Team Human

This week we continue with part two of our special live recording of Team Human at Gray Area Foundation for the Arts in San Fransisco. Joining Douglas on stage is cyberculture pioneer, educator, artist, author, visionary, and shoe painter, Howard Rheingold. “Mind amplifiers,” “psychedelic signifiers,” and “the instrumental vs. the sacred” are just the tip of the iceberg in a conversation that explores how we got to this moment in technology and society... and ultimately where we hope to go. Following Rushkoff and Rheingold’s conversation, Sci-Fi author and technology journalist Annalee Newitz (hear Newitz's conversation in part 1) rejoins the team for a roundtable discussion and audience Q & A. If you are just discovering Team Human, check out last week’s Episode 75, featuring the first hour of this of this live show with guest Annalee Newitz. Patreon supporters have access to the complete uncut interview at patreon.com/teamhuman. Music heard on today’s show; “Walkabout” by Throbbing G

This week's Team Human comes to you recorded live at the historic Grand Theater in San Francisco's Mission District, home to Gray Area Foundation for the Arts. We'll be sharing four installments of this live event, kicking it off with a conversation with Annalee Newitz, author of the mind blowing sci-fi novel Autonomous, as well as prior work Scatter Adapt and Remember: How Humans will Survive a Mass Extinction, founder of I09, and journalist for outlets such as Ars Technica among many others.Annalee joins Douglas on stage to talk about artificial intelligence, autonomy, tech ethics, robot sex, saving the planet and more. It's a lively discussion, energized by the presence of a wonderful and welcoming audience.Rushkoff kicks off this live series with an excerpt from his Team Human Manifesto, an excellent primer on the motivation driving this podcast and the connections being forged through its members.Next week we'll pick up with part two of this live show, featuring cyberculture pioneer, educator, and artist

Playing for Team Human today is interdisciplinary thinker and technology philosopher Damien Williams. In this episode, Williams and Rushkoff look at the embedded biases of technology and the values programed into our mediated lives. How has a conception of technology as “objective” blurred our vision to the biases normalized within these systems? What ethical interrogation might we apply to such technology? And finally, how might alternative modes of thinking, such as magick, the occult, and the spiritual help us to bracket off these systems for pause and critical reflection? This conversation serves as a call to vigilance against runaway systems and the prejudices they amplify.Learn more about Damien’s work at http://www.afutureworththinkingabout.com/Rushkoff begins today’s show with a story from home. A well-meaning school administrator begins using social media to promote his school, posting pictures of students and classroom activities. As parents become upset, the question arises: Why is it so easy to lo

Playing for Team Human today, cyber security expert Eleanor Saitta. Eleanor shares her deep knowledge on building secure and robust digital ecosystems. As Eleanor and Douglas converse on issues of privacy, encryption, and surveillance, a set of thought-provoking insights about online identity and human to human connection emerges. Does empathy scale across our cyber connections? Or is it confusion and distrust that are most apt to scale? Conversing over a shaky and intermittent VoIP connection, the question at hand seems to materialize within the interview. Luckily Saitta and Rushkoff overcome technical hurdles and find rapport and connection in a unique conversation that ultimately asks;What is real? How do I know I am me? Is it safe? Opening today’s episode, Douglas looks back on the life of friend, cyber culture pioneer, and co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation John Perry Barlow. Rushkoff remembers Barlow and their shared optimism for cyberspace back in that hopeful moment before the

Playing for Team Human today is journalist, Boing Boing editor, Institute for the Future research director and recent Grammy Award Winning record producer David Pescovitz. Douglas spoke to David just days before he won the Grammy, with collaborators Tim Daly and Lawrence Azerrad, for best boxed or special limited-edition package for The Voyager Golden Record: 40th Anniversary Edition. The Voyager vinyl is an incredible artifact to hold and hear. The original Voyager Golden Records were launched on board the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft in 1977. Today these phonograph records are floating in interstellar space on Voyager 1 and at the edge of our solar system on Voyager 2. The records contain greetings, messages of peace, recordings of the “Sounds of Earth,” as well as an arresting collection of music from across the globe. The Voyager project continues to resonate as both a time capsule and a beacon of hope. Pescovitz, Daly, and Azerrad's meticulously sourced and documented 40th Anniversary vinyl release pays ho

Playing for Team Human today is world renowned social scientist and systems thinker, Merrelyn Emery. Emery, with her partner the late Fred Emery, advanced Open Systems Theory and applied it to management of organizations and government. Open Systems Theory, or OST is the idea that autocracies make for bad governments, companies, and organizations. In this conversation, Merrelyn and Douglas discuss the power of community and collective organizing. They also discuss the social environments conducive to true grassroots, systemic change. As Merrelyn explains it, “By working together with collective responsibility, people can regain control over their own affairs, in their own communities and organizations, by cooperating to meet shared goals rather than competing or peeling off as individuals to do ‘their own thing’.”Douglas begins todays show announcing the first of exciting new Team Human live events in 2018. Rushkoff will be hosting two evenings of no-holds-barred Team Human discussions in San Francisco at Gra

Playing for Team Human today is Danielle Butin, founder of the Afya Foundation. Afya collects and sends surplus medical supplies from the US to those who need them around the world. In today’s conversation with Douglas, Danielle shares not only stories of the good accomplished through Afya, but also a broader strategy for human intervention. How did Danielle, an occupational therapist and geriatric care provider, come to launch an organization that has shipped more than six million pounds of medical and humanitarian supplies into areas of crisis? Danielle describes the change that can come by the simple act of listening and then responding to need. She shares her zeal for deep human encounters and teaches that great ideas are "dancing among us” if we choose to be awake and aware enough to take notice.Douglas begins today’s episode with a monologue about the “might makes right” mentality that may just be the key to deconstructing the underpinnings of the racist rhetoric and policy so prominent under this admin

Playing for Team Human today is immersion experience artist and pioneer, Ghislaine Boddington. Ghislaine joins Douglas for a conversation about the nature of immersive technologies and how we might bring our bodies with us into the digital realm. Rather than diminish the role of the physical body, Ghislaine’s work celebrates the body as an integral part of enhanced immersive experience. As Creative Director at body>data>space Ghislaine’s art and practice embraces technologies that amplify connection, collectivity, and togetherness. In the course of their conversation, Ghislaine and Douglas discuss the virtues of such body-positive, community-minded use of tech while simultaneously questioning how we might we explore digital immersion in a way that avoids paving the way for those who would exploit us. Thus emerges the question, in the process of embedding digital devices within our physical selves, do we risk becoming the raw materials for the next frontier of technology-driven extractive capitalism? How

Playing for Team Human today is Stacco Troncoso of the P2P Foundation. Stacco brings with him deep knowledge and enthusiasm for the power of the commons. Stacco and the Commons Transition team put their faith in people, believing in the potential of diverse, empowered communities to address complex problems. Far from a utopian fantasy, P2P offers a wealth of resources including models from groups who have already successfully transitioned to a commons approach in governance, finance, and culture. Stacco and crew have just launched a new Commons Transition Primer, loaded with case studies and beautifully designed research on ways to make the commons transition a reality in your community.Today’s show features music interludes composed, recorded, and performed by our guest, Stacco Troncoso. Overlaid are excerpts from a talk Stacco gave at Prix Ars in 2016. The page header illustration is from the Commons Transition Primer website, by Mercè Moreno Tarrés. Our opening song is Foreman's Dog by Fugazi.Opening today

Genesis Breyer P-Orridge has been one of my dearest and most human friends for the past few decades. Gen’s a musician, icon, cut-and-paste artist, occultist, and pandrogyne with whom I’ve worked and played in many ways over the years. Gen founded The Coum Transmissions, Throbbing Gristle, and Psychic TV, with whom I played keyboards in the early 2000’s. Gen also embarked on a very personal cut-and-paste experiment with partner Jackie, where they both sought to unite through psychic and physical remixing. Gen is currently challenged with a case of leukemia and has to stay close to the oxygen machine. But it seemed like a good excuse to bring out the portable recorder (generously funded by our Patreon subscribers!) and have a conversation. Visit the GoFundMe Campaign for Genesis Breyer P-Orridge https://www.gofundme.com/genesis-breyer-porridgeStephen decided to leave this mostly unedited, to give y’all a taste for what it’s like to sit in Gen’s apartment and just have a real conversation. Don’t w

Playing for Team Human today, occult scholar and author Mitch Horowitz. Mitch, the author of Occult America (Bantam); One Simple Idea: How Positive Thinking Reshaped Modern Life (Crown); and Mind As Builder: The Positive-Mind Metaphysics of Edgar Cayce(A.R.E. Press) joins Douglas for a conversation about the shared histories of magic, capitalism, and American political thought. It’s a conversation that asks questions about the nature of the mind and the power of enthusiasm. What about optimism? What about celebration? What about anomalous behavior? Horowitz and Rushkoff make an argument for the progressive power of wild possibility – including the possibility that humans are not reducible to mere fleshy robots. The music you hear in the intro and outro is thanks to Fugazi and Dischord Records. In the middle is a clip by Team Human friend and episode 31 guest, RU Sirius. Please share a review of Team Human on iTunes. Thank you for sustaining

Playing for Team Human today is Erin Barnes co-founder of ioby. Ioby (in our backyards) is a “crowd-resourcing” platform for citizen-led, neighborhood-focused projects. Rather than just raise money, ioby mobilizes civic engagement by putting resources in the hands of local leaders who want to steward positive change in their neighborhoods. Erin shares with Douglas how ioby harnesses the power of solidarity and real world connection. In doing so, ioby not only ignites civic participation, but also flips the script on the NIMBY mentality (not in my backyard). Ioby demonstrates the positive potential of local communities playing an active role in shaping public spaces and creating public good.Visit ioby.org to learn about the many diverse community efforts and start your own project today!Opening today’s show, Rushkoff looks at the reversal of subject and object, figure and ground. Have we lost perspective on the two?The music you hear in the intro and outro is thanks to Fugazi and Dischord Records. In

What can we learn from a mere handful of dirt? For Nikki Silvestri, soil is both a metaphor and the literal “fertile” ground through which complexity and diversity thrive. Having worked on issues of food systems, sustainability, and public health, Silvestri describes soil as the link through which to engage in the work of building community, resilience, and social equity. Today, in her conversation with Douglas Rushkoff, Silvestri offers a unique approach to systems thinking, grounded in a deep sense of humility in the face the immensely complex natural systems that thrive just below our feet. Nikki Silvestri is the founder of Soil and Shadow and the the former executive director of Green for All and the People's Grocery. Visit http://www.nikkisilvestri.com and https://www.soilandshadow.com/ to learn more about Nikki and her work.Today Douglas launches the show with a monologue on the Republican tax plan and the ulterior motives behind who it targets. Team Human intro and outro music are thanks

Playing for Team Human today are Frances Moore Lappé and Adam Eichen from the Small Planet Institute. Lappé and Eichen are out on the road with a mission to reinvigorate “civic courage” and inclusive participation in democracy. Their latest book Daring Democracy Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want offers a diagnosis of what has come to ail our democracy and recommends the necessary cures, offering concrete examples of ballot initiatives, reforms, and collective organizing happening across the country. Counter to a despairing narrative on the current state of democracy in the U.S., Lappé and Eichen argue that people are indeed rising to take the reigns. Inspired by examples of deep organizing and the convergence of movements in places such as Democracy Spring, Democracy Awakening, and Occupy Wall Street, Lappé and Eichen see power shifting back into the people’s hands. Their analysis of how we got to where we are, coupled with their passion and optimism for change, is both contagiou

Today on Team Human, we share a conversation with author, musician, humorist, and culture hacker Hugh Gallagher. Gallagher began his professional writing career thanks in part to a college entrance essay that went viral in the 90s, earning the distinction of being an early, if not the first, internet comedy meme. With lines like, “I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice... I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes…” Gallagher broke the mold, winning a national writing award, a beer with John Kennedy Jr., and a gig writing for Rolling Stone. Douglas and Gallagher look back on Gen X culture hacking, discuss the professional career landscape for creatives, and talk about the inspiration behind Hugh’s latest novel Lifted, a work of digital fiction available via Radish Fiction. It’s a freewheeling Team Human conversation that embraces stepping out of binaries and defaults, and embracing the fringes.All

Net impresario Tim O’Reilly now recognizes how the short-term focus of digital business is draining the real economy. Its algorithms have been programmed to extract value from us all. For O’Reilly, however, the solution is not to eliminate algorithms, but to write better ones. If there’s an argument to made for technosolutionism, O’Reilly makes as good a case as there is. Rather than confronting O’Reilly on their differences, Rushkoff engages him, pushes gently, finds common ground, and looks to develop a shared approach to our economic woes. Also, Rushkoff opens the show with a question: while the advance of technologies and our eagerness for the new may be inevitable, where in the process of on-boarding might we fold in human values? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human today is Neal Gorenflo from Shareable.net. Neal joins Douglas to spread the word about Shareable’s latest resource, Sharing Cities: Activating the Urban Commons. Sharing Cities is an inspiring collection of 137 case studies and policies across a wide spectrum of issues that show how empowered communities are building citizen-run, democratic solutions using commons thinking.Whether it be the grassroots artist organization Club Cultural Matienzo (CCM) that formed in Buenos Aires to build a cultural commons for the local arts scene in wake of a tragic nightclub fire, or land stewardship activists in Brooklyn reclaiming public space for urban farming and community gardening, Sharing Cities is filled with projects and policies ready to replicated and implemented in your community.You can Contribute to Shareable for a hard copy or E-Book copy, or download a free pdf of Sharing Cities from Shareable.net:https://www.shareable.net/contribute (the free PDF is bottom right on this page)An exc

A high school basketball team organizes a canned food drive. A church volunteer group restocks the local pantry with donations from Walmart. Both examples are seemingly positive portrayals of American civic engagement… So what’s wrong with this picture?Playing for Team Human today is Andy Fisher, author of Big Hunger: the Unholy Alliance Between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger Groups. In the book, Fisher tackles the big question of why chronic hunger and food insecurity persist despite the efforts of food banks, pantries, and charity. Fisher’s suggests that our effort to solve hunger with charity is missing a crucial component that would transform stopgap measures into long-term solutions. Join Douglas and Andy as they take a critical look at the what Fisher calls the “non-profit industrial complex," while looking toward a future where social equity figures into the equation of ending hunger in America. Purchase Big Hunger from your favorite local book seller or at bighhunger.org.Special thanks to

What is a robot? Are robots our friends? Does the term “friend” even apply? So begins this week’s episode of Team Human with cyborg anthropologist Amber Case. Amber and Douglas look at how algorithmically programmed systems of automation and control might just be turning us into the robots. Case’s recent book, Calm Technology Design For the Next Generation of Devices proposes another way. How might we flip the script on systems that compress and atomize our every move? How might we use our technology to slow down rather than speed up – to resolve to sharper human detail rather than a pixelated blur. And finally, how might we use technology, including this podcast, to advance a slow-motion, empathetic, and deep state of calm? Rushkoff begins with a monologue on the Jewish high holidays. Is prayer a distraction to the real world work of justice that must be done, or is there something deeper and more communal to retrieve?Learn more about Amber Case here: http://caseorganic.com/Our intro theme is Foreman’s

Playing for Team Human today is Post Carbon Institute fellow Richard Heinberg. Richard is the co-author of Our Renewable Future and most recently, the manifesto, There’s No App For That. On today’s show Richard and Douglas challenge the idea that technological “progress” is a panacea for solving systems-level crises like climate change. Richard’s work calls on us to look at the fundamental ethical problems underlying climate issues such as overshoot, unsustainable growth, and inequality. Heinberg then challenges us to step out from hiding behind our technologies and acknowledge the deliberate moral intervention that is urgently needed if we are to foster a more resilient and more just community and ecosystem.Check out Richard’s manifesto, There’s No App For That at http://noapp4that.org and you can begin with this video primer, “Hello Humanity, It’s me, technology. We need to Talk”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALugeRQbXAMRead why Richard thinks Climate Change isn’t our Biggest Environmental