The Cynic and the Optimist

19/12/2022

It's Christmas time with a Cynic and an Optimist!

Meet the ghost of Christmas past, a granny from the woods, and other Christmas spirits to get you into the holiday mood.
Enjoy a listen & a laugh even if you're not a Christmas person.

https://www.cynicandoptimist.com/the-true-spirit-of-christmas/

08/12/2022

07/11/2022

Because it's strangely up to date:
Discover more about why convenience kills, tune in to our episode 10: Convenience kills - it includes fun topics such as Uber, AirBnB, but also practical and intellectual convenience.
Stay tuned until the end to discover how Alex saves lives through laziness and why Muna's head explodes.

https://www.cynicandoptimist.com/convenience-kills/
or find us on Spotify or iTunes.

And please share with other cynics and optimists and those who are undecided. Thanks a lot!

01/11/2022

While death may sound like a depressing topic, I can assure you, it's not for us on The Cynic & The Optimist Podcast. Even when we disagree on what happens once we're gone...
Go wild and give us a listen @ www.cynicandoptimist.com/death
And let us know what you think about it all.

28/10/2022

Hallowe'en is coming!
If you want to get into the spirit listen to the latest spooky eposide of The Cynic & The Optimist Podcast. Hint: it's getting deadly!

Enjoy it & share it with others - for we're all in it towards the end!

https://www.cynicandoptimist.com/death/
Or on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/episode/2U5W833w3B0hjekzraPlgK

25/10/2022

Hello cynics, optimists and in-betweeners,

It's time for an exploration of Metaverse, simulations and other virutal realities.
On The Cynic & The Optimist Podcast (available also on Spotify, iTunes...) we are looking at two particular aspects of that topic:
1) How do these metaverses and alternative playgrounds affect the way we interact as people, and
2) are such virtual worlds good for us as individuals and society?

Is there an argument to be made in favour of creating a virtual world in which we should spend our time and money?
Or should we all go out and play in the woods?

Tell us what you think @ IG or Facebook or directly at [email protected]
Thanks to our listener Colin from Australia for suggesting the topic!

If you have a topic you'd like to be discussed, get in touch.

Enjoy the conversation for somethings are too important to be taken seriously.

30/09/2022

For more fun facts & scary stuff about online dating listen to the latest episode on They Cynic & The Optimist Podcast.
We discuss if online dating is the biggest change for human evolution since the invention of the baby pill, how algorythims might actually prevent you from finding love (or whatever you're looking for), Incels, and how men and women use online dating very differently.
Follow us down the rabbit hole and have a laugh!
On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/52p9UjezbUewTw5ET1quKy
Or directly at: https://www.cynicandoptimist.com/online-dating/
If you enjoy it, share it.
If you like to woe us and take us out for a drink: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/cynicoptimist
And if you want to get in touch, please do [email protected]

19/09/2022

New epsiode: Unrepresentative Representatives...

With all the things going on in the world we couldn't resist the topic: unprepresentative representatives.
Do our elected representatives actually represent us, or merely their own self-interest?
What does representation mean to you? What kind of expectations do you have of your representation?
Alex is happy if his representatives party and let lose every now and then. He says it makes them human. Muna seriously doubts that.

Tune in and see if we can see a light at the end of the tunnel or if it's just two cynics talking.

If you like what you hear, rate us on Spotify (only available on the mobile app) and iTunes, and share it with your friends. For you know sharing is caring - and would help us out a lot.

You can listen to us on Spotify or iTunes or directly at:
https://www.cynicandoptimist.com/unrepresentative-representatives/

Get in touch with us at [email protected], follow us in Instagram or sign up for our newsletter.

But most of all: enjoy - for some things are too important to be taken seriously.

Episode 22: do our elected representatives actually represent us, or merely their own self-interest? Politicians increasingly seem to have their own agen…

07/09/2022

New Epsiode!
Critical Thinking vs Appeals to Authority
Explore with us the pros and cons of critical thinking versus appeals to authority and the illusion of critical thinking, internet fact-checking fallacies, and how to get smarter.
Join us, as we discuss why it is important for the widening of the collective knowledge pool to challenge Foucault and Kant (and other experts) as well as to question one's own bubble - whatever bubble it is you call home.
Critical thinking requires skills such as the willingness to err and humilty as much as having discussions and questioning the status quo. Just imagine if Galileo had not questioned the Church - we'd still think the Earth would be the center of the universe.
We debate whether hardship leads to critical thinking as we look at the current political situation in Myanmar and take a fond look back to the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. Off with their heads!

https://www.cynicandoptimist.com/critical-thinking-versus-appeals-to-authority/

You can listen to The Cynic & the Optimist podcast on our website or on Spotify, Apple Podcast and whereever you enjoy listening to podcasts. 30 minutes of entertaining critical thought - listen and share it with your friends and foes. For some things are too important to be taken seriously.

And if you have any topics you think we should discuss, reach out and send us a message or email at [email protected]

Episode 21: Exploring the pros and cons of critical thinking versus appeals to authority. This episode includes the false authority of financial experts …

31/08/2022

Ever wondered what the Ratchet Effect had to do with globalisation, homelessness and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?
Wonder no more. We explain it all in our latest episode: Human Adaptability - is it a survival skill or the demise of humanity?
Give it a listen: https://www.cynicandoptimist.com/human-adaptability/
And if you like us, our conversation, help us out and share it with your friends and foes. For we all deserve a reason to laugh.

Episode 20: Is human adaptability a good thing or a bad thing? Is our ability to adapt to changing events a vice or a virtue, or does it depend on circum…

13/08/2022

As the silly season draws to an end, we'd like to join the fun of utter nonesense with a serious discussion on adult playgrounds and Calvonball. If you are in need for 15 silly minutes or just a chance to grin or even laugh out loud episode 19 is for you:
https://www.cynicandoptimist.com/adult-playgrounds-calvinball-and-other-nonsense/

30/06/2022

Episode 16 is now live and marks our six-month podcasting anniversary! We published our first episode on 24th December last year and here we are, somehow still talking to each other across a small table and enjoying doing so. We hope you're enjoying listening to us.

This episode is entitled "Beauty, Attractiveness and Pandora's Box" and in it we discuss beauty standards and how they've changed over time, different perceptions of beauty from male and female perspectives, leading us down a wild road of fairy tales and other stories from the opposite perspective, the She's All That movie, American jocks and ugly ducklings.

There are some candid admissions from both Alex and Muna about the simplistic nature of attraction from male and female perspectives, and we end on a hopeful note. But it all starts with Pandora and her enigmatic Box. She just couldn't keep it shut, could she?

You can listen to this episode here: https://www.cynicandoptimist.com/beauty-attractiveness-and-pandoras-box/

17/06/2022

If we didn't have to work for money, would any of us bother?
Muna would, Alex wouldn't... in fact Alex struggles to work even when he's being paid to do so.

Join us as we delve into the motivation for work, discover an almost-utopia in India, learn how education is failing to prepare kids for the working world, explore the purity of payment-free art and learn how to bankrupt someone by giving them more money.
Featuring sharks and glaciers, because why not?

Give it a listen @ www.cynicandoptimist.com/work-and-money/
or on Spotify or your favourite podcast station.
And if enjoy it, share it and write to us if you feel there's another subject that we should discuss.
After all, some things are too important to be taken seriously.

31/05/2022

Episode 14 is out. Does cynicism increase with age? If (chirpy spring chicken) Muna and (grumpy old fart) Alex are any guide then the answer is a resounding yes.
Join us as we discuss the fallacy of truth, the pain of experience, why you should - or shouldn't - try to change the world, the paralysis of fear, Alex's downward staircase of cynicism, Messiah complexes, a dementia café, social schema, corrupt politicians (as usual), happy hairdressers, a blood test for cynicism, the horrors of life-extension medicine, the optimism of youth and the U-shaped happiness graph. With honourable mentions of John Lennon, Bill Gates and Elon Musk. Strange bedfellows indeed.

16/04/2022

New episode: Cats and Other Narcissists
Let us know if you agree with Alex's analysis of cats and women and narcissist.
If you listen on Sporify, please rate us using the mobile app.

https://www.cynicandoptimist.com/cats-and-other-narcissists/
And find us on instagram for some visuals on cynics and optimists and everyone and everything inbetween.
Enjoy!

07/04/2022

Episode 10 is here! Yes, we've reached double figures just as Spring has Sprung (at least in the northern hemisphere) and, as Muna so eloquently puts it, we're all full of hormones.

This episode is called "Convenience Kills" and it goes a little something like this: Is convenience bad for us, for other people and for the planet? Muna presents the case for "it" as she and Alex discuss the disposable society, transportation, ebooks, the cost of practical and intellectual convenience, loss of privacy, home spying devices, AirBnB, Uber, smartphones, rocket-powered cars and the internet fridge.

During all of this, Alex saves lives through laziness and Muna's head explodes. You can listen to this episode here:

https://www.cynicandoptimist.com/convenience-kills/

And you can find us on instagram: the.cynic.and.the.optimist or make our day and buy us a coffee @ https://www.buymeacoffee.com/cynicoptimist
The more we drink, the more we can talk...

05/04/2022

Episode 10 is here! Yes, we've reached double figures just as Spring has Sprung (at least in the northern hemisphere) and, as Muna so eloquently puts it, we're all full of hormones.

This episode is called "Convenience Kills" and it goes a little something like this: Is convenience bad for us, for other people and for the planet? Muna presents the case for "it" as she and Alex discuss the disposable society, transportation, ebooks, the cost of practical and intellectual convenience, loss of privacy, home spying devices, AirBnB, Uber, smartphones, rocket-powered cars and the internet fridge.
During all of this, Alex saves lives through laziness and Muna's head explodes. You can listen to this episode here:

https://www.cynicandoptimist.com/convenience-kills/

30/03/2022

That sums up one side of the argument we had on hedonism (epsiode 7 https://www.cynicandoptimist.com/hedonism/).

21/03/2022

Episode 9 is here! This one is all about the state as parent.

Is too much state oversight and protection bad for societies and individuals, reducing individual responsibility and initiative? Or do we need the protective umbrella that an all-powerful government gives us?

Alex reads an excerpt from a 1950s science-fiction story, Muna takes us on a trip to Burkina Faso and the Gambia, and we discuss self-reliance, democracy, social cohesion, Swiss referenda and political soap operas. And a big pile of steaming sh*t towards the end.

And if you want to get a taste of Alex's megalomania sign up for our newsletter - in addition you'll get a reminder every time a new episode is out. If this is not a great way to start the new week what is?

Episode 9: Is too much state oversight and protection bad for societies and individuals, reducing individual responsibility and initiative? Or do we need…

08/03/2022

New episode: Hierarchy of Needs: Maslow versus Muna
An exploration of Maslow's well-known hierarchy of needs and why it's... well, not wrong but not necessarily right, either.
Muna proposes her alternative version, which starts with a bang. Oh, and the debatable - and hotly debated - rewards of procreation.

What's your take: do your needs fit into this hierarchy?

https://www.cynicandoptimist.com/hierarchy-of-needs-maslow-versus-muna/

24/02/2022

It's water for the optimist, but what do cynics drink?
Find out in our latest episode...
https://www.cynicandoptimist.com/hedonism/

For some reason talking about hedonism brings about mature content. The words are clean, but somewhere we went down the rabbit hole...

10/02/2022

Truth or lie: Alex gets woken up every day at 5am thanks to his little kitten.🤫🤔