loader from loading.io

Mona Sobhani — A Neuroscientist’s Journey From Materialism to Beyond (EP.221)

Infinite Loops

Release Date: 06/20/2024

Yuk Chi Chan — On Rockets, Dog Years & Robotic Space-Snakes (EP.238) show art Yuk Chi Chan — On Rockets, Dog Years & Robotic Space-Snakes (EP.238)

Infinite Loops

My guest today is the human Swiss Army Knife, Yuk Chi Chan, who has packed more into the last decade than many people do in a lifetime. Yuk Chi is the founder of Charter Space, the first British space company to graduate from the Techstars Space Accelerator. Before that, he served as an officer in the Singapore army (hmm, so maybe I should have described him as a Singaporean Army Knife) and practiced as a space lawyer (it’s funny how much cooler being a lawyer becomes when you preface it with the word “space”). Suffice to say, Yuk Chi knows a lot about space. We had a blast discussing...

info_outline
Dan Shipper — I, Writer (EP.237) show art Dan Shipper — I, Writer (EP.237)

Infinite Loops

“Ignoring what is obvious incurs a huge cost. It requires you to go about your day numbing yourself to the reality of who you are and what you want—which is a waste of time for you and everyone around you. By contrast, admitting what is obvious is freeing and motivating. But it’s terrifying to do it. Sometimes the most obvious truths about ourselves are hard to see because the consequences of those truths seem so dire.” Those are the opening lines of one of my I’ve read in the last year, written by this week’s guest on Infinite Loops - Dan Shipper. Dan is the Co-founder and CEO of...

info_outline
Dr. Gena Gorlin — How to Build a Builder (EP.236) show art Dr. Gena Gorlin — How to Build a Builder (EP.236)

Infinite Loops

My guest today is Dr. Gena Gorlin, a psychologist specializing in the unique needs of the ultra-ambitious. Unlike many in her field. Gena doesn’t aim to simply lift the floor of her clients’ ambitions — she wants to raise the ceiling. In this episode, she breaks down the “Builder Mindset” - a way of thinking that empowers people to live to healthier, happier, and more fulfilled lives. Over on our , we dig deeper into Gena’s ideas, exploring the perils of perfectionism, the allure of complacency, and why psychological perfection might be more achievable than you think. Important...

info_outline
Nir Eyal — How To Become An Indistractable Force (EP.235) show art Nir Eyal — How To Become An Indistractable Force (EP.235)

Infinite Loops

“Most people don’t want to acknowledge the uncomfortable truth that distraction is always an unhealthy escape from reality.” My latest guest, , writes, consults, and teaches about the intersection of , technology, and business. Nir previously taught as a  at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. In our conversation, Nir gives it to us straight. Distraction is killing us, and stopping us from reaching our full potential. In a world that is constantly conspiring to keep us distracted, Nir provides an...

info_outline
Alex Danco — Finding Mystery in the Margin (EP.234) show art Alex Danco — Finding Mystery in the Margin (EP.234)

Infinite Loops

As the saying goes, only three things in life are certain: death, taxes & Alex Danco. Armed with sizzling hot takes on the sad death of Twitter likes and a new secret weapon in the form of his catchphrase-turned-episode theme (“Without mystery, there is no margin”), Alex returns for his eighth episode. Despite our intentional lack of preparation, somehow this ended up as one our most cohesive conversations yet. As usual, we’ve included links and an episode transcript over on our , where we’ve also made the foolhardy attempt to distil one overriding theme from eight episodes of...

info_outline
Mike Maples, Jr. — How To Become a Pattern-Breaking Founder (EP.233) show art Mike Maples, Jr. — How To Become a Pattern-Breaking Founder (EP.233)

Infinite Loops

Mike Maples, Jr., co-founding partner of the VC firm Floodgate, is the veteran seed investor behind some of the 21st-century’s great success stories, including Twitter, Twitch, and Applied Intuition. His book, Pattern Breakers (co-authored with Peter Ziebelman), articulates a new model of foundership, one built on the simple premise that transformative startups upend rather than improve current practices. My company, OSV, is built around my belief that the collapse of the old models presents enormous opportunities to those savvy enough to seize them, so I had a blast quizzing Mike on the...

info_outline
Ben Orlin — Math As Universal Language (EP.232) show art Ben Orlin — Math As Universal Language (EP.232)

Infinite Loops

As a former quant with six grandkids, my spidey-senses started tingling as soon as I heard about Ben Orlin’s mission to make math fun. A native of St.Paul, Ben is a math educator and popularizer who is known for his “Math With Bad Drawing” blog and book series. Today’s conversation revolves around his excellent, original new book , which reframes math as a language, complete with nouns, verbs and grammar. Like any mathematician worth his salt, Ben loves games, which he sees as ‘puzzle engines’. No wonder then that our conversation meandered and unfolded like a satisfying...

info_outline
Gurwinder Bhogal's Guide to Modern Survival (EP.231) show art Gurwinder Bhogal's Guide to Modern Survival (EP.231)

Infinite Loops

“We have created for ourselves a world that we didn't evolve for.” Gurwinder Bhogal is, for my money, one of the most independent, original and insightful thinkers you’ll find in our corner of the internet. He returns to discuss how willpower and good old-fashioned human agency can help us reclaim our mental sovereignty and escape the “constant avalanche of concerns that are being vomited over us through our laptop screens, our phones, our TV screens, and in conversations.” For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other stuff designed to make you go, “Hmm,...

info_outline
Julia Sonnevend — Charming! (EP.230) show art Julia Sonnevend — Charming! (EP.230)

Infinite Loops

Professor Julia Sonnevend believes that charm is one of the defining political trends of our era. In her latest book, she argues that charm will do no less than “shape the future of democracy worldwide,” exploring how it is weaponized by politicians ranging from Jacinda Arden to Kim Jong Un. In our episode, you will discover why charm has emerged as a political force and how to innoculate yourself when you encounter it in the wild. Julia and I also dig into the five components of a charming interaction, a tantalizing prospect for those of you who want to dabble in the dark arts yourself…...

info_outline
Bilawal Sidhu — How to Unite Reality With Imagination (EP.229) show art Bilawal Sidhu — How to Unite Reality With Imagination (EP.229)

Infinite Loops

As a proud owner of the exceedingly rare “two-digit” designation on CompuServe (the internet’s precursor), I’ve always been an early adopter of new tech. I was, therefore, particularly excited to speak to Bilawal Sidhu, a one-man corporation whose prolific output outpaces many creators put together. Since he was 11, Bilawal has been passionate about using cutting-edge tech to create videos that unite reality with his imagination. He made his bones as a product manager at Google, but after his short-form videos generated millions of views on social media, he decided to go all-in on his...

info_outline
 
More Episodes

Mona Sobhani, Ph.D. is a cognitive neuroscientist, researcher, and author. In 2022 she published her first book, Proof of Spiritual Phenomena: A Neuroscientist's Discovery of the Ineffable Mysteries of the Universe, which documents her “transformation from diehard materialist to open-minded spiritual seeker.”

Mona joins the show to discuss blowing open the box of materialism, why anecdotes are scientifically underrated, what she learned from studying decades of research into psi-phenomena, how quantum science is transforming the way we think about consciousness, and MUCH more!

Important Links:

Show Notes:

  • Mona’s Journey Beyond Materialism
  • Anecdotes are Scientifically Underrated; Research Into Psi Phenomena
  • How Mona Deals With Her Colleagues’ Skepticism
  • The Persuasiveness of Personal Experience
  • Psychic Phenomena & the Scientific Method
  • Blowing Open the Box of Materialism
  • How Quantum Science is Transforming How We Think About Consciousness
  • Transcendent Technology
  • Psychedelics as a Bridge
  • What’s Next for Mona
  • Bringing Humanity Back Into Science
  • Mona as Empress of the World
  • MORE!

Books & Articles Mentioned:

  • Proof of Spiritual Phenomena: A Neuroscientist's Discovery of the Ineffable Mysteries of the Universe; by Mona Sobhani
  • The Radical Ideas of Psychedelic Research 2.0 (Pt.1; Pt.2); by Mona Sobhani
  • Many Lives, Many Masters: The true story of a prominent psychiatrist, his young patient and the past-life therapy that changed both their lives; by Dr. Brian Weiss
  • The New Inquisition: Irrational Rationalism and the Citadel of Science; by Robert Anton Wilson
  • Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy; by Michael Polanyi
  • The Two Cultures; by C. P. Snow
  • The Fabric of Reality: Towards a Theory of Everything; by David Deutsch
  • The work of Dean Radin
  • The Common Basis of Memory and Consciousness: Understanding the Brain as a Write-Read Head Interacting With an Omnipresent Background Field’ by Joachim Keppler
  • How To Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence; by Michael Pollan
  • What the Tortoise Said to Achilles; by Lewis Carroll