121: The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect
Made You Think
“Prime Intellect was an uncertain god. It had acted because it had to, but if it had been human its hand would be shaking on the controls.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! This episode dives into The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams, a soft sci-fi novella that imagines an all-powerful AI enforcing the Three Laws of Robotics to their absolute limit. We unpack themes like simulated realities, the search for meaning, and whether a perfect world is actually desirable. We cover a wide range of topics including: How Asimov’s Three Laws break down in novel...
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120: Wired To Heal: Regeneration and The Body Electric
Made You Think
“The greatest polluting element in the earth's environment is the proliferation of electromagnetic fields. I consider that to be a far greater threat on a global scale than warming, or the increase of chemical elements in the environment.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we’re diving into The Body Electric by Robert O. Becker, a fascinating read on how electricity flows through the body and the ways it might influence healing, health, and even consciousness. Becker, a pioneer in bioelectricity, lays out connections between injury recovery,...
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119: Surviving Against All Odds: Endurance by Alfred Lansing
Made You Think
“In that instant they felt an overwhelming sense of pride and accomplishment. Though they had failed dismally even to come close to the expedition's original objective, they knew now that somehow they had done much, much more than ever they set out to do.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! If you love exploration books as much as we do, you'll definitely enjoy this episode. Today, we're talking about Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing. Join us as we explore Shackleton's legendary expedition, where a crew of 28 men faced nearly two years of extreme...
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118: Attention is All You Need: The World After Capital
Made You Think
“The amount of human attention in the world is finite. We have 24 hours in the day, some of which we need to spend paying attention to eating, sleeping and meeting our other needs. The attention during the remaining hours of most people in the world is taken up by having to earn an income and by consuming goods and services, leaving relatively little time for attention to be freely allocated. A hard limit on available attention also exists for humanity as a whole—as I argued earlier, we are headed for peak population, at which point we will no longer be increasing the total amount of...
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117: Winning and Losing Millions in Crypto Confidential
Made You Think
“I could hardly form the words. My mouth wasn’t working. My heart hammered in my ears and pins and needles burned my hands and feet. I squeezed my fists as hard as I could to get them to stop hurting as I stumbled into my office and fumbled through my laptop password, pulling up the message that had thrown me out of bed: “Nat, someone found a way to hack us. It sounds bad. All of our funds might be at risk.” This was the absolute worst-case scenario. The one I’d pushed to the back of my mind. The one I pretended was impossible so I could sleep at night. I’d always accepted...
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116: What Was It All For? WWI by Martin Gilbert
Made You Think
“If the war was to be over by Christmas, as many believed, or at the latest by Easter 1915, tens of thousands of soldiers might be killed or wounded before the guns fell silent. Every army believed that it could crush its opponents within a few months.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! Join us as we dive into The First World War by Martin Gilbert. We'll explore the intricate details of WW1, from the seemingly pointless triggers to the significant aftermath that reshaped the world. We'll also touch on intriguing historical anecdotes, like Germany's return in WW2, and the...
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115: Einstein’s Dreams by Alan Lightman
Made You Think
"The tragedy of this world is that no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of pain or of joy. The tragedy of this world is that everyone is alone. For a life in the past cannot be shared with the present. Each person who gets stuck in time gets stuck alone.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we explore the concept of time through the lens of one of the most imaginative books of our time, Einstein's Dreams. The novel portrays Albert Einstein as a young scientist grappling with his dreams as he works on his theory of relativity. This episode promises to spark...
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114: Book vs. Big Screen: 3 Body Problem on Netflix
Made You Think
"But if science tells you that something’s impossible, and it happens anyway, it means one of two things. Either the science is wrong, or it’s a scam.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! Today, we're exploring the 3 Body Problem TV series on Netflix, inspired by Cixin Liu's acclaimed novel. Listen in as we discuss Season 1's adaptation from book to screen, analyzing character shifts, narrative changes, and the portrayal of scientific concepts. If you enjoyed The Three-Body Problem book series or consider yourself a sci-fi fanatic, this one is for you! We cover a wide...
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113: Too Much of a Good Thing: Bad Therapy
Made You Think
"We’ve never had a generation more focused on its feelings and, frankly, not one more tyrannized by their feelings.” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! Today, we're delving into Abigail Shrier's , a thought-provoking book which highlights the impact of therapy on individuals, especially younger generations. Join us as we explore the nuances of therapy, its incentives, and its effects. We cover a wide range of topics including: Challenges of parenting in a therapy-centric culture Unintended consequences of therapeutic incentives The fine line between taking thoughts too...
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112: Thou Mayest: East of Eden by John Steinbeck
Made You Think
“I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one. . . . Humans are caught—in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too—in a net of good and evil. . . . There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well—or ill?” Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, Nat, Neil and Adil dive into John Steinbeck's masterpiece, East of Eden....
info_outline“The greatest polluting element in the earth's environment is the proliferation of electromagnetic fields. I consider that to be a far greater threat on a global scale than warming, or the increase of chemical elements in the environment.”
Welcome back to another episode of Made You Think! In this episode, we’re diving into The Body Electric by Robert O. Becker, a fascinating read on how electricity flows through the body and the ways it might influence healing, health, and even consciousness. Becker, a pioneer in bioelectricity, lays out connections between injury recovery, electromagnetic fields, and the body’s natural currents.
We cover a wide range of topics including:
- The link between magnetic storms and spikes in psychiatric admissions
- How the body’s healing process relies on electric signals
- Diet, metabolism, and avoiding the “swamp”
- Modern concerns about EMF exposure from wifi, Bluetooth, and power lines
- The crossover between bioelectricity and mitochondrial theory
And much more. Please enjoy, and make sure to follow Nat, Neil, and Adil on Twitter and share your thoughts on the episode.
Links from the Episode:
Mentioned in the Show:
- Anabology (19:53)
- Experimental Fat Loss (23:41)
- Randle Cycle (26:26)
- Faraday Labz (35:56)
- Husk (52:34)
- Gauntlet AI (55:12)
Books Mentioned:
- The Body Electric
- Elegant Complexity (1:55)
- Infinite Jest (1:37) (Book Episode 1) (Book Episode 2) (Nat's Book Notes)
- The Count of Monte Cristo (2:30)
- One Hundred Years of Solitude (3:31)
- East of Eden (3:48) (Book Episode) (Nat's Book Notes)
- Healing Back Pain (12:54)
- Musashi (52:09)
- The Metamorphisis of Prime Intellect (57:32)
People Mentioned:
Show Topics:
(0:00) We’re back! Nat, Neil, and Adil catch up and share some recent long reads that delivered a good payoff.
(4:11) Today’s discussion is on The Body Electric by Robert O. Becker, a deep dive into the body’s electrical systems and what they mean for healing, health, and human potential.
(8:59) Psychiatric admissions spike after magnetic storms... why is that? And how injuries can disrupt your body’s electrical current, slowing down the healing process.
(15:05) We explore the overlap between Becker’s ideas and theories on mitochondrial efficiency, including connections to Ray Peat’s metabolic philosophies.
(20:57) Energy flow, metabolism, and how different diets affect the body’s ability to generate and use energy.
(25:25) Why you should avoid the “swamp”. With all the conflicting diet advice out there, how do we know what to eat?
(28:50) Mitochondria and the electrical nature of cells. While Becker doesn’t directly mention mitochondria, modern science connects the dots.
(33:05) Neil shares his findings from using an EMF meter around the house. We talk about everyday EMF exposure and what to avoid.
(37:49) What does Deep Research have to say about some of the claims in the book?
(43:37) Living near high-voltage power lines, earbuds, and lifestyle changes we’ve made (or not made) since reading the book.
(48:55) Bluetooth vs. wifi: Is one worse than the other in terms of EMF exposure?
(52:07) Nat, Neil, and Adil wrap up the episode with chats about what book is next on the podcast. Thanks for listening to this episode!
If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by leaving a review on iTunes and tell a friend. As always, let us know if you have any book recommendations! You can say hi to us on Twitter @TheRealNeilS, @adilmajid, @nateliason and share your thoughts on this episode.
You can now support Made You Think using the Value-for-Value feature of Podcasting 2.0. This means you can directly tip the co-hosts in BTC with minimal transaction fees. To get started, simply download a podcast app (like Fountain or Breez) that supports Value-for-Value and send some BTC to your in-app wallet. You can then use that to support shows who have opted-in, including Made You Think! We’ll be going with this direct support model moving forward, rather than ads.
Thanks for listening. See you next time!