Podcasts about Quadratic

In this insightful episode of The Reformed Brotherhood, hosts Tony Arsenal and Jesse Schwamb begin their series on Jesus's parables by examining the Parable of the Sower (or Soils). This foundational teaching from Christ reveals why some hearts receive the gospel message while others reject it. The hosts unpack the four soil types Jesus describes, exploring what each represents spiritually and how these patterns continue to manifest today. They emphasize that while the parable reveals different responses to the gospel, it also provides comfort for believers engaged in evangelism, reminding us that outcomes ultimately depend not on the sower's skill but on the condition of the soil—a condition that only God can prepare. This episode offers both theological depth and practical encouragement for Christians seeking to understand the various responses to the gospel message in their own ministry contexts. Key Takeaways The Parable of the Sower serves as a hermeneutical key for understanding all of Jesus's parables, as it directly addresses why Jesus taught in parables and provides the interpretive framework for understanding their purpose. The parable reveals four types of responses to the gospel (represented by the four soils), but only one that leads to genuine salvation and fruit-bearing. The focus of the parable is not on the sower's skill or the seed's quality but on the condition of the soil—emphasizing God's sovereignty in salvation while encouraging continued evangelism. The "rocky ground" hearers represent those who initially receive the gospel with joy but have no root system to sustain them when trials come, often resulting in what we might call "deconstruction" today. Christians should expect varied responses to gospel proclamation and not be discouraged when the seed appears to be wasted on unresponsive hearts, as this pattern was predicted by Jesus himself. The parable provides a warning against shallow faith while encouraging believers to develop deep spiritual roots that can withstand persecution and trials. Genuine conversion is ultimately evidenced by fruit-bearing, not merely by initial enthusiasm or religious affiliation. Understanding the Soils The Parable of the Sower presents four distinct soil types, each representing different responses to the gospel message. The first soil—the path—represents hearts where the gospel makes no impact whatsoever; the seed simply bounces off and is quickly snatched away by Satan. This illustrates not merely outward rejection of the gospel, but also intellectual non-comprehension. As Tony explains, this doesn't necessarily mean active hostility toward the gospel but could simply be indifference: "It may not be someone who has like a closed fist, 'I hate the gospel, I hate everything about God,' but for some reason they're just not [interested]." This parallels Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 2:14 that "the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him." The rocky soil represents those who initially receive the gospel with enthusiasm but lack depth. Their faith appears genuine at first but quickly withers under pressure or persecution. This phenomenon is particularly evident in what we often call "deconstruction" today—where someone who appeared genuinely converted falls away when their faith is tested. As Jesse notes, "I think what I've been helpful for me is to get outta my mind...what's the length of time here? Is it possible that somebody could be in this place...which presents like a setting down of deep roots that could last like years on end?" The parable reminds us that immediate joy at receiving the gospel is not necessarily evidence of saving faith, and it calls us to examine whether our own faith has sufficient depth to withstand trials. The Comfort of Realistic Expectations One of the most encouraging aspects of this parable is how it calibrates our expectations about evangelism and gospel ministry. Jesus teaches that when the gospel is proclaimed, we should expect varied responses—including outright rejection—not because of any failure in the message or messenger, but because of the condition of human hearts. This provides tremendous comfort for believers engaged in evangelistic efforts who might otherwise be discouraged by apparent failure. Tony highlights this point: "This parable is not about the skill of the sower or even the efficacy of the seed...The point of the parable...is that it has to do with the soil itself." This understanding frees us from the pressure of thinking we must somehow perfect our evangelistic technique or presentation, while also removing the false guilt that can come when people reject the message we share. Furthermore, the parable encourages continued, generous sowing of the gospel seed. As Tony observes, "We don't see the sower in this parable meticulously only identifying the good soil and only planting the seeds there. He does promiscuously spread this seed everywhere that he can." This reminds us that our responsibility is faithful proclamation, while the results remain in God's sovereign hands. Memorable Quotes "The Parable of the Sower teaches really that the gospel call goes out to all... but only those who God regenerates, that good soil, are gonna receive it savingly and will bear fruit." - Jesse Schwamb "Just because our experience of Christianity and our experience of being in the faith feels so genuine and real and rooted, we should also recognize that it felt real and genuine and rooted for [those who later fell away]... There's a caution there for us." - Tony Arsenal "The exhortation built into this is that we need to seek that root. We don't get to determine what kind of soil we are on an ultimate level—that's God's election and his secret providence. But on a horizontal level, in our experience of things, we have agency, we make decisions. We seek to be rooted or unrooted in the gospel." - Tony Arsenal Full Transcript [00:00:36] Introduction and Greetings Jesse Schwamb: Welcome to episode 462 of The Reformed Brotherhood. I am Jesse. Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony. And this is the podcast of Good Soil. Hey brother. Jesse Schwamb: Hey brother. Well, will you look at us? Look at us. It's finally and officially begun. And that is this conversation. [00:01:00] Kickoff to the Parable Series Jesse Schwamb: This episode is really the kickoff, well, the first parable that we're going through together, starting a long conversation that I think is gonna bear much fruit, if you will. Yes. Maybe 30, maybe 60, maybe a hundred times. Lord willing. It's gonna be great. And we're starting off with a doozy. Yes. Actually, maybe this is like the granddaddy of all the parables because we're gonna hear Jesus tell us something about the word of God and how it's received among different hearers. And this is so fantastic. It's the only place to begin because this is truly some eternally contemporary words. Yeah, it's, this is the parable that's continually verified under our own eyes. Wherever the word of God is preached or expounded and people are assembled to hear it, the sayings of our Lord in this parable are found to be true. It describes what goes on as a general rule in our congregations in the world. Anytime the word of God goes out, what a place to begin. So we're gonna get there. It's gonna be great, don't you worry, dear listener. [00:02:04] Affirmations and Denials Jesse Schwamb: But of course, before we do that, it's our tradition, our word that's spoken is always something in affirmation with something or in denial against something. So I say to you, as I always do, Tony. What do you have for us on this episode? Uh, an affirmation or denial. Tony Arsenal: This is an affirmation. I'll try to keep it nice and short and tight. Uh, I am affirming everything that comes with the fall. It's the air's getting crisp. The season, the, the pumpkin. Yeah. Not, not the fall. With the, let's, let's, let's clarify. I'm affirming everything that comes with autumn. So, uh, the air's crisp, the pumpkin spice is flowing, the leaves are starting to come down. Although, as a New Englander, I feel like I might be a little disappointed this year they're saying that it might not be as vibrant because we've been under a bit of a drought. But, uh, I, I'm all for all of it. Sweaters, gimme like a nice cozy scarf to put on and like a, I don't know, like a stocking cap. Gimme some flannel. I'm just ready to rock and roll. I'm, I'm, I'm done with summer and I'm ready for fall and yeah, that's, that's the whole thing. That's the affirmation. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. [00:03:09] Autumnal Delights and Debates Jesse Schwamb: Beautiful. It's speaking of like eternally or seasonally contemporary. That is so good. Plus I would say like the fall or autumn. The best adjectives, doesn't it? Yes. Like including like the word ottum. Yes. Like, that's just a great word that we, we do not use enough of. So this season, loved ones dropping a tum in there because Yes. It's just such a good word. Tony Arsenal: And I, I know people hate on the pumpkin spice and uh, there was a rev, I think I've said this before, it's re revolutionized my understanding because I used to get so mad because I was like, this doesn't even taste like pumpkin. It's not pumpkin flavored items, it's pumpkin spiced. Flavored items. So it's the, the spice you would use in pumpkin pie is the spice that they're talking about. So people complain that you're just putting nutmeg in things. And to that, I say yes, that's the point. You just start adding nutmeg or pumpkin spice or cloves or all spice or whatever it might be. The point is we're using the same spices that you would use for making a pumpkin pie or some other sort of fall. Delicious fall. Pumpy squashy, goodness. Jesse Schwamb: You got that right. This is a classic case of don't hate the player. Hate the game. Tony Arsenal: It's true, it's true. And if you don't like it, if you don't like pumpkin spice, then just don't talk to me at all. I'm just kidding. Still get pumpkin spice. Like you can go to Starbucks and get the same, same coffee you always get. You don't have to get pumpkin spice, you don't have to drink pumpkin beer, you don't have to do any of that. The all the stuff is, all the normal stuff is still available. They don't tell you you can't have it. Nobody is opening your mouth and pouring it down your throat. So just calm down, order your normal drip coffee and move on with your life. Jesse Schwamb: Speaking of polarizing autumnal type things, I don't know if we've talked about probably, we have talked about this and I've just forgotten. Where do you land on the whole. Cotton, uh, sorry. Candy corn, not cotton candy, but candy corn. Tony Arsenal: I, I feel like we have talked about this and my perspectives may have changed over the years. I'm not a big fan of candy corn, but I will eat it until I vomit. If you put it in front, I think is the, is the consensus that if there's a bowl of it in front of me, the first thing that I will do is I will break off two little white tips of the ca uh, candy corn and stick them on my fangs and pretend to be vampire. Jesse Schwamb: Beautiful. Tony Arsenal: And then I will eat the remainder of the pound and a half of candy that's in front of me until I throw up. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. And I know there's some difference between like candy, corn and like the little pumpkin confectionary ones. Yeah. Some people prefer those over others. And then this is not even to talk about the whole debate between when it comes to Reese's Peanut butter cups and Oh yeah. The pumpkin variety of those and No, all that stuff. Tony Arsenal: No. Mm. Jesse Schwamb: No. To those? Tony Arsenal: No, to those. The, the shaped, the shaped, uh, Reese's Peanut butter objects, I suppose they're not cups at that point. Uh, they use a different kind of peanut butter. I dunno if you know that, but they use a different peanut butter. So they, they actually do taste different than the actual didn't know that says peanut butter cups. Um, it's either a different kind of peanut butter or a different kind of chocolate. But one of the primary substances, uh, not in the Aristotelian sense, uh, one of the primary substances is different. And so it does actually taste different. It's not as good. And then the balance between the chocolate and the peanut butter is off. It's, it's not good. I'm a, I'm a peanut butter cup. Uh, I like to say aficionado, but I think probably snob would be a better. A better term for it. Jesse Schwamb: Listen, you'll, you like what you like by the way, only on this podcast, only, I think among long-term listeners, would it be necessary to clarify that you do not mean substance in there was six alien sense. Tony Arsenal: That's true. That's, that's definitely true. Well, Jesse, that is where we are. Enough about my, uh, fall. Uh, food preferences. What are you affirming and or denying? Tonight, [00:07:02] Musical Recommendations Jesse Schwamb: I'm gonna also come along with you on it with the affirmation, and maybe while you're drinking that PSL or you're searching for that candy, corn, you might like, want something to put into your ears that isn't us, that's a little bit more melodic. And so I'm affirming with the, this time and age in which it is all about curation. That's often a lovely thing. I use Spotify for all of my music consumption, and they just fed me like a really interesting playlist that I would never have thought of as a category, but I've really been enjoying, it's called Math Rock. And I saw, and I thought I'm, I'm usually kinda like dubious of the Spotify playlist because like they're kind of out there for me generally. But I thought to myself, well, this is an interesting port man too. Like, I like math. I like rock, and the description was complex rhythms and mesmerizing loops. So I thought, I like complex rhythms. I like loops that continue and mesmerize, so the check it out for yourself. If you're looking for something that's like, it's enough to be interesting while you're working on something, but not too interesting. So that distracts you. This is apparently the jam. So yeah, it's like just really interesting rock oriented, mostly instrumental music that is like. Really motivating, but again, not interesting enough to really distract you from the task at hand if that's not your thing. The other thing I would recommend, I know you'll join me in this, Tony, is that poor Bishop Hooper released a new album this week. It's called The Serpent and the Seed, and this one has a ton of tracks on it, like 18 or so, and it, it as well is a unique mix of both instrumental, really lovely, beautiful pieces and then some that carry more vocal and melodic stuff that's kind of their customary jam. Both of 'em are great. They both do have kind of an an autumnal vibe, if I'm honest. Now I'm thinking about it. It's really the perfect compliment to whatever it is that you're consuming that has that pumpkin spice in it. So math, rock, the serpent and the seed. There you go. Tony Arsenal: I'm trying to synthesize. I mean, math and rock are like two of Jesse's favorite things. So I'm trying to synthesize what it would be like to scream the quadratic equation at someone with some sort of like slightly off cadence, dissonant guitar rift underneath. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. Tony Arsenal: I feel like there's a Me Without You album out there somewhere that that's exactly what it is. But Jesse Schwamb: yeah, probably there should Tony Arsenal: be at least. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, there, there absolutely should be. And I'm with you. I'm willing to work on that album. That's a great idea. Like just, it's just an album of mathematical equations and like the deep mysteries of life, you know, listen, math is beautiful. Numbers are stories. There's, there's so much there. Yeah. You had me at Quadratic, so I, I think we've, we've given people a lot to enjoy in this fall season. It's true. Tony Arsenal: I, I. I couldn't solve a quadratic equation to save my entire life at this point. Uh, I took introduction to logic when I got to college 'cause I couldn't remember how to multiply fractions on the entrance exam. That's fair. So that's fair. So that was, that's my experience with math. But right Jesse Schwamb: now the internet wants to keep serving me videos about, you've seen like all these tests, like these entrance exams for like Harvard or like the Ivy Leagues, other Ivy Leagues, and it is all these random things, you know, like we're solving for like two variables, terminally, and there is some kinda like expon explanation to it. Um. Yeah, I guess that's what I've become and I watch 'em all. They honestly get me every time. Yeah. I'm like, I'm not gonna watch that. And then I'm like, oh, I'm definitely gonna watch that. So it just happens. It's great. Tony Arsenal: I love it. Meanwhile, meanwhile, YouTube is desperately trying to get me to watch Season six and Cobra High. And it's very quickly gonna be succeeding. I think the next time Netflix has a, has a promotion where I can get a cheap month or something like that, I will definitely be binging Cobra Kai. So I feel like our YouTube algorithms are very different. Jesse Schwamb: Very different. Yeah. Very different. Certainly in, um, there is a commonality of, of the mysteries of the world and. [00:11:06] Introduction to the Parable of the Sower Jesse Schwamb: In some way, that's what we're talking about in this entire series. And yeah, if for some reason you didn't hear a conversation from two weeks ago where we really set the table, I think for what a parable is, why Jesus uses parables. As far as I remember, you correct if I'm wrong, it was the definitive conversation about why the parable is not just peace wise in Jesus' teaching, but really why it's the centerpiece. Yeah, we talked about that at great length. So now we're really ready to go. If you didn't hear that, I highly recommend you go back and hear that. 'cause there's so much. I realize as we, we looked at this parable of the sower or better like the parable of the soils, that we could do a whole series on just this bad boy. Such not just like wide interpretation, but wide application. So much for us to really chew on and then to really come back to and chew the could. So we're gonna have to be probably every time a little bit self-editing and brief. So if you're just yelling at your device, why aren't you talking about this thing? There's a great place for you to yell into or maybe just calmly and very politely suggest rather than the void, you can join our Telegram group. Telegram is just an app for, it's kind of a conversational tool and platform, and if you're looking for it and I know that you are, don't, why would you even fool yourself? It's, you can find it by going to T Me Reform Brotherhood. There's a whole channel, there's a bunch of channels there, a bunch of little conversations that we have compartmentalize. There's one just to talk about the episode. So as we go through this, my encouragement to everybody is track with us, get your scriptures out. Come along with us in the actual journey of processing this. Do spend some time processing it with us. And then when there is inevitably that thing, they're like, why didn't you talk about this? You know, a great place to converse with others and us about that would be in the Telegram Chat. So T Me Reform Brotherhood. So enough of that, let's get to it. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And you know, there's, there's some, um, there's some logic that would say we should have just rather than doing an Introduction to Parables episode, we should have just done the parable, because this parable does really follow, it really does form like an introduction to all of Christ's parabolic teachings. And, you know, it's, no, it's no, um, mystery either in God's providence or just in Matthew as being a, a, you know, somewhat genius level composer of, of a work of literature in putting this parable first, because you're absolutely right at the top of the show that this parable really is. Almost like the hermeneutical key for all of the parables. Not just for in terms of like understanding the parables, it doesn't do that so much. But in understanding the purpose of the parables and more importantly, explicitly in the middle of this, Christ explains why he teaches in parables. So we covered that a lot last time, so we're not gonna, we're gonna skip over that middle section 'cause we don't need to rehash that. But this really is the granddaddy of all the parables. It it is, um. It is Christ's teaching on why he uses parables in action. It's the application of his own theology, of parables, if you want to call it that. Uh, in principle. And he is gracious enough that in this very first parable, he actually gives us the interpretation, right, which is, is not entirely unique, um, in, in the gospels, but it is not always the norm. There are a fair number of parables where Christ just drops the parable and leaves it there, um, for both his immediate listeners to figure out and then also for us to figure out. We're not given the inspired interpretation, but this one we are given the inspired interpretation. And Jesse, I had to laugh because, um. Just as you get really, really upset and worked, worked up about when people say Christ's body broken for you. Uh, it just drives me nuts when people call this the parable of the soils. 'cause Christ gives it a name, right? So, so we'll talk about that too. And I, I'm, I'm mostly playing, like, I'm not gonna jump through the screen at you or anything like that, but that's the, one of the other unique features of this parable is that it's given it's, it's given a name. Um, and that's part of the interpretation is that in most cases, parables have a primary figure or a primary point that's being made. And if you get that primary point wrong or that primary figure wrong, um, you tend to get the rest of the parable wrong. In this case, Christ graciously tells us who the parable is about or what the parable is about, and then later on when we get to the, the next parable or a couple parables down, um, he actually tells us more about the parable through some other teaching as well. [00:15:38] Reading and Analyzing the Parable Tony Arsenal: So, Jesse, do you have that text in front of us? Do you wanna go ahead and read that first chunk? That's the parable itself. Jesse Schwamb: I do, let's do it by the way. Uh, maybe somebody should keep track. Here's a fun little game of how many times we say parable or parabolic. And of course, whenever I hear parabolic, I always think, of course there is like something of great hyperbole or allegory, but I often think of, uh, parabola, which to your point, Tony, I think you're just doing this for my sake now, and I love, this is an exponent oriented equation. Of course, it's a like a canonical section, which can only be creative mathematically by pronunciation again. So thank you for that. I thought you just did that for me, so Tony Arsenal: I have no idea what you just said. You might as well have been speaking like Hindu. Jesse Schwamb: It's fantastic. Well, let's, let's get to the actual, the best word, the word of life. And this is from Matthew chapter 13. Beginning just at the start of the chapter. That same day, Jesus went out of his, uh, house and sat beside the sea and, and great crowds gathered about him so that he got into a boat and sat down and the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables saying. A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprung up since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched. And since they had no roots, they were it away. Other seeds fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain. Some a hundred fold, some 60, some 30. He who has ears, let him hear. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. So on a surface level here, the, the parable is straightforward, right? We have a very straightforward picture, which is, is common for most of the parables, that it's not some sort of unusual, crazy out there situation that's being described. It's a common scenario from everyday life, uh, that doesn't tend to have sort of like. Mythological legendary kinds of characteristics. We have a simple farmer who is out sowing his seeds. Um, some of the commentaries we'll point out, and I don't, I dunno how accurate this is or isn't, but I, I saw it in, in a couple different commentaries. So I'm inclined to, to believe it that our model of farming, uh, in sort of a western world or, or maybe not western world, but in a more, I dunno, technologically advanced world, is to teal the ground till the ground first, Jesse Schwamb: right? Tony Arsenal: And then to scatter seed. And it was much more common in the ancient world to actually scatter the seed kind of, uh, promiscuously and then till the ground. Um, I don't know the reasons for that. I'm not a horticulturist, but, um. The, the, one of the critiques that I've heard, and it's funny when people try to critique Jesus is 'cause they're always proven wrong, but one of the critiques I've heard is like, no farmer whatever would ever do this. Like, no, no sower would ever just throw seed on the ground, but this actually is the way they would've done farming. So he's, he's taking an everyday scenario that everyone would've been familiar with. Right. Nobody would've been like, oh yeah, that doesn't make any sense. They would've just said, oh yeah, of course you just throw the seed on the ground and then you come back around later and you do what you need to do. So it, it was really a scenario where some of the seed would've fallen on the path. And we're not talking about like a road next to the farm, but a lot of times the, the field had sort of, um. They're probably called like convenience trails is what they're called now. But people would travel through the, through the paths, and so there would be an area that's already walked, walked on that's a little bit easier to traverse. And eventually that area would turn into a pathway. So it was, it was kind of turned into sort of like hard clay turf that you couldn't get the seed into anyways. And then there would've been areas where, um, there was rocks under the surface. Most of our fields that our farm fields have been tilled and prepared and have been worked over, that the stones had been removed. But it wasn't always like that in the ancient world. And then you would've had areas where there was, uh, there was other vegetation, thorns, weeds, other kinds of plants that would've made, made it difficult for the crop to sprout and to bear fruit. So we have a very common scenario. There's nothing surprising about this. There's nothing out of the ordinary. It's just a simple farming metaphor that Christ employs here. Jesse Schwamb: And in some ways that's very consistent of course, because we have these very ordinary, normal things that God is using as a means of explanation for something that is very extraordinary, very supernatural. So we have the natural coming into play, not just as a representation, but to really demonstrates, illustrates and impound both in structure and form. This idea of what it means for the gospel to be communicated. And I'm with you, my understanding is in most ancient world. Those, those fields, we tend to think of them as fields and often the reference that way were like more like these narrow strips of land separated by these paths and you have this farmer casting the seed like very liberally. And not only that, but I think what's interesting right on the face. Is we see that there are basically four potential outcomes here and only one of those outcomes, 'cause we're already understanding this to mean the sowing of the sea, which is the word of life, which is the gospel message. Only one of those outcomes results in kingdom growth. There's a ratio of three to one. There's three times as many poor outcomes. In other words, there's all of these various ways in which we find that the seed is not rejected or does not result in the intended fruit. But there is just one path, one narrow kind of way in which it does result, and then it results in kind of various outcomes in terms of like the magnitude of the fruit or the plants that result from this planting. But as a result of that. I think what's really interesting to me right on the face is that we're seeing, like you said, there is a sower. He's casting the seed deliberately, he's coming on the path and he's just throwing it out. And in that narrow strip of land, there are all these different soils. And so right away we see if you're, if you're a farmer, you're understanding something about, it's not about the skill of the farmer in the casting of the seed. It's not even about the, the skill of the seed to grow. It's about the soil itself. And so again, we have this as three times as many potentially poor outcomes as there are for the one that results in this grand harvest. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And the one thing about this that might be, might have been, and, and again, some of the commentators are, are split on this, but might have been a sort of unexpected, um, element. And, and this is something we do see with, uh, with the parables, is there's usually some sort of, um. Unexpected or dramatic or turn of events kind of element, usually towards the end of a parable that would make, would, should be a subversion of expectations. Right? Right. And so the, in this instance, um, a yield of 30 times or, or 60 times or a hundred times, all of those yields would be crazy high yields. Um, you know, I, I, I think there are some plants, some of the commentators will make, make a point that there are some plants where like a 30. A 30 yield is normal. Um, but a 30 or a 60 or a hundred times yield of a crop is, is not the expectation. And so I think in, in a scenario like this, the reader or the listener is prepped by the fact that there are three, uh, negative outcomes and only one favorable outcome. To assume that the crop yield is not going to be great. Right? And then the reality is the crops that do sprout the crops that land on the good soil or the seed that lands on the good soil. Not only is it productive, it's so productive that it actually outpaces and kind of compensates for the lack of productivity or the lack of fruitfulness of the other three. So it's, it's three different, uh, it's four possible outcomes and then three levels of fruitfulness. And so this parable does sort of cause the listener or the hearer to think about, um, and start, you know, from the very outset, think about what does, what does it mean that the seed landed on the path and was stolen away by the birds? What does it mean that it sprouted quickly and uh, but didn't have roots and so it withered away in the sun? And what does it mean that, you know, it sprouted among thorns and so it couldn't bear fruit. And then I think the implied, um, the implied question that's being forced here because the parable does start out, you know, saying there was the sower, the sower, um. Sowed this seed out. He doesn't introduce this the same way he normally, he normally does or commonly does, right? Jesus often will start the peril ball by saying something like, the kingdom of God is like, right? Or you know this. This is like that. This, he just starts out saying like, a sower was out in the, in the field sowing seed. So the, the listener is not primed to know what the comparison is necessarily, but I think part of that is that now they're forced to ask what is the comparison? And I don't think it's much of a stretch. And again, this is why parables are so kind of paradoxical is it's not a difficult, when we get to the interpretation, it's not difficult to see the interpretation. Right, right. It's, it's easy to understand that the parable here, the metaphor is, is different reactions of, of some sort to. To a given thing, right? It's, it's different reactions to an investment of some sort. There's an investment of seed and in some instances it just doesn't take, in other instances, it takes and it doesn't sprout, and in other instances it sprouts, but it never fruits. So when we get to the interpretation, Jesus is gonna give us the clarity of what that investment is, and then who are, or what are the outcomes and what do they mean? In, in our, you know, in our thought process of what the kingdom of God is like. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, so let's do it then. [00:25:44] Understanding the Soils Jesse Schwamb: 'cause what we've got here is we basically have, each soil is representing some type of here. So we've got four heres but only one true believer. So it's probably behooves us to go through all of them and really kind of chat through. And maybe what we can do is try to bring some of our own practical application to each of these. I've been really meditating and pondering that, trying to think if this is practical for us, then how can we understand how each of these are being manifest all around us? And of course the intention here is not to like name people that we think fall into each of these four little groups, but more so to think about how we might understand people who do fall into each of these groups. And that is to say that. Each one of these, well, the, the first three rather, that these ones in which they're, the soil is in some degree suboptimal. I, I don't know that it means that it's always that way, for instance. So we might think of people that fall into those categories, but the Lord may be moving or working in them to move them into that fourth category. And of course, he's done that with ourselves, so we know that that's exactly how he operates. Um, and it's, I think it's good for us to remember that. I think there's a lot that's scary about this first soil, this idea that. The seed just bounces. So we get no uptake whatsoever in this one. But the other ones, at least you get a little satisfaction that there's some kind of reception. There is a receipt of that word. And the reason why I find this one to be so troubling is because these who hear it in the first case, they don't understand and they don't esteem it. And Christ is very clear to say that the seed itself doesn't sit there long. It bounces. So there's a, there is a literal hardness. That's reflected in that clay soil or that path, which is down trotted. And it's hard because of perhaps this constant lack of belief, this constant and unrepentant hearts or lifestyle, but it would be enough if it just kinda bounced off and sat there. But the fact that it's snatched away that the birds come and take it away, that Satan himself has an active and powerful role in influencing all of those who are hearing this word. And I think that hardness of heart may not just be manifest in, say, like an unrepentant lifestyle or this kind of clench fist against God on the inside, which is of course true of the natural man. But more than that, that anything that would take us away from true belief. So that is even any kind of our religious system or belief, any kind of philosophy, any kind of other worldview I think is in mind here because we know the devil comes to kill, steal, and destroy. And so. What he's doing in that sometimes happens first and foremost in the mind, manifested in the heart and then in our behaviors. So if he's stealing away this word by replacing it with something that is false, that is not true, that destroys, that pulls us away and moves us away, then this is very scary. He has a real power, which we talked about. I don't know, like maybe six or so episodes ago. It's worth listening to, I think. And so what I find here that is really traumatizing upfront is the involvement in particular of the sinful man under his own mean estate. That is, that it's clear that the natural man cannot conceive of the things of God without regeneration, and Jesus makes it abundantly clear. He's, he's basically saying what Paul says later on in First Corinthians when he writes, the natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God, does not accept them. So again, there's no agreement. There's no, even an intellectual ascent does not accept the things of the spirit of God for they are folly to him and he's not able to understand them because they're spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one for who is understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him. But we have the mind of Christ, so there is no mind of Christ, which is, it's a horrible way to live life. And so in that space we have both the natural man, his total depravity, unable to pull himself up by his theological bootstraps or philosophical bootstraps or his intellectual emotional bootstraps to even discern what the way in which the world really actually is. And then in in, I say in addition to that, we have the devil himself waging war and attacking by pulling away that seed. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And I have a little bit of a different take on this and I think this is what I am looking forward to in this series. Is there, there is gonna be. [00:30:01] Understanding the Parable of the Sower Tony Arsenal: Different, uh, different understandings that probably all fall and are all compatible, but all fall within a acceptable range of understanding. Here, you know, I, in, in reading some of the commentaries, Calvin makes the point that all four of these different types of seed represent people who in some sense are open to the gospel. They're, they're open to, he, he makes the point that this is not talking about the, the person who like refuses to hear the gospel at all, who like won't even come into the church. This is a person predominantly who is, is exposed to the word in some sense, probably in view as someone who's among the people of God who's in the, in the, in the physical body of the people of God who's among Christians or among those hearing the word. And for whatever reason, the, the, the seed doesn't, uh, it doesn't even get into the soil. Right, and he compares, Christ compares, um, this not to somebody who is hardhearted, but to someone who doesn't understand, right? That there's an intellectual element to this, right? You think of, um, you know, you think of somebody who hears the scripture and probably understands outwardly what it means, but doesn't ever comprehend it internally. They don't ever really, they don't ever really let it penetrate into their, into their hearts. Um, so it's been sewn into their hearts, but it doesn't actually take root in their hearts in any other sense. [00:31:38] The Role of the Soil in Receiving the Word Tony Arsenal: And this is what's a little bit different from, from the other ones that we're gonna see in all of the other cases. The seed takes root, Jesse Schwamb: right? Tony Arsenal: It actually penetrates the ground and begins to grow. Um, it, this is a seed that never even makes it that far. And so it may not be someone who has like a, who necessarily has like a closed fist. I hate the gospel. I hate everything about God, but for some reason they're just not. And when we say for some reason I'm talking, obviously I'm talking la you know, horizontally. Um, we know that the reason that they don't have an open heart is 'cause the Holy Spirit is not open to their heart. But for whatever earthly temporal reason, the word just doesn't penetrate. It bounces off of them. It just doesn't get there. Not necessarily because they're outwardly hostile to it. They just maybe are not interested in it. And so this is where I think that. Along with the evil one, snatching it away. That's actually like one in the same thing. Is, is part of what I think this is getting at is that the, the, the only reason that the, um, that Satan can snatch away the word from their heart or what has been sewn into their heart is because their heart has not received it. And so it's that sort of dual function and, and maybe it's kind of like, almost like, uh, in Exodus, you know, God hardening the heart and then Pharaoh hardening the heart and those two things are happening, you know, by means of concurs that God is doing it in a divine sense. I almost feel like this is an instance where kind of like the, the census or, or with job where Satan is the one who is doing it, but it's ultimately attributed to God as well. It's the hardening of the heart, but it's also the hardness of heart. Um, all of those things are playing a dynamic, but ultimately the point here is that there are those who the word is preached to. [00:33:30] The Sower's Responsibility and the Soil's Condition Tony Arsenal: Um, you know, we will find out in, in a little bit later, like, the sower is Christ in, in these parables here. It's not, it's not generally the sowing of the word. It's Christ who is sowing the word. It's the son who is sowing, uh, the seed of the word. And we can think about that either during his own ministry. This certainly was, um, was true of his own ministry on Earth, that there were some who just did not receive the word and they just, it just bounced off of them. But then also as the son sows the seed through his people, down through the church age, through history, whether it's in the Lord's Day service or personal, witnessing, personal, you know, um, evangelism, it's still God who is sowing the seed. It's still the Lord who is the sower of the seed. But even in that context, there are still some who just don't receive it. So I think what you said earlier is really, is really spot on. This parable is not about. The skill of the sower or even the efficacy of the seed. Right. And I think sometimes people read this and they, they look at it as though it is actually the sewer's fault. What a dumb sower. He sowed it on the path. Of course it's not gonna take root. That's not the point of the parable at all. The point of the parable, and we learn it just right, this very first one, is that it has to do with the, the soil itself. Which is why, you know, I, I kind of joke about calling it the parable of the soils, and that's a fine way to refer to it. And most of these parables could have multiple different, you know, accurate titles as well. But the point of the parable, or the main point of the parable is that the soil itself is what determines the outcome. Again, you know, we, we don't need to get into all the theological details of how the soil becomes, what the soil is. This show has the word reformed in the title. You can figure out that we're gonna say, well, God is the one that prepares the soil. And that also just fits with the, with the a parable here, right? The good soil is only good because it's been tilled and prepared by the sower ahead of time, right? So I think that's, that's spot on. And, and you know, as I think about the people I know in my life, um, it's very easy to get discouraged when you try to so seed to, to follow through on the metaphor when you try to so seed and it feels like it bounces off. But we shouldn't be surprised at that. We shouldn't be surprised when someone is just not interested because Christ in his very first parable tells us there are people out there like that. That doesn't mean you don't sow the seed, it doesn't mean you don't continue to spread the seed the way that the sower does. And the reason for that is that some of it is going to take, take root, some of it is going to take root and bear fruit and you are not in charge and you don't control which one does which. We don't see the sower in this parable meticulously only identifying the good soil and only planting the seeds there. He does promiscuously spread this, so this seed everywhere that he can. [00:36:26] The Reality of Hardheartedness Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, there is something there that I think is comfortable about this hardness of the soil, because I think sometimes we underestimate that the normative position of man is to be antagonistic toward God. That's not to say like we're talking about in their every action they take, they're going to refuse to hear the gospel or they're going to fight vehemently or out outwardly against it. But it's true that everywhere we find the scriptures, whether it's this other metaphor about God, again, doing this great surgery, of taking out this height of stone, which is of course hardheartedness or whether we go to like Romans three, where Paul says that there's no one who understands, there's no one who seeks God. So we understand that the default position is, one, nobody's seeking after God. Two, that God is too threatening to us. He threatens ourself. He threatens our ego, he threatens our own way. He threatens our contingency, all of which we try to fight against, like to our own dismay. And you know, basically. You know, it's willing, suspension of disbelief. But it's interesting and I think comforting here that what he's saying is, is exactly what you've just said, which is do not he, he'd almost say like loved ones. Do not be surprised when you find that people are just not that interested. They're just not into the gospel. Because your default position is to be a gospel abuser. To be a covenant breaker. And so because of that, there's just a natural hardness. And that hardness, I think he has to draw out. He has to say it's gonna bounce and Satan's gonna snatch it away because it would be, it's too easy to look at those who are just like vehemently opposed to the gospel that wanna debate. You wanna shut you down, wanna yell at you, wanna put signs in your face, wanna spit on you. That's too easy to be like, well, of course. Those people are not gonna receive it. But what about the quiet people who just don't care? Or, yeah. What about the people who are too caught up in their way of life or their simple behaviors or their patterns, or again, just what? What about those? What about the Mormons? When they come to your door and you can speak into your blue in the face about what Paul says, like the gospel plus anything is anathema, and they're just kinda like, yes. Yeah. Totally. That's fine. Totally down with that. And you're like, yeah, but you're doing, you're doing that very thing. This is great comfort to know that even those situations where you're not at war explicitly with somebody, that it's still comforting to know that this is going to happen. And also I think it's a great reminder that apart from God, apart from that changing of the soil, as you said, Tony, we would be those same people. That's in fact where we start. I, I don't say that. Like there's a progression here. We find in the, from moving from one to four. There is though something like you've said, where it's just interesting that Jesus shows us the very kind of shades of this. And I think, again, we gotta get out of our head like the, the temporality of this or like, well, what length of time are we talking about? Like when we get to the second one, which we should move on to. And there is some sprouting of the seed. Like how much time are we talking about? Like if it's two weeks, are they in camp two, if it's three weeks, are they moved out of that into some other, one of the other schools? Uh, I think it's just to show us that there are really, again, four hearers, one believer, and we can see clearly what the one believer looks like. It's a little bit more difficult to maybe sometimes discern what the other three look like, but it gives us hope and encouragement and basically just a sense of like, this is the way the world works. To know pres positionally, that when we go out, and like you said, I love this already, this is a major theme, is speak the gospel to all people. I mean, in this way, the gospel is for all people. Because Jesus' saying, do not cast the seed here. Go and look at that narrow path and find out, try to keep it off the, the hard ground. Do not let the devil snatch it up. It just says, throw and seed, throw and seed. And so we have to keep doing that stuff. [00:40:10] The Challenge of Shallow Roots Jesse Schwamb: So let's get to number two. What, what? Yeah. What say? Yeah. Tony Arsenal: Let me read it here. This is in verse, uh, 20 and 21. Here. It says, as for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy. Yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. And when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the world, immediately he falls away. So thi this is the person who, um, who has some sort of outward conversion experience, right? It's a person who receives the word, he receives it with joy, um, and appears to sprout, right? This is seed that has taken hold and has, uh, you know, the, the, and we, we can see that it has taken hold. So it's not just some hidden seed that has roots and never breaks the surface. Right. It's a, it's a, it's a plant that has made its way into the soil. It has taken roots of some sort. Um, but the roots are shallow. The roots never actually get, uh, deep enough to, to be able to survive the sun, right. In the, the original parable, it's, it's baked by the sun. And, you know, this is, um, I think what what we're gonna see is maybe to sort of preface your question, and I think probably this is gonna be one of those two parter episodes, even though we planned it to be one parter episode. Um, I think what we're gonna see here is that you can't actually know whether someone is. The hard rocks is the rocks or the thorns. Right? Un until, until all is said and done. Right. Right. And that's part of what's difficult is you, you want to look at a parable like this, and this is where I think maybe this is a good sort of like caution against overinterpreting, the parables, right? Christ is not trying to give us a rubric to identify who is what. Jesse Schwamb: Right. He's Tony Arsenal: not trying to give us like a litmus test to say like, that person is the hard soil. That person is the rocks. That person is the thorns. And you know, this reminds me, I, I recall, I, I dunno how many years ago, it was a couple years ago when Kanye West was going through his like Jesus phase, right? And he, everyone was like, oh my gosh, I can't believe that Kanye is a Christian and he's writing this album called Jesus. Jesus Saves. And, and I, I just remember saying at the time, like, guys, there's a parable of the soils here. Like we should be. Um, we should be joyful that it, it appears that this seed is taking root, but there are lots of different outcomes when the seed takes root. And it's funny because I, I don't, I don't remember what episode this was and please don't go look it up 'cause that's a waste of everyone's time. But I remember when that conversation happened and I don't know whether there was an affirmation or a denial or what context came up in, but I remember contrasting him to Justin Bieber. And it's ironic, right, because I actually just read on Twitter today. Let me see if I can find the post during the next time you're talking. Justin Bieber posted this really amazing, theologically astute, mature kind of statement on Twitter today. And I think at the time, if you had asked me, um, is Kanye more likely to be the good soil or Justin Bieber to be the good soil, I would've said Kanye. Right? Just because he's, he was older, he is a little bit more established in himself. Um. Justin Bieber was still very young. He was, he was sort of like all over the place personality wise. He seemed to be changing radically. And it just goes to show like, you can't tell. And, and I'm not even saying right now like, this is, this is where it gets difficult. I'm not even saying right now, Justin Bieber is good soil, although I did right. Retweet his quote and did hashtag good soil. Almost aspirationally, right? But we can take a look at someone's life in retrospect and say, this person is bearing fruit, or this person is not bearing fruit. And, and that's really where this particular, um, type of soil goes. It's not so much the fruit, it's the sprout. And I think when we look at a situation like Kanye and, and. There's hopefully still a lot of life left for Kanye, and that means there's still hope for a con, a genuine conversion and bearing fruit that keeps with repentance that does not appear to be what had happened at the time. Right? He's gone totally off the rails at this point. So we pray for that. We hope, we hope for better things for him. Um, but. At the time, Kanye was, is he, he's going by Y now. I don't even know what to call him anymore. But Kanye was a sprout that grew up with great joy quickly. And what we found through time is that it appears that he, when he was, although maybe he fits better into the second, this next category that we'll have to push off till next week, I think. But either way, like he appeared to have sprouted, he appeared to have taken root and ultimately did not actually bear fruit. And that's the defining feature of these first three ones. It's not so much about what happens with the seed. Does it get in the ground? Does it not get in the grow? Does it sprouts, does it not sprout? It's ultimately about the fruitfulness, right? The final, the final phase of the parable, the final, um, the final type of soil is the one that produces fruit. So we'll get to that in detail, but that's what we need to think about. And again, like I said, it's not as though crisis saying like, all right, here's this checklist of ways to determine whether someone's conversion is correct, is true or not. Because we can't know that until after the fact and well after the fact. We also can't know that it's valid until after the fact. What I think this parable, broadly speaking, gets at is that we have to look at every situation and realize that there are these different possible outcomes. And although I don't know that this is explicitly part of the parable, it also sort of points us to the fact that like, because it's not a foregone conclusion about what's gonna happen, maybe there's also something we can do about it. Right? Right. Maybe when we realize someone might be on the rocky soil. Whether we, we have some reason to believe that or we just want to get out in front of that possibility, maybe there's still room to actually get in there and, and move the seed to a different soil, I guess might be a better way to use the metaphor is to, to just take the seed somewhere else or to till the soil, to get the rocks out of the soil. Although this is not talking about like rocks in the soil. It's talking about a layer, probably a layer of bedrock. Like Yes, exactly. Just under the surface. Jesse Schwamb: Right? So Tony Arsenal: there is an immutability about these, these different categories of, of people, and again, this is where like overinterpreting, the parable can get to be problematic, but we, we see that there are these categories, we can't necessarily know which one of these categories a person is in when they have some sort of outward expression of faith where they've received. I think we can tell the difference between that first category. Someone who just has not received the, the gospel at all, has not received the word of God at all, right? Like it's just bounced off of him. It's made no impact. I think we can see that that's a relatively straightforward, um, situation for us to assess. And of course we can't see someone's heart, but it's, it's usually pretty outwardly, readily available to us that they just have not received the word in any means. Right. When we get to these second two categories, that's not the case. We're talking about two different categories of people who have received the word and it has begun to sprout. It has begun, it actually has sprouted, not just begun to sprout, but it's sprouted. Um, I just think we need to be really careful to sort of not place someone in an immutable category until after we've seen what's gonna happen. Yes. Really across their whole life. Jesse Schwamb: Yes. [00:47:41] The Importance of Deep Roots in Faith Jesse Schwamb: I'm glad you brought that up because we really have to remember that in the last three instances, you cannot tell from the soil what the outcome will be. So it is a little bit, I'm with you, kind of a misnomer in the translation. This idea of like rocky soil. Yeah. If it were truly like rocky soil, the way that probably most of us in the Western think of it like soil mixed with gravel, right? They're probably, the sewer would be like, why would I throw it on there like that? That doesn't make any sense. Certainly again, if you're looking for that, that really fertile, well tilled ground, the one that looks promising, you wouldn't do that. So more than likely, I'm with you. We're talking about like a hired limestone layer that would've been like a few inches below, and as the sun would come down, my understanding is of course, like that limestone would heat up. It'd be like the perfect warm environment for like a seed to immediately like spring up with some hope. And that's exactly I think what Jesus is after here. It's this idea that the seed springs up immediately. People receive the message with joy. There's been no root or development to deeper moist soil though, because it doesn't exist. It gets blocked out. But inci incidentally, like the heat of that rock bed actually is the thing that causes it to germinate and produce at least a sprout really, really quickly. But as soon as like any kind of other heat comes upon it, because it cannot not grow deeper because it cannot set the roots, because it cannot get enough water from deep down, then it's going to be quick to die. I think we see this all the time. Maybe we even see this to some degree, not exclusively and in the same kind of magnitude in our own lives. But you know, we may listen to a sermon with pleasure while the impression produced in us is like only temporary, short-lived. You know, our hearts can be like that stony ground. Sometimes it may yield like a plentiful cop clap of warm feelings and like good resolutions and good vibes. How often do we hear that language? But all this time, there may be no deeply rooted work in our souls. And that first like cold blast of oppression or temptation may cause like all of that to go away. What I see interpret it from this particular group and, and this the one that follows it very much the same is like a conversion to religion. So here where this is where I firmly, like, I think we have a class, and this might trigger some people, but I'm gonna say it anyway. We have a class for this to me is deconstructionism. Yeah. And I think what I've, I've been helpful for me is to get outta my mind is that. I'm not sure that we have to be so concerned in this, this metaphor or this great parable about like what's the length of time here? So for instance, is it possible that somebody could be in this place where there is this hard layer of rock, which presents like a setting down of deep roots that could last like years on end. Yeah, where somebody has heard the gospel message has come into the life of the church and finds that this is generally a pleasant way to believe and to live and to express these ideals until maybe they have a strong voice somewhere or they're confronted with the fact that this, their message now is not very tolerant. And so as soon as there comes against them, this push that maybe what you're saying is too exclusive, that all of a sudden there really is a manifestation that there's no real root there. Yeah, there was no conversion. There was a conversion to religious principle and ideas and insomuch as those things didn't push too much against whatever objectives they had. Not even like going after what happens in the the third instance here with all the pleasures of life and all the temptations of the flesh, but just that there is some challenge. To what they believe and that it would be continually lived out in their actual lives, meaningful enough that it would impact behavior, change their mind, and continue to make them outspoken about the thing in which they're setting their roots into that if those things would cause the death of. That sprouts, then to me, that's where we find deconstruction isn't falling. And so in that case, again, it's comforting because it's not a matter of actual conversion as it were. It's not a matter of actual regeneration that hasn't actually occurred. There's plenty of reasons to come alongside and to give the gospel some kind of favor or to give it some kind of acquiescence because it's good on its own. There are lots of things that are good about it, but the rootedness in that is not merely in the outward manifestations of all the benefits of the gospel. It is getting Christ, as we've said. Yeah. And if we're not abiding in Christ, then we will necessarily die. In fact, Christ says elsewhere when he speaks to himself that even every bad branch that does not bear fruit, the father prunes and throws away. And so here we find that happening. It's, this is traumatic, it is dramatic, but this is where I think we see oftentimes Christians really get unnerved and sometimes it really, I think, rocks them when they see people who've had, like you said, Tony, like some professional faith. And I remember us talking about Kanye, and I remember us saying like, I think you and I were cautiously optimistic. We said like, this is fantastic. God does this very thing where he transforms people. And then we see in the long term, in the long run, the manifestation of that transformation, not in just merely as sinner's prayer or some expression of knowing something about the gospel intellectually, but the living it out so that the plant itself grows up in Christ to know of his great love, and then to share and abide in that love where it bears fruit. And so here I find this again, to be just very comforting because I think we see this a lot and our nerves, a lot of Christians, but I think Christ is giving an example here to say, do not be a unnerved by this. [00:53:10] Encouragement for Sowers and Believers Tony Arsenal: Yeah, maybe one last thought and then we, we can push pause until next week when we come back to this parable. Is. I think it's, there's two words in this, um, this little, these two verses here that really stick out to me. There's the, the word immediately, right? Yes. He immediately receives it with joy. That word is repeated later on when he immediately falls away. So there is a, um, there's a, a sense of suddenness to this, to this kind of, I'm using quotation marks if you're not watching the YouTube to this quotation or this, um, conversion experience, right? I think we all know people who have kind of the slow burn conversion experience, right? That's not to say that those people may not be, um, on hard soil or rocky soil. Right. But the, the person that we're talking about in that crisis talking about is the person who hears the word and has every appearance of an outward, radical, outward conversion of joy. And then joy is the second word that that shows up here. One of the things that drives me crazy, you know, maybe just to, to riff off the, the deconstruction, um, narrative a little bit is it drives me crazy when some sort of, um, high profile Christian falls away from the faith or deconstructs or falls, you know, into deep sin and then abandons the faith or has a tragedy happened in their life and whatever reason they abandon the faith. There's this tendency particularly among, I, I think sort of. I don't know if like, there still are young restless reform Christians out there, but I think it's still a valid descriptor. Kind of like the, I'm trying not to be pejorative, but sort of like the surface level tulip is what I call them, like the five point Calvinists who like heard an RC sprawl sermon one time and think that they are like the def, they're the definition of Calvinism. There's this tendency among that demographic that when somebody falls away from the faith to act as though everything about their experience of Christianity was somehow like an act like it was a, it was a, it was a play they were putting on, they were deceiving everybody. Right. That's that's not real. It's not the, it's not the way that it actually works and, and. I think the, um, the flip side and the caution for us in that is that just because our experience of Christianity and our, our experience of being in the faith feels so genuine and real and rooted, we should also recognize that like it felt real and genuine and rooted for Derek Webb or for name, name your key, you know, Joshua Harris, name your big profile deconstruction person of the day. Um, there's a caution there for us and I think that's the caution here in this, um, in this, I dunno, part of the parable is. Just as this is saying, the reason that the person falls away immediately is because there is no root in them yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, he immediately falls away, right? The cause of this is because there is no route that ca

From dogs illegally registering to vote, to cobras escaping bath tubs in South Dakota, to a cruise ship gambler who thought diving into the ocean was a solid financial plan—the Rizz Show proves the world is stranger (and dumber) than fiction. The crew also breaks down Weird Al bucket lists, deli slicer betrayals, psychedelic hiking fails, and what happens when Rizz tries to cosplay as a "Cops" fugitive to scare his neighbors. Sprinkle in Madonna signing the Deftones 30 years ago, McDonald's salads as government secrets, and a sports fan ranking that puts Missouri on par with Wyoming (ouch)… and you've got the kind of Bolivian Marching Powder Quadratic Equation chaos only The Rizzuto Show can solve. Show Notes:Did McDonald's open 'first-ever buffet' in Missouri? | Snopes.comRed Lobster Offers New 3-Course Shrimp Sensation Meal Deal for Under $20 - Mile High on the CheapPennsylvania pet owner Wesley Silva upset after emotional support alligator banned from Walmart — despite receiving 'VIP treatment' at restaurantsNewt Scoot & Woofstock unite Glen Carbon IL on Oct. 4New study finds kids who play video games earn more money as adults — University XPCillian Murphy Addresses Not Being Cast In Christopher Nolan's The OdysseyAunt Accidentally Eats Dog Food During Family Visit, Sparking Heated Drama and Online Debate - Bethel AdvocateFriday Fails:Patient Steals Ambulance During ER Transfer At Madison Avenue In Granite City | RiverBender.comNDSU Football Player Charged in $270,000 Theft, Kicked Off TeamSoCal woman registered her dog to vote, cast ballots twice, D.A. says - Los Angeles TimesCobra bites owner after snakes spilled loose, SD cops say | The StateCruise passenger who lost $16,000 gambling jumps overboard, is arrestedFlorida man picks up DUI after driving a lawn mower on a busy roadHikers high on magic mushrooms rescued from New York's CatskillsSouth Florida news reporter turns himself into Miami police following Rolex theft, pawningFollow The Rizzuto Show @rizzshow on all your favorite social media, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and more. Connect with The Rizzuto Show online at 1057thepoint.com/rizzSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Research shows that math anxiety affects most students, but parents can help their teenagers master quadratic equations at home using visual learning techniques, step-by-step practice, and positive reinforcement strategies that work better than expensive tutoring sessions. Visit https://www.ninthgradealgebramadeeasy.com/ for more info. LP Consulting LLC City: Monroe Address: 3648 Gruber Rd Website: https://wavecom.clientcabin.com/

Math education specialist reveals how ancient Babylonian problem-solving techniques inspire modern quadratic teaching methods. From projectile motion to garden design, discover why students who once feared algebra now create videos explaining their solutions.For more information, visit https://www.ninthgradealgebramadeeasy.com/ LP Consulting LLC City: Monroe Address: 3648 Gruber Rd Website: https://wavecom.clientcabin.com/

In this episode of Money Tales, our guest is Nancy Davis. At age 8, Nancy watched her mother make what she instinctively knew was a terrible financial decision—buying an excessive number of Persian carpets from a traveling merchant parked in a semi-truck on the side of the road. While most kids would have stayed quiet, Nancy spoke up. She not only convinced her mother that the purchase was reckless, but she also successfully negotiated a return of the carpets her family couldn't afford and didn't have room for. That early lesson in financial prudence shaped much of what followed, from Nancy's decade at Goldman Sachs to founding her own investment firm, Quadratic Capital, in 2013. Nancy Davis founded Quadratic Capital in 2013. Nancy is the portfolio manager for The Quadratic Interest Rate Volatility and Inflation Hedge ETF (NYSE Ticker: IVOL) and The Quadratic Deflation ETF (NYSE Ticker: BNDD). Prior to founding Quadratic, Nancy spent nearly a decade at Goldman Sachs primarily with the proprietary trading group (Goldman Sachs Principal Strategies) where she rose to become the Head of Credit, Derivatives and OTC Trading and headed the team for about 5 years for the prop desk. She also served as a portfolio manager at JP Morgan's hedge fund and in a senior executive role at AllianceBernstein. Nancy has been the recipient of numerous industry recognitions. Barron's named her to their inaugural list of the "100 Most Influential Women in U.S. Finance." Institutional Investor called her a "Rising Star of Hedge Funds." The Hedge Fund Journal tapped her as one of "Tomorrow's Titans." Nancy has been profiled by Forbes, and interviewed by The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and The Financial Times. Nancy is a frequent guest on financial television including CNBC, Bloomberg, and Fox Business. She is a sought-after speaker for industry events.

This week, Johnny and the gang hear about the Queen's gambling habits, a definition of cool and Gav's mind is changed on the quadratic equation. Hear Johnny on Radio X every weekday at 4pm across the UK on digital radio, 104.9 FM in London, 97.7 FM in Manchester, on Global Player or via www.radiox.co.uk

Rates volatility has compressed with the Fed on hold and mean reversion of yields, but exhibited a bumpy path in 1H. In this edition of the All Options Considered podcast, BI's chief global derivatives strategist Tanvir Sandhu is joined by Nancy Davis, founder of Quadratic Capital Management. They discuss the dynamics of rates volatility and reliability of strategies to diversify portfolios.

Rosario Gennaro is a Professor of Computer Science at City University of New York (CUNY) and a Director for the Center for Algorithms and Interactive Scientific Software (CAISS). 1996, he received his PhD from MIT and was a researcher at the IBM T.J.Watson Research Center until 2012.  Rosario's most recent work includes privacy and anonymity in electronic communication, along with proactive security to minimise the effects of system break-ins. He has received over 24,500 citations on his work and has an h-index of 72, and has published classic papers of “Non-interactive verifiable computing: Outsourcing computation to untrusted workers” and “Quadratic span programs and succinct NIZKs without PCPs”.

Starlight Thursdays Episode 256 featuring Quadratic Spheres in his “Burning Psytrance CDs” mix. Although most DJs aren't spinning CDs these days—hell, most don't even own CDs, let alone the gear to mix them. Well, Quadratic Spheres isn't like most DJs. He embraces the old school and the nostalgia, digging into the tactile roots of the craft with a deep appreciation for sound, format, and flow. This mix is a trip, relentless, hypnotic. Psytrance in its purest, blazing through time and space like a smoked out rave spaceship with cracked vape cases rattling on the dash. There's something beautiful about hearing music that wasn't just selected, but summoned. The mix pulses with intention, layering cosmic frequencies and acid etched textures that transport you far beyond the club. Quadratic Spheres doesn't just play tracks, he conducts a séance with the past, channeling the chaotic spirit of DIY raves and basement parties where lasers met sweat and the music never lets up. This is trance for heads who remember what it felt like to burn their favorite mix onto a blank disc, scribble a Sharpie title and hand it off to a close friend. So whether you're deep in the woods, on a long night drive, or just looking to fry your third eye for a while, press play. The past is alive and it's still kicking 4 to the floor.

This week there's controversy in L.A., college degrees for former hockey players, and two members of the crew talk about their experience seeing eight hockey games. 0:00 Benjamin welcomes SJ to the Neutral Zone Hotel2:50 The crew discusses the controversy over Turkish-manufactured scarves for the Los Angeles Kings' Armenian Night.12:45 Boston College and the NHLPA have introduced a program for former hockey players to get a degree after their career is over. The crew outlines the plan and discusses the progress of the PA on these kinds of programs.25:23 It's Hockey Week in Canada Part Two. SJ and Benjamin spent last week seeing eight hockey games in nine days. They recap all of them. 26:02 Montreal Canadiens at Ottawa Senators32:44 Brantford Bulldogs at Ottawa 67's 37:47 Toronto Sceptres at Montreal Victoire (warning: museum talk)44:21 New York Sirens at Ottawa Charge49:02 San Jose Sharks at Montreal Canadiens56:20 Val-d'Or Foreurs at Gatineau Olympiques1:02:34 Boston Fleet at Montreal Victoire1:05:08 Belleville Senators at Laval Rocket1:09:00 Quebec Remparts at Gatineau OlympiquesNeutral Zone Hotel is a production of the Neutral Zone Hotel Team.More information is available at https://neutralzonehotel.comLogo design by Emily Mowbray.We're available on YouTube and all the major podcast platforms.You can follow us on social media:Instagram: @neutralzonehotel Bluesky: @neutralzonehotel.bsky.socialYou can join our Discord server at https://neutralzonehotel.com/discord

In recent years, Bitcoin has undergone a major culture shift which promotes stagnation, complacency & simping to politicians over maximizing the utility of the money. Eric Voskuil & John Carvalho join the show to remind everyone what the mission really is. State of Bitcoin - [00:01:17] Bitcoin Maximalism - [00:01:32] Bitcoin as a Ponzi Scheme - [00:02:27] Transaction Fees - [00:04:57] History of Bitcoin Tokens (Omni, Counterparty, Mastercoin) Definition of Tokens - [00:08:01] Custodial Problems with Tokens - [00:09:12] Bitcoin and Fiat Money - [00:11:09] Why Bitcoiners Talk About Money - [00:15:49] Stateless Money - [00:17:44] Austrian Economics and Bitcoin - [00:21:01] Monetary Inflation vs. Price Inflation - [00:26:01] Cantillon Effect - [00:29:00] Dollar Inflation and Gold - [00:33:59] Misunderstandings in the Bitcoin Community - [00:41:42] Bitcoin Semantics - [00:43:21] Bitcoin Divisibility - [01:00:13] Bitcoin Deflation - [01:03:41] Maxi Price and One Coin Assumption - [01:07:43] Competition Between Monies - [01:13:42] Scaling Bitcoin - [01:22:41] Bitcoin for the Unbanked - [01:26:14] Maximizing Throughput - [01:36:11] Right to Fork - [01:45:45] Running Old Bitcoin Versions - [01:51:35] Bitcoin as Money vs. Credit - [01:56:26] Settlement in Bitcoin - [02:07:45] Peer-to-Peer Credit Systems - [02:14:47] Fractional Reserve Banking - [02:26:32] Bitkit Wallet and Spending vs. Saving - [02:36:13] Block size increases and Bitcoin adoption - [03:00:00] Scaling Bitcoin and transaction validation - [03:01:00] Bitcoin overflowing into Litecoin and quantum resistance - [03:02:00] Pruning historical data and exchange price - [03:03:00] Lightning system complexity and Bitcoin's value proposition - [03:05:00] Bitcoin as an investment and speculation - [03:07:00] Optimizing Bitcoin throughput and developer motivations - [03:09:00] Scaling Bitcoin and speculation - [03:11:00] Shitcoins, scams, and Bitcoin's security model - [03:13:00] Litecoin's extension blocks and Mimblewimble - [03:15:00] Bitcoin's security and the legitimacy of altcoins - [03:17:00] Shitcoins and Bitcoin's essential aspects - [03:19:00] Majority hash power censorship and attacks - [03:21:00] Bitcoin speculation and market dynamics - [03:23:00] Michael Saylor's Bitcoin strategy and MicroStrategy's history - [03:26:00] Saylor's Bitcoin investment and market manipulation - [03:29:00] Saylor's stock sales and Bitcoin's future - [03:31:00] Blockstream's accomplishments and the Chia project - [03:33:00] Blockstream's influence and SegWit - [03:35:00] Adam Back's influence and Blockstream's hype - [03:37:00] Bitcoin Core's power and the need for competition - [03:39:00] Initial block download performance and Bitcoin Core's architecture - [03:41:00] UTXO store and Bitcoin Core's performance - [03:43:00] Parallelism in Bitcoin Core and assumed UTXO - [03:45:00] Initial block download time and Bitcoin Core's scalability - [03:47:00] Monoculture in Bitcoin development and IBD performance - [03:49:00] UTXO cache and shutdown time - [03:51:00] Trust assumptions in Bitcoin Core and UTXO commitments - [03:53:00] Bitcoin Core's halting problem and theoretical download limits - [03:55:00] Sponsorships: Sideshift, LayerTwo Labs, Ciurea - [03:57:00] Drivechains and ZK rollups - [04:02:00] ZK rollups and liquidity on Ethereum - [04:04:00] Drivechains and altcoins - [04:06:00] Scaling Bitcoin and cultural taboos - [04:08:00] Engineer-driven change and Monero's approach - [04:10:00] Confidential transactionsL Zano & DarkFi - [04:12:00] Fungibility and Bitcoin's metadata - [04:14:00] Privacy, metadata, and state surveillance - [04:16:00] Privacy, taint, and Bitcoin mixing - [04:18:00] Bitcoin mixing and plausible deniability - [04:20:00] Mining and company registration - [04:22:00] Block reward and hash power - [04:24:00] Privacy and mixing - [04:26:00] Privacy in the Bitcoin whitepaper and zero-knowledge proofs - [04:28:00] Dark Wallet and John Dillon - [04:30:00] Dark Wallet and Li Bitcoin - [04:32:00] Amir Taaki's projects and software development - [04:34:00] Dark Wallet funding and developer costs - [04:36:00] Libbitcoin's code size and developer salaries - [04:38:00] John Dillon and Greg Maxwell - [04:40:00] Opportunistic encryption and BIPs 151/152 - [04:42:00] Dandelion and privacy - [04:44:00] BIP 37 and Bloom filters - [04:46:00] Consensus cleanup and the Time Warp bug - [04:48:00] Merkle tree malleability and 64-byte transactions - [04:50:00] 64-byte transactions and SPV wallets - [04:52:00] Coinbase transactions and malleability - [04:54:00] Invalid block hashes and DoS vectors - [04:56:00] Core bug and ban list overflow - [04:58:00] Storing hashes of invalid blocks - [05:00:00] DoS vectors and invalid blocks - [05:02:00] Malleated Merkle trees and 64-byte transactions - [05:04:00] 64-byte transactions and Merkle tree malleability - [05:06:00] Null points and malleated blocks - [05:08:00] Redundant checks and the inflation soft fork - [05:10:00] Op code separator and code complexity - [05:12:00] Transaction order in a block - [05:14:00] Forward references in blocks - [05:16:00] Coinbase transaction rules - [05:18:00] Time Warp bug and Litecoin support - [05:20:00] Quadratic op roll bug - [05:22:00] Stack implementation and op roll - [05:24:00] Templatized stack and op roll optimization - [05:26:00] Non-standard transactions and direct submission to miners - [05:28:00] Mempool policy and DoS - [05:30:00] Monoculture and competing implementations - [05:32:00] Consensus cleanup and Berkeley DB - [05:34:00] Code vs. consensus - [05:36:00] Bitcoin Knots and Luke-jr - [05:38:00] 300 kilobyte node and Luke-jr's views - [05:40:00] Bitcoin Knots and performance - [05:42:00] Bitcoin Knots and censorship - [05:44:00] Censorship and miner incentives - [05:46:00] Censorship and hash power - [05:48:00] Soft forks and censorship - [05:50:00] Ordinals and covenants - [05:52:00] RBF and zero-confirmation transactions - [05:54:00] Double spending and merchant risk - [05:56:00] First-seen mempool policy and RBF - [05:58:00] Low-value transactions and RBF - [06:00:00] Computational cost of actions - [06:00:15] Building infrastructure and system disruption - [06:00:20] Threat actors and economic disruption - [06:00:26] Double spending detection and system control - [06:00:29] Safety and manageability of zero comp transactions - [06:00:41] Security of zero comp transactions - [06:00:51] RBF (Replace-by-fee) and its relevance - [06:01:06] Bitcoin's mempool and transaction handling - [06:01:25] Mempool overflow and resource management - [06:02:08] Transaction storage and mining - [06:02:45] Miners' incentives and fee maximization - [06:03:07] Mempool policy and DOS protection - [06:03:41] Transaction validation and block context - [06:04:11] Fee limits and DOS protection - [06:05:13] Transaction sets, graph processing, and fee maximization - [06:06:24] Mining empty blocks and hash rate - [06:07:34] Replace-by-fee (RBF) and its purpose - [06:08:07] Infrastructure and RBF - [06:09:14] Transaction pool and conflict resolution - [06:09:44] Disk space, fees, and DOS protection - [06:11:06] Fee rates and DOS protection - [06:12:22] Opt-in RBF and mempool full RBF - [06:13:45] Intent flagging in transactions - [06:14:45] Miners obeying user intent and system value - [06:17:06] Socialized gain and individual expense - [06:18:17] Service reliability and profitability - [06:19:06] First-seen mempool policy - [06:19:37] Mempool policy and implementation - [06:20:06] User perspective on transaction priority - [06:21:14] Mempool conflicts and double spending - [06:22:10] CPFP (Child Pays for Parent) - [06:22:24] Mempool management and fee rates - [06:24:30] Mempool complexity and Peter Wuille's work - [06:25:54] Memory and disk resource management - [06:27:37] First-seen policy and miner profitability - [06:29:25] Miners' preference for first-seen - [06:30:04] Computational cost and fee optimization - [06:31:10] Security, Cypherpunk mentality, and the state - [06:35:25] Bitcoin's security model and censorship resistance - [06:41:02] State censorship and fee increases - [06:43:00] State's incentive to censor - [06:46:15] Lightning Network and regulation - [06:48:41] NGU (Number Go Up) and deference to the state - [06:51:10] Reasons for discussing Bitcoin's security model - [06:53:25] Bitcoin's potential subversion and resilience - [06:55:50] Lightning Network subsidies and scaling - [06:57:36] Mining protocols and security - [07:02:02] Braidpool and centralized mining - [07:04:44] Compact blocks and latency reduction - [07:07:23] Orphan rates and mining centralization - [07:08:16] Privacy and threat environments - [07:08:40] Social graphs, reputation, and identity - [07:10:23] Social scalability and Bitcoin - [07:12:36] Individual empowerment and anonymity - [07:16:48] Trust in society and the role of the state - [07:18:01] Payment methods and trust - [07:20:15] Credit reporting agencies and regulation - [07:22:17] Hardware wallets and self-custody - [07:23:46] Security vulnerabilities in Ledger - [07:27:14] Disclosure of secrets on Ledger devices - [07:36:27] Compromised machines and hardware wallets - [07:42:00] Methods for transferring signed transactions - [07:48:25] Threat scenarios and hardware wallet security - [07:50:47] Hardware wallet usage and personal comfort - [07:56:40] Coldcard wallets and user experience - [08:02:23] Security issues in the VX project - [08:03:25] Seed generation and hardware randomness - [08:12:05] Mastering Bitcoin and random number generation - [08:17:41]

What if your $1 donation could result in a $100 contribution to a cause you believe in? That's the promise of quadratic funding: a new kind of crowdfunding model that uses math to distribute funds based on the number of contributors, rather than the amount given. Gitcoin founder Kevin Owocki dives into the principles and pitfalls of this approach to philanthropy, where “many small donors are more powerful than one large donor.” After the talk, Sherrell reflects on how digital tools are transforming the way communities get their needs met. 

What if your $1 donation could result in a $100 contribution to a cause you believe in? That's the promise of quadratic funding: a new kind of crowdfunding model that uses math to distribute funds based on the number of contributors, rather than the amount given. Gitcoin founder Kevin Owocki dives into the principles and pitfalls of this approach to philanthropy, where "many small donors are more powerful than one large donor."

What if your $1 donation could result in a $100 contribution to a cause you believe in? That's the promise of quadratic funding: a new kind of crowdfunding model that uses math to distribute funds based on the number of contributors, rather than the amount given. Gitcoin founder Kevin Owocki dives into the principles and pitfalls of this approach to philanthropy, where "many small donors are more powerful than one large donor."

What if your $1 donation could result in a $100 contribution to a cause you believe in? That's the promise of quadratic funding: a new kind of crowdfunding model that uses math to distribute funds based on the number of contributors, rather than the amount given. Gitcoin founder Kevin Owocki dives into the principles and pitfalls of this approach to philanthropy, where "many small donors are more powerful than one large donor."

This is a selection of highlights from episode #194 of The 80,000 Hours Podcast.These aren't necessarily the most important, or even most entertaining parts of the interview — and if you enjoy this, we strongly recommend checking out the full episode:Vitalik Buterin on defensive acceleration and how to regulate AI when you fear governmentAnd if you're finding these highlights episodes valuable, please let us know by emailing podcast@80000hours.org.Chapters:Rob's intro (00:00:00)Vitalik's "d/acc" alternative (00:00:14)Biodefence (00:05:31)How much do people actually disagree? (00:09:49)Distrust of authority is a big deal (00:15:09)Info defence and X's Community Notes (00:19:35)Quadratic voting and funding (00:26:22)Vitalik's philosophy of half-assing everything (00:30:32)Highlights put together by Simon Monsour, Milo McGuire, and Dominic Armstrong

Michael Freedman is a mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1986 for his solution of the 4-dimensional Poincare conjecture. Mike has also received numerous other awards for his scientific contributions including a MacArthur Fellowship and the National Medal of Science. In 1997, Mike joined Microsoft Research and in 2005 became the director of Station Q, Microsoft's quantum computing research lab. As of 2023, Mike is a Senior Research Scientist at the Center for Mathematics and Scientific Applications at Harvard University. Patreon (bonus materials + video chat): https://www.patreon.com/timothynguyen In this wide-ranging conversation, we give a panoramic view of Mike's extensive body of work over the span of his career. It is divided into three parts: early, middle, and present day, which respectively include his work on the 4-dimensional Poincare conjecture, his transition to topological physics, and finally his recent work in applying ideas from mathematics and philosophy to social economics. Our conversation is a blend of both the nitty-gritty details and the anecdotal story-telling that can only be obtained from a living legend. I. Introduction 00:00 : Preview 01:34 : Fields Medalist working in industry 03:24 : Academia vs industry 04:59 : Mathematics and art 06:33 : Technical overview II. Early Mike: The Poincare Conjecture (PC) 08:14 : Introduction, statement, and history 14:30 : Three categories for PC (topological, smooth, PL) 17:09 : Smale and PC for d at least 5 17:59 : Homotopy equivalence vs homeomorphism 22:08 : Joke 23:24 : Morse flow 33:21 : Whitney Disk 41:47 : Casson handles 50:24 : Manifold factors and the Whitehead continuum 1:00:39 : Donaldson's results in the smooth category 1:04:54 : (Not) writing up full details of the proof then and now 1:08:56 : Why Perelman succeeded II. Mid Mike: Topological Quantum Field Theory (TQFT) and Quantum Computing (QC) 1:10:54: Introduction 1:11:42: Cliff Taubes, Raoul Bott, Ed Witten 1:12:40 : Computational complexity, Church-Turing, and Mike's motivations 1:24:01 : Why Mike left academia, Microsoft's offer, and Station Q 1:29:23 : Topological quantum field theory (according to Atiyah) 1:34:29 : Anyons and a theorem on Chern-Simons theories 1:38:57 : Relation to QC 1:46:08 : Universal TQFT 1:55:57 : Witten: Donalson theory cannot be a unitary TQFT 2:01:22 : Unitarity is possible in dimension 3 2:05:12 : Relations to a theory of everything? 2:07:21 : Where topological QC is now III. Present Mike: Social Economics 2:11:08 : Introduction 2:14:02 : Lionel Penrose and voting schemes 2:21:01 : Radical markets (pun intended) 2:25:45 : Quadratic finance/funding 2:30:51 : Kant's categorical imperative and a paper of Vitalik Buterin, Zoe Hitzig, Glen Weyl 2:36:54 : Gauge equivariance 2:38:32 : Bertrand Russell: philosophers and differential equations IV: Outro 2:46:20 : Final thoughts on math, science, philosophy 2:51:22 : Career advice   Some Further Reading: Mike's Harvard lecture on PC4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSF0i6BO1Ig Behrens et al. The Disc Embedding Theorem. M. Freedman. Spinoza, Leibniz, Kant, and Weyl. arxiv:2206.14711   Twitter: @iamtimnguyen   Webpage: http://www.timothynguyen.org

Subscriber-only episodeSend us a Text Message.In this episode: Pill roulette, Quadratic love equations, & Recording upside down and other technical difficulties Check out Spreadshop!http://arthemisclothing.ca - Use SASSPOD for 15% off https://www.muzmm.com- Code SASSPOD for 20% offhttps://www.podpage.com/?via=sasspod to create your own webpagehttps://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=682706 to start your own podhttps://www.lyft.com/i/LISA594490?utm_medium=p2pi_iacc For a LyftGet in touch:(732) 595-2922sass.n.sips@gmail.com or sassnsips.comIG @sassnsipsFB @Sass N SipsTwitter @SassSipsIG @RealSassyLisaIG @RealsassyBritYouTube @Sass N SipsPodchaser podchaser.com/sassnsipsClips used in this podcast were used in accordance with the US Copyrights act FAIR USE Exemption for critic...

E56: FTCE | General Knowledge | Mathematics | linear, quadratic, and exponential functions In today's episode, we are reviewing the definition of a function. This is part of a multi-series review of what YOU need to know to pass the Mathematics subtest of the GK. About FTCE Seminar How do you PASS the Florida Teacher Certification Exams (FTCE)? On this podcast, we will be discussing concepts from the FTCE Testing Blueprint to help you prepare for the exam. ..Not only is each episode based on the FTCE General Knowledge essay subtest, English Language Skills subtest, Reading subtest, and Mathematics subtest, but I am also using my experience as a FTCE Tutor, 10 year classroom teacher who has passed the FTCE GK Exam, FTCE Professional Education Exam, FTCE Exceptional Student Education Exam, FTCE English 6-12 Exam, FTCE Journalism Exam, and the Reading Endorsement to help you pass and start teaching. ..How do educational podcasts work? Each podcast covers one concept from the FTCE Testing Blueprint. This method is called micro-learning where you listen repeatedly to concepts to reinforce your knowledge and understanding. Try it out! Check it out! And leave your questions and comments below. ----------------------------------------------- RESOURCES (Free)

In 2019 Erik Torenberg sat down with Balaji Srinivasan and Glen Weyl to talk about the future of a decentralized world. They cover decentralized governance, politics, voting, and more. This conversation was recorded orginally for Village Global's Venture Stories. -- RECOMMENDED PODCAST:  The Riff Byrne Hobart, the writer of The Diff, is revered in Silicon Valley. You can get an hour with him each week. See for yourself how his thinking can upgrade yours. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6rANlV54GCARLgMOtpkzKt Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-riff-with-byrne-hobart-and-erik-torenberg/id1716646486 -- SPONSORS: BEEHIIV | SQUAD

Today on the Ether we have DoraHacks hosting the AEZ Quadratic Grant R2 Kickoff. You'll hear from Abstract Money, Reyth, CosmosHOSS, Curious J, Nena, Liam McDonald, Crypto___Scotty, AARON, Serdar, Trev, Interchain Adair, and more! Recorded on May 24th 2024. Make sure to check out the two newest tracks from Finn and the RAC FM gang over at ImaginetheSmell.org! The majority of the music at the end of these spaces can be found streaming over on Spotify, and the rest of the streaming platforms. Check out Project Survival, Virus Diaries, and Plan B wherever you get your music. Thank you to everyone in the community who supports TerraSpaces.

5 years, 20 Grants, 3715 projects crowd-funded and over $60M raised towards public goods funding, from 4.2M unique donations. Gitcoin's headline numbers are indicative of the massive success their quadratic funding (QF) and public goods funding models (PGF) have seen over the years. With Gitcoin 2.0, crowd-funding is further decentralised, Allo Protocol being open-source and permissionless: any ecosystem treasury can create their own Gitcoin Grants program to help their community fund what matters to them.Topics covered in this episode:Kevin's background and Gitcoin's journey so farThe utility of Gitcoin PassportGitcoin Grants sybil protection dilemmaPublic goods & capital allocationQuadratic funding (QF) & retroactive public goods funding (RPGF)New allocation models introduced by Gitcoin 2.0$GTC token utility & decentralising Allo ProtocolThe current landscape of DAOsEpisode links:Kevin Owocki on TwitterGitcoin on TwitterGitcoin Governance ForumsSponsors:Gnosis: Gnosis builds decentralized infrastructure for the Ethereum ecosystem, since 2015. This year marks the launch of Gnosis Pay— the world's first Decentralized Payment Network. Get started today at - gnosis.ioChorus1: Chorus1 is one of the largest node operators worldwide, supporting more than 100,000 delegators, across 45 networks. The recently launched OPUS allows staking up to 8,000 ETH in a single transaction. Enjoy the highest yields and institutional grade security at - chorus.oneThis episode is hosted by Friederike Ernst.

Using Quadratic, users can bring in hundreds of thousands of rows of data, write analyses in their preferred programming language and share the results with outside stakeholders. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's podcast we host two guests: Kevin Owocki, co-founder of Gitcoin, and Meg Lister, GM at Gitcoin Grants Labs. Gitcoin is a platform that connects developers with open-source projects for funding, collaboration, and building digital public goods through various forms of contribution like coding, design, and more. In our conversation we learn about the origin story of Gitcoin and breakdown the main funding mechanisms, such as quadratic funding and retroactive funding, benefits of onchain capital allocation over traditional funding mechanisms, and we delve into Allo Protocol, an open-source protocol that enables groups to efficiently and transparently allocate pooled capital. 0:00 Intro 1:37 Kevin Owocki and Meg Lister 4:12 The Story of Gitcoin 12:39 Quadratic and Retroactive Funding 18:21 Main Usecases 24:35 Grants Programs in the Bull 28:44 Onchain Capital Allocation 33:53 Allo Protocol 37:33 Gitcoin Token 38:17 Revenue 41:01 Ultimate Vision 49:05 Fiat Onramps Our sponsor Synfutures: https://oyster.synfutures.com/ ✨ Check out our new website ✨ https://thedefiant.io/

In episode 138, we're excited to welcome Paul Burg, a regen legend and Founder of ReFi Phangan, GreenPill Phangan, and EcoSynthesisX, and Founding Steward of PhanganQF and DeSpace QF. We discuss the growing ReFi movement in Phangan, Quadratic Funding as a valuable tool to advance public goods, building partnerships with local NGOs and business, and much more. --Three Key Takeaways--Koh Phangan is a unique setting with a booming tourist economy that also faces a lot of challenges related to pollution and air quality. ReFi Phangan aims to shift mindsets away from an extractive approach, to build a more regenerative local economy in Phangan.It's vitally important to engage and empower local builders when trying to create local impact – including NGOs, businesses, governments, and individuals. It's important for projects entering communities, especially in the global south, to learn from local experience and engage local stakeholders.Quadratic Funding, implemented at a local level, can be a great way to rally the community around local initiatives, engage donors and businesses, and ensure funds are distributed equitably to drive local impact.--Full shownotes with links available at--https://www.cryptoaltruism.org/blog/crypto-altruism-podcast-episode-138-refi-phangan-regenerative-finance-quadratic-funding-and-local-impact--Support us with a Fiat or Crypto contribution--Learn more at cryptoaltruism.org/supportus--This episode was recorded on Zencastr!--Interested in starting your own podcast? Use my special link to save 30% off your first month of any Zencastr paid plan. Alternatively, head to zencastr.com/pricing and use my code "CryptoAltruism".Please note: we make use of affiliate marketing to provide readers with referrals to high quality and relevant products and services.--DISCLAIMER --While we may discuss specific web3 projects or cryptocurrencies on this podcast, please do not take any of this as investment advice, and please make sure to do your own research on potential investment opportunities, or any opportunity, before making an investment. We host a variety of guests on this podcast with the sole purpose of highlighting the social impact use cases of this technology. That being said, Crypto Altruism does not endorse any of these projects, and we recognize that, since this is an emerging sector, some may be operating in regulatory grey areas, and as such, we cannot confirm their legality in the jurisdictions in which they operate, especially as it pertains to decentralized finance protocols. So, before getting involved with any project, it's important that you do your own research and confirm the legality of the project. More on the disclaimer at cryptoaltruism.org.

Today on the Ether we have CosmosHOSS hosting a discussion about Atom Economic Zone Quadratic Funding building public goods in Cosmos. You'll hear from Jack Zampolin, barry, Marko Polo, Trev, Landslide Network, and more! Recorded on January 18th 2024. Make sure to check out the newest tracks from Finn and the RAC FM gang over at ImaginetheSmell.org! The majority of the music at the end of these spaces can be found streaming over on Spotify, and the rest of the streaming platforms. Check out Project Survival, Virus Diaries, and Plan B wherever you get your music. Thank you to everyone in the community who supports TerraSpaces.

In this week's episode Greg and Patrick explore alternative parameterizations of the SEM-based latent curve model to capture various forms of nonlinearity, some that are approximations and others that are exact. Along the way they also discuss Swifties, remastering your life, bull testicles, the world's worst RA job, Yerkes-Dodson law, show a little ankle, the St. Louis Arch, bachelorette parties, deck screws, DIY-ing a model, being a little too quiet, complete nonsense, blasting your pecs, haters gonna hate, the worst day ever, Frankenspline's monster, being left off at the third floor, and looking for a new cohost.  Stay in contact with Quantitude! Twitter: @quantitudepod Web page: quantitudepod.org Merch: redbubble.com

In this episode, we explore the transformative vision of Pablo, co-founder of MoonDAO, as he shares how decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) can reshape space exploration, fostering accessibility and collective governance. From his departure from BigTech to pioneering decentralised solutions, Pablo envisions a future where space is truly for everyone. OUTLINE: Here's approximate timestamps for the episode. 00:00 Intro to Episode - Pablo Moncada-Larrotiz 01:13 What is a Dao? 02:48 Similar to Bitcoin 03:47 Why the Moon? 07:07 How does it work and who does it serve? 10:00 Sending people to actual space! 10:52 How people can be in with a shot! 11.15 Internet instituions  15:27 Fixed supply of Moon Dao? 17:41 How do decisions get made? 19:25 Quadratic voting 20:37 Using Dao system in space? 22:30 Pablo's background 25:18 Founder conflicts 28:10 The challenges in educating people on crypto 32:44 The Moon Dao fitting into the wider space industry 34:35 Wrap Up & Socials Follow Pablo & Moon DAO Website: https://www.moondao.com/ Discord: https://discord.com/invite/XFCD6WmQmk X: https://twitter.com/OfficialMoonDAO Moon DAO app: https://app.moondao.com/ Stay connected with us! Use #Astroben across various social media platforms to engage with us! (NEW - YOUTUBE): www.youtube.com/@astrobenpodcast Website: www.astroben.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/astrobenpodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/Gambleonit LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/astrobenpodcast/

A Friday surge sent the Nasdaq and S&P 500 higher for the week while the Dow remained fractionally in the red. Morgan Stanley's Andrew Slimmon and Quadratic's Nancy Davis break down the market action as we head into earnings season. Apollo Chief Economist Torsten Slok reacts to the September jobs report coming in red hot and the impact strikes are having on the labor market. Wells Fargo's Roger Read and Roth analyst Leo Mariani on what rumors of Exxon buying Pioneer Natural Resources means for investors. Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility CEO Cid Wilson talks the unique aspects of the Latino jobs market. United Launch Alliance CEO Tony Bruno on today's launch with Amazon's Project Kuiper. 

Show Notes:0:37 - Jackson Heights, Queens in New York0:42 - Cambridge, Massachusetts1:54 - Picasso3:39 - Barnes and Noble, Union Square3:51 - Denyse Schmidt 4:12 - Drunk Love in a Log Cabin by Denyse Schmidt 4:27 - Gee's Bend quilters4:28 - Denyse Schmidt 5:15 - Denyse Schmidt: Modern Quilts, Traditional Inspiration: 20 New Designs with Historic Roots by Denyse Schmidt5:19 - Gee's Bend quilters5:26 - Purl Soho 6:48 - Sears 8:32 - Sherri Lynn Wood13:58 - Modern Quilt Guild14:04 - Cambridge Modern Quilt Guild15:03 - Procreate 15:54 - A Song for my Father quilt by Maritza17:01 and 17:33 - Procreate 20:12 - Complementary colors20:14 - Triadic colors20:14 - Quadratic colors20:19 - Shades20:20 - Tints20:21 - Color temperature21:13 - Tones21:21 - Grayscale 21:25 - Shades22:43 - Kona Cotton in Bright Pink22:44 and 22:51 - Kona Cotton in Celestial Blue23:25 - New England 23:26 - New York 23:29 - Florida23:30 - Texas23:44 - Relativity of color24:07 - Kona Cotton in Celestial Blue25:52, 26:11 and 27:16 - QuiltCon28:49 - Kona Cotton29:32 - Massachusetts30:40 - Double wedding rings30:59 - Trapunto31:10 - Olfa ruler 6in x 12in31:58 - Victoria Van Der Laan Quilts (@victoria_vanderlaan)32:02 - Jennifer Candon (@jennifercandon)32:52 - Chawne Kimber (@cauchycomplete)33:21 - Kelly Spell (@kellyspell)34:14 - The Quilty Architect (@thequiltyarchitect)Follow Maritza:Instagram - @SotoSewnhttps://sotosewn.com/Follow Us:Amanda: @broadclothstudio https://broadclothstudio.com/Wendy: @the.weekendquilter https://the-weekendquilter.com/Quilt Buzz: @quilt.buzzhttps://quiltbuzzpodcast.com/Intro/Outro Music:Golden Hour by Vlad Gluschenko

SummaryQuadratic funding (QF) is a mechanism that has gained attention as a potential way to improve resource allocation in a number of philanthropic decision situations. In this post, I explain how the mechanism works, discuss some of its drawbacks, and discuss how these drawbacks relate to several proposed use cases. I argue that its drawbacks severely limit the practical applicability of the mechanism, and that QF will generally not be an attractive option for philanthropic applications.IntroductionQuadratic funding is a mechanism for providing public goods which was first proposed by Buterin, Hitzig and Weil (2019) (henceforth BHW). It is related to (but different from) quadratic voting, and has attracted attention in the philanthropic space in the past few years. For example, Gitcoin and DoraHacks are two of the main platforms that currently use QF for funding software development, with Gitcoin alone distributing over $50 million using this mechanism. WeTrust has used QF for matching donations. The effective altruism (EA) community in particular has also demonstrated interest in the mechanism. Two of its proponents were guests on the 80,000 Hours podcast (Vitalik Buterin and Glen Weyl), the paper proposing the mechanism has been cited in the GPI research agenda, and a number of EA Forum posts discuss it. One project proposal suggested [...]The original text contained 6 footnotes which were omitted from this narration.--- First published: July 4th, 2023 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/kHDjtqSiSohZAQyjG/some-thoughts-on-quadratic-funding --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. Share feedback on this narration.

In this week's episode, we have a return guest to the podcast. Ruth Catlow has taken the amazing work she did in lockdown and held live festivals in the park where people get to become one of the seven core species: a dog, a Canada goose (just visiting!) a tree, grass… and, yes, a stag beetle. What they're not being, are people. So they're looking at the world through new eyes, hearing it with new ears, smelling, tasting, sensing in all ways - and the whole experience of what it is to live in this place as home, instead of just dropping in…becomes deeper, and more complex and more alive.  And then each of the species can put forward ideas for the Interspecies Treaty of Finsbury Park which will make it a much better place for everyone - including the people. And then - because Ruth's enthusiasm and expertise range widely over the ways things can be made more fair and equitable, as well as work better, she's designed the app that allows a much fairer voting system, so the people-become-MoreThanHumans can vote on the seven ideas put forward for the Treaty in ways that allows more nuance than simply ranking them. This last became a whole other hour of conversation on voting systems and how we can create a decent democracy - so that's the bonus... well worth a listen! The Treaty of Finsbury Park https://treaty.finsburypark.live/CultureStake App https://culturestake.org/Episode #163 https://accidentalgods.life/cultures-of-commoning/Experiences of the Interspecies Festival https://www.islingtontribune.co.uk/article/now-we-know-how-trees-in-the-park-feelNordic LARP https://nordiclarp.org/Quadratic Voting https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quadratic_voting

This is the part of the podcast where we talk about voting systems, specifically the quadratic voting on the blockchain that Ruth has made into an app that's in use in the Park.  Then we moved into her work with Government ministries and big corporations, bringing the aliveness and liveliness, and special insight of Live Action Role Play into politics and industry to help people see things from a wider context.  This is how we change the world: one new idea at a time... 

Episode 26: On today's show I speak with Nancy Davis, Founder & CIO of Quadratic Capital "Innovative Asset Management" and 2 ETFs on the NYSE. She is part of the "100 most influential women in US Finance" and received awards such as "Rising Star" in 2014. Well she is a star and so brilliant and beautiful! We all learn something today! How this Woman Leader in Business and Finance Began Challenges Nancy Overcame Nancy's 2 ETFs on NYSE: IVOL - Quadratic Interest Rate Volatility BNDD - Quadratic Deflation ETF  Macroeconomics:  FED, Rate Hikes, & Inflation Labor Market Slowed Growth & GDP Deceleration Stagflation QT Bond Market Dollar Earnings Equities Market Alternative Asset Classes: Equities Credit FX Commodities Rates   https://www.rosannaprestia.com ✨SUBSCRIBE to The RO Show Podcast!✨ https://youtube.com/@theroshowpodcast   ➡️CONNECT with ROSANNA PRESTIA & The RO Show⬅️ ✨ONE STOP FOR ALL: https://sociatap.com/RosannaPrestia ✨YOUTUBE: https://youtube.com/@TheROShowPodcast ✨TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/@rosannainvests ✨TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/@theroshowpod ✨WEBSITE: https://www.rosannaprestia.com THINK Different with Rosanna ©️ 2022-2023

On today's episode, host Tom Butta is joined by two amazing guests from Southwest Airlines, Jonathan Clarkson, VP & Head of Marketing, and Megan Self, Senior Manager of Digital Experience. Needing no introduction, Southwest has consistently stood out from other airlines, and now aims to continue their deep focus on customer experience as they retool their mobile app for the future. Jonathan has been with Southwest for more than fifteen years, with prior experience at Pepsico, Pizza Hut, and Dr Pepper/Seven Up. Megan joined more recently back in 2019, but brings a wealth of experience to the team. In the conversation, you'll hear how they view the Southwest mobile app as the way-finder to their customers' flight paths, navigating them through each step of the process and providing them key, up to date details along the way. Additionally, listen for some of the ways Jonathan gauges customer engagement through each step of the process. With a lot of drive focused on the initial app download, there are other key milestones he outlines that you can't leave behind when building everlasting brand loyalty. —Jonathan's BioJonathan joined Southwest in 2007 to help start the first Customer Insights Team in Marketing. He then moved his talents to the Loyalty Team to help launch the All-New Rapid Rewards program, and later took on additional responsibility for ancillary and boarding products. Now, as VP Marketing with a focus on Southwest Airlines' Loyalty, Partnerships and Products, Jonathan and his Teams are responsible for all ancillary and loyalty revenue initiatives at Southwest. These include general management of the Rapid Rewards program; the Chase Visa co-brand credit card portfolio and other partnerships; fare and day-of-travel products including Early Bird and Upgraded Boarding; ancillary revenue products including Hotels, Vacations, and Ground Transportation; and Customer Insights & Analytics. Prior to joining Southwest, Jonathan held marketing roles at Pepsico, Pizza Hut, and Dr Pepper/Seven Up.Megan's BioMegan is a proven leader with over 22 years of experience building brands and driving results across multiple industries. Prior to joining the team at Southwest Airlines, Megan was responsible for leading key agency accounts at the Richard Group as Principal, Vice President. The Richards Group, located in Dallas, Texas, is the largest independent branding agency in the U.S. Quadratic is a wholly-owned subsidiary focusing on direct response, CRM, digital analytics, data intelligence, and advanced analytics.At Southwest, Megan is the Senior Manager of Digital Experience, where she is focused on using data to build the brand while driving results. Just some of the skills she brings to the table include business development, team leadership, marketing strategy, branding, traditional advertising (television, radio, print, and out-of-home), direct response advertising and marketing (direct mail, email, and mobile) digital, social media, customer relationship management (CRM), loyalty marketing, product marketing, media planning, media buying, test plan development (A/B and experimental design), data analytics, data visualization, web design, site analytics, site testing and personalization, and user experience.—Guest Quotes“It goes back to a customer-centric focus in recognizing that everything starts with the customer, and that we need to appeal to the customer's needs first and foremost, because that's what generates brand loyalty.” - Jonathan Clarkson“Once you're checking in for your flight through completing your flight and getting to your destination, the app is what's in your hand facilitating that journey. It's truly the wayfinder in the person's hand to get them where they need to go as quickly as possible, and to make that as frictionless as possible is the goal.” - Megan Self—Time Stamps *(01:30) Background*(03:30) How data has changed things *(05:36) The Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Program *(08:07) Leveraging data to offer relevant promotions*(13:58) First time app-users, first time flyers*(17:56) Why you should merge your digital and customer experience teams*(19:56) Rapid Fire Questions*(22:26) New live activities *(24:56) Best advice given and received*(28:47) Wrap-up—LinksConnect with Jonathan Clarkson on LinkedInConnect with Megan Self on LinkedInConnect with Tom Butta on LinkedInCheck out the Airship WebsiteBook your next flight with Southwest

In this episode of Ventures, I (https://www.linkedin.com/in/wclittle) introduce a new non-profit called Impact Stream (https://impact.stream), which is all about creating transparent streams of impact between digital communities and real-life communities. Our first project - in partnership with Gitcoin, Supermodular, Prota Ventures, International Literacy and Development, and Primordia - will create a software application to onboard 100 Togolese (West Africa) into Web3 and allow them to create, submit, and vote on proposals to fund public goods in their community with a global matching pool. Visit https://satchel.works/@wclittle/ventures-episode-151 for more information. You can watch this episode via video here. 0:03 - Tee-up for the episode, audio/video options.0:29 - Introduction to Impact Stream - creating transparent streams of impact between digital communities and real-life communities. https://impact.stream 1:45 - Local solutions to local problems -- with strategic injection of help from the global community2:18 - Starting in Q3 we will onboard 100 Togolese into Web3 and allow them to submit proposals, vote on them, and get them funded by the global community. 3:11 - Quadratic voting as our mechanism for prioritizing projects 3:40 - Future vision about creating fractions of validator rewards to stream into IRL impact4:15 - Give (impactstream.eth) and join our community on Discord --> https://discord.gg/we344V4QP7

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Our podcast is designed to provide you with top business insights, fresh perspectives from world-class guests, and the tools you need to lead better than before. This week, Tony welcomes Nancy Davis, the founder, Chief investment officer, and managing partner of Quadratic Capital Management. Nancy has been the recipient of numerous industry recognitions and was named by Barons to their inaugural list of the 100 most influential women in US finance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week's Grizzle podcast we interview Nancy Davis, Founder of Quadratic Capital to discuss her outlook on the disconnection between the Federal Reserve versus the bond market, her outlook on rates, and how she's navigating market volatility from banking woes as a rate investor. Quadratic Capital: https://quadraticllc.com/ Nancy Davis' Twitter: @nancy__davis Follow Grizzle on Twitter: @grizzlemedia @margot_rubin @thomasg_grizzle @scottw_grizzle Grizzle Research & Quant Substack: https://grizzleresearch.substack.com/

Welcome back to NFT Alpha! Your #1 source for NFT news. In this video, Taco covers the latest NFT news, including Otherside Meta's next trip, a Vitalik-centric NFT collection being manipulated by one whale, and the world's leading coffee chain getting into the NFT space. ➡️ NFT Alpha Discord (join now!) https://discord.gg/jCatrUuWdg 

DoubleLine Deputy Chief Investment Officer Jeffrey Sherman and Portfolio Manager Samuel Lau welcome back Nancy Davis, Founder, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Quadratic Capital Management, to The Sherman Show. Messrs. Sherman and Lau, and Ms. Davis kick things ... Read More

This week's conversation ranges over an astonishingly wide range of topics from ways to facilitate interspecies communication through play and ways to play 3-person pacifist chess (and thereby change the world), to the nature of democracy and how the use of quadratic voting on the blockchain to inspire artistic endeavours in north London might be expanded nationally and internationally on the scale of global governance to shift the cultural dominance away from capital hegemony to a more fluid, genuinely inclusive democracy. All this in conversation with Ruth Catlow.  Ruth is co-founder (with Marc Garrett) and co-director (with Charlotte Frost) of Furtherfield, a project based in Finsbury Park in London which organises for inclusivity and equity in art and technology and advocates for their use in imagining and building real social change and positive environmental impact.Background and Bio: Furtherfield's mission is to open up the tools and debates of the exclusionary realms of art and technology for collective action for collective good. Ruth and her colleagues invest time and energy in decentralised and distributed p2p practices, fostering new creative collaborations between artists and communities, as well as challenging debates about the role of art and technology in society.With this, Ruth's work advances critical discussions of emergent technologies and their implications and she has, for example, led the way in terms of understanding what blockchain technologies mean for the arts and beyond. She directs the Furtherfield decentralised arts lab, DECAL and is also key to the development of live action role play (LARP) games for research, partnering with researchers to craft imagined/futuristic scenarios in which a group of players explore a complex socio-digital issue. Since late 2020, Ruth has been immersed in the massive Interspecies Treaty LARP as  part of her participation in the EU Horizon 2020 funded CreaTures project. All participants advance more-than-human justice by playing the game as other species, representing them in Assemblies to discuss and plan an Interspecies Festival that will celebrate the signing of 'an Interspecies Treaty of Cooperation (known as 'The Treaty of Finsbury Park') in 2025. Ruth is also one of the organisers of the 'Radical Friends' conference in 2022 and co-author/editor of the book that arose from it called 'Radical Friends: Decentralised Autonomous Organisations and the Arts' and co--PI of the Serpentine Galleries Blockchain Lab.Furtherfield https://www.furtherfield.orgDECAL https://decal.furtherfield.org/ Ruth's website  https://ruthcatlow.net/CultureStake app https://www.furtherfield.org/culturestake/More on the XDai blockchain https://medium.com/mycrypto/what-is-the-xdai-chain-and-why-should-i-try-it-40f539732fb4Radical Friends https://torquetorque.net/publications/radical-friends/Serpentine Galleries Blockchain Lab. https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/blockchain-lab/The Treaty of Finsbury Park  https://www.furtherfield.org/the-treaty-of-finsbury-park-2025/Cade Diehm - paper co-written with Ruth https://newdesigncongress.org/en/pub/finsbury-park-2025 Finsbury Park https://www.parksandgardens.org/places/finsbury-parkPBES Report https://ipbes.net/global-assessment

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Read The Sequences, published by Quadratic Reciprocity on December 23, 2022 on The Effective Altruism Forum. There is heavy overlap among the effective altruism and rationality communities but they are not the same thing. Within the effective altruism community, especially among those who are newer to the movement and were introduced to it through a university group, I've noticed some tension between the two. I often sense the vibe that sometimes people into effective altruism who haven't read much of the canonical LessWrong content write off the rationalist stuff as weird or unimportant. I think this is a pretty big mistake. Lots of people doing very valuable work within effective altruism got interested in it via first interacting with rationalist content, in particular The Sequences and Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. I think that is for good reason. If you haven't come across those writings before, here's a nudge to give The Sequences a read. The Sequences are a (really long) collection of blog posts written by Eliezer Yudkowsky on the science and philosophy of human rationality. They are divided into sequences - a list of posts on a similar topic. Most of the posts would have been pretty useful to me on their own but I also got more value from reading posts in a particular sequence to better internalise the concepts. There are slightly fewer posts in The Sequences than there are days in the year so reading the whole thing is a very doable thing to do in the coming year! You can also read Highlights from the Sequences which cover 50 of the best essays. Below, I'll list some of the parts that I have found especially helpful and that I often try to point to when talking to people into effective altruism (things I wish they had read too). Fake Beliefs is an excellent sequence if you already know a bit about biases in human thinking. The key insight there is about making beliefs pay rent (“don't ask what to believe—ask what to anticipate”) and that sometimes your expectations can come apart from your professed beliefs (fake beliefs). The ideas were helpful for me noticing when that happens, for example when I believe I believe something but actually do not. It happens a bunch when I start talking about abstract, wordy things but forget to ask myself what I would actually expect to see in the world if the things I am saying were true. Noticing Confusion is a cool sequence that talks about things like: What is evidence? (“For an event to be evidence about a target of inquiry, it has to happen differently in a way that's entangled with the different possible states of the target”) Your strength as a rationalist is your ability to be more confused by fiction than by reality - noticing confusion when something doesn't check out and going EITHER MY MODEL IS FALSE OR THIS STORY IS WRONG Absence of evidence is evidence of absence, and conservation of expected evidence (“If you expect a strong probability of seeing weak evidence in one direction, it must be balanced by a weak expectation of seeing strong evidence in the other direction”) I am often surrounded by people who are very smart and say convincing-sounding things all the time. The ideas mentioned above have helped me better recognise when I'm confused and when a smooth-sounding argument doesn't match up with how I think the world actually works. Against rationalisation has things that are useful to remember: Knowing about biases can hurt people. Exposing subjects to an apparently balanced set of pro and con arguments will exaggerate their initial polarisation. Politically knowledgeable subjects, because they possess greater ammunition with which to counter-argue incongruent facts and arguments, will be more prone to some biases. Not to avoid your belief's real weak points. “Ask yourself what smart people...

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: How my thinking about doing good changed over the years, published by Quadratic Reciprocity on December 18, 2022 on The Effective Altruism Forum. This is a Draft Amnesty Day draft. That means it's not polished, it's probably not up to my standards, the ideas are not thought out, and I haven't checked everything. I was explicitly encouraged to post something unfinished! Commenting and feedback guidelines: I'm going with the default — please be nice. But constructive feedback is appreciated; please let me know what you think is wrong. Feedback on the structure of the post is also appreciated. I first came across effective altruism as a teenager a few years ago, and the core idea instantly clicked for me after reading one post about it. In this post, I will talk about some ways in which my thinking around doing good has evolved over the years as a young person with a strong interest in making the world better. The emotions I feel when thinking about others' suffering are less intense. I don't know if teenage-me would have predicted this. As a child, I remember crying a lot when watching videos on animal suffering, when I first confronted the idea of infinite hell I was depressed for an entire summer, I wanted to give all the money I received on my birthday to people who were less fortunate because I knew they needed it more. I think the change is partly from just getting used to it. The first time you confront the horrors of factory farming it is awful but by the hundredth time, it's hard for my brain to naturally feel the same powerful emotions of sadness and anger. Partly, the change is from starting to believe that it isn't actually that virtuous to feel strong emotions at others' suffering. Some of that is from having been in the effective altruism community, where it is easy to feel that what matters are the results of what you do and not the emotions behind what you do. I still feel strong emotions of empathy for those who are suffering some of the time when I am feeling particularly introspective and emotional. However, and this is because of being in the effective altruism community, I am much more aware of my own ranking of what the biggest problems are and it is harder for me to direct a lot of empathy towards causes that feel less “big” compared to factory farming, extreme poverty, and existential risk - even though, in absolute terms, the suffering of people living in terrible conditions in rich countries is still massive. At the same time, my ability to live according to my values has increased. I haven't eaten meat in a couple of years whereas as a child and young teenager, this was really difficult for me to do even though I really wanted to be vegetarian. I have more tools now to do what I think is right, and the biggest of them all is having a social community where there are others who take their beliefs seriously and try to do good. I am much less willing to try to hack my brain in order to force myself to do and feel things I endorse. I used to be much more ashamed of some of my feelings and actions and felt a strong desire to figure out how to trick my brain into being more willing to sacrifice myself for others, into working all the time and being more ambitious. This involved doing things adjacent to self-deception. This was a really bad idea and caused me lots of pain and frustration. Instead, the thing that worked for me is acknowledging that I have “selfish” desires, that sometimes I take actions that actively hurt others, and that I have things that I deeply care about besides just maximising the good. Having a better picture of myself and what I actually value allowed me to work with the “altruist” and “selfish” sides of me to do things like be able to enjoy spending money and time on things that make me happy without feeling guilty and then ...

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For this interview I spoke to Eli Zeger (@ezeger16), a  writer, editor, and musician. He is also a worker-owner at Ampled and a member of the Exit to Community Collective.  He recently published a piece for the Zora Zine titled Appetite for Redistribution: Budgeting for All  talking about how blockchains and quadratic funding could be used to facilitate and scale participatory budgeting .During the interview we spoke about the history of public campaign fund matching  in NYC, how the local NYC election system used to be more democratic until the Cold War, and how adding quadratic funding mechanisms could be a powerful tool for democracy.    More from EliRanked Choice Voting in NYCPublic Matching Funds in NYCHow to make voting more truly representativeIf you liked the podcast be sure to give it a review on your preferred podcast platform. If you find content like this important consider donating to my Patreon starting at just $3 per month. It takes quite a lot of my time and resources so any amount helps. Follow me on Twitter (@TBSocialist) and join the r/CryptoLeftists subreddit and Discord to join the discussion.Support the show

Kenneth Francis does workforce intelligence for SpaceX. Additionally, he is building Talent DAO as well as Project LION. He is a prolific thinker and writer -- read his essays at https://www.k3nnethfrancis.com/

Brice and Wendell are back breaking down CBS The Challenge: USA! This week the pair is joined by Netflix's The Circle Season Two and The Floor is Lava, Jack Atkins (@JackAtkins21). The post Purple Pants Podcast | Quadratic appeared first on RobHasAwebsite.com.

Brice and Wendell are back breaking down CBS The Challenge: USA! This week the pair is joined by Netflix's The Circle Season Two and The Floor is Lava, Jack Atkins (@JackAtkins21).  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brice and Wendell are back breaking down CBS The Challenge: USA! This week the pair is joined by Netflix's The Circle Season Two and The Floor is Lava, Jack Atkins (@JackAtkins21). The post Purple Pants Podcast | Quadratic appeared first on RobHasAwebsite.com.