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Critical Nonsense

Critical Nonsense

By: SYLVAIN
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High-low brow conversations about culture, science, and tech. With hosts Joey Camire, Aaron Powers, and executive producer/nerd herder Jess Vander. SYLVAIN is a strategy and design company.Copyright 2025 Critical Nonsense Philosophy Social Sciences
Episodes
  • 321! Clarity
    Aug 25 2025

    How do you make sense?

    This week, Aaron, Jess, and Joey talk about intention, trust, assumption, context windows, synchronicity, and drinking. They don’t talk about Pal Joey.

    references

    • Click, Clack, Moo in book form
    • Click, Clack, Moo Read Aloud
    • Palworld

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    30 mins
  • 320! Doing Hard Things
    Aug 12 2025

    Why do we do hard things?

    This week, Joey and Jess talk about the Baddie Performance Index, Barkley Marathons, fun types, self flagellation, dessert stomachs, and natural childbirth. They don’t talk about Saquon.

    references

    • Barkley Marathons
    • Running so far away

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    22 mins
  • 319! Being Cool
    Aug 5 2025

    Why is it so important to be cool?

    This week, Jess, Aaron, and Joey talk about Black culture, 21 Jump Street, social approval, bandwaggoning, alternative hierarchies, and Lauryn Hill. They don’t talk about Digable Planets.

    references

    • Dru Hill's "5 Steps"
    • Old Man, look at my life.
    • Journal of Experimental Psychology: "Cool is cool wherever you are"
    • Miles Davis' The Birth of the Cool
    • Uncola: Seven-Up, Counterculture and the Making of an American Brand
    • Wired Video: Linguists Explain the History of "Cool"
    • BET Video: The Origin Of "Cool": How Black Culture Embodies "Cool" & Influences Trends For Mainstream
    • 21 Jump Street (2012) first day of school scene
    • Corrections Department: To clarify, the study does not specifically question the Black origins of our collective use of the word "cool," rather it questions whether the emotional restraint in Black culture that came to define the early idea of "cool" is still the current concept of "cool."
    • Bow Chicka Wow Wow

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    22 mins
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