Mind Pizza: Recent Episodes
Jon McMillan & Daniel Palmer
Welcome to Mind Pizza, where we give you a piece of our mind! Ranging from comedic to speculative, researchers Jon McMillan and Daniel Palmer together discuss a variety of loose topics, tying together aspects of science, fiction, religion, and more.
Jon and Daniel review The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, starring Nicolas Cage as Nick Cage, and discuss what makes art, well…art. The discussion ranges from the subjectivity of art to whether r/place could be used as a metaphor for life.
Jon and Daniel have ten minutes to answer randomly selected questions. What could go wrong with that?
Nostalgia was first coined by Johannes Hofer in the late 1600s, with Greek root words nostos (homecoming) and alga (pain), or “the pain of wanting to return home.” Jon and Daniel discuss the positive and negative aspects of nostalgia, as well as a few of their most nostalgic memories from times gone by.
Jon and Daniel have ten minutes to answer randomly selected questions. What could go wrong with that?
Jon and Daniel review The Batman, directed by Matt Reeves and starring Robert Pattinson, and discuss their favorite Batman iterations, as well as their favorite superheroes in general. Lastly, Daniel nerds out about Batmobiles.
Jon and Daniel try something new, set questions that they don't know before hand and a time limit. Let's see how this goes!
This week, Jon and Daniel change topics on a whim and decide to discuss the power of music after Daniel experiences a particularly amazing concert (Lawrence, to be precise). The conversation soon takes a turn into discussing mental health, and how current society interacts with and views mental health and well-being. Lastly, Jon and Daniel consider whether a concert could be used as a metaphor for life in general.
This week, Jon and Daniel discuss whether you can be humble while still representing and promoting your art, or even while developing a personal “brand.” Both Jon and Daniel manage to change each others’ minds on the nature of personal branding, and contemplate whether true humility originates in the motivation behind our work and the accurate portrayal of our art, abilities, and values.
After a staggering week both globally and personally, Jon and Daniel discuss the nature of hope, how we can make things better, and what to do when we can’t make things better.
This week Jon and Daniel serve up a deep dish slice of Mind Pizza, diving into the power of stories in the human experience. Tune in to hear them discuss what stories have had the most impact on them, why compelling stories are so powerful, and how collective storytelling may help bridge divides in modern culture. Warning: This episode may contain excessive references to Daniel’s favorite author of all time, Brandon Sanderson.
“What is truth?” -John 18:38
“I want the truth!”
“You can’t handle the truth!” -A Few Good Men (1992)
This week Jon and Daniel dive into the differences between knowledge and truth, how experience may bias our understanding of truth, and society’s shifting relationship with the ideas of relative and absolute truth.
Show Reference Links:
Graham’s Number video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1N6cOC2P8fQ
“Screw Graham’s Number!” -The Curious Calzone
It’s Valentine’s Day week, so Jon and Daniel sit down to ask, “Seriously, what is love?” The flavor of this Mind Pizza gets bold as Daniel claims that love is both necessary and logical, and that we all suck at it…but maybe we can suck less. Join Jon and Daniel as they unpack the wonderful yet difficult, identifiable yet indescribable concept we sentient creatures call “love.”
Jon and Daniel decided to take an easy week and discuss trivial matters like free will, fate, and whether our choices actually matter. You know, small stuff. Settle in for some deep-dish Mind Pizza though, because the conversation soon turns to how belief in free will or lack thereof might affect our actions, and whether the universe is a Rube-Goldberg machine (and what that might tell us about its nature). Lastly, Jon and Daniel end this slice of Mind Pizza with some unintentionally inspirational conclusions to value paths over outcomes and live boldly.
Show Reference Links:
OK Go - This Too Shall Pass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w
Free to help? An experiment on free will belief and altruism: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0173193
Jon and Daniel begin by discussing Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, and the many palindromes and paradoxes introduced in the film. However, this being Jon and Daniel, discussion soon branches out into contemplations on eternity, serial mortality, alien life, and of course, the Lobster Matrix. Don’t miss out on this debut episode of Mind Pizza!