Rounding the Earth Podcast Launch

Launch Date: July 5, 2022

My absence over the past week is largely due to brainstorming and planning on several fronts. That time was primarily spent making and expanding on some entrepreneurial fronts, both directly involving myself and encouraging others. One of the projects I'm hammering out is a podcast-ish program that I worked on in January prior to taking on the DMED research. Here is where we are.

Instead of hosting myself, I asked Liam Sturgess if he would be interested. He said that he almost brought the idea to me himself, so the wavelength is there for a promising experiment. Some days I may co-host with him, but he will be the pilot…for the pilot.

Among the many things I like about Liam:

• His energy is both positive and exceptional.

• He expresses the desire to participate in the building of a better world.

• He is friendly and engaging.

• He shows few boundaries to learning about a broad array of topics and skills.

• He displays understanding for everyone, with or without disagreements of outlook, opinions, or philosophy.

In short, I think Liam is a great fit for the audience at Rounding the Earth.

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What the RTE Podcast Will Look Like

These ideas may morph, but we plan to start with two modes:

1. Round Table discussions. There is not enough of this format going on, and the result is that a lot of pandemic era content is…shaky. Earlier today Jessica Rose sent me a small news outlet video that involved some good research, but still managed to get 50% of the Bigger Picture wrong while at least 90% of the basic facts were correct. Hopefully something like a regular Round Table that pulls together several top well-informed minds will help smooth out complex arrays of facts, makes it clear what we can and cannot infer, educates the audience, and prevents misunderstanding.

2. A Weekly News Rundown. All topics are on the table, but our goal is generally to cover those topics that matter most in the world, whether that's climbing energy costs, regenerative farming, education, monkeypox terrorism, the latest and greatest social media platforms, actual technological advances, or what have you.

We do have additional modes in mind, and if these programs are successful, and viewers express interest in more, we will expand further.

Here are some ways in which RTE programs plan to change the way these conversations take place:

1. Discussions of principles and modes of reasoning. It's one thing to be informed of facts. It's another to learn how to best make use of them. In every episode we hope to have a moment where we can stop and elucidate a specific form of reasoning, or misformed reasoning (fallacies or other cognitive tension). We want for these programs to incorporate something like slices of serious university classes. And it is often the case that we humans best learn or elevate our reasoning skills while engaging in an important subject in which we are interested.

2. Guests you will wonder why you've never heard about before. The world is a complex place, and the people who get promoted are often the people who make the best pets (of promoters), not the people who can best help you. We endeavor to first research topics RTE readers and viewers are interested in, and then find the people doing something different or new, and bring them and their ideas to you.

We are excited and looking forward to getting started.