Tangentially Speaking with Christopher Ryan

James grew up in suburban Chicago, studied philosophy in college, and after trips to Tanzania (living with the Hadza) and working on farms in New Zealand, he moved with his wife to Colorado’s San Luis Valley. They now run a 66-acre property where they’re raising a young son, planning to fence the land for a small bison herd, and running a business (PurePrairieLife.com) selling freeze-dried bison organ supplements. James also runs a cannabis-focused website.
Our conversation ranges from regenerative ranching to hunter-gatherer generosity norms versus Western individualism to religious hypocrisy to “ruthless compassion” — the idea that real kindness sometimes requires harsh boundaries (illustrated through killing rattlesnakes, ending relationships, and giving honest feedback). The episode closes on parenthood, mortality, and the possibility of “joyous grief.”


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Chris and I are old friends, from back in the 90s, when I lived in a mansion in Barcelona infested with fashion models. He and his lingerie-model girlfriend were my next-door neighbors. One night in Paris, Chris was drugged and raped by a man who moved in the same circles as many of the powerful, wealthy predators associated with Jeffrey Epstein.


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Following up on the previous ROMA where I explore the bird’s-eye view of AI. Is our behavior driven by a parasite? Is AI a self-replicating techno-virus? Is it “speciesist” to lament the demise of Homo sapiens as the next form of life rises from our ashes?

Somehow, my mic never got turned on, so this one is all-guest. The perfect episode! Lloyd is a builder, a writer, a photographer, a publisher, an athlete and a great friend.


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We dig into what it feels like to come of age under a permanent sense of "the world could end any moment," comparing Cold War duck-and-cover anxiety to a millennial generation shaped by 9/11, economic collapse, and climate dread. Anya shares thoughts about turning 38. We talk about our past lives, Anya’s formerly unhealthy focus on health, reckoning wit…