Kevin Rose, a tech entrepreneur, writes and hosts a podcast on technology, startups, health, sleep and biohacking.
HN commenters recommend his podcast for its interesting guests, such as Matthew Walker on sleep, and discuss topics like psychedelics and brain stimulation.
Along the same vein, Kevin Rose wrote a blog post (http://kevinrose.com/blogg/2011/1/11/cityvilles-viral-growth-hooks-levels-1-3-deconstructed.html) about Facebook games and why they're so popular. He came to the same conclusion that Ian Lurie did: people want to do stuff and then tell everybody about it. And I have to agree with both of them.
I bought Crysis 2 the other day and started playing through the story. For those that don't know, it's your standard FPS with the addition of two superpowers, invisibility and invulnerability. In a nutshell, my classmates and I end up spending quite a bit of time talking about how awesome our last session was, and essentially sharing war stories. And the fact is, we keep going back and playing, as much to finish the game as to have more stories tomorrow and the day after.
This is interesting. On a recent Kevin Rose podcast he and his guest talked about targeted treatment for ADHD, dementia, etc. using video games. At one point they also discussed people using self-built gadgets to stimulate their own brain using electric current ( they do not recommend it though ).
https://www.kevinrose.com/single-post/Adam-Gazzaley
As an aside, I've found meditation to be very helpful in treating my non-clinical depression. It's also one of the key tools I use to help with my addiction/alcoholism issues.
And please, if you're thinking of taking your own life reach out to someone.
https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org
I just finished the book and would recommend it to those who are interested in the long history of psychedelic research and the future of it. However, I think most of what I took from the book can be captured on the few podcasts he's been interviewed on. Specifically his chats with Tyler Cowen [1] and Kevin Rose [2] were particularly interesting.
[1] https://medium.com/conversations-with-tyler/michael-pollan-tyler-cowen-nature-euphoria-food-22145fd728a2
[2] https://www.kevinrose.com/single-post/Michael-Pollan
The Kevin Rose Show (https://www.kevinrose.com/)
I've never subscribed, but I always find myself listening because there's always something interesting going on (which says a lot IMO).
From the site: Kevin interviews authors, technologists, scientists, meditators, self-experimenters, and productivity hackers to explore how to reach peak personal and professional performance while living a minimal and balanced life.
I think we are only beginning to understand the importance of a good night's sleep.
I just recently listened to a fantastic episode of the Kevin Rose podcast featuring sleep scientist Matthew Walker [0], and found it very enlightening.
[0] https://www.kevinrose.com/single-post/matthew-walker
For those preferring audio for an easier digestion, Matthew Walker has been a guest on some podcasts shortly after the book came out
https://www.kevinrose.com/single-post/matthew-walker
http://podcasts.joerogan.net/podcasts/matthew-walker