Episode 30 - What Does It Mean To Be A Man?

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Darron and Jeff grapple with the idea of masculinity and what it means to live as a man in 2023. First they briefly touch on how masculinity is frequently discussed in the context of “toxic masculinity” and then begin to examine how they have come to understand what it means to be a man. This leads to a discussion of their relationships and experiences with their own fathers, how concepts such as masculinity might exist on a spectrum that changes over time, and how we might move forward and build a more positive and affirmative vision of masculinity. Although this conversation is very much an attempt to make meaning for themselves, it is by no means an end to their thinking on this subject, and is in fact quite the opposite - an initial conversation about a complex topic they plan on delving into more deeply in the future.

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Episode 28 - Alcohol: To Drink, Or Not To Drink?

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Darron and Jeff explore their current relationships with alcohol. As this episode was recorded a few months ago, they discuss Jeff’s experience and thoughts on his dry January attempt, how the social context of any behavior influences our participation (or non-participation) in that behavior, why we keep drinking when we know it’s not good for us, alcohol and cultural evolution, alcohol’s acceptance in both American culture and in both of our their own lived experiences, why it can be so hard to stop drinking, and how and why Darron made his decision to stop drinking back at the end of February.

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Episode 22 - What is Life?

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Jeff and Darron attempt to define life, at least as they see it - not necessarily in the scientific sense, but in the subjective and qualitative realm of everyday experience as a conscious entity living in a specific place and time in the history of the universe. They begin with a discussion of the awe inspiring unlikelihood of our own specific existence, move from there into the philosophical realm of absurdity and farce, Jeff explores his struggle to balance the long and short term implications of a home improvement project, and they close with a look at how meaning is derived from the connective tissue of the mundane everyday events that comprise the majority of our lives in between more memorable moments.

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Episode 21 - The Myth of the Desert Island Self

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Darron and Jeff talk about the idea of self and how the ongoing experience we have of a stable self that moves through time is actually more of an ongoing active construct of our brains than we generally realize. They discuss their “desert island” favorites lists and use this as a jumping off point for examining what preferences say about ourselves, how these favorites are mediated by culture, the different aspects of self, how the evolution of self is culturally adaptive, how our narrative and social selves interact, and to what degree we control any of this. All along they bring in many ideas and thinkers from previous episodes in an attempt to synthesize a deeper understanding of the nature of the self.

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