Visionaries – 06.11.18

“The Intellectual Dark Web.” The dark web is areas of the web that are not found by search engines and that typically deal in illicit goods. Recently a group of intellectuals that have been shunned by the mainstream, who post podcasts and YouTubes, and who sometimes interview each other has been labeled “The Intellectual Dark Web.” Wassup with that?

Visionaries – 04.30.18

“MJDorian.” Our guest is Milosz Jeziorski, an award winning composer who writes music for film and television. In 2016, he took on the identity of MJDorian: a faceless music producer who wears a poltergeist mask which obscures any indication of age, race, or gender. MJDorian is currently producing a dark pop and hip hop album, drip releasing with art and …

Visionaries – 04.16.18

“More meanderings on books.” Why the vicious attacks on Steven Pinker for his book, “Enlightenment Now,” which shows how some aspects of life have been radically improving. And thoughts about David Deutsch’s “The Beginning of Infinity.” (And we can’t talk about Deutsch without mentioning quantum computing and how quantum computers get their power by harnessing their siblings in parallel universes.) …

Visionaries – 04.09.18

“2001: Creation from Within or Without?” This is the 50th anniversary of the movie,”2001: A Space Odyssey.” The movie is about the search for the extraterrestrial origin of a series of monoliths, one of which sparked the origin of human intelligence. So, where does our humanness come from? There are two traditions: From without, as we see in Genesis 2.7. …

Visionaries – 03.26.18

“A Reading List: Part 5.” Lobell continues looking at kool books for our time. Lacking the attention span to read books, Lobell listens to audiobooks, so all the books we talk about are available in audio version. Right now we are interested in the question, “What happened?” For thousands of years human civilization bumped along with great sophistication occasionally popping …

Visionaries – 03.12.17

Bob Walter, Director of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. Campbell is one of the seminal sources of the contemporary psyche, but few have read his books. Who was Joseph Campbell? How did he become the source for much of today’s cinema? What are his key works, and how might one begin to delve into his ideas? Bob Walter, Campbell’s last editor …

Visionaries – 03.05.17

Lois Farfel Stark, author of “The Telling Image.” In her magnificently illustrated new book, award-winning documentary filmmaker Lois Farfel Stark reveals the human drama as a journey from the “webs” of round-thatched huts and stone circles, to the “urban ladders” of pyramids and skyscrapers organized by hierarchy and measurements, to today’s world of “interconnected networks.” In “The Telling Image” Stark …

Visionaries – 02.15.17

“A Reading List: Part 4.” Today Lobell continues with his list of audiobooks and chats about each one. “The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future” by Steve Case. Steve Case was founder and CEO of AOL. When AOL merged with Time Warner, they were in a position to take over the Internet, but instead they self-destructed. How and …

Visionaries – 02.05.17

Visionaries – 02.05.18 February 5, 2018 “Rita McMahon of the Wild Bird Fund.” If you find an injured bird in New York City, there is a place you can bring it where it will be cared for — the Wild Bird Fund. Find them at https://www.wildbirdfund.org. My wife, Alissa Grimaldi (http://alissagrimaldi.com) joins me in interviewing Rita McMahon, co-founder of the Wild Bird …

Visionaries – 01.29.17

Visionaries – 01.29.18 January 29, 2018 “A Reading List: Part 3.” Today Lobell continues with his list of audiobooks chats about each one. Today we briefly mention books I am just starting: – The Sentient Machine: The Coming Age of Artificial Intelligence by Amir Husain – 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson – Leonardo da Vinci by …