Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff

Latest Episodes:

Adah Parris "The Art of Conversation" Jun 20, 2018

Show notes

Playing for Team Human today Adah Parris. Adah is here to help reorient us to ourselves and steer us to a better, more human future. Adah wears many hats. She is a tech Futurist, a transformation coach, storyteller, public speaker, consultant, and artist. Comfortable in such diverse roles, Adah brings a unique perspective to the team, having influenced both individuals and corporations to adopt a more connection-centered ethos.

In this candid and open conversation with Douglas, Adah brings her empathy, insight, and creativity to the table. She reminds us of the power of putting down our smartphones, looking into one another’s eyes, and engaging in the “Art of Conversation.”

Visit https://www.adahparris.com/ to learn more about Adah's philosophy and work.

Douglas opens the show with a monologue that unmasks the propaganda that is being made with the unfolding horror of immigrant detentions and family separations. As we witness the shocking images, the administration’s intentions to prime the public for inhumanity are becoming all too clear. Perhaps sound, not pictures, are the key to it’s undoing.

Today’s show start and ends with music thanks to Dischord Records and Fugazi. Also featured are originals by Josh Sitron and the Team Human Band, Stephen Bartolomei, and Episode 31 guest, R.U. Sirius.

You can sustain this show via Patreon. And please leave us a review on iTunes.

Team Human hosts it's first live show in NYC at the Alchemist's Kitchen this week, Thursday June 21st. Details Here!

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Moira Weigel and Ben Tarnoff “Humane Tech or Capitalism Rebranded?” Jun 13, 2018

Show notes

Playing for Team Human today, recorded live on the floor at the Personal Democracy Forum 2018, are Moira Weigel and Ben Tarnoff. Moira and Ben will be showing us how the tech industry’s promise to build less harmful products and programs is just capitalism’s way of proving that love means never having to say, “I’m sorry.”

Moira and Ben co-wrote the brilliant feature article in the Guardian, “Why Silicon Valley Can’t Fix Itself”

Just last week, Ben’s exposé and interview with an anonymous worker/organizer at Google revealed the internal fight led by workers against Google’s contracting with the Pentagon on Project Maven, a weaponized use of Google’s AI and cloud computing technology. The interview, published June 6th, can be found at Jacobin magazine: Tech Workers Versus the Pentagon

Ben’s articles in the Guardian and Jacobin have been disrupting tech industry gospel for the past decade. He is also the author of The Bohemians.

Moira Weigel is a postdoc at the Harvard Society of Fellows. Her recent book Labor of Love; The Invention of Dating looks at the commodification of courtship under consumer capitalism.

Moira and Ben are editors of Logic, a print and digital magazine which features thought provoking journalism on technology. Like Team Human, Logic strives to host a “better conversation” about technology… learn more and subscribe here: https://logicmag.io/

Douglas opens the show with a monologue unpacking the bizarre news of the past week; G7, trade wars, and North Korea.

On today’s show you heard intro and outro music thanks to Fugazi and Dischord records, R.U. Sirius’s President Mussolini Makes the Planes Run On Time, and a Team Human original by Stephen Bartolomei.

You can sustain this show via Patreon. And please leave us a review on iTunes.

George Monbiot "Beyond Salvation and Disaster" Jun 06, 2018

Show notes

Playing for Team Human today is activist, Guardian columnist, and author of Out of the Wreckage: A New Politics for an Age of Crisis, George Monbiot.

Monbiot and Rushkoff discuss the abysmal failure of neoliberalism, a narrative that figures humans as self-interested, competitive, and greedy creatures. Monbiot offers compelling evidence, both from his own on the ground experience reporting on people’s movements in Indonesia and Brazil, as well as recent findings in neuroscience and anthropology that break the neoliberal myth. But it’s not enough to merely break a myth with facts and figures. Monbiot argues that we must offer a new, engaging story. Can we harness our “narrative instinct,” to amplify participation in a politics centered on belonging, community, and restoring power back into the hands of team human?

Rushkoff opens thinking about the medium of podcasting itself. Is the podcasting landscape in danger of being overrun by cookie-cutter, corporate funded content factories? Is there still room for the quirky DIY show?

The first NYC Team Human Live event at the Alchemist’s Kitchen is on Thursday, June 21st with special guest Mark Filippi. Limited tickets are available, Free to Patrons. Get your tickets here or check the homepage at Teamhuman.fm for details. We’ll also be live in London on July 9th with guests Pat Cadigan and Rupert Sheldrake.

On today’s show you heard intro and outro music thanks to Fugazi and Dischord records. You also heard “Walkabout” by Throbbing Gristle. Check out Episode 67 with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge.

Also mentioned in this show was the work of Episode 81 guest Jeremy Lent.

You can sustain this show via Patreon. And please leave us a review on iTunes.

Eli Pariser "The Ground Under Our Feet" May 30, 2018

Show notes

Playing for Team Human today is Eli Pariser, author of The Filter Bubble, former director of MoveOn.org and current chief executive of Upworthy.com.

Eli uses media to make what’s important popular, rather than the other way around. Upworthy.com is a story-driven website focused on magnifying meaningful conversations that encourage positive social change. On today’s episode, Eli and Douglas mine our reality tunnels, looking at how perspective shapes meaning and what strategies we might employ to ground democracy in greater consciousness and empathy.

On the theme of reality, Douglas opens with the viral craze over the “Yanni/Laurel” audio clip. Can we really say that everything is just a matter how you hear it?

The first NYC Team Human Live event at the Alchemist’s Kitchen is on Thursday, June 21st. Limited tickets are available, Free to Patrons. Get your tickets here or check the homepage at Teamhuman.fm for details.

On today’s show you heard intro and outro music thanks to Fugazi and Dischord records. You also heard "Dead on Arrival" by Throbbing Gristle. Check out Episode 67 with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge.

You can sustain this show via Patreon. And please leave us a review on iTunes.

Thanks to teammate and listener Bobby Campbell for his amazing Team Human trading cards. Follow Team Human on Twitter where we will be posting more trading cards, going back to the earliest episodes. Visit the link at teamhuman.fm for more trading cards!

Jason Louv "A World of Gods and Monsters" May 23, 2018

Show notes

Playing for team human today is author, occult scholar, and wizard Jason Louv.

Jason will be helping us see how the intentions we bring into the world of artificial intelligence could set something in motion from which it is hard to return. Jason’s latest book John Dee and the Empire of Angels: Enochian Magick and the Occult Roots of Empiredigs deep into the untold and often ignored occult history of Western thinking and empire.On today’s show Jason and Douglas bridge the gap from the Elizabethan esoteric imaginary to the modern day alchemical thinking driving our technologies.

Visit this John Dee mini site for a unique preview of Louv’s latest book. https://www.johndee007.com

And https://jasonlouv.com/ for more on Jason as well as links to his books, the Ultraculture blog, and his Magick School.

Rushkoff kicks off the show on the heels of a week of Blockchain events here in New York. What values are retrieved in blockchain thinking? And is blockchain the right tool to turn money into a verb instead of a noun?

Correction: The first Team Human Live event at the Alchemist’s Kitchen is on Thursday, June 21st. Links to tickets coming soon! Check the homepage at Teamhuman.fm for details.

On today’s show you heard intro and outro music thanks to Fugazi and Dischord records. You also heard Psychic TV (Purchase here). If you enjoyed this episode check out Episode 67 with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and Episode 66 with Occult Historian Mitch Horowitz. You also heard a sample from Episode 31 guest R.U. Sirius

You can sustain this show via Patreon. And please leave us a review on iTunes.

Juho Makkonen "Breaking the Unicorn Myth" May 16, 2018

Show notes

Playing for Team Human today is Juho Makkonen, co-founder of Sharetribe.

Juho is working on a vision of the “sharing economy” where people share value with one another instead of seeing it get syphoned off by companies like Uber and Airbnb. His company Sharetribe creates tools for individuals and local communities to decentralize and ultimately democratize ownership of the sharing economy. In this conversation, Douglas and Juho discuss platform cooperatives and the slow patient work of building a business focused on sustainability rather than the “unicorn ambition” of growth and profit.

Check out Sharetribe.com as well as this link to Juho's latest book https://theleanmarketplace.com/ .

Douglas opens the show with a monologue that questions the imposition of new mythologies as we make sense of social change. Is it time to dispense with mythology altogether?

On today’s show you heard intro and outro music thanks to Fugazi and Dischord records. In the intro you also heard Mike Watt’s Hyphenated Man. Mid show you heard Josh Citron and the Team Human band playing “Growth Trap.”

You can sustain this show via Patreon. And please leave us a review on iTunes.

Stay tuned for tickets and announcements on our first Team Human live show in New York, June 21st at the Alchemist's Kitchen.

Molly Sauter "Stupid Smart Cities" May 09, 2018

Show notes

Playing for Team Human today is technology and society researcher Molly Sauter. Molly will be helping us see how stupid some “smart city” visions really are. Molly and Douglas discuss the extractive, “mining ethos” of the tech investment swarm, and how this mentality does harm to communities from Silicon Valley to Toronto, Canada. Is your city the next VC Guinea pig in the technocratic experiment to grow cities and extract their value?

Check out Molly’s fantastic book on another type of “swarm”: The Coming Swarm: DDOS Actions, Hacktivism, and Civil Disobedience on the Internet https://www.amazon.com/Coming-Swarm-Hacktivism-Disobedience-Internet/dp/1623564565

Plus their most recent writing referenced on today’s show:

Why is Anyone Listening to Tim O”Reilly?

And Google’s Guinea-Pig City

Support Molly’s work at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/oddletters

Douglas opens the show with a monologue on the perils of futurist thinking and its inherent linear conception of progress. Is it time to retrieve a circular, more presentist understanding of the world?

Stay tuned for tickets and announcements on our first Team Human live show in New York, June 21st at Alchemist Kitchen.

You can sustain this show via Patreon. And please leave us a review on iTunes.

This show features intro and outro music thanks to Fugazi and Dischord Records. Mid-way you heard music clips from TH friends and guests R.U. Sirius and Stacco Troncoso

Charles Hugh Smith "Investing in Community" May 02, 2018

Show notes

Playing for Team Human today, the economy’s equivalent of an outsider artist, Of Two Minds blogger and author of Money and Work Unchained, Charles Hugh Smith.

Charles will be talking to us about the market, Universal Basic Income, and distributed prosperity.

You can learn more about Charles at his website and blog Of Two Minds: https://www.oftwominds.com/.

Opening the show, Douglas considers the "Art of the Deal." Perhaps a truly artful deal is one that engages us in relationships of collaboration rather than self-interest.

Producer's note: The audio in this show is less than ideal due to a poor VoIP connection. It has been processed for intelligibility, but you still may notice drop outs and distortions. Apologies.

You can sustain this show via Patreon. And please leave us a review on iTunes.

This show features intro and outro music thanks to Fugazi and Dischord Records. Mid-way you heard Throbbing Gristle. See Ep. 67 with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge.

Thanks to teammate and listener Bobby Campbell for his amazing Team Human trading cards. Follow Team Human on Twitter where we will be posting more trading cards, going back to the earliest episodes.

Molly Wright Steenson "Play in the Uncanny Valley" Apr 25, 2018

Show notes

Playing for Team Human today is designer, technology historian, and author of the new book Architectural Intelligence, Professor Molly Wright Steenson. Molly and Douglas share a wide-ranging conversation that begins by looking at the “weirdness” of AI. How do design metaphors such as “awesome mouth feel” and “uncanny valley” provoke deeper questions of human imagination, play, and meaning. Molly’s background in architecture and history offers listeners a unique grounding of digital in the physical. Check out Molly’s new book Architectural Intelligence and her longstanding website girlwonder.com. Molly also discusses her oft-cited essay, What is Burning Man, working with Howard Rheingold (TH 76) at Electric Minds, building the Netscape search page, and launching the influential feminist webzine Maxi.

Opening the show, Douglas comments on educating robots versus educating humans. Is there something more, something ambiguous and sacred even to be retrieved from a well-rounded liberal arts education?

You can sustain this show via Patreon. And please leave us a review on iTunes.

This show features intro and outro music thanks to Fugazi and Dischord Records. Mid-way you heard Throbbing Gristle’s United. See Ep. 67 with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge.

Thanks to teammate and listener Bobby Campbell for his amazing Team Human trading cards. Follow Team Human on Twitter where we will be posting more trading cards, going back to the earliest episodes.

Brian Keating "Honey, I Shrunk the Cosmos" Apr 18, 2018

Show notes

“Everyone wants to be a cowboy, but no one wants to ride the range.” A dream of unraveling the mystery of the birth of universe led astrophysicist and author Brian Keating to "saddle up" and head to a frozen ocean of snow at the bottom of the world. Keating joins Rushkoff to talk about science, religion, questions that lead to more questions, and the "background noise” of the cosmos that may just be the key to understanding how this all began.

Rushkoff begins today's show commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Are we suffering the effects of HAL computer-like programming on Facebook? "I know everything hasn't been quite right with me, but I can assure you now, very confidently, that it's going to be all right again. I feel much better now. I really do." HAL 9000 or Mark Zuckerberg?

Learn more about our guest, Brian Keating:

Professor Brian Keating is an astrophysicist with UC San Diego’s Department of Physics. He and his team develop instrumentation to study the early universe at radio, microwave and infrared wavelengths. He is the author of over 100 scientific publications and holds two U.S.Patents. He received an NSF CAREER award in 2006 and a 2007 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers at the White House from President Bush for a telescope he invented and deployed at the U.S. South Pole Research Station called “BICEP". Professor Keating became a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2016. He co-leads the Simons Observatory Cosmic Microwave Background experiments in the Atacama Desert of Chile, and is the author of Losing the Nobel Prize: A Story of Cosmology, Ambition, and the Perils of Science's Highest Honor, selected as one ofAmazon.com’s Ten Best Nonfiction Books of the Month.

This show features music thanks to Fugazi and Dischord Records as well as a sample of Throbbing Gristle by TH 68 guest Genesis Breyer P-Orridge.

You can sustain this show via Patreon. And please leave us a review on iTunes.

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