Episode 11 - Why do we love stories?
Humans love stories. We love reading them in books, listening to them from our grandparents, or watching them on the screen. Our love for them is ubiquitous.
In this episode, I talk about the structure of stories and break down some classic storylines from movies like the Hobbit and the Matrix. I discuss fundamental story structures like The Hero’s Journey and Freytag’s pyramid. I discuss how storytelling is essential to businesses and how we could learn to be better storytellers.
Episode 10. Maps are awesome
The James Webb Telescope was recently launched into orbit. How are humans able to do this? One reason is that we have mapped our sky to an extraordinarily precise degree. Maps have made this possible. Not just the skies, but we have maps for countries, oceans, military battlefields, trade routes, and everything that's geographically important to humans. That's why maps are awesome. To know more about maps, their history, and their significance, listen to this short episode.
Episode 9. What is the most powerful value in your life?
We all have a value system wherein we hold one value in higher regard than the others, or in the highest regard. This is different for everyone. Some might value religion more than anything, for some, it is family, or respect, or money, or honor. I sit down for a discussion with two of my friends, one a semiotician and another a philosopher. Listen to what we value we hold very dear to ourselves and our reasons for it. You could think about the most powerful value in your life as I believe it's a good activity to know yourself a little better.
Episode 8. Fallacies to avoid in arguments
Do you want to win an argument? Do you want to make a strong case for your view? Do you simply want to have more truthful and truth-seeking arguments? This episode might help you. Sometimes during an argument, we know something that is said is wrong but we can't put a finger on what it is. In this episode, I talk about some common fallacies that occur in arguments that make an argument weak, or simply wrong. These include the equivocation fallacy, strawman fallacy, slippery slope fallacy, and others. Recognizing and avoiding these fallacies in our own arguments can help us have better and more meaningful conversations by recognizing our mistakes.
Episode 7. Effective Altruism
Effective Altruism is a project that encourages people to be altruistic in the most effective way possible to reduce the suffering in the world. One could do this by donating time, effort, or money to charities that do the most good to the most number of people. Effective Altruists believe we have a moral obligation to relieve the suffering of many people that could be avoided with little cost to us.
Episode 6. Philosophy of Time
Time is a fundamental concept which concerns our existence. In this episode, I talk about the views of time as held by Newton and Einstein. I also give an introduction to some theories in the Philosophy of Time and the problems they face.
Episode 5. The story of jazz
In this episode, Karan Gera and I talk about the story of Jazz. Its history, origins rooted in the blues of the black man, the different styles in Jazz, and about the many wonderful musicians it produced throughout the beautiful journey of its evolution. The story of Jazz is indeed one that Jazz enthusiasts would thoroughly enjoy but also is a great introductory story for new listeners of Jazz.
Episode 4. Kafkaesque
A lot of what happened in 2020 surfaced the human condition of Kafkaesque. People feeling alienated, uncertain, lost, and overpowered by the absurdity of this year. This episode looks at some of Franz Kafka's works such as The Trial and The Metamorphosis and discusses the nature of Kafkaesque.
Episode 3. Luck
We may think some people are lucky (like Frane Selak), some are unlucky, and that the majority of us lead normal lives without luck playing a serious role. But we may be wrong. The different types of luck may play a significant role in all of our lives and this gives rise to the moral problem of luck. Is there a solution to this problem? What does this mean to humans? Listen to this episode to learn more about luck, the different types of luck, the morality of luck, and some stories along the way.
Episode 2. Sport
This episode takes a look at a brief history, psychology, and sociology of sport. I talk about the importance of sport in pushing human excellence to its limits. I also talk about the role of sports in our society, ancient and modern.
Episode 1. Humor
Humor is a ubiquitous phenomenon. Everyone experiences humor but we don’t think much about it. Why do we laugh? What makes something funny? Why is humor important? What is the philosophy behind humor? These are some of the questions that I talk about in this episode.