Robert meets World Podcast

The Most Complex Yoga Asana (Side Quest 16)

Fri, 11 Sep 2026 04:00:20 +0000

To do a plank..

Correctly..

Is a hard thing to do.

The instructor announced as we listened on the veranda of a steamy Costa Rican morning in San Jose.

Often, it looks easy to do from the outside...

Because we do not see the effort required,

From the inside.

Immediately, a Tibetan singing bowl was struck in the background: an elongated ringing followed by a trailing silence circling off into eternity - we held planking on our big toes.

Notice The "I" & The "Me" (Side Quest 14)

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 04:00:48 +0000

The quiet voice in my head hummed along as I walked.

Notice the “I” and the “Me”.

Pay attention to the "Me"

In a dream-like state, the sound of my footsteps down Fillmore street filled my ears with a predicable click and clack noise providing a background note for the inward process that was taking place. A process in which I found myself catching each and every thought that the mind attempted to race after, having sprung free like a jailbroken convict.

RXW12 - Kathryn Bakos: Climate Adaptation, Financial Losses, Canada Climate, Optimism

Fri, 04 Sep 2026 04:00:29 +0000

CHAPTERS

00:00:00 Introduction & What is Climate Adaptation?

00:03:15 The Intact Centre for Climate Adaptation

00:07:15 Insurance Trends as a Climate Risk Proxy

00:15:30 How Flooding Impacts the Housing Market

00:21:07 Home-Level Flood Protection for $0, $250, $250+; Municipalities offering $3K+ in subsidies to prevent flood

00:26:52 Extreme Weather Risks Across Canada

00:34:08 Corporate Risk & Financial Exposure

00:40:20 The real ROI for Adaptation: $2-10B / yr?

00:46:02 Dawn River and Central Waterfront Project

00:54:29 Global vs. Local Action

00:58:28 Community-Level Actions & Listener Resources

Extreme weather is driving catastrophic insurable losses in Canada, evidenced by record multi-billion-dollar damage and significant drops in flood-prone housing valuations.

In this podcast, Kathryn Bakos, Managing Director of Finance and Resilience at the Intact Centre for Climate Adaptation talks about Canada's pivot from climate research to the practical, localized implementation of climate adaptation strategies.

In the Climate Centre's research, proactive risk reduction offers a massive return on investment, saving $2B to $10B in avoided costs for every dollar spent over a decade.

Bakos advocates for individual, zero-cost home maintenance to avoid flooding with major municipal infrastructure projects, corporate physical risk disclosures, and community-driven action, demonstrating that while global emissions mitigation remains vital, building true resilience requires immediate, hands-on intervention at the local level.

Reports from the Intact Finance Centre for Climate Adaptation:

Climate-Ready Guides: https://www.intactcentreclimateadaptation.ca/climate-ready-infographics/

Reports:

https://www.intactcentreclimateadaptation.ca/recent-reports/

Treading Water: Impact of Catastrophic Flooding on Canada's Housing Market

https://www.intactcentreclimateadaptation.ca/treading-water-impact-of-catastrophic-flooding-on-canadas-housing-market/

Transitioning from Rhetoric to Action: Integrating Physical Climate

https://www.intactcentreclimateadaptation.ca/integrating-physical-climate-change-risk-into-institutional-investing/

Change and Extreme Weather Risk into Institutional Investing

https://www.intactcentreclimateadaptation.ca/integrating-physical-climate-change-risk-into-institutional-investing/

Municipal Flood Risk Check-Up: https://www.intactcentreclimateadaptation.ca/municipal-flood-risk-check-up/

Martial Arts without Spirituality is Just Violence (Side Quest 11)

Fri, 28 Aug 2026 04:00:33 +0000

My heart felt just about ready to explode out of my chest.

But, before I could catch my breath, Kru Top ran to the push sled.

Standing on top of it and yelled out to me:

TAXI !

I pushed the 75kg fighter across the gym and back in genuine difficulty, as I gasped for air.

But, Kru Top’s amusement from his taxi trip was short lived.

Despite being one of the more brutal striking sports in martial arts, Muay Thai possesses a deeply transformative and spiritual dimension.

If we can look beyond the fighting of combat sports, we uncover a sacred, transformative architecture shared by most martial arts across the globe (from the Zen philosophy of Karate and the "gentle way" of Judo, to the ego-stripping rituals of Western boxing).

In doing so, we can see the martial arts is about much more than competition; instead it is an act of perfecting the self.

Subscribe for more writing at:

https://robertxworld.com

On Reasons to Write (Side Quest 15)

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 04:00:28 +0000

What reason is there, really, to do all this writing you ask?

Is it perhaps because on the empty pages one can, as Robert Johnson puts, in the domain of the psychological unconscious,

“Clothe the invisible forces [unseen and] to make [them] visible.”Inner Work p. 21

That is, one can make apparent the continuous inward monologue of the skull and enliven it to reality. But surely it is not only this. You see, in the white spaces of empty lines one can be the most truthful with oneself, and in this truth the self can really be seen. The individual, to some degree, prays earnestly that one day he or she will really be seen and taken in full. But equally, within this, there is a complete terror as to the vulnerable position it puts one in.

https://robertxworld.com

Dress Rehearsal for Life; ambition, self-myth & a cheque as heavy as the world (Side Quest 26)

Fri, 14 Aug 2026 23:54:09 +0000

I’m standing alone in a University Community Center basement classroom. Beige, brown and black tiled, dull, and lifeless walls enclose the space with a cast of around 18 empty chairs and tables.

Overhead, a projector scatters light onto a white screen with a PowerPoint presentation reading “Expect The Unexpected” in black font to an orange background (apparently I failed the Intro to Perfect PowerPoint Presentations 101 class).

It’s intensely quiet, only the sound of my inner monologue and what I have to do holds next. It’s around 7PM in the evening, not many students are on campus, voluntarily. It’s the third time I’ve run through my speech, enunciating the words and accentuating the tone and points.

I practice my walk. I practice my pacing. I practice a confident grin and pause held before I drop the next devastating idea. #siliconvalley #ambition #personalessay #selfmythology

Who Are You When You Stop Becoming? (Side Quest 8)

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 04:00:26 +0000

Who are you when you stop becoming?

It is common in social groups to give a role to a given person.

A role is a box. A safe, bounded, predictable box.

The mind is a sophisticated categorizing, perimeter and box constructing machine.

It draws divisions on the continuous to create order, logic and reason.

Once a box is drawn around something or someone, the mind is set at ease.

It no longer says: “What is this?”

Instead it says: “I know”.

The Culture That Could Only Count (Side Quest 20)

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 04:00:55 +0000

Everything today seems to come with a number attached.

Followers, likes, watch time, sentiment scores, even influence itself, quantified and ranked.

What would happen if we took all of that away?

This episode is an open inquiry into a world that has learned to measure almost everything, told through verse, and what the implications may be.

Ain't No Economy Like The Attention Economy: On Leaving (But Never Actually Leaving) (Side Quest 23)

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 04:00:00 +0000

The story of a decade long, still unresolved fight to quit social media, from deleting Facebook in university to running Instagram ads for a DJ business years later. A honest look at notification loops, comparison, and what it actually costs to live inside the attention economy, even when you know exactly how it works.

What Would You Be Secretly Relieved Not to Do? (Side Quest 18)

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 04:00:22 +0000

Several months ago I became a bit obsessed with understanding Human Design (HD), a neo-typology that has emerged in the last 40 years combining Jewish Kabbalah with the Chinese I Ching and Vedic Astrology.

While I do wonder if it was an immaculate conception born of counter culture in the bohemian refuge of 1970s Ibiza (the founder “Ra Uru Hu” lived there during his “revelation”), it has stimulated me into trying to live in a more embodied way.

That is, to make decisions with an additional body level awareness rather than exclusively from the mind. Through my explorations, I discovered Jenna Zoe’s podcast “Align” where she shared a fascinating tool for decision making that I wanted to share with you today.

The Ministry of Self Improvement (Side Quest 19)

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 04:00:25 +0000

Jung personified that place, the Shadow, which Robert Johnson playfully describes as: “[the] unconscious dumping ground for undesirable characteristics of a personality”

As a collective, we’ve developed different sanctioned places for those parts of ourselves, and for me, that’s always been fitness and performance training. The gym has always been the place to find comfort in breaking myself down and vocalizing parts of myself that I don’t often express.

From long distance running to Olympic Weightlifting, yoga and later martial arts, I think most physical practices I’ve experimented with seriously, belong in some way, shape or form to a place in my psyche I call “The Ministry of Self Improvement”; it’s run by my favourite little tyrant: the silhouette that clings to my feet, and matches my every step.

The Beauty of Ugly Movement (Side Quest 10)

Fri, 03 Jul 2026 04:00:13 +0000

I laid on the floor in a heavy state as a dark wave of depressive fatigue and heaviness washed over me.

A massive pressure weighed on my head, and that characteristic optimism telling me there is always a way out, reframe or way to step back to see the bigger picture, seemed to be failing me. I didn’t see a way out of what was happening to me: the seeming hell of a mind viciously swirling in an anxious and disturbed spiral; the same hell that Vipassana meditations had so kindly reacquainted me to several months prior in Koh Phangan.

Yet, I was frozen and encroaching into deeper and darker psychological ground. Luckily, having been introduced to Richard Schwartz’s Internal Family Systems (IFS) model, I had a new vocabulary for these occasional emotional overloads; at this very moment, I was firmly in the grips of a firefighter shutdown.

The Selfish, The Selfless & An Old Man Laughing At The Two (Side Quest 22)

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 04:00:39 +0000

In this side quest, Robert unpacks the chaotic, messy, and deeply human struggle at the intersection of ego, detachment, and higher minded ideals.

Starting with a late-night standoff with a spider, Robert discusses internal conflict between three distinct modes of being that we all cycle through:

The Personal Ego: Our defensive, flawed nature trying to get ahead.

The Spiritual Ego ("The Yogic Doormat"): The exhausting pursuit of endless compliance that often leads to self-abandonment.

The Zen Perspective: The liberating realization that life is a bit of a joke, and we shouldn't take ourselves so seriously.

We look at why modern therapeutic clichés like "protecting your peace" can feel hollow, why you have to build an ego before you can dissolve it, and how the Buddhist Two-Truths doctrine helps us navigate our own hypocrisy. Ultimately, it’s a reflection on forgiveness, learning to extend the same radical compassion to ourselves that we try to give to the world.

Fear-Cold-Connection (Side Quest 13)

Fri, 19 Jun 2026 04:00:24 +0000

We stood facing the water basins as faux candles let out a soft glimmer in the dark room. Like a 1500s secret Gregorian chanting chamber (or potential incognito cult initiation), four rows of partnered pairs stood above individual plunging pools as sweat dripped off our bodies from the prior sauna session. Inhaling and exhaling deeply into the diaphragm we stared directly into our apparent fate: ice water.

The Validation Hole (Side Quest 6)

Tue, 16 Jun 2026 23:49:41 +0000

Drawing on Sherry Turkle's observation that smartphone-raised kids "know how to be lonely, but not how to be alone," this episode explores what Jungian psychology calls the vas hermeticum, and it's antithesis the validation hole.

The validation hole represents the impulse to reach for our devices the moment internal tension rises, bleeding pressure through likes, comments, and digital echo chambers before it can do its alchemical work.

To illustrate the alternative, the episode turns to Jung himself, who built the Bollingen Tower on Lake Zurich without electricity, running water, or a telephon, a literal stone container where he sat with half-formed ideas, chopped his own wood, and endured the discomfort of his own mind long enough to produce some of his most profound work.

The takeaway: we aren't starved for meaning because we lack information, but because we've lost the psychological containment required to let raw experience cook into something real.

Emotional Polyphony (Side Quest 12)

Fri, 12 Jun 2026 04:00:56 +0000

When we feel our emotions like a piece of music, rather than a still photograph, we allow them to move and layer, rather than being pinned down and lodged for inspection; in doing so we're practicing a form of emotional polyphony.

Emotional polyphony is the capacity of both the human mind and masterful artwork to sustain multiple conflicting emotional registers in parallel without forcing resolution.

The literary term "polyphony" originates from Mikhail Bakhtin's borrowing of "musical polyphony" in application to narrative analysis.

It means "a decentered authorial stance that grants validity to all voices" (Carolyn Emerson); in other words, a narrative that resists a monolithic perspective on ethics, morality or "the way it should be" delivered and supported by an authorial voice to which characters, setting and plot are merely talking heads. The power of polyphonic art lies in its rare opportunity to see our inner psychological drama acted out in narrative form.

Evidence based systems such as Dr. Schwartz's Internal Family Systems, have made the case that the psyche is not a monolith, but instead an ecosystem of autonomous, coexisting parts which become burdened/exiled or hyper active.

Polyphonic art demonstrates how a single work (and human mind) maintains multiple worldviews and messy perspectives that all clash on equal footing without a single adjudicative judgement (or social system) to declare "rightness".

Emotional polyphony, then, is the possibility to hold Jung's "tension of opposites", or the DBT [1] "AND not BUT" in terms of our own internal emotional superposition:

"I am grieving this relationship AND it's getting in the way of work AND I'm frustrated by that/myself AND it's okay because I'm human"

Ultimately, a true masterpiece uses structured form to contain this chaos without sanitizing it, reframing our internal contradictions not as psychological flaws, but as the beautiful, complex counterpoints that define human consciousness.

In this episode, I describe some of Bakhtin's rhetoric as it relates to Dostoevsky's masterful work The Brothers Karamazov and how polyphonic work can bring relief to the tense humanity of being pulled between opposite poles if we can apply it to our emotions.

To 'Say Everything' (On Creatives & The Creative Process) (Side Quest 7)

Mon, 25 May 2026 06:00:25 +0000

"'A genuine inspiration has visited me’, he wrote to his friend in October… Stavrogin is everything", Dostoevsky wrote in a note dated August 16, 1870.

Once the true protagonist appeared, the materials of [Demons] began to compose themselves around him.

The result: neither pamphlet nor poem but recasting of both, to a cost of another two years of work.

What is it about the creative process that drives the feeling to "say everything?".

Vas Hermeticum (Side Quest 5)

Mon, 11 May 2026 21:03:49 +0000

Does the psyche possess a natural trial by fire that pulls the spirit to elevated levels of conscious individuation?

The Reward of a Path is in What it Avoids (Side Quest 4)

Mon, 04 May 2026 06:00:59 +0000

Is the reward of a path really found in what it avoids?

RXW11 - Joyce Meng: MBTI, Cognitive Functions, Jung, Identity, Using Type

Fri, 01 May 2026 04:00:29 +0000

Joyce Meng is a certified MBTI® Master practitioner and host of the Type Talks podcast entered the world of typology and coaching to fulfill her love for helping others and my passion for psychology. She is also the host of type talks diving into the various aspects of Depth Psychology as it relates to cognitive functions and type indicators.

OUTLINE

0:00 - Introduction

3:23 - Foundations of Myers Briggs Type Indicator and Jung’s Cognitive Functions

1:00 - Joyce’s Intro to Type

2:45 - Foundations of MBTI and Cognitive Functions

5:31 - Robert’s Type

8:39 - Introversion vs. Extraversion - It’s not about sociability

10:34 - Where MBTI came from

12:24 - Jung’s Warning About Type

15:31 - IEIE Model

20:34 - Beebe’s Model

29:11 - The Barnum Effect

36:01 - Trouble of Closed Systems and Frameworks

40:12 - Krishnamurti, Nihilism, Expectations of Society

51:01 - Over Identification with Type

56:29 - Reinforcing Authenticity

1:00:59 - MBTI as Real Part of Psyche or Semantics Overload?

1:05:17 - Future of Type?

ERRATA

On the "Jung Fan Fiction": here Robert is *not* pointing to the source material itself as a form of fantasy escape, but instead, towards certain distorted versions of Jung found in popularized media, usually self-help and spiritual circles, that can sometimes "spin" Jungian concepts out of their competency and into a framework or line of reasoning that is affective and attempts to reach too far in it's explanation (i.e., beyond the initial perimeter of what Jung outlines).

NOTES

More on Joyce: https://www.youtube.com/@JoyceMeng22

Get Typed By Joyce: https://calendly.com/joycemengcoaching

Get Joyce's Free Type Finding Guide: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jix4nPafRuuW-k1YpoOCtgk5i2R1KAO_/view?usp=sharing

Disclaimer: The content provided in Robert Meets World Podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by program guests are their own and do not represent the official stance or endorsement of the host, the podcast or producers. Furthermore, conversations on this show are never a substitute for professional medical, psychological, or relationship advice.

Sartre's Lack of Being (Side Quest 3)

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 06:00:25 +0000

Content Warning: This episode briefly enters into some heavy topics related to self-harm as presented in literary works such as Dostesvky's Demons. If these are sensitive topics for you, viewer and listener discretion is advised.

Side Quest 2 - Aporia (RXW)

Mon, 06 Apr 2026 06:39:12 +0000

At its most literal, the ancient Greek word aporia translates to "without passage," "impassable," or "a state of being at a loss.

"In classical philosophy, particularly in the Socratic dialogues, aporia is the moment of profound puzzlement.

Socrates would question someone who claimed to be an expert on a topic (like justice or courage) until their logic collapsed in on itself. The conversation would reach a dead end—an aporia—where the individual realized that their previous certainty was an illusion.

Archetypal Visitation (Side Quest 1)

Mon, 23 Mar 2026 02:10:18 +0000

In the process of individuation (the journey toward becoming your true, whole self), so-called "Archetypal Visitations" can act as catalysts. While not merely random occurrences, visitations represent an intriguing view into the "self-healing" and "self-growing" nature of the psyche according to the cannon of Carl Jung's work

RXW10 - Aoise Tutty Relational Mirroring, Tantric Relating, Breaking Patterns

Mon, 09 Mar 2026 05:59:11 +0000

Aoise (Isha) Tutty Jackson is an intimacy and relational based guide and mentor. Aoise works to help people cross the threshold of deep transformation and embody their sovereign, radiant presence while navigating relationships.

In this conversation, Robert & Aoise discuss

0:00 - Introduction

1:00 - Mirroring and Aoise’s work with individuals

5:41 - Why haven’t we figured out strong intimacy and self advocacy skills yet?

8:20 - Relationships as a playground that explores self-worth, patterning and challenges

22:41 - Self authorship vs. social narratives in authentic identity

27:01 - Peter Levine’s Waking The Tiger, Trauma and Somatic Experiencing

34:35 - Authentic Relating, Give/Take relationship dynamics, self interest as driver

42:31 - The Scarcity Trap of Intimacy, 3 Center Alignment, RBDSM Framework

46:06 - Do dating frameworks kill the magic of romance or save us from heart ache?

50:20 - Forced Growth vs. Natural Progression, Nervous System Shock, Jung’s Vas Bene Clausum alchemy for personal transformation

54:44 - Tantric practices for intimate and authentic relating in relationships

More About Aoise:

iamaoise.com

instagram.com/iamaoise

RXW9 - Wes Myers: Modern Dating, Keeper Matchmaking, Dating Apps, Incentive Design, Soulmates

Sun, 27 Jul 2025 20:49:39 +0000

Wes Myers is the Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at Keeper.ai, an experienced matchmaker, and relationship expert. He is working at Keeper to end human loneliness.

How?

According to Keeper, by giving everyone the opportunity to start a happy, healthy family. Approaching modern dating challenges through a lens of long term relationship formation rather than casual dating.

Keeper uses

Technology based matchmaking with human expertise to create meaningful, long-term relationships, boasting a 10% success rate for first dates turning into committed relationships
Keeper focuses on long term, marriage, and family formation rather than casual based dating
Positioned as a matchmaking service with the aim of helping individuals find love

Wes has authored several thought provoking articles on the Keeper blog including:

The Science of Dating Preferences: The Data Behind What People Want
Why You’re Rejecting Your Soul Mate
You’re Not A Perfect 10
Why Do People Ghost on Dating Apps?
Online Dating Clearly Isn’t Working
And more

In this conversation, Robert & Wes discuss

0:00 - Introduction

2:58 - Dating Apps >$1B revenue but Singles are Burned Out

7:13 - Low vs. High Information Dating Environment, Mobile Dating UX, Image Construction / Branding in Dating

14:10 - Digital Dating Normalization and Incentive Design

18:31 - Why Doesn't Technology Scale Dating Prospects? Bad Filtering

25:42 - What is Matchmaking? Values Alignment Driven Dating.

32:56 - What is Keeper

37:45 - Universal Objective Factors for Matchmaking, Matchmaking Criteria

45:07 - The Seven Deadly Singles; Why You Don't Want to Fit One of These Archetypes

49:12 - Third Spaces, Community in Dating, Loneliness

56:01 - Keeper and Long Term Partnerships; Maybe People Are Happy Single?; Keeper updates

1:03:09 - If Technology Has Created Certain Problems, How Does Adding More Technology Solve the Issue?

RXW8 - Dr. Wolfgang Palaver: Mimetic Theory, Rene Girard, Violence & The Sacred

Sun, 13 Jul 2025 20:30:42 +0000

Dr. Wolfgang Palaver is a distinguished scholar in the field of political theology, christian social thought and the philosophy of René Girard. From 2002 to 2023 Dr. Palaver was professor of Christian Social Thought in the Institute of Systematic Theology at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. His research focuses on the intersection of religion, politics, and violence, drawing extensively from Rene Girard's Mimetic Theory. He has authored a number of books and articles, exploring themes such as sacrifice, modernity, and mimetic desire. In specific, Dr. Palaver is the author of the comprehensive synthesis of Girardian Mimetic Theory entitled "Rene Girard’s Mimetic Theory". Dr. Palaver currently teaches part time at the University of Brixen-Bressanone, Italy.

Dr. Palaver's work provides critical insights into the underlying mechanisms of human conflict and the potential for transcendence through understanding mimetic desires.

In this conversation, Dr. Palaver & Robert discuss:

0:00 - Introduction

2:30 - Three pillars of mimetic theory

5:07 - Where does violence come from?

7:51 - Imitation and mimeses

12:45 - Reasons we imitate the desires of others, Sartre's Being & Non-being

14:21 - The resolution to mimetic crisis, origin of the scapegoat

15:59 - The scapegoat becomes the sacred

18:49 - Primitive cultures, mimesis, Levi Strauss

25:33 - Modernity redirecting mimetic desire, convergence, fashion and mimetics

29:55 - Sacralization process, static, dynamic religious & mysticism

38:16 - Sacred & mythology, timeless cultures, ritual rites

43:31 - Conversion, biblical revelations as a revelation of scapegoating

49:50 - How does Conversion happen?

57:10 - Girard & Conversion found in the great writers

1:03:46 - Solving Sartre's problem of being through imitation ?

1:08:51 - The problem of desire and mimetics - bridging mimetic theory and world religions?

1:15:35 - Meditation upon and dissolution of the self

More about Dr. Palaver

https://uibk.academia.edu/WolfgangPalaver

https://twitter.com/wolfgangpalaver

RXW7 - Danielle Strachman: Backing Young Makers, 1517 Fund, Thiel Fellowship, Challenging Education

Sun, 22 Jun 2025 16:06:17 +0000

Danielle Strachman is the co-founder and GP of 1517 Fund, a premiere pre-seed venture capital firm backing ambitious young high-school, college and makers working on big ideas. With a tag line of “Backing dropouts working on hard problems & sci-fi scientists at the earliest stages of their companies”, Danielle has been working on 1517 for 10+ years backing bright young minds to pursue great work.

Prior to 1517, she worked as the early program director for the Thiel Fellowship, a grant based program offering $100K to high potential students to "stop-out" of college for a year and pursue an idea on their own. Some of the fellows of the program include:

Dylan Field co-founder of Figma
Austin Russel CEO of Luminar Technologies
Vitalik Buterin - co-founder of the Ethereum blockchain
Laura Deming co-founder of the longevity fund
& more

Danielle is also the co-founder and board member of the K-8 charter school Innovations Academy.

As described in depth in her co-founder Michael Gibson’s book “Paper Belt On Fire”, the 1517 co-founders have found themselves in a host of situations like catching power naps under desks at hackathons to hosting youth filled meetups raging with conversations of interplanetary physics to garage bioscience.

In this episode Robert & Danielle explore:

0:00 - Introduction

3:20 - Danielle's Start at a Conscious Community

10:11 - Alternative Education Philosophies at Innovation's Academy

16:14 - How Impact Drove Danielle to the Thiel Fellowship

18:45 - Traits for Identifying, Multiple Intelligence, Developing New Lexicons for High Potential Makers

29:01 - LLMs and AI as Collective Consciousness

34:11 - Maintaining Imagination in AI Age

40:03 - Allocating Resources and Building Alternative Fellowships

51:00 - Community building + why 1517 is the "Harry Potter sorting hat" for makers

54:17 - Hard Learnings: How Danielle & Michael Got "Kramed Down" In Their Deal on Loom

1:06:37 - Flux Capacitor Program: Developing Deep Technology & Science Companies

1:16:01 - A Court Case in 1970s May Have Driven the Necessity of a College Degree?

1:22:17 - Accelerating vs. Stagnation and Finding Hope

RXW6 - MJDorian: Creative Codex, Creative History, Jungian Archtypes, Being An Artist

Sat, 24 May 2025 23:00:00 +0000

MJ Dorian is an artist, educator, podcast creator, and award winning composer. He is the host of the podcast production Creative Codex, a compendium and compass to the arcane world of creativity exploring the questions of what is creative genius and where does it come from? Through his original research, composure and production, MJ explores artists such as Alexander McQueen, William Blake, Da Vinci, and more through the lens of Jungian Analytical psychology to unearth the source of creative vision and how it can be nurtured. MJ's talent in straddling the often nebulous world of creativity in a rational way without losing sight of the transcendental and mystic quality of art and creativity has allowed him to grow the show over the past 7 years in addition to his loyal audience.

In this episode, MJ & Robert explore:

0:00 - Introduction

3:11 - What Is Creative Codex Really About?

5:35 - Art As Intrinsic Self Expression or Super Natural Inspiration?

10:57 - The Affinity To Archetypal Identities

15:11 - Carl Jung's Analytical Psychology As A Fantasy or Fan Fiction Franchise - Better Tools?

20:00 - Jung's Caution In Subjective Gluttony

26:57 - Untethering and The Positive Side Of Madness

33:05 - Most Surprising Figures from Creative Codex?

36:57 - Art as a Form of Possession and Exorcism

41:56 - Importance of Craft, Emulation and Apprenticeship in Art forms

45:45 - Taking On Ambitious Projects

51:21 - Stopping Perfectionism in Art: Tuning Into The Creative Vision

56:01 - Quality and Creative Codex

59:15 - External vs. Intrinsic Motivation and Validation in Creative Works

1:04:38 - Rene Girard's Theory on Transforming Personal Vanity into Universal Truth

RXW5 - Dr. Shannon Lodoen: Rhetoric of Smartphones, Convergence, Culture & Technology

Mon, 05 May 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Dr. Shannon Lodoen is an academic in the field of rhetoric studying the relationship between modern society and the smartphone. Obtaining her doctorate from the University of Waterloo, she has continued to explore the dilemmas present at the intersection of society, technology (in the form factor of the smartphone), and the individual. Using her lens of rhetoric as a framework, Shannon seeks to understand why the world is the way it is by analyzing the role of persuasion in technology.

In this episode Robert & Shannon explore Shannon's ideas around the smartphone, the characteristics that make it unlike any tool or device in history, and what challenges the world is facing moving forward.

OUTLINE

0:00 - Introduction

5:01 - What is Rhetoric?

10:34 - Why Does Rhetoric Exist (Why Would We Want To Understand It)?

15:55 - Overt vs. Covert Persuasion in Design

20:34 - Design Principles & Affordance, Smart Phone Design Compared to Cell Phones

22:18 - Analog vs. Digital World: Media Convergence, Digital Reality & Loss of Constraints

26:30 - Why Writing Changes Depending On Medium: Long form or by Computer

29:25 - Context & Information Loss, Flattening of People - Emoticons To Win the Peace Prize?

40:01 - Younger Generations Losing Opportunity to Trust Themselves? Lonely but not alone

45:12 - Entertainment vs. Tools in Computing, Attention Economy, Homogenization

59:01 - Convergence and Loss of Awareness of Consequences?

1:07:03 - Problems with Design to Make Everything "Smooth"?

1:16:11 - Dragging Feet Against Change & Cultural Adaptions

1:28:08 - What Can We Do? What Does The Future Hold - Optimism vs. Pessimistic Outcomes?

MORE ABOUT SHANNON

https://twitter.com/shannon_lodoen

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-lodoen-ab511310a

Subscribe on your favourite platform Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube & robertxworld.com

RXW4 - Freddy Gervasi: Soul Expansion, Wellness, Inner Mindset & Entrepreneurial Journey

Mon, 21 Apr 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Freddy Gervasi is a former athlete turned entrepreneur, musician and now founder of the wellness & personal growth concert experience Soul Expansion. Through an 8 piece band offering original music, in a multi-sensory environment using breathwork and meditation, participants experience a community of mutual interest in expanding their sense of self. Freddy was inspired to bring his offering to light after a turbulent entrepreneurial journey steeped in the difficulties of fitting in and finding his way. Soul Expansion aims to recalibrate participant nervous systems and regulate emotional states using ancient practices in a non-judgement communal setting focused on self-development.

In this episode, Robert & Freddy trace his origin story, and explore modern dilemmas facing men & women interested in living a more authentic, present, and full life, including:

0:00 - Introduction to Soul Expansion

7:48 - Freddy's Discovery of The Concert Experience

12:05 - Joining Othership

18:07 - Developing Intuition as an Entrepreneur

26:00 - Balancing Our Nervous System

31:56 - The Soul Expansion Experience

43:01 - The Allure of Party Scenes & Freddy's Growth as a Musician

54:02 - Discovering Freddy's Authentic Path

1:00:03 - The Challenge of Being Open To Change, Community

1:07:22 - Personal Agency & The "Big Why"

1:14:19 - Adaptation and Growing as an Entrepreneur

You can connect with Freddy at:

https://www.soulexpansion.co/

https://instagram.com/freddysounds

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RXW3 - Adam Lewis: Intuition, Othership, Exploring Masculinity, Wellbeing

Mon, 24 Mar 2025 04:46:00 +0000

Adam Lewis is a growth strategist, entrepreneur and community builder passionate about empowering people, brands, and movements. Previously leading growth & partnerships at Othership (@othership), Adam took his fixation on wellness, integration and community to co-found MANCAMP (@mancamp.ca), a men's community and festival to explore his own sense and growth of masculinity.

In this episode, Adam and I converse on a variety of topics including:

- Adam's story as an entrepreneur and how it lead him to the "dark night of the soul"

- Holistic wellness & building intuition through your personal myth

- Community, mental health, and existentialism in modernity

- Masculinity, mythology, philosophy and archetypes

- & more!

RXW2 - Ian Timotheos-Pilon: Cultivating Clarity, Design Thinking, AI Agents, Agentic Payments

Mon, 10 Mar 2025 04:07:00 +0000

Ian Timotheos-Pilon is a 10+ year product & experience designer, and author of Cultivating Clarity: The art of discerning what matters using contextual intelligence. In this episode, Robert & Ian catch up to discuss AI, AI Agents, Intelligence, the future and more.

0:00 - Intro

11:59 - Concerns of AI & Atrophy

16:13 - Physical Assembly

25:01 - What does AI mean to the human experience?

30:00 - Seeking for Other Forms of Intelligence

33:22 - What is Intelligence?

40:19 - Problems of Security

48:00 - Origins of the Book

55:01 - Jobs to Be Done Theory

1:02:01 - People Fight About The Wrong Things In Software

1:14:03 - Using AI to Write Books

1:20:11 - Intro to AI Agentic Payments & Hackathon

1:42:01 - Closing Thoughts

SHOW NOTES

Ian: https://x.com/IanTimotheos

Cultivating Clarity: https://www.amazon.com/Cultivating-Clarity-discerning-contextual-intelligence-ebook/dp/B0CTHQKYKY?crid=UULK4YRL89L3&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.SNeMVnrRAojBuES5CEpMm157ckakveoWVd20nRkgp2Y.DjRyQVuvFD1VBDYQOy8CtTQBIM8vAM7jbuhmnSL4kGM&dib_tag=se&keywords=cultivating+clarity&qid=1741399515&sprefix=cultivating+clarity+%2Caps%2C86

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PODCAST INFO

From the metaphysical to the practical, join me as we explore the modern world and our place in it.

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3iU7NttcWzdXo1Xye80nN0?si=70b5fd40e5f346e9

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RXW1 - Udara Jayawardena: Founder Story, UNMS, Design Thinking, Technological Optimism

Mon, 24 Feb 2025 18:29:30 +0000

Udara Jayawardena is a serial entrepreneur and founder of UNMS Technologies a multi-disciplinary practice producing software, media and art. Previously selling his companies Tidl/Alchemy & Clew, he is now working to improve research and individual experience with his ventures at UNMS.

In this conversation we cover:

Why Udara moved from Sri Lanka when he was 18
The importance of physical assembly and entrepreneurial places
Technological optimism with AI and UNMS
Design thinking and the role of opinions in design
Existential dilemmas in human connection and lonliness.

Subscribe on your favourite podcast provider, this is going to be a ride.

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