The Psychology of...

The stage has been set for years... Ideologically polarized media outlets editing interviews into patronizing and reductive sound bytes in order to appease the very advertisers who restrict their journalistic integrity... A post-tribal world whose borders have been redrawn across political and ideological orthodoxies. Echo chambers creating positive feedback loops that render good ideas fanatic and bad ideas unchecked. Healthy debate handicapped by motivated reasoning and inter-group loyalty signalling. A time when information, knowledge, and progress is more readily available and attainable than ever, yet we find ourselves buried deeper into our perspective teams living in parallel alternative universes. And out of this chaotic shouting match has arisen a set of new players, who challenge the existing machine, who are willing to enter the arena of debate and discuss difficult topics that strike fear into the hearts of mainstream advertisers. While they are ideologically di...

We are not meant to minimize risk, but to optimize it. - Dr. Jordan Peterson There are so many threats to our children in the world today. We are well aware of the opioid problem, or increased violence that is racially, sexually, or religiously motivated. There are wars and child molesters, there are liberals and conservatives looking to persuade your children to their ideological side. And the video games! Have mercy on us all, the video games! Our dangerous human run world is full of proverbially hot irons for our children to burn their curious little hands on. And what should we do as parents? Well if our children are young enough we make stern warnings and we control the situation so that no hot iron will be readily available for play time. It's good to take precautions. But at what age should we be allowing our children to finally use the iron, lest their childhood dread of all things hot prevent them from ironing a shirt?  Isn't that what we are experiencing today? ...

Myths throughout time and across cultures curiously share common characters, themes, and narratives. We call these "archetypes" which exist because they are shared across humanity. There is debate as to whether this is due to there being an original story that was told to the first humans who then perpetuated these themes through history or if there is just something remarkably and transcendentally human about them. Maybe it's both. Either way, one of the most salient and common archetypal myths is the "hero's journey". It's a story that has been retold countless times in recent let alone ancient history. There is an ordinary, soon-to-be hero that receives a call to action. The hero must leave the "normal world" for an extraordinary one. S/he (although mythologically speaking it's usually a he) encounters a mentor of some kind who tests him. He experiences some kind of temptation or weakness, encounters the perceivably insurmountable be...