unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc

Nick Chater, behavioral science professor and author, argues that many “nudge” strategies push responsibility onto individuals instead of fixing systems. He contrasts individual versus systemic frames. He explores why small behavior tweaks often fail, how industry reframes blame, and how behavioral insight can be used to build support for systemic policies like carbon taxes and regulation.

N. Katherine Hayles, a scholar of literature, technics, and cognition, explores how humans and tools co-evolve. She outlines technics and distinguishes fast nonconscious cognition from consciousness. She introduces SIRAL criteria for cognition and argues plants, bacteria, and modern LLMs can meet them. She examines LLMs’ aboutness, their unique umwelt, symbiotic risks, and whether persistent memory could bring selfhood.

Iain McGilchrist, neuroscientist, psychiatrist, and author exploring brain lateralization. He explains two contrasting modes of attention tied to each hemisphere. They trace cycles where narrow, metric‑driven thinking overtakes broader perception. Discussion covers imagination, organizational explore/exploit tradeoffs, AI’s limits, online polarization, and reviving humanities to rebalance culture.

Susan Wise Bauer, prolific author and classical education expert, discusses how 19th-century schooling mismatches modern learners. Short takes cover homeschooling and personalized reading instruction. They also explore how historical experiences of sickness have shaped public health beliefs and current vaccine and wellness debates.

Pablo A. Peña, an associate instructional professor of economics at the University of Chicago and author of Human Capital for Humans, brings human capital theory to everyday life. He explores households as tiny firms, parenting tradeoffs of time versus money, fertility’s quantity versus quality dilemma, and which skills—like creativity and critical thinking—matter as AI changes work.

Steve H. Hanke, Johns Hopkins applied economics professor and currency expert. He argues macro should center on the Quantity Theory of Money and Capital Theory. He explains how commercial banks create money while investment banks intermediate savings. He critiques universal banking, faults the Fed for ignoring broad money measures like Divisia, and links post‑COVID money growth to 2022 inflation.

Michaeleen Doucleff, NPR science journalist and author focused on mental health and parenting. She explains how screens and ultra-processed foods hijack desire, creating endless, draining experiences. Hear why wanting is different from true pleasure, how kids actually enjoy effort, and practical shifts like bright-line rules, environment design, and family identity to reclaim real joy.

Leidy Klotz, a professor blending engineering, architecture, and behavioral science, explores how spaces shape wellbeing and behavior. He talks about habituation and unseen environmental stresses. He highlights the human need for agency via personalization, reframes broken-windows as community ownership, and examines how design nudges choices in workplaces, homes, and refugee housing.

Roger Spitz, futurist and president of Techistential, explores how to stay adaptable in a world of algorithmic decision-making. He discusses tech’s impact on human agency, why education and governance fail under deep uncertainty, first-principles thinking (SpaceX example), and building resilient, antifragile organizations that learn from failure.

Amy Gallo, HBR contributing editor and author on workplace conflict, breaks down why disagreement fuels better ideas and stronger teams. She covers how ego and stress hijack conversations, when empathy or boundaries help, and practical moves for dealing with toxic, insecure, or dominant coworkers. Short, actionable, and surprising takes on making conflict productive rather than personal.