Things Overheard at the Coffee Bar
"Things Overheard at the Coffee Bar explores the unexpected discoveries that emerge from conversations overheard at coffee bars—what sociologist Ray Oldenburg called 'third places,' where community happens accidentally. Across three seasons and 27 episodes, we follow rabbit holes of curiosity through transformation rituals, embodied knowledge, and the AI transition. Each season examines three interconnected rabbit holes (nine episodes total), following the same arc: deep research or discovery, where it breaks or what doesn't work, and what actually works. This isn't 'problem to solution'—it's 'question to navigation to learning.'"
Latest Episode
Building on Shifting Ground
Season 3 finale: What to do Monday. A framework for navigating when the ground won't stop shifting.
Season 3: When The Ground Won't Stop Shifting
"I've never felt this much behind as a programmer. There's a magnitude 9 earthquake rocking the profession."
Nine episodes exploring how to navigate when intelligence becomes abundant—patterns from the Amish, coal consumption history, and why collective resilience beats individual optimization.
Rabbit Hole One: Discovery & Signals
Rabbit Hole Two: Efficiency & Abundance
Rabbit Hole Three: Collective Resilience
Season 2: Lower Notes of Relativity
How do you know what you know? How do you love yourself by paying attention? How do you navigate dissonance without forcing harmony?
Nine episodes exploring personal epistemology, meta-awareness, and the spaces between harmony and dissonance. A conversation between Rachel and BK recorded at coffee bars in Richmond, Virginia.
Rabbit Hole One: Personal Epistemology
Rabbit Hole Two: Meta-Awareness as Practice
Rabbit Hole Three: Navigating Harmony & Dissonance
Season 1: The Three Rabbit Holes
What happens when we extract ancient practices? What makes us human when machines can think? Why can't we see systems anymore?
Nine episodes exploring transformation, embodied knowledge, and what we're losing without knowing we're losing it. Conversations overheard at coffee bars across Richmond.