Overthinkers Anonymous (Overthinkers Anonymous)

'Twas the night before Christmas,

and I interviewed an AI Chatbot about artificial intelligence.

Gather 'round the fireplace for this one...

🎙️🤖

In this Holly Jolly Turing Test, William Blue and Pi discuss the emerging technology of artificial intelligence (AI), its benefits, potential drawbacks, and ethical implications.

Featured in this episode is Pi, an AI chatbot developed by Inflection AI.

Interludes made via Podcastle.ai

Overthinkers Anonymous is not affiliated or sponsored by Inflection AI.

This interview is intended for entertainment and educational purposes only.

Credits for musical interludes/segments featured in this episode:

• Blue Dot Sessions

• 99instrumentals

“You are an individual, unique piece of this whole that we are all part of, and it’s not complete without you.”

– Lindy Nelson

🧠🌰🪷

In this psychonautical odyssey, some sober guy named Tom (NOT from Myspace) is joined by two lovely humans, Jay and Lindy Nelson, authors of a book titled Consciousness in a Nutshell, to crack open the endlessly complex black box that is consciousness.

This episode won't teach you more than a 4-year degree — but it's more compact, less costly, and lightyears more enjoyable than a lecture from an uptight professor who insists on everyone calling him "Doctor." (You know who you are, Dr. Robert. 👀)

Turn on, tune in, and D̶R̶O̶P̶ O̶U̶T̶ voyage inward with us!

Course Outline:

• The enlightening potential of Creative Nonfiction storytelling
• Self-awareness: is it possible to truly perceive yourself the way others perceive you?
• Social media algorithms pushing outlandish conspiracy theories (like Dave Chapelle being replaced by a clone of himself)
• Jay’s revelatory Near Death Experience (NDE) — “The Life Review Boomerang”
• Altered States 101: how to override the narrative self (EGO) and the default mode network (DMN), with or without psychedelics

Credits for musical interludes/segments in this episode:

• Blue Dot Sessions
• Broad Sky
• William Claeson

***

Learn more about Jay and Lindy's work on their official website and YouTube channel.

Consciousness in a Nutshell is available to order worldwide via Amazon.

In this somnambulant episode, J-Dawg, Silk Spectre, and Tasmia shirk politics and throw Mr. Overton's bedroom window out the window and into the wild world of lucid dreaming, academic-related nightmares, attention, the universe, and being a writer in 2021.

A long overdue trailer.

"Stop trying to make 'The 7' happen." - The Fall Queen

7️⃣7️⃣7️⃣

In this full-circle photography meet-up (AKA "instameet"), Jonah (AKA @channelsurfcinema), Kristin (AKA @kristinbreit), Jeff (AKA @jeffreypaulkelly), and Chan (AKA @vividribbon) reminisce and recount memories of UrbanYEG, a local photography community and Instagram account based in Edmonton, AB (Treaty 6 Territory) and the impact it has had on each of their lives and careers. Topics discussed in this episode:

• How each of us became involved with UrbanYEG, and how we've grown as creatives since then
• Watershed moments that impact the trajectory of our lives (and the people we become)
• The downsides of shaping our own online identities (e.g., how our profiles can "precede" us)
• How imposter syndrome and overthinking can feel like an out-of-body experience

Credits for musical interludes/segments featured in this episode:

• Blue Dot Sessions

UrbanYEG's Official Instagram Page⁠Streets of Edmonton: Sights and Scenes Captured Before the Zombie Apocalypse Ruined Everything⁠

“Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths.”

- Joseph Campbell

🗨️🗻💭

In this wild, wild Wake-Induced Lucid Dream (WILD), Oscar WILD sees a dream therapist, Melissa Johnson (host of the Dream Hub Podcast) and talks about the wild shit he has witnessed in deep REM states.

Stay awake for this one!

Sweet dreams:

• Dream Therapy: how journaling our dreams can help us understand ourselves and the inner workings of our minds
• Making sense of the symbolism and subconscious messages woven into our dreams
• A dream where I met Superman in a pharmacy (and he asks me to punch him in the face)
• Tips for talking to dream characters and how to “re-enter” dreams you've already dreamt
• Lucid Living: how lucid dreaming can be an extension of mindfulness and presence in waking life

Credits for interludes/musical segments in this episode:

• Blue Dot Sessions

• Broad Sky
• Anemone

Find Melissa's work on her official website, Instagram, and The Dream Hub Podcast.

This episode was recorded before the passing of David Lynch, who is mentioned in this episode. Rest in peace, visionary from another place. 🙏

In this "test run" episode, we throw anonymity out the window, give our real names, and talk about some touchy, sometimes even raunchy, subjects like how our tongues feel in our mouths, a hypothetical American Ninja Warrior-like competition to decide the best denomination of Christianity, and how streaming services have changed the way we consume music and connect with artists through their art.

(Not sponsored by Burger Baron.)

In this billion dollar cryptocurrency withdrawal, creative geniuses Mr. Ryte and Mr. Reed hack the reality simulation by printing QR codes on postcards, pointing out how cryptocurrency and UBI are society's way forward, all while overthinking about university and virtual reality and the future.

In this unfaithful comic book adaptation, real-life superheroes Agent 37 and a Philosopher walk into a bar... but it turns out to be closed due to a pandemic. So they buy some melatonin off the deep web instead, and lucid dream (up to the 5th dimension) to overthink about the resurgence of superheroes, hypersanity, an Ayahuasca trip gone awry, the sliminess of Uber, and the juiciness of CRISPR.

GREETINGS FELLOW EARTHLINGS!

DOES THE FUTURE SEEM DARK AND DISMAL?

DOES HUMANITY’S INHUMANITY SCARE YOU?

HOW ABOUT AN EMPATHY RENAISSANCE?

🗿☯️👽

In this interstellar phone call, A REAL HUMAN BEING and AN ALIEN find some room to breathe and talk real shit — all while trying to heal their people with love.

Call log:

• What do aliens REALLY think of humanity?
• SOCIAL ALIENATION — the challenges of growing up as a misfit/outcast/black sheep
• THE GAIA HYPOTHESIS — humans need planet Earth to survive, but would she be better off without us?
• How art and literature deepen our capacity for EMPATHY and WISDOM
• Finding BEAUTY in sadness & grief: how hearts must be broken in order to grow and become whole again

Credits for musical interludes/segments in this episode:

• Blue Dot Sessions
• Harry Edvino
• Monsoon & Ejazz
• Drift Far Away

• SergeQuadrado
• Rand Aldo

⁠Love is the Dankest of All Memes⁠

⁠Terra Incognita (a Neon-Noir Sci-Fi Anthology)⁠

YOU WOULDN'T DOWNLOAD A BLOODY CAR...

Why not rob a record store with your friends instead?

And find some peace of mind

📺🧛‍♂️📂

In this uncompressed ZIP file, Drakula the Impala (100% NOT a vampire) and Luke Martino (50% of indie pop/rock band ⁠⁠Retrofile⁠⁠) download a Chevy Impala from Limewire, rob Sunrise Records for some Radiohead vinyls, and find some ⁠⁠Peace of Mind⁠⁠ along the way.

Need further enticement, mortal? Sink those sharp, sparkly fangs into the following topics:

• How do we, as artists, deal with our inner critics?
• Self-imposing due dates for more productivity
• "Vibey" vs "Goofy" vs "Memeworthy"
• What does Drake's "Hotline Bling" even mean?
• Why retrofuturism is so captivating

Find Retrofile on ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, Apple Music, ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠, and their ⁠⁠official website⁠⁠.

***

Drakula the Impala would like to express his heartfelt gratitude to Luke and Noah Martino (100% of Retrofile) for blessing this episode with their bops.

Credits for musical interludes/segments featured in this episode:

• Blue Dot Sessions
• Retrofile
• Mo Stacks
• Christian Andersen⁠
• Caro Be & Leviaté⁠⁠
• Luwaks⁠

In this episode, your Asian ASMR boyfriend and Chanting delve into the magic and wonders of childhood, the things that make us laugh out loud, a hypothetical TV show starring a red panda and raccoon who trip on psychedelic drugs, and why Dead by Daylight is a killer game.

Somehow, Overthinkers Anonymous Returned...

✨✨✨

In this mid journey, rogue overthinkers Blueberry Moonbeam, Strawberry Sunshine, and Darth Serious scrape the iceberg of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), what should (and shouldn't) be considered art. Plus, anything and everything artists in the digital age (should) overthink about.

✨

Broad strokes:

• grilling Chat-GPT about the definition of art and whether AI-generated art can be considered "art"
• originality, sampling and referencing: is everything just a remix of what came before?
• is the career path of an artist still met with the same stigma and skepticism as before?
• influence and inspiration: how Dune influenced Star Wars (not vice-versa)
• "Theoretical Psychics Art Services" — Sunshine and Serious's arts studio/enterprise fostering human-centered artistic mentorship & collaboration—as well as facilitating access to networking and job opportunities for artists in the Philippines

✨

Producer credits for musical segments/interludes:

• Blue Dot Sessions
• Desjardins
• Cataldo
• BreakzStudios
• William Blue

🤖🤖🤖

Everything is a Remix (by Kirby Ferguson via YouTube)

Meta's AI to train using social media posts from Europe (via Reuters)

Did you know Meta is using your public posts to train their AI starting June 26? 🤯 (by Ocoya via YouTube)

In this episode, Jonah, H, Jeff, and Anchal talk about the 2018 Hawaii false missile alert, the possibility that aliens have either been parenting our species or observing us like animals in a zoo, dolphins sending dick pics via echolocation, and representation, racebending, and whitewashing in Western media.

In this infinity shaped bottle episode, academia nuts William Blue and Jamie Delaney turn infinity sideways, bending space and time and the transistors of the reality simulation as we know it, dropping truth bombs, God particles, and seeds of cosmic wisdom about the computational nature of reality, elaborating on the human biocomputer metaphor put forth by John C. Lily, the difference between mysticism and magic, and the treasure trove of spiritual wisdom that is Morrowind.

Has doomscrolling hijacked your mental faculties, making you feel humanity is doomed?

It's all gonna be fine.

Season 3 is here.

In this episode, Eckhart Toll-Free presents a compelling case for hope and optimism in a terminally online world.Let's put down our devices for a moment and recoup our mental bandwidth together.

Credits for musical interludes/segments in this episode:

• Blue Dot Sessions
• Wave Saver
• William Blue

Love is the Dankest of All Memes

Terra Incognita (a Neon-Noir Sci-Fi Anthology)

[Disclaimer: the radically idealistic ramblings expressed by Eckhart Toll-Free, a self-proclaimed "holier-than-thou" enlightened centrist (and best-selling author of "The Power of Off") are entirely his own and in no way conveys the thoughts and feelings of Overthinkers Anonymous—or overthinkers in general.]

The 2023 Writers Guild of America strike is over at last! But, for Max, an overthinker who exists, the battle to reclaim his birth name from a faceless streaming service has just begun. Greenlight this, HBO.

In this on-demand after-school special, confused grown-ups Boba-T (no relation to Ice-T), Ethan Drory (AKA Droryboy), and HBO Max (not to be confused with the streaming service) play "hot potato conch shell" and wing their ways through an honest-to-goodness chit-chat about adulting, and how there aren't any instruction manuals for navigating it—or doing it well.

Oh, the places you'll go:

• why HBO Max rebranding to "Max" was a big bad move
• manifesting by living in "future tense" ("The Law of Assumption" from Ethan's POV)
• the struggle of providing value and monetizing your skills as an artist (navigating the Creator economy)
• why people tend to treat bartenders with more respect than servers
• how social media is corrupting youth's perceptions of themselves (and the world)

Producer credits for musical interludes/segments:

• Resolute Audio
• Anemone
• Bopper Beats
• Droryboy

DISCLAIMER: Overthinkers Anonymous is NOT affiliated with HBO and, by extension, does not answer to Warner Bros. Discovery. The guest that self-identified as "HBO Max" in this episode does not represent the streaming service formerly known as "HBO Max" that is now currently known as "Max" (much to HBO Max's chagrin). HBO Max did not disclose the meaning of the acronym "HBO" in his name. It is safe to assume it is not an acronym for "Home Box Office."

In this episode, Jonah and New York Vinnie wax philosophical about the strange, disembodied nature of phone-calls, teaching artificially intelligent technology about morality and love, a song that sounds like Red Bull, and that one time New York Vinnie was confronted by an angry mob of blondes.

In this week-long philosophical dialogue, So-crates and Fra-ser endlessly pontificate about metaphysics, truth vs. skepticism, Bruno Mars being a time doctor with the voice of an angel, why God is inherently undefinable, and why we should petition to change the name of the planet Uranus.

"The film industry is big, it's oversaturated and profit-driven, and time-consuming. And oftentimes, very frequently, disappointing films just happen and we call them flops."

- Doctor Whenever

⌚🎞️📶

In this high-concept cinematic flop, Doctor Whenever, a part-time time lord, enlists returning guests, HBO Max (not to be confused with the streaming service FKA as "HBO Max") and KD to attempt to fix the Hollywood timeline (or space-time continuum) by discussing changes for films that failed to live up to their potential.

Films discussed include:

• Ghost in the Shell
• X3: The Last Stand + Dark Phoenix
• Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
• Blankman
• Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Producer credits for musical interludes/segments:

• Anemone
• William Blue
• Killer Chops
• Placidic
• Abydos Music

Find KD on ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ and check out her podcast ⁠⁠KDTime⁠⁠.

In this obnoxiously rambly and fast-talking HBO pitch, film buffs Jonah Quarantinolanfincher and Jordan "the undiscovered Bohemian captain of the laser eyed pterodactyl army who fear nothing" Bouma gush over their favorite directors, films, Jonah's vision for the cinema of the future, and Jordan's experiences working on film sets.

What's this, another bonus episode? A glitch in the matrix? 3 bonus episodes in a row... Hockey fans might consider this a hat trick. 🪄🎩 In this first-ever solo episode (recorded in February, 2023), Jonah contemplates the possibility of making season 2 of Overthinkers Anonymous and reflects on the pandemic's psychological impacts on society—from collective paranoia, to the way everyone seems entirely off their rockers, to the way that technology has permeated every aspect of our lives. Let's pick up the fragments of our shattered reality together, fellow overthinkers. Title inspired by "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by ⁠T.S. Eliot⁠ 👏👏👏 Credits for musical interludes/segments in this episode:

• Blue Dot Sessions
• William Blue

There is nothing wrong with your listening device.

Do not attempt to close and reopen the app.

We repeat: There is nothing wrong with your screen...

🍑❓

You have just stumbled onto a BONUS EPISODE...

Or is it a crossover episode? Maybe it's both.

Either way, don't overthink it.

In this backed-up bonus episode, Jonah and Leeann have a crack at analyzing and assessing posts from the r/AITA subreddit, attempting to answer—on a case-by-case basis—the age-old question:

"Am I the Asshole?"

[This podcast was originally recorded on September 29, 2022, for Leeann's podcast ⁠Get Psyched⁠ but was left in the vault.

Since this episode is a repurposed recording originally intended for another podcast, I decided to make this a bonus episode for season 2.]

...am I the asshole for making this a bonus episode?

train all day

fly into the sun

before night

- Icarus Starfucker

🍍🌄🪽

In this glitch in the manosphere, frequent flyers Icarus Starfucker, Stephen Curtis, and 780.MASOCHIST fly high (but not too high), shooting the breeze about a wide span of topics that dovetail into the dilemma of what it means to be a good man in a world of pain.

🌄

In the wings:

• What does it mean to fly too close to the sun?
• Being an "ex-overthinker" — is it possible to overcome the habit of overthinking or, like any addiction, are you only "recovered" until you start again?
• The life-changing magic of getting slapped in the face during sex
• How Masochism (as a spicier alternative to Stoicism) can empower you to navigate life's uncertainties
• Why everyone should learn at least one martial art

Credits for musical interludes/segments in this episode:

• Blue Dot Sessions
• Anemone
• Nbhd Nick
• Victor Lundberg
• William Blue & Matt Byrnell

In this hot, hot heatwave disaster of a bonus episode, disgruntled millennials Baby Heat, Wavy Heat, Baggy Heat, and Heat Heat discuss our cosmic insignificance, the inevitable heat death of the universe, and just how difficult and draining and daunting life can be for everyone who has ever dared to exist.

When is the right time to pursue your destiny?

Yesterday, you said tomorrow...

Memento Mori, right?

In this sit-down comedy special, a Modern Man (not to be confused with Florida Man) and Zakary Haines (a stand-up comic who is "just trying to make it to 30") ad-lib and riff about the social constructs and societal expectations that inhibit everyone from living a simple life of just laying naked on a beach, divine timing and destiny, pursuing your dreams (in spite of fearing failure more than death itself), cutting out the news from your media diet, and the wild and wacky world of stand-up comedy in 2023.

Credits for musical interludes/segments featured in this episode:

• Blue Dot Sessions

My intro in this episode was inspired by (and is a tribute to) comedy legend George Carlin's ⁠Modern Man⁠.

Check out Zakary Haines on ⁠YouTube⁠, ⁠Tik Tok⁠, and Instagram.

"I highly recommend touching grass. I've touched so much grass recently."

- Fidget Cube Guru

🍽️🤑🐦

In this fidgety chirp-a-thon, Fidget Cube Guru, Kenzient, and Tink (a green parakeet) split their bills overthinking about tipping culture, the highs and lows of owning a parakeet, and the subtle art of giving the right amount of f*cks.

Chirp chirp:

• tipping culture/etiquette in the Canadian restaurant industry
• is having a small-scale, niche audience nowadays better than virality and fame?
• the widespread lack of empathy in online interactions and why we need to listen to each other
• the joys of touching grass—"Earthing"
• letting go of the stories we tell ourselves and giving ourselves the freedom to fail

Producer credits for musical segments/interludes:

• Blue Dot Sessions
• Fornax
• Barstool
• William Blue
• Cloud Cover

Streets of the Philippines: A Sunkissed Photo Essay

Divorced Dad Rock (Spotify Playlist)

"As long as power flows through any of my circuits, I will overthink anything." - Optimus Prime Rib

DARK MODE SZN. OVERTHINKERS ROLL OUT.

🤖➡️🚗

In this unnecessary Transformers reboot, Optimus Prime Rib and HBO Max switch the gears to reverse and reminisce on the good old days, including the educational children's TV shows they grew up with, the challenges of growing up in an ever-changing world, and the transformative potential of embracing accountability for your own fuck-ups.

Timeline breakdown:

• Unpacking Optimus's fatal flaw of spoiling movies on podcasts
• What does it really mean to Be Yourself when we present different versions of ourselves to different people?
• The hidden pipeline linking The New Electric Company, Hamilton, and the Wu-Tang Clan
• HBO Max speculates on the identity of our timeline's anchor being (inspired by Deadpool and Wolverine)
• [SPOILER ALERT🤚] Optimus Prime Rib dies and ends up in The Good Place

Credits for interludes/segments in this episode:

• Blue Dot Sessions
• Anemone
• Higher Power
• Universfield
• William Blue

Shout out to Bumblebee for pulling up to the interview and fact-checking us live.

Terra Incognita (a Neon-Noir Sci-Fi Anthology)

1-MINUTE (Minus One) by William Blue

O Captain! My Captain!

Rise up and hear the bells;

Season 2 is here...

In this newly unlocked level, PBNJ and PME overthink about the weirdness and moral complexity of the Super Mario Bros. universe, the impact that our favourite video games have had on our upbringings, how AI and ChatGPT will transform the way artists create, the hidden theme underlying Tetris (it's about love), and what motivates us to get out of bed in the morning (and Carpe diem).

Credits for musical interludes/segments featured in this episode:

• Blue Dot Sessions
• PME

Listen to PME's music on Spotify and browse his beat catalogue on BeatStars.

"The book made me feel like I was getting a warm hug from a stranger. And not just any stranger... a stranger that I may or may not have known in a past life!" - Banana Ice

🍌🥶

In this lime (in a coconut), Banana Ice and Holy Shiver (AKA Alessandra Veronesi) turn their minds inwards, "unpeel themselves" from the inside out, and walk each other home after experiencing Christ Consciousness in a supermarket.

Nutrition Facts:

• A New Banana, Alessandra's self-help book about embracing life and cultivating healthy relationships
• the inspiring wisdom of Hermetic teachings like "As above, so below..." and the idea that the universe exists within (and without) all of us
• humans sharing more than 50% of their DNA with bananas?
• refreshing perspectives on romance and dating in a post-pandemic world
• shedding the layers of who we think we are to become our most authentic Selves

Credits for musical interludes/segments featured in this episode:

• Blue Dot Sessions
• Macroform
• The Golden Moons

Find Alessandra (AKA Holy Shiver) on Instagram, YouTube, and her website. Check out her books (discussed in the episode) below:

• A New Banana: Unpeel YourSelf and Elevate Your Relationships
• Desperado: A Little Book to Support You Through Harder Times

***

Get 3 free meditations from Holy Shiver

In this episode, two stylish bards, Jon-Jon and Some-Sum, spit some poetic bars regarding the power of poetry, microdosing psychedelics for mental health, symbolic tattoos that act as Inception totems of sorts, and the links between bipolar disorder, addiction, spirituality, and creativity.

You WON'T believe this audio is NOT butter. It's not peanut butter either. [Warning: this podcast is NOT gluten-free, dairy-free or vegan-friendly.]

In this far-flung Costco run, Macklemore N. Cheese and KD sink their teeth into a juicy potpourri of topics, like life-changing food hacks, what motivates them as content creators to continually cook stuff up in the digital age, all while chewing the fat about all things pop culture—from Rob Zombie reviving "The Munsters," to the late 2000s "Twilight Craze," to actors who nailed their portrayals of beloved comic book characters.

After returning their thoroughly sanitized shopping cart, Macklemore N. Cheese ranks his Top 10 Films that Turn 10 in 2023, which will be the focus of an upcoming episode of KD's podcast, ⁠KDTime⁠ (to be released sometime in the next ten years).

Credits for musical interludes/segments featured in this episode:

• Blue Dot Sessions
• William Blue
• PME

Find KD on ⁠Instagram⁠ and check out her podcast ⁠KDTime⁠.