Techno-Biotic Podcast Techno-Biotic Podcast

In episode 8 our hosts talk with Daniel Stillman about the power that conversations have to shape so many aspects of our personal and professional lives. Conversations and how you approach them have impacts in your relationships at home, at work and in our communities. Daniel talks about this topic daily through his podcast https://theconversationfactory.com/podcast , his work as a design facilitator and trainer https://theconversationfactory.com/consulting, and now through his new book “Good Talk: How to Design Conversations That Matter” https://theconversationfactory.com/good-talk
 

In this week’s episode Laura, Matt and Shane extensively discuss Toilet Paper strategies, how they are coping with sheltering in place, and people’s interesting buying patterns during this Covid-19 crisis.
Our guest this week is Brian Solis - http://www.briansolis.com
We discuss various aspects of how experience and good design are key differentiators for successful brands. We dive into various aspects of experience and design and why the concept of experience architecture is a key element in the practical application of designing for experiences that consumers love and want to share with others.
Check out Brian’s books on this subject, specifically X and What The Future.
https://www.briansolis.com/books/
Brian shares his journey about how fake news, dark patterns in programming and our own brains lead him to write his most recent book, Lifescale. In Lifescale he offers guidance on how to refocus your life and make the best usage of technology to enhance, rather than control your life.
Take a look at these SXSW keynotes for more on that journey.
https://youtu.be/aB2WUYNqFHQ
https://youtu.be/jz9RpPn7jHI

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Just a few short days after we recorded this episode, the city of New York asked all of the broadway shows in the city to shut down as part of broader efforts to slow the spread of Covid-19 here in the US and globally.
While this was certainly the right decision, it does mean that many of those who work on those shows and produce much of the art we all love, are out of work for the foreseeable future. As you will hear later in this episode, we are huge proponents of supporting the arts and the artists, musicians, singers, dancers, creatives and all those who support them behind the scenes.
As such we encourage you to help if you can in whatever ways you are able.
Share and donate to their go fundME campaigns.
Buy tickets now to their future and rescheduled shows and encourage your friends to do the same. Buy their art, their music, their merchandise.
Donate to organizations like musiciansfoundation.org and other organizations.
In the mean time, enjoy this amazing interview with Drew Gaspirini. - https://www.thedrewgasparini.com/
In the show today Charles Araujo joins us as a Guest host and gives us a little update about what he has been doing since we spoke to him in episode 1 - https://www.charlesaraujo.com/
We speak with our guest Drew Gaspirini about his role as a broadway composer for the upcoming musical rendition of beloved 80s franchise, The Karate Kid. - https://deadline.com/2020/01/karate-kid-broadway-musical-adaptation-screenwriter-robert-mark-kamen-1202837960/
Drew promises us that he will treat the subject matter with the reverence it deserves,
We talk a lot about the level of empathy it requires to connect people with the characters through music and why musicals are an opportunity to connect the audience on a deeper level with those characters.
Drew talks about unexpected ways in which technology has impacted musical theater, like TikTok introducing Beetlejuice the musical to a whole new generation. https://www.papermag.com/beetlejuice-broadway-tiktok-trend-1-2640689936.html
We spend a lot of time talking about not losing yourself in the art you create, while at the same time how your focus changes as you grow in your careers form attention seeking, to legacy building.
Drew gives shoutouts to his bestest friends Alex Brightman who is an amazing writing partner (and currently playing the namesake role of Beetlejuice on Broadway) https://twitter.com/ABrightMonster and F. Michael Haynie who’s is also a bestie and amazing writing partner (and currently playing the role of Olaf in Disney’s Frozen the musical North American tour) https://www.instagram.com/fmichaelhaynie/
Catch Drew at any one of the events he is at, as well as his check out his music in many forms:
Drew Gaspirini and Friends (Monthly show at Rockwood Music Hall in NYC)
https://www.ticketfly.com/event/1801011-drew-gasparini-friends-new-york/
Music:
Saint Adeline - https://www.saintadelineband.com/
Louis & Drew - http://ww.w.thedrewgasparini.com/work_louis.html
Solo Work - https://open.spotify.com/artist/36Jymo0A3JkHcLvZ9Xt2vB

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In this episode, Laura and Shane talk with Dan Turchin, the founder and CEO of Astound.AI - https://astound.ai/
We touch on a variety of areas in this discussion including:
Which jobs are best suited for AI and what jobs will continue to require humans to perform them?
Why AI is fundamentally about making the lives of humans better?
What is coming in the next 2 years related to how we use and interact with AI?
How AI is currently impacting how people work today?
How do we redefine human value beyond our ability to trade our time for a wage.
The difference between Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Narrow Artificial Intelligence and why the current usages we see today is more focused on Narrow AI? - https://medium.com/@tjajal/distinguishing-between-narrow-ai-general-ai-and-super-ai-a4bc44172e22
Where does empathy and curiosity come into play between humans and AI?
Is it too late to re-skill the workforce to support the future? - https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomtaulli/2019/05/04/how-to-reskill-your-workforce-for-ai-artificial-intelligence/#78531eae3eb9
Dan introduces us to the concept of “Dull, Dirty, or Dangerous” as the litmus test for where there is an opportunity for machines to do a job that a human is currently performing. - https://www.robotics.org/blog-article.cfm/How-Robots-Are-Taking-on-the-Dirty-Dangerous-and-Dull-Jobs/209
Whether we should fear that AI will take jobs away from people.
Whether AI will eventually decide that humans are imperfect and shouldn’t exist and why some technologists fear this outcome. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra3fv8gl6NE
How low cost compute power has democratized access to AI and Machine Learning.
Topics coming out of the recent British Standards Institute conference on AI. - https://shop.bsigroup.com/Navigate-by/Conferences/Conferences/Now-Booking/The_Digital_World_Artificial_Intelligence/BSI_Event_TheDigital_WorldArtificialIntelligence/


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In this episode, Matt and Shane discuss questions that came in from episode 1 and were answered by Charles Araujo - www.charlesaraujo.com
We talk about the positives and negatives of technology and it’s impact on humans. Dr. Bevans talks about how technology like social media connects us to events in our past and our memories, but also changes our relationship to other information like phone numbers and the like that we used to have to memorize. This leads to a conversation about our brains being lazy and wanting to optimize energy usage. Dr. Bevans educates us on how brains create memorization patterns. http://www.bu.edu/articles/2016/human-brain-store-retrieve-memories/
Dr. Bevans talks to us about we are only capable of tracking .000009% of all the information being presented to us at any given moment. (Yes, I checked my math and was off by a couple decimal places - SC) - https://www.britannica.com/science/information-theory/Physiology
Dr. Bevans talks bout how our evolutions expects us to lead much less stimulating lives, and the busier we get and the more technology we introduce, there harder things become for us cognitively. Our brain is 2% of our body weight, but consumes 20% of our energy. - https://www.brainfacts.org/brain-anatomy-and-function/anatomy/2019/how-much-energy-does-the-brain-use-020119
This leads to a conversation about how the mental health and life expectancy of Digital Natives (Millennials and Zoomers) are being affected. - https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/life-expectancy-decline-young-lost-generation/
We are not designed to maintain hundreds of friendships. - https://www.newyorker.com/science/maria-konnikova/social-media-affect-math-dunbar-number-friendships
Are we too busy? https://www.sloww.co/busyness-101/
Are we lacking in shared experiences in society now? - https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/10/the-importance-of-sharing-experiences/381493/
Or do we older folks just not recognize the modern shared experience like memes? - https://graziadaily.co.uk/life/opinion/memes-just-entertainment/
The origin of the term meme. -  https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d35ana/richard-dawkins-told-us-what-he-thinks-about-memes
The impact of FoMo on our lives. - https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/magazines/panache/between-the-lines/fomo/articleshow/62550811.cms
Dopamine and social interactions. - https://heleo.com/like-it-or-not-how-social-media-affects-psychological-reward-systems/10857/
Tribalism in the digital era. - http://www.globalinfluence.world/en/the-eruption-of-tribalism-in-the-digital-age/

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Content Warning: In this episode the hosts talk about the potential effects technology has on mental health, both positive and negative. We speak from our own experiences and try to be authentic about our feelings, fears,0 and concerns. We certainly are not trained mental health professionals and avoid giving advice or treatment recommendations, focusing more on our own struggles and histories.
Our resident Millennial and “Spiritual Boomer” Laura talks about how overwhelming the expectations of keeping up with technology can be and the impact it has on her ability to be mindful and stay in the moment.
Laura brings up the collaboration between Barbie and Headspace for a Mindful Barbie meant to introduce younger folks to the concept and benefits of mindfulness. https://www.thetoyinsider.com/barbie-wellness/
Shane talks about how his daughter’s elementary school introduced the students to Calm.com and trained them to recognized their own anxiety triggers around schoolwork and social situations.
Shane calls out a tweet by Jabe Bloom that asked “Which notifications bring you joy?” And discusses how notifications can drive joy or anxiety depending on the context. https://twitter.com/cyetain/status/1222893652617388032
Matt talks about his fears as a father that technology has the potential to negatively impact younger folks at an early age, especially cyber bullying. What role should parents play in understanding and managing the technology your children are exposed to?
We talk about the role technology plays in the erosion of work life balance and the impact that has on personal relationships. We also discuss how some countries have legislated the use of work technology after the work day ends.
We talk about how some companies are dealing with rising anxiety and mental health in the workplace.
We talk about our relationships with technology and how we see it as an escape or way of relaxing or unwinding. Matt touches on the blue light and it’s impact on our brains and sleep patterns. Shane brings up the trend of societies sleep patterns and the potential to use technology as a way to enhance human performance as we learn more and collect more data through wearables.
Blue Light Impacts: https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side
Sleep trends: https://www.sleepadvisor.org/sleep-statistics/
We discuss bullying and the dynamics of human interaction online versus face to face. This morphs into a conversation about listening more and talking less and active listening skills as a method of mindfulness and the importance of making space for others as well as yourself. Headspace gets it’s 4th (unsponsored) mention. https://www.headspace.com/
A discussion on the stigma of admitting mental health issues for boys and young men and for girls with Hungarian mothers. We talk about the power of sharing and being transparent about our own mental health struggles and working on increasing empathy in our interactions.
We talk about what it takes to get humans to change and reference the work of John Kotter. https://www.kotterinc.com/
Laura shares with us her brilliant lock screen that reminds her that other things in that moment may be more important than her phone.
https://www.techno-biotic.com/maps-the-journey-and-technobiotic-lock-screens



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