The Jordan Harbinger Show

How do you overcome your abusive father's harassment and protect yourself from his unhinged, unwelcome intrusions in the future? Welcome to Feedback Friday! And in case you didn't already know it, Jordan Harbinger (@JordanHarbinger) and Gabriel Mizrahi (@GabeMizrahi) banter and take your comments and questions for Feedback Friday right here every week! If you want us to answer your question, register your feedback, or tell your story on one of our upcoming weekly Feedback Friday episodes, drop us a line at friday@jordanharbinger.com. Now let's dive in! On This Week's Feedback Friday, We Discuss: How do you overcome your abusive father's harassment and protect yourself from his unhinged, unwelcome intrusions in the future? Should you endure the discomfort of working alongside a sleazy colleague who sleeps with every woman he can, or actively seek new employment despite being a few months away from your degree? Should you step down as best man for kicking a disrespectful jerk of a guest out of your friend's

What makes rational people believe irrational things? For that matter, how do we know we're the ones being rational? Misbelief author Dan Ariely explains! What We Discuss with Dan Ariely: Why some of our family and friends we once considered rational have succumbed to "misbelief" — they doubt widely confirmed facts and wholeheartedly buy into bizarre conspiracy theories that wouldn't pass muster in an elementary school science fair. Why misbelief has a universal appeal to human beings on both sides of the political divide, and how understanding the psychology behind it helps us diminish its impact. How misbelief campaigns are often ignited by people who operate in bad faith for power, fame, and money, but the majority of people who fall for their grift (and spread it) are victims who require empathy, not judgment, to break free. Dan shares the psychological toll of receiving death threats from conspiracy theorists who believe he's part of some sinister global cabal intent on decimating the human populati

Tired of constantly craving what you don't have instead of being satisfied with what you do? Scarcity Brain author Michael Easter is here to help! What We Discuss with Michael Easter: What is the scarcity brain that helped humans evolve to run the planet, and how does it work against us in the context of the modern world? How the scarcity loop operates like a "serial killer" of motivation to push us into repeat behaviors that can be fun in the short term, but have the potential to harm us in the long term. What causes us to manufacture the scarcity loops that can ruin our lives with minimal prompting — and what can pigeons teach us about how the scarcity brain processes gambling? How we can break these scarcity loops when they're so entrenched in every aspect of our behavior. How scarcity loops can be gamed for positive benefit. And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/902 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign u

Your lawn may be your pride and joy, but is there an environmentally friendly alternative? Join us in the weeds with Michael Regilio on Skeptical Sunday! On This Week's Skeptical Sunday: Lawns are a symbol of American culture, but they have significant environmental drawbacks — including water wastage, pesticide use, and habitat destruction. The origins of lawns can be traced back to British aristocracy, who sought to emulate Italian landscape paintings with vast, manicured lawns around their mansions. Lawns in the United States became more widespread after World War II, with suburban developments like Levittown contributing to their popularity. Noise pollution and the emission of greenhouse gases from lawn care equipment are on the rise in a landscaping industry that pulls in over $100 billion per year. Transitioning to alternatives like xeriscaping, native gardens, or even painting brown lawns green can reduce the environmental harm caused by traditional grass lawns. Connect with Jordan on Twitter, I

Your openly swinging friends brought a third into their relationship, and you worry about how it's affecting their kids. Welcome to another Feedback Friday! And in case you didn't already know it, Jordan Harbinger (@JordanHarbinger) and Gabriel Mizrahi (@GabeMizrahi) banter and take your comments and questions for Feedback Friday right here every week! If you want us to answer your question, register your feedback, or tell your story on one of our upcoming weekly Feedback Friday episodes, drop us a line at friday@jordanharbinger.com. Now let's dive in! On This Week's Feedback Friday, We Discuss: You're concerned about your friends' unconventional swinging throuple lifestyle and its potential impact on their children. How do you check in without seeming judgmental? Pregnancy-related fatigue has you struggling to balance your professional and personal life, and the guilt of underachievement is bringing you down. What do you do when life gets in the way of your own expectations? Your partner plans on ditchin

Bigger, Better, Bolder author Jennifer Cohen helps us develop the confidence to pursue the life we want instead of settling for the life we get. What We Discuss with Jennifer Cohen: Even the innately shy and introverted can develop a skill set of boldness to fearlessly pursue relationships, careers, and whatever bounties life has to offer. Why boldness is more important than intelligence when it comes to taking advantage of opportunities that come your way. How you can craft personal and professional connections without being schmoozy about it. Even Beyoncé needs to adopt an alter ego to pull off her legendary, larger-than-life feats of performance — so imagine what miracles adopting your own alter ego can work for you. How someone at rock bottom can still find ways to exercise gratitude and remain hopeful for better times ahead. And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/899 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign

Wildlife biologist Forrest Galante rejoins us to discuss rediscovering "lost" species and why we should resurrect the dodo, thylacine, and woolly mammoth. What We Discuss with Forrest Galante: What's Forrest been up to since his last visit to this show? Just milking venomous sea snakes and trying to find out why orcas are slaughtering great white sharks en masse. Where are the world's biggest snakes found, and do they ever eat people? What did Forrest find inside the world's largest cave — besides a variety of isolated ecosystems with their own weather systems? Why following leads for unknown or thought-to-be-extinct species isn't tinfoil hat territory — and the clever ways Forrest and his team track them. How likely is it that science will be used to resurrect extinct species like the woolly mammoth, dodo bird, and thylacine in the near future — and how does this ambitious goal fit into the conservation of existing ecosystems? And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanhar

Should you throw in the friendship towel after a feckless frottage foul with someone's significant other? Can you make it right? Welcome to Feedback Friday! And in case you didn't already know it, Jordan Harbinger (@JordanHarbinger) and Gabriel Mizrahi (@GabeMizrahi) banter and take your comments and questions for Feedback Friday right here every week! If you want us to answer your question, register your feedback, or tell your story on one of our upcoming weekly Feedback Friday episodes, drop us a line at friday@jordanharbinger.com. Now let's dive in! On This Week's Feedback Friday, We Discuss: Should you throw in the friendship towel after a feckless frottage foul with someone's significant other, or can you make it right? Shrugging your shoulders and quipping, "At least it's a dry cheat" is probably not your best option. As parents, you've been bearing the burden of your adult daughter's bad choices in education, employment, and financial responsibilities, but she hasn't always been so reckless. What's c

Recovering stolen ships from pirates in the world's most troubled waters is big business, and Captain Max Hardberger is here to steer us through it. What We Learn in Conversation with Captain Max Hardberger: Not all pirates are impoverished desperados with nothing to lose — the most vicious ones wear suits and hobnob with royalty. The surprising places where ships are illegitimately seized by the rich and powerful who know how to play the game. When ship owners can't recover their seized property through legal channels in corrupt courts, they turn to people like Captain Max Hardberger. How Max determines if someone's claim to a seized ship is valid, or if they're trying to scam him into heisting somebody else's property. The extreme "extraction" methods Max is prepared to employ when ships can't be reclaimed by mere paperwork. And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/896 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign up

What can an 85-year study tell us about the science of happiness, and how can we leverage this knowledge to live the good life? Robert Waldinger explains! What We Discuss with Robert Waldinger: How does the ongoing Harvard Study of Adult Development, initiated in 1938, shed light on the key elements of leading a happy and fulfilling life? Relationships are the most important component of happiness — the good news is it's never too late to make new friends. The touch of a good friend or a beloved pet can bring our stress levels down and reduce whatever pain we're experiencing at that moment. 20 years from now, the only people who will remember that you worked late are your kids. Social media can be responsible for generating a lot of angst and FOMO, but it can also contribute to happiness if you use it for curated, positive communication with others. And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/895 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinge

Even if psychics and tarot cards can't give you reliable advice from the great beyond, what's the harm? Join us for Skeptical Sunday with David C. Smalley! On This Week's Skeptical Sunday, We Discuss: Why aren't psychics and tarot card readers prosecuted for fraud when they can't genuinely provide supernatural information to paying clients? Furthermore, why do they charge for their services if they could simply use their powers to win the lottery? If psychics can't really tap into the other side for forbidden knowledge from beyond the grave, how do they seem to know so much about my dead uncle's final wishes? Despite a thriving industry of self-proclaimed psychics claiming expertise in finding missing children and solving cold cases, investigative journalists (and normal people just paying attention) have proven their claims wrong more often than right. What tarot cards are actually telling you. It's easy to dismiss psychics as harmless fun and a way for people to cope with the loss of their loved ones, b

Can you balance support for an unlucky but amicable ex with personal boundaries that keep you tethered to your own improvement? Welcome to Feedback Friday! And in case you didn't already know it, Jordan Harbinger (@JordanHarbinger) and Gabriel Mizrahi (@GabeMizrahi) banter and take your comments and questions for Feedback Friday right here every week! If you want us to answer your question, register your feedback, or tell your story on one of our upcoming weekly Feedback Friday episodes, drop us a line at friday@jordanharbinger.com. Now let's dive in! On This Week's Feedback Friday, We Discuss: Can you balance support for an unlucky but amicable ex with personal boundaries that keep you tethered to your own improvement? As the rock upon which others find stability when they're pushed to their limits, official assistance for your coaching role is lacking. Is it time to organize? Is the therapist advising you to stick with your philandering, narcissistic dentist of a husband because "you're not getting any y

Wait But Why's Tim Urban helps us find ways to cope with the chaos of current events in his new book, What's Our Problem?: A Self-Help Book for Societies. What We Discuss with Tim Urban: Why we're so polarized and partisan in our political beliefs — seemingly more than ever before. How low-rung thinking prevails on both sides of the political aisle (and what we can do to ascend to higher-rung thinking). The perspective we can gain if we imagine the history of humanity as a 1,000-page book. How the internet went from a unifying force of human connection to a division-sowing outrage generator. Why we should strive to build our own "idea lab" instead of comfortably hunkering down in a tribally sponsored, anger-generating echo chamber. And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/892 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jor

Women Are The Fiercest Creatures author and Nobody Should Believe Me podcast host Andrea Dunlop joins us to discuss the prevalence of medical child abuse. What We Discuss with Andrea Dunlop: Munchausen syndrome by proxy (aka factitious disorder imposed on another): a form of medical child abuse where parents or caregivers fake or exaggerate their child's health problems for personal gain. How the widespread availability of medical information online, social media platforms, and crowdfunding has broadened the spectrum of people engaging in medical child abuse beyond professionals in the healthcare field. What the long-term psychological toll looks like for children who survive such abuse and how they struggle to discern the truth as they grow older. Why prosecution of medical child abuse cases is difficult when family courts may not thoroughly examine medical records and even accept a guilty parent or caregiver's word as fact. How we can keep an eye out for signs of medical child abuse, and who we should

On this Skeptical Sunday, comedian Michael Regilio joins us to discuss the pros and cons of bioplastics and the importance of responsible plastic use. On This Week's Skeptical Sunday, We Discuss: Plastic pollution, especially single-use plastic, is a significant environmental issue, with 40 percent of all plastic produced being single-use plastic packaging. Bioplastics, made from renewable sources like plants and algae, are seen as a potential solution to the plastic problem, but come with their own challenges. Biodegradable and compostable plastics, often labeled as such, may not always live up to their claims and can end up in landfills, where they release harmful greenhouse gases. Harvesting algae from excessive algal waterways and using it to create biodegradable products, like flip-flops and packaging materials, is a promising and eco-friendly approach. To help address the plastic problem, individuals can reduce their single-use plastic consumption, properly recycle plastic materials, and support i

Guilt over stealing from your dad under the thrall of addiction also makes you ponder how his actions influenced your addiction. Welcome to Feedback Friday! And in case you didn't already know it, Jordan Harbinger (@JordanHarbinger) and Gabriel Mizrahi (@GabeMizrahi) banter and take your comments and questions for Feedback Friday right here every week! If you want us to answer your question, register your feedback, or tell your story on one of our upcoming weekly Feedback Friday episodes, drop us a line at friday@jordanharbinger.com. Now let's dive in! On This Week's Feedback Friday, We Discuss: Guilt over stealing from your dad under the thrall of addiction also makes you ponder how his actions influenced your addiction. How do you come to grips with your past to break the cycle of affliction (especially now that the cost of therapy surpasses your budget)? Can you restore trust to a relationship once infidelity and lies are introduced? Perhaps it's more important to wonder: Should you even try? Do you ha

AI advocate Marc Andreessen joins us to clear up misconceptions about AI and discuss its potential impact on job creation, creativity, and moral reasoning. What We Discuss with Marc Andreessen: Will AI create new jobs, take our old ones outright, or amplify our ability to perform them better? What role will AI play in current and future US-China relations? How might AI be used to shape (or manipulate) public opinion and the economy? Does AI belong in creative industries, or does it challenge (and perhaps cheapen) what it means to be human? How can we safeguard our future against the possibility that AI could get smart enough to remove humanity from the board entirely? And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/888 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationship development mini course — at jordanharbinger.com/course! Like this show? Please leave us a review

University of Sussex cognitive philosophy professor Andy Clark joins us to discuss how our brains experience and manipulate the reality that surrounds us. What We Discuss with Andy Clark: How your brain operates as a prediction machine that constructs an estimation of reality based on available data rather than relaying an entirely precise narrative of the outside world. The problems that arise when the senses through which your brain gathers data don't always convey an accurate picture of reality. What phantom vibration syndrome and auditory hallucinations may indicate about your brain's capacity for prediction. How your brain fills in the gaps when sensory information is missing or incomplete. Why placebos are often effective — even when you know they're placebos. And much more... Full show notes and resources can be found here: jordanharbinger.com/887 This Episode Is Brought To You By Our Fine Sponsors: jordanharbinger.com/deals Sign up for Six-Minute Networking — our free networking and relationsh

Why do some insist Earth is flat despite thousands of years of evidence to the contrary? Dave Farina joins us for Skeptical Sunday to round up some answers! On This Week's Skeptical Sunday, We Discuss: Belief in a flat Earth rejects historical knowledge, distorts observations, denies gravity, and originates from a mix of misguided ideas and online interactions. Flat Earth proponents misrepresent scale and ignore basic principles of grade school science in their arguments against a spherical Earth. The origins of modern flat Earth belief are uncertain, possibly beginning life as a meme or a conspiracy theory and gaining traction among the gullible for the benefit of disinformation peddlers. Debunkers have exposed flaws in flat Earth belief with easily observable facts, thankfully contributing to a recent decline in its popularity. Flat Earth belief exemplifies the broader issue of science denial in modern society and reminds us to do our part to promote critical thinking. Connect with Jordan on Twitter,

Are you right to cut ties with your grandpa now that his sociopathic, incestuous, and pedophilic history has come to light? Welcome to Feedback Friday! And in case you didn't already know it, Jordan Harbinger (@JordanHarbinger) and Gabriel Mizrahi (@GabeMizrahi) banter and take your comments and questions for Feedback Friday right here every week! If you want us to answer your question, register your feedback, or tell your story on one of our upcoming weekly Feedback Friday episodes, drop us a line at friday@jordanharbinger.com. Now let's dive in! On This Week's Feedback Friday, We Discuss: Some people in your family disagree with your decision to cut ties with Grandpa now that his sociopathic, incestuous, and pedophilic history has come to light. What should you do? [Thanks to  Maria Socolof and Brad Watts for helping us with another heavy one!] Six months off weed during a manic period brought you artistic success and closeness to your wife and kids. Now, in a 'down' time, an urge to resume communion wi