On this ride, Steve and Mal consider executive dysfunction and the fundamental problems of life and death. No biggie.
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Show notes:
Shout-out to Charles Yu’s “How To Live Safely In A Science Fictional Universe.” Per Wikipedia: “The novel revolves around a search for a father and the father-son relationship. It also includes themes about life and how we live especially with respect to time, memories, and creation of the self…. The novel centers on Charles Yu, a time machine mechanic. He lives in his TM-31 time machine with his non-existent dog, Ed, and the time machine’s depressed computer, TAMMY. Yu travels through Minor Universe 31 fixing time machines of people who try to fix the past.”
And another word about time travel: As Einstein discovered, the warping of space-time by a large mass (such as Earth) causes time to pass more slowly for things — or people — closer to it than those farther away. Confused? Look up gravitational time dilation. Knock yourself out, have fun with it.
As to executive dysfunction, consider its felicitous opposite, executive function. The main features of which, one has recently learned, are apparently:
• Working memory
• Cognitive flexibility
• Inhibition control
Meanwhile, higher level executive functions apparently include:
• Planning
• Reasoning
• Problem-solving
[Query: Shouldn’t podcasting be on that list?]
To enhance executive function, the Cleveland Clinic recommends (among other things) mindfulness training and exercise, especially the kind of exercise that makes you use your brain (cognitive skills) and your body. FWIW, the Cleveland Clinic views basketball as that type of exercise. See https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/executive-function and https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/symptoms/23224-executive-dysfunction
According to Wikipedia, the saying “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” “originated from a Chinese proverb. The quotation is from chapter 64 of the Tao Te Ching ascribed to Laozi [a.k.a. Lao Tzu] although it is also erroneously ascribed to his contemporary Confucius.”
Shout-out to the late, great Jim Henson and to Frank Oz, né Frank Richard Oznowicz, and to the voices of the puppet characters they created, so fun to echo! Perhaps doing so is another way to enhance executive function. We’d like to think so.
Mal is right: the “idea that we use 10 percent of our brain is 100 percent a myth. In fact, scientists believe that we use our entire brain every day.” See https://mcgovern.mit.edu/2024/01/26/do-we-use-only-10-percent-of-our-brain/. (Though one feels compelled to add that those scientists could not have taken into account that one had to drive back to one’s office TWICE yesterday evening, the first time to collect the cell phone that one had left there, the second time to collect the laptop that one had also left there.)
One of many articles on pickling can be found at https://cookieandkate.com/best-pickles-recipe/.
Suicide prevention resources abound for those in need of them. See, for example, https://www.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/suicide-prevention.page