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

Selected References:

• 3:33 - Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions, and Hurtful Acts by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aaronson
• 4:51 - See the entry for “Seasonal Affective Disorder” from John Hopkins Medicine
• 6:38 - Listen to Beautiful Illusions Episode 25 - “Living the Dream” from 2022
• 8:14 - See the “Hygiene hypothesis” Wikipedia entry
• 13:42 - See ideas related to the pace of major cultural and technological shifts popularized in Future Shock by Alvin Toffler (1970)
• 15:50 - See “Calorie-free sweeteners can disrupt the brain’s appetite signals” from USC’s Keck School of Medicine (2025)
• 22:30 - See “The semi-satisfied life” from Aeon about Arthur Schopenhauer’s thoughts on happiness
• 24:59 - Watch the classic Simpson’s clip “You could flash fry a buffalo in 40 seconds”
• 29:30 - See the “Habituation” Wikipedia entry
• 28:40 - See “AI and the Human Condition” from the Stratechery Substack, which contains the Louis C.K. clip “Everything is Amazing…and Nobody is Happy”

This episode was recorded in September February 2026

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