PODCAST · society
Satellite Haiku
by Milo & Shawn
Two long-time best friends wander through culture, politics, tech, and fatherhood and try to arrive at—stumble upon, alchemize and synthesize—something wise. satellitehaiku.substack.com
Episodes
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073: Empty Vessels
We talk about working in large organizations, meeting to agree to decide, Zeno’s paradox, internal thoughts, the experience of listening to podcasts these days, f*cking with the algorithm, the Jean Claude Vandamme Volvo commercial, humans vs AI, Soylent, infinite personalized music, Elon Musk’s...
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072: Money, Corruption, and Cults
Do money and power corrupt, or are corrupt people drawn to chase money and power? Both surely. We start with this question and return to it at various points. In-between we talk about the human propensity to latch onto gurus and saviors, the power of rizz, Elon Musk, Elizabeth Holmes, Tony…
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071: Apocalypse How? (AI Edition)
We talk about how an AI might “evolve,” Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, recursive self-improvement, scaling up to super-intelligence from LLMs, the nuclear disarmament analogy, lifespan disparities, Waymo rollouts, anthropomorphizing chatbots, chatbots emulating human niceties, Siri getting spicy in...
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070: Late-Stage Trumpism
We talk about the 6-7 meme, generational divides, our old friend Peter, prank comedy, entrapment as a law enforcement tactic, the Lake Ontario name change and CEO boot-lickers, late-stage Trumpism, dishonest discourse (about Hasan Piker, zionism/antisemitism, socialism, etc), John Ratcliffe’s…
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069: Remembering 9/11
We remember where we were on 9/11, and MiLo shares a song he wrote in the immediate aftermath, an anthem for hope and lasting peace. Then we talk about how our individual political views have changed (or not over the years). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other...
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068: Reality Remains Undefeated
We talk about the paradox of ‘brown MAGA,’ the Natalie Harp saga, quitting Bill Maher and Sam Harris, the ‘socialism’ debate, correcting the online discourse, straw men and slippery slope arguments, marriage vs domestic partnership, Trump vs reality, concentration camps in America, rationalizing...
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067: What is the point (of creating art)?
We talk about the urge to create art and confronting the voice that asks, “what’s the point?” Before and after that, we riff on mental health, therapy, trauma, male vs female friendships, the manosphere, Sean Ryan, peer groups and mental health, solitude, calibrating your inside voice, gratitude…
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065: Technology and Sports
We talk about penalty kicks and tiebreakers, the offsides rule, high-tech swimsuits, augmented sports, ABS, swim race time precision, Jude Bellingham vs Harry Kane, England vs Norway, biohacking, body optimization, fitness trackers, the stigmatization of pleasure, Tim Ferris, the five-minute…
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064: Middle Age and its Metaphors
We talk about forgetfulness, routine, middle age as a metaphor for Europe, San Francisco weather vs east coast weather, security vs convenience, the Jefferson-Adams death coincidence, birth/death synchronicities in general, Max Muncy x2 as proof of the simulation, dystopias, caterpillar...
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063: Weaving through Miscellany
We talk about solitude, the tech job hunt scene, MiLo’s conversion to “sports guy” for the World Cup, the offsides rule, bad landlords, MiLo’s work for the Pima County (AZ) Democratic Party, the ascendance of the DSA, asking whether Israel has a “right to exist,” the false binary of capitalism vs...
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062: Imposter Syndrome
Shawn remembers the early days of the web, and we talk about our first office jobs, majoring in the humanities, MiLo’s brush with Theranos, buying Elizabeth Holmes and Elon Musk, yoga retreats, World Cup visitors experiencing Americana, the White House as reality tv fodder, Trump as a tragic...
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061: Art, Sports, and Cultural Identity
We talk about doing voices to entertain our kids, Waldorf schooling and its prohibitions, audio book performances, art books, conceptual art, SpaceX and other IPOs, Elon’s race-baiting and other shenanigans, satellite launches, the World Cup, fans singing at sporting events, white American…
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060: The Economics of Music and Healthcare
We talk about the podcasting ad ecosystem, the “long tail”, Ani DiFranco, the economics of music streaming, news hygiene, Trump and the depths of dumb, vestiges of the Internet’s golden age, public healthcare vs private insurance. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with...
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059: Wave of Change
We talk about Shawn’s patented microwave shortcut, first world problems™️, dumb uses of AI, the AI commencement speech “boo” trend, AI hallucinations, the AI “bubble” feeling (whether or not it’s actually a bubble), comparing this AI wave to the 2000 dotcom wave, the Trump firehose of s**t…
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058: Journeys to Non-Belief
We talk about Shawn’s tenacious cold, the hantavirus outbreak, pandemic insanity, MiLo’s paintings, his upcoming show, and Bob Ross. Then we talk about for an hour about our current state of religious (non)belief and how we got here. Mentioned in this episode Emmanuel Swedenborg, and especially…
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057: Value in the Doing
We talk about generalists vs specialists, the communications degree, film school then and now, the process vs the product (redux), Disney layoffs, creativity as a temperament, retirement, doomscrolling (hantavirus, ebola, SARS, COVID, and related conspiracy thinking), the Artemis mission (and...
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056: Layers of Attention
We talk about our podcast as a family artifact, home tech challenges, class reunions, digitizing MiLo’s old film projects, our celebrity doppelgängers, Charlize Theron, synchronicity, George Gurdjieff’s attention exercises, Lebron James and other athletic savants, the magical thinking of…
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055: Process vs. Product
We talk about mountains, trains, snow, the Donner Party, medical “diseases of opulence,” 80s teen movies, categories of 80s parents, finding jobs during a downturn, AI and the future of jobs, the market for craftsmanship and artisanal goods, hipsters, the process and the product, the Luddites,...
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054: The Constant and the Variant (redux)
MiLo shares an update on his grandbabies and uses that to riff on the constant versus the variant (nature versus nurture). We linger on parenthood for a bit, and then we talk about approaches to human learning, analogous approaches to training AI, Waldorf education, screen use and attention span,...
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053: Supposedly Smart People
We talk about audiophiles, stereos of our youth, early portable music devices, white gentrification, artistic idiosyncrasies, writing, the pap smear test, videoconferencing apps, libertarians, Andreessen, Musk, Zuckerberg and the end of the Metaverse, the stupidity of supposedly smart people, the...
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052: In the Kali Yuga
We talk about the challenge of focusing on normal life, Trump’s fundamental laziness and capriciousness, art after tragedies like 9/11, the diminishing returns of escapism, dystopia-induced anxiety vs depression, eschatological beliefs, children as an investment with delayed returns, society vs...
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051: Tragedy of the Commons
We talk about daylight savings, the war with Iran, ancient civilizations in North America, Lucy (aka “the missing link”), Charles Darwin’s bone collection, the brontosaurus, Amerigo Vespucci, John Hancock, chagas disease, science, freedom vs. security, Orwell, the S.A.V.E. Act, the Dunning-Kruger...
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050: Learning the Hard Way
We talk about MiLo’s new grandson, parenting, germaphobia, catastrophizing, panic attacks, our love language, learning the hard way, idiosyncrasies of houses, intuitive design and its opposite, the AI future as Terminator versus R2D2, the emerging techno-status gap, Luddites, AI use cases…
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049: The Golden Rule
Shawn gets a little salty about Trump’s SOTU address (which he avoided), while MiLo compares Trump to Liberace. After indulging that digression for a bit, we talk about the closeted 1980s. We come back to the state of US politics, then we talk about cults, theocracy, the ability to recognize…
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048: Consequences
Happy birthday to MiLo! Shawn is recovering from a cold, so we talk about that and about losing your voice, then about (the royal formerly known as) Prince Andrew, political accountability (former President of S. Korea Yoon Suk Yeol, former Philippine President Duterte and his successor), whether...
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047: An Optimized Life
MiLo (“Abu”) welcomes a new grandson, and we talk about pregnancy and birth. Then we talk about discrimination and personal blind spots, “cooperative interruption,” daydreaming, optimizing yourself to perform better, lifehacks, material wealth and happiness, striving versus self-acceptance, envy,...
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046: Movie Talk
We have thoughts about sleep. Then we talk about movies and entertainment—Quentin Tarantino’s films, Elmore Leonard adaptations, The Matrix, F1 (movie), Justin Timberlake, K-Pop Demon Hunters, the preteen years, Brian Eno’s definition of charisma, The Talking Heads, being different to be cool…
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045: Minneapolis
We talk about what’s happening in Minneapolis and debate whether the Trump administration is pursuing a strategy or just sort of chaotically pushing against civil norms and legal boundaries. Shawn sees a method in the madness and points to the existence of Project 2025 as evidence of coordination...
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044: Revenge of the Nerds
We talk about helping elderly parents with tech support, situations when AI unhelpfully offers help, the unnatural mix of high and low quality in AI output, machines vs the human experience of creating art, the engineer/STEM perspective on art and creativity, the real revenge of the nerds, dad...
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043: Operant Conditioning
We talk about works we created long ago, old tech, operant conditioning oneself, checklists, the memory palace, MiLo’s dad’s collections of stamps and old baseball cards, Warren Buffet’s stock market advice, the scammer mindset as a strange superpower, Elizabeth Holmes and Bernie Madoff, trying…
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042: In The Quickening
We talk about being creatures of habit, aging parents, purpose and meaning in the context of work and AI, and what it feels like to live in this age of rapid and accelerating change. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus…
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041: Family Gatherings, Family Estrangement
We talk about family gatherings and family estrangement, the horseshoe effect in political ideology, the nazi problem on the right, incels, women in politics, misogyny, super-wealthy welfare queens, the rise of leftist economic populism, right-wing populism, wearing shoes in the house, Filipino...
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040: Navigating Relationships
We talk about conflicting nutrition advice, confirmation bias, Jedi mind tricks as a parenting technique, our visceral aversion to blaming and shaming, consequentialism in parenting, older/younger sibling dynamics, being triggered by criticism and corrections, back seat driving, thinking out loud...
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039: The Creative Process
We talk about creating, procrastinating, collaborating, seeing our own past work with fresh eyes, discipline and the lack thereof, arts & craft fairs, art criticism, having your beliefs challenged, alternative energy, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and leaving work unfinished because you are...
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038: Thanksgiving Edition
We talk about atmospheric rivers, The Doobie Brothers, suburban myths and life before the internet, Rush Limbaugh, the American Revolution, Simón Bolivar, the Haudenosaunee confederacy, the decline of language, and MiLo’s voiceover career that could have been. Mentioned in this episode L.A. Story...
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037: Rick Rolled
We meander for an hour and talk about internet memes, mullets, old time hockey, creative careers, various songs and artists, New York City, roommates, and natural comedic talent. Mentioned in this episode Song Exploder episode episode 70 (Weezer) and episode 233 (Rick Astley) This is a public...
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036: Leveling Up
We share some nuggets of wisdom we have gathered during our fiftysomething years on this bluegreen rock, and we try to fashion it into advice…. * Use “I” statements * Don’t take things personally; own your own experience * “Expand your threshold before your recoil” (respond instead of reacting…
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035: If We Were In Charge of the World
We talk about last week’s election results (mini blue wave), what natural political talent looks like (Mamdani, AOC), factions in the Democratic party, theories about what voters actually want, what MTG is doing, MiLo’s “high dopamine dynamic range,” Shawn’s opinion on term limits…
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034: The Paradox of Wisdom
Shawn has more to say about social sharing on the internet. Then we talk about therapy, the paradox of wisdom, the creative process, qualifications for becoming POTUS, codes of ethics, the complete capitulation of SCOTUS and the GOP Congress, the two-party system, the optics of action, ignoring…
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033: Six Seven
We talk about the term “Gerry-rigged,” something called semantic bleaching, the “6-7” meme and other Gen Z slang, the f-word, hot sauce as a metaphor for cussing, Eddie Murphy, South Park, the court jester, dominatrixes, “John Barron,” immunity to shame as a superpower, Maoist China, Peter Thiel,...
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032: Just Try Not to Die
We talk about life with extended family, vacation homes, generational entropy, the evolution of sunscreen, Bob Marley, “Modern Jackass” magazine, pancakes, Maui, long swims, calf cramps, the Toyota ‘stuck accelerator’ incidents, memories that still make you cringe, G.I. Joe grip, catching arrows,...
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031: Participating in the Discourse
Please pardon some audio issues with this episode We talk about sourdough bread-making techniques, types of knowledge, short order cooks, adopting and abandoning hobbies, revenge of the incels, audience capture, sensemaking, the COVID lab leak theory, participating in online discourse, Angry…
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030: Rebooting Leftovers
We talk about MacOS names, the right preposition to use for islands, expired cream, mold species, rebooting leftovers, rotisserie chickens, food safety, diabetes, fiber supplements, poop, engaging with the world vs escaping, the Hegseth-Trump meeting with the generals in Quantico, loyalty tests,...
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029: The Constant and the Variant
Milo talks about meeting his dad’s long-secret half-sister, which leads into the topic of nature and nurture and also Canadian parking ticket bureaucracy. Shawn reveals his weird superpower. We talk about how approaches to public works and urban planning differ in California versus New York and...
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028: Dirtbag Happy
We’re back after a couple weeks of travel, work, and schedule challenges. Shawn reports that he’s feeling a bit stuck and lost in his life at the moment. Milo pitches “Designing Your Life.” We talk about job hunting—networking, soul-killing jobs, being like a shark. We question the saying, “an...
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027: Chronically Late
We talk about being late, airports, slow walkers, networking in Latin American lobbies, trains, standardized time, life and death by bureaucracy, Chiune Sugihara (Japan’s Oscar Schindler), the Japan-Germany alliance during WWII, frenemies, a story of escape, the fall of the USSR, motifs and...
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026: Big In Japan
Shawn has returned from Japan, and so of course we talk about Japanese toilets. Also trains, synesthesia, fighting with our dads, “happy-clappy” church, gratitude, the caterpillar-to-butterfly phase change, Trump-Epstein, “stupid Hitler,” and Shari Redstone’s swan song. Mentioned in this episode...
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025: Apple Design, MAGA Schadenfreude, Democratic Socialism
Shawn is bound for Japan for a few weeks, so we’ll reconvene in August. We talk about the state of Apple design under Jony Ive versus Steve Jobs. Then we discuss the recent Grok AI meltdown where it called itself MechaHitler and hinted at a second holocaust. We talk about the schadenfreude we…
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024: Fishing Stories, Personal Hygiene, Wheelie Luggage
From Shawn: Pardon the background noise under my audio. I’m traveling and had to improvise a recording setup at my location. Shawn is in the mountains this week and shares some fishing stories. That leads to some talk about the weird subculture of people who don’t bathe (and we each try to…
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023: Guns, Political Will, Motivated Reasoning
TW: Mention of suicide. Dial 988 if you need help. MiLo is toughing out a premature Tucson heat wave, so we start with some commiseration about Arizona summers. Then we talk about immigration and gun control and how small, highly-energized minorities prevent progress on these issues. Finally, we...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Satellite Haiku have?
Satellite Haiku currently has 72 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Satellite Haiku about?
Two long-time best friends wander through culture, politics, tech, and fatherhood and try to arrive at—stumble upon, alchemize and synthesize—something wise. satellitehaiku.substack.com
How often does Satellite Haiku release new episodes?
Satellite Haiku has 72 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Satellite Haiku?
You can listen to Satellite Haiku on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Satellite Haiku?
Satellite Haiku is created and hosted by Milo & Shawn.
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