Ned and Meg talk Gestalt. Design and more! Gestalt is a German word that means the shape of a thing, or like the quality of its appearance, or its form, we think. Kurt Kafka, German Psychologist, said 'the whole is other than the sum of the parts' which sorta sums up the whole concept. We discuss Gestalt in relation to shifting consciousness, Greg Egan, personal identity, authenticity, Mission Cheese, and then we dive into the Dictionary of Untranslatables, p. 1066 Structure, Pattern, Gestalt.

Ned and Meg edify the masses and discuss punctuation, too. Interrobangs, interrogative point, and others, no punctuation is too weird for us. You can thank Martin K Speckter for inventing a form of punctuation that is essential and absurd! We also propose punctuation for asking a question in a question, and make fun of Inception for a bit, too. To the staircase, for some wit! Treppenwitz! Wash your hands, get the shots, wear a mask, don’t be a dick and THANKS for listening, kids!

Ned and Meg and Dana talk about idioms, again! Violent idioms are confusing to us because we don’t want to beat dead horses or kill multiple birds or bite bullets. Meg is pretty fond of idioms with vivid imagery. Ned schools us on snipe hunts. We discuss our intermittent and subjective love of liars. Red herrings etymology, WTF. We revisit our annoyance about the changing definition and use of the word “literally.” We discuss the Wayback Machine, too. Update on the Exceptional Mouse. Object Permanence and ADHD. Also, this retraction/correction: the Oval Pawfice twitter account is NOT official but it’s still cool. Ok, carry on. Wash your hands, wear a mask, get your shots, don’t be a dick, thanks for listening.

Ned and Meg (well, mostly Meg) talk about the practice of Harm Reduction and why philosophers have totally failed to get into the conversation for the last 30 freaking years. Wash your hands, wear a mask, don’t be a dick, thanks for listening.

Ned and Meg discuss beheading royals and the optics of even more trolley problems. We run through upcoming titles and subjects for podcast episodes.

Ned and Meg and Dana ramble on about a few things. New identities in the white house! Two dogs, a cat and a first second gentleman. The virtuous side of twitter. Wily Husky is wily. Asshole cat is an asshole. Meg has new boots. Presidential signatures, wtf. Nerve pain management regimens. Birds of prey. Fauci Face. Newsom answer avoidance. CA Covid data crunch. The Buford Scale with the Rear Admiral. Wash your hands. Wear a mask. Don’t be a dick. Thanks.

Ned and Meg and Dana get together at long last and you can hear all THREE of us together! WE DISCUSS EDITORIAL FAILURES Bad idea avoidance specialist professionals Pop Physique font probs, poo Parler meta-weirdness Strong Opinions Loosely Held

Ned and Meg discuss why you should never trust anyone to leave their crap at your house. Also wear a mask and wash your hands!

Ned and Meg are captivated by Dana’s retelling of a story written by Becky Chambers, called The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, which coincides with our ongoing discussion of transhumanism in our full length Monday episodes. This book was originally crowdfunded on Kickstarter by the author in 2012 and published around 2014. Listen to us, and then read this book! Wash your hands! Wear a mask! Don’t be a jerkface! Thank you!

Ned and Meg plus Dana continue the discussion around Transhumanism, or using technology to improve our own biology through design in order to improve the existence of humans. Topics today include the Theory and Aims of Transhumanism. We raise questions about measuring humanity by its limitations, modifying the self versus future individuals, the age of modifiability, whether transhumanism is narcissistic or serves the greater good, if we don’t die are we still human, and will there be an arms race for enhancement? See also: trickle down rich kid theory, survival vs. other stakes, and the Fermi Paradox. Thanks for going on this adventure with us! Wash your hands, wear a mask, don’t be a dick.