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Somatic Architecture — On our somatic architecture

• [audio] It's Not Social Media, Life Is Just Worse — 18 Apr 2026
  Social media use probably isn’t the problem. It’s probably just the most visible symptom of a dozen structural problems getting worse at once. And the sad kids on TikTok might be there because they’re sad, not sad because they’re there.
• [audio] Overengineering calming down — 4 Apr 2026
  Pop neuroscience theories are elaborate scaffolding around trivial advice. They’re attractive because they give us something to point at, make us feel scientific, and—crucially—make our problems someone else’s fault. The scaffolding is mostly harmless, but it hides the stuff that actually matters.
• [audio] Bias is Good — 21 Mar 2026
  Bias isn’t a flaw in human thinking—it’s a precision tool. The brain trades variance for consistency because the world is noisy. Stop trying to eliminate bias. Start identifying the beliefs that drive it.
• [audio] The Amygdala is Not the Fear Centre — 7 Mar 2026
  The amygdala doesn’t determine your fear response. You do. It’s not a fear centre—it’s an intensity detector. Stop trying to calm the amygdala. Start paying attention to how you respond.
• [audio] Atavism Isn't the Answer — 7 Feb 2026
  The return-to-nature movement bundles legitimate health concerns with pseudoscience using a single template: identify a modern problem, construct an ancestral narrative, sell the return as the cure. It rests on two contradictory assumptions—that we know what ancestral life was like, and that humans are simultaneously robust and fragile.
• [audio] Men Aren't From Mars — 15 Nov 2025
  Men and women engage in identical behaviours—complaining, offering solutions, needing validation, resisting criticism. The difference isn’t biological, it’s interpretive. We cast the same behaviour as reasonable for one gender and unreasonable for the other. Gray’s book is a perfect case study: emotionally troubled men are normalised while women’s ordinary needs are pathologised.
• [audio] Stress is Good — 1 Nov 2025
  Stress isn’t poorly calibrated to modern life. It’s the energising force that allows us to perform. Optimal performance requires optimal stress. The difference between eustress and distress isn’t biological—it’s psychological. Controllability matters more than the stressor itself.