Walk-Ins Welcome with Bridget Phetasy

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E232. Leighton Woodhouse Explains The Censorship Industrial Complex May 11, 2023

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Independent journalist, Leighton Woodhouse, sits down with Bridget for an in-depth conversation about the Censorship Industrial Complex, which is an effort to create new gatekeepers so that the elite can regain control of the media narrative by controlling visibility into the distribution of information and throttling the ability to see politically inconvenient information. They discuss the difference between disinformation, misinformation, and malinformation, why there’s no reason to believe that these tools would not be used by the national security state since that is where they came from, why the effort to reinstill gatekeeping will probably succeed, the terrifying openness of young people to authoritarianism, our path towards a kind of Chinese-style social credit system, how humanity is not capable of controlling the pace of technology, and that the true danger of all the AI spectacles and deep fakes is not that people are gonna believe the fake stuff - it’s that they won’t believe the real stuff. They also cover flash trading bots, DAs who prosecute drug dealers vs the ones who don’t, gifted programs, reporting about the death of civilization from the ground, and both being Gen X Californians, which makes them bitter. Check out Leighton's Substack with Michael Shellenberger: Public

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E231. Agnieszka Pilat Is The Robot Whisperer May 04, 2023

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Bridget sits down with Polish-born artist, Agnieszka Pilat, who is best known for her series of heroic portraits of technology and for paintings co-created with a quadruped robot, Spot. They discuss Agnieszka's experience going from Communist Poland to non-Communist Poland, the true realities of toilet paper shortages, why you would never make casual conversation in Poland, the spirit of benevolence in America, and her perception of the US vs. the reality when she came to live here. They also cover her work with robots as an artist, how it got started, why she likes working for machines, the parallels between AI and God, her desire to be Diego Rivera for machines, whether it's possible for robots to bring the soul that humans bring to art, the adaptability of humans, the agency they assign to robots, how there's no predicting what might happen in the future with these technological advancements, and why she thinks it’s our responsibility to engage with technology. Check out Agnieszka's art here: pilatart.com

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E230. Mike Jones Will Teach You To Survive Apr 27, 2023

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Garand Thumb Youtuber, Mike Jones, sits down with Bridget for a frank conversation about gun culture and all the factors that go into the gun debate, his time in the military as a SERE specialist, the complex topic of school shootings, their mutual love of America, and why social media plus AI might be the end of us. They also cover the importance of vulnerability among men - not just with their families - but with each other, how being a good leader is knowing when to be a hard ass and when to allow for vulnerability, why role models for men are hard to find, how your success or failure in tough situations is 100% about your mental state, the Second Amendment, traveling, the reality of being a killer, stoicism, humility, and the importance of realizing you're average. Bridget defines the word TERF for Mike, and Mike promises to teach Bridget the survival skills any 6 year old in 1830 would know.

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E229. Andrew Doyle Explains How The Woke Became The New Puritans Apr 20, 2023

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Andrew Doyle returns to discuss his latest book The New Puritans: How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World . Andrew wrote the book for people who are confused by what's going on in the culture right now. He and Bridget have a riveting conversation about what actually happened during the Salem witch trials and how it can be applied to today's culture--how you might not get hanged but you could have your life ruined. They also cover why the gender ideology movement is one of the worst things that happened to the gay movement, how this progressive ideology is making us more racist, and authentic racists are starting to feel more emboldened, why there's a focus on race, gender, and sexuality, but not class, money, or poor people, why seeing the culture war as a left vs right thing is misleading, loss of trust in the media, and the sad truth that where they’ll burn books, they’ll burn people too.

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E228. Steve Krakauer Says People Don’t Trust News Sources Anymore Apr 13, 2023

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Steve Krakauer is the author of Uncovered: How the Media Got Cozy With Power, Abandoned Its Principles, and Lost the People . He and Bridget sit down for a discussion about what's changed in the media landscape in the past 10 years, Trump’s ability to harness the power of Twitter, how the major news outlets became subject to audience capture, laziness and incompetence in journalism, and why supporting censorship under the guise of stopping misinformation is so catastrophic to the principles of what journalism and media is supposed to be about. They cover building an audience of people that are intellectually flexible and along for the ride even when you say something they don't agree with, the problem with experts, how normal POVs are not represented at all in media these days, the balance of independent media vs putting something out that you know might lose you subscribers and affect the bottom line, why we should be applauding when news media outlets correct something, and the fact that people who are willing to put themselves on the line and say things, consequences be damned, are really growing in power and audience these days.

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E227. Siddharth Kara Explains Slavery Exists Today On A Global Scale Apr 06, 2023

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Siddharth Kara, author, researcher, and activist on modern slavery sits down with Bridget to discuss the harsh reality of cobalt mining and the fact that the technological world is built using modern day slaves. In a powerful and important conversation Siddharth explains how people like you and I cannot function in the world for 24 hours without participating in enormous violence and destruction in the Congo. The first step in affecting change is to flood the world with truth and to confront the abhorrent conditions and violence that provide us with computers, phones, tablets and electric vehicles. He and Bridget discuss the truth about the supply chain, what it's like on the ground in the Congo, the suffering he has witnessed and what we can do about it. They also cover his journey from finance to traveling the world doing research on modern slavery and child labor, why there’s a structural failing happening when there’s a choice between being exploited or starving, how people in power often have it completely wrong when talking about solutions for people that they’ve never met, the difference between the PR and fictions told by the companies profiting off the cobalt and the reality of what’s happening on the ground, why there has to be a force of moral authority imposed on capitalism, the struggle to make social change stick, how we can pressure our governments to enact change, and how the legacy of this period in time will be that we obliterated a people and their world for ours. Be sure to read Siddharth's book Cobalt Red for the full picture.

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E226. Brad Polumbo Thinks Gen Z Doesn't Care About Privacy Mar 30, 2023

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Writer and podcaster Brad Polumbo drops in to discuss his evolution into a content creator, the medium through which he's discovered people his age consume political content, and why Gen Z doesn't care about privacy. They talk about how ultimately the media is holding up a mirror and reflecting back to the public what they’re demanding, being caught between two extreme social positions, how most of the public are politically disengaged because they feel despair about politics and the only people that do engage are on the far left and the far right, therefore internet echo chambers and backlash aren’t representative of the culture as a whole, and how the true test of freedom is allowing people to live their lives in ways you don’t approve of. They also discuss Brad's experience as a journalist for the school paper as at an ultra-liberal college, the backsliding into homophobia that we're seeing on the right, seeing activists pushing things that are not age appropriate for children, Brad being mong the first generation of young gay men who were willing to be conservative because the right had become so open to gay marriage, and why he sees it as a sign of tremendous progress that gay people increasingly get to be individuals. Check out Brad's podcast Based Politics.

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E225. Rob Henderson Discusses The Cost of Luxury Beliefs Mar 23, 2023

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Writer Rob Henderson sits down with Bridget to discuss Luxury Beliefs, what they are, why they disproportionately effect the lower classes, and why people who wield economic, social and cultural power are espousing public beliefs that they often don’t adhere to in their own lives but seem very pleased with nonetheless. They discuss Rob's journey from foster care, to the military, to Yale, and what he noticed when he attended one of the most elite colleges in the country. They cover why education is a far better indicator of your beliefs than ethnicity these days, how the new way to demonstrate your status in society is through your beliefs, why self-censorship tends to increase the higher your education level, how instability is a far stronger predictor of detrimental life outcomes than income, how the elimination of standardized testing is actually hurting the people universities claim to be trying to help, and how true privilege is being able to enact policies that really only effect people who aren’t as privileged as you. Check out Rob's Substack robkhenderson.substack.com, to find all his latest work.

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E224. Mary Harrington Is Against Progress Mar 15, 2023

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Author Mary Harrington sits down to discuss her new book Feminism Against Progress. She and Bridget discuss how it’s always taken for granted that progress is a good thing, but in order to view it that way you need to narrow your focus and ignore everything that doesn’t fit into the narrative, and the disturbing fact that slavery exists today and it’s never been more profitable. They cover Critical Theory and what it's doing to our society, how it’s not possible to be a disinterested observer ever, how you build back your life from major loss and breakdown, the importance of being embodied and what the internet is doing to us, irony poisoning, how to handle the internet and your kids, being a stay at home mom, the complicated moral questions of surrogacy, and how women’s interests are not the same across classes even within a single society and the repercussions of how that plays out.

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This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.phetasy.com/subscribe

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E223. Josh Szeps Wonders About Falling Down A Rabbit Hole Mar 09, 2023

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Podcast host and journalist Josh Szeps sits down with Bridget for a conversation about the appeal of the rabbit holes that normal, intelligent people seem to find themselves falling down, the conspiracy theories that bring them there, the loss of faith in the media and our institutions, and why uncertainty can be a good thing. They also cover parenthood and being an "older" parent, whether being an overbearing or overcaring parent is worse, the Intellectual Dark Web, Josh's career trajectory, Russell Brand, the blindspots of mainstream media, myths about the Covid vaccine versus the actual truth about its side effects, the US’s Covid policies vs Australia’s Covid policies during the pandemic, the ability to admit that you're wrong, and the truth that if you have to choose between conspiracy and incompetence, the answer is usually incompetence. Check out Josh's podcast and Substack, Uncomfortable Conversations - the safe space for dangerous ideas .

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This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.phetasy.com/subscribe

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