Organizations and movements

#

• 4chanEp 6

  The model for the forum in Troll ('the more unhinged Reddit'), where extremists post ten guidelines for escaping a 'useless existence'.

A

• AmazonEp 6

  The setting of the Troll excerpt's most relatable line, the sadness two minutes after a package arrives. Tamir and Logan treat it as the face of consumption used to fill an inner hole.

• AppleEp 7

  The company Colin's stepfather invested in, as told in his joke about the stock.

• AudibleEp 1

  Audiobook service. Tamir recalls its sign-off line before the silence at the end of Hard-Boiled Wonderland.

B

• BetterHelpEp 1

  Online therapy company; the subject of a joke ad Tyler improvises mid-episode.

• Booker PrizeEp 2

  Literary prize; Life of Pi won it, and Grant believes Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont was shortlisted in the 1970s.

• Burning ManEp 8

  Desert festival Tamir compares to footage of Rajneeshpuram ('a better version of Coachella or Burning Man'), asking how many members were there for spirituality and how many for the vanity…

C

• CoachellaEp 8

  Music festival Tamir uses, with Burning Man, as a comparison for the party side of Rajneeshpuram.

• Coen BrothersEp 2

  Filmmaking duo for whom Barry Sonnenfeld was cinematographer for about ten years.

• CostcoEp 12

  Ian's contrast to social media companies: just as profit-driven, but nobody resents Costco because it doesn't demand six hours of your day.

D

• Daily MailEp 7

  British newspaper. In 2010 it reported that 48% of 14 to 17 year olds surveyed wanted to be famous and didn't care at what, where 25 years earlier children wanted to be doctors, lawyers…

• Douglas CollegeEp 6

  College in the Vancouver area where Logan Macnair also teaches criminology (per the episode description).

F

• FacebookEp 12

  Ian argues Facebook 'has no product': if everyone left social media, it would lay people off the next day. Tamir jokes it would survive on WhatsApp.

H

• Haruki Murakami book clubEp 3

  Book club Tamir belongs to, through which he found the bookbinder who made his custom Hear the Wind Sing.

• Harvard UniversityEp 5

  Where Mia works as a research assistant on psychedelic research into grief.

I

• IndigoEp 1

  Canadian bookstore chain; Tamir uses its self-help section as shorthand for the genre and its limits compared with literature.

• Indigo / ChaptersEp 5

  Canadian bookstore chain Tamir names when describing how people seeking self-improvement head straight to the nonfiction and self-help sections and neglect fiction.

• InstagramEp 12

  The social app Ian deleted for four days, during which he felt his brain 'hunting' for it. Tamir notes Instagram has no incentive to offer a 'monk mode'.

J

• Jerusalem PrizeEp 10

  Israeli literary prize Murakami accepted in 2009 with his 'walls and eggs' speech.

L

• London DrugsEp 6

  Canadian retail chain where Tamir found the gag confession booth.

M

• MicrosoftEp 7

  Colin's example that it was the hard work behind the idea, not the idea itself, that made Windows run on most of the world's computers.

• Murakami Facebook groupsEp 10

  Online fan communities where Salih serves as an admin and Tamir is a member, part of the 'Murakamian' ecosystem.

• Murakami subredditEp 10

  Online Murakami community Tamir follows.

N

• Navy SEALsEp 7

  US special forces. An unnamed bearded former SEAL told the interview story about the British SAS that Colin recounts.

• Nectar of TimeEp 2

  Tamir Barzilai's podcast; this is its second official episode.

• NeuralinkEp 5

  Mentioned with AI and neural nets as signs of progress in understanding the brain, though Tamir argues philosophy of our place in the universe matters as much for pain.

• NvidiaEp 11

  Mentioned alongside OpenAI and Microsoft as an example of companies investing in an imagined AI future.

O

• OpenAIEp 11

  Mentioned alongside Nvidia and Microsoft as companies making deals to build an AI future, an example of a society steering by a vision of the future.

• Oracle of DelphiEp 4

  The Pythia, priestess of Apollo at Delphi, who answered questions by channeling the god. Tamir has been studying her lately and lists the theories about her source (vapors, hidden priests)…

P

• PatreonEp 2

  Grant's Patreon (Grant Loves Books) gives members his story collection and runs a book-and-magazine lottery that mails books to winners.

R

• Rajneesh movementEp 8

  The spiritual movement around Osho (Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh), which many considered a cult. Its members saw it as an attempt at utopia. Sheela was its secretary and spokesperson in the early…

• Rolling StoneEp 1

  Magazine Neil Strauss wrote for.

S

• Serbian Orthodox ChurchEp 9

  The religion Nev was raised in within a strict Balkan family. She says it was a source of shame in her upbringing.

• Simon Fraser UniversityEp 6

  Vancouver-area university where Logan Macnair teaches criminology.

• Simplifying SamEp 4

  Samantha Chung's coaching business, website (simplifyingsam.com) and Instagram brand.

• Soho HouseEp 7

  Members' club in Los Angeles where Colin overheard the 'million bucks for a number one single' remark.

• Special Air ServiceEp 7

  British special forces. Colin recounts a Navy SEAL's interview praising the SAS for always finding something to lighten the mood even in firefights. It's his example of soldiers who took…

• Special Boat ServiceEp 7

  British naval special forces, the SAS's sister unit. A friend of Colin's cousin served in it.

T

• The New YorkerEp 10

  Published Murakami's 'Abandoning a Cat'.

• TheranosEp 7

  Elizabeth Holmes's blood-testing company, which was built on fabricated claims. Cited as fake authenticity that fooled investors.

• TikTokEp 7

  Mentioned as making 'temporary' fame even easier than in 2010, and as the platform of the UK coach who helps children with cerebral palsy walk.

• TV TropesEp 6

  Website (tvtropes.org) that catalogues the tropes of nearly every popular book, show and game. Logan has lost afternoons on it, but warns it leads young writers to build and even market…

U

• UFCEp 2

  Context for Tamir's Conor McGregor story about ego and lost hunger.

V

• Vedanta Society of New YorkEp 8

  Vedanta center in Manhattan led by Swami Sarvapriyananda, where Tamir learned the Princess of Kashi story.

W

• WhatsAppEp 12

  Joked about as what Facebook would survive on, followed by doubts that it even makes money.

Y

• Yaletown PodcastsEp 7

  The Vancouver studio where the episode was recorded. Colin plugs it jokingly at the end, along with its tea that 'tastes kind of like dishwater'.