America is in the Middle of a Bad Acid Trip. We Don’t Know How to Come Down From It. (*A version of this article was originally published in THE DOE Magazine in December 2020) “If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn’t.” — Mad Hatter — Alice in Wonderland What if you…

An Apolitical Essay for a Political Time. A Meditation on Quantum Knowledge, Information Castles, & Love — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — Physicist Richard Feynman once said, “The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you…

The supposed “love hormone” oxytocin is triggered not just when we’re cuddling but also when we’re gearing up to go to war together. — By Fred Dust & Rob Healy Fueled by Ted Talks and Goop articles alike, oxytocin has had a great PR run in recent years. Colloquially called the “love drug” or “cuddle chemical”, oxytocin is a pair-bonding hormone that doubles as a neurotransmitter. It gets activated whenever we are cuddling with…

Why “Love on the Spectrum” is the Best Show of 2020 We’re 5 months into COVID, the Hollywood content production pipeline has run dry, and my Netflix cue has turned into a toggle between documentary esoterica and early-aught sitcom reruns. …

The Next American Decade May Rest Upon What We Do in the Coming Months “There are decades where nothing happens, and then there are weeks where decades happen.”- Lenin “No war is over until the enemy says it’s over. We may think it over, we may declare it over, but in fact, the enemy gets a vote.” — General George Mattis As it stands…

The Four Stupidest Responses to CoronaVirus and Why We Need to Shut Them Up Be honest… How many of you actually knew this was coming? How many of you genuinely anticipated that this disease was going to uproot your life, overrun our healthcare system, and crater the economy? If you answered yes…

Why Bali is the sexiest place on earth. Just not why you think. CHAPTER 2 SINCERE AND LOATHING IN BALI sexy: [ sek-see ] adjective, sex·i·er, sex·i·est. 1.) radiating sexuality, sensual, seductive, provocative. 2.) excitingly appealing; intriguing, alluring. I. DIONYSUS AND APOLLO In order to understand Bali’s sexual allure, one must be loosely acquainted…

SINCERE AND LOATHING IN BALI BAGUS - CHAPTER 1 A trip to Bali without seeing monkeys is difficult to pull off even if you had set out with the intention to do so ahead of time. Monkeys are everywhere. At restaurants and hotels and homestays. On the beach and in the jungles. Statues of monkeys. Signs telling you where…

PODIEM PAPER #6: The Ramifications of our Reality-on-Demand Economy #ThePodiemPapers are an ongoing series of short essays aimed at heightening the public conversation around core issues intersecting journalism and social media. _________________________________________________________________ E.O Wilson said it best. “We are a civilization of Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology.”