Fugues

How does increased power impact human minds? It’s almost not someone’s fault if empathy wanes while power accumulates. In fact, it’s basically inevitable.

Joe Smarro, one of the subjects of the HBO documentary, "Crisis Cops: Ernie and Joe," is an exception to the rule. Joe is a police officer and trainer who gives a Master Class in how to sidestep fate when encountering people in crisis. We hear a few fugues from Joe illustrating what it's like to be a cop in these situations. And we give it the post-fugue treatment with inner voice, helping us to understand the cognitive effects of power and how to avoid unnecessary conflict.

Join us for the third and final part of this series on fate and biology.

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Credits:

Written and produced by Gabriel Berezin.

Original music and sound design by Grant Zubritsky. Additional music courtesy of Sami Jano.

Opening and closing music by Monuments (featuring Grant Zubritsky (bass), Robby Sinclair (drums) and Bryan Murray (saxophone), Gabriel Berezin (guitar))

Editorial insight by Melissa "Monty" Montan

Logo design by Justin Montan

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Relevant Fugues episodes:

• The Brain's Molotov Cocktail | Fate & Biology | 1
• Bonding, for Better or Worse | Fate & Biology | 2
• Why So Irrational

References:

• HBO’s Crisis Cops, Ernie & Joe
• Joe Smarro’s TEDx talk
• Solution Point + (Joe & Jesse’s first responder training organization)
• Follow Joe on Twitter
• Waco Drama Series Preview
• Waco Siege History
• Gary Noesner
• Digby, The De-escalating Dog (that prevented a suicide)
• Jamil Zaki on police empathy and power
• Cognitive effects of power (Adam Galinksy, Deborah H Gruenfeld, and Joe C. Magee)
• Power drains empathy (Adam Galinksy)

Why are we so prone to bad logic? We’re going to hear two everyday fugues in this episode: the search for a lost spatula and a spilled beer. The real story here is how easy it is to be irrational. Who is “we” in this episode? It’s me and my inner voice obviously. Inner Voice and I will do some post-fugue analysis to find out what mental phenomena are at play while I make really bad assumptions about events in my surroundings.

By the end of the episode maybe you’ll appreciate why we’re actually doing a lot better than we think we are as a society given how mistake-prone our brains are.

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Credits:

Written and produced by Gabriel Berezin
Original music and sound design - Grant Zubritsky
Opening and closing music: Monuments (featuring Grant Zubritsky (bass), Robby Sinclair (drums) and Bryan Murray (saxophone), Gabriel Berezin (guitar))
Editorial insight - Melissa "Monty" Montan
Logo design - Justin Montan

Follow Fugues: Substack | X | Instagram | Threads | TikTok

References:

• Apophenia in the Queen’s Gambit
• Apophenia in Stranger Things
• Wacky Conspiracy Theory showing Back to the Future predicted 9/11
• How Netflix uses big data to inform its content
• The Brain’s Autopilot (Scientific American)
• Daniel Kahneman’s System 1 vs 2 Thinking (article)
• Thinking Fast and Slow (book)
• Anil Seth’s TED talk
• How Much of What You See is Hallucination (TED Ex)
• Abracadabra! A Classic Magic Trick Fools Expectations, Not Eyes
• My Special Egg Spatula

Episode Song Playlist:

• Delirious - Prince
• Memories Can’t Wait - Talking Heads
• Not My Own - Monuments
• Where is My Mind - The Pixies
• Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
• There There - Radiohead

Why do we help strangers? And why do we love revenge stories so much? The same thing that connects those questions connects us all - bonding.

There’s an invisible line between groups of people - it can be a thin dotted line between acquaintances, a steel girder between mother and child, or a series of chain links between millions of people in the same country.

In Part 2 of this series on fate and biology, we identify the brain chemical that plays a central role in how we bond, and explore why certain group behaviors are inevitable.

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Credits:

Written and produced by Gabriel Berezin.

Original music and sound design by Kirk Schoenherr and additional music by Grant Zubritsky.

Opening and closing music by Monuments - featuring Grant Zubritsky (bass), Robby Sinclair (drums) and Bryan Murray (saxophone), Gabriel Berezin (guitar).

Editorial assistance by Melissa "Monty" Montan.

Logo design by Justin Montan.

Follow Fugues: Substack | X | Instagram | Threads | TikTok

Help us out - rate and comment on iTunes!

Further reading:

• Part 1 of Fate and Biology: The Brain’s Molotov Cocktail
• Counting to Twelve (the ultimate funk on Sesame Street)
• Won’t You Be My Neighbor (Mr. Rogers Documentary)
• Philadelphia greases light posts before 2018 Superbowl
• “Are we the baddies?” Aka, an existential crisis for nazis (mentioned by Inner Voice)
• The Science of Kindness (and oxytocin)
• The Neurobiology of friendship
• Nasal spray and oxytocin increased male cooperation
• The above study debunked (in Vox)
• Book: Sapiens (by Yuval Noah Harari)
• Book: The Power of Us (by Jan Van Bavel and Dominic Packer)
• Paying Mentorship Forward (podcast episode for the NeuroLeadership Institute featuring Josh and Kendrick)
• Panel in the Vatican celebrating the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

Almost at the same time, my family experienced a loss I feared my whole life and a new addition I’d fantasized about for decades. And I had a dream as it unfolded that was so clear I wrote down every detail after I woke up. Actually it was more like dream theater. And this theatrical production’s imagery and characters were scripted by grief, memory, and anticipation.

I’m pretty sure this little one-act was trying to tell me something, or at least Brian Cox was (obviously he was there). A new inner character appeared in this episode to decode what it was. He demystified dreams a bit, and shared how they work.

He also helped me understand why celebrities make cameos in dreams so much. And while many think we should leave the metaphors to the artists and songwriters, he explains why dreams prove otherwise.

Most oddly and importantly he shared the power of sneezing to cope with grief.

So, if you’re grieving the loss of someone - the end of a relationship, the end of a life - maybe this will be cathartic. Maybe it could temporarily fill in for the therapy you've been avoiding, or couldn’t afford.

(Just kidding, I am absolutely not saying that last part.)

CREDITS

Fugues is written and produced by Mr. Gabriel Berezin

Playing the role of Gabe, Inner Gabe, Food vendor, Inner Voice and Dr. Hans Bob Zimmerman is....... Mr. Gabriel Berezin

Playing the role of program announcer and script editor.......Ms. Monty Montan

Playing the role of Brian Cox is.......Mr. Tim Lappin

Playing the role of the "sneeze paradigm" sneezer.......Ms. Lulu Montan-Berezin

In the orchestra pit, playing original compositions........Mr. Grant Zubritsky

Artwork and logo design....... Mr. Justin Montan

Special thanks to Oliver Turner for extra voiceover and Dr. Robert Berezin for insights based on his book, “The Play of Consciousness in the Theater of the Brain”

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Ever been to a group meditation? How did you feel? Third eye open and a blissful permagrin? Or awkward and self conscious?

Fugues is back with a new talk show that measures gullibility and skepticism using a powerful scale. This new spectrum is defined by Larry David, Woody Harrelson, Betty White, Bill Murray and cats (not the musical).

Gabe and his Inner voice co-host discuss the neurological and psychological mental phenomena activated during a Brooklyn meditation retreat.

Find out what a Burger King Whopper has to do with our experience of time, and why getting picked last on the dodgeball court explains our cultural divide.

This is Part 1 of a 3-part series.

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Written and produced by Gabriel Berezin

Original music by Santiago Arias-Rozo

Opening and closing music by Monuments (featuring Grant Zubritsky (bass), Robby Sinclair (drums) and Bryan Murray (saxophone), Gabriel Berezin (guitar))

Script editing by Melissa "Monty" Montan

Logo design by Justin Montan

Follow Fugues: Substack | X | Instagram | Threads | TikTok

References:

• Thinking about the Future (aka prospection)
• We aren’t meant to live in the moment (NYT)
• Guru podcast
• James Arthur Ray back at it
• Oprah doesn’t have a great track record on picking gurus (just saying)
• Physical pain and social rejection study
• Mediclub