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Beautiful Illusions

Beautiful Illusions

Written by: Darron Vigliotti Jeffrey Horton
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 Jeff & Darron ponder the intersection of reality, consciousness, and culture. These conversations comprise an ongoing attempt to construct meaning by exploring art and science, developing understanding of the context underpinning our current moment in time, and imagining possible futures for human civilization. No expertise here, just two guys who enjoy learning, thinking, and talking about big ideas, deep questions, and the “beautiful illusion” that is the subjective human experience. *New episodes released every one to two months on Sunday mornings*2020 The Beautiful Illusions Podcast Art Nature & Ecology Philosophy Science Social Sciences
Episodes
  • EP 39 - Catching Up On Lost Time

    EP 39 - Catching Up On Lost Time
    Nov 9 2025

    Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episode

    Selected References:

    • 8:56 - At 4,975 feet above sea level Black Mesa is the highest point in Oklahoma
    • 17:00 - See the Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list (Rolling Stone, 2023)
    • 18:58 - Listen to “Just Breathe” by Pearl Jam (YouTube)
    • 20:38 - See the Hollow Knight: Silksong Wikipedia entry and read “Silksong Broke Me - Then It Got Good” (Polygon, 2025)
    • 32:26 - See “The Dopamine Cycle: Impacts of Excessive Screen Time” (The Jacob’s Ladder Group, 2025)
    • 37:08 - The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt
    • 44:40 - Watch bats swarming out of a cave entrance at Carlsbad Caverns (YouTube)
    • 49:00 - The Arthur Schopenhauer quote “we do not feel the health of our entire body but only the small place where the shoe pinches” via the article “The Semi-Satisfied Life” (Aeon Magazine)
    • 49:50 - Read “How do our memories differ from our experiences?” for more on the peak-end rule and the remembering self versus the experiencing self (The Decision Lab)

    This episode was recorded in September 2025

    The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti
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    53 mins
  • EP 38 - It's About Time

    EP 38 - It's About Time
    Mar 23 2025
    Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episodeSelected References:3:00 - Emerson: The Mind on Fire by Robert D. Richardson7:32 - Listen to Mindscape Episode 300 - Solo: Does Time Exist? from January, 20257:36 - From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time by Sean Carroll7:38 - The Order of Time by Carlo Rovelli12:58 - Read Nature and Self Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson20:28 - “Most people overestimate what they can achieve in a year and underestimate what they can achieve in ten years” is an idea popularized most recently by Bill Gates and sometimes referred to as Gates’ Law.21:42 - Derek Jeter played in 20 major league seasons starting in 1995 and retiring after the 2014 seasonListen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 37 - Memento Mori from February, 202526:05 - Rickey Henderson played in 25 major league seasons from 1979 to 2003. He passed away on December 20, 2004 and is remembered as one of the greatest baseball players who ever lived. See “Rickey Henderson, 'greatest of all time,' dies at 65” (ESPN.com)29:34 - Read “The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We’re All Going To Miss Almost Everything” by Linda Holmes (NPR, 2011)31:10 - See the “Great American Novel” Wikipedia entry32:51 - Listen to the “Songs About Time” Spotify playlist36:05 - See “What Is Memento Mori?” (Daily Stoic)38:45 - The 2006 Adam Sandler movie Click is about “a workaholic architect [who] finds a universal remote that allows him to fast-forward and rewind to different parts of his life. Complications arise when the remote starts to overrule his choices.”40:40 - See “Eternal Recurrence: What Did Nietzsche Really Mean?” (Philosophy Break) and “The Eternal Return: Nietzsche’s Brilliant Thought Experiment Illustrating the Key to Existential Contentment” from The Marginalian46:14 - Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution by Carlo Rovelli56:22 - Listen to Richard Feynman’s “Ode To A Flower” (YouTube)57:03 - See the “Deep time” Wikipedia entry and the Deep Time: A History of the Earth interactive infographicThis episode was recorded in February 2025The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti
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    59 mins
  • EP 37 - Memento Mori

    EP 37 - Memento Mori
    Feb 16 2025

    Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episode

    Selected References:

    • 13:07 - Read “Why I Hope to Die at 75” by Ezekiel J. Emmanuel (The Atlantic, 2014)
    • 15:21 - For more see “'Why I hope to die at 75,' revisited” (Advisory Board, 2019) and the “Dr. Emanuel discusses his personal perspective on aging” page of his personal website.
    • 17:34 - Read “The Emperor of Ice-Cream” by Wallace Stevens
    • 34:03 - Listen to the Brain Science Podcast Episode 194: "The Grieving Brain" with Mary-Frances O'Connor from March, 2022 (YouTube link)
    • 39:20 - The Lifetime Setback Game started at the Phish show on August 14th, 2009 at the Comcast Theatre in Hartford, CT when we Darron & Jeff were in their early 30’s
    • 41:04 - Read “The Tail End” post from 2015 on the Wait But Why blog
    • 54:37 - Listen the Mindscape Episode 10: Megan Rosenbloom on the Death Positive Movement from August, 2018
    • 57:50 - Darron is likely referring to this passage from Seneca: “It is likely that some troubles will befall us; but it is not a present fact. How often has the unexpected happened! How often has the expected never come to pass! And even though it is ordained to be, what does it avail to run out to meet your suffering? You will suffer soon enough, when it arrives; so look forward meanwhile to better things. What shall you gain by doing this? Time. There will be many happenings meanwhile which will serve to postpone, or end, or pass on to another person, the trials which are near or even in your very presence. A fire has opened the way to flight. Men have been let down softly by a catastrophe. Sometimes the sword has been checked even at the victim’s throat. Men have survived their own executioners. Even bad fortune is fickle. Perhaps it will come, perhaps not; in the meantime it is not. So look forward to better things.”

    This episode was recorded remotely at the Hunting House in November 2024

    The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti
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    1 hr and 6 mins
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