btrmt. lectures
Dorian Minors
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You Can Catch Madness
Two ordinary people suddenly go insane together. It’s a premise we enjoy from a safe distance—because surely it could never be us. I’m not so sure. Shared madness isn’t rare, it isn’t aberrant, and…
Meditation isn't for everyone
Meditation is the one practice everyone agrees on. It’s on the NHS, in schools, in every influencer’s guide to life, and the pitch is always the same: good for you, good for everyone, can’t hurt. Two…
In Praise of the Sage
The modern Western story is that real knowledge comes from science or careful reasoning, and anything else—the elder, the guru, the village wise woman—is suspect. But science and reflection…
The Scientific Ritual
Science feels like the most reliable thing we have. The opposite of belief. But it’s a belief system itself—a ritual, with all the failure modes that rituals have. And the receipts are right there in…
It’s Not Social Media, Life Is Just Worse
Everyone’s worried about social media and mental health. Jonathan Haidt sold two million copies telling us smartphones rewired our children’s brains. Thirty-five US states passed phone…
Pop Neuroscience is Just a Fancy Way of Saying ‘Calm Down’
Amygdala hijack, polyvagal theory, the lizard brain, vagus nerve hacks, brain wave states—these look like different theories explaining different things about human behaviour. They’re not. They’re…
Bias is Good
Everyone’s been told that bias is the enemy of good thinking. Over 200 cognitive biases catalogued on Wikipedia, and the message is clear: your brain is broken, and if you could just think more…
The Amygdala is Not the Fear Centre
Everyone’s been told the amygdala is the fear centre of the brain. That it hijacks your rational mind and throws you into fight-or-flight at the sound of an email notification. This is nonsense—the…
Hydraulic Despotism
Karl Wittfogel’s theory of hydraulic despotism was savaged by his peers and rightly so. But the pattern he was reaching for—that whoever controls the essential flowing resource controls the people—is…
Atavism Isn’t the Answer
Seed oils, raw milk, carnivore diets, tradwives, phone bans, anti-sunscreen, cold plunges—these look like separate cultural phenomena across health, diet, gender, and technology. They’re all the…
Values Don’t Matter
Everyone loves organisational values. Corporates, militaries, sports clubs, schools—any place where people collect in a serious way has a list of qualities they want everyone to embody. But values…
The Hard Problem of Consciousness Isn’t a Problem
What is consciousness? From Mary’s Room to philosophical zombies, from panpsychism to eliminativism, everyone has theories about the “hard problem.” But under what realistic circumstances would it…
Who Cares if There’s No Such Thing as Free Will?
From Libet’s experiments to modern neuroscience, evidence keeps mounting that our decisions might be predetermined. But even if free will is an illusion, what would actually change? Behaviour is…
Nature vs Nurture isn't Interesting
The nature versus nurture debate seems foundational to understanding human behaviour. But evolutionary stories are just stories, genetics is shaped by environment, and the environment matters far…
Mundane Cults
The word cult conjures images of hooded figures, mass suicide, and narcissistic leaders. But this dark image is nonsense—the kind that makes us more vulnerable to destructive groups. Cults are…
Men aren't from Mars
Gender essentialism is having a moment. Everyone’s reading books about what it means to be a man or woman, and Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus keeps getting recommended to me like…
Stress is Good
Everyone’s convinced stress is this outdated evolutionary technology—poorly calibrated to modern life, something to avoid at all costs. The story goes that it evolved to help us run from tigers,…
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btrmt. lectures has published 17 episodes since November 2025, covering topics in Philosophy, Science.
btrmt. lectures is currently highly active with new episodes every 2 weeks. Average episode length is 25m.
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