its place in our workaholic culture is solely a tool for recovery. Leisure is a reminder that there is more to life than working.

Today I talk about what makes a good team. “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” If we want to go as far as we can, we need to know how to be a part of a good team.

Today I talk about why alcohol is worse than you think. Alcohol has a fantastic marketing team. They make us forget the most important fact about it; alcohol is a drug and drugs are bad for you, mkay?

Today, I talk about the case for nuclear power. As a civilization, our energy needs will continue to scale as we technologically progress. We need to transition to an energy source that won't destroy the planet, and that energy source is nuclear.

Today I talk about extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation can help us do things that we don't want to, but building intrinsic motivation can make us unstoppable.