Episodes

What are the important analog activities in an increasingly digital world? This week, Joey and Jess talk about luddites, handwriting, typewriting, mashing tomatoes, kinetic learning, and carbon dioxide. They don’t talk about Folkways Records. references Taki Taki Luddites Study: Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity: a high-density EEG study with implications for the classroom Rick Barry

In April, SYLVAIN released an open letter of resistance in response to the chaos of the moment we're in. This is a live reading of that letter, and a reminder that resistance is ongoing. Too many in our industry have been quiet in the face of injustice and uncertainty. Too many important conversations have been relegated to back channels. So we put pen to paper, naming simple truths that have guided our company and actions for 15 years—and will continue to guide us. Have a listen or read the o...

What universal truths do you believe in? This week, Joey and Jess talk about database shapes, LLMs, collective human intelligence, apple eating, folk wisdom, and Pi. They don’t talk about apple pie, though. references West End Girls Ethan Mollic on the "universal geometry" of meaning The Platonic Representation Hypothesis Doctor Dillamond’s Classroom Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language Study: Association Between Apple Consumption and Physician Visits Honeycrisp ...

How do you feel about no-phone zones? This week, Joey and Aaron talk about AI, parenting, over-responsibility, constant access, bluetooth speakers, and biking while texting. They don’t talk about Nowadays. references Rabbit r1 AI agent The Humane AI Pin The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee The Last Sun by K. D. Edwards The Bobiverse The Traitors Quad Press Release: "81% of Gen Z report wishing it was easier to disconnect from digital devices"

Do we need to create more with friends? This week, Joey and Jess talk about consuming, the value cycle, parallel play, time horizons, water-based cooking, and Ciabatta. They don’t talk about Real Genius. references Superstar "My grand theory of life is to just hammer the shit out of quadrant 4"

How do we muster the courage? This week, Jess and Joey talk about fear, Inside Out 2, Andor, The Mandalorian, stoking action, and antidotes. They don’t talk about booze. references I can run the world from my mama's house. The New York Times: A.G. Sulzberger: A Free People Need a Free Press

How do we stress professionally? This week, Aaron, Jess, and Joey talk about Cowboy Carter, self-regulation, Frozen, tears, being "professional," and anger. They don’t talk about Organized Konfusion. references Self-regulation for adults: Strategies for getting a handle on emotions and behavior Emmanuel Acho on the myth of the 'Angry Black Man' Sister Wives

How is this world optimized for dating? This week, special guest Chloe returns to chat with Joey about high yield investment strategies, influencers, gender polarization, crushes, the butterfly effect, and Russian hackers. They don’t talk about the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-14. references Nonsense 259! The Trend-Mill Marie Claire: Who is Becca Bloom? Looking for an Explanation in Finance Rumble Boxing

How do you approach reclaiming or disavowing your creative outputs that you don't love? This week, Aaron, Joey, and Jess talk about Smithee-ing, TV edits, résumé writing, Spike Jonze, sportsball, and the DC Universe. They don’t talk about Cordwainer Bird. references "God of Wine" Alan Smithee on IMDB Spike Jonze Charles Barkley The Room Spread your wings

How good is hi-res for our imagination? This week, Aaron and Jess talk about smoothing, the boundless powers of creativity, Smell-O-Phone/Vision, imagination reconstruction, gaming, and nurturing our sense of play. They don’t talk about NHL 98 on Sega Genesis. references The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister Why It's SO Hard to Find a Game You ACTUALLY Like Harvard Business Review: How Generative AI Can Augment Human Creativity Everything Everywhere All At Once - Hot Dog Fingers Scene The Simps...

How do we make people feel seen? This week, Joey, Jess, and Aaron talk about the burden of eyes, privacy, showing, acknowledging, surprise parties, and social anxieties. They don’t talk about the Talking Heads. references Dreaming about Cranberries, sans muffin. Revisiting Critical Nonsense 302! Thought Bottling Critical Incident Stress Debriefing: Helpful, Harmful, or Neither? Observer Principle Hidden Brain Podcast: Relationships 2.0: The Price of Disconnection

How are we processing uncertainty differently? This week, Joey and Jess talk about Punxsutawney Phil, tariffs, the meme recession, Jason Bourne, Edmonton, and Sam Cooke. They don’t talk about the bleak and endless hopelessness of it all. references Corrections Department: There's air in between you and I (even if we're not seventeen) Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson "A Change Is Gonna Come" Corrections Department: The eleven studio albums Sam Cooke recorded and released before his ...

When do we tool or not tool? This week, Jess and Joey talk about rules aversion, AI, devil hamsters, banana slicers, tool expertise, and simplicity. They don’t talk about gaffer tape. references Inc.: After a Tragedy, a Year of Magical Thinking for Sylvain Arc welding

What do you think makes us spoiled? This week, Jess, Joey, and Aaron talk about The Lululemon Index, air travel, gender-based differences, hard work, Warren Buffett, and shrooms. They don’t offer any spoiler alerts. references The Mycelium Network

Bonus episode: A takeover! Aaron shares his latest edition from SYLVAIN’s Progress Report newsletter: To Follow or Not to Follow. For more from SYLVAIN's Progress Report, see progressbysylvain.co.

How should we start bottling things up? This week, Joey and Jess talk about undesired thoughts, Nietzsche, folk wisdom, Marie Kondo, baggage, and forgetting. They don’t talk about the Young "Black" Teenagers. references perseverate Improving mental health by training the suppression of unwanted thoughts

When did we start calling it hibernation and when did hibernating start being a thing? This week, Jess and Joey talk about lux, vitamin D, dopamine, socialization, Groundhog's Day, and disgust thresholds. They don’t talk about the late, great Roy Ayers. references You need more lux.

This week, Jess, Aaron, and Joey celebrate 300(!) episodes of Critical Nonsense by revisiting random episodes. They talked about 121! The Coming-Out Gauntlet and Thick Conversations, 75! Top 3 Things Not to Do in Quarantine, with Clarissa Pharr, 170! Weirder Inspiration, and 158! Buttresses, Tethers, and Grunts. They don’t talk about the Rota Fortunae. references Step Brothers Wheelz of Steel Till the Wheels Fall Off Wood Wheel Wheels of Confusion Keep On Movin' Here's Where the Story Ends

What are the things that we should be treating like corn that's better than corn? This week, Jess and Aaron talk about potatoes, clothing overabundance, plastics recycling, concrete, eating fruits and veggies, and pomegranates. They don’t talk about the International Adult Conspiracy's creamed corn agenda. references Theme Songs with Candy CBS Sunday Morning: Critics call out recycling "fraud" by plastics industry Why modern sandwich bread is different from 'real' bread Shucked: The Original ...

Bonus episode: A takeover! Claire Choi shares her latest edition from SYLVAIN’s Progress Report newsletter: The State of Wellbeing: Are We Unwell? For more from SYLVAIN's Progress Report, see progressbysylvain.co.

Where are other places where desire paths would be relevant when not talking about sidewalks? This week, Joey and Jess talk about friction, grocery store layouts, Norman doors, incentives, breaking templates, and shopping districts. They don’t talk about sneckdowns. references The Bushwhackers Norman Door Do you celebrate sneckdown season?

What's the best way to get sick as an adult? This week, Aaron, Joey, and Jess talk about historically un-sick parents, hyper-individualistic cultures, COVID, community health, personal comfort vs. social responsibility, and rest. They don’t talk about Mudhoney. references Los Angeles Disaster Support Masterlist Mother Jones: Wildfire Smog Is Deadly—But LA’s Covid Mask Organizers Have It Covered Reddit: How Sick Day Culture Differs Around the World Parenting in an Individualistic Culture with ...

What's to come in 2025? This week, Wild Prognostications returns! Jess, Aaron, and Joey make their predictions for the new year, discussing micro-social media [3:30], platform madness [6:52], nihilistic design [13:10], weaponized compliance [18:32], graphic realism pivoting to novel gameplay [24:05], dressing up [30:38], blockbuster novels [33:15], and a runaway AI crisis [36:56]. They don’t talk about supervillain Daniel Dumile. references The Atlantic: We’re All in ‘Dark Mode’ Now Unreal En...

How do we respond to the competing incentives of hybrid work? This week, we revisit our conversation from Critical Nonsense 290! Hybrid Work, this time with special guest and workplace design leader Amanda Stanaway of ERA-co. She joins Joey and Jess to talk about belonging, productivity, the corporate Kool-Aid, burnout, human connection, and hammocks. They don’t talk about hard-boiled eggs. references Amanda Stanaway ERA-co WORKTECH Academy: Flight to character: a fightback begins against hom...