In this honest back-and-forth, Kevin recounts his recovery origins—high-school curiosity about psychology amid substance use, the frustration of pills and misdiagnoses that never touched the internal ache, and the mentor whose shared story finally created identification where nothing else did. He gets vulnerable about the cultural immersion that ended 26 years of fear toward Muslims, the universal question of “what are we afraid of?” that shifted his worldview, and why practicing detachment from outcomes after life’s unexpected detours like car accidents or border crossings allowed him to live more freely in the present as an existentialist who sees every person as equally deserving of love and respect.

Carissa Karban unpacks AstroPuffs, the iOS game her team is building with relational AI companions that remember you, build relationships,  ...