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