unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc

C. Thi Nguyen, a philosophy professor and author who studies games and play, discusses the tension between genuine play and metric-driven gamification. He explores Huizinga’s magic circle, Suits’ idea of voluntary obstacles, and the costs of clear scoring. Short, sharp takes on scoring’s portability, value capture, and when metrics strip nuance.

Christine Rosen, senior fellow and cultural critic who studies how technology reshapes human life. She explores how digital convenience removes friction and weakens real-world social skills. She examines boredom's creative value, how mediation flattens interaction, and why engineered serendipity and simulated connection threaten authentic relationships.

J. Eric Oliver, a University of Chicago political scientist and author focused on intuition and self-knowledge. He discusses a course blending neuroscience, Buddhism, and practical exercises to expand lived experience. He explores intuition versus reason, how modernity erodes meaning, and ways to cultivate empathy, attention, and durable self-understanding.

Emanuel Derman, emeritus professor of financial engineering and former Wall Street quant, reflects on moving from particle physics to finance. He discusses how models differ from theories, why markets change when models are used, and the ethics of disclosing model limits. Conversations touch on programming’s role in early quant work, the rise of quants, and how AI and humility reshape modeling.

Paul Eastwick, UC Davis psychology professor who studies attraction and relationships. He challenges common evolutionary-psych ideas about mating. He explains how apps distort competition and why first impressions are noisy. He highlights compatibility, the role of social networks, and practical ways to let chemistry develop naturally.

What if the tale of Genesis were reframed as a story of humanity’s ascent into awareness of mortality and entropy? How are both connectedness and a “mattering project” key to flourishing as an individual? Rebecca Goldstein is the author of several fiction and non-fiction books, including The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction, Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away, and The Mind-Body Problem. Greg and Rebecca discuss how the ideas in her new book, The Mattering Instinct, trace back to her novel, The Mind-Body Problem. Rebecca details a long-developed theory of human motivation: beyond survival and pleasure, humans are “creatures of matter who long to matter,” driven to justify themselves in their own eyes (homo justificans). To Rebecca, this is linked to self-reflection, theory of mind, and existential “absurdity.” This episode will outline some mattering strategies and also discuss personality links, ethics, and concerns about AI. *unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.* Episode Quotes: We are creatures of matter who long to matter 08:21: What we are are creatures of matter who long to matter. I love that we can do that in English. You know, we can't do it; it can't be replicated in other languages. But thank goodness for English, two amazing words: the noun matter and the verb matter. Why everyone needs to feel like they matter 04:23: Look, everybody needs to feel like they matter. Then there's a great diversity of ways in which we might try to prove to ourselves that we matter. The human search for values 15:11: Entering into this world of entropy, where everything eventually runs out of energy and does die, the universe itself will run out of energy and thermal equilibrium that awaits the universe, with that stepping out of paradise. They took on the burden, but the dignity of being human, of trying to justify becoming Homo Justific, becoming creatures who are in search of values that will justify them in their own eyes. We come up with a whole bunch of values, and we disagree tremendously about these values, but there's something so grand about being creatures who need values in order to be able to  live with themselves, even if they're bad values, but that we bring values into the universe because we are creatures longing to matter. Show Links: Recommended Resources: Ludwig Wittgenstein Aristotle Book of Genesis Baruch Spinoza Eudaimonia Happiness Economics Sigmund Freud Entropy Second Law of Thermodynamics Theory of Mind Blaise Pascal “The unexamined life is not worth living.” Darwinism William James Guest Profile: RebeccaGoldstein.com Wikipedia Profile Profile on the National Endowment for the Humanities Guest Work: Amazon Author Page The Mattering Instinct: How Our Deepest Longing Drives Us and Divides Us Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Gödel 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction Plato at the Googleplex: Why Philosophy Won't Go Away The Mind-Body Problem Betraying Spinoza: The Renegade Jew Who Gave Us Modernity Kurt Gödel The Dark Sister Mazel Properties Of Light Late Summer Passion of a Woman of Mind The Mattering Map | Substack Newsletter Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Josiah Ober, Stanford professor of political science and classics known for work on Athenian democracy, civic theory, and institutional design. He explores why democracies can aggregate dispersed knowledge, the scaling challenge of democratic systems, the role of civic trust and communication technologies, and the teachable skills of civics like listening, bargaining, and compromise.

Sonja Lyubomirsky, psychology professor and author of books on happiness and love, shares research-based views on wellbeing and relationships. She explores why feeling loved matters more than being loved. She breaks down listening skills, curiosity, the Michelangelo effect, balancing sharing and listening, and whether AI can mimic real connection.

Allison J. Pugh, a Johns Hopkins sociology professor and author of The Last Human Job, explores “connective labor,” the relational practice of truly seeing others. She discusses where this work shows up, how AI and automation reshape care and training, and why friction, oversight, and organizational design matter for sustaining human connection.

Nathan Furr, an INSEAD professor who studies innovation, and Susannah Harmon Furr, an art historian, designer, and entrepreneur, explore how to embrace uncertainty. They discuss a four-part toolkit for navigating the unknown. They explain building a portfolio of personal options, creating rituals as islands of certainty, and using people and practices as courage-boosting “Dumbo feathers.”