#482 – Pavel Durov: Telegram, Freedom, Censorship, Money, Power & Human Nature

Ep 624 - Big Boy (feat. Nate Marshall) · Jul 16, 2026 Society & Culture

Ayahuasca retreats smell like a cult. If you're a malevolent actor with a costume and a jungle, you can blow the minds of wealthy Westerners and then tell them they're part of an ancient lineage — and charge a thousand dollars a session to come back. Expand

Ep 624 - Big Boy (feat. Nate Marshall) · Jul 16, 2026 Society & Culture

Nate Marshall's dad was a Black Deadhead who rode motorcycles he didn't know how to ride, sold weed in Reading, PA, and was apparently the coolest dude at the Catholic school. Now he has dementia, and Nate is considering slipping him a microdose while playing the Dead. Expand

Ep 624 - Big Boy (feat. Nate Marshall) · Jul 16, 2026 Society & Culture

Phone scrolling fills every quiet mental moment with algorithmically curated noise — Matt McCusker calls it a 'negative flow state.' Those quiet moments of boredom are where original ideas come from, and trading them for outrage content is a losing deal. Expand

The Most Important Questions Of Our Time - George Mack - #1… · Jul 16, 2026 Society & Culture

Pitt and DiCaprio are 'Intel and Microsoft' — established but fading. George makes the case that David Beckham is the 'Apple stock' of male desirability: globally recognised across Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East in a way that any younger rival simply can't match yet. Expand

The Most Important Questions Of Our Time - George Mack - #1… · Jul 16, 2026 Society & Culture

George Mack reimagines Montaigne's famous collection of bizarre cultural norms — applied to modern life. The result: 17 teaspoons of sugar daily, $104K in debt, 30 pounds overweight, less than 10 minutes of silence a day, and 20 years of life spent on TV and social media. This is 'normal.' Expand

The Most Important Questions Of Our Time - George Mack - #1… · Jul 16, 2026 Society & Culture

Male aversion to gay men isn't really about homosexuality — it's about femininity being displayed by a man. The same 'unreliable ally' threat detector that fires when a man cries fires when a man presents as feminine. It's an evolved alarm system, not a moral stance. Expand

The Most Important Questions Of Our Time - George Mack - #1… · Jul 16, 2026 Society & Culture

Men are statistically worse at receiving other men's emotional vulnerability than women are. The same men who claim to care about men's mental health are often the most dismissive when a friend actually opens up. You can't advocate for men's emotional health while refusing to be the person who holds space for it. Expand

The Most Important Questions Of Our Time - George Mack - #1… · Jul 16, 2026 Society & Culture

Your defaults are not your choices — they're confused chemical signals, social norms, and unprocessed trauma. The things you want aren't the things you want to want. Until you consciously design your desires, you're just following someone else's path. Expand

How to Increase Your Emotional Intelligence & Never Get Ang… · Jul 16, 2026 Society & Culture

Research shows that only one-third of people had an 'emotion ally' in childhood — someone warm, nonjudgmental, and present who created space for them to feel. Those who did have better health, relationships, sleep, and sense of purpose as adults. The good news: you can become your own Uncle Marvin. Expand