Chris Williamson Podcast

Rick Beato is a multi-instrumentalist musician, YouTuber, and a music producer. Music and the industry around it have changed dramatically over the past few decades. With the rise of AI, the dominance of streaming platforms like Spotify, and the fading relevance of traditional Popstars, the old model of making and producing music is on its last breath. So what comes next? And who or what will shape the future of music? ...

Simon Sinek is a speaker, founder, and an author. We live in an age of uncertainty, where finding purpose in your life feels harder than ever. So, how do you find a purpose that moves you and trust that it’s worth pursuing? How can you be sure your purpose serves both yourself and the world? In a world starved for meaning, finding yours might be the most important thing you ever do. ...

John Lisle is a historian and an author. The government’s history of secret experiments feels stranger than fiction. Covert projects, UFOs, mind reading, even studies of the occult. But no operation is more infamous than MKUltra. What really happened inside the CIA’s most notorious mind control experiment, and how much of its legacy still shapes our world today? Expect to learn where the CIA got their interest in mind control from, what the origins of MKUltra were and how it got it’s name, the double lives of the head scientists behind the project, how LSD and other drugs we’re used in secret mind control experiments by the government and if any of their findings had any objective value, the most unethical experiments MKUltra did and what ended up leading to it’s downfall and much more… ...

Lyman Stone is a demographer, researcher, and a writer. It’s no surprise that birth rates are plummeting; raising kids feels harder than ever. Life is expensive, the future feels uncertain, and chaos is everywhere. So how do we reverse course? What would actually convince people to have more children and pull us back from a looming population crisis? Expect to learn why fertility rates are falling off a cliff, why many young adults are struggling to have and even afford children in this economy, where mating preferences for fertility comes from, how women get their standards for men and who they base it off of, if men are suppose to be the breadwinners of a family this day in age, the real satisfaction rates of men and women in the workforce, why humans have such a hard time with big changes, and much more… ...

Mark Manson is a writer, entrepreneur, and a New York Times best-selling author. Mark is one of my favorite thinkers. His blog, books, and X account are packed with timeless lessons I come back to again and again. Today, we get to go through some of his best lessons on life, love, and everything that makes us human. Expect to learn how to actually stand up for yourself, what the real process of personal growth looks like, what it takes to actually cultivate confidence, why it’s impossible for someone who destroys your mental health to be the love of your life, why feeling like you have no idea what you’re doing is the price of entry to achieving your dreams, why you should learn to trust people more, and much more… ...

Dr Jerry Coyne is an evolutionary biologist, professor at the University of Chicago, and an author. Has ideology hijacked academia? In fields like evolutionary biology, the data should speak for itself, but what happens when scientific findings clash with cultural taboos? How do researchers navigate this minefield, and what can be done to protect science from political pressure moving forward? Expect to learn how Dr Coyne views evolution from a different lens, how biologists view biological sex and gender, why science communicators became too afraid of backlash to speak plainly about data, what worries Dr Coyne most about the ideological pressures in academia today, if biology has been subverted by ideology, what Dr Coyne has learned about human nature from engaging with critics of his work, & much more… ...

Aaron Gillespie is the drummer, vocalist, and songwriter for Underoath. Tim McTague is the lead guitarist, backing vocalist, and songwriter for Underoath. Sex, drugs, and rock & roll, the dream every young man grows up hearing about. But is it all it’s made out to be? Aaron and Tim, from one of Metal’s most legendary bands, Underoath, have lived that life. The shows, the parties, the chaos, but also the sleepless nights, the fractured relationships, & the moments of wondering if it’s all worth it. Behind the noise & fame, what does the rockstar life actually cost? ...

Dr. Daniel Amen is a psychiatrist, brain-health researcher, founder of the Amen Clinics & New York Times bestselling author. You only get one brain, so how do you keep it healthy for life? Dr. Daniel Amen has scanned over half a million brains and knows exactly what helps and what hurts your brain. Using cutting-edge research and science-backed strategies, Dr. Amen reveals the keys to keeping your mind sharp and your body thriving. ...

Anne‑Laure Le Cunff is a neuroscientist, founder, and an author. We live by unconscious mental scripts. Most of the time, we don’t even realize it, until we wake up and see the life we’re living isn’t what we truly want. So how do we unlearn what no longer serves us and rewire our mind to align with who we really are? Expect to learn what the problem is when people obsess over finding their purpose, how to know if you’re following your own dreams or someone else’s, the tactics you can learn to begin unlearning cultural scripts, how to get more comfortable with uncertainty, how to deal with the shame of letting go of busyness and driving toward your purpose, why posture is so overlooked in mental health, how to improve a destructive mindset, and much more… ...

Dr. Russell Kennedy is a neuroscientist specializing in anxiety treatment, physician, and an author. Why is anxiety so common now? It once helped us survive, like when we were being chased by lions. But today, we feel it even when there’s no real threat. So what’s going on? What does science say about this ancient emotion, and how can we manage it in the modern world? Expect to learn why anxiety is so common nowadays, the neuroscience of why we worry, the big differences between anxiety and worry, the biggest triggers of anxiety and how to manage them better, how to undo-chronic anxiety and how anxiety shows up differently for men and women, if it is it a blessing or a curse to feel things deeply, where people pleasing come from neurologically and much more… ...