RDQI: Recent Episodes
Ryan & Dave
If you're reading this, I'm surprised. Podcasts are about listening in and becoming a part of the conversation.
Listen, even if your native language is English: court room legalese can be a foreign language, medical terminology will sound like it comes from a child's imagination and even basic financial instruments will seem as distant and indecipherable as the dark side of the moon.
Rather than hoping everything works out, let's figure out how to navigate our world.
Sure it is! Unless you don't need one. Or even want one. As the nature of work changes, so does the nature of education. But is education about more than better economic opportunity?
Everyone belongs to a generation. What a generation is exactly is rather arbitrary; we all have been shaped by common experiences. But do those common experiences truly effect a whole generation?
Let's face it. We rely on technology that we don't understand constantly. Should we spend time learning to build our own tools? Or is that just a waste of time? Ryan&Dave ponder the finer points of how we use technology in our everyday lives.
Etymology takes Dave and Ryan to some interesting places. How we get the names for things and actions can be quite interesting. Especially if we want to share ideas that can shape the future.
Yup, humans have been messing with Mother Nature as soon as they stood upright. One of the newer techniques for messing with the Earth is known as Cloud Seeding. It's a pretty simple concept, dump material in to a cloud which encourages it to form ice crystals. Those ice crystals, once there are enough of them, will turn to rain. Bam! you've just solved a drought! Or does it really work that way?
Dave and Ryan talk about the ups and downs of setting goals and keeping streaks alive. There is no easy way to slice it, setting goals and targeting streaks offer some potential advantages. But then again, haven't we all felt uninspired after failing to keep the streak or goal?
Who knows what is going to happen to the Brazilian Coffee Crop? Major frost have caused unknown damage to this years coffee crop. Dave and Ryan don't know the long term ramifications, but there are certainly some ideas out there. Listen as they walk through the problem of their favorite morning beverage.
We've all done it. Interrupt a perfectly good conversation at a restaurant to snap a picture of the food. Why do we do it? Is it a good idea? Will we actually look at the picture later? Everyone's going to answer differently. But the answers can be surprising.
They're not necessarily good science, but they are interesting. In this episode of RDQI, personality tests are looked at. Well, they aren't tests actually. And the 'science' is shaky at best. They are more like a personality inventory, or assessment. Are these assessments useful? More importantly, will they decide our future?
At first, Dave and Ryan talk about pesto. Pesto is a pretty simple sauce and it can be made quickly or laboriously slow. Either you can blend the ingredients together in less than a minute or two. Or you can create a paste with a mortar and pestle and work in the ingredients over a couple of hours... Is it worth it?
Cities. Most of the American population lives in an urban environment. But, do we still need to live in cities? Or just readjust how we think about them?
Dave and Ryan take a stab at pretentiousness when it comes to wine, which means they end up being pretentious. But why is wine generally pretentious?
Some people can speak multiple languages fluently. Neither Ryan nor Dave are one of these people. That won't stop them from riffing on the ability to think or even dream in different languages. So, is it better to be bilingual? Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps it is the new perspectives afforded to a person with this skill that helps them in the long run.
Well, this day has been coming for awhile now. Dave and Ryan have to talk about cybernetic organisms. Sure we all know about Terminator and the like, but we have plenty of cyborgs amongst us already. Yet, we don't call people with pacemakers by that name. It would be pretty rude to do so. What exactly makes a cyborg? How are we going to use cyborgs in the future? Who knows, but Dave and Ryan will kick around this thought on this episode of RDQI.
Everyone has a way of talking. How you say what you say well that's an accent. What words and phrases you use is more about dialect. But what is there to hear in an accent? Or are we just tricking ourselves with our own bias? Who knows. That's probably a social psychologists or a linguists job. Still, it makes you think a bit, right?
Dave&Ryan take a look at the past through some rose colored glasses. Imagine living in the time period of a favorite book or film. The 1920's come to mind. Or the flower-power America of the 60's, heck, even a galaxy far far away... Question is: how much nostalgia is too much?
Dave and Ryan ruminate on creating balance in cocktails. Sweet, sour, bitter and boozy are typically thought of, but there are some other considerations to be made. Like ice. Who knew ice was interesting?
You work hard for your money. Make sure it works for you just as hard. If you heard the first Personal Finance episode, you know that positive cash flow is the first step towards developing a healthier financial position. But what do you do once you have positive cash flow? Put that money to work for you! Investment is the topic of the day. Dave&Ryan dip their toes in to the vast ocean which is investing. Still, a few simple things to think about go a long way towards building a financial picture which allows you to augment an otherwise fantastic life.
Ryan and Dave pick up a conversation started with Garret in a past episode. They start with a discussion on decision making and end up focusing on mindfullness techniques as a way to approach daily life. Garret is effecting positive change in his community. To find out more visit some of his ventures: http://www.zenadigm.com/?fbclid=IwAR32O4jRuCxWekzpPEeHvGznDh1LhcUCvre-2o1bCg_6PARGhunhSxT5kGk (zenadigm.com) or if you prefer Insta... https://www.instagram.com/therealninjascienceacademy/ (therealninjascienceacademy)
Memory is an elusive thing. But how does the internet change our human memory? Well, these two have a few ideas to throw out there. Sit back and think, how do you use the internet to store memories? Oh, and the neuroscientist whose name Ryan forgot. Her name is Dr. Kelsey Martin. Check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGcpnsdSAv4 (this resource) if you want to learn more about memory.
American culture has loved to create villains in nutrition. Everyone knew at one point that fat was bad. Then we realized... it's actually vital for a healthy diet. Now carbohydrates, mainly in the form of bread, have become the new food to shun. Ryan & Dave take on bread and the dreaded gluten protein found within. Is bread bad? Or is bread fundamentally different from what our bodies are adapted to consume?
Woah, Ryan&Dave started talking about pizza and ended up talking about science literacy. Typical RDQI... MSG won't change your life, but how MSG has been understood in the USA has some insights in to life which may actually make a difference.
Woah, getting blood infusions from a younger people in an attempt to live longer seems weird. Yet, there is a market for it and many other 'biohacking' methods. Ryan&Dave jump into biohacking and ponder what life might look like in a couple of years.
Eileen is back on RDQI as they wade in to the dynamics that effect women in the workplace. The issue isn't as simple as the difference in compensation levels between men and women. And it sure isn't just the lack of paid leave support for families. So what is going on in the search for equality? Catch up with Eileen, Dave and Ryan as they wade in to the subject.
Career changes are the talk of the day. The world is re-evaluating how to go about the business of work. Dave & Ryan take this show to reflect on how changing careers has provided perspective on their career paths.
Can farmers feed the world with just organic farming? Probably not, but considering the ecological debt conventional farming creates humans should find a solution. Oh, and we are supposed to have a world population of around 9.5 billion people by 2050. No worries.
The consequences of the COVID pandemic probably won't disappear completely. We've all adapted to the problems the pandemic has posed us. So when does adaptation stop, if ever? To keep pace with an ever evolving world staying curious may be the key.
Lindsey enlightens RDQI with her humor, but it doesn't mean Dave and Ryan are funny. Actually, that's how it all started. Is RDQI funny? Not really. I mean, kind of, if you are in to that kind of thing. But again, it isn't that funny.
If you're reading this, you are most likely a WEIRD person. So are Dave & Ryan. But why is a Western Educated Industrial Rich Democratic person odd? Only because 95% of psychological research is conducted on WEIRD populations. When trying to understand humans, it's tricky to use a subset of humanity as a baseline. Yet, here we are... Thanks to Joe Henrich for his great article which led RDQI down this path.
Find his work here:
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201231-how-the-way-you-think-was-shaped-centuries-ago (https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201231-how-the-way-you-think-was-shaped-centuries-ago)
Did you know that if you had won the Olympic Gold Medal for the marathon in 1920 that you wouldn't qualify for the Boston Marathon today? Crazy, right? But why is this the case? Are we bigger, faster, stronger humans today?
Anthropology brought a new way of looking at the world. Of course, with it came some interesting side effects. One of those side effects is the launching point for Ryan&Dave as they navigate how mythology shapes who we are today.
Teamwork is everywhere. Almost every interaction involves networks of people acting together to reach some goal. Erik is back on the show to give his take on how to build a team and what keeps a team together. We all know the frustrations of a bad team, but how do you make it better? Grab a plate of (uncharred) meatballs and enjoy.
Dave&Ryan found a cocktail recipe based on herbal remedies to ward off the plague, in the 14th century. That got them thinking, how do humans currently connect with remedies which aren't 100% verified via the scientific method? Whether or not you take ginseng regularly, you've almost certainly used an herbal remedy of some sort. So if you have taken a remedy, did it work? Ryan and Dave think the answer is usually yes, depending on what the true goal is.
We made it through. 2020 is over. Not that 2021 is magically better, but we always hope so. In line with that hope is an annual tradition: New Years Resolutions. Do they work? And if they do work, are they any good?
Dave and Ryan take a look at the Bronze Age collapse. Not that any historian knows exactly what happened of course. There is an eerily similar arc to what we do know. Dependence on limited natural resources, a globally intertwined economy, massive migration movements disturbing a tentative peace... sound familiar?
Do music and animation connect? Yes. You could even say they are tethered. Laura, a video game animator, takes Ryan and Dave through everyday life in animation.
Ryan and Dave are joined by Garret. Bringing science communication, education, and musical backgrounds together in one person, Garret represents himself as the dynamic catalyst he is. Value-systems are the topic of debate, but a good prompt never slows these three from a winding walk of a conversation. In the end, how do we define our value-systems?
We've heard it all before. Time is money. Well, that is kind of true, right? Ryan and Dave tackle this question on their way to understanding value.
On this episode, Dave and Ryan connect with an old friend. Erik is a chef who has worked his way up the ladder, rung by rung. Connecting over work/life balance they talk about what it takes to sustain a career. Working in a commercial kitchen sure isn't for everyone, but some of Erik's points ring true for all of us. Catch a glimpse of the kitchen life.
Dave and Ryan catch up on a little economic theory. Nothing crazy, but Feudalism does come up at least once. From afar, they survey the dynamics of different economic ideologies to understand where we are today. But really, it isn't that crazy. Just quick jaunt down economic-history memory lane.
Currency is a store of value or unit of account based on universal trust. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. Dave and Ryan try and slog through a basic but complex economic concept. What is money anyways?
We all know what is value. But try to define it in your own words... things get tricky pretty quick.
Did coffee start the enlightenment? In this episode, Ryan and Dave discuss how coffee was brought to western Europe and its role in one of the most transformative periods in western history. We attempt to think through whether other transformative periods in human history had a similar pattern- namely the 1960's counter-culture movement and psychoactive drugs. This is a great episode for all the coffee lovers, history buffs, and psychonauts out there.
Is there a difference between a movie and a film? That depends on how pedantic you want to get. Ryan and Dave jump into this subject to uncover if there is any difference at all.
In this episode, Ryan and Dave start out discussing the role of technology in manipulating sound in recorded music. This quickly evolves into a discussion about how sound (or any of the other senses) can be used to manipulate the human brain.
Crack open a cold one because this episode is all about beer! Ryan and I discuss whether or not the invention of beer led to the invention of civilization. This leads us to a discussion of cause and effect and the danger of mis-attributing, or incompletely attributing causality and the danger therein. We then finish off with a discussion about the role of beer in society- past , present and future.
In this episode, Ryan and I delve into the world of personal finance, and more specifically, our reticence to talk about it with our closest friends. Why? Well, Western Culture puts money above all else as the point system with which we determine success or failure. It's only natural we don't want to share our low scores. But can sharing these things actually help to improve our scores? Our financial positions? Spoiler alert: Yes! As Benjamin Franklin would say- America is all about collecting paper with my face on it, listen to Dave nerd out about finance, and something about fish after 3 days. I do want to be clear, neither of us have any personal or business interest in any kind of financial coaching practice. Everything in this episode is purely opinion and does not constitute any kind of professional financial advice.