Food For Thought (with Melvin Poh): Recent Episodes
Melvin Poh
'Food For Thought' aims to expand your personal knowledge by bringing deep and thought-provoking personal chats from Melvin Poh, the founder of Empirics Asia.
At the end of a 3 year journey of a massive personal undertaking, here are some thoughts...
As I sit back and enjoy some music after a long day at work, I can't help but ponder on the variety of music we all enjoy. There certainly are a lot of people who would listen to the music of Justin Bieber all day and others would tune in on Beethoven. Yet between the two, who is actually better, Bieber or Beethoven? In fact, this is a question that often gets thrown around, is there a certain kind of entertainment that is more superior than others and when we debate these things, do we always have to resort to subjective considerations; is there an objective way of weighing in on this debate? I think the answer lies in philosophy and specifically the field of utilitarianism. It presents us a good metric to compare works of art and media and I look at the thoughts of Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill.
In this chat, as I was disturbed my own furry friend (my pet cat), I start to ponder on the question of whether animals have rights. We ofcourse now of the rising trend of veganism as well as alternative meats, but are there any philosophical or persuasive basis for protecting and respecting animals? Let's chat about it in this discussion. I draw on the different belief systems from science, religion and philosophy; specifically the works of Aristotle, Scala Naturae, Charles Darwin, Rene Descartes, Jeremy Bentham, Peter Singer, Carl Cohen and Immanuel Kant to lead our investigation into this perplexing question.
Today on my day off from work, in our evening chat, I seek to reveal to you how we have been lied to and exposed to a grand illusion perpetuated by banks for hundreds of years. Specifically, I look at "fractional reserve banking", the fabric and very essence of banking process. After exploring and scrutinising the concept, I see whether it stands up to the modern world.
Surely, you have seen headlines about Sir Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk competing with one another to go to space. Space at the moment seems to be a game for billionaires, trying to make the first move in the emerging industry of space tourism. Yet with tickets ranging from USD $250,000 to $20 million, what significance does space hold for ordinary people and society at large? In tonight's late chat I share my personal views and draw on my life stories to show you why the billionaire space race is one of the most important steps in man kind.
In this chat, I ponder about an increasingly relevant question of our times: "Can machines actually think?" With incredible improvements in the fields of artificial intelligence, computers are getting increasingly smarter but surprisingly more human like. Is it conceivable that very soon, they will gain human intelligence? What exactly is intelligence anyway, and how can we be so sure that we humans have "intelligence"? Let's take a deep dive as I explore this topic with the philosophy works of Alan Turing, John Searle, Rene Descartes and Gilbert Ryle.
Tonight I share about my recent reading of Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist". I think The Alchemist is truly a great novel with very deep lessons on life. In this video, I share my own thoughts and break down 6 things that we can take away from this book to enhance our own lives immediately. The Alchemist tells the tale of Santiago, a young shepherds boy who goes on an adventure to travel all the way to Egypt and its Great Pyramids to seek the ultimate treasure that he has dreamt about.
Around the world, we all enjoy easy access to the internet that has led us to see its universality; but despite appearances, is the internet actually free? On a deeper look, there is an overarching transaction that is going on and that is the exchange of our data for accessing the internet. This currency has incredible ramifications for privacy in our society and the current trend seems to suggest a death to privacy. What does the death of privacy mean for us? What are its implications? Tonight, I consider this topic with you and offer my own thoughts.
Most of us would consider an evening well spent to be one spent with our phones as we engage in satisfying digital entertainment from Netflix to Social Media to YouTube to Games. Why are we so transfixed on our phones? Philosophers such as Robert Nozick would provide unique answers to this perplexing question.
In tonight's drink chat, I ponder on what philosophical significance and meaning we can take away from the Coronavirus Pandemic. In my attempt, I am reminded of great French-Algerian philosopher Albert Camus' great work of fiction "The Plague" (originally "La Peste"), though fictional and published in 1947, the plot bears a striking resemblance to the current development of the pandemic. Does Albert Camus have clairvoyance or has he figured out human nature? "The Plague" is incredibly relevant to our current situation and Camus' philosophy of absurdism maybe our answer.
The black swan has become one of the most important theories of recent times. Originally coined by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his 2007 book "The Black Swan". Taleb describes unpredictable events that can significantly transform any established order. In this podcast, I take a deep dive and offer my own explanation and thoughts on the significance of the black swan theory as well as any solutions that we can devise to allow us to conquer black swans.
When you look at a clump of random coloured clay being valued at USD $20 million and a piece of white canvas being sold at USD $15 million, you begin ask yourself what makes something art? And what makes art so valuable? Tonight, I bring you on a philosophical journey to understand the truth behind art, as I look at the philosophies of Plato, Aristotle, Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida and George Dickie.
As humans, we deeply want to be happy. All of us are united on our pursuit of happiness but what if, our chase of happiness is actually the source of our unhappiness? In tonight's late chat, I share with you the "happiness trap" that we may all be snared by, according to the theories of Dr. Russ Harris, the author of The Happiness Trap. I share with you my own interpretation and thoughts on the relevance of this theory towards our journey of happiness today.
In tonight's late chat, I talk about how chaos secretly rules our world and beyond the pristine image of order we believe defines our live, there is much more going on behind the scene. Specifically, I look into the "butterfly effect" conceived by Edward Lorenz in his paper 'Deterministic Nonperiodic Flow'. I explain his theories and explores their application to the world of today..