The Portal Podcast #032: J. D. Vance – American Dreams and Nightmares

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It is said that there is not one American dream but many, and few have lived more than JD Vance. Growing up in Appalachia on the border between poverty and the lower working class, JD knew economic fear first hand as well as the cultural…

The Virus and Its Curious Relationship to the Future

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This essay appears in audio format at the beginning of The Portal Podcast, Episode 31. Hello, this is Eric with a few initial thoughts before this week's episode. First, I want to briefly discuss a pair of mistakes and omissions on my…

The Portal Podcast #031: Ryan Holiday – Conspiracy, Manipulation & other Pastimes

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Ryan Holiday is a master manipulator with a cool head, a keen eye for social observation and a big heart. Eric sits down with the Author of "Conspiracy" and tries to get a self-confessed former manipulator and one of the top emerging millennial…

The Awakening

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This essay appears in audio format at the beginning of The Portal Podcast, Episode 30. Hello, this is Eric with a few words of housekeeping. First of all, I just wanted to check in with our audience of Portal listeners and say that…

The Portal Podcast #030: Ross Douthat – The Rave Before the Fall

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Just before the great indooring due to the Pandemic of 2020, Eric sat down with conservative New York Times columnist Ross Douthat to discuss his book "The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success." Over champagne…

The Portal Podcast #029: Jamie Metzl – The Bio-Hacker will see you now, Ready or Not

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Former National Security analyst turned author Jamie Metzel has written a book called Hacking Darwin. The book attempts to use storytelling to explore where we are as the new era of rewriting our cells and ourselves gets into full swing.…