Welcome to Posterity. In this podcast Zi and Cedric discuss various topics, from social science, self-help books, issues in politics and society, to random things that come to mind. In many ways, this podcast is an experiment. In the first segment of each episode we typically review how our previous episode went, and areas to improve. This is a deep dive into how we converse and communicate, and we incorporate feedback from our listeners to make this work. The second segment unpacks an issue, while the third segment is usually more trivial. The goal is to improve on a weekly basis, and with that we mean improving everything. The quality of the recordings, our conversation, and the content we discuss. This first episode is rather unpolished, with lots of lessons learned that we incorporated into our 2nd episode. 

Shoutout to Alex Cretallaz-Speich for composing our intro theme, you did beautiful work. Check out his label Ruby Room on Instagram. 

An overview of our first episode:

Introducing Posterity

1. Deciding on the name Posterity. 
2. Structuring the podcast, why 3 themes per week?
3. Quick review of our previous recording. While not released publicly, we did a test episode prior to recording this one. 
4. Introduction of 3 themes for the week.

1. Range by David Epstein

• Theme Overview:
  Roger Federer vs. Tiger woods. Roger played all sorts of different sports as a child/teen (skiing, wrestling, swimming, skateboarding). Tiger focused on Golf, or Golf related skills from as early as 10 months. Tiger was engaging in "deliberate practice", the idea that hours and hours of repeated practice beginning young is the key to a 'head-start'. The 10,000h rule represents a similar idea and logic. Roger was the exact opposite: "people who start broad and embrace diverse experiences and perspectives while they progress" (Epstein 2019, p. 14).
• "The Cult of the Head Start" - parents encouraging/forcing their kids to begin early. Prime example: children learning instruments from the age of 2.
• "How the Wicked World Was Made" - explored Soviet Development, the notion that as more schools were built, and teaching implemented, the way people thought about problems changed. Individuals from under-developed remote villages would tackle abstract problems very differently than those educated. Remote villagers relied solely on experience, refusing to adopt abstract thinking.
• "Learning Fast and Slow" - students who struggle while learning retain more information than those who receive hints, grasp concepts quickly, or memorize rather than understand.
  

2. Fear and Polarization in Public and Private Discourses

Theme Overview:

• Fear of Poverty
• Fear of Dictatorship
• Fear of the Virus

Lessons & Thoughts

• Are fears primal?
• Are we conscious of our fears when we discuss the pandemic?
• Are the current measures justifiable using all 3 notions of fear, or just fear of the virus?

3. Fireworks vs. Drone Displays

Theme Overview:

• What excites us about fireworks? Original intentions: noise, light, smoke, and floating materials (confetti).
• Secondary effects: anticipation, excitement, awe, a sense of "action". Fireworks are also rare, and typically associated with NYE.
• What excites us about drones, and light displays?