meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Back to Work

Episode 62: Cultural Molasses

Back to Work

5by5

Business, Society & Culture, Barriers, Dan Benjamin, Careers, Communication, Merlin Mann, Creativity, Work, Productivity, Constraints, Technology

4.72.3K Ratings

🗓️ 9 April 2012

⏱️ 63 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

TOPIC: Karmasucks, No-Sayers, and Black and White Thinking

Dan and Merlin consider the karmasucks and black and white thinking that lead to inertia and a culture of derision.

Anyone can laugh at an agenda, and it only takes one turd in the punchbowl to ruin the party, so don't ask permission, ask yes or no questions, and keep your judge behind your explorer.

Links for this episode:

Sponsored by Squarespace. Use offer code, turnsout for 10% off.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello, Merlin. Hey, it's that time. Are you are you ready to

0:06.4

ready? I'm ready. I'm ready. What was doing? I was born ready. We

0:12.2

checked the records.

0:17.5

What was that your battery again? This is a phone. iPhone.

0:21.7

There's a salt checker. Where's the Buddha? Tap the Buddha. See

0:26.7

here we go. Tap, tap. Yeah. It's very busy. A lot of base in the Buddha.

0:32.3

Plastic cat. Is that the little plastic cat, the waving cat, the one you find in the

0:37.3

Asian restaurants? Showing the what now? Oh, the little, the little good luck.

0:41.8

Kitty with the hand in the air. Yeah. That's got a kind of national

0:45.3

socialist thing to it, don't you think? I love it. Yeah. We've got a really,

0:50.0

I can actually photograph this for you, Dan Benjamin. We've got a... Look at me,

0:54.9

I have a camera. I'm Merlin Man. I sing and dance and take photos. Don't get, don't

1:00.2

even mention photos. I just promised an hour free. Now, you know what? Not important. But

1:06.0

there's a Chinese restaurant I go to and name... Is that racist? And we... They got a

1:12.0

Buddha in there for the good luck. And it's a Buddha. Every time I go in there, my

1:15.9

daughter asks me about it. I tell her a little bit about the Fat Man. So the Fat Man

1:18.9

is sitting there and he's golden. He's glistening. He's fat like hell and he's

1:23.7

sitting there in a fountain of fake gold coins like plastic extruded, like something just pooped

1:31.7

out this lucky Buddha thing. And like so many of the wonderful pieces, the wonderful water features

1:36.8

in my neighborhood. It features a spinning glass ball propelled by water. Well, Buddha sits

1:42.0

in a coin fountain. I'm guessing that's good luck. You know? I mean, what else can you do to

1:48.4

ruin the Fat Man at that point? Well, you know, there's two different Buddha statues,

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from 5by5, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of 5by5 and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.