Bounce! Conversations with Larry Weeks

You make hundreds of decisions a day. Most of them invisibly. A few of them under real pressure, with incomplete information and no clear right answer. So how do the people who do this for a living like firefighters, surgeons, military commanders, and get it right when the stakes are highest? That's the question Dr. Gary Klein has spent his entire career answering. Not in a lab. In the field. With people whose next call might be life or death. Gary is a cognitive psychologist, a Senior Scientist at MacroCognition LLC, and the Chief Scientist at ShadowBox LLC. He's one of the founding figures of naturalistic decision making, the study of how people actually decide in the real world, under time pressure and uncertainty. He built the Recognition-Primed Decision model, which has been incorporated into Army and Marine Corps doctrine. He created the PreMortem method of risk assessment, endorsed by Nobel Prize winners Daniel Kahneman and Richard Thaler. He's the author of several influential books, including Sources of Power, The Power of Intuition, Streetlights and Shadows, Snapshots of the Mind, and Seeing What Others Don't, a fascinating deep dive into how insight actually works. Malcolm Gladwell put it simply: "No one has taught me more about the complexities and mysteries of human decision-making than Gary Klein." In this conversation, we get into everything from how Gary personally works through a tough decision to when you should, and shouldn't, trust your gut. We cover the value of first-person expertise, the difference between knowledge and knowing, how to use a pre-mortem, and why more information doesn't necessarily mean better decisions. Then we spend time on AI: what happens when people start outsourcing their thinking, and what might get lost in the shuffle. I also ask him to audit my use of his framework for managing uncertainty because there's a lot of that going around right now. Some highlights from the episode: 02:35 The White House Situation Room (and why he can't talk about it) 05:17 Writer's block, pen and paper, and how Gary structures his thinking 07:37 Walking through a real decision: the medical scenario 10:53 Intuition: when to trust it, when to question it 13:00 Pattern matching, mental simulation, and the Recognition-Primed Decision model 18:00 The AI concern: outsourcing decisions and eroding expertise 18:42 The pre-mortem: how it works and why Nobel Prize winners endorsed it 22:35 The 80/20 of decision making: build experience and frame the problem 27:12 AI and the younger generation: old fogey worry or real risk? 31:49 Why curiosity about failure is the thing AI can't replicate 33:06 Tacit knowledge: the invisible layer AI can't scrape 39:07 Five sources of uncertainty — and tools for managing them 42:36 Wrapping up: the cognitive dimension and what makes humans indispensable We go from the mechanics of expert decision making to a surprisingly urgent question: in an age of AI, what happens to the skills you never knew you were building? Enjoy!

Prof. Philip Goff is a British philosopher, author, and professor at Durham University whose research focuses on philosophy of mind and consciousness. He was an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Central European University and the Department of Philosophy, University of Birmingham. Philip is also the author of Galileo's Error: A New Science of Consciousness, Consciousness and Fundamental Reality, and his most recent, Why? The Purpose of the Universe, is the touchstone for this episode. We're covering some lofty territory today: from the hard science of physics and cosmology to the deep waters of philosophy, religion, and the question of God. Some highlights from the episode: 06:16 Framing the big questions: purpose, consciousness, and the value hypothesis 10:00 Fine-tuning theory: dark energy and the "casino" intuition 12:54 Meaning: Frankl, suffering, and why questions matter 16:52 Agency and teleology 24:18 Mystics and mystical experience across traditions 28:04 Consciousness and panpsychism 28:52 The 'Why' book tension: cosmic purpose, hope, and meaning 30:14 Returning to religion: becoming a 'heretical Christian' 31:32 Meaning as beauty, gratitude, and 'pronoia' 34:06 Scientism and other ways of knowing 37:47 Religion as social technology: community over doctrine 39:23 Orthodox mysticism + Anglican flexibility 41:19 Prayer: orientation vs. supplication 45:08 Meditation: creative energy without certainty 51:04 Reflections on affordances and enacted meaning Quick note: at the very end of this episode I tacked on a short addendum. I share how this conversation actually landed for me. Enjoy!

My guest on this podcast asserts that a huge chunk of our psychological stress isn't caused by what's happening but by the demands one quietly places on reality. In this episode, Dr. Walter Matweychuk teaches me about Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), which focuses on identifying and disputing irrational, self-defeating beliefs to reduce emotional distress and change negative behaviors. Walter makes the case that REBT is not just a therapeutic modality but a philosophy for living based on emotional responsibility, resilience, and a way to stop rating yourself as "good" or "bad." Walter is a psychologist with the University of Pennsylvania Health System and an adjunct professor at NYU who specializes in REBT. Formally trained by pioneers Dr. Albert Ellis and Dr. Aaron Beck, he integrates their foundational insights into a private practice serving clients worldwide. He is the author/co-author of multiple books and writes the Intermittent Reinforcement newsletter. Beyond his clinical work, Dr. Matweychuk is widely recognized for hosting the weekly REBT Conversation Hour, a long-running public demonstration of practical cognitive-behavioral strategies available at REBTDoctor.com. In this conversation: What Walter learned training with CBT legends Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck Shame vs. healthy concern, and Walter's "shame-attack" experiments The two big engines of disturbance: "ego disturbance" vs. "discomfort disturbance" The way dogmatic "musts" turn a bad moment into an emotional spiral "Philosophical acceptance": how to stop personal scorekeeping How to catch the belief that's driving a feeling in real time The little "8 ideas" card Walter sends people Long-term hedonism: how REBT thinks about pleasure, meaning, and tradeoffs Secondary disturbance: the second layer of suffering that keeps people stuck Emotional responsibility and why it's closer to freedom than "positive thinking" If stress is often a "demand in disguise," this episode might help you spot the demand and loosen its grip. Enjoy! Show notes and more at larryweeks.com

Society views time as a fixed commodity, yet modern theoretical physics and cognitive neuroscience suggest otherwise. If the linear flow of time is truly an illusion, then time isn't just a resource to be managed; it's a perception to be mastered. My guest on the podcast today, Prof. Steve Taylor, argues that time isn't experienced evenly. He suggests that where you place your attention and how you live day-to-day can change the way time unfolds, stretching or compressing your sense of it. Steve is a researcher in psychology and a senior lecturer at Leeds Beckett University. He has served as the chair of the Transpersonal Psychology section of the British Psychological Society. He writes the popular blog Out of the Darkness for Psychology Today and has contributed to Scientific American, The Conversation, and The Psychologist. In his work on "Time Expansion Experiences," Steve explores why we experience time differently in different states of mind. We discuss everything from slow-motion accident stories (and why calm can show up in chaos) to meditation, flow states, and the mind-bending "eternal now" where mysticism and physics converge. Highlights from the episode: Accidents and "slow-motion" perception: Why the mind slows down in crisis. The age gap: Why children experience long summers while adults feel seasons fly by. Retrospective time theory: How we judge duration after the fact. Automatization: How your brain edits reality to remain efficient. Digital distortion: Social media's impact on your experience of time. The power of novelty: How small changes can make life feel longer. The "Block Universe" theory: Exploring Einstein and Minkowski's spacetime. NDE life reviews: Examining the spatial sequence of memory. Time cessation phenomena: What happens when time stops altogether. The discussion moves from metaphysics to real-world advice on subjectively "lengthening" your life. Enjoy! Show notes and more visit larryweeks.com

We've been taught that success comes from setting goals, defining purpose, and executing a plan. But what if those very habits—the linear drive for certainty—are what keep us stuck? Dr. Anne-Laure Le Cunff, neuroscientist, founder of Ness Labs, and world-leading expert on mindful productivity, has an alternative: treat your life like a series of tiny experiments. In her new book Tiny Experiments, she explores how curiosity, liminal spaces, and small-scale testing can transform how we handle uncertainty and growth. Anne-Laure argues that traditional goal-setting and the "tyranny of purpose" trap us in rigid definitions of success and failure. Instead, she offers a science-backed framework for progress through curiosity-driven experimentation, an approach that replaces pressure with play and perfectionism with learning. We discuss how to navigate the in-between spaces of life, the thresholds between who we were and who we're becoming, and why those moments of uncertainty hold the most potential for transformation. Listen as we dive into how to build an experimental mindset that turns confusion into data and uncertainty into discovery. Highlights What if the most uncertain moments are also the most meaningful? Invisible "scripts" quietly running your decisions, and how to rewrite them Why rushing to "figure it out" might be costing you your next breakthrough How to turn fear of the unknown into curiosity about what's possible The surprising neuroscience behind why smaller risks create bigger change A four-step framework that turns uncertainty into momentum Why chasing legacy might be keeping you from real impact right now How to slow time without quitting your schedule The overlooked social hack that makes personal growth exponential What happens when you start studying your own life like a scientist If you're in between, unsure, or just restless, this conversation is for you. Anne-Laure shows that uncertainty isn't a problem to solve; it's the raw material of discovery.

In a world increasingly dominated by AI and computational thinking, we've been taught that logic is the ultimate form of intelligence. But what if an over-reliance on pure reason is making us more fragile and less equipped to navigate uncertainty? Angus Fletcher is a professor at Ohio State's Project Narrative and the author of the best-selling book, Primal Intelligence. Angus's has had an extraordinary career path to say the least, from building mutant neurons in neuroscience labs to studying Shakespeare at Yale, and being recruited by US Army Special Operations to train their elite operators. Angus argues that the human brain is less a computational machine, and more a dynamic, narrative-based engine built for action and foresight. This "biological intelligence," often overlooked and untrained, is what allows us to operate with limited information, adapt in volatile environments, and innovate in ways no machine can. For his groundbreaking work on this very topic, Angus was awarded the Commendation Medal by the US Army in 2023. Listen as we dive into the science of your innate intelligence and how narrative thinking works, and how understanding what feelings are telling you can transform how you deal with uncertainty. Some highlights from the episode: Angus's journey from neuroscience to Shakespeare to Army Special Operations Why hard skill, soft skill distinction misses the point entirely How biological intelligence differs from computational intelligence The Army's discovery about decision-making in volatile environments A novel take on the purpose of emotions What fear and anger signals (and what to do about it) Special operators' techniques for turning anger on and off Why gratitude works best when applied to specific negative experiences The brain as a Swiss Army knife rather than calculator How to use emotions like a dashboard for better decision-making How an integrated past and branching future creates anti-fragility If you're curious about the kinds of intelligence that AI can't replicate, and how to better utilize yours, this conversation provides the science and practical tools to get started. For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com

In this episode, I'm digging into the messy reality of business turnarounds, the kind where survival isn't guaranteed and leadership is more about doing the hard, boring things than dazzling with big ideas. My guest is Tony Stubblebine, CEO of Medium, whose recent post "Fell Into a Hole and Got Out" made the rounds for being one of the most honest and actionable stories about company rescue I've ever read. Tony's background runs deep: founder of Coach.me, architect of the Better Humans publication. This is what it's really like to take over a company bleeding millions, shrinking fast, and staring down insolvency. But it's also a story about staying steady, balancing the financial reality with the need to restore quality, purpose, and confidence to a battered team. There's no sugar-coating here, just real talk about layoffs, difficult investor negotiations, and why the business model has to come before your "next big thing." Tony walks us through the psychological and strategic ladder he and his team built, one rung at a time, to claw Medium back from the brink. He shares candid lessons for founders, hard truths about startup mythologies, and the personal practices that kept him sane when the stakes were highest. Here's what we cover: The "hole" no one talks about: what it's really like to inherit a company in crisis Brutal financial realities, cutting costs, and restoring a culture's sense of purpose Why the business model now comes before the product The Goldilocks problem of innovation and finding the "just right" middle ground How to negotiate with investors when a prior deal is dead and nobody wants to say it out loud Lessons on hiring, layoffs, and having the hard conversations with a team that's seen too many pivots The psychological "ladder" out, how to focus everyone on small wins The power of slow, steady self-improvement (meditation, journaling, therapy) for surviving big challenges Why Tony thinks each of us, just by living our lives, accumulate wisdom that can help others This is more than a highlight reel, it's a toolkit for anyone who's had to make the tough calls or wondered if they could. Enjoy the show.

Donald Robertson, a cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist and author, delves into the intersection of Stoicism and modern mental health practices. He discusses how ancient philosophies can serve as powerful tools for emotional resilience amidst today's stressors. Key topics include transforming adversity into personal growth, the philosophical roots of cognitive behavioral therapy, and the art of self-mastery. Robertson highlights techniques like the 'view from above' for managing anxiety and emphasizes the importance of acceptance and discipline in navigating life's challenges.

People think happiness comes from getting everything you want. But the science shows, it's the absence, the novelty, and the change that bring joy back - Tali Sharot Ever wonder why lasting happiness can feel so elusive? This episode delves into the neuroscience of habituation, and why our brains, despite achieving desires, tend to filter out positive experiences. We'll explore this phenomenon and uncover practical strategies to consciously re-engage with what's already good in your life. My guest is Dr. Tali Sharot, a cognitive neuroscientist and professor at University College London, where she directs the Affective Brain Lab. Tali's research blends neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics to study how emotion and motivation shape decision-making, memory, and belief. Tali's work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The BBC, and her TED Talks have been viewed over 15 million times. We talk about her research behind why we adapt so quickly to both the good and the bad—and how this helps us survive, but can also rob us of happiness, creativity, and even the desire to change. This is the crux of her book, Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There, co-authored with Cass Sunstein. If you've ever wondered why joy fades faster than it should—or why we stop seeing the beauty around us—this conversation offers a fresh perspective on how to disrupt that pattern. Some highlights from the pod: Tali's research background and the Affective Brain Lab Research insights into human–AI bias feedback loops Habituation: How our brains are built to ignore what doesn't change Why the mechanism that makes us resilient also makes us take good things for granted The problem of perfection; and getting everything you want Dis-habituation —and how to apply it to relationships and daily life Happiness and the evolutionary role of novelty How to use imagination and attention to rekindle joy and gratitude Why people with depression often struggle to recover—and the role of rumination How learning and effort unlock happiness Refreshing the familiar: Savoring, small changes, and role-play This is one of those episodes that can help you feel more alive—not by adding more to your life, but by changing how you see what's already there. Enjoy!

Does the richness of your world expand or shrink in direct proportion to how much of your life is digitally mediated? My guest argues that by defaulting to digital mediation—where technology filters and facilitates our interactions—we are trading away the richness of real, embodied experience. And in doing so, we risk losing—without even noticing—the very moments that make us happy and resilient. Are we shrinking our capacity for a full, messy, exhilarating experience of being human? Christine Rosen is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she explores American history, society, culture, and the impact of technology on human behavior. She is a columnist for Commentary magazine, a fellow at the University of Virginia's Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, and a senior editor at The New Atlantis. Previously a distinguished visiting scholar at the Library of Congress, Christine has authored several books, including The Extinction of Experience, Esquire's Best Book of 2024, which serves as the foundation for our discussion. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and many other major outlets. She holds a PhD in history from Emory University, a third-degree black belt in Aikido, and teaches martial arts where she lives in Washington, D.C. On the show, we discuss Christine's book The Extinction of Experience and a variety of topics, including: Our shared interest in Aikido and martial arts The thesis of her book How technology mediates experiences Impacts on basic social interactions The concept of "ambiguous loss" Serendipity and chance encounters How human virtue is created Public spaces and the decline of social awareness Digital voyeurism The physical resonance of IRL events Self-isolation and the "loneliness epidemic" Enjoy! For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com