In this episode of Curiosity Theory, hosts Dr. Dakotah Tyler and Justin Shaifer sit down with Dr. Taylor Cummings, educational psychologist and founder of The Self-Love Doc, for a conversation about what Western science gets wrong about knowledge, healing, and the human experience.

The discussion moves from her dissertation, titled The Miseducation of Taylor Cummings, and how colonial frameworks shaped what we call legitimate science, to what happens when you strip emotion, language, and African-centered ways of knowing out of the picture entirely. From there they get into embodiment and why most people have never been taught to understand their own bodies, how K-12 education kills curiosity before it ever gets started, and what self-love actually means when you look at it through the lens of educational psychology rather than a motivational caption.

The conversation also dives into her personal story of misdiagnosis, going on and then coming off an SSRI, and finding her own path to healing through identity and consciousness. She breaks down why depression and mental illness might be better understood as systems problems rather than individual failures, what evolutionary mismatch tells us about modern life, how African-centered and Akan healing traditions offer frameworks Western psychology is only beginning to catch up to, and why carbon, stardust, and the cosmos have more to do with self-knowledge than most people realize.

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro and meeting Dr. Taylor Cummings
00:03:00 The Miseducation of Taylor Cummings: her dissertation explained
00:04:20 How Western science stripped emotion and African knowledge from the picture
00:13:25 Embodiment: why we don't know our own bodies
00:14:17 How K-12 kills curiosity and what education gets wrong
00:19:00 What self-love actually means from a psychology perspective
00:22:00 Her personal journey: injury, community college, and trusted mentors
00:26:05 What psychology gets wrong about grief and loss
00:31:30 Her SSRI story: misdiagnosis, medication, and finding her own path
00:34:06 African-centered healing traditions and the Akan
00:42:14 Why depression might be a systems problem not a personal one
00:47:49 Evolutionary mismatch: we were never meant to live like this
00:56:00 Carbon, stardust, and what the cosmos has to do with consciousness
01:12:51 Consciousness, energy, and collective connection
01:25:13 The Decolonize Your Mind resource guide
01:26:06 Where to find Dr. Taylor

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Guests
Dr. Taylor Cummings | @theselflovedoc

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In this episode of Curiosity Theory, hosts Dr. Dakotah Tyler and Justin Shaifer sit down with Joshua Regis, co-founder and CEO of KritKarr, an AI-powered platform for auto repair, for a conversation about fixing one of the most broken industries in America, what the trades are actually worth, and who gets to write the future.

The discussion moves from Josh's path out of traditional school and into automotive work, how he discovered that a car contains every trade skill in existence, and how the flat rate pay system exploits the mechanics who keep the industry running. From there they get into what KritKarr is building, how AI diagnostics and mobile mechanics can bring trust and transparency back to auto repair, and why skilled trades are a six-figure opportunity that almost nobody is talking about.

The conversation also dives into whether robots will replace mechanics and why the human touch still matters, how automation is set to widen the wealth gap, the SpaceX IPO and what commercializing space actually means for regular people, whether we should be trying to colonize Mars before fixing things on Earth, and what Afrofuturism has to say about who controls the narrative of the future. It opens on the Tulsa Race Massacre and the question of what Black Wall Street could have become, and that thread runs underneath everything.

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro and meeting Joshua Regis
00:03:00 Black Wall Street, the Tulsa Race Massacre, and what could have been
00:07:28 Sci-fi, anime, and the Tony Stark effect
00:14:50 How Josh went from struggling in school to becoming a mechanic
00:15:44 Why a car contains every trade skill in existence
00:20:35 Flat rate vs hourly: how the auto industry underpays mechanics
00:27:42 What KritKarr is and how it works
00:29:55 Skilled trades as a six-figure career opportunity
00:35:00 Will robots replace mechanics? The human touch debate
00:41:56 Automation, the wealth gap, and universal basic income
00:50:56 The SpaceX IPO and what commercializing space actually means
00:57:08 Mars colonies: who benefits and at what cost?
01:00:18 Solar panels in space and the future of energy
01:07:50 Should we fix Earth before trying to leave it?
01:14:18 Afrofuturism, Black culture, and who controls the future's narrative
01:17:00 Where to find Josh and KritKarr

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Guests
Joshua Regis

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In this episode of Curiosity Theory, hosts Dr. Dakotah Tyler and Justin Shaifer sit down with Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, astrophysicist, cosmologist, writer, and author of Disordered Cosmos and the new The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry and the Cosmic Dream Boogie, for one of the most wide-ranging conversations the pod has had yet.

The discussion moves from how a blog post at Perimeter Institute became the seed of her first book, to what neutrinos actually are, why they are among the strangest particles in the Standard Model, and why they may have played a quiet but essential role in making life on Earth possible. From there they get into Population III stars, how the first heavy elements ever got made, and the surprisingly contested question of what separates a galaxy from a globular cluster.

The conversation also dives into the philosophy of science and Dr. Prescod-Weinstein's concept of white empiricism, the idea that white supremacy and patriarchy shape what counts as legitimate knowledge and who gets treated as a credible scientist. She talks about what her new book offers readers who are skeptical that physics is for them, why the cosmos is a Black aesthetic, how hip hop and Big K.R.I.T. ended up in a physics book, and why access to a dark night sky is a social justice issue, not just an astronomy one.

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro and meeting Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
00:02:30 How a blog post became Disordered Cosmos
00:04:50 Blue Sky, Threads, and whiteness in online spaces
00:09:00 Being one of few Black women at the frontier of physics
00:11:45 Science communication, community accountability, and the book-before-tenure risk
00:15:27 What are neutrinos? Three flavors and oscillation explained
00:25:00 Why neutrinos may be essential to life on Earth
00:30:00 Population III stars and the origin of every heavy element
00:35:00 What makes a galaxy? Globular clusters, dark matter, and contested definitions
00:44:55 Neanderthal DNA and an unexpected dental tangent
00:49:40 Philosophy of science and the concept of white empiricism
00:52:00 How white supremacy and patriarchy shape what counts as valid science
01:02:30 The Edge of Spacetime: what readers can expect
01:04:48 Poetry, hip hop, and the cosmos as a Black aesthetic
01:08:40 Objectivity, mythology, and storytelling in science
01:14:00 Dark sky access as a social justice issue
01:19:52 Who science is written for and to
01:23:14 On courage, haters, and Kat Williams
01:25:18 Where to find Dr. Chanda and her books

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Guests
Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

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