Appetizers: Civilizations on other planets, space travel, Ephemeral Rift YouTube channel name origin, Iranian & Persian culture, the necessity of hair care products, lo-fi music episode, eyewitness encounters with unexplained phenomena, mental noise & inner peace, reincarnation
Main Course: Rational and reasonable people; first beer in almost 4 years; cannabis as a cooking ingredient
Dessert: Sweet Tooth Netflix show and comic book; I like to talk
Intro: 2nd COVID-19 vaccine; fevers; Achilles with a K
Main course – Special Guest: No One – what is no one up to? – did no one get the COVID vaccine? – is no one in a relationship? – does no one believe in heaven & hell? – is no one religious? – does no one have kids? – how does no one like being the most powerful being alive? – is no one alive? – does no one like soda & ice cream? – who does no one think is the greatest american rock band of all time? – what is no one’s opinion on nothing? – does no one have an interest in history? – what is no one’s purpose in life & impact of life achievements? – would no one change the past knowing it would change the present? – who are “you” and what does it mean to be “you”? – why does everyone tell me to dance like you, no one, are watching? – a message from no one’s father? – what is no one’s favorite thing about non-existing? – which dinosaur would no one ride into battle and win? – why does no one love me? do you, no one, love me? – since you are no one, is there a no two? will your friends and family (no two, no three, no four, etc.) ever be on the podcast? – do you think we’ll find microbial life on mars? – what do you think about the high gas prices? – what are no one’s thoughts on debt and self-sufficiency? – how did no one survive the great filter? – what do you think will happen to you no one if you are dead? – I really like No One!!! – does no one think humans will destroy the earth or drive themselves to extinction? – if no one could be a kitchen appliance, which one and why? – what is no one’s iq? how many chromosomes does no one have? – does no one think gen z is dumb, and why? – does no one have a battle jacket? – what is no one’s thoughts on console wars? – does no one have a favorite vacation spot? – what is no one’s political views on waffles? – if no one could have lunch with an actor dead or alive, who would it be? – how does no one think they affect people? – how’s no one’s mom? how’s it like being nobody? – what does no one think the meaning of life is? – what is no one’s greatest fear? – does no one have aspirations of becoming someone? – what is no one’s thoughts on being patriotic? – does no one enjoy Nothing ASMR? How goes the Nothing Shop? – does no one know someone? – what is no one’s take on UFO videos in the recent news? – does no one own the PS5? – how did no one lose hearing in their left ear? – what does no one like more: nuka cola or coka cola? – no one: how did the ephemeral rift universe start? – no one: where is Iggy Manley? – has no one ever felt more emotionally connected to animals than people and if so what does that mean? – what is stopping no one from living life to the fullest? – no one: does being widely recognized have its detriments? – how did no one come into existence and have the ability to answer questions? – how has no one managed to stay alive so long? – are there are video games that no one plays? – what are some movies that no one likes to watch? – no one’s parting words for listeners and viewners
Appetizers: comparing more vs less, myers briggs personality type s and tests, marxism communism capitalism and community
Main Course: introduction to paradoxes (crocodile paradox, what the tortoise said to achilles, ant on a rubber rope, low birth weight paradox, the two envelope paradox, buradin’s ass, hedgehog’s dilemma, the paradox of tolerance, the paradox of the grain of millet, paradox of the plankton
It’s most likely that the only reason we modern apes, the rest of our primate cousins, and all other “new” species of life exist today is because of the meteor that crashed into earth approximately 66 millions years ago and wiped out the dinosaurs, causing what’s known as the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event.
Think about it: if that meteor never hits earth and the dinosaurs never get wiped out, then there is no space for us to evolve, including many other forms of modern life.
And if you want to ponder it even further: imagine if the dinosaurs never went extinct, whether or not it was because of the meteor. We, and perhaps many other forms of modern life, still would most likely not have evolved.
This is something I briefly touched upon during Episode 10 of the Ephemeral Rift Podcast. Imagine early humans trying to survive in a world full of gigantic, carnivorous lizards (aka the dinosaurs). Imagine trying to build a hut or any kind of wall, modern house, bridge, or skyscraper with tyrannosauruses stomping around everywhere. Yeah, I don’t think so.
In this scenario, dinosaurs would still be around today as the earth’s reigning alpha predator. Of course, one could argue (as my son did with me) that the process of natural selection could have caused humans to evolve into giants in order to survive. Although one could further argue, like I did in response to my son’s argument, that it is possible humans never evolve, or evolve into giants, for two reasons. One, natural physiological and/or biological constraints would simply have prevented our ape ancestors from evolving into anything big enough to handle living with dinosaurs. Two, the dinosaurs eating our distant ape ancestors at probably every opportunity means that there would never have even been a chance for human evolution, with the possibility of apes going extinct before ever evolving into humans.
But if the meteor never hit, the dinosaurs don’t go extinct, and humans never evolve, would that necessarily be a bad thing?
Let’s ponder it some more: if the meteor doesn’t hit, the dinosaurs don’t go extinct, and humans never evolve, that means no internet, no entertainment of any kind (video games, TV, movies, anime, etc.), no sports, no podcasts, no Netflix, no YouTube, no technology, no industry, no government, no politics, no slavery, no war, no economies, no poverty, no pollution, no factories, no factory farming, no deforestation…. Wait a minute. Could it possibly be that the extinction event was indeed a very bad thing after all???
That random space rock of a meteor crashed into the earth and pretty much destroyed most of life on the planet 66 million years ago. But eventually the planet was able to recover and thrive and prosper full of life once again.
However, fast forward 66 million years later to when we modern humans show up on the evolutionary timeline. Thanks to our ingenuity and creativity, especially in industry and technology, we have been destroying the planet once again, albeit slowly over time. Although one could argue what humans are doing in terms of pollution, deforestation, global warming, etc., pales in comparison to what our distant meteor friend did to the earth. So maybe it was a bad thing after all that the meteor hit, not because of what happened back then, but because of what transpired afterwards: our evolution and apparent slow destruction of the planet.
Sure, pollution, war, deforestation, factories, etc., are bad in terms of overall health of life on the planet. It appears that we are finally realizing this and trying to work towards a healthier future. Whether or not we’ll reach that utopia, or if we can undue our destruction, remains to be seen. But in the end, what does it matter anyway? When our sun exhausts its hydrogen core in 5 billion years, it will grow into a red giant and scorch the earth into a lifeless rock. So debating all of this is rather pointless.
But instead of the pessimistic doom and gloom aspect, let’s look at it all of this optimistically and say that it perhapsoverall it was a good thing that the meteor hit and wiped out the dinosaurs. Well, good from our perspective, right? Not so good from the dinosaurs’ and other animals’ views.
So the next time, instead of saying “thank god”, or tweeting “#blessed, or whatever other catchphrase one might utter when experiencing a moment of good luck, what we should really be saying is:
“Thank you, oh great ancient space rock, for randomly slamming into the earth so many eons ago and murdering the majority of life on the planet, most specifically those overgrown giant lizards. You created a space for us and many other life forms to evolve in. Without you, we wouldn’t be here today to sit on our asses playing video games, surf the internets, drive our fancy cars, wage war with one another, pollute the air and water, deforest the rainforests, and more importantly: to offer you our prayers and sincerest gratitude, oh great ancient space rock of a time long, long ago.”
Intro: you don’t need (god, religion, faith, government, etc.) to be “good”; moral grey area, Ron Reagan FFRF.ORG TV ad; generalizing
Appetizers: listening to music loud, boredom & alone with your thoughts, cherry picking religions & philosophies, future videos like “Late Night ASMR”, super volcanoes & another ice age event, human evolution and dinosaurs, playing sports, hunter gatherers and leisure time
Main Course: Irreligions, Religions, Parody Religions (evolutionary origin, agnostic atheism, atheism, agnosticism, antireligion, free thought, naturalism, secular humanism, secularism, world religions, nontheistic religion, pantheism, native american religion, inuit religion, transtheism, post-theism, taoism, confucianism, buddhism, yoga, sikhism, christianity, islam, sufism, judaism, cargo cult, rastafari, wicca, entheogenic religions, new age, UFO religion, church of the fFlying spaghetti monster, church of subGenius, dinkoism, discordianism, jediim, kibology, kopimism, landover baptist church, last thursdayism, ‘pataphysics, silinism, sisters of perpetual united church of bacon, religious war, religious art, etc., etc.)
Dessert: Religious Satire (Brian Merriman, Bill Maher, George Carlin, Bill Hicks, Doug Stanhope, Lenny Bruce, Douglas Adams, Richard Pryor, Monty Python, The Kids in the Hall, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Monty Python’s Life of Brian, Orgazmo, Dogma, Religulous, The Canterbury Tales, Letters from Earth, The Screwtape Letters, Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Cahrist’s Childhood Pal, South Park, Family Guy, Boogyism, Flying Spaghetti Monster, Invisible Pink Unicorn, Church of the SubGenius, etc., etc.)
Appetizers: The many ways in which some viewners & listeners deal with boredom (sleep, video games, gym, biking, hiking, puzzles, miniature painting, chess, ASMR, shopping, talking with friends, staring at the crush’s texts, cleaning, music, fishing, drawing, sports, musical instruments, daydream, TV, tea, think, tending animals, eat, YouTube, gardening, word games, cooking, etc.
Main Course: Boredom
Dessert: Psycho Goreman; sobriety & comedies / entertainment
Leftovers: Death Grips, King Crimson, Young Thug, Opeth, Rap genre, Bones, Vaporware genre, WhiteWoods, Ayreon, Wilderun, Qantice, Tobu, Waterflame, Gunnar Olsen, Styx, AC/DC, Foo Fighters, Descendents, Code Orange, Snoop Dogg, D’Angelo, Music Scenes, Ariana Grande, Migos, Afrobeats, Alternative R&B, Reggae, Sauti Sol, Mereba, Lil Lk, Relient K, Najubes, Chance the Rapper, Chilly Gonzales, The Cinematic Orchestra, Heilung,
Appetizers: dealing with stress during difficult times, UFO’s and world governments’ acknowledgement, how to live life properly & information overload, college being forced as necessary, the answer to laughing during ASMR videos, Margaret, cryptocurrencies and NFT’s, rational vs emotional & the impact on society, what’s the point if life is meaningless, opinion on people who are religious, evolution without religion & if god’s hard-wired into us
Main Course: progressive school reform (mental health education, practical knowledge, smaller classes/more teachers, free education at all levels / no tuition / no student debt, etc., etc.); the creative cycle of consumption & creation
Dessert: documentary “Happy People: A Year in the Taiga” – ideal, self reliant, true freedom, no government, collective, community
Leftovers: My smartphone screen time, Wikipedia, Bob not Ben
Appetizers: Ningen Isu, Nirvana, Black Sabbath, Primus, Daft Punk, Basshunter, Sonata Artica, Linkin Park, Ghost, Green Day, Apes of the State, Thank you Scientist, Rammstein, Oomph!, Megaherz, Eisbrecher, The Neighbourhood, Queen, Blackbriar, Portgual. The Man, Foster the People, The Shins, I Prevail, A Day To Remember, Bring Me The Horizon, Our Last Night, Falling In Reverse, Death Grips, Slayer, MF DOOM, Bach, Kaveret, Grandson, 80’s, Bossa Nova, Naked Eyes, The Alan Parsons Project, Michael Jackson, System of a Down, The Beatles, The Ink Spots, Eddie Meduza, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Vehemence, Dimmu Borgir, Mac Miller, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Oasis, James Taylor, Jim Croce, Boston, Elton John, Stevie Wonder, Tom Petty, Hellyeah, Finntroll, In Flames, Igorrr, Gojira, Ott, Guns N Roses, Korpiklaani, Nick Shoulders, Shellac, Burial, Daughters, Akira Yamaoka, Swans, Devo, Pink Floyd, Black Flagg, The Police, Metallica, Allman Brothers Band, Eric Clapton, Slipknot, Wavves, Mgmt, Rise Against, Tool, Liquid Drum N Bass genre, Technical Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Goth Rock, Death Rock, Cold wave, Melodic Death Metal, David Bowie, Gorillaz, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, Bartok Bela, Car Bomb, Humanity’s Last Breath, Bring Me The Horizon, Annisokay, Three Days Grace, Shinedown, Puscifer, A Perfect Circle, White Zombie, Unleash the Archers, Flatbush Zombies, Freddie Dredd, Ice Nine Kills, Motionless In White, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, While She Sleeps, Home Free, The Great Divide, Younger Hunger, Fever the Ghost, 90’s Alternative, Soundgarden, Skillet, Stigmata, Avril Lavigne, Blink 182, Pantera, Muse, Avenged Sevenfold, Ayreon, Genesis, Dream Theater, 100 gecs, Cage the Elephant, Arctic Monkeys, Dschingis Khan, Lord of the Lost, Ensiferum, Hell Boulevard, Fleetwood Mac, Heart, Beach House, Jefferson Airplane, Motley Crue, Marilyn Manson, Korn, Witch House genre, Everything But the Girl, Blanco White, Inabakumori, Logic, Bon Iver, Christine and The Queens, Blur, Pulp, My Chemical Romance, Twenty One Pilots, Math Rock genre, Funk genre, Jazz genre, Enter Shikari, Psychedelic Rock genre, Alternative genre, Country genre, Sturgil Simpson, Death, The Notorious B.I.G., Explosions in the Sky, System of a Down, Etta James, The Taxpayers, Folk Punk genre, War Drums genre, Sticky Fingers, The Smashing Pumpkins, Incubus, Thrice, Seether, Mike Shinoda, Elvis Costello, Rush, Sting, Bob Dylan, Madeon, Snail’s House, Emil Rottmayer, Van Halen, Crosby Stills and Nash, Imagine Dragons, George Strait, Alan Jackson, Toby Keith, Helloween, D12, Kamelot, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Nightwish, Agalloch
Main Course: An introduction to Music and all of its styles
Leftovers: attraction and the Netflix documentary My Love
Appetizers: music games anime religion paradoxes and other Main Course topics for future podcast episodes, why no discord channel, dreams and the brain relieving itself, vegan vegetarian and climate change, mars and alien experiments, shame guilt and living unapologetically, Palestine and Israel, psychedelics and ego death, internet phones local vs global and mental health
Leftovers: pay-per-view group battle even Appetizers: high school and beyond, superficial society, Bill Hicks, Pink Floyd Main Course: free thought & freethinking Dessert: United Nations World Happiness Report 2021
