Month: February 2022

Simon Hill is famous for his work in the plant-based lifestyle movement, his predilection for scientific evidence and his in-depth podcast where he interviews experts in nutrition, and other health disciplines.

We invited Simon to appear on Discernable as a ‘meta-analysis’ of all the studies he has read and reviewed, and all of the expert interviews he has conducted. Simon’s podcast is an excellent resource to dive deep into the details of a particular issue but we wanted to hear from him about the broad momentum of the plant based movement, healthy nutrition, and world agriculture.

As with all of our interviews, we were looking for the ‘why’ and explored Simon’s way of thinking, how to determine good science from bad, and whether he would hypothetically follow the science away from a plant-based lifestyle.

What we found was surprising and refreshing.

Why do people get cosmetic surgery? Is the trend increasing? How does this inform, enhance or distort our self-identity? With a special appearance by Dr Gemma Sharp (body image expert from Monash University), we delve into the world of Body Dysmorphic Disorder and explore exactly why Matt (and millions of others) went ‘under the knife’.

In this conversation we slammed together two worlds: the founder Australia’s largest hair restoration surgery clinic – Mikko Myllymaki, and Dr Ben Buchanan – a clinical psychologist and academic who specialises in Body Dysmorphic Disorder.

With mental health experts warning against the surging popularity of cosmetic surgery, and surgeons fighting to give the people what they demand, are these two worlds at war? Or do they rely on each other in the long run?

Nathan Finochio is a Christian teaching pastor, author, speaker, musician and founder of online seminary TheosU. I sought his thoughts on the Bible’s instruction to ‘obey the governing authorities’ in Romans 13 in light of increasingly authoritarian regimes.

I also sought his review of how the Christian church has handled the response to Covid-19, especially when secular government directions and laws are challenging the historical separation of church and state (an idea that the church should no longer tell the the government how to govern, and the government should not tell the church how to church).

Dr Debbie Garratt is an author, counsellor to physicians, clinical supervisor and registered nurse. As the counsellor to GPs and other medical practitioners, Debbie is witnessing first hand the unnecessary destruction to our healthcare systems in Australia by governments on the warpath to ‘keep us safe’.

Corrine joins Matt to teach us what cosplay is all about and why everyone needs to ‘find their inner hero’, no matter their age.

Dr Cameron Murray returns to Discernable to talk virtue signaling and group psychology. As an economist specialising in human behaviour, corruption and property, he conducts research and experiments on the ‘groupish’ behaviour of humans and how those groups are formed, maintained, and dismantled.

A key ingredient of any human ‘group’, ‘tribe’ or ‘crowd’ is the signals they employ and spread to new converts. Group ‘signaling’ explains much of the pandemic reaction we witness today in both government and populations, especially as both health experts and governments openly admit that science is not the determining factor of their policies. The latest admission from NSW and VIC figures is that the performance art of QR code check-ins helps to soothe the anxious in our community, so even though they are now ‘useless’, we should continue the theatre anyway.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jan/27/qr-code-check-ins-useless-in-australias-omicron-wave-but-experts-urge-for-them-to-stay

‘Groups’ form around these sort of signaling behaviours precisely because groups use signals, and signals create groups. Just like Victoria’s ‘creeping assumption’ that killed ~800 people in 2020, the current circular feedback loop is a fertile nursery for the many ‘sides’ you see society divided into today.

So then what are we to do in this groupish world? Matt discusses with Cameron the best ways to see, to form, and to dismantle groups in the name of classical science, academia, logic and reason.