#12 - Feeding Frenzy

Feeding Frenzy is a weekly round-up of reading, listening, or watching that is worth your time. These posts will act as a weekly boost of signal above the noise that you can chew on over the week!

Worth Listening

Peter Attia’s The Drive - #76 – Kyle Kingsbury: Finding meaning, depression, and psychedelics

This podcast was surprisingly moving and open. Kyle Kingsbury is a retired UFC fighter and director of human optimization at Onnit. He shares many stories of his battles with depression, and working through the pain ends the cycle now within his own family. Podcasts like this are one of the hopes for the future to have forward-thinking individuals that can be honest about there past.

Worth Reading

Sorry—organic farming is actually worse for climate change

"The world does need to find ways to cut the emissions and environmental pollution from synthetic fertilizers. But the trick is to clean up these practices in ways that don't require converting more land to agriculture, or forcing large parts of the world to go hungry."

While seeing a headline of this kind is not usually what you want to read. I do think its important to step away from an ideal view of what we would want to the world to be like and look at practical solutions given that there are seven billion people and counting

A Power Law Keeps the Brain's Perceptions Balanced

"But the researchers also discovered something puzzling about that activity. The neurons didn't care about all the dimensions equally: A few dimensions, or firing patterns, captured most of the neural responses to the visual stimuli. Adding other dimensions further increased that predictive power only by smaller and smaller increments."

This piece is fascinating and built around understanding the Power Law in mathematics. The most common definition of a power law is known as the 80/20 principle, which states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. In the case of the article, the researches were able to see a power-law relationship by measuring 10,000 neurons simultaneously. What they noticed is by measuring more didn't give more accurate data. The activity was happening in specific areas that were being measured.

Worth Watching

Abstract: The Art of Design (Netflix)

I shared this with my brother Nick Wenzel who is a Graphic Designer who loves communicating through photo, video and design. I asked him for honest feedback on what he thought of the series. Check out our podcasts (#49 and #50) and find his work here.

Enter Nick Wenzel:

Design as an area of study is often overlooked and undervalued – perhaps rightfully so. Great design, regardless of its medium, becomes synonymous with someone's experience and transcends impulsive critique. Abstract: The Art of Design on Netflix welcomes us into the minds of some of the greatest designers in the world and explores how they've mastered their craft. This uniquely captivating show peels back the curtains in a way that creatives and design enthusiasts seldom have the chance to see outside of their imaginations. Content aside, the series is a masterful example of storytelling for our modern, consume-at-your-convenience culture. It's a must-watch for anyone who loves "design," has an insatiable curiosity, or needs to kick start their creative inspiration.

Worth Pondering

"Technology isn't destiny, no matter inexorable its evolution may seem; the way its capabilities are used is as much a matter of cultural choice and historical accident as politics is or fashion." - M. Mitchell Waldrop from The Dream Machine, Pg. 444

This week is a wrap and plenty to chew over for this week! Feel free to let us know any thoughts and suggestions that may contribute to these posts. It may pop-up on Feeding Frenzy or develop into a full-fledged post of its own.

Stay curious, and have a great week!

Previous Feeding Frenzies: #1, #2 , #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11

Check out our recent episodes:

#72 - Jordan Criss: The Joker and What It Tells Us About Society

#71 - Todd Myrick: What I Learned from Fight Club 20 Years Later

#70 - How To Train Your Mind: Daily Recovery

Check out our blogs:

JOKER Review: What Made This So…Disturbing? by Jordan Criss

Wearables: Meet WHOOP and Oura Ring by Erich Wenzel

Identify Hidden Health Hazards by Jennifer McGregor

Connect with Us on Social Media:

Twitter: @erichwenzel & @feedingcuriosity1