#133 – Duncan CJ

(Guest Interview) Hi everyone, my name’s Atuksha Poonwassie and I’m the co-founder of the UK crowdfunding platform Simple Crowdfunding. For this podcast we’ve decided to mix things up a bit and I’m going to interview Duncan so that you can learn more about the person behind Spirit Pig. So I met Duncan at a property event 6 years ago and we’ve met and stayed in contact regularly ever since. He runs the podcast ‘Spirit Pig’ which has been rated by iTunes as one of the top self help podcasts in the world. So how has he achieved it? Driven by the mission; Fulfilment For Everyone, Duncan has spent years tracking down and interviewing the top and coolest thoughts leaders on the planet about happiness and fulfilment. Over the last 130 episodes he’s interviewed pioneering scientists, Academy Award nominated directors, New York Times bestselling authors, Mt. Everest climbers and 32 TED speakers. He also life coaches CEOs of companies that are positively impacting the world. Over the time that I’ve known Duncan his goal has been clear and he has done whatever it takes without faltering and compromise. He lives and breathes happiness and it comes across clearly in everything he does. I am so grateful that I have the pleasure of interviewing Duncan today.

#132 – Mastin Kipp

Mastin Kipp is the author of 2 bestselling books and is a world renowned public speaker recognised by the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Tony Robbins and Arianna Huffington as a thought leader in accelerated life transformations. He is the creator of Functional Life Coaching™ which differs from his peers and predecessors in that it focuses not just on rapid behavioural change but on identifying and dissolving the root cause that is impeding optimal human progress and success. He’s helped over 2 million people in over 100 countries around the world. Mastin appears regularly on television and in print and was featured on Oprah Winfrey’s Emmy award winning show ‘Super Soul Sunday’ as a leader of the next generation of spiritual thinkers.

#131 – Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett

Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett is a University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, with appointments at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital. In addition to her book ‘How Emotions are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain’ and her popular TED Talk, Dr. Barrett has published over 200 peer-reviewed, scientific papers in the world’s top journals. She received the Pioneer Award from the ‘National Institutes of Health Director’s’ for her revolutionary research on emotion in the brain. These highly competitive multimillion dollar awards are given to scientists of exceptional creativity who are expected to transform biomedical and behavioural research. As a result of her revolutionary findings she has testified before Congress, presented her research to the FBI, consulted to the National Cancer Institute and been a featured guest on radio and television programs around the world.

#130 – Andreas M. Antonopoulos

Andreas M. Antonopoulos is a best-selling author, speaker and one of (if not the) foremost bitcoin and blockchain experts in the world. He is one of the rare experts who approaches the subject from an educational, political, cultural, and human perspective — not merely discussing the technology in investment terms. In 2014, Andreas authored the groundbreaking book, ‘Mastering Bitcoin’ which is widely considered to be the best technical guide ever written about the technology. His second book, ‘The Internet of Money’ unveiled the “why” of bitcoin— and became a bestseller. He is a teaching fellow at the University of Nicosia, the first university in the world to offer a masters degree in Digital Currency. Finally, he serves on the Oversight Committee for the Bitcoin Reference Rate at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and has appeared as an expert witness in hearings around the world, including both the Australian and Canadian Senate Banking Committees where he gave historically-important presentations that have influenced public policy regarding Bitcoin globally.

#129 – Dr. Iain McGilchrist

Dr. Iain McGilchrist is a world renowned psychiatrist, neuroscientist and writer. His is the man behind the book ‘The Master and his Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World’ which Rowan Williams (Former Archbishop of Canterbury) said is “one of the most important books I’ve read in the first decade of this century”. Some prominent scientists and thinkers describe it as “a dazzling masterpiece” and possibly “the book of the century”. He is on a quest to prove a growing imbalance in our brains. He believes that one half of our brain – the left hemisphere – is slowly taking power, and we in the Western world are simultaneously feeding its ambitions. This half of the brain is very proficient at creating technologies, procedures and systems, but it cannot understand the implications of these on the people and the world around it. McGilchrist knows that if he is right, we may be creating the technologies and the conditions that will spell our own downfall.

#128 – Bruce Duncan

What does it mean to be human? Is it our thoughts? our soul? our intelligence? If these things could live on beyond the decease of our bodies, then would we still be alive? Would that still be us? Bruce Duncan is the Managing Director of the Terasem Movement Foundation and the Principle Investigator of the LifeNaut Project. He is leading a long term scientific study interested in the transfer of your mind to a robot, or another biological body. If we choose to save large amounts of personal information about ourselves into something called a ‘MindFile’ then could your memories, beliefs, emotions and values be transferred into a thinking machine when you die and could that artificial intelligence continue to be you, for eternity? These are the questions Bruce is asking. He’s one of the figures behind the ongoing development of a humanoid robot called Bina48. Who’s created from the ‘mindfile’ information of a real person and has been described as the most sentient and real robot in the world.

#127 – Joe Quirk

Today I’m speaking with Joe Quirk. The Seasteading Institute believe that experiments are the source of all progress: to find something better, you have to try something new, but right now, there is no open space for experimenting with new societies. So they are working to enable seasteading communities — basically floating cities — which will allow the next generation of pioneers to peacefully test new ideas for how to live together. Joe is the president of this institute, as well as the co-founder and managing director of Blue Frontiers. He co-authored the book ‘Seasteading: How Floating Nations Will Restore The Environment, Enrich The Poor, Cure The Sick and Liberate Humanity from Politicians’.

#126 – Buck Angel

Buck Angel is a human rights activist, speaker, innovator and one of America’s most successful porn stars. ‘Mr. Angel’, the documentary about his life and transition from female to male has helped to inspire and educate many on the struggles of being a transsexual person. His message of empowerment through self-acceptance and the mission to encourage everyone to be comfortable in their own skin – whatever that means to them – has struck a passionate chord with people all around the world. Through appearances at Yale, Cornell and other major institutions Buck is educating an entire generation on the fluidity of sexuality and identity politics. He’s appeared on HBO, National Geographic, in Forbes, Esquire and Rolling Stone to name just a few.

#125 – Johann Hari ‘Lost Connections’ (part 2)

This is PART 2, of a two part conversation with Johann Hari. Check out PART 1 first for context.

Johann Hari is the author of the New York Times bestselling book; ‘Chasing the Scream’ which is being adapted into a feature film. His TED Talk ‘Everything You Think You Know About Addiction Is Wrong’ and the animation based on it have more than 20 million views. However it’s his latest book ‘Lost Connections’, another New York Times Bestseller, that I want to speak with him about today! What really causes depression and anxiety – and how can we really solve them? Johann suffered from depression since he was a child, started taking anti-depressants when he was a teenager and continued to do so for 13 years. He was told that his problems were caused by a chemical imbalance in his brain. As an adult, trained in the social sciences, he began to investigate whether this was true – and he learned that almost everything we have been told about depression and anxiety is wrong. Across the world, Hari found scientists who were uncovering evidence that depression and anxiety are not caused by a chemical imbalance in our brains. In fact, they are largely caused by key problems with the way we live today.

#124 – Johann Hari ‘Lost Connections’ (part 1)

Johann Hari is the author of the New York Times bestselling book; ‘Chasing the Scream’ which is being adapted into a feature film. His TED Talk ‘Everything You Think You Know About Addiction Is Wrong’ and the animation based on it have more than 20 million views. However it’s his latest book ‘Lost Connections’, another New York Times Bestseller, that I want to speak with him about today! What really causes depression and anxiety – and how can we really solve them? Johann suffered from depression since he was a child, started taking anti-depressants when he was a teenager and continued to do so for 13 years. He was told that his problems were caused by a chemical imbalance in his brain. As an adult, trained in the social sciences, he began to investigate whether this was true – and he learned that almost everything we have been told about depression and anxiety is wrong. Across the world, Hari found scientists who were uncovering evidence that depression and anxiety are not caused by a chemical imbalance in our brains. In fact, they are largely caused by key problems with the way we live today.