Midwest Real
A podcast & blog with an unquenchable lust for rabbit holes, novelty and open-minded inquiry. Join us as we dig beyond the status quo! Hosted by Michael Phillip EST. 12/21/2012 in Milwaukee.

Guest and pal Liam Wilson is a musician, psychonaut, yogi, meditator, traveler and writer (by no means does he live an unexamined, "typical" nine-to-five lifestyle). Yet, none of that has prepaired him one bit for the trajectory altering uppercut to the nethers that is fatherhood.

As if that weren’t nuclear enough, he also just participated in a two-day Ayahuasca ceremony run by a mysterious, otherworldly, head-sucking nomadic shaman. An experience that has left him rethinking even the most basic anchors most of us ground our very realities in.

For a full write up and links, head to midwestreal.net  

Direct download: LiamWilson2.5_-_2515_7.42_PM.mp3
Category:society and culture -- posted at: 9:16pm EDT

We have absolutely no idea what the future will hold, but we’re definitely on the cusp of something huge.

Are we headed for an unprecedented utopian neo renaissance? Will technological and medical breakthroughs enable us to live practically forever so we’re free to pursue our passions all day long? Or are we on the verge of something darker? Some sort of Huxlian, Orwellian dystopia steeped in thought control, murderous AI and oligarch overlords who'll invade our minds in an effort to milk us for money and energy as we jump willingly into ultra-plush matrix pods of their design? 

Who knows?

Our guest this week, Zoltan Istvan is the author of the Transhumanist Wager. He writes for practically every major technology website (Gizmodo, Huffington Post, Motherboard Wired etc.) He’s the founder of a transhumanist political party, which aims to draw attention and dollars to science and tech. He’s also traveled around the world on a god damned sailboat. 

Head to midwestreal.net for links and the full write-up and more!

Direct download: ZOLTAN_-_12815_11.11_PM.mp3
Category:society and culture -- posted at: 12:55am EDT

Although more and more of the analog world is seeping into the digital realm, the almighty dollar has managed to resist the pixel-y tide. Currency creation remains an esoteric, behind-the-scenes process controlled by a few privileged, monocle-clad, suit- wearers -- why is that? Are we meant to believe money is great the way it is, or sacred? I'm not (pun intended) buying it, nor are the thousands of people using Bitcoin.

Will Pangman is a Bitcoin evangelist, works for a Bitcoin start up and is a regular on The Bitcoin Group podcast.

Head to midwestreal.net for a full write-up.  

Direct download: WillPangman_-_12015_8.58_PM.mp3
Category:society and culture -- posted at: 10:41pm EDT

Dennis McKenna is an ethnopharmacologist, lecturer, founding member of the Heffter Research Institute, world traveler, mystic and author of Brotherhood of the Screaming Abyss, My Life with Terrance McKenna.

get the full write-up and links at midwestreal.net  

Direct download: DennisMckenna2_-_12_15_14_11.42_PM.mp3
Category:society and culture -- posted at: 6:30pm EDT

Scott Onstott is an Author and researcher with a background in math and architecture. Thanks to his proclivity for quantification, Scott has an aptitude for tracking down, highlighting and making sense of truly unbelievable numerological and geometrical synchronicities that reverberate throughout manmade structures, nature and the cosmos. His self-produced film, Secrets in Plain Sight is an exploration of these and many other phenomena and has been viewed over 4 million times on Youtube.

head to midwestreal.net for links and a full write-up

Direct download: Scottonstott_-_12_3_14_10.54_PM.mp3
Category:society and culture -- posted at: 12:40am EDT

Alexandre Tannous is one of those guys whose insight just continually surprises you. 
He holds multiple degrees in music and philosophy. More importantly, he has traveled to over 40 of countries where he has participated in dozens of shamanic, meditative and initiatory ceremonies. Alexandre also researches the esoteric and therapeutic properties of sound from scientific and shamanic perspectives. He has lectured at many major universities including Georgetown, Princeton and NYU.
 
Head to midwestreal.net for a full write-up.
Direct download: alexandre__-_11_22_14_12.36_PM.mp3
Category:society and culture -- posted at: 2:13pm EDT

Author, 32nd degree Freemason and scholar Robert W. Sullivan IV is back to blast more hidden knowledge! This time, he takes a scalpel to your favorite films, exposing the cloaked allegory, messages, symbols and archetypes that fuel man's most powerful narratives.

As always, for a full write-up, head over to midwestreal.net 

Direct download: RWSIV2_-_111114_9.05_PM.mp3
Category:society and culture -- posted at: 10:38pm EDT

Within all of us, there's a chemical gateway to another dimension. It's called DMT. What is its purpose? Why is it so ubiquitous throughout nature? No one knows, but one thing's for sure- it can change your life in a matter of minutes.  

Dr. Rick Strassman has studied the substance for over 20 years. He's the author of DMT the Spirit Molecule and his new book, DMT and the Soul of Prophecy.

For a full write up, head to midwestreal.net ! 

Direct download: Strassman_-_103014_3.36_PM.mp3
Category:society and culture -- posted at: 7:12pm EDT

Our friend, Author Gabriel D. Roberts returns to the show. We discuss why we're all heroes in training, why fear is overrated and how to be the best, most authentic versions of ourselves. 

For a full write-up head to midwestreal.net

Direct download: GDR_Oct_-_102114_3.11_PM.mp3
Category:society and culture -- posted at: 4:48pm EDT

“In the first half of the 20th century, the prevailing idea was that humans could be masters of nature and the universe. We thought that human power was unlimited. We thought- ‘we can change rivers, we can move mountains—’ we can actually conquer nature. Then, sometime in the second half of the 20th century, we made the realization that the relationship between nature and humans is actually much more complex than that.  

 

 

We can learn a lot from nature. This is where the idea of biomimetics and harmony between man and nature came in.” 

Dr. Michael Nosonovsky

For the full article, head to midwestreal.net

Direct download: Biomimetics_-_xx.mp3
Category:society and culture -- posted at: 12:36am EDT