In this 24th episode of "The Old Men in the Seat," hosts Byron and Paul delve into profound philosophical questions about time, self, and the human experience, while also touching upon their innovative use of AI in podcast production.
The episode opens with a discussion of their new system for creating show notes using AI, which involves generating a transcript from audio and then using a large language model, specifically Google's Notebook LM, to iterate on podcast titles, subtitles, and summaries. They also reveal an unreleased experiment where AI was used to generate two versions of a song based on a previous podcast episode. As a further experiment, they decide to generate a 1980s-genre song based on the current episode to release at its conclusion1.
The central theme of the episode revolves around "the past," which Byron likens to "the shadow that follows you around". He shares a personal anecdote about being revisited by his past when someone he dealt with appeared on the front page of a newspaper, prompting self-reflection on his awareness and judgment. Paul admits to "revisiting the past forever," identifying it as a significant problem due to his tendency to criticize past decisions and not live in the present.
A key insight emerges as they discuss their differing, yet equally challenging, approaches to time: Paul is backward-looking, ruminating on past mistakes, while Byron is too forward-looking, constantly thinking about future problems and solutions. Both acknowledge that this prevents them from being present, negatively impacting their personal relationships, state of mind, and overall mental well-being. They agree that "we actually only just live in our heads," a bizarre reality for physical creatures capable of huge emotional swings. This internal world includes an "inner critic" that judges their respective inclinations towards the past or future.
Byron explains that his escape into the future is a coping mechanism for present problems, noting the "fanciful" dream he shares with Paul of living a simple "Boda tree life" on an island. He recounts a stressful incident involving a kitchen accident and injury, which led him to fantasize about this escape as a way to cope with the shock and responsibility. Paul's method of dealing with stress from past mistakes is simply to "bottle it up," a "very Australian" stoic reaction, which they both acknowledge is ineffective and potentially learned from parents or environment. They question if this internal rumination is a universal human experience or unique to them, concluding that it’s hard to measure.
The conversation then turns to the podcast's mission: to show listeners that "they're not alone" in their struggles and that by sharing their "imperfect, unglossy" lives, they can provide comfort to others. They reiterate the difficulty of moving forward when living in the past and the importance of self-forgiveness for mistakes. They believe that by their age, having made mistakes is a sign of having truly lived, and the journey of life often leads to humility and acceptance that "this is all there is," recognizing that the present moment is all we truly have. They conclude that while much is out of their control, their reaction to people and situations in life is within their control. The episode wraps up with a reflective and philosophical tone, acknowledging the ongoing journey of life and the increasing "loudness" of past ghosts as one gains wisdom.
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27 mins
4 mins