Shows
Adulting and Adrift24: US ElectionJoin us as we discuss the 2024 election results, make sense of voting trends, and make predictions for the next few years.
(0:00): Intro snippets
(00:55): Surprised by election results? Breakdown by different groups
(26:03): Predictions for next 4 years
2024-11-2030 minAdulting and Adrift23: One Year of Adulting and Adrift!In this episode, Kihong and Thomas celebrate one year of Adulting and Adrift and look back on past episodes :) 2024-10-2943 minAdulting and Adrift22. International Marriage (feat. Gun Ahn and Marianne Vanhala)(0:00) Preview
(1:10) Intro
(3:00) Gun and Marianne introduce themselves
(4:30) How did you meet?
(10:30) Cultural differences - Korea vs. Finland
(19:00) Sustaining a relationship while moving many times
(23:00) Language dynamics in the relationship - role of English, Finnish, Korean
(38:45) Advice for intercultural relationships
(42:35) Commitment in relationships
(47:40) Adjusting to life in the US2024-10-0756 minAdulting and Adrift21: Regrets(0:00) Preview
(1:56) Intro
(5:30) High school and college
(49:40) Relationships
(58:05) Career
(1:05:37) Family
2024-09-081h 16Adulting and Adrift20: So much to catch up on! (Trump Shooting, Kamala Memes, Hillbilly Elegy, and more)(0:00) Preview
(1:32) Intro: Current Events Recap - Trump, Harris, Stocks, Olympics, Boeing
(8:05) Donald Trump's Attempted Assassination
(13:45) Biden Stepping Down
(22:00) Kamala Harris, Charli XCX, Tampon Tim and Political Memes
(29:30) JD Vance, Hillbilly Elegy, Rise of MAGA, Nativism, and Immigration
(1:03:25) Tim Walz, Josh Shapiro, Choosing a running mate
(1:11:00) Stock Market Jitters, Bank of Japan, Uncertainty
(1:17:43) Ukraine invading Russia2024-08-201h 28Adulting and Adrift19: Social Media, Content Creation and Attention Spans(2:00) AI-generated content on social media
(4:30) Social Media and Gen-Z slang
(13:09) Facebook going downhill
(19:50) To exchange numbers or Instagram handles?
(29:10) Getting cyberbullied
(33:20) Attention spans, short-form content, viral trends
(45:18) YouTube
(48:37) Reddit
(57:33) Spotify2024-07-081h 05Adulting and Adrift18: Value Systems, Protests, Trolley Problem(0:00) Highlights
(2:23) Intro
(3:52) What informs your value system? Kihong's turn
(17:45) Actions, habits, and desire
(23:55) What informs your value system? Thomas's turn
(32:40) Cognitive biases
(38:25) Civil discourse and cancel culture
(48:55) Student protests
(56:35) Applying value systems in your career and in the corporate world
(1:00:45) Story of Franz Jaegerstaetter, conscientious objector in WWII
(1:05:00) Utilitarianism
(1:11:00) Trolley Problem
2024-06-091h 15Adulting and Adrift17: Miscellaneous - TikTok, Weddings, Listener Feedback(0:00) - Clips
(1:40) - Intro
(2:30) - TikTok
(12:42) - Messi in Boston
(17:15) - Our friends are all getting married!
(31:25) - Living with roommates
(34:45) - Feedback from listeners on Love and Dating, Career2024-05-1347 minAdulting and Adrift16: Masculinity, Social Expectations, and Online Spaces(07:30) Masculinity: race and culture mixed
(18:00) Expectations growing up as boys: Thomas and Kihong’s story
(25:00) Traditionally gendered spaces
(30:30) Masculinity influencers
(40:00) Talking about what’s going on - why it’s so hard to build a good platform of open discourse
(44:30) Gender relations are at all-time low
(49:00) Breaking down these “male influencers”
(56:00) Having the right role model: how to guide future generations properly
Please provide thoughts! Thomas and I understand that this is a sensitive topic and that we are two straight m...2024-05-041h 05Adulting and Adrift15: AI, Societal Inequality, and UBIIntro
(03:00) Intro to AI - birth of the concept and its evolution
(14:00) Phase 2 of AI: the transformer architecture, element of attention
(20:00) Why hardware is so important
(23:00) AI vs. the human brain
(30:00) How Kihong and Thomas first experienced AI
(43:00) Core principles of “Safe AI” - possible? Maybe humans are the biggest risk….
(53:00) How Kihong and Thomas use AI at work
(01:05:00) AI’s impact on career and capitalism, post-labor economics and UBI
(01:16:00) Societal inequality within a country and between countries; mass exodus
(01:19...2024-04-201h 28Adulting and Adrift14. College: Rankings, Elitism, and StatsIn this episode, Thomas and Kihong investigate the underlying dynamics of the so-called “elite” U.S. colleges and the post-college implications of such branding. They share insightful and surprising statistics - hope you enjoy this episode. Please leave comments or share thoughts directly.
We appreciate any reactions. :)
(5:30) By how much did the “elite” colleges expand vs. the rest in the last ~30 years?
(10:00) Scarcity, brand, and satellite campuses
(18:00) Open-sourcing education
(25:00) Financial aid of “elite” colleges
(29:30) The UC system - the one that worked
(33:00) Inequality o...2024-04-0859 minAdulting and Adrift13: Religion and Spirituality(0:00) Intro - brief overview of each of our backgrounds
(5:43) Defining religion and spirituality
(8:00) Positive/attractive aspects of religion
(17:50) Doubts, cognitive biases, critiques of religion
(41:46) Faith, spirituality, meditation, ethics
(49:10) Question for Kihong: What value do you see in religion, spirituality, and meditation?
(1:04:55) Discussing the play "A Case for the Existence of God" 2024-03-171h 12Adulting and Adrift12: FriendshipThomas and Kihong explores everything about friendship - what defines friendship, what helps people be good friends, how does it evolve over time? How do you navigate?
(02:00) How do you define friendship? What is the best way to approach it?
(14:00) What makes people become friends? Our stories and the element of chance
(22:30) Is there such a thing as a best friend? Different levels of friendship?
(33:00) Loneliness vs. Solitude
(45:00) Connecting people, cultivating relationships, building a community, overcoming your fear
(56:00) How friends influence your views and lifestyle?
(01:12:00...2024-02-291h 31Adulting and Adrift11: Personal Finance(03:00) Our own histories with money
(15:10) Money and status: fashion, music, and everything
(19:10) Boomers vs. Gen Z narrative
(35:10) Personal finance: Thomas’ story
(49:10) Kihong’s journey with personal finance
(01:06:10) Budgeting!
(01:10:00) Credit scores and closing out2024-02-191h 16Adulting and Adrift10: Boarding School Pt. 2 (feat. Andie Choi)(00:00) Highlights + Intro
(04:00) Andie’s childhood and how she ended up at a boarding school
(17:15) The application process
(25:00) First day of school and the importance of luck
(30:30) Academics: the challenges; how to design your experience
(40:10) Interacting with faculty as an Asian person
(45:50) Designing life beyond boarding school, finding her true passions
(50:00) Thomas on the shortcomings of what is taught as success in boarding schools
(54:00) Posturing and systemic privilege
(01:02:00) Life after boarding school and what Andie is looking forward to in 2024
(01:04:50) Wo...2024-02-031h 11Adulting and Adrift9: Upbringing and Parenting(00:00) Highlights
(02:30) Intro
(05:30) Childhood, family, and sibling dynamics
(21:50) Kihong's experiences
(42:00) Being deliberate about little choices as parents
(45:00) Rewards and punishments: a legitimate system of teaching children?
(1:00:00) Why it’s so dangerous for parents to not communicate
(1:04:00) Thomas talks about “training”
(1:19:00) Kihong on South Korea’s low birth rate and the meaning of family
(1:25:30) Thomas on the responsibilities and duties as a parent2024-01-231h 33Adulting and Adrift8: Career, Passion, and Work-Life Balance(0:00) Introduction and Holidays Update
(5:00) Today’s Topic: Job and Career
(6:20) As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
(12:55) How did you end up in your current career trajectory? - Thomas
(26:30) How did you end up in your current career trajectory? - Kihong
(32:45) Finding a job based on passion, impact, and/or financial security
(38:30) Work-life balance across industries and academia
(49:30) What does your future trajectory look like?2024-01-191h 04Adulting and Adrift7: (Holiday Edition) Kihong’s Book Discussion: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, Part 2(1:34) Importance of thoughts
(7:30) Importance of mental fortitude against criticism
(13:00) Importance of rest2023-12-2817 minAdulting and Adrift7: (Holiday Edition) Kihong’s Book Discussion: How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, Part 1(00:00) Intro - Kihong’s explanation on why he chose this book to discuss and the impact
(02:40) Who was Dale Carnegie?
(07:00) Part 1 Discussion
(09:00) Kihong’s own experience of worry on health, Discussion of Part 22023-12-2816 minAdulting and Adrift6: Asian-American or Asian+American?(00:50) Intro
(02:45) Asian-American or Asian and American
(5:30) Thomas’ story: Born in US, grew up in Japan as a mixed race person
(22:20) Kihong’s story: Asian lunchbox
(26:00) Navigating through different friend groups
(28:00) Different cultural values and priorities - how they impacted our lives
(33:50) Speaking up for yourself and apologizing less
(38:20) Asian representation in media and its impact
(42:30) Kihong’s take on the late Korean culture’s popularity and the relatively short history of Asian immigration
(45:45) Thomas on the Last Samurai
(53:30) Asian names, W...2023-12-121h 14Adulting and Adrift5: Our Journeys with Mental Health, Part 2(1:00) Kihong’s story: 1st job and relationship
(8:30) Therapy: it’s a journey
(10:30) Why deep reflection is so importnat
(14:30) Thomas’ story: post-college journey of self-discovery
(19:45) Why Thomas gave teaching a try
(24:00) People helping Thomas to get to where he is now
(25:32) Discovering your own values
(29:53) What helped Kihong: “Thoughts May Vary” podcast and Dale Carnegie’s book “How to stop worrying and start living”
(33:10) Keeping yourself busy helps
(37:40) What helped Thomas: therapy journals, building good habits, and art
(45:30) building the right communitie...2023-12-041h 07Adulting and Adrift5: Our Journeys with Mental Health, Part 1This episode is split into two parts, so please check back next week for the second part of our conversation, where we talk about mental health post-college and how we work on our mental well-being
(00:00) Intro + Friendsgiving
(04:30) Start to conversation
(06:25) Kihong’s story: childhood
(14:25) How to acknowledge generational effects and separate yourself from them
(18:00) Thomas’ explanation of “theory of mind” and children
(19:20) Thomas’ story: childhood
(30:00...2023-11-291h 14Adulting and Adrift4: Is John Wick Art? Are War Movies Propaganda?(0:00) Intro + how did Thomas and Kihong get introduced to art?
(21:00) What counts as art? What is art and not art?
(27:00) Robert Pattinson we love him
(28:15) Cinema: Favorite movies
(36:26) War Cinema: What makes it so good
(39:53) Saving Private Ryan - no glory
(46:30) Top Gun: Maverick
(50:50) Art vs. Propaganda
(53:55) Art vs. Pornography
(1:00:30) Music
(1:12:10) Podcast as a form of art: Why did we decide to do this podcast?
(1:18:50) Outro + next week2023-11-211h 20Adulting and Adrift3: Love and DatingIn this episode, Thomas and Kihong talk about modern Zillennial dating and love. Starting out by defining love, they go into depth on different kinds of love, discuss finding love through dating apps, how love is portrayed in modern media, and a lot more. Tune in!
If you want to revisit a specific topic:
(00:00) - Intro
(02:35) - What is love?
(10:35) - Parental love: what is so special about it? Or is it?
(13:10) - Zillennial romance
(18:00) - What does commitment mean in 2023? Is it still there?
(23:15...2023-11-141h 32Adulting and Adrift2: Boarding SchoolYears before we started a podcast, we were classmates at boarding school. In this episode, we dive into some questions like: How did you end up at boarding school? What were your first memories there? What was the social scene like? Did it prepare you well for college and for life? Would you send your kids to a boarding school?
Content warning: This episode contains discussion of sexual assault in the context of boarding school. 2023-11-061h 45Adulting and Adrift1: PlaceWhat defines a place? How did you end up where you are? Where do you want to live in the future? What's the difference between physical and virtual places? 2023-10-291h 27