"Mindfulness, Science, Buddhism & Bullsh*t"? with Mo Edjlali
You know you should meditate. But you don't have the time. Or you're no good at it. So you occasionally subscribe to a meditation app, you listen to podcast episodes about mindfulness, you nod along sagely about the importance of living in the Now, and you get back to your busy life. It doesn't stick. That's been Josh's story for decades. So when he heard that the founder of one of the world's leading centres for Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction has written a book criticising how meditation is marketed and packaged and practised, Josh's ears pricked up. Have meditation apps, Buddhist mantras, and “good vibes” influencers turned mindfulness into a self-help circus? Mo Edjlali is a former tech entrepreneur and the founder of Mindful Leader. His new book, Open MBSR: Reimagining the Future of Mindfulness, takes aim at elitism, pseudo-spirituality, and quick fixes. Mo joins Josh to troubleshoot what isn't working about modern meditation... and to help you grasp the secular, scientific basis for mastering your attention.
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23:43
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23:43
“What’s Comedy For, Anymore?” with Wil Anderson
The Saudi stand-up controversy, the Jimmy Kimmel brouhaha, the clickification of live shows into viral video clips, the clash of podcasters like Marc Maron vs Joe Rogan over Trumpism... What is comedy for in this algorithmic era of culture wars? Wil Anderson is perhaps Australia's most successful stand-up comic. As well as his countless sold-out live shows, he hosts Gruen, a weekly panel show that has run for seventeen years. Wil and Josh riff on the state of comedy today and go deep into its craft, purpose and perils. How do you stay curious in a world allergic to doubt? What is humour when outrage travels faster than nuance? And is it wiser to just tune out of the chaos all together?
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2:04:44
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2:04:44
“Charlie Kirk’s Secret Plan to Take Over America” with Dr Matthew Boedy
What if the fight for America’s soul wasn’t just political, but theological? A powerful movement inside Christian America believes it is on a divine mission to rescue the nation’s institutions; from education and media to business and government. Their chief cheerleader was Charlie Kirk, whose organisation, Turning Point USA, is now better positioned to reshape American life than when he was alive. In the same month as Kirk's assassination, by sheer coincidence, a book was released revealing the incredible backstory of Kirk's plan: The Seven Mountains Mandate: Exposing the Dangerous Plan to Christianize America and Destroy Democracy. Its author, former journalist and academic Dr Matthew Boedy, joins Josh to explain how a vision of two evangelists in the '70s became the blueprint for a cultural takeover, and how its most modern champion, Charlie Kirk, built a machine capable of turning online outrage into real-world political power.
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28:49
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28:49
"There IS no Housing Crisis, Akshually ☝️" with economist Cameron Murray
Insane house prices are destroying the middle-class dream of home ownership. Or... are they? Is there actually a housing crisis? Or are most people, in fact, comfortably paying historically-unremarkable mortgage repayments for a desirable product? Economist Cameron Murray argues for this unpopular (you might even say “uncomfortable”) heterodox view. While many of his peers, like our recent guest Peter Tulip, argue that house prices are too high because of a lack of supply, Cameron reckons they’re actually… checks notes… just fine. Josh pushes on this theory, from interest rates to immigration to the politics of property, in a conversation that asks what really drives up the property price tag, what we’re really paying for... and why we just can’t stop talking about it.
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1:46:06
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1:46:06
“Godfather of the Greens”, fmr Senator Bob Brown
He’s been called the most successful environmentalist in Australian history, and one of the most influential in the world. Former Senator Bob Brown co-founded the world’s first Green Party, in Tasmania in 1972. He led the Australian Greens in Parliament for decades and spearheaded a pivotal moment in global environmentalism, when he helped save the pristine Franklin River from being dammed. Senator Brown joined Josh in Sydney to talk about his life of protest and purpose, from heckling President George W. Bush to being openly gay when it was still illegal. They discuss the phoney choice of voting for major parties, the pickle the modern left finds itself in, and why love and wildness are the keys to saving the planet. His new book is Defiance: Stories from Nature and Its Defenders.
The world has never been more connected. Yet never more divided. We yell at each other from inside our echo chambers. But change doesn’t happen inside an echo chamber. It’s time to get out, to stretch our legs, to step on some land mines. It's time to have an uncomfortable conversation with Josh Szeps.
A DM Podcast
Listen to Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps, Darren “Whackhead” Simpson’s prank calls on Kfm Mornings and many other podcasts from around the world with the radio.net app
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