Recesses of the Mind

In this episode I discuss Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Origin of Inequality and contrast that with the theory of labor, economics, happiness, and how we should learn to live a life of enough

Is ignorance bliss? Is it really about being a "Happy Idiot" or a "Sad Woke"? I don't think this is a binary answer--I believe there is a spectrum of Ignorance that we can use to help tackle this huge issue. Sometimes yes, ignorance is bliss, and sometimes no, it isn't. Listen to me talk about ignorance in the face of God & religion, Death, and Artistotle's Golden Mean. 

Where I talk about my understandings of what Love and Beauty are, with the help from a little Plato and Tinder.

Superstars are the most talented people, but is a "superstar" team also the best? How does competition within an organization suck?

In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court re-established the right to legal abortion in every state in a landmark decision in Roe V. Wade. Every woman now had the right to choose whether or not to have an abortion within the first two trimesters (up to 28 weeks).  This podcast discusses both the economics and my personal opinion on why I believe pro-choice leaves society better off. Bonus long episode after my hiatus! Article:  https://downtofinancedtf.com/2019/05/22/economics-and-opinions-of-abortion/ 

Today I discuss the "7 Slow Motion Disasters" that Malcolm Harris mentions in his book "Kids These Days."  These 7 Slow Motion Disasters have the potential of creating 7 different versions of a Black Mirror Dystopia. Let's see what they are... Tune in to part 2 where I will discuss potential solutions to these disasters! Also thank you to all my listeners. This was a minor milestone for me in my 10th podcast for 2019!

 The sunk cost fallacy makes us stupid. Don’t let it trick you.  Read more economics and finance related stuff at www.downtofinancedtf.com My name is Jeff Wang and this is the GROK THIS! Podcast where I try to better understand the world. I hope you join me on this journey and also better understand the world a little bit better.

The other weekend while I was in New York some random man said a homophobic slur at me for no reason. But I am not offended. In fact, I want to liberate him from his own oppression. In this podcast I talk about Simone de Beauvoir's concept of genuine freedom and how we can all approach life with a perspective of a common good.

In this podcast, I quickly talk about how humanity's innate desire to retain power lead to two of the biggest social issues we have today: sexism and racism.

I truly believe that man's shortcoming often comes when we egregiously assume positions of binary thinking--that is, the only decisions we are offered are either "0" or "1", "No" or "Yes", "This" or "That." But life is never like that. Artistotle speaks of this Golden Mean that man must seek between virtues and vices. You aren't just simply "Brave" or "Cowardly," because between 0 and 1 there lies infinite possibilities and a perfect cross between your virtues and vices.

 Nietzsche says that “Man is a rope stretched between the animal and the Superman--a rope over an abyss. A dangerous crossing, a dangerous wayfaring, a dangerous looking-back, a dangerous trembling and halting." I am a student of Economics and Finance, and also a student of Humanities and Philosophy, hoping to find the bridge between markets and humanity while avoiding the abyss of nihilism.  But I've been having life dilemmas about how I can balance business and ethics.  In this podcast I talk about how I've managed my life dilemmas with Simone de Beauvoir's Duality of Humanity, Nietzche's Rope Analogy, and Villanova's Dr. Thomas Smith's Grocery Store analogy. Because life is not a marathon; it's a grocery store.

I feel lost right now. I wish someone gave me a map and paved road so I could just brainlessly follow it to the vague sense of life that I want to live. Join me in this podcast as I talk about my past week--I was in Switzerland, and it made me think a lot about life, about feeling lost and lacking guidance, and about Nietzsche and his great works.

 Content creation: should we be lazy perfectionists, or disciplined half-asses? Especially for people in the creative field, it's way more important to finish our projects than to only think about how great they could be. Ideas that never come to fruition is an idea that never existed. We all want to be perfectionists, but it's much better to just create. Here I talk about my journey to becoming a disciplined half-ass, with a little sprinkle of Nietzsche. Enjoy!