The Dawdlers
Harland Grant
Harland, a spectacularly untimely man, has stumbled his way deep into his 30’s without accomplishing anything that his society considers to be of value. He has put his Philosophy degree to questionable use, accumulating bio-survival tickets as a gas-station attendant, a groundskeeper, a retail store clerk, an online poker player, a software engineer, and a “serial entrepreneur” in various online marketplaces. But through it all has sustained one unremunerative enterprise that has captured his interest: consideration of Ideas. Reading, writing, talking, and thinking about ideas. Half cynical misanthropic nihilist, half technophilic transhumanist engineer– he bumps along on this vertiginous caravan across the domesticated west.
R.T.P. McKenna, aka “Ryan”, “Ry-Guy”, “C’ryan Ryan”, “Jerk”…
“Scientist”, Laugher, Schlepper
I have a background in evolution and Earth science. I got some of my own ideas about them too. The world being what it is, these professions took me around it and away from my eventually pregnant wife. Unnaturally, I chose family over career and it has left me in the joy and anguish of child rearing. Not kidding about the anguish. My spleen exploded when my son began going to fecalcare—I mean, daycare. I could cough in the Amazon and wipe out the whole basin of its peoples. Grim, I know, but this is my life now. Watch a baby be born and tell me I’m wrong.
A Segment
Harland and Ryan met at The Intellectual Cafe Meetup in Portland, Oregon. Two dawdlers, in their own ways, searching for some conversational fulfillment in the desolate landscape of 21st century urban America. Over time, they became friends, becoming founding members of a small group of fellow thinkers dubbed the Thermic Whims. For years these friends chipped out a space, in basements, bars, and cheap apartments, meeting for discussion and camaraderie until Harland, buffeted by the winds and whims of circumstance, ended up moving 2000 miles away. The Thermic Whims still keep in touch online, and at various times failed attempts have been made to construct and maintain a productive project. We’re as surprised as anyone that it appears to be sticking this time.
The Dawdler’s Philosophy Podcast
The Dawdler’s Philosophy is a Podcast about Ideas. One co-host a “scientist” and one a “philosopher”, each sharing a basic orientation for high-density, low-drama, apolitical, opinionated but dogma-free, relaxed, and hopefully entertaining intellectual engagement. Sometimes they talk about a prominent book, paper, or personage from the historical landscape. Sometimes they talk about a unique memetic creation of their own. Whatever the topic, they strive to provide a long form, in depth treatment that pushes each to the best of their ability to understand both the concepts and the arguments in their favor and opposed.
The image we use in our profile picture is by Albanian artist, Medi Belortaja. His work is excellent. The piece is called, “To Dawdle”.