Synopsis
Deconstructing life lessons, fitness, mindset and interesting people - with Chris Williamson.
Episodes
-
#556 - Rob Henderson - How Men Compete For Status
24/11/2022 Duration: 01h21minRob Henderson is a PhD candidate at the University of Cambridge and a US Air Force Veteran. Men fight. Sometimes they look silly when they fight. But they also collaborate and team up to take on common enemies. Women fight in very different ways that are less obvious, but no less vicious, and they sometimes try to even scupper their own teammates. Expect to learn how men's judgements of formidability are better at predicting future sexual partners than women's judgements of attractiveness, why male intrasexual competition is so much more obvious, my theory around why men hate to hear that women like dad bods, why there are rules in a "no rules" street fight, what happens if you get kidnapped by an Amazonian tribe and much more... Extra Stuff: Check out Rob's Substack - https://robkhenderson.substack.com/ Follow Rob on Twitter - https://twitter.com/robkhenderson Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreo
-
#555 - Dr Sarah Hill - The Psychological Impact Of Hormonal Birth Control
21/11/2022 Duration: 01h10minDr Sarah Hill is a psychologist and professor at TCU whose research focusses on women, health, and sexual psychology. Women ovulate, and this changes their behaviour across their cycle. Unless they take hormonal birth control that is, in which case their behaviour changes even more dramatically in ways that no one anticipated and there is evidence to suggest that this might not just be temporary. Expect to learn why hormonal birth control can make women prioritise wealth in men, why women who come off are less sexually satisfied with partners they chose when they were on birth control, the relationship between taking the pill with anxiety, depression, bisexuality and stress, whether it's a good thing for women to have sex with men who they wouldn't marry and much more... Extra Stuff: Buy This Is Your Brain on Birth Control - https://amzn.to/3g8WCUF Follow Sarah on Twitter - https://twitter.com/sarahehillphd Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To suppor
-
#554 - Laura Vanderkam - 9 Strategies To Better Control Your Time
19/11/2022 Duration: 01h01minLaura Vanderkam is a time management expert and an author. Time is non-renewable. It's the single most important asset we have, and yet almost everyone wishes they spent their time differently. Thankfully Laura has distilled 9 of her best strategies from years of coaching people on how to control their time more effectively. Expect to learn what everyone is getting wrong when it comes to writing their to-do lists, why intentionality is such a crucial skill to develop, how having a bedtime can fix your daytime schedule issues, how to make boring routine tasks suck less, a simple solution to ensure you do hard things and much more... Extra Stuff: Buy Tranquility By Tuesday - https://amzn.to/3hPdXTe Follow Laura on Twitter - https://twitter.com/lvanderkam Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter
-
#553 - Dr Jaimie Krems - The Evolutionary Psychology Of Friendship
17/11/2022 Duration: 01h30minDr Jaimie Krems is an Assistant Professor at Oklahoma State University and a social psychologist whose research explores human social cognition, emotions, and behaviour. Evolution has shaped the way that men and women make and break friendships. It's made us into life-saving, caring, aggressive, jealous, friend-guarding, backbiting, gossiping animals, but why is it that male and female friendships are so different, plus a ton of other fascinating insights. Expect to learn why a woman's body shape is so important to her attractiveness, why venting is a manipulative social strategy, how men with dad bods are literally perceived as better dads, why women who have casual sex are seen as having lower self-esteem even though there's no data to back it up, how a pro-life stance on abortion might be less virtuous than people first think and much more... Sponsors: Get £150 discount on Eight Sleep products at https://eightsleep.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 20% discount & free shipping on your L
-
#552 - Dr Kevin Dutton - Understanding The Wisdom Of Psychopaths
14/11/2022 Duration: 01h12minDr Kevin Dutton is a psychologist, author, and elite performance consultant whose research focuses on persuasion and social influence, psychopathic personality and elite cognition. Psychopaths get a bad rap. Perhaps understandably. They have a branding problem to say the least. But there are some personality traits like emotional control, focus, drive and single-mindedness that elite performers can model off of psychopaths to improve their effectiveness. Expect to learn how psychopathy exists at all, why teams kicking second in a penalty shootout have a 30% greater chance of missing, why psychopath pilots in world war 2 didn't make it home even though they won their fights, how different accents can be more prejudiced against than different races, why splitting the world into categories creates a foundation for huge biases to occur and much more... Sponsors: Get 7 days free access and 25% discount from Blinkist at https://blinkist.com/modernwisdom (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 20% discount on House Of Macadamia
-
#551 - Patrick House - How Much Do We Actually Know About Consciousness?
12/11/2022 Duration: 01h21minPatrick House is a neuroscientist and writer whose research focuses on free will and how mind-control parasites alter their host's behaviour. If it wasn't for us experiencing it, the universe would give us no indication that consciousness even exists. The most fundamental part of human experience has many proposed explanations, but just how well-grounded are these, and what are we missing? Expect to learn why removing parts of the brain change some aspects of the self but not all of them, what it's like for animals who can put half of their brain to sleep at once, how the brain is intimately linked with timekeeping, why almost all explanations of consciousness are unsatisfactory, what the future of brain-research looks like and much more... Sponsors: Get 10% discount & free shipping on the best Ketone Drink at https://ketone-iq.com/ (use code MW10) Get 83% discount & 3 months free from Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/MODERNWISDOM (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 15% discount on the amazing 6 Minute Diary
-
#550 - Dr James Cantor - The World Of Unusual Sexual Orientations
10/11/2022 Duration: 01h48minDr James Cantor is a clinical psychologist and sexologist specialising in hypersexuality and paraphilias. There are a broad range of things that turn humans on. Some are common, some are uncommon and some are very illegal. James' study of paraphilias exposes him to some of the world's most interesting and unusual sexual desires with the goal of working out why they exist. Expect to learn how asexuality could evolve at all, why some able-bodied people feel that they should be amputees, why adults like to be dressed up as babies, the link between left-handedness and child abuse, what James thinks about depression in the trans community, why it's become increasingly impossible to have conversations about dangerous sexual desires and much more... Sponsors: Get 20% discount & free shipping on your Lawnmower 4.0 at https://www.manscaped.com/ (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 10% discount on your first month from BetterHelp at https://betterhelp.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 10% discount on all of
-
#549 - Mark Bell - Stop Being Shamed Out Of Your Competitive Edge
07/11/2022 Duration: 01h16minMark Bell is a world record-breaking powerlifter, owner of Super Training Gym and inventor of the Sling Shot. A lack of support killed more dreams than a lack of competence ever did. There's a modern trend that trying hard at things and taking them seriously is uncool. Disincentivising excellence is one of the worst habits a society can have and it's time to put a stop to it. Expect to learn why taking a compliment is a skill that many of us don't have, why there is no growth without having a goal you're working toward, why Mark has never had a bad day, what it was like to train under the legendary Louie Simmons at Westside Barbell, how crucial the story you tell yourself about life is and much more... Sponsors: Get 20% discount on House Of Macadamias’ nuts at https://houseofmacadamias.com/modernwisdom (use code MW20) Get the Whoop 4.0 for free and get your first month for free at http://join.whoop.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get a Free Sample Pack of all LMNT Flavours at https://www.dri
-
#548 - Tim Harford - Why Is Thinking Clearly So Difficult?
05/11/2022 Duration: 01h12minTim Harford is an economist, associate member of Nuffield College, Oxford and an honorary fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, a journalist and an author. Humans need to be able to accurately judge the world around them. With more information than ever, this should be getting easier by the year and yet clear thinking seems to be ever more elusive. Why are we so prone to biases and what are some of the biggest rationality blunders from history? Expect to learn why Sir Arthur Conan Doyle got obsessed with photos of fairies, what everyone misunderstands about inflation, the danger indiscriminate doubt and reflexive cynicism, the similarities between magic and misinformation, why smart people get hijacked by ideology and much more... Sponsors: Get a free bag of Colima Sea Salt at http://modernwisdomsalt.com/ (discount automatically applied) Get 83% discount & 3 months free from Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/MODERNWISDOM (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 5 Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitamin D and Free
-
#547 - Dr Cassie Holmes - How To Manage Your Time For A Happier Life
03/11/2022 Duration: 01h13minDr Cassie Holmes is a Professor at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, an author and an award-winning researcher of time and happiness. Time management in the modern world is hard. Many people don't feel like they have sufficient space to complete their to do list, let alone manifest their spare-time dreams. With some new strategies and a different mindset around time however, this problem might be fixed. Expect to learn what time habits the happiest people all have, how to truly value things experiences you want to enjoy, the relationship between time and happiness, the best techniques for an efficient schedule, how science advises you to deepen friendships, how to make tasks you don't want to do suck less and much more... Extra Stuff: Check out Cassie's website - https://www.cassiemholmes.com/ Buy Happier Hour - https://amzn.to/3DAdigA Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - G
-
#546 - Baggage Claim - Modern Cinema Treats Women Like Idiots
31/10/2022 Duration: 01h14minBaggage Claim is a YouTuber and movie critic. There have been a lot of female leads in TV and cinema over the last few years. She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Dr Strange 2 and The Rings Of Power all showed women leading the charge, but just how aspirational and admirable are these role models for the women that watch them? Is it treating them like mature humans or patronising them like fragile idiots? Expect to learn how cultural narcissism has taken hold of Hollywood, why perfect female characters teach women nothing about how to be a good person, why Hollywood relies on performative empathy to feel good, the problem with She-Hulk's dating life, why no one is going to be guilted into watching anything, the lessons to learn from Bros romcom failure and much more... Extra Stuff: Subscribe to Baggage Claim on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/BaggageClaim Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernw
-
#545 - Chris Von Rueden - How Did Human Leadership Evolve?
29/10/2022 Duration: 54minChris von Rueden is an anthropologist and Associate Professor at the University of Richmond who researches how humans form status hierarchies and the evolution of human cooperation. We take it for granted that there are leaders in modern society. Presidents, prime ministers, kings and queens. Hierarchies are baked into our world, but what did leadership look like in an ancestral environment and why did it evolve in the first place? Expect to learn the two ways that primitive leaders could command respect from a group, why followership evolved at all in humans, why the Female Leadership Paradox exists, how leadership and hierarchies change as group size increases, whether leaders are altruistic or selfish and much more... Sponsors: Get 5 Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitamin D and Free Shipping from Athletic Greens at https://athleticgreens.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 15% discount on the amazing 6 Minute Diary at https://bit.ly/diarywisdom (use code MW15) (USA - https://amzn.to/3b2fQ
-
#544 - Dr Carole Hooven - What Makes Men And Women Different?
27/10/2022 Duration: 01h20minDr Carole Hooven is Co-director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and an author. Testosterone is a hell of a drug. It causes many things to happen in both men and women. But it's dividing opinion even more than it's dividing the sexes. This isn't great for calming conversations, bridging differences or finding common ground however it's a fascinating topic to dig into. Expect to learn what it's like for women who go on testosterone to feel what male sex drive is like, why male deer in Scotland grow antlers and fight their best friends for a few months every year, whether maternal instinct is a myth, why testosterone even exists at all, the differences between male and female orgasms, whether sex is a spectrum and much more... Sponsors: Get 83% discount & 3 months free from Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/MODERNWISDOM (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 10% discount on all of MASA’s Chips at www.masachips.com/modernwisdom use code MODERNWISDOM) Get
-
#543 - Scott Galloway - Why Is This Generation Struggling So Much?
24/10/2022 Duration: 01h01minScott Galloway is a clinical professor of marketing at the New York University Stern School of Business, a public speaker, entrepreneur and an author. Millennials are the first generation who have not done better than their parents. Educational outcomes, finances, home ownership, mental health and marriage rates are all thrown up in the air. Why has this happened and what can we do about it? Expect to learn why covid worsened the wealth gap more than it already was, why TikTok is a trojan stallion which should be banned, why news pundits suck so much, what makes a news story go viral, Scott's advice to young people on how to maximise effectiveness in life, the most important things to focus on in order to be happy and much more... Extra Stuff: Buy Adrift - https://amzn.to/3eO29zq Check out Scott's website - https://www.profgalloway.com/ Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - Get i
-
#542 - Dr Randy Nesse - Evolutionary Psychiatry Can Explain Human Emotions
22/10/2022 Duration: 01h24minRandy Nesse is a physician, author and founder of the field of evolutionary medicine and evolutionary psychiatry. Evolution created an odd creature in humans. We're able to fly to the moon and cure diseases. But we also get anxious in the supermarket or depressed if we have a bad week. Why would mother nature make us so fragile? If natural selection is powerful why are mental disorders so common? Expect to learn why the capacity for low mood exists at all, how low mood and depression could be evolutionarily advantageous, what happens if someone has too little fear or anxiety, why bad feelings are useless but normal, how eating disorders could be an adaptive response to the local environment and much more... Sponsors: Get 10% discount on your first month from BetterHelp at https://betterhelp.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get a Free Sample Pack of all LMNT Flavours at https://www.drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Our Sponsor LetsGetChecked - get 25% discount on your
-
#541 - Ryan Holiday - Stoicism's Lessons For A Disciplined Life
20/10/2022 Duration: 01h37minRyan Holiday is a podcaster, marketer and an author. Discipline is one of the modern world's hot topics. Because it's become apparent that in order to achieve anything, you must be able to temper your desires and direct your efforts. The Stoics believed this 2000 years ago and between then and now there's been a plethora of historical examples which can teach us how to build and sustain discipline. Expect to learn why sanity is your most precious resource, why discipline without an end goal is pointless, how to stay disciplined when success arrives, why Martin Luther King let a Nazi punch him in the face, how to enforce discipline without lambasting yourself for falling short, what Eisenhower's smoking habit can teach us about self control, why 75 hard might not build discipline long term and much more... Extra Stuff: Buy Discipline Is Destiny - https://amzn.to/3RQDnvL Check out Ryan's website - http://dailystoic.com/ Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books
-
#540 - Destiny - What Is The Manosphere Getting Wrong?
17/10/2022 Duration: 01h02minDestiny is a streamer and a YouTuber. As the mainstream media abandons talking to anyone male in a reasonable manner, men's advice has been pushed underground. It's good to have someone helping men to become better people, friends and partners for women, but what are the errors in this new wave of advice? Expect to learn whether cancellation actually makes creators grow bigger or if that's just a cope, whether the Red Pill movement is a net benefit for men, why the Right seems to have dominated men's advice for the last few years, whether women and men can actually be compatriots instead of adversaries, why the Hasan Abi drama lore is lengthy and much more... Extra Stuff: Subscribe to Destiny on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/DESTINY Check out Destiny's website - https://www.destiny.gg/ Get my free Reading List of 100 books to read before you die → https://chriswillx.com/books/ To support me on Patreon (thank you): https://www.patreon.com/modernwisdom - Get in touch. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/
-
#539 - Sam Tatam - Evolutionary Ideas For Modern Problems
15/10/2022 Duration: 01h07minSam Tatam is the Head of Behavioural Science at Ogilvy Growth & Innovation and an author. When it comes to solving modern problems, it turns out that evolution might have a lot of the answers. Rather than revolutionary ideas, evolutionary ideas and solutions that already exist in the animal kingdom can help us with all manner of challenges. Expect to learn how the wings of an owl helped fix problems in the bullet train, how the ears of a hare assist wind turbines, why Google Glass failed, how come Airline Tickets are so confusing, why all my rich friends drink sparkling water, how companies can aid customer decision without limiting choice and much more... Sponsors: Get 10% discount on your first month from BetterHelp at https://betterhelp.com/modernwisdom (discount automatically applied) Get 10% discount on all Optimal Carnivore’s products at www.amazon.com/optimalcarnivore (use code: WISDOMSAVE10) Get 15% discount on the amazing 6 Minute Diary at https://bit.ly/diarywisdom (use code MW15) (USA - https://amz
-
#538 - Andrew Bustamante - CIA Spy Explains Nukes, Wars & Double Agents
13/10/2022 Duration: 01h52minAndrew Bustamante is a Former CIA Intelligence Officer and a Private Intelligence consultant. The CIA is one of the world's most advanced, secretive, shadowy organisations. Only 10% of their officers are field agents and actually have spent time undercover, Andrew is one of those agents. He's also been in charge of nuclear missiles and been multiple cover stories. Expect to learn why an alarm goes off at least once per hour at every nuclear missile silo across America, how the CIA protects itself from undercover agents being turned against them, what is actually in the President's nuclear football, the levels of clearance above Top Secret, what sort of personality traits the CIA look for, why Edward Snowden got Russian citizenship and much more... Sponsors: Get 10% discount on all of MASA’s Chips at www.masachips.com/modernwisdom use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 83% discount & 3 months free from Surfshark VPN at https://surfshark.deals/MODERNWISDOM (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 5 Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitami
-
#537 - Richard Reeves - Does Anyone Care About Men's Struggles?
10/10/2022 Duration: 01h13minRichard V. Reeves is a writer, scholar and a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. Men are falling behind in education, employment and family life. They're underachieving in school, dropping out of the labour market and being less useful around the house more than ever. And this isn't simply cultural as it's happening all over the world, the problem is deeper than that - it's structural. Expect to learn why there are twice as many female fighter pilots compared with male kindergarten teachers, why a male needs to be 24 to have the same impulse control as a 10 year old girl, where the term toxic masculinity actually came from, whether a man's gain is actually woman's loss, the problem of promoting men's issues in the press and much more... Sponsors: Get 7 days free access and 25% discount from Blinkist at https://blinkist.com/modernwisdom (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 20% discount & free shipping on your Lawnmower 4.0 at https://www.manscaped.com/ (use code MODERNWISDOM) Get 15% discount on all VERSO’s pro