320! Doing Hard Things

Why do we do hard things? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about the Baddie Performance Index, Barkley Marathons, fun types, self flagellation, dessert stomachs, and natural childbirth. They don’t talk about Saquon. 

references 

• Barkley Marathons 

• Running so far away 

319! Being Cool

Why is it so important to be cool? 

This week, Jess, Aaron, and Joey talk about Black culture, 21 Jump Street, social approval, bandwaggoning, alternative hierarchies, and Lauryn Hill. They don’t talk about Digable Planets. 

references 

• Dru Hill's "5 Steps" 

• Old Man, look at my life. 

• Journal of Experimental Psychology: "Cool is cool wherever you are" 

• Miles Davis' The Birth of the Cool 

• Uncola: Seven-Up, Counterculture and the Making of an American Brand 

• Wired Video: Linguists Explain the History of "Cool" 

• BET Video: The Origin Of "Cool": How Black Culture Embodies "Cool" & Influences Trends For Mainstream 

• 21 Jump Street (2012) first day of school scene 

• Corrections Department: To clarify, the study does not specifically question the Black origins of our collective use of the word "cool," rather it questions whether the emotional restraint in Black culture that came to define the early idea of "cool" is still the current concept of "cool." 

• Bow Chicka Wow Wow 

318! The Beach

How is it we've convinced ourselves sometimes that we like things that we don't really like? 

This week, Jess and Joey talk about the big light, the beach, group vacations, going to the movies, nature bathing, and bad drinks. They don’t talk about Mr. Nice Guy. 

references 

• Rest easy, Brian Wilson 

• Lord have mercy 

317! New Rules

What new rules should we have? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about the Irish Goodbye, music at the beach, phones on the train, zipper merging, gift obligations, and desire paths. They don’t talk about Dua Lipa or New Rochelle. 

references 

• Zipper Merging 

316! Possibility

How do y'all protect your sense of possibility? 

This week, Aaron, Joey, and Jess talk about optimism, imagination, resilience, cultural technology, escape rooms, and rules. They don’t talk about the endless persistence of existential dread. 

references 

• A Thousand Miles to the Pink Pony Club 

• Traitors 

• Dinosaur Island 

• Parkitect 

• Monument Valley 

• Royal Kingdom 

• Hollow Night 

• Thank Goodness You're Here 

• Age of Empires II 

315! Going Analog

What are the important analog activities in an increasingly digital world? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about luddites, handwriting, typewriting, mashing tomatoes, kinetic learning, and carbon dioxide. They don’t talk about Folkways Records. 

references 

• Taki Taki 

• Luddites 

• Study: Handwriting but not typewriting leads to widespread brain connectivity: a high-density EEG study with implications for the classroom 

• Rick Barry 

In A Quiet So Loud

In April, SYLVAIN released an open letter of resistance in response to the chaos of the moment we're in. This is a live reading of that letter, and a reminder that resistance is ongoing.

Too many in our industry have been quiet in the face of injustice and uncertainty. Too many important conversations have been relegated to back channels. So we put pen to paper, naming simple truths that have guided our company and actions for 15 years—and will continue to guide us.

Have a listen or read the open letter at impact.sylvain.co

314! Universal Truths

What universal truths do you believe in? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about database shapes, LLMs, collective human intelligence, apple eating, folk wisdom, and Pi. They don’t talk about apple pie, though. 

references 

• West End Girls 

• Ethan Mollic on the "universal geometry" of meaning 

• The Platonic Representation Hypothesis 

• Doctor Dillamond’s Classroom 

• Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language 

• Study: Association Between Apple Consumption and Physician Visits 

• Honeycrisp apples 

313! No-Phone Zones

How do you feel about no-phone zones? 

This week, Joey and Aaron talk about AI, parenting, over-responsibility, constant access, bluetooth speakers, and biking while texting. They don’t talk about Nowadays. 

references 

• Rabbit r1 AI agent 

• The Humane AI Pin 

• The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee 

• The Last Sun by K. D. Edwards 

• The Bobiverse 

• The Traitors 

• Quad Press Release: "81% of Gen Z report wishing it was easier to disconnect from digital devices" 

312! Creating With Friends

Do we create more with friends? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about consuming, the value cylce, parallel play, time horizons, water-based cooking, and Ciabatta. They don’t talk about Real Genius. 

references 

• Superstar 

• "My grand theory of life is to just hammer the shit out of quadrant 4" 

311! Bravery

How do we muster the courage? 

This week, Jess and Joey talk about fear, Inside Out 2, Andor, The Mandalorian, stoking action, and antidotes. They don’t talk about booze. 

references 

• I can run the world from my mama's house. 

• The New York Times: A.G. Sulzberger: A Free People Need a Free Press 

310! Stress

How do we stress professionally? 

This week, Aaron, Jess, and Joey talk about Cowboy Carter, self-regulation, Frozen, tears, being "professional," and anger. They don’t talk about Organized Konfusion. 

references 

• Self-regulation for adults: Strategies for getting a handle on emotions and behavior 

• Emmanuel Acho on the myth of the 'Angry Black Man' 

• Sister Wives 

309! Dating Optimization

How is this world optimized for dating? 

This week, special guest Chloe returns to chat with Joey about high yield investment strategies, influencers, gender polarization, crushes, the butterfly effect, and Russian hackers. They don’t talk about the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-14. 

references 

• Nonsense 259! The Trend-Mill 

• Marie Claire: Who is Becca Bloom? 

• Looking for an Explanation in Finance 

• Rumble Boxing 

308! Disavowing Your Creative Outputs

How do you approach reclaiming or disavowing your creative outputs that you don't love? 

This week, Aaron, Joey, and Jess talk about Smithee-ing, TV edits, résumé writing, Spike Jonze, sportsball, and the DC Universe. They don’t talk about Cordwainer Bird. 

references 

• "God of Wine" 

• Alan Smithee on IMDB 

• Spike Jonze 

• Charles Barkley 

• The Room 

• Spread your wings 

307! Imagination Resolution

How good is hi-res for our imagination? 

This week, Aaron and Jess talk about smoothing, the boundless powers of creativity, Smell-O-Phone/Vision, imagination reconstruction, gaming, and nurturing our sense of play. They don’t talk about NHL 98 on Sega Genesis. 

references 

• The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister 

• Why It's SO Hard to Find a Game You ACTUALLY Like 

• Harvard Business Review: How Generative AI Can Augment Human Creativity 

• Everything Everywhere All At Once - Hot Dog Fingers Scene 

• The Simpsons - 1950's Super Panavision 70 

• A Minecraft Movie 

306! Being Seen

How do we make people feel seen? 

This week, Joey, Jess, and Aaron talk about the burden of eyes, privacy, showing, acknowledging, surprise parties, and social anxieties. They don’t talk about the Talking Heads. 

references 

• Dreaming about Cranberries, sans muffin. 

• Revisiting Critical Nonsense 302! Thought Bottling 

• Critical Incident Stress Debriefing: Helpful, Harmful, or Neither? 

• Observer Principle 

• Hidden Brain Podcast: Relationships 2.0: The Price of Disconnection 

305! Metabolizing Uncertainty

How are we processing uncertainty differently? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about Punxsutawney Phil, tariffs, the meme recession, Jason Bourne, Edmonton, and Sam Cooke. They don’t talk about the bleak and endless hopelessness of it all. 

references 

• Corrections Department: There's air in between you and I (even if we're not seventeen) 

• Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson 

• "A Change Is Gonna Come" 

• Corrections Department: The eleven studio albums Sam Cooke recorded and released before his death in 1964 

304! Tools

When do we tool or not tool? 

This week, Jess and Joey talk about rules aversion, AI, devil hamsters, banana slicers, tool expertise, and simplicity. They don’t talk about gaffer tape. 

references 

• Inc.: After a Tragedy, a Year of Magical Thinking for Sylvain 

• Arc welding 

303! Being Spoiled

What do you think makes us spoiled? 

This week, Jess, Joey, and Aaron talk about The Lululemon Index, air travel, gender-based differences, hard work, Warren Buffett, and shrooms. They don’t offer any spoiler alerts. 

references 

• The Mycelium Network 

Progress Report: To Follow or Not to Follow

Bonus episode: A takeover! Aaron shares his latest edition from SYLVAIN’s Progress Report newsletter: To Follow or Not to Follow.

For more from SYLVAIN's Progress Report, see progressbysylvain.co.