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WanderLearn: Travel to Transform Your Mind & Life

WanderLearn: Travel to Transform Your Mind & Life

By: Francis Tapon
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About this listen

 Take a profound and distant journey. Call it Deep Travel, Immersive Travel, Slow Travel, or Vagabonding. Francis Tapon guides you to the intersection of travel, technology, and transformation. The podcast will compel you to go beyond your comfort zone. Occasionally, you‘ll also delve into the misunderstood world of cryptocurrencies.Copyright 2020-2021 All rights reserved. Economics Personal Finance Social Sciences Travel Writing & Commentary
Episodes
  • Is It Good or Bad News If We Depopulate "After the Spike"?

    Is It Good or Bad News If We Depopulate "After the Spike"?
    Jul 13 2025
    Simon & Schuster provided me with an advanced copy of the superb book After the Spike: Population, Progress, and the Case for People, scheduled for release on July 8, 2025. The University of Texas authors, Dean Spears and Michael Geruso, have written a mind-blowing book! It's my second favorite book of 2025! My favorite 2025 book is They're Not Gaslighting You. Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-JfpjJRkok Podcast The Population Whimper When I was born, Paul R. Ehrlich's book, The Population Bomb, was a mega-bestseller. Although I never read the book, my generation believed the book's message that humanity is dangerously overpopulated. The book gave me one major reason not to have children. The book made intuitive sense, built on Thomas Malthus's observations, that if our population continues to expand, we will eventually hit a brick wall. However, Ehrlich, a Stanford biologist, made these stunningly wrong predictions in The Population Bomb: Mass Starvation in the 1970s and 1980s: The book opened with the statement, "The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s, hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now." England's Demise by 2000: He suggested that England would not exist by the year 2000 due to environmental collapse related to overpopulation. Devastation of Fish Populations by 1990: He predicted that all significant animal life in the sea would be extinct by 1990, and large areas of coastline would need to be evacuated due to the stench of dead fish. India's Famine: He predicted catastrophic food shortages in India in the 1990s that did not materialize. United States Food Rationing by 1984: He envisioned the U.S. rationing food by 1984. Instead of all this doom and gloom, here's what happened: we went from 3.5 billion (when Ehrich wrote his doomsday book) to 8 billion people today, most of whom are fat. Today, our biggest problem isn't famine but obesity. Dean Spears and Michael Geruso's new book should have been called The Population Whimper because it says the opposite of what The Population Bomb said. Forget a catastrophic demographic explosion. We're going to suffer a catastrophic demographic implosion. The graph on the cover of After the Spike sums up the problem: during a 200-year time period, the human population will have spiked to 10 billion and then experienced an equally dramatic fall. Three criticisms of After the Spike For a book packed with counterintuitive arguments, it's remarkable that I can only spot three flaws. Admittedly, these are minor critiques, as they will disappear if we stabilize below 10 billion. 1. Wildlife lost The authors correctly argue that the environment has been improving even as the human population has been growing rapidly. For example: Air and water are now cleaner than they were 50 years ago, when the population was half its current size.Our per capita CO2 consumption is falling.Clean energy production is at an all-time high. There's one metric that authors overlooked: wildlife. As the human population doubled, we've needed more space for growing food. This has led to a decrease in habitat, which is why biologists refer to the Anthropocene Extinction. While fish farms are efficient, overfishing continues.The Amazon gets denuded to make space for soy and cattle plantations.The loss of African wildlife habitats is acute, as the African population is projected to quadruple in this century. I imagine that the authors of After the Spike would counter: National parks didn't exist 200 years ago.Green revolutions and GMO foods have made the most productive farmers ever.De-extinction may restore extinct species. And they're correct. There are bright spots. However, as we approach 10 billion, wildlife will continue to suffer and be marginalized. The book should have mentioned that. Dean Spears and Michael Geruso would likely agree that if humans continue to grow nonstop, wildlife will continue to suffer. However, they aren't arguing for nonstop human expansion. They want stabilization. When you combine stabilization with technology (e.g., vertical farming and lab-grown animal products), we would reverse the downward trend in wildlife habitat. 2. Increased energy consumption Dean Spears and Michael Geruso celebrate humanity's progress in energy efficiency and productivity. However, they overlook these facts: 1. The Rebound Effect (Jevons Paradox): As energy efficiency improves, the cost of using energy services effectively decreases. This can lead to: Increased usage of existing services: For example, more efficient air conditioners might lead people to cool their homes to lower temperatures or for longer periods. More fuel-efficient cars might encourage more driving.Adoption of new energy-intensive activities: The increased affordability of energy services can enable entirely new consumption patterns that were previously too expensive to adopt. Think about the ...
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    23 mins
  • Exercising Your Explorer Muscle. Exploring vs. Exploiting. Exploration in our DNA

    Exercising Your Explorer Muscle. Exploring vs. Exploiting. Exploration in our DNA
    Jul 4 2025
    Happy 4th of July, 2025! Celebrate your independence by exploring outside!

    In 3 WanderLearn episodes, Alex Hutchinson and I discuss his new book, The Explorer's Gene. This is the 3rd of 3 episodes.

    The Explorer's Gene examines human exploration broadly, going beyond traditional expeditions to investigate why humans explore everything from new foods to music.

    Watch my First Video Interview with Alex

    Video #2: Does Tech Impact on Our Desire to Explore? Is Exploration Required for Fulfillment? Video #3: Exercising Your Explorer Muscle. Exploring vs. Exploiting. Exploration in our DNA. Timeline for Episode 3

    0:00 Tips 02:00 Endurance & Exploring 05:30 Exploiting vs. Exploring 07:00 Exploring in our DNA 09:00 Many ways to explore

    About the book, The Explorer's Gene

    The Explorer's Gene is made of 3 parts: 1) Why do we explore 2) How do we explore 3) What does exploring mean Written in an engaging style that combines narrative stories with scientific research, it's comparable to Malcolm Gladwell's work but with stronger research foundations. It has a comprehensive scope and accessibility. It investigates human and animal exploratory behavior. The book connects external exploration to internal growth, offering insights into decision-making and personal development. It blends entertainment with scientific rigor, appealing to readers interested in human behavior, science writing, and personal growth.

    Feedback

    Leave anonymous audio feedback at SpeakPipe

    Connect

    Send me an anonymous voicemail at SpeakPipe.com/FTapon

    You can post comments, ask questions, and sign up for my newsletter at https://wanderlearn.com.

    If you like this podcast, subscribe and share!

    On social media, my username is always FTapon. Connect with me on:

    • Facebook
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    Sponsors

    1. My Patrons sponsored this show! Claim your monthly reward by becoming a patron for as little as $2/month at https://Patreon.com/FTapon

    2. For the best travel credit card, get one of the Chase Sapphire cards and get 75-100k bonus miles!

    3. Get $5 when you sign up for Roamless, my favorite global eSIM! Use code LR32K

    4. Get 25% off when you sign up for Trusted Housesitters, a site that helps you find sitters or homes to sit in.

    5. Start your podcast with my company, Podbean, and get one month free!

    6. In the United States, I recommend trading cryptocurrency with Kraken.

    7. Outside the USA, trade crypto with Binance and get 5% off your trading fees!

    8. For backpacking gear, buy from Gossamer Gear.
    Show More Show Less
    14 mins
  • The Fastest Traveler Looks to the Future

    The Fastest Traveler Looks to the Future
    Jun 26 2025

    Michael Zervos is the fastest traveler ever!

    Watch the Video

    Now that Michael Zervos has traveled to all the countries faster than anyone else, what's next for him?

    Additionally, what advice would he offer to anyone who wants to break his speed record?

    Did you know Zervos has a book deal? Exciting!

    We cover it all in 13 minutes!

    Timeline

    00:00 Advice to the next person who tries to beat the record

    04:50 Next steps

    Michael Zervos has visited every country faster than anyone else while recounting the happiest moments in people's lives. In this interview series, we talk about his Project Kosmos.

    Michael Zervos makes well-produced social media content. Visit Michael Zervos's Linktree for all his links.

    Follow Michael Zervos on Instagram.

    Connect

    Send me an anonymous voicemail at SpeakPipe.com/FTapon

    You can post comments, ask questions, and sign up for my newsletter at https://wanderlearn.com.

    If you like this podcast, subscribe and share!

    On social media, my username is always FTapon. Connect with me on:

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    • TikTok
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • Tumblr

    Sponsors

    1. My Patrons sponsored this show! Claim your monthly reward by becoming a patron for as little as $2/month at https://Patreon.com/FTapon

    2. Get $5 when you sign up for Roamless, my favorite global eSIM! Use code LR32K

    3. Get 25% off when you sign up for Trusted Housesitters, a site that helps you find sitters or homes to sit in.

    4. Start your podcast with my company, Podbean, and get one month free!

    5. In the United States, I recommend trading cryptocurrency with Kraken.

    6. Outside the USA, trade crypto with Binance and get 5% off your trading fees!

    7. For backpacking gear, buy from Gossamer Gear.
    Show More Show Less
    14 mins

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