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Podcasts, videos, and links to make you think
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Welcome to the Hurt Your Brain newsletter, the place to get podcasts and links that will make you think.

Hey there curious internet travelers. Please sit by the warm fire and enjoy these recommendations for your ears and mind.
 
PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS
 
Distillations: The ‘Mary Poppins’ Cancer
  • This is an episode of The Disappearing Spoon, a short science podcast from Sam Kean that is also supported by the Science History Institute (like Distillations).
  • “The life of chimney sweeps was nasty, poor, brutish, filthy dirty, and usually short, thanks to a rare cancer of the genitals.”
  • Well, add “being a young boy in 1700’s London” to the list of “situations I’m glad not to be born into.”
  • This episode will absolutely remove any romantic notions of the world of chimney sweeps that Mary Poppins may have installed in your head. 
Turn on images to see. “Two chimney sweeps, one of them is feeling ill and taking medicine.”
The episode artwork for "The 'Mary Poppins' Cancer" was taken from the Wellcome Collection with this ominous tag: “Two chimney sweeps, one of them is feeling ill and taking medicine.”


Hi-Phi Nation: The Man of Many Worlds I
  • Hi-Phi Nation is back with a four episode series about the life and work of famed modern philosopher David Lewis.
  • Lewis’ work is new to me (I’m such a pleb), but I found this episode an excellent and fascinating introduction to an important figure. 
  • The nature of the self, multiple universes, solving the time travel paradox. These are just a few of the many brain twisting concepts that Lewis tackled in his influential body of work. 
  • I highly recommend this for anyone who loves to think about the nature of reality. I’m really looking forward to the next episodes.


Obsession: Randomness - A need for chaos
  • A new podcast from Quartz that is a perfect fit for this newsletter. 
  • The idea of each episode is to have a journalist walk through an interesting concept or part of the global economy they’ve been reporting on. 
  • Like for this episode, did you know that the randomness of things like Lava lamps and different facets of nature are absolutely critical for the whole structure of the modern internet? Also, computers (and people) are actually not good at all at producing randomness. 
  • An overall great introduction to chaos and randomness and how they fit into the economy.
  • The other episodes so far—on the future of cash and on CAPTCHA—are also worth checking out.


Land of the Giants: Apple’s China Problem
  • I recommend this whole season looking at the history of Apple, but this episode is particularly relevant.
  • It’s no secret that Apple and China have a deeply intertwined relationship, but their tension and potential unraveling feels a slow moving train wreck.

PODCAST LINKS
 
The Case for Listening at .8x. A thoughtful piece from Galen Beebe. "I don’t know if it’s podcasts that changed, or if it’s me. The world is heavy right now, and my heart can’t take too much, too fast. I’m more grateful than ever when a creator leaves long stretches of silence that give the story, and me, a chance to breathe."
 

OTHER LINKS TO MAKE YOU THINK

All the Biomass of Earth, in One Graphic. Holy marine arthropods Batman. 
 

This Is The Single Most Important Image In Astronomy’s History. You know it's the famous Hubble Deep Field view, but if you're like me you can't help but read about it. 
 

A great Twitter thread on how at-the-time journalist Frank Herbert worked on an article about Oregon's shifting sand dunes, and ended up writing Dune instead.  
 

That's all for today. See you in two weeks!
...

For fun: Full disclosure 
For fun 2 (wrong link last time): You’re in bathroom during a 2013 party
 
And lastly, as always, check out my other newsletter if you are into discovering visual creators. 

Connect with me @erikthejones on twitter and if you've learned anything interesting, please forward this link to any curious natured friends or family so they can subscribe. Many thanks!


Erik
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Hurt Your Brain Website
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