By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 9 Jun 21
Writer, philosopher, and author of The Fall of Language, Alex Stern helps us distinguish who we are from what we tweet. Further, he explores how enlightenment values end up turning into their opposite — and why the word “fascism” can be a barrier to understanding culture. In his monologue, Rushkoff explains how we’ve overdosed on the Internet during the pandemic and questions the need to return to pre-pandemic life. We’re all missing human connection, but how can we reimagine an economy that works for humans? Stream, support, and subscribe now 🎶 Alex Stern | Team Humanwww.teamhuman.fmEp. 184 Writer, philosopher, and
Writer, philosopher, and author of The Fall of Language, Alex Stern helps us distinguish who we are from what we tweet. Further, he explores how enlightenment values end up turning into their opposite — and why the word “fascism” can be a barrier to understanding culture. In his monologue, Rushkoff explains how we’ve overdosed on the Internet during the pandemic
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 3 Jun 21
We’re moving from one understanding of our place in things to another. The Renaissance may have brought us from the tribal to the individual, but our current renaissance is bringing us from individualism to something else. We’re discovering a collective sensibility that’s more dimensional and participatory than the unconsciously formed communities of the past. We had to pass through this stage of individualism in order to get there. 📚 Read more from Medium’s weekly serialization Team Human:We Went From Tribal to Individual. Something Else Must Come Next.medium.comWe don’t yet have a great way to talk about a new spirit of
We’re moving from one understanding of our place in things to another. The Renaissance may have brought us from the tribal to the individual, but our current renaissance is bringing us from individualism to something else. We’re discovering a collective sensibility that’s more dimensional and participatory than the unconsciously formed communities of the past. We had to pass through this
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 2 Jun 21
I’ve watched over the past few months as several of my colleagues have succumbed to the temptation to fight what they see as fake news with what could only be called more fake news. They are transforming from journalists into propagandists, and ultimately undermining not just their own reputations but the entire landscape of public discourse. I mean, if we so-called professionals can’t do this with civility and integrity, then who can? 📚 Read more from Rushkoff’s new weekly column on Medium: We Can’t Fight Fake News with More Fake Newsonezero.medium.comWe must help one another strive for integrity over impact
I’ve watched over the past few months as several of my colleagues have succumbed to the temptation to fight what they see as fake news with what could only be called more fake news. They are transforming from journalists into propagandists, and ultimately undermining not just their own reputations but the entire landscape of public discourse. I mean, if we
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 27 May 21
The myth of individuality made capitalism possible and has sustained it to this day. Economists modeled the market on the false premise that human beings are entirely rational individuals acting in their own self-interest. And corporations learned to stoke consumption by reinforcing our identities as individual consumers. Why sit on a streetcar with your friends when you can be driving your car, all alone? Why borrow your neighbor’s lawnmower when you can have your own? What’s a house in the suburbs without a fence defining your property? Capitalism’s vision of the individual as a completely self-interested being, whose survival was
The myth of individuality made capitalism possible and has sustained it to this day. Economists modeled the market on the false premise that human beings are entirely rational individuals acting in their own self-interest. And corporations learned to stoke consumption by reinforcing our identities as individual consumers. Why sit on a streetcar with your friends when you can be driving
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 26 May 21
Feels Good Man Film filmmakers Arthur Jones and Giorgio Angelini show us how a great meme can go bad — and how to take it back again. Rushkoff, Angelini, and Jones explore the evolution of Matt Furie’s Pepe the Frog from stoner frog to alt-right meme. When did internet culture became real-world culture? How did a community of trolls who wanted to manipulate reality end up effecting physical space? When was the moment that fan fiction became mainstream? Stream, support, and subscribe now 🐸 Arthur Jones & Giorgio Angelini “Feels Good Man” | Team Humanwww.teamhuman.fmEp. 183 Feels Good Man filmmakers
Feels Good Man Film filmmakers Arthur Jones and Giorgio Angelini show us how a great meme can go bad — and how to take it back again. Rushkoff, Angelini, and Jones explore the evolution of Matt Furie’s Pepe the Frog from stoner frog to alt-right meme. When did internet culture became real-world culture? How did a community of trolls who
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 20 May 21
A renaissance does not mean a return to the past. We don’t go back to the Middle Ages, bloodletting, feudalism, or sword fights in the street. Rather, we bring forward themes and values of previous ages and reinvent them in new forms. Retrieval makes progress less purely linear — not so much a ladder as a spiral staircase, continually repeating the same pattern, but ascending all the way. Retrieval helps us experience the insight of premodern cultures that nothing is absolutely new; everything is renewal. Our general lack of awareness about the values being retrieved by digital technology made it
A renaissance does not mean a return to the past. We don’t go back to the Middle Ages, bloodletting, feudalism, or sword fights in the street. Rather, we bring forward themes and values of previous ages and reinvent them in new forms. Retrieval makes progress less purely linear — not so much a ladder as a spiral staircase, continually repeating
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 13 May 21
Revolutionaries act as if they are destroying the old and starting something new. More often than not, however, these revolutions look more like Ferris wheels: the only thing that’s truly revolving is the cast of characters at the top. The structure remains the same. So the digital revolution — however purely conceived — ultimately brought us a new crew of mostly male, white, libertarian technologists, who believed they were uniquely suited to create a set of universal rules for humans. But those rules — the rules of internet startups and venture capitalism — were really just the same old rules
Revolutionaries act as if they are destroying the old and starting something new. More often than not, however, these revolutions look more like Ferris wheels: the only thing that’s truly revolving is the cast of characters at the top. The structure remains the same. So the digital revolution — however purely conceived — ultimately brought us a new crew of
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 12 May 21
Musician and composer Ela Minus introduces us to her acts of rebellion and shows us how music can help us find the others against all efforts to prevent it. In his monologue, Rushkoff explores how robots can help us appreciate and understand what it means to be human. Similar to technology, “You need the next medium in order to understand the value of the medium that you’re in.” Rushkoff says. Stream, support, and subscribe 🎶 Ela Minus | Team Humanwww.teamhuman.fmEp. 182 Musician and composer Ela Minus introduces us to her acts of rebellion and shows us how music can help
Musician and composer Ela Minus introduces us to her acts of rebellion and shows us how music can help us find the others against all efforts to prevent it. In his monologue, Rushkoff explores how robots can help us appreciate and understand what it means to be human. Similar to technology, “You need the next medium in order to understand
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 10 May 21
The unemployed coal worker doesn’t want to be retrained to build solar panels for a company thousands of miles away, owned by venture capitalists aligned with progressives screaming about climate change. He wants to create value the way his parents and grandparents did, by digging up the local resource right under his feet. Environmentalism feels like a cruel trick or an international conspiracy, and the patronizing tone of those who “know better” doesn’t convince him otherwise. By disconnecting science from the broader, systemwide realities of nature, human experience, and emotion, we rob it of its moral power. The problem is
The unemployed coal worker doesn’t want to be retrained to build solar panels for a company thousands of miles away, owned by venture capitalists aligned with progressives screaming about climate change. He wants to create value the way his parents and grandparents did, by digging up the local resource right under his feet. Environmentalism feels like a cruel trick or
By: The Posts Author | Posted on: 29 Apr 21
Modern scientists are cautious not to romanticize the practices of healers and shamans, for along with any real science they may have unearthed came distinctly unscientific practices, from astrology to voodoo. By refusing to separate themselves from nature, the rationalists argue, these amateur practitioners were unable to achieve objectivity. This view was best expressed in the 1600s by King James’s famed advisor, Francis Bacon. He believed that nature held secrets in her womb, and needed to be forcibly penetrated to make her give them up: “Nature must be taken by the forelock . . . lay hold of her and
Modern scientists are cautious not to romanticize the practices of healers and shamans, for along with any real science they may have unearthed came distinctly unscientific practices, from astrology to voodoo. By refusing to separate themselves from nature, the rationalists argue, these amateur practitioners were unable to achieve objectivity. This view was best expressed in the 1600s by King James’s