CHAPTERS
- 0:03 – 0:36
Mic check and the unexpected connection: The Culture High
Joe gets Howard set up on the mic and they jump in immediately. Howard reminds Joe they previously appeared together in the documentary The Culture High, alongside big names like Richard Branson and Snoop Dogg.
- •Audio/mic positioning and going live
- •Howard and Joe’s prior on-screen overlap in The Culture High
- •Quick rapport-setting before deeper topics begin
- 0:36 – 2:22
Fifteen years bedridden: ME/CFS and the day everything changed
Howard describes a severe case of ME/CFS (formerly framed as chronic fatigue syndrome), including years of being too weak to speak or tolerate another person in the room. He recounts the sudden onset on March 10, 1988 and the rapid collapse from normal functioning to disability.
- •ME/CFS severity: inability to speak, extreme sensitivity, isolation
- •Loss of future plans and the psychological impact of chronic illness
- •Sudden onset date and the cascading decline after a trip/interview
- •Having to exit and give away his music-industry PR firm
- 2:22 – 12:24
Rebuilding a self online: computers in bed, writing, and identity
Unable to sit upright, Howard adapts by working horizontally with a custom computer setup. He explains what he means by “rebuilding a personality” through online communities and writing—creating a functional existence when his physical self couldn’t perform.
- •Learning that sitting drained his limited energy; working fully horizontal
- •Early multi-computer setup and controlling devices from bed
- •Joining email-based scientific groups via Napoleon Chagnon’s introduction
- •Einstein’s influence: turning complex science into clear writing
- •Writing and online interaction as a lifeline during isolation
- 12:24 – 21:06
Trial-and-error recovery: doctors, protocols, shots, meds, and sleep strategy
Howard outlines how little mainstream medicine could offer and how he and another patient searched for workable treatments. He details his daily injection mix (including oxytocin), key medications like gabapentin, and a lifestyle system built around split sleep, movement, and controlled stimulation.
- •Lack of definitive tests/causes for ME/CFS and limited doctor guidance
- •Daily injections: magnesium, B12 (cyanocobalamin), and oxytocin
- •Gabapentin as a pivotal stabilizer; caution about changing protocols
- •Two-phase sleep schedule driven by insomnia and bodily feedback
- •Lifestyle stack: walking, cafes, music (Pandora), community-building
- 21:06 – 24:03
A mind that refuses one lane: space work, many projects, and being ‘typed’
Howard describes his present-day intensity: multiple simultaneous projects spanning books, film, and space advocacy. He explains why specialization feels like a trap and why he needs many domains at once to build a “big picture.”
- •Co-designing and advising on space-related initiatives (National Space Society)
- •Why he avoids being labeled as “the space guy” (or any single identity)
- •Autodidact habits: broad reading and integrating disciplines
- •The “eagle over the landscape” vs. “mole digging one hole” metaphor
- 24:03 – 40:36
The mechanics of mass ecstasy: Hitler rallies, rock concerts, and human longing
Howard connects his lifelong interest in ecstatic experiences to the forces that shape history—using Hitler’s rallies as a disturbing but instructive case. He argues these states can be engineered through performance, symbolism, and supernormal emotional triggers, and parallels them to rock concerts.
- •Why Hitler’s staged events and preaching style produced ‘ecstatic’ crowds
- •The need to understand dangerous mass psychology to prevent повторs/abuse
- •Rock concerts as modern, secular engines of collective ecstasy
- •Howard’s decision to avoid academic narrowness in favor of real-world observation
- 40:36 – 46:32
PR as ‘secular shamanism’: authenticity, shaping narratives, and critic groupthink
Howard reframes his music PR work as a process of locating an artist’s authentic self and translating it to the public. He tells stories about intense interviews (notably John Mellencamp) and describes how rock critics enforced conformity and reputational contagion.
- •Rejecting branding-for-its-own-sake; focusing on ‘exchange of soul’
- •Deep-dive interviews to uncover an artist’s real identity
- •Turning hostile press around for John Mellencamp
- •How peer pressure and consensus narratives can override direct evidence
- •Historical analogy: critics as ‘sheep’ (Thomas Carlyle)
- 46:32 – 52:54
Michael Jackson up close—and a detour into Howard’s always-on tech life
Howard describes Michael Jackson as uniquely awe-filled and hyper-perceptive—seeing “the infinite” in small details. The conversation briefly shifts to Howard’s gadget-heavy workflow, headphones, phone frustrations, and how tech supports his constant intake of information.
- •A vivid story of Michael reacting physically to visual design portfolios
- •Michael’s intensity of wonder and commitment to audience (“his kids”)
- •Howard’s ‘utility belt’ of devices: Kindles, headphones, and multitasking
- •Discussion of phones, headphone jacks, and tech friction in daily life
- 52:54 – 1:02:41
Reusable rockets and private space: Bezos vs. Musk and why NASA is stuck
Joe and Howard compare Blue Origin and SpaceX’s achievements in landing and reusing rockets. Howard argues political incentives and legacy contractors have trapped NASA in expensive, disposable systems that slow real progress.
- •Blue Origin’s repeated reuse within suborbital limits
- •SpaceX’s striking dual-booster landings and reuse trajectory
- •Critique of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) as a jobs-driven project
- •How throwaway rockets distort costs compared to aviation-style amortization
- •Campaign contributions and the ‘space-military-industrial complex’ dynamic
- 1:02:41 – 1:05:43
China’s big vision vs. America’s: the ‘highway in the sky’ and space mining
Howard broadens the lens to geopolitics, arguing China’s scale of infrastructure ambition could dominate the century. He frames a space economy—mining, lunar resources, and orbital industry—as a strategic counter-vision that requires more than just reusable rockets.
- •China’s ‘New Silk Road’ as a multi-trillion-dollar influence engine
- •Ports, infrastructure ownership, and long-horizon national planning
- •Asteroid resources and the economic promise of space mining
- •NASA’s missing role: habitats, mining tools, and lunar fuel infrastructure
- •Space as a civilizational-scale growth strategy (not just exploration)
- 1:05:43 – 1:22:59
Physics heresies: entropy, anti-entropy, and why ‘The God Problem’ argues science is off
Howard challenges conventional framing of entropy and argues the universe shows persistent order-building—from particles to galaxies to life. He explains why he thinks certain scientific “priesthood” concepts become shibboleths, and positions his book The God Problem as a corrective.
- •Entropy definitions as obscuring complexity rather than clarifying it
- •Universe as order-generating: quarks → particles → galaxies → stars
- •Critique of disciplinary gatekeeping and mandatory ‘beliefs’ in science
- •Origins of entropy framing in the steam engine metaphor
- •Claims of strong early reception for The God Problem
- 1:22:59 – 1:35:44
Nothing is isolated: quantum assumptions, the ‘global brain,’ and social cosmos thinking
Howard argues both physics and biology are fundamentally relational: no particle, organism, or human mind exists in isolation. He builds a “global brain” view using examples from gut bacteria, parasites, and beehive collective intelligence, where cooperation and competition generate emergent behavior.
- •Critique of ‘isolated particle’ models and constant measurement/influence
- •Global brain concept: individuals as neurons within larger systems
- •Microbiome as mood and behavior influencer; parasites as controllers (toxoplasmosis)
- •Beehive model: conformists vs. explorers and how innovation spreads
- •Evolution and knowledge as co-produced across species and environments
- 1:35:44 – 1:43:20
Energy engineering through routine: restrictive diet, cheat days, and sleeping after meals
Howard explains a tightly controlled diet and schedule he designed over decades to stabilize energy, mood, and concentration. He details his two-meal structure, nocturnal rhythm, and the logic behind planned indulgence and immediate sleep after eating.
- •Two-meal daily plan (tuna/avocado/mango; ground chicken/veg/fruit)
- •Precision and simplicity: premeasured frozen vegetables and fast prep
- •Weekly structure: limited ‘sauces/cheese’ day and full ‘anything’ day
- •Avoiding additives and working around suspected food allergies
- •Using sleep timing to bypass post-meal sluggishness and maximize focus
- 1:43:20 – 1:53:23
Searching for Satori to Berkeley nudism: the road to ‘Accidentally Started the ’60s’
Howard recounts dropping out of Reed College to find beatniks, Zen Satori, and a new kind of community—only to arrive early, before the decade “knew it was the ’60s.” He describes forming his own group in Berkeley and later turning those experiences into a book first drafted while he couldn’t speak.
- •Leaving college to seek beatnik culture and enlightenment
- •City Lights disappointment and hitchhiking up and down the West Coast
- •1962 timing: arriving before the hippie movement had a name
- •Life in a condemned Berkeley house, nudism, and social experiments
- •Writing How I Accidentally Started the ’60s during the mute/bedridden years
- 1:53:23 – 2:53:52
Coast to Coast ‘human computer’: UFO skepticism, supernormal stimuli, and climate as a modern dogma
Howard describes being an on-call generalist for Coast to Coast AM, while personally dismissing UFO culture as credulous. He then ties mass persuasion to “supernormal stimuli,” connects it to religion and apocalyptic narratives, and closes with a controversial framing of environmentalism/climate discourse as dogma—arguing for tech-driven climate stabilization and human responsibility.
- •Coast to Coast AM workflow, rapid research, and wide-topic commentary
- •Why Howard avoids UFO communities despite the show’s reputation
- •Supernormal stimuli: engineered triggers that hijack instinctive responses
- •End-times narratives across religion, politics, and cultural movements
- •Climate discussion taboo and conformity enforcement; emphasis on reversible tech solutions
