The Blunt Report

Sokeel Park

Sokeel Park is the Director of Research for Liberty in North Korea (LINK), an organisation that works to rescue thousands of North Korean Refugees who have escaped their country and are vulnerable to exploitation and capture, by ensuring their safe and dignified journey to freedom within South Korea.

More Links: https://www.libertyinnorthkorea.org/ and "The Jangmadang Generation": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvsqpwI_IfU

"The North Korean people deserve and need a lot more allies around the world - a lot more solidarity and support for them."

Today, Sokeel discusses why he and many others with him at the organisaiton, are motivated to do this work with Liberty in North Korea. My guest, lays out what the process is for rescuing North Korean refugees. But perhaps most importantly, Sokeel describes how important it is to change the narrative and to highlight the people of North Korea.

 

Chris Grant

Chris Grant is a Science Historian specialising in the Space-Flight Era and the creator of Universe University, a Science History podcast and blog. Find more at www.universeuniversity.space

"You can't help but wonder about the Human Mind and who was the first to conceive some of these truly fantastical ideas"

On today's episode, Chris takes us back in time to a period when humans just began to explore the vast ocean of space for the very first time. Chris and Konner chat about some of the motivations and reasons behind the space race, such as the Societal reasons, political reasons and even some philosophical ones.

Chris also talks about the impact soviet Russia had on space and technology as a whole, with people Yuri Gagarin and the satellite Sputnik, as well as what the future of space exploration looks like.

Deborah Hyde

Deborah Hyde is a Folklorist, Skeptic and Cultural Anthropologist who specialises in the Supernatural, Paranormal, and Cryptozoology. deborahhyde.com

"The big difference between Religion and Superstition is Politics". 

Today, Deborah discusses why it is that people believe in weird stuff, and how in certain places throughout history the ideas of vampirism, witchcraft or fairies were commonplace beliefs. Not only that, Deborah and Konner discuss the reasons why we even have a distinction between the superstitious and religion, when once upon a time, these ideas were much more blended. Lastly, Deborah chats about Skepticism as a whole and the associated charlatans and conspiracies, ranging from sunning your anus to healers who claim to be able to cure cancer sufferers.

 

 

Daniele Bolelli

Daniele Bolelli is a Historian, Author and Storyteller with his very popular "History on Fire" Podcast.

"I don't think most people are evil, I think most people are weak".

On today's episode, Konner and Daniele discuss some of the most infamous characters that have left a blaze through history. how legends become legends, and mostly, about the nature of evil.

Not only that, Daniele discusses some of the recent controversies surrounding history such as the removal of confederate statues in the US, and also how loneliness has completely blindsided our society

Bonus: Lisa Harvey-Smith

Lisa Harvey-Smith is an Astronomer, Women in STEM Ambassador to the Australian Government, an advisor for the Australian space agency as well as an author and broadcaster. Lisaharveysmith.com

On this episode, Konner and Lisa discuss her new kids book, Under the stars, astrophysics for bed time. Lisa also discusses her road map for implementing change in the world of STEM, as well as the genuine importance of astronomy and space exploration on the general public and society as a whole. Lisaharveysmith.com

Kyle Buller

Kyle Buller is host of the psychedelics today network and is a specialist within the field of non-ordinary states of consciousness, trans-personal psychology and mental health counselling. http://www.settingsunwellness.com/

"I think that a lot of people are just disconnected with deep philosophical questions."

Today, Konner and Kyle discuss many of the factors that influence the epidemic of mental and spiritual neglect that our current society seems to be breeding. The guys chat about some of the reasons why our society is sick and some of the ways we can mitigate these issues creating cures and future prevention. Not only that, Kyle outlines some of the very real drawbacks of the current psychedelic revolution - as well as how we should be handling these very powerful compounds within a medical, clinical, or spiritual context.

Kyle also shares a very personal story of the near-death experience he underwent in his teenage years and how that event completely altered his life’s trajectory. Lastly, the conversation goes to people’s relationship with death and, how that could be the source of many of our existential crises. 

Jack and Ada

Jack and Ada are Political commentators and hosts of their own podcast, Totally Unprepared Politics. twitter.com/thetupshow

Today's episode of the podcast is very relevant in this Topsy-Turvy world, and the guys discuss a very broad range of topics. Jack and Ada layout some potential benefits to Brexit, as well as where it currently stands. They also riff about some potential ideas for a possible new structure of government. Not only that, they chat on the lighter side of politics and climate change by discussing how the future might actually be looking bright. twitter.com/thetupshow

Tristan Rose

Tristan Rose is an Ex-Australian Army Soldier and the founder of Blind Tiger Yoga. Tristan’s military career spanned 10 years and multiple deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan, which led him to develop Blind Tiger Yoga, an organisation whose mission is to provide Yoga to Military, Veterans and Emergency First Responders in order to provide a method of maintaining their overall physical and mental health. www.blindtigeryoga.com

"The ultimate key is: No one's coming to save you. This is all accountability on the individual."

Today, Konner and Tristan talk about the unlikely transition from Soldier to Yoga teacher. They discuss some of the rightful praises, as well as genuine criticisms of the military and how that affects an individual reentering a civilian existence.

But mostly, the guys chat about the role and importance of mindfulness and meditation. Including some tips and advice on how and why this should be implemented into your daily routine.

Connor Wander

Connor Wander is an Alzheimer's Disease researcher specialising in GABA Neural Networks, and is one of the founders of "Straight from a Scientist", a Science Communication Network which works to communicate science to both academics and the wider public. https://www.straightfromascientist.com/

"To me, that’s the most terrifying thing about Alzheimer's - you can lose your identity in the process."

Today, Connor explains the fundamentals of Alzheimer's Disease, such as what the disease is, who suffers from it and what we know about things like risk, detection, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.

The guys also discuss that the 21^st century is the era of the brain and what it means for philosophical concepts of the human race when we have a greater understanding of things like consciousness and mental illness.

Finally, as fellow science communicators, the guys chat about the general concept of education. What the structure of education could or should be like, how to get people more interested in different topics, and how we can break some of the old time expectations of an academic or a researcher.

Franck Marchis

Franck Marchis is a SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) senior planetary astronomer and chair of the exoplanet group at the Carl Sagan Center of the SETI Institute.

Prior to this, his work has involved the discovery and characterisation of numerous asteroids, study of the volcanism on Io (one of Jupiter's moons) and the enhancement of adaptive optics. He is also the co-founder of Unistellar, a company that develops extremely high quality telescopes. To find out more, visit http://franckmarchis.com/ or https://unistellaroptics.com/.

"We are a young technological intelligent civilization and we are like teenagers. We’ve only recently learned what we can do and how great life can be."

To start off today, Konner and Franck chat about his origins, his studies of Io, the aversion of physical activity within academia, as well as the importance of branching out into other fields and travel for all of us.

But around 30 minutes in, the guys begin talking about what all good discussions around astronomy eventually get to, which is aliens. They discuss some actual SETI findings, such as the staggering number of planets out there that could be harbouring life. We talk about the philosophy of alien life, how that might affect humanity, and finally, what it could be like if humanity became a space faring civilization.