Deep Questions with Cal Newport Cal Newport
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- Technology
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Cal Newport is a computer science professor and a New York Times bestselling author who writes about the impact of technology on society, and the struggle to work and live deeply in a world increasingly mired in digital distractions. On this podcast, he answers questions from his readers and offers advice about cultivating focus, productivity, and meaning amidst the noise that pervades our lives.
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Ep. 311: Finding Focus in Distracting Times
In our current digital world, distracting world events have a way of completely destabilizing our ability to focus on work that matters. In today’s episode, Cal provides advice for escaping these destabilizing attention environments and regaining some sense of mental peace and depth. He then answers questions, takes a call, and reports on some fun sightings of his book Deep Work out in the wild. Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your qu...
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Ep. 310: Rethinking Discipline
Discipline is critical to cultivating a deep life, but what exactly does this concept mean? In this episode, Cal uses a concrete case study from Reddit to dive deeper into the nuances of discipline and to then identify concrete, practical advice for improving your ability to take disciplined action. He then answers listener questions and asks for Jesse’s judgment on a battle of the writing sheds. Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your q...
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Ep. 309: Deep Habits
On this show, we often talk about major overhauls to your work and life. In this episode, we go the other way and focus on the small habits that can make a big difference. In more detail, Cal describes eight surprisingly small strategies – four focused on work and four focused on life outside of work – for finding more depth in a distracted world. He then answers listener questions and reacts to a recent article about pushback to calls to limiting social media for kids.Below are the questions...
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Ep. 308: The Power of the Quiet Mind
One of the trickiest aspects of new technology is that it can sometimes destabilize parts of our lives that we didn’t even realize existed and are important. In this episode, Cal talks about one such idea: the quiet mind. Our constant phone usage is eliminating this critical cognitive state, and by doing so is diminishing our humanity. Cal makes the case for the importance of the quiet mind, and then gives concrete ideas for cultivating it in a distracted world. He also answers questions from...
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Ep. 307: Ultra-Processed Content
Why are we comfortable with the idea that ultra-processed foods are bad for us but feel somehow anti-technology to say something similar about the ultra-processed content generated by social media platforms. In this episode, Cal draws analogy to the food system to find a more sustainable and practical way to repair our relationship with various forms of media. He then answers questions and calls, shares an inspiring case study, and, due to popular request, gives his opinion on Jonathan Haidt’...
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Ep. 306: Defusing AI Panic
One of the simmering concerns surrounding the current AI revolution is the fear that we might accidentally create an “alien mind” smarter than we expected. In this episode, Cal puts on his Computer Scientist hat and directly addresses this potential by sketching his emerging concept of intentional artificial intelligence (or, iAI for short). He then answers tech-themed questions from listeners and reacts to an article that many, many different people sent to him last week.Below are the questi...
Customer Reviews
Everyone needs a bit of Cal Newport in their life!
I first came across Cal via the Minimalists. Since then I’ve read So Good They Can’t Ignore You, Deep Work & Digital Minimalism and they’re all fabulous books that have given me actionable ideas about how to improve my own productivity. If you’re interested in improving your productivity, or becoming less attached to your devices in order for you to extract more from your life then listening to this podcast is a must! Keep up the great work Cal
Essential listening!
Love Cal’s podcasts. Packed with useful info, always experimenting to keep the show fresh and he has a wicked sense of humour. Keep it up Cal. Big fan from Scotland.
Love Cal Newport, but what is that bump bump bump in the background
Episode 254 is one of my faves but there is a constant boom boom boom noise in the background that just ruins the episode. I hope there aren’t any other episodes like this. This one is so clippable - so much good stuff that people will want to listen to repeatedly…but the background noise drove me crazy.