Cognitive Aikido--Pandas Playing Cello #53 with Mike Ross

Mike Ross is a cognitive psychotherapist, although he prefers the title cognitive alchemist. We talk about many, many things, including--wait for it--Donny and Marie Osmond.

Among other topics:

--What does it mean to interact with entities--such as AI--that don't have souls, question mark?

--How humans are changing now that we can connect with everyone else's narratives at scale?

--Which books have really mattered in our lives?

Panda Julia and Mike get deeply involved in cognitive/psychological concepts that sometimes escape Panda Carmen. But she's a good sport about it and trusts that our listeners/viewers are more astute than she. (not that high a bar, actually.)

As befits such a deep conversation, we mention many books and individuals from whom we have learned.

First there's Mike's bookToo Weird to Fail

Then there's Kahlil Gibran, with which most are probably already familiar.

Mike also mentions the great CanadianAmerican psychologist Albert Bandura, whose social cognitive learning theory is even more relevant today. This YouTube interview is a good introduction

Toward the end Carmen mentions books that influenced her spirituality although none are actually spiritual in nature. Her favorite book from her childhood, "Where Away", cannot currently be located anywhere on the internet, at least not by Carmen. But the novels of the great British humorist P. G. Wodehouse can easily be found. Carmen recommends you start with Leave it to Psmith, although her personal preference is Summer Moonshine.

Mike's final recommendation is the work of Clive Barker, particularly The Thief of Always.

Learn more about Mike here:

More about Carmen

More about Julia

And here's the Pandas Playlist! Check it out on Apple Music or Spotify and shh-dance with us (out loud)!