With the flattening of modern culture, many podcast guests have a homogeneous quality — they kind of talk from similar perspectives and in the same way (a bit like they’re giving a TED talk, with a “please like and subscribe” ethos burbling beneath). Which is entirely fine — doesn’t mean many of them aren’t gems with interesting things to say. But it’s always refreshing when we find a guest that Brett and I refer to as “speaking outside the matrix.” Which is to say, there’s something about their tone and thoughts that feels different than the norm. Oftentimes, the “outside the matrix” quality is found in older guests who haven’t been soaked in the social media milieu (like 80-year-old William Ian Miller), but occasionally it’s a younger guy like Ken who seems to operate outside mainstream currents.

On another note, I’m just grateful that at age 80 Miller was willing to talk about a book he wrote more than a quarter century ago!