Explore every episode of the podcast Wine Jar Cynics

Dio and Gene discuss and criticize the metaverse.

Spoiler alert, yes...

We want to thank Cassius for recording this episode with us. The moral of the story is that all charismatic leaders, ideas and martyrs should come with a warning label.

Welcome back to WJC "Watch Dogs" segment, we will be ranting on the more symbolic ramifications of why taking the YouTube dislikes is not only inefficient but creates a precedent.

We will be back in studio next week. In this episode the Cynics discuss: what is a conspiracy theory? Dio, Mac and Gene also rant about why conspiracy theory is misunderstood and used to dismiss dissenting opinions/questioning. They also discuss that conspiracy theories often have elements of truth even if disconnected to the actual conspiracy theory.

The Kynics want to give the YouTube Creator Wendigoon a shout out for his conspiracy theory iceberg series. We have decided to make our own series with a Cynic/Kynic twist and analysis style. We highly recommend watching Wendigoon's series and engaging with his content, comment that the wine jar cynics sent you!

In This episode we talk about Kyle's trial and the misinformation around it as well as the Waukesha Christmas Parade Attack + responses on Twitter regarding this situation.

References:

-https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/03/us/david-dorn-st-louis-police-shot-trnd/index.html

-https://www.kxl.com/marquise-love-sentenced-in-attack-on-adam-haner-at-portland-riot/

-https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-dupage-county-mary-lemanski-twitter-kyle-rittenhouse-apology-20211123-2c3p4r74tffbbbfae26halg6gy-story.html

-https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/crime/rittenhouse-judge-bars-msnbc-from-trial-for-allegedly-following-jury-bus

-https://www.newsweek.com/kyle-rittenhouse-trial-judge-phone-rang-lee-greenwood-donald-trump-1648958

It's not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you. At the same time you should have ideas and passions that drive you, just don't let them consume you. Always refer to the Cynic maxim "Meden Agan" nothing in excess;the golden mean!

Dio and Gene discuss whether the problem with attitudes towards the surveillance state is an issue because of a lack of knowledge or apathy/tolerance. We are leaning towards apathy and tolerance. People know about what's going on with their civil liberties and privacy: but either do not care or think it's justified. We believe it's an issue of philosophy and valuing these precious rights--that is the solution.

Hello World of Watch Dogs, if you see a date in the title it means this is a diruna surveillance report. These are time sensitive recordings unlike the timeless audio essays/discussion we normally have on watch dogs.

References/Further Readings:

-https://nypost.com/2021/04/28/usps-admits-to-spying-on-americans-social-media-posts/

-https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9516639/FBI-sifted-troves-foreign-communications-information-American-WITHOUT-warrant.html

-https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/11/a-visit-to-the-nsas-data-center-in-utah/416691/

-https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/12/law-enforcement-purchasing-commercially-available-geolocation-data

An episode about lessons/wisdom from the quest of watermelon juice.

"Don't pray for easier lives; pray to be stronger men"- John F. Kennedy.

Victim-hood creates a mind-prison, never imprison yourself; always become more free.

-Harvard Supplemental Essays:

https://www.collegeessayadvisors.com/supplemental-essay/harvard-university-2020-21-supplemental-essay-prompt-guide/

-Air-Force Major Forced To Quit Because Of Racism https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9387769/F-22-stealth-fighter-pilot-reveals-forced-Air-Force-racism.html

-White Women Identifies as black:

https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-43330999

-Indian man fakes being black for medical school admission:

https://www.cnn.com/2015/04/07/living/feat-mindy-kaling-brother-affirmative-action

Lunar New Years special part two.

How did we become "cynical" of tech? For Gene It starts in China, for Dio and Mac they were always distrustful and cynical of authority.

The surveillance state is nothing new, the difference is that Covid-19 has given the surveillance state what it need's to develop into it's own pandemic.

Bibliography/Footnotes:

• Clearview has failed to demonstrate that it can be trusted to protect Americans' privacy," Markey, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said in a statement. "I'm concerned that if this company becomes involved in our nation's response to the coronavirus pandemic, its invasive technology will become normalized, and that could spell the end of our ability to move anonymously and freely in public."

• https://www.cnet.com/news/senator-questions-clearview-ai-over-coronavirus-tracking-plans/

• The company has developed technology that can match faces to a database of more than three billion images indexed from the Internet, including social media applications.[1] Founded by Hoan Ton-That and Richard Schwartz, the company maintained a low profile until late 2019, when its usage by law enforcement was reported on.

• In China, people were required to wear a digital wristband and download the StayHomeSafe app, which worked together to enforce quarantine requirements. Travelers returning to India and Bangladesh received hand stamps that marked them as meant to be in quarantine.

• https://apnews.com/article/ab4cbfb5575671c5630c2442bc3ca75e (covid19 data shared with police)

• We oppose automated contact tracing based on phone location data. It is insufficiently granular to identify when two people were close enough together to transmit the virus, but it will expose where we’ve been and what we’ve been doing.

• https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/13/mobile-location-data-and-covid-19-qa

• https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/27/nyregion/nypd-robot-dog.html

Meden Agan "Nothing In Excess" Everything should be in moderation, including your enthusiasm or lack thereof regarding technological progress. Ideology is not a problem; ideological extremism IS. Anti-tech terrorists and technocratic authoritarians are both extreme. In this episode, Dio and Gene discuss the different shades/degrees of enthusiasm towards tech.

Privacy is not a luxury or privilege it is a right. Dio and Gene talk about many reasons why it's important to care about your privacy including: power, autonomy, anonymity and free speech.

Gene Mac and Modern Monk Heru discuss what is information overload and how it affects society and what we can do to limit the effects of it on an individual scale.

Gene and Mac discuss wisdom, philosophy and social critique with Modern Monk from U Are The Gym Podcast.

Gene explains how the Romans modified and adapted the Cynic philosophy in accordance with their traditional virtues/values.

Dio and Gene speak about the famous Pandora's Jar story as well as Nick Bostrom's: Unfinished Fable of The Sparrows. The point is to illustrate the unforeseen circumstances of disruptive technology.

Gene and Mac discuss three groups of people who are trying to reach their goals/dreams. Ask yourself this, are you living your best life? When the grim reaper smiles at you while you smile back? If not, why not try to reach your peak? You only live once...

1. These who are satisfied; they've reached their own little pasture.
2. Those who want to reach greener pastures (but often times don't take the first steps)
3. Those who are sacrificing something and struggling to get to the green pastures.

If you're new to the Cynic philosophy, start here. This is an overview of what the philosophy of Kynicism tries to teach.

We missed regular new years to do this, so we decided to use Chinese new years as justification to do a top 10 wjc episodes of all time. Shoutout to Wendigoon!

What does Watch Dogs mean? How does it relate to the Kynics and Kynicism/Cynicism Philosophy? What does it have to do with the idea of "who watches the watchmen?" Finally, who are the Watch Dogs and what are their roles in humanity?

Mac, Dio and Gene speak about the sophists and sophistry. The sophists were tutors/lawyers of ancient Greece and Rome whereas sophistry is "the use of fallacious arguments especially with the intention of deceiving." The intent of this episode is to discuss the parallel between sophists and their sophistry in the past and how they've evolved into today's ideology salesman/bad faith debaters.

Mac, Dio and Gene talk about advice we think is either bad or incomplete. These "pearls of wisdom" are more like coals of wisdom that need to be polished and buffed out until they become shiny pearls of wisdom.

Mac, Dio and Gene talk about things we wish we could've learned sooner and regret how late in life we learned it. The moral of the story is, don't repeat our mistakes. Take this wisdom to heart and apply it to your life.

Mac, Dio and Gene speak about the first hand experience of a high dose of magic mushrooms. Psychonautics is the term refers both to a methodology for describing and explaining the subjective effects of altered states of consciousness. What was going on in our minds? How did our own psychological profiles project certain symbols, emotions, dreams, hopes and nightmares?

What is a mentor? Should you find a mentor? Mac, Dio and Gene talk about life advice from a mentor or mentors in our lives and reasons why being mentored is beneficial for your life.

Romanticism and Classicism are not just eras. They are:artistic and literary movements, philosophies, psychological profiles and even counter-cultures.

Mac, Dio and Gene discuss the last dream arc episode. Oneiromancy and the study of dreams (scientific and philosophical) cannot be discussed without bringing in the mystic psychologist Carl Jung. Carl Jung had interesting psychological and symbolical interpretations of dreams, he developed a framework around understanding the emotional and "objective" psychology around dreaming and dreamers.

Mac, Dio and Gene speak about Dream-Work (Traum-Arbeit) a more psychological way of dream interpretation.

Disclaimer: The Kynics are discussing the ideological/philosophical roots of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung's theories on Dreams. This is not mental health advice if you are experiencing depression or other harmful thoughts seek medical assistance.

On this episode Mac, Dio and Gene speak about one of the pioneers of modern psychology--Carl Jung. This episode covers some of Carl Jung's early life and thought process, which were rooted in religion, philosophy and occult symbolism.

We lightly touch upon existential risks to humanity but focus on the overdependence on technology and what happens when the grid goes down. Survivalism should be emphasized considering there are many scenarios when the power grid and society can collapse, always be ready (semper paratus) and don't let your pencil-pusher lifestyle stop you from achieving this. Most importantly, prepping is a philosophy; your survival depends on objectivity; not from the influence from punditry and pernicious lies. Pay attention and observe the news with suspicion and objectivity.

Oneiromancy is a form of divination based upon dreams, and also uses dreams to predict the future. Oneirogen drugs may also be used to produce or enhance dream-like states of consciousness.

Mac, Dio and Gene discuss one of Aristotle's most famous quotes: "The mark of an educated mind is to be able to entertain an idea without accepting it." Technically he did not say this (apocryphal attribution) but the spirit of this main idea lives in his works.

Technically Aristotle did not say this exactly. But, in his Nicomachean Ethics he said: "when the subject and the basis of a disucssion consist of matters that hold good only as a general rule, but not always, the conclusions reached must be of the same order. The various points that are made must be received in the same spirit. For a well-school man is one who searches for that degree of precision in each kind of study which the nature of the subject at hand admits: it is obviously just as foolish to accept arguments of probability form a mathematician as to demand strict demonstrations from an orator." (Pg. 5 Niomachean Ethics, Aristotle The Library of Liberal Arts Trans. by Martin Ostwald, 1962)

The main idea of this episode is, are podcasts "sinister sounds" essentially spreading disinformation and misinformation.

-Role of podcasts in Information Ecosystem

-Misinformation and podcasts

-What is the solution for podcast misinformation and misinformation?

-Jack Dorsey CEO of Twitter

-Who is fact checking the fact checkers?

Sources/Further Readings:

-https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/10/09/twitter-book-dorsey-betrayal/2955847/

-https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/27/21305503/twitter-labels-5g-conspiracy-coronavirus

-Correction*** Dr.Todd Grande is "a licensed professional counselor of mental health, a licensed chemical dependency professional, and have a Ph.D. in counselor education" He is not a therapist

-https://academic.oup.com/joc/article-abstract/67/2/233/4082394?redirectedFrom=PDF

Mac, Dio & Gene answer three questions: What is the American dream? Does it still exist? How do you achieve it?

Is freedoom more important than security? Mac, Dio and Gene discuss the typical arguments on both sides of the debate.

This is the first episode of the Watch Dogs, a segment/series where we discuss topics ranging from: Censorship, philosophy of freedom, hi-tech/futurism, dystopian-ism, mass surveillance and corruption. Some overarching ideas will be tech-cynicism and watch dogs philosophy (hacker culture/ethics)

This weeks news does not inspire faith for a fair and free internet. Topics discussed below:

-Digital Civil Wars

-Partisanship/Internal Division

-Political/ideological shift

-Internet bill of rights

-Silicon Valley/Tech Titans

-Surveillance Capitalism

-Alt-Tech

-Internet infrastructure

-Rebuttals to common pro-censorship tweets

-Father of the web wants to re imagine the internet,

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-tech-bernerslee-interview/father-of-the-web-tim-berners-lee-prepares-do-over-idUSKBN29H1JG

-Silicon Valley funding democrats

https://www.vox.com/recode/2020/10/30/21540616/silicon-valley-fundraising-donald-trump-joe-biden-analysis

After a month Warrior Philosopher mac is back! He's recovered the coronavirus and he's alive to tell the tale. Mac opens his christmas gifts and we talk about Brazilian steak house :)

Fear is the mind killer! And an old Norwegian speaking about Stoicism will calm you...

The American Creed was an idea proposed in Thomas Paine's book named "Common Sense". But when WWI began the USA wanted to create a national identity for the American people. Dio & Gene speak about what are these common beliefs? And, what does this Creed mean in 2021?

On our final episode of the year we will discuss: stoic indifference, critic the idea of new years resolutions and cynical predictions for the new year.

Never wish censorship, even upon your ideological opponents. The slippery slope is not a fallacy.

Gene's first trip was nothing special but he became a lot creative.

This is our final episode on this mini-series on the Abrahamic religions. We discuss the essential Christian lore and Crusaders! As well as other philosophies and religions. At the end we talk about WW2.

We are taking Xmas off! See you next Tuesday!

Do weak mean create tough times? Does a modern life with no struggle lead to a strong urge to create meaning? If so, what are the solutions?

What did self-sufficiency mean to the cynics and socrates? What does self-sufficiency mean to us in 2020?