In this episode, Danylo speaks with author and journalist Rob Walker about attention. They discuss the "attention economy," focused attention as a foundation for originality, curiosity as an action rather than a trait, leveraging curiosity during challenging experiences, the difference between creative engagement and mindfulness, the empowerment of choosing where to direct your attention, how attention influences habits and actions, and the relationship between technology, AI, and attention.Rob Walker is a journalist covering design, technology, business, the arts, and other subjects. He writes the "Branded" column for Fast Company and has contributed to The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Atlantic, NewYorker.Com, Design Observer, The Organist, and many others.Rob's newsletter & website:https://robwalker.substack.com/https://robwalker.net/Sources cited during recording:https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/well/step-goal-walking.html?unlocked_article_code=1.LE8.t9kL.QeRzdYtwG4ol&smid=url-share&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=emailThis conversation was recorded in June 2025.Follow Open Inquiry on social media and listen on your favorite platform: https://linktr.ee/openinquiryContact Danylo by email: danylo.zubaryev@gmail.comArtwork by Senka Stankovic: www.senkastankovic.caTheme song by Somnambulist Quintet (Darren Johnson)0:00 Introduction2:00 Rob's background & work10:06 Exercises from "The Art of Noticing"15:04 Rob's newsletter17:05 The importance of attention for originality23:15 How cell phones influence attention26:54 Why are we so easily distracted?31:34 "Acts of curiosity"40:10 Curiosity vs. mindfulness53:06 Attention & personal values56:37 Taking control of your attention1:03:32 Where to find Rob's work

In this episode, Danylo Zubaryev explores the mysterious nature of human memory as experienced from the first-person perspective. He discusses "involuntary" and "voluntary" memories, a few first-person experiments for observing memories, memory as a foundation for personal identity, the fundamental unreliability of memory, emotionally challenging memories and "repressed memories," and Danylo attempts to draw positive insights from some of his personal emotionally difficult memories.

⁠⁠Follow Open Inquiry on social media and listen on your favorite platform⁠⁠Read Danylo's articles on ⁠Medium⁠ and ⁠Substack⁠

Contact Danylo by email: danylo.zubaryev@gmail.com

Artwork by ⁠Senka Stankovic⁠

Theme song by ⁠⁠Somnambulist Quintet (Darren Johnson)⁠

In this episode, Danylo Zubaryev speaks with Duncan Sabien about rationality. They discuss the “rationality community,” challenges to spreading and popularizing rationality, problems in psychology-related publicity, psychological obstacles to being rational, the value of emotions, the importance of jargon for learning and discourse, learning in progressive stages, creativity in rational discourse, real-world impacts of rational discourse, social regulation of reasoning standards, and more.

Duncan has written several books and essays discussing various elements of human rationality, and he’s presented lectures on rationality with organizations like Effective Altruism and the Center for Applied Rationality.

Duncan's personal bio: Duncan Sabien is a writer, teacher, and maker of things. He loves parkour, LEGOs, and Magic: the Gathering, and is easily manipulated by people quoting Ender’s Game. He's currently working with an org trying to figure out how to create provably safe artificial intelligence and writing a pair of books on the side.

This conversation was originally recorded in July 2021.

Sources/works mentioned:
LessWrong (rationality forum/community)
Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality (book by Eliezer Yudkowsky)
In Defense of Punch Bug (essay by Duncan Sabien)
Center for Applied Rationality
Machine Intelligence Research Institute
Duncan's website
Rationality: From AI to Zombies (book by Eliezer Yudkowsky)

Follow Open Inquiry on social media and listen on your favorite platform

Read Danylo's articles on ⁠Medium⁠ and ⁠Substack⁠Contact Danylo by email: danylo.zubaryev@gmail.com
Artwork by Senka Stankovic
Theme song by Somnambulist Quintet (Darren Johnson)