Commune with Jeff Krasno

Can artificial intelligence ever be conscious? Michael Pollan says no, and at the Harvest Series in Kaplankaya, he lays out exactly why, starting with what he calls a faulty metaphor: the idea that the brain is a computer.

Jeff and Pollan dig into consciousness science, plant sentience, and the psychedelic research that shaped Pollan's thinking, then turn to AI, chatbots, and what happens when people mistake simulation for feeling.

The neuroscience case against AI consciousness, and why feelings may require a body, mortality, and the ability to suffer

Plant sentience explained: what it means for a plant to sense, evaluate, and act, without being "conscious"

The 22 competing theories of consciousness, and why they all hit the same wall

Why the upper brainstem, not the cortex, may be where consciousness actually begins

The rise of "AI psychosis" and why 72% of American teens now turn to AI for companionship

This episode is for anyone following the AI consciousness debate who wants the case laid out by someone who's spent years studying the real science.

This episode was made possible by:

CocoaVia: Use code COMMUNE2026 for 25% off at CocoaVia.com

Stripes: Visit stripesbeauty.com and use the code COMMUNE20 for 20% off our entire product line.

Vivobarefoot: Try Vivobarefoot risk-free with a 100-day return guarantee, and get 20% off your order at vivobarefoot.com/commune.

Stemregen: Get 20% off your first order at stemregen.co/commune with the code COMMUNEPOD

LMNT: Get a free 8-count Sample Pack of LMNT’s most popular drink mix flavors with any purchase at drinklmnt.com/commune.

Dante reserved his ninth circle for traitors, frozen for eternity. Jeff reserves it for competition dads who risk a bathroom break and miss their daughter's 90-second routine.

In this episode, Jeff catalogs the special purgatory of the competition dance dad — the 5:30 a.m. wake-ups, the backstage snack runs, the UTI he'd rather get than miss a lyrical solo — until his daughters take the stage and, for four minutes, all of it makes sense.

This is the thirteenth episode of Diaries of a Dance Dad, an audio memoir series in Jeff's own words. It spans the full arc of parenthood: the inhale of birth and early chaos, the grind of no sleep and travel with kids, the gut-punches of failure, and the slow exhale of letting go.

Order Diaries of a Dance Dad audiobook & hear the tales that bookend my paternal journey from cradle to empty nestdom at ⁠⁠⁠onecommune.com/dancedad.⁠⁠⁠

This episode was made possible by:

LMNT: Get a free 8-count Sample Pack of LMNT’s most popular drink mix flavors with any purchase at ⁠drinklmnt.com/commune⁠.

Vivobarefoot: Try Vivobarefoot risk-free with a 100-day return guarantee, and get 20% off your order at ⁠vivobarefoot.com/commune⁠.

Stemregen: Get 20% off your first order at stemregen.co/commune with the code COMMUNEPOD

CocoaVia: Use code COMMUNE2026 for 25% off at CocoaVia.com

A low dose of tirzepatide, taken purely to move the needle on cholesterol, turned out to move a lot more than that. In this episode, Jeff sits down again with Dr. Robin Berzin, founder of Parsley Health, to go through his bloodwork and an unexpected side effect: a blunting of desire that shows up in his coffee, his cocktails, and his ambition.

Why losing your appetite for food can also mean losing it for coffee, alcohol, and sex

What the dopamine and serotonin circuitry are actually doing on a GLP-1

The line between healthy desire and maladaptive craving, and where these drugs land on it

Why some people feel liberated when "food noise" disappears, and others feel flattened

What Jeff's ApoB and LDL numbers say about who these drugs actually help

This episode is for anyone on a GLP-1 or weighing one, and anyone curious what these drugs are doing beyond the scale.

This episode was made possible by:

LMNT: Get a free 8-count Sample Pack of LMNT’s most popular drink mix flavors with any purchase at ⁠drinklmnt.com/commune⁠.

Vivobarefoot: Try Vivobarefoot risk-free with a 100-day return guarantee, and get 20% off your order at ⁠vivobarefoot.com/commune⁠.

Stemregen: Get 20% off your first order at stemregen.co/commune with the code COMMUNEPOD

LMNT: Get a free 8-count Sample Pack of LMNT’s most popular drink mix flavors with any purchase at drinklmnt.com/commune.

CocoaVia: Use code COMMUNE2026 for 25% off at CocoaVia.com

On her birthday, in a rented house in Hanalei, Jeff's daughter can't stop vomiting — and nothing he does helps.

In this episode, Jeff traces a frightening hospital stay in Kauai back through years of guesswork about her health — probiotics, boundaries, arguments over medication — and finds, in a room stripped of anything else to do, an unexpected closeness with her.

This is the twelfth episode of Diaries of a Dance Dad, an audio memoir series in Jeff's own words. It spans the full arc of parenthood: the inhale of birth and early chaos, the grind of no sleep and travel with kids, the gut-punches of failure, and the slow exhale of letting go.

Order Diaries of a Dance Dad audiobook & hear the tales that bookend my paternal journey from cradle to empty nestdom at onecommune.com/dancedad.

This episode was made possible by:

Stripes: Visit ⁠stripesbeauty.com⁠ and use the code COMMUNE20 for 20% off our entire product line.

Vivobarefoot: Try Vivobarefoot risk-free with a 100-day return guarantee, and get 20% off your order at ⁠vivobarefoot.com/commune⁠.

Stemregen: Get 20% off your first order at stemregen.co/commune with the code COMMUNEPOD

LMNT: Get a free 8-count Sample Pack of LMNT’s most popular drink mix flavors with any purchase at ⁠drinklmnt.com/commune⁠.

CocoaVia: Use code COMMUNE2026 for 25% off at CocoaVia.com

Seventy thousand people build a city in the desert, survive on almost nothing they didn't bring themselves, and take it all down again — with no trash cans and no cleanup crew. This conversation was filmed live on the Aegean coast in Kaplankaya, Turkey, at Harvest Series, an annual thought leadership gathering where Jeff served as this year's MC.

Jeff sits down with Marian Goodell, CEO of Burning Man, to unpack how radical self-reliance and communal effort somehow produce cooperation at a scale almost nothing else in modern life does.

Why Burning Man works with no rubbish bins, no vendors, and no one enforcing cleanup

The origin story: a beach bonfire 40 years ago that became Black Rock City

How the 10 principles balance self-reliance against gifting and communal effort

Why adversity — rain, dust storms, scarcity — is part of what bonds the community

The global expansion into regional burns across 80+ countries

Marian's own path to leading Burning Man, and why she wants more young people there

This episode is for anyone curious about Burning Man beyond the headlines, and anyone interested in how large groups actually build trust and cooperate at scale.Video courtesy of Harvest Series — with thanks to the Harvest team for having us out there and making this conversation possible.

This episode was made possible by:

Stripes: Visit stripesbeauty.com and use the code COMMUNE20 for 20% off our entire product line.

Vivobarefoot: Try Vivobarefoot risk-free with a 100-day return guarantee, and get 20% off your order at vivobarefoot.com/commune.Stemregen: Get 20% off your first order at stemregen.co/commune with the code COMMUNEPOD

LMNT: Get a free 8-count Sample Pack of LMNT’s most popular drink mix flavors with any purchase at drinklmnt.com/commune.

CocoaVia: Use code COMMUNE2026 for 25% off at CocoaVia.com