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Jonathan Dickinson is an ibogaine researcher, longtime advocate for exploring the psychedelic’s potential for addiction treatment, and the author of the new book, Ibogaine and the Bicameral Mind: The Transformational Potential of the World's Most Complex Psychedelic Medicine.------------Keep Talking SubstackSpotifyApple PodcastsSocial media and all episodes------------Support via VenmoSupport on SubstackSupport on Patreon------------(00:00) Inside the ibogaine experience(00:34) Jonathan’s journey to ibogaine(01:53) Bwiti and the origins of iboga(03:48) Iboga’s role in African culture(06:47) Jonathan’s initiation in Gabon(07:54) How ibogaine is consumed(09:06) Howard Lotsoff’s accidental discovery(12:38) Why ibogaine was prohibited(16:26) Veterans discover ibogaine(21:07) What an ibogaine journey feels like(24:47) The bicameral mind(27:33) Healing trauma and restoring agency(33:52) How ibogaine restores choice(37:19) Marcus Luttrell’s ibogaine story(41:47) The Stanford ibogaine study(44:30) Why people return to ibogaine(49:27) Ibogaine’s regenerative potential(52:00) Tempering the miracle claims(54:50) Who should consider ibogaine?(56:32) Preparing for ibogaine treatment(58:24) The future of ibogaine and healthcare(61:04) How society should approach ibogaine

Damiaan Denys is a professor of psychiatry at the University of Amsterdam and the co-editor of "Deep Brain Stimulation: A New Frontier in Psychiatry."------------Keep Talking SubstackSpotifyApple PodcastsSocial media and all episodes------------Support via VenmoSupport on SubstackSupport on Patreon------------(00:00) Early Fascination With Human Nature(02:18) Difficult Father and Survival Through Understanding People(04:07) Boredom With Protocolized Psychiatry(06:34) From Anti-Psychiatry to Evidence-Based Medicine(10:01) What Psychiatry Is Supposed To Do(12:27) Defining Mental Disorders and Cultural Relativity(15:42) Choosing Psychiatry’s Biggest Mysteries(18:04) Human Nature as Fundamentally Problematic(20:07) OCD, Addiction, and Dopamine Theory(23:41) Deep Brain Stimulation Origins(26:08) Understanding Obsessions and Compulsions(29:31) How Brain Stimulation Alters Brain Circuits(33:12) Instant Personality Changes After Stimulation(36:41) The Woman Who Cleaned Sixteen Hours Daily(40:04) Self-Confidence as the Hidden Mechanism(43:17) One Root Behind Many Psychiatric Disorders(46:09) Why Deep Brain Stimulation Remains Rare(49:22) Building a Future Around DBS Treatment(53:06) The Three-Part DBS Treatment Team(56:14) Depression Patient Rediscovers Music and Art(58:47) DBS as Stimulation of the Mind(01:01:08) Fragility, Vulnerability, and Human Connection(01:05:18) Soul, Transcendence, and Psychedelic Experiences(01:08:42) Leaving Academia and Returning to Human Beings(01:11:36) Autonomy, Modern Life, and Resisting Comfort

Steve Stewart-Williams is a professor, an evolutionary psychologist, and the author of The Ape that Understood the Universe and his newest book, A Billion Years of Sex Differences: How Evolution Shaped the Minds of Men and Women------------Keep Talking SubstackSpotifyApple PodcastsSocial media and all episodes------------Support via VenmoSupport on SubstackSupport on Patreon------------(00:00) Falling In Love With Evolutionary Psychology(03:30) Explaining Human Behavior Through Evolution(06:57) Why Sex Differences Evolved(10:28) Writing A Book On Controversial Science(12:21) Average Differences And Statistical Overlap(15:17) Human Parenting Shrinks Sex Differences(17:44) Male Interest In Casual Sex(21:19) Evidence Across Cultures And Species(25:23) What Men And Women Want(29:18) Physical Attraction And Resource Preferences(32:32) Replication Crisis And Scientific Confidence(34:55) Ashley Madison And Sexual Marketplace Realities(36:27) Gamma Bias And Delta Bias Explained(40:18) Aggression Differences Between Men And Women(44:19) Toddler Violence And Puberty Changes(47:27) Neuroticism, Sensitivity, And Personality Differences(52:34) Politics, Academia, And Sex Difference Denial(57:21) Academic Freedom And Substack Independence(60:38) Why Truth About Sex Differences Matters(63:44) Harms Of Exaggerating Sex Differences(66:27) Harms Of Minimizing Sex Differences(69:17) Gender Equality Paradox In Scandinavia(71:34) Let People Be Themselves

Kathryn Mannix is a palliative care doctor and the author of With The End In Mind.------------Keep Talking SubstackSpotifyApple PodcastsSocial media and all episodes------------Support via VenmoSupport on SubstackSupport on Patreon------------(00:00) Regret, mistakes, and living fully(02:05) Hospice work and “encountering death”(04:40) Early medicine: oncology training and dying patients(07:20) Falling out of love with oncology research culture(10:10) The hospice “statement from fate”(13:05) Ordinary dying vs Hollywood’s scary version(16:05) Living while dying: love, family, relationships(19:05) Practical “sadmin”: sorting life before death(22:10) Why regret gets a bad rap(25:30) Doing the work: turning wounds into scars(28:55) Dying environments: people and mood matter most(32:10) Nana’s wisdom: losing familiarity with dying(35:40) Medicine “kidnapped dying” and death taboo(38:50) Values-based planning: “what matters most to me”(41:55) Death education, pets, and breaking secrecy(44:10) What dying looks like: hearing and breathing changes(47:25) Trauma from misunderstanding dying sounds(50:35) Comfort meds, guilt, and what happens after death

Jonathan Zimmeramn is a Professor of History of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, and the author of the books "Free Speech: And Why You Should Give a Damn" and "Whose America?: Culture Wars in the Public Schools."------------Keep Talking SubstackSpotifyApple PodcastsSocial media and all episodes------------Support via VenmoSupport on SubstackSupport on Patreon------------(00:00) intro(00:27) Polarized, pessimistic America(02:10) From Birchers to viral clicks(05:05) Decline of religion as fuel(08:12) “Love thy enemy” vs “I hate my opponents”(10:45) Cross-tribe media: why I watch Fox(13:18) Dopamine diets and tribal brains(16:02) Roots beyond social: 90s, higher ed divides(18:40) Education sorts and isolates by degree(21:15) Overlaps and humbling lessons from Fox (Ukraine, MIC)(24:05) Charlie Kirk: free-speech ideals and contradictions(27:22) Assassination & the internet underworld(30:10) Boys, meaning, and failing institutions(33:05) Digital cults, religion, and liberal education(36:10) Learned Hand’s “spirit of liberty”(38:22) Printing-press analogy, AI, and Postman’s question(41:05) Phones out K-16 and secondhand distraction(43:38) Anxiety on campus and adult responsibility(45:30) Free-speech hypocrisy & the “American Hour” proposal