unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc

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.”

Cassie Holmes, a UCLA marketing professor and author studying decision-making and attention, explores time, distraction, and intentional living. She discusses treating time as scarce, tracking and rating activities, guarding attention from phones and productivity pressure, and rituals and commitment devices that preserve meaningful moments. Practical tactics for reclaiming time and creating more joy appear throughout the conversation.

Lori Rosenkopf, Wharton professor and vice dean of entrepreneurship, studies how innovation spreads and builds startup ecosystems. She discusses seven entrepreneurial pathways and six mindset 'Rs'. Conversations cover curriculum changes, experiential venture labs, ecosystems overtaking in-house R&D, alumni networks, and why many founders gain industry experience before launching.

Tim Minshall, Cambridge innovation professor and author of How Things Are Made, explains why manufacturing matters. He explores our disconnect from how products are made. He unpacks supply chain fragility, the hard work of scaling physical products, tacit skills behind factories, and the merging of software with hardware in future manufacturing.

Mike Bird, Wall Street editor at The Economist and author of The Land Trap, explores the history and finance of land and property. He discusses land’s outsized role in household portfolios and banks. He traces efforts to turn land into liquid finance through mortgages and MBS. He examines land reform, colonial systems, and how policy shaped political and economic outcomes worldwide.

Zeynep Ton, MIT Sloan professor and president of the Good Jobs Institute, studies workforce-centered operations. She unpacks the ‘good job strategy’—standardization, cross-training, simplification, empowerment, and scheduling slack. She contrasts systems thinking with short-term A/B testing and shows how investing in people can create customer value and competitive advantage.