The Alex Wolf Podcast

In this SEASON FINALE I share how you can't outwit the universe, but you can outwit the matrix! In this episode I break down a different way to view what the "matrix" is so it's less creepy and surprisingly... more helpful.

This episode is for you if:

• You want a brief understanding of how you were automatically born in a world that expects you to work and pay bills and what to do about it now.
  
• You want to learn which 3 computers you need to program to make the matrix work for you.
  
• You want a philosophical interpretation that might actually make you appreciate of the meaning of order, institution and civilization.
  

Between the recent Jimmy Fallon incident and the pressure to hop from one platform to the next, in this episode I question just how much all our favorite social media platforms actually care about making life easier for content creators. We go into the reality of behavioral economics and how wanting to help isn’t always enough.

This episode is for you if:

• You feel a lot of unwanted pressure to join and dominate Clubhouse, Tik Tok or any other growing platform.
  
• You want to learn from some tangible examples in business history where the dynamics because creatives and big business clashed.
  
  
• You care about behavioral economics and want to better understand the different between initiatives and results.

In this episode we talk about how taste is everythinggg when it comes to living an artful, peaceful and meaningful life.

This episode is for you if:

• You want to understand how to use your sensuality to ignite an endless spring of gratitude and reawaken your inspiration.
  
  
• All the slimy peppers, onions and vinegars you hated as a kid are doing it for you right now. You’ve come full circle and want to enjoy it.
  
  
• You’re a designer or are in the arts and want to cultivate a perspective that will help you develop a stronger eye, ear or sense of taste.
  

In this episode I share how becoming sensitive to the differences in design can create a new burst of meaning in life. I share how the fork and chopstick are a great starting point to understand how inventions and objects around you influence your behavior and perception.

This episode is for you if:

• You want everyday, ordinary life to feel more fascinating by training your eye to see the beauty or philosophy in simple objects.
  
• You want to better understand how technology being too convenient  is ruining opportunities to feel meaning or depth.
  
• You want to learn a brief history of the chopstick and the fork and how they are a result of the eras they came from.
  

In this episode I break down the philosophical concept of “space’ according to western-tech philosophy and how we got to a point of completely abandoning it in our minds, our lives and our calendars.

This episode is for you if:

• You want to learn how the western interpretation of “negativity” spun out of control and made us hate all things associated with the unknown which resulted in us being afraid of making space.
  
  
• You want to learn the specific benefits and uses of space that provide deeper meaning in life.
  
  
• You want a relaxing reminder about how much peace extra space can bring to your life.

Today millennials are old news, but there was a time when our behavior and online activity was on everyone's mind and the world had a lot of opinions about what kind of people we would turn out to be. In this episode I explore some of the critique made about our generation while we were still in adolescence and how some of it in hindsight might have been terrifying and undeniably true.

This episode is for you if:

• You care about how the comprehension gaps between you and your younger siblings or children will impact your relationship and ability to protect them.
  
  
• You want to hear the funny and sad statistics about how literacy rates declined right in front of our eyes and the internet took over.
  
  
• You want a better understanding of how "generations" actually form and how that's connected to tech-philosophy.
  

Have you ever tried to live life without a goal? Could you even imagine how it would play out? Inspired by a book written by philosopher James Ogilvy, I open up about how "goalessness" has helped me get more out of life.

This episode is for you if:

• "Living without a goal" doesn't sound depressing but actually piques your interest.
  
  
• You want refreshing reminders about why chasing external things for fulfillment will always ultimately make you feel empty.
  
  
• You want to learn more about how to life an "Artful life" or the "Art of Living".
  

In this episode I touch on certain patterns in features women have invented that happen to be very human-friendly. I discuss how this feminine influence manifests in our technology today and how to spot it.

This episode is for you if:

• You want to know how presence, passivity and intimacy are feminine influences that are often overlooked but provide very human-friendly user experiences.
  
  
• You want to better understand how women/feminine influence in technology manifests.
  
  
• You want to learn two of my favorite examples of women who influenced powerfully lucrative human-friendly technology.
  

Ever wonder what happened to substance? In music? Art? People? lol In this week's episode I break down theories from thinkers like Stuart Ewen and more about how appearances separated from substance.

This episode is for you if:

• You want to hear my thoughts on HBO's "Fake Famous" and the rise of influencers and celebrities buying fake followers for engagement.
  
• You want to trace back how American culture became so focused on appearances.
  
• You care about having substance in culture and business.
  

In this episode I explain an ancient Chinese concept called "Li" which can be interpreted as the "grain in things". We talk about how finding the organic patterns both in nature,  our bodies and in our personalities can help us live more meaningful lives.

This episode is for you if:

-You want to get better at identifying  what (and who) is not compatible with your nature so you don't have to learn the hard way.

-You want to get better at reading metaphors in nature and using those to build more nourishing environments for yourself and when accepting others.

-You want to understand how understanding the nature of yourself and the elements can support us in developing more human-friendly technology

Just because you ain’t spend money on it, don’t mean it don’t come at a cost! This week I break down the pros and cons of living in an "attention economy" and how it’s impacted the meaning of life.

This episode is for you if:

• You feel like you have no real control over the nature of images/content/news you see and want a better understanding of how it got this way.
  
• You are a content-creator and you’re often frustrated with social media.
  
• You are a person and you’re often frustrated with social media.

In this episode, I revisit a lot of the themes from EP 3 about the natural role of entertainment. We unpack some of the ancient Hindu perception of "drama" and how wanting in life doesn't make you bad, it makes you human.

This episode is for you if:

• You're into taoist & zen philosophy and you want to learn more about where it came from.
  
• You want some refreshing reminders about why it's important to embrace all emotions both "good" and "bad".
  
• You want to hear my controversial and judgmental opinions about meditation.

How much would you pay for an artists life? That and other questions are what are explored in this week's podcast. We discuss the difference between "money" and "wealth".

This episode is for you if:

• How money's transformation from coins to paper to digital effects how we see it today.
  
  
• How the obsession with money blinds people to what wealth actually is.
  
  
• You use the term "money" and "wealth" interchangeably.
  

Too many people are trying to enforce changes in our behavior on social media through rules and good ideas but good ideas can't stand in the face of reality. In this episode I explore why it's so important to understand the nature of our environments when it come to tech and life.

This episode is for you if:

• You want to better understand how your environments have shaped you as a person.
  
• You run a business or household and need perspective on how to change people's behavior without saying anything to them directly.
  
• You want to understand how "shoulds"  and "good ideas" can backfire us into hypocrisy and worse conditions.
  

Americans tend to be hard-core individualist. It's gotten us far and boy does it feel good to be admired for our differences!! But how much has this philosophy really worked? What role does collectivism play in all this? And does it have anything to offer?

This episode is for you if:

• You feel like your individualism used to clash with your family but that's starting to change.
  
• You see the real threat of group-think and toxic conformity but aren't sure how to deal with it.
  
• You want to find the balance between being selfish and selfless.
  

Do you want to live in the "now" but feel like the way everyone explains it is so confusing? Have you ever heard "Don't mistake the map for the territory"? It's old saying about the dangers of what we lose when we mistake made-up concepts for reality. Nowhere do I think we lose out *more* than with our perception of time. In this week's episode I break down the history of the clock & calendar, and why we invented things like "minutes" and "seconds".

This episode is for you if:

• You want to live in the "now" but you feel like everyone's explanation on how to do it is confusing af.
  
• You want to better understand why some time feels fast and some time feels slow
  
• You feel a crippling pressure from deadlines. (marriage or career based age goals)
  

We’ve been talking about the danger of "toxic growth" in technology and in our lives. This week talk about how to stop chasing pointless goals and create a "point of preservation" instead.

This episode is for you if:

• You want to build a life based on *maintaining* contentment rather than seeking constant highs.
  
• You feel that by monitoring your stimuli, life will reawaken and ordinary things will fulfill you.
  
• You want a refreshing reminders about  how to see the glass half-full.
  

Why does it seem like no matter how hard you strive for happiness, you're still unhappy? Even after you've achieved certain levels of success?

This episode is for you if:

• You're curious why your ego is destined to be miserable.
  
  
• You want to understand how most of our technology is invented out of "ego" and negatively impacts you.
  
  
• You want to stop "chasing" happiness and start to feel it by changing your relationship to nature.

I think the number one question that woke me up to my with to technology was "What did we lose?". It's a question we usually ask  too late. In this week's episode I explore how it's just as important to be sensitive about what we lose when we adopt new tech and not to just be so enamored by it because it's newer, cheaper or faster. Check it out!

This episode is for you if:

• You're uncomfortable with your relationship with technology and you want some perspective of how to improve it.
  
  
• You feel like technology has ultimately made the world dumber and less capable.
  
  
• You have strong beliefs or opinions about what skills, techniques or arts we should keep to preserve our humanity.
  

"The Diva-Taoist”: How I Got Into Taoism (and use it for life and business) 

Someone asked me to share the story behind how I got into "Taoism"...

This episode is for you if:

-You like to be economically empowered but don't like to go overboard and burn yourself out in the name of growth.

- How I use Zen and Taoist philosophy to stay sane when running my business (and just living in this society)..

-You have an inner diva (Mariah, Jlo, Toni Childs etc.) but are afraid of people judging it and need some moral comfort (I'm your girl).

- You like listening to me ramble on about economics and reality as you clean your kitchen or drive or live your best life...

How does a philosophy that's about "doing and nothing" and "wanting" nothing even enjoyable?

This week I wanted to offer some perspective that might help you better understand why there's so much hype around "Zen" philosophy.

This episode is for you if:

• You feel like desperate optimism or "toxic positivity" is not doing your life any favors.
  
• You've grown out of living out your ideals and want to fall in love with living an imperfect life.
  
• You have a realist in your life and you want to better understand how to love/understand/work with them.
  

One day I woke up and I realized I got scammed into believing something like "baking cookies" was not contributing enough to society. That as a woman I should be doing "more". But after my grandma passed I realized it was things like baking cookies that made a safe and loving home environment for me to grow up in an be a decent human being.

This episode is for you if:

• You've felt like overtime the little things your grandparents and parents told you to care about are starting to make more sense.
  
• You want to learn more about the correlation between our soulless society and our relationship to the home.
  
• You feel like ageism is often overlooked in our culture and you're curious about how you will be treated as you age.
  

You ever wonder how we got here? Like, how did we go from hunting our own meat to two-day shipping? How did we go from being cavemen to domesticated men? Well, the answer is TECHNOLOGY.

But it's not just tech alone, It's what we think the tech should be doing *and* what we think the point of life is.

This episode is for you if:

• You're into history and like learning about how innovation has impacted economics, politics and society.
  
• You want a different perspective on what civilization is and how you can benefit the most from it.
  
• You want to start changing your relationship to technology to live a more meaningful life.
  

There’s a difference between using life for life and using life for death. In this episode, I break down how we became such an “out-put”-obsessed culture and how to enjoy life without explaining yourself.

This episode is for you if

• You want to see what else besides “goals” you can focus on to make a good life.
  
• You don’t feel as ambitious and title-obsessed as your peers and family.
  
• You feel like you need permission to pick up a paint brush, instrument or any new creative hobby but you feel like you have to explain yourself just to start.

In this episode I try to redefine and reveal entertainment not just as trashy TV shows or cheap pop music but a natural expression of activity that has connected and bonded humanity for centuries.

This episode is for you if:

-You often roll your eyes at entertainment/celebrity culture and often wish people would pick up a book.

-You’re a director, actor, musician who loves your art but hates feeling like you have to water it down for popularity.

-You love the movie the Matrix and often feel like Neo, esp in 2020.

I thought I would be able to hide my face and just be a writer until one day... 

I found this creepy and accurate book about the effects of images written by Neil Postman and it changed my perspective on the written word forever. 

This is my story. 

This episode is for you if: 

-You're a writer or aspiring writer and you feel like writing makes no sense and you think about giving up half the time. 

- You appreciate dystopian topics like "Brave New World" and "1984" 

- You are curious about how the effects of images are influencing you and your culture.