297: Susan Liautaud | Ethical Decision-Making Through Six Forces Detailed In “The Power Of Ethics”

What kind of power does ethics hold, and does the law lag behind where ethics can be in the current moment? What kind of ethical questions should we ask ourselves before making important decisions? Dr. Susan Liautaud covers these topics in her latest book The Power of Ethics: How to Make Good Choices in a Complicated World.

Dr. Susan Liautaud teaches cutting-edge ethics courses at Stanford University, serves as Chair of Council of the London School of Economics and Political Science, and is the founder of the nonprofit platform The Ethics Incubator. She is also the founder and managing director of Susan Liautaud & Associates Limited, which advises clients from global corporations to NGOs on complex ethics matters.

She holds a PhD in Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science; a JD from Columbia University Law School; a M.A. in Chinese Studies from University of London School of Oriental and African Studies; and a M.A. and two B.A.s from Stanford University. Susan also serves on the advisory board of the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society at Stanford.

You can check out The Power of Ethics on Amazon, look at Dr. Liautaud’s Stanford page, check out her website founder page, or follow her on Twitter @SusanLiautaud.

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296: Yancey Strickler | The Bento Society, Kickstarter, And “This Could Be Our Future”

Can we as people come together to think beyond the short term? Do we have the capacity to make a decade or two from now as important as next week? It is up to us to go “Beyond a Near-term Orientation”, and that is what Bentoism is about. It was created by Yancey Strickler, co-founder of Kickstarter, and author of This Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World.

“Yancey is a Distinguished Fellow at the Drucker Institute and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. He cofounded the artist resource The Creative Independent, the record label eMusic Selects, and is an angel investor in startups including Hopin, Mati, Realtime, System, and Wren. Yancey began his career as a music critic in New York City writing for Pitchfork, Spin, and The Village Voice, and grew up on a farm in Clover Hollow, Virginia. He lives with his family in Vancouver, British Columbia.”

You can check out This Could Be Our Future on Amazon, The Bento Society homepage, or follow Yancey on Twitter (@ystrickler). You can also check out The Ideaspace substack, as well as the podcast.

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295: Mauro F. Guillén | The Biggest Trends Of Today, Progressing Toward “2030”

Welcome to episode 295 of the show, the first of 2021, with Professor Mauro F. Guillén. As a future-oriented person, discussing the upcoming trends leading us toward 10 years from now is something I am interested in. These trends are covered in 2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything.

Professor Guillen is “a Spanish/American sociologist, political economist, management educator, Zandman Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Director of the Penn Lauder Center for International Business Education and Research.”

As well, “An expert on global market trends, he is a sought-after speaker and consultant. He combines his training as a sociologist at Yale and as a business economist in his native Spain to methodically identify and quantify the most promising opportunities at the intersection of demographic, economic, and technological developments. His online classes on Coursera and edX have attracted over 100,000 participants from around the world.”

You can check out 2030 on Amazon.

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294: Closing Out 2020 With The Year In Review

We start from one place and end up at another. In this episode, we close out 2020 with a last episode of the year, bringing us to 52 episodes for the 52-week year~. Here, I discuss the guests we’ve had on in 2020, concepts they brought up, and some takeaways for all of you.

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293: Richard Coss | Behavioral Ecology, Predator Recognition, And Perceptual System Development

Welcome to episode 293 of the show, with Professor Richard Coss of the University of California, Davis. From his educational transitions to life transitions, he has covered a variety of disciplines, and looks at key elements of animal behavior and predator activity.

Of his biography, “Dr. Coss is an emeritus professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and a faculty member of UC Davis’ Graduate Group in Animal Behavior and Graduate Group in Ecology. Dr. Coss serves as a member of a number of professional organizations, including the Animal Behavior Society, the International Society for Ecological Psychology, and the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology. Dr. Coss also served on the Editorial Advisory Board for Behavioral and Neural Biology.”

From his description, “Dr. Coss has two primary research interests, both of which emphasize evolutionary constraints on perceptual and cognitive processes in humans and other species. The first research area examines issues in the behavioral ecology of small mammals. His research typically examines population differences, predator-prey relations, habitat perception, and social communication. Behavioral development in field and laboratory conditions is a consistent theme throughout his experimental studies; Pthis developmental theme is sometimes complemented with neuro-biological measures. The second program of study concentrates on the development of aesthetic preferences and how these preferences are constrained by human evolutionary history. Research on this topic emphasizes visual perception and creativity and often includes cross-cultural comparisons.”

You can check out Professor Coss’ material on his faculty page.

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292: John Harte | Ecology, Climate Change, Biodiversity, And Complex Systems At The Harte Lab

Hello to all of you, and welcome to episode 292 of the show, with Professor John Harte of The Harte Lab at UC Berkeley. Focusing on biodiversity, climate change, complex systems, ecology, and policy analysis, Professor Harte and his lab members tackle a range of issues.

Professor Harte is an ecologist and Professor of the Graduate School in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California at Berkeley. “Harte received his B.A. from Harvard University in 1961 and his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Wisconsin in 1965. He was an Assistant Professor of Physics at Yale University from 1968-1973. During his time at Yale, he transitioned into the study of theoretical ecology, and joined the UC Berkeley faculty as an ecologist in the Energy and Resources Group in 1973.”

“His work spans a range of scales, from plot to landscape to global, and utilizes field manipulation experiments, the study of patterns in nature, and mathematical modeling. Two specific goals are to understand the nature and causes of patterns in the distribution and abundance of species and to understand the extent to which ecosystem responses to climate change may result in feedbacks to climate that can either ameliorate or exacerbate global warming. An overarching goal of his research is to understand the interdependence of human well-being and the health of ecosystems.”

You can check out Professor Harte’s faculty page, as well as The Harte Lab website.

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291: Brennan Spiegel | The Coming Age Of Virtual Therapeutics In “VRx”

Where will virtual therapeutics take healthcare in upcoming years? Dr. Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, gastroenterologist at Cedars-Sinai, writes about this in his book VRx: How Virtual Therapeutics Will Revolutionize Medicine. Directing the Center for Outcomes Research and Education at Cedars, he guides investigation of the application of digital health technologies, which include wearable biosensors, smartphone applications, virtual reality and social media.

Dr. Spiegel is editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Gastroenterology, the leading clinical gastroenterology journal in North America. He has also published “numerous best-selling medical textbooks, editorials and more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is listed in the Onalytica ‘Top 100 Influencer’ lists for digital health (No. 13) and virtual reality (No. 14). His digital health research has been featured by major media outlets, including NBC News, PBS, Forbes, Bloomberg, NPR and Reuters.”

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290: Continual Branching | The Many Ways To Reach Outward

Welcome to episode 290 of The Armen Show Podcast. This one is about the value of branching out in daily times, and different ways you can branch out in your own life.

Adding a little variation to your day can be all you need to keep it interesting. This can be in the form of music, colors used in note-taking, paths taken to travel, locations visited, foods tried, people reached out to, and more.

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289: Daniel T. Blumstein | Examining Animal Behavior To Understand More About “The Nature Of Fear”

Fear is a driving force for much of the population, and Dr. Daniel T. Blumstein speaks about fear in his book The Nature of Fear: Survival Lessons from the Wild, released by Harvard University Press. Looking at marmots, snakes, and a variety of animals, in regards to their fear responses and biochemical adjustments, allows us to understand and manage our own fears.

Professor Blumstein runs the Blumstein lab at UCLA in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology College. Project topics at the lab include evolution of social behavior and communication, antipredator vigilance, climate change and population biology, conservation behavior, biological impacts of tourism, and many more.

From Wikipedia, Professor Blumstein is also “… a professor for the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability [at UCLA]. He has authored or co-authored over 300 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Furthermore, he authored the book The Failure of Environmental Education (and How We Can Fix It) with Charles Saylan, which was featured in the 2011 “Summer Reading: 7 Education Books to Take to the Beach” in Time Magazine. Because of his work in conservation and education, he was invited to join the panel at the first ever United States White House conference on environmental education.

Blumstein earned a PhD in animal behavior in 1994 and a MS in animal behavior in 1990, both from the University of California, Davis. He earned a BA in environmental, population, and organismic biology as well as environmental conservation from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1986.”

We spoke about marmot research, fear response, nonlinearities in sound, projects his lab is working on, sections from the book, how fear response is looked at, and more.

Past guests mentioned in this episode, and the topic with which they were brought up:

Professor Peter T. Coleman – Polarization

Dr. Geoffrey West – Scaling Laws

Dr. Azra Raza – Socialization During Dinner Gatherings

You can check out The Nature of Fear on Amazon.

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288: Continuation Is Power And Flow Is Your Colleague

Welcome to episode 288, which might be my first one on this show that is both solo and still in video form. On this one, as the show continues its growth, I describe thoughts in relation to a quote I read that said “Continuation is power”. When I saw that, I recognized the value in it, and that I wanted to talk a bit about it.

The people who continue along on a project path or a goal they started before represent their internal willpower when they put out that next thing. It says something to all others out there, and represents that they are still “in the market”.

After covering this topic, I covered the topic of continued flow, and how stoppage has such an impact on where you can go in the short term. It’s like a weight that can become heavier by the day, each day that you skip working out, or whatever the activity may be.

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287: Brief Review Of Episodes With Geoffrey West, Maryam Baqir, and James Nestor

Hello and welcome to episode 287 of the show. On this one, I look to recap a few past episodes, what I learned from them, and what you might be able to take away. The episodes are #274 with Dr. Geoffrey West, #268 with Dr. Maryam Baqir, and #267 with James Nestor.

Dr. West gave us a sense of connection with humanity through biological and physics laws, while Dr. Baqir took us through the first Covid wave and her direct experience, and Mr. Nestor reminded us that there is a better way to breathe. I hope you enjoy the episode, and I look to do more recaps like this one.

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286: Robert Bilott | The Environmental Attorney Battling Dupont In “Exposure” and “Dark Waters”

We are joined on episode 286 of the show by guest Robert Bilott. He is an environmental attorney at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. He is the author of Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyer’s Twenty-Year Battle against DuPont, which was then turned into the 2019 film Dark Waters.

From his bio, Robert is “A seasoned and internationally-recognized litigator, advocate, and author, Rob represents a diverse range of clients on a wide variety of matters involving federal, state, and local environmental laws. For more than 29 years, he has handled environmental issues of regulatory compliance, permitting, and corporate/real estate transactions, as well as all aspects of litigation arising from such issues, from administrative hearings to multi-party, complex multi-district litigation, mass torts, and class actions.”

Show notes:

  • Robert’s background becoming an environmental attorney and progressing in the field
  • Dark Waters and its representation of Robert’s extended battle with Dupont regarding PFOAs and related chemicals
  • the difference in impact of his book and the film
  • the details of the case against Dupont
  • some personality traits that match with being an environmental attorney
  • and much more

You can check out Exposure on Amazon, or Dark Waters on IMDb.

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285: Robby Gordon | Post-Modern Artist Behind The Hollywood Gallery And Sculpture Garden

Glad to have you all on here for episode 285 – this one is a treat because it includes visuals of the paintings, sculptures, clothing, and crystals created and procured by Dr. Robby Gordon, who has created the Hollywood Gallery and Sculpture Garden. These entities are packed with artistic works of his own, along with those of many others who he knows of.

Dr. Robby Gordon studied art at the University of California Irvine, Irvine Valley College, and Golden West. He also studied at the University of Bologna and UCLA. He spent his first 21 years in Israel, subsequently moving to Europe, where he studied and became increasingly involved in the art world.

The Hollywood Sculpture Garden as seen at night

Show notes:

  • Robby’s background as an artist, and some of the various works he has created
  • how long it took him to set up his gallery in the form that it is, and how he has kept at it daily
  • some of the countries he has been to, and the culture and artistic sense acquired from those regions
  • the things he looked for in the residence he would later use to host the gallery, and how it is necessary to pin down what is important to you in life
  • keeping things varied in terms of types of artistic works made, and how Robby has created in so many styles, such that he takes on a category until he feels like it is on to the next one
  • the many crystals and rocks that he showcases in his facility
  • a video walk-through of his gallery, narrated by Robby and recorded by myself

Having Robby on the show, and recording the episode in person, was a nice change of pace for the content. You can check out the Hollywood Gallery and Sculpture Garden website.

  • Award speech
  • At a function
  • Work being done
  • Walls being removed
  • The original hillside
  • Early work on the hill

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284: Jeffrey Rediger | Spontaneous Healing Through Natural Well-Being In “Cured”

Welcome to episode 284 of the show, with Dr. Jeffrey Rediger, MD, MDiv, faculty member at Harvard Medical School, Medical Director of McLean SE Adult Psychiatry Community Affairs at McLean Hospital, and Chief of Behavioral Medicine at Good Samaritan Medical Center.

Dr. Rediger is author of Cured: The Life-Changing Science of Spontaneous Healing, and covers ways that people have been cured or healed without the need for regular types of treatment. Taking into account well-being and a person’s specific needs is something hospitals are doing more and more.

Show notes:

  • what a medical director does at a hospital, and what Dr. Rediger has been part of for nearly two decades
  • some of the medical issues that his psychiatric hospital is skilled at dealing with
  • concepts in Cured, including how healing can take place outside of typical treatment
  • the way that well-being comes into play, and how placebos can showcase the ability of the body to heal itself
  • the importance of a diet that has specific elements kept out, which were not natural to humans for most of history
  • insights about mental health, and the effect of the term
  • a message to all who could use a guide for their mental well-being

Glad to have Dr. Rediger on the show. You can check out his website and Cured on Amazon.

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283: Reviewing All 11 Quotes From My Original Quote Analysis Ebook

In episode 15, which was 268 episodes ago, I mentioned my two past Ebooks, along with a couple of quotes from the one called “Quote Analysis: Volume 1”, but I did not go into detail about each quote. In this audio, I cover all 11 quotes, and my current take on what they mean.

Listing of the quotes:

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

Benjamin Franklin

If I can picture that, I’ll bring a picture back.

O’Shea Jackson

Real education must ultimately be limited to [people] who insist on knowing, the rest is mere sheep-herding.

Ezra Pound

If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.

Mario Andretti

The [person] who never makes a mistake always takes orders from one who does.

Daisy Bates

He who hesitates is a damned fool.

Mae West

When ability exceeds ambition, or ambition exceeds ability, the likelihood of success is limited.

Ralph Half

It’s not about timing; it’s about preparation.

Unknown

First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win.

Mahatma Gandhi

To be understood, first seek to understand.

Stephen Covey

The mind, ever the willing servant, will respond to boldness, for boldness, in effect, is a command to deliver.

Norman Vincent Peale

We take note of these short communications from these individuals, and what we can do with them today.

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282: Answering 28.2 Questions About The Show And My Perspective

We switch it up on The Armen Show every so often. On this episode #282, I will be answering 28.2 questions about myself and the show, as far as my perspective and responses as though I am being interviewed. I find it to be fairly informative.

The first 9 questions, and one later one, are made up by myself, and the other 19 questions are taken from a 19 Podcast Interview Questions article online. It is a mix of my own material and that from outside.

Here are the questions answered on the show:

  1. When did you start this podcast?
  2. What does it mean to you to have a podcast?
  3. What kinds of topics do you most like to cover on the show?
  4. How does a podcast work?
  5. What are some goals you have for the show?
  6. What styles of podcasts do you most relate with outside of your own?
  7. How would you describe 2020?
  8. What books do you recommend for someone wanting to read something new?
  9. What do you most like to see for others?
  10. What’s something people seem to misunderstand about you?
  11. What should I ask you that I didn’t know enough to ask?
  12. What is something you have learned in the past year that has been important?
  13. Tell me about a patient that touched your heart, and tell me about a patient that changed your practice.
  14. What makes you feel inspired or like your best self?
  15. What is one thing that your program did for your client that you didn’t expect?
  16. If you could have a billboard with anything on it, what would it be and why?
  17. If you could turn back the time and talk to your 18-year old self, what would you tell him/her?
  18. If in 150 years sciences fails to save us & all that is left is a book about your life….What would the title be and what would the blurb tell us about “INSERT NAME”.
  19. What does being Ridiculously Human mean to you?
  20. If you had £100million to spend on health tech and no red tape, how would you spend it
  21. What’s the most important thing you’ve learned in your life? What was your life like before learning it? What was your life like after learning it?
  22. What is your best tip for making the world a better place?
  23. If you can do anything to improve health and healthcare in rural America, what would you do?
  24. If I could remove all barriers and constraints what project would you do and would you want to be known only by that project
  25. What is the best compliment you have ever received?
  26. How would your parents describe what you do for a living?
  27. If you could have dinner with any 3 people dead or alive who would it be and why?
  28. What would you pick for a last meal?
    28.2. This 0.2 questions is in the show~

It is almost like a self-interview. We mix it up here on the show, and sometimes we reach from sources outside of the show. Glad to have you as a listener.

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281: Gaining Value From The Insights, Paths, And Mistakes Of Others

Welcome to episode 281 of the show, where I cover a few messages and topics in a monologue type of form. The main theme on this one is that there is value outside yourself to absorb from, and you can tag on to the stories of others to enhance the story of your own.

Show notes:

  • looking at the stories and path of others
  • getting value from things outside yourself, and letting the experiences of others bring you messages and understanding
  • the different types of markets that exist
  • participating in the markets of your choosing
  • bringing the people around you up, and what that can do for you
  • how to bring the people around you up
  • how acting in line with your true nature matches you in the long-term, but can have slight drawbacks in the short-term

Glad to have you listening, and we continue to the future.

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280: Dan Cable | Unlocking Your Potential And Building Life Highlight Reels With “Exceptional”

Welcome London Business School Professor Dan Cable to episode 280 of the show. He has come out with a new book titled Exceptional: Build Your Personal Highlight Reel and Unlock Your Potential. Building your highlights into a listing of strengths can give you motivation to use moving forward.

He is Professor of Organizational Behavior and received his Masters and PhD in Labor and Industrial Relations at Cornell University. He gives us guidelines for how to envision our life, focus on what we bring to the table, and grow as a person. He has given a TEDx Talk on how to have a Best-Self Activation, and wrote a previous book in 2018 called Alive at Work.

Show notes:

  • Professor Cable’s background, and how he got into the field he is currently in
  • focusing on what we do correctly or well in life
  • looking at what limits us, whether clearly or in a hidden form
  • what it means to create your personal highlight reel
  • imagining your own eulogy, and seeing what that says about your life
  • crafting a life that you want to live, instead of one that is offered to you without specificity to your taste
  • messages for life

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279: Kat Fairaway | Actress And Producer Branching Out Through Depth And Collaboration

Welcome actress and producer Kat Fairaway to episode 279 of the show. Depth is something that Kat represents, and depth is something that I find to be valuable. We can see moments as fleeting elements, or explore them further, such that time allows us to understand more.

Kat is known for her work in productions such as Psycho Escort, Kidnapped by a Classmate and Letters from the Heart. Representing characters in filmography is the heart of Los Angeles, and Kat occupies this great county (as I do). We covered quite a bit about her background, thoughts, and had a bit of fun as well.

Show notes:

  • Kat’s background, and representing parts of Europe
  • some of her work in movie/content roles she has been in, whether on Lifetime, Amazon, or elsewhere
  • being at peace through mindset or meditation
  • fun with accents, and some swell singing (I also rapped)
  • a Gary Vaynerchuk message about blocking out unsupportive voices
  • how one can choose their attitude in response to circumstances
  • how those who have suffered and not ran away are appealing
  • picking apart life through doubt, or a different way
  • and a message for all

Social Links:

IMDb | Instagram

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278: Joseph Sarkissian | Biological Dentistry Through Holistic Care For Health And Aesthetics

To look at something holistically is to look at it with a broad view, as compared with narrowing our perspective and leaving out the bigger picture when making decisions. Dr. Joseph Sarkissian handles the world of dentistry in such a way, treating patients with detail that takes their total health into account, and he joins on this episode of the show.

Dr. Sarkissian runs his dental practice in Glendale, California. He studied microbiology at the University of Alabama, and received his dental degree at the University of Goettingen in West Germany. His practice of dentistry was originally on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, and he later relocated to Los Angeles, where his own practice is now located. He is of the Armenian people, similar to myself, and represents well for the nation and its continuity of tradition and exploration of its roots.

Show notes:

  • a bit about Dr. Sarkissian’s national and educational background, linking to how he got where he currently is
  • holistic or biological dentistry, and the tenets that are followed under that description of practice
  • impacting the youth, in terms of health and their aesthetic smiles
  • how dentistry has changed or improved in the past decade
  • whether mouth breathing or nasal breathing can be noticed by a dentist, and the impacts each type can have
  • how much tooth health is connected with overall health
  • the building of one’s own practice, and what it takes to maintain that
  • the importance of early dental care and adjustment, in prevention of problems decades down the line
  • how much regular dental care impacts the need for dental work
  • complex procedures that are performed, and how skill is built up for those

It was good to have Dr. Sarkissian on the show. You can check out his dental practice website, YouTube page, or Instagram @sarkissiandds.

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