With the realization, at a total removal thanks to Modern systems of distance and security, that today is the autumnal equinox, I had to give a shoutout to one of my favorite questions from students: is there a new religion coming? We discuss the equinox, cyclical living, the difference between material independence from nature and subjective independence from nature, the possibility of a surge in neo-Animism, how that's different from neo-Paganism, why Abrahamic religions aren't addressing these issues (with a brief case study of Evangelical Tyson Foods), whether a river has rights, I forgot the name of the Whanganui River in New Zealand, and so on. Fun stuff. Happy equinox! Do something outside. Eat with friends. Be weird

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After spending days with my wife hospitalized watching the Weber-style bureaucracy busy itself around her, I consider the cost of recertification in a moment of immense labor strain and burnout. I offer two concrete options: employer-sponsored onboarding OR free at the point of purchase college education and certification processes. I discuss briefly why this is so hotly opposed, but consider both concrete political demands you could make to improve our lives.

As always, this show is not monetized in any way. If you'd like to support it or encourage me, like, subscribe, rate, share, etc. Stay weird.

Inundated with (market-mediated) offers to help me reduce my tech exhaustion, including everything from dumb phones to journaling to rigorous and vigorous grass touching, I reflect on the strange fact that absolutely NONE of this discourse touches on the political economy behind the fact that people are so incredibly fed up with technological intrusion, and yet unable to opt out of the same.

There's a touch of Luddism, a return to consumer responsibilization (episode 12), optimism for weird and human stuff again (episode 16), and of course, some sanity-check-failure yelling.

As always, this show is not monetized. If you'd like to support it or at least encourage me to continue, you know the routine: leave a positive rating, review, and/or share with an interested party. Thanks for listening and stay weird.

In light of a few trends (different freshman attitudes on campus, my relentless urge to throw my iPhone into the shadow realm, constant advice to get on TikTok and Instagram to grow the show, a market report about declining interest in brain rot and growing interest in long-form content), I sit down (outside!) to talk about brain rot, the boring tedium of an AI world, the void left by ambient sociality and the illusion of connection, and my modest hope for at least some interest in brain pain as a new trend.

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Stay weird, my friends.

When general competence is widely available, what value is there around expertise? When economic and sociological value conflict, which wins? Will eccentric politics be our future? Will human-generated content be a luxury? Will any of this change anything? Let's chat about competence versus character.

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In this episode, we take a look at sugar from a political economic perspective. Sugar isn't unique, but it does have an existing book about it: Sweetness and Power by Sidney Mintz. How does a rare and labor-intensive commodity become so ubiquitous as to have avoiding it become a status signal? And what does this tell us about the visibility (or invisibility) of systems?

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Today we're discussing the strange paradox of frictionless consumption robbing you of one of the key pleasures of consumption: fantasy. Hence, the title. It turns out, having a few days to fantasize may actually be better for your consuming pleasure than same-day delivery.

If you're listening to this in audio format, here's a link to Fantin-Latour's La Lecture.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Lecture_(Fantin-Latour,_Lyon)

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Here we're discussing the algorithm and its effect on our perceived sense of desire. To clarify things, we use some Lacan, Žižek, and a touch of Greenfield to organize the topic.

As always, this is not monetized, and I have placed no ads here. If you're hearing them, they don't benefit me at all. Thanks for listening.