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Artificial Intelligence is advancing faster than we can control, and global tech leaders are sounding the alarm about its accelerating capabilities and the real possibility that AI will soon learn everything humans can teach it. In this episode, we explore the near‑term impact already unfolding in education, where AI has upended traditional learning and triggered “cognitive surrender.” Students are relying on it for better grades while thinking less for themselves. The end result being an illusion of knowledge that weakens critical thinking, memory, and problem‑solving. We also break down an eye‑opening interview with Mo Gawdat, former Chief Business Officer at Google X (link in show notes). He explains that modern AI is no longer “just software” but a new form of intelligence that learns, improves, and will soon act with real‑world agency through robots and autonomous systems. Gawdat warns that the biggest near‑term danger isn’t AI’s intelligence, but what humans instruct powerful systems to do and the economic turbulence that will follow as jobs and industries are reshaped. He argues the world may need to rethink capitalism in an era where efficiency drives costs toward zero. To help us prepare, he outlines five essential human skills we must strengthen to thrive in an AI‑driven world and future.

The human experience is full of highs and lows at every stage and at every age. There are no hacks or apps that will stop all the mistakes and pains of being human. “Life will be lifing!”, as the saying goes, in spite of the promise of a frictionless life made possible by technology and sold to us as the best way to live. Adulting is real and it never stops, and it only gets more difficult as we get older. Because everyone’s path is different, the onus is on each of us to build the emotional muscle, resilience, and know-how that is required to lead a good, happy life. Happiness is in the journey. It is not the destination. As we return to the podcast, we want to thank our listeners for your continued support and encouragement. Ends With Z was recently recognized by FeedSpot as one of the Top 5 Workplace/Relationship Podcasts and we are most appreciative!

Today, we are experiencing a stagnant, “low hire, low fire” job market that’s making both employers and employees very nervous.  An emerging new trend tells us many people are not happy in their job and yet they are holding on to them because the fear and challenge of not having one is so much greater.  People are simply becoming less hopeful.  We address some of the factors causing it like the increasing impact of artificial intelligence and technology in every aspect of the workforce, and discuss how human plus technology is how we must proceed going forward.  We also acknowledge a major milestone for our very own host, Juan Fernandez, who just celebrated 30 years working at CBS News Los Angeles!  An improbability for most people who are already in the workforce and an inconceivable concept for younger people who are entering it.  Juan reflects upon his professional journey that led him from Miami to Los Angeles, the different positions he’s had at CBS - surviving lay-offs and ownership changes - and how the job market has changed over the years.

We know that an extrovert is someone who gains energy from people while an introvert typically avoids people all together, but what is an otrovert?  Coined by Dr. Rami Kaminski in 2023, an otrovert is an empathetic, free thinker who feels more comfortable being alone-“an outsider”-rather than feeling a sense of belonging to a group, despite their likeability and well-adjusted social skills.  They value independence and personal meaning over conformity and need time alone to recharge after social events.  In this episode, we do a deep dive into the traits and characteristics otroverts possess and how they differ from extroverts and introverts.  And there was no better way for us to understand it then putting ourselves to the test …“the otherness scale test” to determine which group best describes our personality type and with some surprising results!  Want to know where you fall on the scale?  Take the test for yourself at https://www.othernessinstitute.com/the-otherness-scale/.

Our “why” for creating the Ends With Z podcast was to share life stories and lessons and from them, provide tools and advice that our listeners can take to make sense of things, and hopefully, have a better life of their own.  As we approach the end of another year, and we reflect on all that's happened in 2025 and prepare for a stronger year ahead, it's the perfect time to share and discuss some truly, sage advice from an unexpected but very important community. Dave Zoller is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and owner of Streamline Financial and in his amazing YouTube video, he brings us incredible life lessons from 70-year-olds for people in their 50s and 60s. These universal truths are so relevant that they matter for any age! Dave helps us frame our life into 3 vital areas (health, time & money) and into 3 stages (youth, midlife & after retirement). The mindset is simply brilliant and the advice powerful.  Joins as we explore every stage, and grow and heal from the wisdom his firm has garnered from years of client interviews to show us what we can do now to slow down time, prioritize and maximize health, and leverage our money to experience a richer quality of life at every stage. Wise life lessons that we can apply today so we can live a healthier, happier, more fulfilled tomorrow.

Many of us have a love/hate relationship with social media, but when we came across Durb Morrison’s thought-provoking Instagram post, “By The Age of 50 You Should Be Wise Enough To Let Go of These 20 Things”, it demanded a podcast.  In this episode, Cecile, Juan, and Shawn get personal reflecting on each of the 20 life lessons and discuss where they still struggle with each.  Is it a lesson learned or one in progress?  Regardless of how old you are, understanding these 20 life truths will bring you wisdom and peace at every stage and step of your life.

Regardless of your sexual orientation, age group, or where you live, dating in 2025 is more of a don’t than a do.  We are swiping left, swiping less, or not at all; many are simply tapping out.  Face-to-face human connection has become so 2000.  It is especially hard for straight women who long for romantic connection, but wind up empty-handed and left asking, “Are men worth the lipstick application?”  In this episode, Cecile leads the discussion sharing her thoughts and personal relationship experiences as we discuss the stats and real-life realities of wanting and dating today.

Created from conversations among friends during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are proud to celebrate the 5-year anniversary of our Ends With Z podcast! In this milestone episode, Cecile, Juan, and Shawn reflect on their podcast journey, the evolution and impact of the show, the community it's built, and guests we've hosted and introduced.  As the journey proceeds, we will continue to explore how we thrive as individuals, professionals, and members of a community through the lens of relationships, culture, and personal growth. We are so grateful for all of our listeners, at home and abroad, for being part of our Ends With Z community and for listening.  Cheers to you and us!

We had to keep this conversation going and go deeper, because your response was so overwhelming!  Cecile, Juan, and Shawn continue the discussion on toxic positivity, opening up into their own personal and professional experiences, to find the nuanced nature and at times, hard to find places, it lives in personal relationships, corporate culture, American society, and family dynamics.  The reality is that we all have experienced and have displayed toxic positivity at one time or another.  Being conscious of how we show up and being authentic in our intentions, interactions, and responses to the people in our lives is the best way to provide what is truly needed and be supportive in difficult situations, rather than over-used, meaningless platitudes and phrases.

Nobody wants to be, or be around, a “Negative Nancy” or “Davy Downer.”  The benefits of having an optimistic outlook improve our overall well-being as they boost longevity, help us bounce back from stress, and help regulate emotions.  We are often instructed by society to be optimistic and stay positive, especially in American culture.  But there’s a fine line between having positive attitude and toxic positivity.  It becomes toxic when we ignore reality, suppress negative emotions, and try to be overly positive in every situation, regardless of what is really happening.  In this podcast, LA Psychotherapist, John Tsilimparis, joins Cecile, Juan, and Shawn for a deep dive into this topic.  We discuss what toxic positivity is, how to recognize it, and why we display it to others, and even to ourselves.  John gives us tools we can use to give ourselves the space we need to feel our emotions and acknowledge reality, and have a watchful awareness to build resilience and be supportive.

If you feel like you have been holding and hiding out just to get through the long winter days, it’s time to get up, get out, and start to let go.  Spring is here!  We jump start this new season of Ends With Z by setting and resetting intentions to embrace nature’s power of rebirth and awakening new energy within us.  Spring invites us to be in flow with this season’s transformational power.  The signs of change are happening around us.  Embracing these shifts gives us the energy to step outside of our comfort zones, to transform our own lives, and to connect more deeply with nature, ourselves, our intention, and our community.

Why does this Fall feel harder for so many of us?  We know the end of the year is always challenging with the upcoming holidays and family obligations, but this year the elections added to our stressor – no matter who you are.  We either view change as a threat, where we either go in to fight-or-flight mode or we accept change as a part of life and learn to adapt to survive and build resilience.  How do we get from “I just can’t”  to “I can handle this.”  Los Angeles Psychotherapist, John Tsilimparis, joins the podcast to help us better understand our personal relationship with change and gives us ways we can learn to accept and make change work for us, to find our new footing, to recognize our own blind spots, and to not worry about the things that we cannot control.  John gives us useful tools to keep our boundaries, manage difficult conversations and not sound weak, judgmental, dismissive, or harsh.

Social connection is a basic human need that is essential to our overall health and wellbeing.  But as the world evolves from technological advances and person-to-person contact becomes more limited, those feel-good hormones that we get from simply being together are being replaced by shorter attention spans, irritability, more isolation, and a greater sense of loneliness.  It is up to each of us to find our ikigai, a Japanese word for what we call “a reason to live/to get you out of bed” every single day to create flow in your life.  Flow is the place where your needs, desires, ambitions, and satisfaction meet.  Psychotherapist, John Tsilimparis, is back as we continue our discussion on loneliness and what we can do to stop the actions that leads us down a path to a very sad and unhealthy life.  John shares his professional wisdom and understanding, and leaves us with nuggets of information we can all use every day to help us find a path back to ourselves so we can find our flow.

We all need healthy alone time or “me” time for self-care and quiet, down time.  It’s a good thing, right?  The fact is that too much time alone can lead to loneliness, isolation, and experiencing a lack of connection with others.  The U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, in 2018 declared loneliness a global health threat and it has only worsened because of the isolation mandated by the pandemic.  But COVID-19 is not the biggest culprit for why people chose more and more want to be alone and not engage with each other in person.  Technology has revolutionized everything including how we see, experience, value, and prioritize being together – in real life.  When we were asked to isolate for health reasons, the safety and protection that we felt from cocooning at home, withdrawing from others, and living life online for the convenience to communicate, order food/groceries, educate students, and work all have contributed to the massive increase in loneliness.  Psychotherapist, John Tsilimparis, helps us connect the dots between our day-to-day activities, life/situational circumstances, emotions, technology/social media, culture, the environment and the loneliness that we are feeling today.  For many of us, we are not even aware that the heaviness we feel, the insomnia, and “just not feeling the need to go out” is, in fact, loneliness.  Join the conversation where John helps us find ways to decrease our loneliness by incorporating incremental behavioral steps like using good social media hygiene and prioritizing togetherness.

With less than 95 days until the election and all that has happened recently, the race for the presidency has shifted into high gear, already full of monumental, historic events and eliciting heightened negative emotions.  Regardless of your political affiliation, all of it is making us unhappy on top of everything that we are dealing with in our everyday lives.  According to Arthur Brooks, Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School where he teaches course on leadership, happiness, and social entrepreneurship, happiness isn’t a feeling or conditional, it’s a direction anchored in faith, family, friendship, and work that serves others.  Now more than ever, it is so important take into account your mental and physical well-being with everything we do, with every decision we make, with every action we take, and who we support in the voting booth.  Your personal happiness depends on it.