Humanitarians believe vulnerable human beings deserve not to suffer and that the powerful should be prevented from harming or exploiting them. But what if we replace 'human' being with 'sentient' being? A special thank you to HÄANA for permission to use the music in this episode. You can find all her links in the show notes right here: logansullivan.com/e18/

Peter Singer's famous pond thought experiment threw me in to philosophical dilemma over a decade ago. My mind urged me fish for any reason why it's conclusions were invalid, for any escape from accepting its inconvenient implications. I never found one.

Longterm fulfillment lays at the intersection of joy and high impact. This episode will help you find the ideal intersection, and understand it. We also discuss push-decisions vs. pull-decisions and our global circles vs. social circles. A special thank you to HÄANA for permission to use the music in this episode. You can find all her links in the show notes right here: logansullivan.com/e16/

Self-regarding actions improve our own wellbeing, which incidentally rubs off on those around us. Other-regarding actions directly target others' wellbeing, and we find fulfillment in turn. In this episode, we explore how kidnapping all the world leaders for a magic tea ceremony would only be the second best way to solve all the world's problems at once -- logistically unlikely to work out. And the very best is even less likely to happen in our lifetime. So, in knowing the difference between those actions that impact our direct social circles and those actions that impact the wider world, we can focus on more pragmatic approaches. A special thank you to HÄANA and Cello Joe for permission to use the music in this episode. This episode includes music from HÄANA's Nyxyss project, as well. You can find all their links in the show notes right here: logansullivan.com/e15/

"The death of one man is a tragedy, the death of millions is a statistic." When unaware of our natural Scope Insensitivity Bias, individual, relatable humans become masses, and masses become abstract, unrelatable statistics. A special thank you to HÄANA and Cello Joe for permission to use the music in this episode. You can find all their links in the show notes right here: logansullivan.com/e14/

Selective perception allows our expectations or existing frames of mind to affect how we perceive inputs. If we aspire to impact positive change, we ought to seek the most accurate model of the world we're capable of perceiving? Unfortunately, we're wired to seek potentially inaccurate, yet convenient models of the world instead, the type that does not threaten our current way of life or require from us energy from us. So why don't some people believe in science? Well, selective perception is part of the answer. A special thank you to HÄANA and Cello Joe for permission to use the music in this episode. You can find all their links in the show notes right here: logansullivan.com/e13/

Remember those Thursday nights in college when you passed up on the party to stay in and study like the good student you aspired to be, but just ended up watching TV instead... Well, we do the same thing when trying to be the good people we aspire to be. But we don't have to. Actualists and possibilists often make different choices. One makes the best possible choice, regardless of its feasibility and their likelihood of honoring that choice, and the other makes the pragmatic one they believe they’ll stick to. In moments of ambition, we can set energized goals, make resolutions, sign up for gym memberships and diets, and try to radically commit to methods of living more ethically. But if it’s the case, as is often is, that this energy and ambition won’t last at this level over time, we sometimes set ourselves up for failure. When it comes to the gym and weight loss, little harm is done. But when considering our ambitions to increase our positive impact, and decrease our negative impact, failure to act ethically as a result of setting unreasonable goals and giving up, this comes with more substantial consequences. In this episode, I discuss actualism and possibilism as frameworks for thinking about our commitments and ambitions, as well as the actions that follow, or sometimes fail to follow. I also delve into the potential downsides of militant commitments to ideals. A special thank you to HÄANA and Cello Joe for permission to use the music in this episode. You can find all their links in the show notes right here: http://logansullivan.com/e12/

When we want to improve the world, we sometimes find ourselves stuck in analysis paralysis, searching for the perfect, catch-all solution to solve all the world's problems, all at once. But, unfortunately, this one-pill-weight-loss-solution to all human, non-human animal, and environmental problems does not exist. But specific solutions to isolated priority issues do exist, and we are capable of doing the research to understand, given our circumstance, which of these solutions are within reach. In this episode, I speak from a great deal of experience in how we can find ourselves inactive, standing behind a stubborn idealism that renders us useless. And I attempt to offer some encouragement and advice for avoiding this trap. A special thank you to HÄANA (www.thisishaana.com) and Cello Joe (www.CelloJoe.com) for the music in this episode.

What’s the difference between participating in change and CREATING a difference? Well, one is like reading a script, and the other is writing it. In one case, a mold predates actions, and in the other, our actions mold creations. Unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of seeing what our family and friends, our community, our world as whole, what it all would have looked like had we never rubbed off on it, had we never been a part of its story, had we never been born. And we don’t have control groups to see what would have happened had we made different choices, had we taken that opportunity before it passed, had we looked closer into the details before we jumped to conclusions. But in order to really know the difference we’re making through the act of living our lives, these are really the biggest question we have to consider: what would have happened otherwise, and where does our marginal contribution create the largest marginal difference?

Jordan Lejuwaan is the founder of HighExistence.com, the founder of the Valhalla Movement, the founder of Rave Nectar, and last but definitely not least, the co-founder and current CTO of Futurism.com. Back in January, Jordan found himself listed as one of Forbe’s 30 under 30 for up and coming in the media category, and he just never seems to stop. So today in this episode, Jordan enlightened me on a few of his visions for the future, what he sees to have potential to solve some of our biggest problems. And these range from artificial intelligence to cryptocurrencies to meditation to universal basic income to virtual reality in refugee camps, to name a few. A very special thank you to HÄANA (Violinist, vocalist and producer) for allowing me to use her beautiful music for the intro and outro, and throughout the podcast. She is one of my favorite artists and I'm super happy to be able to share her music with you all. You can find HÄANA on SoundCloud, on Facebook, and on iTunes.

What's the difference between doing less harm and actively choosing to do more good? They seem likely to achieve the same net impact, but in this episode, host Logan Sullivan explains why that's not always the case. When we think about it, doing less harm is still doing some harm, leaving behind a world worse off for our having been a part of it. And when we limit our harm, we lessen the degree to which the world is worse off. But in doing less harm, we can only lessen this degree by the amount of harm we're doing. Yet, in choosing to do more good, the positive impact we can leave is theoretically limitless. Music by HÄANA, including music from her Copal project. Check her out on SoundCloud and iTunes.