Positive Feedback Loop

A special thanks to Alex Straley, a leadership development consultant at IBM, for joining us! Alex's views in this episode are solely his own and does not represent IBM. Episode notes: Characteristics of bad bosses What makes a bad boss “bad”? There is not one kind of management Managers vs. leaders Military leadership Cruel work environments Why are we mean to each other in the workplace? Commercial: Doppelgang Giving feedback to a manager How to be a better manager Be ready to be wrong What it means to put yourself in someone else’s shoes The golden rule vs. the platinum rule The impact of personality and environment on behavior The importance of habit-building What do my employees need to succeed? Connect with Alex on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/astraley/

Episode notes: What is a nation-state? Globalization and local communities How will Bitnation redefine the nation-state? Security and jurisdiction Government is like an icecream shop Globalization and the preservation of culture The potential for private armies Governments’ roles in genocides War and land/conflict The Pangea app The technology of Bitnation Commercial Privacy and security Carrots and sticks The protection of identity on the blockchain Crime in a borderless nation Reputation vs. being unknown A liquid economy The acceptance of crypto-governance Decentralized Borderless Nation (DBN) exit option Pseudonymity Bitnation Homepage: https://bitnation.co/

Sandra Miller Intro What is Democracy.Earth? Origins of Democracy Earth Foundation Democracy and voting Problem to be solved- Corruption Commercial - DemocracyEarth Ambassador Program How do you prove your identity without a third party? Facebook as an authoritarian regime Trust How the Internet has changed David Bowie analogy about the internet How you can get involved! http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/19/digital-gap-between-rural-and-nonrural-america-persists/ The Future of Democracy | Santiago Siri | TEDxStPeterPort - https://youtu.be/yGmGWZCE4h0 https://www.democracy.earth/ https://github.com/DemocracyEarth/ambassadors/blob/master/README.md Note: Ray meant to say bitcoin rewards for mining will end in 2140 (not 2040)

What role will bitcoin play in the future of money?

We start with our first memories of the Internet. Then we discuss fake news and echo chambers. Can we find good sources and can we trust the press? What is a good incentive structure for journalism? Is journalism (or can it be) unbiased? Infographics and data without context. Listening and understanding vs. winning arguments. Outrage: our biological flaw. Is sensationalism fake news? The breakdown of trust. [Commercial: Commercial Tracker 300.] Virality based on outrage: Ken Bone and Hugh Mungus. Getting the public’s attention: Kony 2012. Finding information online. We end this episode with a discussion of being ethical about what we put online.

This episode is all about why and how to forgive, gaining back trust, making mistakes, the purpose of forgiveness, and more. Commercial: Confessional

Utopia 3: How Do We Get There? From the perspective of inputs How do you make real your utopic vision of the future? Barriers to reaching utopia Types of utopias, e.g., techno-utopia, eco-utopia, agrarian utopia The near future: what can we do to get on a trajectory toward utopia How do you reach Mormon utopia? Utopia: do we need to share core values? The role of culture in utopia Economic utopia and blockchain Commercial: Stella AI Value creation and exchange in utopia If there’s no work in the future, will there be currency? Do you trust your image of utopia? The role of trust in utopia Start with yourself first Reaching for utopia

Perception, crafting an apology, timing, blame, responsibility, hurt, guilt, and more! Examples include: Kitchenaid, Amazon reviews, Dove, Netflix, Apple, a steakhouse in Brighton MA, Electronic Arts, Tesla, etc.

We’ve discussed what Utopia might look like, but how do you get there? The future of Artificial Intelligence Utopia or Eutopia? Commercial The future of work Will technological trends take us to a dystopia?

Episode notes: What are we grateful for? Is gratitude natural? The benefits of being grateful Daily gratitude Commercial: Presidentially Pardoned Turkeys When you shouldn’t be grateful Grateful for challenges

In this episode, the three co-hosts describe their very different concepts of utopia. Episode notes: Mormon Utopia Is modern society the past’s utopia? What is consciousness? Do any two people imagine the same utopia? Ray’s utopia: all people become one unified energy outside of time Matryoshka Brain Static vs. dynamic world Luis’s utopia of work and leisure as choices Is a utopia a perfect world, and if so, can imperfect people live in it? Are we capable of imagining a true utopia? Will we overcome mortality, or at least aging? What are you willing to give up to achieve utopia? Forms of government Commercial: Utopios Utopia in pop culture: Star Trek Death in utopia Are we already living in a utopia? Moral agency AI of the future

Episode notes: What are pets? Being a “pet parent” What’s in an animal’s mind? Humans raised by animals Do animals feel emotions similar to humans’? Commercial: Petcestry Genomics Why do we have pets? Homeless pets People who poison other people’s pets Ray’s chameleon Luis’s dog Steph’s dog Worm charming Are people like their pets? Caring for pets vs. children Street cats Seeing-eye dogs Vanity pets and breeding

Most destructive diseases in history Contagion Social contagion The spread of ideas Should you vaccinate your child? Travel and disease The Anthrax story Disease in war Suicide contagion Commercial: Minority animal diseases World of Warcraft and the CDC Studying the spread of disease Google Flu Trends Dancing Plague of 1518 Fictitious monsters on the Internet Leprosy colonies Zombies Network theory

Episode notes: MIT’s Moral Machine test Who would you save? Fate and interference, guilt Kant’s autonomous morality Utilitarianism Patience with people vs. machines MBTA and Amtrak stories Consumer comfort with driverless cars Blame in autonomous vehicle accidents The future of machine autonomy Applying moral frameworks in the context of changing technology

This is a Listeners’ Choice episode! The topic ("the importance of celebration”) was submitted by Akshay. We also talked about birthdays, which was submitted by Jan Marie! Episode notes: Is “celebrating the everyday” really a celebration? Celebrations as checkpoints Celebration vs. recurring holidays Luis’ story about his mother’s gifts Ray on Turkish weddings and communal lamb Is celebration a group activity? History/etymology of celebration Two types of celebration (surprise vs. expected) Steph on Utah’s and the LDS Church’s celebration of Pioneer Day Luis on Cuban celebrations Commercial: Chainsaw the Clown / Murder Clowns LLC What’s the purpose of celebrating? Holiday anxiety Funerals Birthdays Celebration pet peeves

Episode notes: What we did before we started the MBA program The role of diversity and different types of diversity Choosing extracurriculars What is a case competition? “Teaming” A clear vision vs. experimentation Commercial: Bartholomew's School for Shady Business How to network effectively Skills for learning in the classroom

What is a “golden age”? How do we know if we are in a golden age? The golden ages of media: television, information, radio, video games… The golden age of hip hop Are we able to identify a golden age while we’re in it? Commercial: Customized Element Ages The golden age of television The metrics for identifying a golden age Is ubiquity or acceleration a sign of a technology’s golden age? Are golden ages in “the chasm”?

What defines sleep? What’s your common sleep position? Why do we sleep? Sleep deprivation The relationship of anxiety and sleep Sleep apnea and night terrors Naps and siestas Commercial: Hypernation Pills Sleep paralysis and kanashibari Cultural views of sleep Debunking bunker: Does turkey make you sleepy? Food and sleep: Rip Van Winkle, pizza dreams How to fall asleep or sleep well Relationships and sleep (fairytales vs. reality) Vulnerability Sleeping in public and social norms “Sleep ecologies” Sleep in different parts of the world

Baby Bowling Thomas Gotchi “Nothing” Barry Berries The Screaming Room Ray’s Fireworks Barn Snow Box

*Special episode* We visited the Popnology Exhibit at Boston’s Museum of Science! In this episode we discuss some topics that come up in the exhibit, such as: Lots of robotic arms (e.g., Baxter!) Space Elevator What the smartphone has replaced The love for retro Digital vs. 35mm photography 3-D printed cars A world with flying cars The wall of tech prophecies (did they really envision the future?) Pop culture influenced by research …and research influenced by pop culture Sustainability and escapism: will we need to leave planet earth? What was the point of the Popnology Exhibit?