A Day of Events: Hidden Brain, 20×2 Chicago

July 13, 2025

Big day, today! A while back I saw that Hidden Brain was doing a live tour! With Shankar Vedantam sharing insights spanning the ten year the podcast has been on the air.

I got two tickets, and realized later that they were on the same day I was slated to participate in 20×2 Chicago. Busy, busy day.

The event was at the Auditorium Theater (one of Liz’s favorite venues, but one I’d never been to before).

A very fun event, listening to Shankar telling stories. One interesting study he shared involved schoolchildren who were separated from their mobile devices. Not surprisingly, it found that these children remembered more/better, when their devices were inaccessible.

But the fascinating thing: some devices were in their pockets, some at the teacher’s desk, some in a locker in the hallway outside the classroom. This study found out that children remembered more the further away their devices were.

As a test, he asked everyone to turn off their phones – and our event turned into a small experiment as well.

One favorite observation that he shared from the show: cold and hot states. This description referred to how each of us can be in a very different state (cool representing a calm and stable state of mind; hot representing being in the throes of something, all immediacy and present-tense).

He gave an example of a friend who was a runner. In his “cold” state, he planned to run a certain number of miles and head up a steep hill. This was his friend the night before, resting at home and thinking about running.

In this friend’s “hot” state, they are sweating and exerting a lot of effort going up a hill. And in their minds, they hate running. It is unpleasant and they simply don’t want to do it.

Shankar mentioned how we sometimes make plans in a “cold” state, but those plans are executed by us in our “hot” state. A great example would be New Year’s resolutions (cold state promises on December 31, but the hot state has to execute every day in the new year). A very interesting way to look at the promises we make to ourselves.

We had just enough time to zip home, feed the bunnies, change, and hop right back to Wrigleyville for 20×2 Chicago.

And a huge bonus! Our friends from way out in the suburbs trekked in, to attend. I’m awed (and quite touched) that they’d slog through weekend traffic, just to come see me do something incredibly silly for 2 minutes.

L to R it’s Mike, Joe, Najwa, and Liz.

Standing in the wings waiting to go up. Snapped a photo of the crowd.

Post-show, with one of the props that landed near our table from one of the performers.

Leo, who joined me on stage… posing with goat that I would later learn he named “Monty”.

Though we just had two events to attend, the day felt like a whirlwind. Got to buzz around the city, and also got the chance to hang out with friends. A full day, all in all.