Tangentially Speaking with Christopher Ryan

Michael Shermer is the Publisher of Skeptic magazine, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University. He is the author of The Believing Brain, Why People Believe Weird Things, Why Darwin Matters, and others. His latest book is The Moral Arc, now out in paperback. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

The anti-Valentine's Day episode. What is love? Should we have kids? What about a three-way marriage? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Allan has enjoyed a long career as a standup comic and actor. You may have seen him in Mad Men, The Man in the High Castle, Hail Caesar!, and anywhere top notch comics are found. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

In which I rant about the usual: Carrie Fisher, Karl Marx, Matt Le Blanc, micro-aggressions, love, sex, passion, and despair. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Robert Clarke is one of the world's foremost cannabis experts and author, most recently, of Cannabis: Evolution and Ethnobotany (together with Mark D. Merlin). We met by chance in Hanoi in 2003 and have been friends ever since. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Patrick and Bryan are brothers who rode bicycles across the US, from Massachusetts to LA. Their trip is documented at livehigh.org. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Kelly is a postdoc at Stanford. She's using fMRI to investigate whether cognitive processes may help predict relapse after addiction treatment. But we talk about everything from free will to hallucinogens to how the brain generates the feeling of having a mind. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Elena is a graduate student at UBC in Vancouver. She spent four months researching sex workers in India, and is now focussed on the therapeutic potential of hallucinogens. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

A.J. walked away from a corner office on Wall Street because he realized that his life was inauthentic. Since then, he's been on a roll. He founded Misfit—one of the most enigmatic, admirable hunter-gatherer enterprises around. His life is full of travel, love, passion, and positive energy. Plus, he's brilliant, good-looking, and dances like a Cuban. F*ck that guy. Music: "Distinto," by Orishas; "Lekela Muadi," by Tshala Muana. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. Suedfeld is a Holocaust survivor whose research is focused on how people experience extreme, unusual, challenging, and traumatic events and environments -- including arctic explorers, astronauts, and prisoners. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit chrisryan.substack.com/subscribe