Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff

Latest Episodes:

Tim O'Reilly "Solving for Economic Inequality?" Nov 01, 2017

Show notes

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?

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Neal Gorenflo "Sharing Cities" Oct 25, 2017

Show notes

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 except from Neal Gorenflo’s introduction to Sharing Cities:

With the backdrop of worsening income inequality, climate change, and fiscal challenges, the growth of self-organized, democratic, and inclusive means for city dwellers to meet their own needs by sharing resources couldn’t be more relevant. These cases and policies taken together offer a new vision for cities that puts people – not the market, technology, or government – at the center, where they belong. More than that, the book represents a claim on the city run by people – a claim increasingly being made by city-residents the world over. This book was written for a broad audience, but may find special resonance with those who share this people-first vision of cities and want to act on it. Written by a team of 15 fellows with contributions from 18 organizations around the world, “Sharing Cities: Activating the Urban Commons” not only witnesses a movement, but is a practical reference guide for community-based solutions to a range of challenges cities face such as affordable housing, sustainable mobility, and more.

Today’s show featured intro and outro music thanks to Fugazi and Dischord Records. In the middle you heard a clip from Team Human Ep. 31 guest, RU Sirius.

After you check out Shareable.net, swing by TeamHuman.fm where you can listen to all 60 Episodes and support the show via Patreon. Your subscriptions keep this weekly show happening!

Photo of Neal : by Sebastiaan ter Burg https://www.flickr.com/photos/ter-burg/

Sharing Cities Photo thanks to Shareable.net

Andy Fisher "Big Hunger" Oct 18, 2017

Show notes

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 Professor Mara Einstein of the Media Studies department at Queens College for introducing us to Andy's work and inviting him to the Basement Media Squat where we tape Team Human.

Today’s show features intro and outro music by Fugazi, thanks to Dischord Records for sharing. In the middle you heard a listener original by Josh Sitron and the Team Human band, mixed with a track from Team Human Ep. 31 guest R.U. Sirius.

If you’d like to sustain this show, you can support us via Patreon. Go to https://www.patreon.com/teamhuman to subscribe at the level that feels right for you.

Amber Case "Calming Technology" Oct 11, 2017

Show notes

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 Devicesproposes 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 Dog by Fugazi. Thanks to Discord records for sharing. In the middle you heard Growth Trap by Joshua Sitron and his Team Human Band. And closing the show is a soundscape mix thanks to Our Fox and noise by Mal Madrigal.

Ep. 57 Richard Heinberg "There's No App For That" Oct 04, 2017

Show notes

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=ALugeRQbXAM

Read why Richard thinks Climate Change isn’t our Biggest Environmental Problem here

http://www.postcarbon.org/why-climate-change-isnt-our-biggest-environmental-problem-and-why-technology-wont-save-us/

Learn about Post Carbon Institute and their efforts to mobilize strategies centered on “Community Resilience” : http://www.postcarbon.org/program/resilience/

Today’s show begins with a monologue on the Trump distraction machine recently manifested in the NFL National Anthem “controversy.”

And a huge thank you to all of our listeners who helped us achieve our first Patreon funding goal. Your support makes this show possible!

Please remember to review us on iTunes and help spread the word about Team Human.

Our music today is thanks to Dischord Records and Fugazi as well as a Team Human original.

Ep. 56 Professor Steve Fuller "You Shall Be As Gods: Transhumanism, Posthumanism, and everything human in between." Sep 27, 2017

Show notes

On today's episode of Team Human, Douglas is joined by Professor Steve Fuller. Fuller teaches Sociology at the University of Warwick. In his recent book, Humanity 2.0, Fuller embraces a future vision in which technological and medical advancement will enable humans to evolve beyond our current physical and mental limitations. Steve will use this concept to teach us what distinguishes transhumanist from posthumanist projects, and why such thinking should be taken seriously. While Rushkoff and Fuller may come from very different perspectives, they share common ground in questioning whether living as gods – longer, faster, stronger, smarter – will serve humanity or merely further existing inequality, injustice, and environmental catastrophe.

To open this show, Rushkoff looks at the ways being human is a team sport. It's a future vision that recognizes collaboration, not competition, as the cornerstone of evolution. We'll explore how this squares with the transhumanist project and more.

If you enjoy this conversation, Rushkoff shared the stage with Steve Fuller in 2015 at a conference held at IBM Watson, featured in Team Human Episode 53. An extended video version is available exclusively to Patreon subscribers

Special thanks to Luke Robert Mason of Virtual Futures Podcast for coordinating this interview and recording Professor Fuller's side of the conversation from the UK.

A huge thank you to our Patreon supporters. Minutes ago we reached our first funding goal! Your subscriptions keep this weekly podcast alive, so thank you! Please take a minute to review Team Human on iTunes. Your reviews help others discover this show.

Today's show features music thanks to Mike Watt, Stephen Bartolomei, and Fugazi.

Ep. 55 Jon Lebkowsky "Folding the Fringes" Sep 20, 2017

Show notes

For this week's Team Human, Douglas is out on the road in Austin, Texas where he caught up with longtime friend and cyberculture pioneer, Jon Lebkowsky. Jon and Douglas first look back on the promise of the early cyber revolution, and then look forward to the ways in which those quirky fringe elements might be folded back into the work of promoting justice, solidarity, and even a bit of ambiguity... Whether manifested in platform cooperatives, consensus building tools like Loomio, or in the spirit of Occupy, Lebkowsky and Rushkoff retrieve the thread of radical potential as it has evolved from those early days of the internet.

Douglas begins today's show discussing his recent meeting with a group of billionaires whose fears of future social unrest have left them scrambling for apocalypse strategies to protect their wealth and lifestyle. Find out what the "insulation equation" is as Douglas challenges these executives to forgo the Walking Dead scenarios and join team human!

Today's episode features intro music thanks to Mike Watt. At the top of the interview is a song from Mondo 2000 creator (and Episode 31 guest) R.U. Sirius, and the closing credits feature a track from Fugazi, thanks to Dischord Records.

Team Human is entirely listener supported. Check you patreon.com/teamhuman to subscribe to the show.

Please review Team Human on iTunes. Your review helps us "find the others."

Ep. 54 Manoush Zomorodi "Blissfully Bored" Sep 13, 2017

Show notes

When was the last time you found yourself truly bored? Have you forfeit those nooks and crannies in the day when you used to let your mind wander aimlessly in a daydream?

On today's episode of Team Human, Douglas is joined by Manoush Zomorodi, host of the popular WNYC Studios podcast, Note to Self. On Note to Self, Manoush initiated a series of listener experiments aimed at breaking the influence of our digital devices and networks on our lives. Those social experiments led her to uncover the creative power of boredom, detailed in her brand new book Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self .

On today's show, Douglas and Manoush wander together, as they interrogate the always-on media environment. In an era of constant entertainment, constant emergency, and constant distraction, must we fight for the mental space to just be bored? We'll learn why boredom matters and more...

This episode begins with a monologue on the news media's recent reporting on natural disaster and catastrophe. Has our appetite for spectacle confused our perception of disaster? As we watch a calamity like Hurricane Harvey or Irma across our screens, what lessons about might we learn from the darker side of our initial response?

Team Human is the product of listener support. Please consider signing up via Patreon to support the show.

Please review Team Human on iTunes. Your review helps us find the others.

This week's show featured: Mike Watt: beak-holding-letter-man , R.U. Sirius: President Mussolini Makes The Planes Run On Time, Fugazi: Foreman’s Dog

Special thanks to Manoush, Jen Poyant, and all the producers and engineers who welcomed us at WNYC to record this episode.

Ep. 53 IBM Watson "If I Only Had A Brain" Sep 06, 2017

Show notes

This week is a special episode of Team Human. We are sharing an excerpt of a panel discussion recorded on location at IBM Watson in New York from August 2015, hosted by Douglas Rushkoff and produced by our friends at Virtual Futures in London. Douglas was joined by philosopher-sociologist Steve Fuller, tech entrepreneur and ethicist Martine Rothblatt, IBM Watson researcher Michael Karasick, and philosopher of technology, Dan O'Hara.

Patreon subscribers have exclusive access to the full, unedited video with an engaging question and answer session at https://www.patreon.com/teamhuman. Start your monthly subscription today to support the show and get access to the Team Human Slack Channel as well as other subscriber rewards. July and August rewards are shipping this week!

Enjoy this discussion and please review Team Human on iTunes or your preferred podcast platform and help spread the word about the show!

Thanks Luke Robert Mason for sharing the audio! Music on today's show is Mike Watt, Stephen Bartolomei, and Fugazi.

Ep. 52 William Softky and Criscillia Benford "Recalibrating For Trust" Aug 30, 2017

Show notes

Consider a text message in which you are deciding where to meet for dinner with a friend. As you go back and forth in that stream of abbreviated communication, you suggest, “Let’s eat Italian,” to which your friend responds “Fine.” The one-word text sends you into a state of alarm. Did they mean “fine” as in “great,” or “fine” as in “Fine, you win, we can eat where you’d like”? Somewhere in this chain of communication trust, has been lost.

Playing for Team Human today are William Softky and Criscillia Benford, a husband and wife team who are looking deep into the biophysical and mathematical underpinnings of establishing trust in communications. They’ve just published a paper titled “Sensory Metrics of Neuromechanical Trust” in the journal, Neural Computation. In this conversation, Softky and Benford join Douglas Rushkoff to dive deep into experiences of digital disorientation and even screen addiction. What’s really going on in our brains as we consume more and more digital stimuli? Have our nervous systems been recalibrated to these flattened, two-dimensional interactions? Are we "out of tune" when it comes to trust?

Opening today’s show, Rushkoff looks at the recent Mayweather vs. McGregor boxing match. Did this spectacle represent a surrogate Trump vs. Obama battle? And while that fight is over, the victor declared, what does it mean when governance itself becomes a prolonged spectacle?

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