Joe Rogan Experience #2359 - Mike Maxwell

Joe Rogan reconnects with longtime friend and artist Mike Maxwell, who designed the JRE logo roughly 15 years ago. The two trade stories about the creative process, describing how painting and writing seem to 'paint themselves' once the work takes over, much like flow states in jiu-jitsu. They dig into self-destructive artists, intermittent fasting and cutting sugar, the dangers of medicating kids with Adderall and Ritalin, and the value of difficult pursuits for self-knowledge. A long stretch covers political corruption and congressional insider trading, before the conversation winds down on dogs, breeding, and the wonders of evolution.

• Mike Maxwell reveals he hand-drew the JRE logo around episode 10, about 15 years ago, and still has the original ink drawings.
  00:00:01
• Joe offers on the spot to hook Mike up with a TRT/blood-work appointment before his flight that same night.
  00:39:57
• Joe and Mike dissect Nancy Pelosi's deflection in an Anderson Cooper interview, citing her household portfolio's 71% rise and ~$400M net worth.
  01:24:40
• They argue congressional insider trading is bipartisan, naming members from both parties who beat the S&P 500 average.
  01:31:27
• Discussion of Derek Moneyberg earning a jiu-jitsu black belt in ~3.5 years; Joe argues elite private coaching plus daily work is a legitimate 'cheat code.'
  01:39:46
• Claim that almost one in three pilots in Pakistan held fake licenses, with 262 pilots having paid others to sit their exams.
  01:45:24
• Joe notes that until ~20 years ago, genome sequencing wasn't clear that ALL dog breeds descend from wolves.
  02:15:30

• Persistence hunting works because prey animals lack sweat glands and overheat, while humans can run them down over distance.
  00:14:40
• Mike says cutting out sugar this year made a 'humongous' difference and he lost 15 pounds.
  00:39:28
• Joe explains eating fat and protein lets the body run on ketones and gluconeogenesis, so you don't get famished the way carbs cause.
  00:45:45
• Pressfield's 'The War of Art' frames creativity as professionally showing up to 'summon the muse' every day.
  00:51:58
• The FBI surveilled Ernest Hemingway for decades, tapping his phones and mail; his 'paranoia' turned out to be real.
  01:09:08
• Mike recounts nearly throwing an aggressive stranger via jiu-jitsu instinct but stopping because the man's loose dog might run into traffic.
  01:56:52
• Joe switched his golden retriever to a raw/fresh food diet (The Farmer's Dog, Maev), citing big changes in coat, energy, and less farting.
  02:06:41
• Fruit evolved to encase seeds in delicious flesh so animals spread them; the seeds themselves can contain cyanide and be toxic if chewed.
  02:16:02