Podcasts about death public discourse

A Christian camp is challenging a Colorado law that forces them to adopt gender ideology. The Supreme Court refuses to hear the case of a Massachusetts student who was sent home for wearing a t-shirt with a traditional message. And what should you watch and what should you avoid?   Recommendations Fidelity Month Sara Groves Art House North Segment 1 - Christian Camp Sues Colorado ADF: Camp IdRaHaJe Association v. Roy ADF: XX-XY Athletics sues Colorado for violating right to speak truth that men and women are different ADF: US Supreme Court declines to hear ‘There are only two genders' T-shirt case ADF: School Settles Lawsuit After Forcing Third-Grader to Remove ‘Jesus Loves Me' Mask Segment 2 - Boundaries in Entertainment Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business Segment 3 - Recommendations Fidelity Month Sara Groves Art House North Submit a question to Breakpoint here! __________ Help the Church be the Church by giving before June 30 at colsoncenter.org/may. Attend a Colson Fellows Informational Webinar at colsonfellows.org/webinar.

We welcome back Sarah Cain to ask if Catholic media is different to secular news sources and if it should it be. Father and Sarah share their stories about how they found themselves working in media. Father finishes with Timely Thoughts. Show Notes Homefront Crusade (Sarah Cain) Failing Foundations: The Pillars of the West Are Nearing Collapse What will make people more likely to accept the “truthiness” of truth?  Do we need a review of Church teaching on reputation and slander?  Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business Abuse of Language, Abuse of Power: Pieper, Josef Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies: McEntyre, Marilyn iCatholic Mobile The Station of the Cross Merchandise - Use Coupon Code 14STATIONS for 10% off | Catholic to the Max Read Fr. McTeigue's Written Works! "Let's Take A Closer Look" with Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J. | Full Series Playlist Listen to Fr. McTeigue's Preaching! | Herald of the Gospel Sermons Podcast on Spotify Visit Fr. McTeigue's Website | Herald of the Gospel Questions? Comments? Feedback? Ask Father!

Not unlike the Rolling Stones, Peter Hitchens is ready to toss his TV through the nearest window. He's in accord with the late, great Groucho Marx who was once moved to remark: "I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." Once forced to rent a TV to watch the news before being quickly lured towards shows like Minder, Peter is now wary of the television, to the point he blames it for a lot of the world's woes. Tune in for that. And as the customer friendly ad for the Inland revenue insisted, tax doesn't have to be taxing. Try telling that to Sarah and her circle of friends who have tried and failed to reach the HMRC to query a bill or simply get help. The revenue sent bailiffs to the door of one friend, while another chum had to draw down part of their pension to meet a tax demand. So, here's the question, why are the inland revenue so awful and insistent on treating people like criminals? On our reading and watching list this week:  ·      The Wonder Years ·      Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business – Neil Postman ·      The Great Tax Robbery: How Britain Became A Tax Haven For Fat Cats And Big Business – Richard Brooks   To get in touch, email: alas@mailonline.co.uk, you can leave a comment on Spotify or even send us a voice note on Whatsapp – on 07796 657512, start your message with the word ‘alas'.   Take our show survey at: https://ex-plorsurvey.com/survey/selfserve/550/g517/250305?list=9   Presenters: Sarah Vine & Peter Hitchens Producer: Philip Wilding Editor: Chelsey Moore Production Manager: Vittoria Cecchini Executive Producer: Jamie East   A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today's episode of Let's Talk About This, Fr. McTeigue explores how our addiction to our phones is affecting our culture, our relationships, and our souls. Father finishes with Weekend Readiness to prepare you for the upcoming Sunday Mass. Show Notes Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains: Carr, Nicholas Redeemed Vision: Setting the Blind Free from the Pornified Culture The Death Of Christian Culture - Angelus Press Restoration Of Christian Culture - Angelus Press The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future(Or, Don 't Trust Anyone Under 30) The Dumbest Generation Grows Up: From Stupefied Youth to Dangerous Adults iCatholic Mobile The Station of the Cross Merchandise - Use Coupon Code 14STATIONS for 10% off | Catholic to the Max Read Fr. McTeigue's Written Works! "Let's Take A Closer Look" with Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J. | Full Series Playlist Listen to Fr. McTeigue's Preaching! | Herald of the Gospel Sermons Podcast on Spotify Visit Fr. McTeigue's Website | Herald of the Gospel Questions? Comments? Feedback? Ask Father!

We welcome Rob Marco to discuss the effects of artificial intelligence on our lives. In all of the focus on what we can gain from this technology, might we pause to consider what we lose? Father finishes with Timely Thoughts. Show Notes Humans > Humanity - Crisis Magazine Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business Why Matter Matters: Philosophical and Scriptural Reflections on the Sacraments iCatholic Mobile The Station of the Cross Merchandise - Use Coupon Code 14STATIONS for 10% off | Catholic to the Max Read Fr. McTeigue's Written Works! "Let's Take A Closer Look" with Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J. | Full Series Playlist Listen to Fr. McTeigue's Preaching! | Herald of the Gospel Sermons Podcast on Spotify Visit Fr. McTeigue's Website | Herald of the Gospel Questions? Comments? Feedback? Ask Father!  

In this episode of A Productive Conversation, I sit down with Anders Indset, the renowned business philosopher and author of The Viking Code: The Art and Science of Norwegian Success. Known for his profound insights into leadership and technology, Anders shares a compelling exploration of how modern Vikings channel timeless values like collectivism and creativity to achieve high-performance outcomes.We dive into what makes Norwegian success so unique, why micro-ambitions are key to long-term achievements, and how balancing timely and timeless approaches can transform both personal and professional growth. Anders' expertise in bridging philosophy and leadership offers a refreshing take on thriving in a fast-paced, tech-driven world.Key Discussion Points What modern Viking culture teaches us about collectivism and creativity. The role of micro-ambitions in achieving long-term success. How values like "tugnad" (effort for others) are deeply embedded in Norwegian culture. The interplay between finite and infinite games in life and business. The dangers of prioritizing timely distractions over timeless principles. Anders' perspective on AI's potential to foster depth in our lives. Anders' insights are both timely and timeless, offering listeners tools to rethink their approach to leadership, progress, and collective well-being. I know you'll enjoy this productive conversation.Links Worth Exploring Connect with Anders: Website | LinkedIn | X/Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Get the book we discuss: The Viking Code: The Art and Science of Norwegian Success Get Anders' other book that he mentions: The Quantum Economy - Saving the Mensch with Humanistic Capitalism Get James P. Carse's book: Finite and Infinite Games Get the book I mention: Time and The Art of Living by Robert Grudin Another reading recommendation: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business Check out The Singularity Paradox Read this: Law of Jante, a Scandinavian Code of Conduct Watch This is Pop: Click here and choose the episode "Stockholm Syndrome" Related Conversation: Episode 420: Daniel Coyle talks about The Culture Playbook Related Blog Post: The 3 Cs: How They Impact Your To Do List Thanks to all of the sponsors of this episode. You can find all of the sponsors you heard me mention on this episode on our Podcast Sponsors page.Want to support the podcast? Beyond checking out our sponsors, you can subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. You can subscribe on Spotify and also on Apple Podcasts. Not using either of those to get your podcasts? Just click on this link and then paste the podcast feed into your podcast app of choice.Thanks again for listening to A Productive Conversation. See you later.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of A Productive Conversation, I sit down with Anders Indset, the renowned business philosopher and author of The Viking Code: The Art and Science of Norwegian Success. Known for his profound insights into leadership and technology, Anders shares a compelling exploration of how modern Vikings channel timeless values like collectivism and creativity to achieve high-performance outcomes. We dive into what makes Norwegian success so unique, why micro-ambitions are key to long-term achievements, and how balancing timely and timeless approaches can transform both personal and professional growth. Anders' expertise in bridging philosophy and leadership offers a refreshing take on thriving in a fast-paced, tech-driven world. Key Discussion Points What modern Viking culture teaches us about collectivism and creativity. The role of micro-ambitions in achieving long-term success. How values like "tugnad" (effort for others) are deeply embedded in Norwegian culture. The interplay between finite and infinite games in life and business. The dangers of prioritizing timely distractions over timeless principles. Anders' perspective on AI's potential to foster depth in our lives. Anders' insights are both timely and timeless, offering listeners tools to rethink their approach to leadership, progress, and collective well-being. I know you'll enjoy this productive conversation. Links Worth Exploring Connect with Anders: Website | LinkedIn | X/Twitter | Instagram | Facebook Get the book we discuss: The Viking Code: The Art and Science of Norwegian Success Get Anders' other book that he mentions: The Quantum Economy - Saving the Mensch with Humanistic Capitalism Get James P. Carse's book: Finite and Infinite Games Get the book I mention: Time and The Art of Living by Robert Grudin Another reading recommendation: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business Check out The Singularity Paradox Read this: Law of Jante, a Scandinavian Code of Conduct Watch This is Pop: Click here and choose the episode "Stockholm Syndrome" Related Conversation: Episode 420: Daniel Coyle talks about The Culture Playbook Related Blog Post: The 3 Cs: How They Impact Your To Do List Thanks to all of the sponsors of this episode. You can find all of the sponsors you heard me mention on this episode on our Podcast Sponsors page. Want to support the podcast? Beyond checking out our sponsors, you can subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. You can subscribe on Spotify and also on Apple Podcasts. Not using either of those to get your podcasts? Just click on this link and then paste the podcast feed into your podcast app of choice. Thanks again for listening to A Productive Conversation. See you later. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's episode 206 and time for us to talk about the genre of Cultural Studies! We discuss bureaucracy, affluenza, dinosaurs, Dungeons & Dragons, Batman, The Fast and the Furious, and more! You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray

Like the episode? Let us know!What does it mean to be human in the digital age where we can get lost in online worlds and create internet identities separate from our bodies? And what about transhumanism and AI? In this episode, Y4Life Director Michelle and Y4Life Assistant Cori chat with Vicar Josh Pauling, analyzing these challenging issues, how we must ground our identity in the wonders of the created and redeemed body, and how the incarnation of Christ is the ultimate answer to such questions. From this proper foundation, Vicar Pauling gives practical tips to help better serve and love our neighbors in body and soul and be prepared to sacrifice and suffer, too.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Joshua Pauling is vicar at All Saints Lutheran Church, contributing editor at Salvo, columnist at Modern Reformation, and has written for a variety of other publications including Areo, Forma Journal, Front Porch Republic, Logia: A Journal of Lutheran of Lutheran Theology, The Lutheran Witness, Mere Orthodoxy, Merion West, Public Discourse, Quillette, The Imaginative Conservative, Touchstone Magazine, among others. He is a frequent guest on Issues Etc. Radio Show/Podcast. Josh also taught high school history for thirteen years in the public school setting and now spends a portion of his time as a classical educator and running his own business making custom furniture and restoring vintage machinery. He also speaks and writes at the intersections of Christianity and culture. He studied at Messiah University, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Winthrop University, and is continuing his studies at Concordia Theological Seminary.Read Are We All Cyborgs Now?: Reclaiming Our Humanity from the Machine by Josh Pauling and Robin PhillipsOther books referenced in the episode:The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan HaidtAmusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil PostmanDiscover your Gospel-motivated voice 4 Life at Y4Life.org.

On this episode of the Brainy Moms podcast, Dr. Amy and Sandy discuss the nuanced impacts of the election and cancel culture on our youth. We raise concerns about how some colleges are responding to election results, questioning whether these reactions might be hindering the development of resilience in students. By fostering respectful debates and exposing young people to multiple perspectives, we aim to nurture essential executive function skills. This episode is a call to action for parents and educators, encouraging them to guide children through political conversations without succumbing to the divisiveness that cancel culture breeds and without making assumptions that all youth are mourning the results. Join us in exploring some ways of navigating politics and media with kids. Whether you're a parent, educator, or simply curious about the intersection of politics and youth development, this conversation may leave you with plenty to ponder.Mentioned in this episode:Universities come under fire for canceling classes, providing safe spaces to students upset by Trump's victory Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman The Promise of Clinician-Delivered Cognitive Training for ADHD (with the ADHD cognitive profiles graph)CONNECT WITH US: Website: www.TheBrainyMoms.com Email: info@TheBrainyMoms.com Social Media: @TheBrainyMoms Our sponsor's website: www.LearningRx.comSandy's TikTok: @TheBrainTrainerLadyDr. Amy's brand new IG: @DrAmySaysGraceDr. Amy's website: www.AmyMoorePhD.com

Some taboo topics among pundits on mainstream media are beginning to show signs of breaking down. The recent presidential campaign exposed a new reality; celebrities don't hold as much influence over voters as many thought. And a new trend is emerging in the family, would-be grandparents who aren't sure how to raise the topic with their adult children. Recommendations Where The Winter Was by Skye Peterson Machine Antihumanism and the Inversion of Family Law by Jeff Shafer Segment 1 - Spiral of Silence CNN guests clash after Trump's victory in heated debate over 'transphobia' CNN host Abby Phillip explains why Muslim victim of beeper ‘joke' didn't return after commercial break The World and Everything in It: November 15, 2024 Victims of Communism Museum Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Why I Am Now a Christian Segment 2 - Celebritism in Politics  WSJ: Inside Harris's and Trump's Campaign Spending Our Culture, What's Left of It: The Mandarins and the Masses by Theodore Dalrymple Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman Segment 3 - Grandparents NYT: The Unspoken Grief of Never Becoming a Grandparent Ruth 4 Proverbs 17:6 __________ Register for the 2025 Colson Center National Conference at colsonconference.org.  Support the ongoing production of Breakpoint by becoming a monthly partner at colsoncenter.org/monthly.   

Bu bölümde Mert'in yeni macOS uygulaması Offline Translate, Xoode'un yeni Code Completion özelliği, Sam Altman'ın The Intelligence Age yazısı ve MKBHD'nin tartışma yaratan uygulaması üzerine sohbet ettik.Bizi dinlemekten keyif alıyorsanız, kahve ısmarlayarak bizi destekleyebilir ve Telegram grubumuza katılabilirsiniz. :)Yorumlarınızı, sorularınızı ya da sponsorluk tekliflerinizi info@farklidusun.net e-posta adresine iletebilirsiniz. Bizi Twitter üzerinden takip edebilirsiniz.Zaman damgaları:00:00 - Giriş01:15 - Offline Translate15:30 - iOS 18 ile gelen sorunlar21:25 - Xcode Code Completion30:44 - The Intelligence Age1:21:50 - Dikkat Eksikliği ve Hiperaktivite Bozukluğu1:28:19 - MKBHD'nin uygulaması1:46:16 - Space Marine 2 ve oyun incelemeleri1:54:44 - The Plucky Squire2:01:40 - Playstation'ın 30.yıl versiyonu2:14:20 - İzlediklerimizBölüm linkleri:Offline TranslateMeet the Translation APIVisionKitDevCleaner for XcodeThe Intelligence AgeOpenAI asked US to approve energy-guzzling 5GW data centers, report saysMicrosoft wants Three Mile Island to fuel its AI power needsCanva hikes prices by 300pc as it readies for IPOEnterprise Philosophy and The First Wave of AIComedian John Mulaney brutally roasts SF techies at DreamforceHollywood is coming out in force for California's AI safety billCalifornia's new law requires schools to limit phone useAmusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show BusinessTechnopoly: The Surrender of Culture to TechnologyButlerian JihadMarques Brownlee says ‘I hear you' after fans criticize his new wallpaper appGordon Ramsay's perfect scrambled eggs tutorialPlayStation's 30th anniversary PS5 and PS5 Pro are delightfully retroSpace Marine 2videogamedunkeyAstro BotThe Plucky SquireKariyer Gelişiminde Tecrübe, Büyük Proje Yönetme Yetisi, Kültür ve GirişimcilikSteel SwarmLa MaisonThe PenguinOmnivoreTom yum çorbasıMert'in bahsettiği çok acı Laos yemeğiHot Ones

In Let's Talk About This, Fr. McTeigue discusses spreading the Gospel in the age of short-form digital video. It's crucial to use, master, and capture all technology for Christ and His Kingdom, but why does Father still recommend the written word? Father finishes with Weekend Readiness to help you prepare for the upcoming Sunday Mass.   Show Notes Resistance Writer by Fr. Robert McTeigue, S.J. | Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity The Humiliation of the Word: Jacques Ellul Abuse of Language, Abuse of Power: Josef Pieper Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, 2nd ed: Marilyn McEntyre Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology: Neil Postman Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction: Alan Jacobs The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains: Nicholas Carr  6 Take-aways from a dad in the video game industry Have we surrendered our kids to the popular culture - Aleteia The Struggle For Stupidity | Bill Whittle The Word Cannot Be Cancelled | Father Robert McTeigue, S.J., Ph.D. | TEDxLambethSalon Fr. Robert McTeigue, SJ Speaks at The Station of The Cross 25th Anniversary Celebration! Note About the Spiritual Experience Connected with Medjugorje | Vatican.va The Canadian military pushed for a hate-crime investigation because someone destroyed tampon dispensers in men's washrooms | Not the Bee New Canadian military report claims space exploration is both racist and sexist | Not the Bee Canadian judge convicts pastor of "criminal harassment" for protesting drag queen events for kids | Not the Bee iCatholic Mobile The Station of the Cross Merchandise - Use Coupon Code 14STATIONS for 10% off | Catholic to the Max Read Fr. McTeigue's Written Works! Listen to Fr. McTeigue's Preaching! | Herald of the Gospel Sermons Podcast on Spotify Visit Fr. McTeigue's Website | Herald of the Gospel Questions? Comments? Feedback? Ask Father!

In this conversation, Erik Torenberg sits down with Antonio Garcia Martinez, founder of Spindl and author of ‘Chaos Monkeys', and Parker Thompson, partner at SAX Capital, TNT Ventures, and AngelList, to explore the influence of social media on society. They discuss media literacy and journalism, how politics change people's views of social media, and the rise of unique religious movements in social activism. This episode marks the first time Erik interviewed Antonio Garcia Martinez on Venture Stories back in 2019 and remains relevant today. If you're looking for an ERP platform, check out NetSuite: https://netsuite.com/zen. -- SPONSORS: NETSUITE NetSuite has 25 years of providing financial software for all your business needs. More than 36,000 businesses have already upgraded to NetSuite by Oracle, gaining visibility and control over their financials, inventory, HR, eCommerce, and more. If you're looking for an ERP platform head to NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/zen and download your own customized KPI checklist. -- FOLLOW ON X: @antoniogm (Antonio) @pt (Parker) @eriktorenberg (Erik) @moz_podcast (Moment of Zen) @TurpentineMedia -- BOOKS CITED: Chaos Monkeys by Antonio Garcia Martinez Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man by Marshall McLuhan  Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America by Daniel J. Boorstin The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium by Martin Gurri Seven Types of Atheism by John Gray -- TIMESTAMPS: (00:00) Intro (01:23) Impact of Facebook (02:41) Evolution of Media and Its Influence on Society (10:10) Journalism and Media Ethics (26:25) Effectiveness of Media Regulation (33:10) Facebook's Content Curation (34:02) Content Control (35:32) Impact of Algorithms on Society and Business (38:50) Generational Shifts in Media Consumption (45:57) Exploring the Ideology of Silicon Valley (49:44) Secular Religions and the Quest for Community (58:39) Future of Religion and Community in the Digital Age (01:03:36) Wrap This show is produced by Turpentine: a network of podcasts, newsletters, and more, covering technology, business, and culture — all from the perspective of industry insiders and experts. We're launching new shows every week, and we're looking for industry-leading sponsors — if you think that might be you and your company, email us at erik@turpentine.co.

The transition from high school to college or from college to career, is an exciting one. Yet, it can also cause uncertainty, especially when those transitions change relationships within our families. Society would suggest that transitioning into adulthood precludes and even exempts us from responsibility to family. Is that really true? What role does family play in our lives as we become more independent? And are there any lessons we can learn as we contemplate starting a family of our own? We are joined by Josh Pauling this week to answer these questions and more!Josh Pauling is a contributing editor at Salvo Magazine, a columnist at Modern Reformation Magazine, and a frequent guest on Issues, Etc. Mr. Pauling previously taught history in a public school setting prior to becoming a Classical Lutheran Educator. Josh also runs his own business making custom furniture and restoring vintage machinery. He and his family attend All Saints Lutheran Church where he serves as head elder.Amusing  Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil PostmanLearn more about being a Gospel-motivated voice 4 LIFE at Y4Life.org.

The Space Shot Links- Subscribe to The Space Shot on Substack for emails delivered directly to your inbox. Check it out here (https://thespaceshot.substack.com/p/coming-soon?r=5tgvq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=copy) Let me know if you have any questions, email me at john@thespaceshot.com. You can also call 720-772-7988 if you'd like to ask a question for the show. Send questions, ideas, or comments, and I will be sure to respond to you! Thanks for reaching out! Do me a favor and leave a review for the podcast if you enjoy listening each day. Screenshot your review and send it to @johnmulnix or john@thespaceshot.com and I will send you a Space Shot sticker and a thank you! Episode Links: After Babel (https://jonathanhaidt.substack.com) Books- I forgot to mention it in the episode since the book is experienced more than it is read. Apollo Remastered (https://www.apolloremastered.com)by Andy Saunders is a visual delight. 1000% recommend picking up a copy. "Soviets in Space" (https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/S/bo184798413.html) by Colin Burgess "Space Craze" (https://www.smithsonianbooks.com/store/aviation-military-history/space-craze-americas-enduring-fascination-with-real-and-imagined-spaceflight/)by Margaret Weitekamp "The Space Shuttle" by Roland Miller (https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/roland-miller/the-space-shuttle/9781648291357/) "Son of Apollo" by Christopher Roosa (https://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/9781496233349/) "The New Guys" by Meredith Bagby (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-new-guys-meredith-bagby?variant=41058530328610) "The Map that Changed the World" by Simon Winchester (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-map-that-changed-the-world-simon-winchester?variant=32207411019810) "Chasing Venus: The Race to Measure the Heavens" by Andrea Wulf (https://www.andreawulf.com/andrea-wulf/about-chasing-venus-how-science-turned-global-in-the-eighteenth-century-to-be-published-in-the-uk-us.html) "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business" by Neil Postman (https://www.amazon.com/Amusing-Ourselves-Death-Discourse-Business/dp/014303653X) "Plunder: Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America" by Brendan Ballou (https://www.plunderthebook.com) "Timefulness: How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World" (https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691181202/timefulness)by Marcia Bjornerud "Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology" by Neil Postman (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/technopoly-neil-postman/1100623453) "Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives" (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250284297/cobaltred) by Siddarth Kara "Technology and the American Way of War Since 1945" by Thomas G. Mahnken (https://www.amazon.com/Technology-American-Way-Since-1945/dp/023112337X) "The Winged Gospel" by Joseph Corn (https://www.amazon.com/Winged-Gospel-Americas-Romance-Aviation/dp/0801869625) "Wichita: Where Aviation Took Wing" by the Greteman Group (https://wichitaaviationhistory.com/product/wichita-where-aviation-took-wing-book/) "The Arsenal of Democracy" by A.J. Baime (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-arsenal-of-democracy-a-j-baime?variant=39935376916514) "Farnsworth's Classical English Style" by Ward Farnsworth (https://www.amazon.com/Farnsworths-Classical-English-Style-Farnsworth/dp/1567926657) "The Practicing Stoic" by Ward Farnsworth (https://www.amazon.com/Practicing-Stoic-Philosophical-Users-Manual/dp/1567926118) "The Daily Stoic" by Ryan Holiday (https://www.thepaintedporch.com/products/ryan4?_pos=3&_sid=0ea9d25aa&_ss=r) "The Daily Dad" by Ryan Holiday (https://www.thepaintedporch.com/products/the-daily-dad-366-meditations-on-parenting-love-and-raising-great-kids-pre-order-release-may-2nd?_pos=1&_sid=519dd7cdf&_ss=r) "Code Red" by Vince Flynn/Kyle Mills (https://www.vinceflynn.com/code-red) "And on that Bombshell" by Richard Porter (https://www.amazon.com/That-Bombshell-Inside-Madness-Genius/dp/1409165078) "Nuts and Bolts" by Roma Agrawal (https://mitpressbookstore.mit.edu/book/9781324021520) "Come Fly with Me: The Rise and Fall of TWA" by Daniel L. Rust and Alan B. Hoffman (https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/C/bo207659745.html) "Hands of Time" by Rebecca Struthers (https://www.harpercollins.com/products/hands-of-time-rebecca-struthers?variant=40861027598370)

LEMI has been around long enough that we have many graduates who are moving forward and living their mission. And it isn't limited to just the kids! Parents are “graduating” too! Cassie Dixon's youngest son graduated and she decided to take what she learned in LEMI and her community and bring it to her community by becoming a high school English teacher. If Cassie's last name sound familiar, we interviewed her son Aaron several months ago. It was so much fun talking to him and to hear the other side is very enlightening! Be sure to check out his episode too! If you are interested in Family Foundations, Quest, Pyramid, Junior programs, or the LEMI writing philosophy, this is a great one to listen to! We also talk quite a bit about community. Enjoy! LINKS Aaron Dixon LEMIWorks! Episode In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction by Gabor Mate, MD 7 Habits of Happy Kids by Sean Covey The 7 Habits of Happy Kids Series by Sean Covey Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank The Chosen by Chaim Potok The Crucible by Arthur Miller Friday Night Lights by H.G. Bissinger The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman LEMIWorks! Episode – Writing Classic Call #1 LEMIWorks! Episode – Writing Classic Call #2 LEMIWorks! Episode – Seasons

Will Schoder is a video essayist who explores a diverse range of topics including psychology, meaning, re-enchantment, metamodernism, mortality, and satire. Initially known for his short-form videos, his latest series is a trilogy of fascinating long-form deep dives into the nature, foundations, and secrets of happiness. Will joins the show to share his insights on the evolving significance of curation, the future of the creator economy, how to obtain deep happiness and MUCH more. Important Links: Will's YouTube Channel Will's Twitter Eight Books That Changed My Life Rick and Morty – Finding Meaning in Life David Foster Wallace – The Problem With Irony The Attention Economy – How They Addict Us Every Story Is The Same The Happiness Trilogy: Part 1: What is Happiness? Part 2: The Foundations of Happiness Part 3: The Secret to Happier The moral roots of liberals and conservatives; Jonathan Haidt The Thinker and The Prover Show Notes: Short-Form vs Long-Form Videos The Righteous Mind The Internet as Liberator; the Rise of Curation Pushback & Pop Culture YouTube & the Rise of the TikTok Style Navigating the Attention Economy The Future of the Creator Economy Will's Hero's Journey Finding Deep Happiness Compression, Genetics & Environment Education vs. Entertainment The Free Energy Principle Filter Failure Will as Emperor of the World MORE! Books Mentioned: The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion; by Jonathan Haidt One Summer: America 1927; by Bill Bryson Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business; by Neil Postman The Shallows: How the Internet Is Changing the Way We Think, Read and Remember; by Nicholas Carr Happy: Why More or Less Everything is Absolutely Fine; by Derren Brown Happiness: A Very Short Introduction; by Daniel M. Haybron The Pursuit of Unhappiness: The Elusive Psychology of Well-Being; by Daniel M. Haybron All The Light We Cannot See; by Anthony Doerr How To Change Your Mind; by Michael Pollan  

After a short absence from the pod, Tim rejoins Joel to rejoice in young people learning about Jesus and how different music scenes have impacted culture. It leads to the question, could numerous grassroots Christian scenes have an effect on culture? For the action to be in the church, we cannot just copy culture, but it must costly to us.00:00 Intro01:05 Where's Tim been?17:11 Music scenes29:00 Pop culture has become an oligopoly40:47 Hardship is what brings value57:55 Copying culture = less effort1:08:33 Committing to the action being in the churchDISCUSSED ON THIS EPISODEBen Pakula's musicYouthworks Square OneTooth & Nail RecordsMxPxThe O.C. SupertonesLimp BizkitSlipknotThe DarknessLed ZeppelinPop Culture Has Become an OligopolyAmusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, by Neil PostmanMetallica's latest tourRage Against the MachineCONTACT USShock Absorber Email: joel@shockabsorber.com.auShock Absorber Website: shockabsorber.com.auSoul Revival Shop: soulrevival.shopCheck out what else Soul Revival is up to here

Guest: Dr. Daphney Harris, PCA North Librarian   The Texas Legislature recently passed a law that will hold book vendors accountable for the material that is being distributed in their books - if material is inappropriate for children, these vendors will not be allowed to sell their books to Texas public schools or libraries. This new law called the Removing Explicit and Adult Designated Educational Resources (READER) Act was signed into law by Texas governor Greg Abbott following this most recent legislative session.   PCA library on the Plano campus has recently finished an audit of their books to better ensure that all books on the shelves and available for PCA students are aligned with our mission and are age appropriate material and content. If you find material in a book that you find inappropriate, please let your librarian know so they can help best protect and prepare our students.   As a parent, how do I develop a love for reading in my children: Find resources/books that our children are interested in Avoid “bad” books that waste time and warp minds Start reading to your younger children As your children get older, engage in meaningful discussions about books that they are currently reading Set goals to help challenge your children to read - the practice of reading is important for the Christian student - God's Word is written and if we can't read well, we will be frustrated trying to draw close to God through Scripture   Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in an Age of Show Business by Neil Postman   Parents, what are you reading? You model the importance of reading for your children - lead by example.   Parents, do a little research on finding good, clean, and appropriate books for your children - start with reading out to Dr. Books - her email is dharris@prestonwoodchristian.org  Special shout out to Jared Wood for allowing us to use his music - check him out at JaredWoodMusic!

In this episode we discuss Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman. Next time we'll discuss The Origins of Woke: Civil Rights Law, Corporate America, and the Triumph of Identity Politics by Richard Hanania.

First broadcast on November 22, 1985.

In this episode we discuss Transformative Experience by L.A. Paul. Next week we'll discuss Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman.

Chapter 1 What's Amusing Ourselves to Death"Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business" is a book written by Neil Postman and published in 1985. In this book, Postman examines how the introduction of television and other forms of visual media have shaped the way we consume information and the impact it has had on public discourse and politics. He argues that television, being a medium focused on entertainment rather than education or critical thinking, has reduced the quality of public discourse and has led to a society that is more concerned with amusement and spectacle than with rational discussion and analysis. Postman's book is a critique of the effects of media and its consequential implications on our culture and society.Chapter 2 Why is Amusing Ourselves to Death Worth ReadAmusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman is a highly influential book that explores the impact of television and media on society. Published in 1985, it remains relevant today and has garnered praise for its insight and analysis. Here are some reasons why it is worth reading:1. Thought-provoking analysis: Postman provides a thought-provoking critique of the effect of television on public discourse and culture. He argues that the medium of television, due to its emphasis on entertainment and brevity, favors emotionalism and superficiality over rational and meaningful discourse. Postman's analysis encourages readers to question the nature of media and its influence on society.2. Historical examination: The book explores the historical context of media and the shift from print culture to television culture. Postman traces the evolution of media and discusses how it has shaped public discourse over time. This historical perspective helps readers better understand the influence of media on society today.3. Prophecy and foresight: Many readers appreciate Postman's ability to predict and anticipate the impact of television and media on social and political life. With the rise of 24-hour news cycles, reality TV, and the influence of social media, Postman's warnings about the erosion of public discourse and the dominance of entertainment-oriented media have proved prescient.4. Engaging writing style: Despite discussing serious and complex topics, Postman's writing is engaging and accessible. He uses vivid examples, anecdotes, and cultural references to illustrate his arguments, making it an enjoyable read for anyone interested in media, culture, and society.5. Relevance to contemporary society: While written in the 1980s, Amusing Ourselves to Death remains highly relevant in the digital age. The book raises important questions about the role and influence of media on society, particularly regarding the internet, social media platforms, and the digitalization of information. Its central arguments continue to resonate and prompt reflection on the impact of media on cultural and public life.Overall, Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death is worth reading for its enduring relevance, compelling analysis, and engaging writing style. It offers critical insights into the influence of media on society and encourages readers to critically examine their media consumption and its effects.Chapter 3 Amusing Ourselves to Death Summary"Amusing Ourselves to Death" is a book by Neil Postman that argues how communication media has transformed public discourse and influenced the way society thinks and behaves.Postman begins by comparing two dystopian visions portrayed in novels: George Orwell's "1984" and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World." While Orwell's novel depicts a society controlled by an oppressive government, Huxley's novel portrays a society...

Last week I went through ten authors and a number of books that have shaped my life and thinking. I include the full list below. This quote from Neil Postman highlights the significance of reading. One must begin, I think, by pointing to the obvious fact that the written word, and an oratory based upon it, has a content: a semantic, paraphrasable, propositional content. This may sound odd, but since I shall be arguing soon enough that much of our discourse today has only a marginal propositional content, I must stress the point here. Whenever language is the principal medium of communication—especially language controlled by the rigors of print—an idea, a fact, a claim is the inevitable result. The idea may be banal, the fact irrelevant, the claim false, but there is no escape from meaning when language is the instrument guiding one's thought. Though one may accomplish it from time to time, it is very hard to say nothing when employing a written English sentence. What else is exposition good for? Words have very little to recommend them except as carriers of meaning. The shapes of written words are not especially interesting to look at. Even the sounds of sentences of spoken words are rarely engaging except when composed by those with extraordinary poetic gifts. If a sentence refuses to issue forth a fact, a request, a question, an assertion, an explanation, it is nonsense, a mere grammatical shell. As a consequence a language-centered discourse such as was characteristic of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century America tends to be both content-laden and serious, all the more so when it takes its form from print. [Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (pp. 49-50). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.] Books and Authors W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy and The Pursuit of God. Blaise Pascal, Pensées, many editions. I prefer the Penguin ed. See also the collection The Mind on Fire. Carl F. H. Henry, God, Revelation, and Authority, 6 vols. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Abolition of Man, Miracles, God in the Dock, Screwtape Letters. Francis Schaeffer, all of his books, but especially The God Who is There, He is there and He is not Silent, How Should We Then Live?, True Spirituality, and Whatever Happened to the Human Race? K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man. Harold Netland, Dissonant Voices and Encountering Religious Pluralism Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind. I. Packer, Knowing God and Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. P. Moreland, Scaling the Secular City and Love Your God With All Your Mind. James W. Sire, The Universe Next Door: A Basic Worldview Catalogue, Habits of the Mind, and Scripture Twisting: Twenty Ways Cults Misinterpret the Bible. John Calvin, The Institutes. John Stott, The Cross of Christ and Basic Christianity. Ken Myers, All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes: Christians and Popular Culture. Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: Extensions of Man. Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Technopoly, and The End of Education. Os Guinness, The Dust of Death, God in the Dark, Prophetic Untimeliness, A Time for Truth, The Call, and all the rest. J. Rushdoony, Institutes of Biblical Law, The Messianic Character of American Education, This Independent Republic, The Nature of the American System, The Politics of Guilt and Pity, and many more. Rebecca Merrill Groothuis, Women Caught in the Conflict and Good News for Women. Richard John Neuhaus, The Naked Public Square. Augustine, The Confessions. Thomas Sowell, The Politics and Economics of Race and A Conflict of Visions. Walter Martin, Kingdom of the Cults.   Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In this podcast-extended episode, we welcome back social and political commentator Bill Whittle to discuss the addiction to the use of technology. What is it that we've lost along the way, and does the loss only affect the younger generations?    Show Notes Ham-Handed Surgeons Bill Whittle | Website Planting Our Flag in the Real World: Parents Take the Postman Pledge - Front Porch Republic Taking the Postman Pledge - The American Conservative Our Cultural Surrender To Screens Has Bred An Entirely Unserious Generation Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway Resistance Writer by Robert McTeigue | Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity The Magis Center Isaiah's Job Read Fr. McTeigue's Written Works! Visit Fr. McTeigue's Website | Herald of the Gospel Questions? Comments? Feedback? Ask Father!

Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business: Postman, Neil, Postman, Andrew: 8601420133051: Amazon.com: BooksWe hope this episode was an encouragement to you. If it was, share this episode with someone else. If you have any topic suggestions, please let us know by emailing them to thewellwornpathpodcast@gmail.com

Is watching a sermon on my phone the same as going to church? Does the device change the message in any way? Shouldn't we be utilizing these devices to reach & connect with people? Smartphones and the internet aren't going away, & every ministry needs to wrestle with these questions.  Now a classic, Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, has a lot of wisdom for the world we find ourselves in today. My guest is Dr. Arthur Hunt, a retired Professor of Mass Media & Communications, and an expert in Postman's ideas. One organization has even created a Postman Pledge for those who would like to take an extra step in putting the concepts into real life! Burner phone re-upped for another 30 days. Have a question or just want to connect? I'd love to hear from you. Feel free to give me a call and I'll do my best to pick up during normal business hours, US Mountain Time. New number is (605) 484-4146. I'd love it if you'd consider subscribing to the Good Ideas for Churches YouTube Channel. It'll be all the same episodes, with occasional bonus content, as well as a place to leave comments. Good Ideas for Churches is a joint project between Matt Whitman's The Ten Minute Bible Hour and Eyes Up. Have a good idea? Something that's helped your church? Something that's made the Gospel make sense to people in your community? I'd love to hear from you! Shoot me an email at aron.eyesup@gmail.com.

In this episode, Rachel and Matthew interview Michael Toy, a teaching fellow at Te Herenga Waka - Victoria University of Wellington. Michael's doctorate focuses on experiences of minority Christians' engagement with technology. Rachel and Matt chat with Michael about faith, misinformation, digital religion, and the role of technology in loving our neighbours. Michael thoughtfully highlights hope in paying attention to God's Kingdom breaking into our world. Show notes Digital theology: A proposal and the need for diverse voices (Stephen Garner, 2020) Faith in the Age of the iPod (Vincent Miller, 2010) Jacques Ellul on technique (1983) Three Mile an Hour God: Biblical Reflections (Kosuke Koyama, 1980) Threats against Māori women not taken seriously, says city councillor (Stuff.co.nz, 20 July 2022) Evil (TV Series 2019–, IMDb) Huia Come Home (Jay Ruka, 2018) Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index Te Mana Raraunga – Māori Data Sovereignty Network How to Leave an Internet That's Always in Crisis (Atlantic Monthly, 19 July 2022) Transcript of Mark Zuckerberg's Senate hearing (The Washington Post, 10 April 2018) Read Mercer Schuchardt, Wheaton College The Irresistible Revolution: Living as an Ordinary Radical (Shane Claiborne, 2016) Foreword to Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (Neil Postman, 1985) The Reckless Way of Love: Notes on Following Jesus (Dorothy Day, 2017) False Divides (Lana Lopesi, 2018) Worldmaking knowledge: What the doctrine of omniscience can help us understand about digitization (Hanna Reichel, 2019) Transgressive Devotion: Theology as Performance Art (Natalie Wigg-Stevenson, 2021) Free West Papua campaign West Papua students secure future in New Zealand with new jobs | Stuff.co.nz (Stuff.co.nz, 14 Aug 2022)

Escolhemos os produtos, músicas e até candidatos políticos pelas melhores propostas? Ou é só vamos atrás de quem dá o que o meio de propagação de mensagens mais quer? Links do episódio: Os Meios de Comunicação Como Extensões do Homem: Understanding Media The Medium Is the Massage: An Inventory of Effects Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business TED Talks: O Guia Oficial do TED Para Falar em Público Apoie o Boa Noite Internet, agora sem intermediários!

As our virtual engagement with the wider world has increased, our local connections have diminished. In some ways the internet has become more real than our neighborhoods, and virtual "friendships" have replaced the real thing. This leaves us longing for a sense of place in a rootless world. Why are we so restless? Because we no longer know where we live. At the conclusion of John’s talk, co-hosts Center for Public Christianity Executive Director Josh Chatraw and New City Fellows alumnus Micah Vandegrift are joined by Abby Vandegrift, Micah’s wife and a New City Fellows alumnae, to reflect on John’s teaching and discuss how it applies to daily life. So, keep listening! Additional Resources From John’s Talks A Time to Keep: Theology, Mortality, and the Shape of a Human Life by Ephraim Radner Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville Pensées by Blaise Pascal Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry into the News by Jeffrey Bilbro The Givenness of Things: Essays by Marilynne Robinson The Power of Place: Choosing Stability in a Rootless Age by Daniel Grothe You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News by Kelly M. Kapic You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World by Alan Noble Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentment by Benjamin Storey and Jenna Silber Storey blesseveryhome.com From the Discussion Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit by James K. A. Smith Websites https://htcraleigh.org/ https://centerforpublicchristianity.org/

As our virtual engagement with the wider world has increased, our local connections have diminished. In some ways the internet has become more real than our neighborhoods, and virtual "friendships" have replaced the real thing. This leaves us longing for a sense of place in a rootless world. Why are we so restless? Because we no longer know where we live. At the conclusion of John’s talk, co-hosts Center for Public Christianity Executive Director Josh Chatraw and New City Fellows alumnus Micah Vandegrift are joined by Abby Vandegrift, Micah’s wife and a New City Fellows alumnae, to reflect on John’s teaching and discuss how it applies to daily life. So, keep listening! Additional Resources From John’s Talks A Time to Keep: Theology, Mortality, and the Shape of a Human Life by Ephraim Radner Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places by Eugene Peterson Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville Penséesby Blaise Pascal Reading the Times: A Literary and Theological Inquiry into the News by Jeffrey Bilbro The Givenness of Things: Essays by Marilynne Robinson The Power of Place: Choosing Stability in a Rootless Ageby Daniel Grothe You’re Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God’s Design and Why That’s Good News by Kelly M. Kapic You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman Worldby Alan Noble Why We Are Restless: On the Modern Quest for Contentmentby Benjamin Storey and Jenna Silber Storeycom From the Discussion Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman Liturgy of the Ordinary: Sacred Practices in Everyday Life by Tish Harrison Warren You Are What You Love: The Spiritual Power of Habit by James K. A. Smith Websites https://htcraleigh.org/ https://centerforpublicchristianity.org/

Podcasting 2.0 for April 29th 2022 Episode 83: "Pushin' Paper" Download the mp3 Podcast Feed PodcastIndex.org Preservepodcasting.com Check out the podcasting 2.0 apps and services newpodcastapps.com Support us with your Time Talent and Treasure Positioning Boost Bait ShowNotes Put us in your value split 03ae9f91a0cb8ff43840e3c322c4c61f019d8c1c3cea15a25cfc425ac605e61a4a Two very tired men Live item fuck ups Boostbot TOS hell Sovereign feeds kicking ass Hypecatcher studio ramping up Maps.fm email Podcast Standard conversation The Zen TV Experiment - adam.nz Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business: Postman, Neil, Postman, Andrew Elon Twitter authentication AVB & fire Spotify launches new fund to support independent open source projects | TechCrunch Torcon VII Announcing the Spotify FOSS Fund : Spotify Engineering Agora project Last Modified 04/29/2022 20:45:53 by Freedom Controller  

Podcasting 2.0 for April 29th 2022 Episode 83: "Pushin' Paper" Download the mp3 Podcast Feed PodcastIndex.org Preservepodcasting.com Check out the podcasting 2.0 apps and services newpodcastapps.com Support us with your Time Talent and Treasure Positioning Boost Bait ShowNotes Put us in your value split 03ae9f91a0cb8ff43840e3c322c4c61f019d8c1c3cea15a25cfc425ac605e61a4a Two very tired men Live item fuck ups Boostbot TOS hell Sovereign feeds kicking ass Hypecatcher studio ramping up Maps.fm email Podcast Standard conversation The Zen TV Experiment - adam.nz Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business: Postman, Neil, Postman, Andrew Elon Twitter authentication AVB & fire Spotify launches new fund to support independent open source projects | TechCrunch Torcon VII Announcing the Spotify FOSS Fund : Spotify Engineering Agora project Last Modified 04/29/2022 20:45:53 by Freedom Controller

“Try to resist labeling yourself, resist taking on any label because that hems you in. Suddenly, you think yourself as an X. And there's some internal pressure to believe everything that an X believes. And it makes you take sides just based on a label rather than reasoning your way through the issues.” ~ Chris Mayer, manager and co-founder, Woodlock House Family CapitalBonner Private Research is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.TRANSCRIPTJoel Bowman:Well, welcome back to the Fatal Conceits podcast, a show about money, markets, mobs, and manias. If you're joining us for the first time or even if you're a regular listener, please do head over to our Substack at bonnerprivateresearch.substack.com. There, you'll be able to check out hundreds of irreverent essays on everything from lowly politics to high finance, and beyond. Plus, a bunch of research reports and, of course, many more episodes of the Fatal Conceits podcast just like this one. Not a few of which feature my guest today, a popular guest on the show, and a good friend of mine.Christopher Mayer is the portfolio manager and co-founder of the Woodlock House Family Capital fund. And he joins me today. Chris, good to see you, mate. How are you doing?Chris Mayer:Yo, good to be on with you, buddy. How you doing?Joel Bowman:Good, mate. Always good to have a brighten up my day with a chat with you, mate.Chris Mayer:There you go. Yeah. Same. Looking forward to it.Joel Bowman:Now, readers and, I guess, listeners now who have heard a few of our previous discussions know that one of the themes that we touch on with Chris as an increasingly rare omnivorous reader is we like to thumb through some of the spines on his bookshelf, see what's got his gray matter, taking and inspired. We've had, I think, maybe three or four of these discussions now. And we've set them up with a few different categories of book, whether it be philosophy, or travel, or fictional, or what have you.But you had a bit of a different idea today, Chris, and thanks to your recommendation. I've done a little bit of a two-day crash course on your selected author and has turned up some very, very interesting points. So maybe we can get right into Neil Postman and his seminal 1985 work. It's quite amazing to think that this was that long ago, titled Amusing Ourselves to Death with the very appropriate subtitle of Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. (Here's a link to the book.)Chris, you want to set the stage for us?Chris Mayer:Yeah. So I put this under the category of understanding media or understanding media culture. So if you want to have some framework to make sense of social media and TV news and all the stuff that goes on, this book will really make you think. Yeah. What I think about is this eerily prescient. So, yeah, you said it came out in 1985. It's hard to believe that ... Here's the copy. I'm going to read just the beginning because this sets up the whole book. There's a little part in the beginning where he compares the dystopian vision, Orwell, 1984, and Aldous Huxley, Brave New World.So it's just one little paragraph. I'm going to read it because this is when he says to himself what this book is about. So it says, "What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book because there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to pacificity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we'd become a trivial culture preoccupied with the equivalent of nonsense." So he goes on to say here that this book is about the possibility that Huxley and not Orwell was right.I mean, already just in there, there's a lot you could already sense, which is we're bombarded with so much information that it almost makes everything trivial. I mean, you're bombarded with so much news and takes all the time. It's hard to make sense of all. So I would say, if I had to sum up the key thrust of this book and what one of the main things I learned about, and we could talk more about it, is Postman really makes you think more about the medium itself rather than focusing so much on what is being said.But he would say, for example, instead of the content of a tweet that gets passed around a lot, he would make you think about, "Oh, what does that medium of Twitter bring? What kind of conversations does it force us to have or encourage us to have?" I remember one example in the book he gives is, think about smoke signals. If you're only communicating by smoke signal, it limits the conversations you can have. You can't have a deep philosophical discussion over smoke signals. Yeah.And so if you think of every medium that way, you think of Twitter as a medium, it constrains you in a certain way. There's the obvious character limitation. But there's the whole thing about it, there's the likes, there's the retweets, there's followers. And what conversations do that force you to have? What messages that it'd force you to have? And so that's the thing about this book that really makes you think about.Joel Bowman:That's a really interesting and very germane points as Twitter and, of course, Elon Musk, and that whole potential takeover and the debate on whether or not one man should control this particular medium, and just the power of that medium and the power that it has accrued in just a very, very short amount of time.One of the points that I saw Postman make in an interview ... And this was in '95. So this was 10 years after the publication of this particular book, Amusing Ourselves to Death. So it was really, as you mentioned, I think the right word is eerily prescient because even the terminology that he's using, it almost looked like he had taken stock of the conversation today, and then transported himself back to '95 just to give us a bit of a warning about what was ahead.But he gave ... I remember he used this point about this technology, particularly communications technology, being this Faustian bargain, where it wasn't just this one-way cornucopia of benevolent gifting that we were the receivers of but we also had to give something in return for that. And a few of the points that he brought up, for example, was just basic social skills when we've got our head in a personalized computer and we're not building a community. How does the medium change the way that we interact with one another beyond just the way that we interact individually with information?And I think, to your point about Twitter, I mean, that's just such an obvious thing that we can point to and say, "Well, there's obvious echo chambers here, where people and whole communities are becoming just more and more fragmented and atomized.Chris Mayer:That's it, yeah.Joel Bowman:Do you think that that is somehow catalyzing the political divide that we see today, or?Chris Mayer:Yeah, definitely do. I mean, you think about people who can build their own little echo chambers now. You can tailor all your input so that you're only getting the stories that you want to hear. So it definitely is fragmenting that way. And I think also the point about new technologies and new mediums that he makes is that it's not like people tend to think, let's say, for example, when email came along and people tend to say, "Well, just another way to send a letter." But it wasn't, it's not that at all. It's a completely new thing. And it changes everything that went on before. Nobody writes letters anymore.When TV came along and people, in the beginning, they would have depreciated or downplay its potential, its influence, because for them, they just saw it as what they were familiar with as an extension to that rather than something that really was brand new and changed the game, even though they didn't fully understand it. They didn't fully understand what television would do to politics.And one of the interesting things, I don't know, I don't think it's in this book, I think it's in another book, Technopoly. He talks about the Lincoln-Douglas debates.Joel Bowman:Okay.Chris Mayer:And they would go on for eight hours. They'd go on for hours, right? They didn't have television. They were there. It was like an event, you'd sit and then have intermissions. And the other guy would talk and they have an hour and then you'd have an hour to respond or whatever it was. But we have TV now. What does TV do? Compresses it, makes an entertainment, we have commercials. And now we do these debates and they have two minutes to respond. It's ridiculous.Joel Bowman:Yeah, sound bites.Chris Mayer:What's your solution to the Middle East? You got two minutes.Joel Bowman:Be concise, make it snappy. And also, I think, to your point there about this participating in person in communal activities, Postman refers to it as the co-presence of communications, where you are literally ... I mean, you and I are talking over Skype here for just want of geographical closeness. But there is something radically different from, let's say, attending. We were at the theater down here just last week with my wife's dad who was visiting in town. And we took him along to a show. We saw Giselle.I mean, it's an incredibly different experience when you go to Teatro Colon down here. It's a packed house. People are there, they're clapping in unison. It's very, very different from we took my seven-year-old daughter along and she'd seen some performances on the television before. But this was just a whole another world. And so it makes me think, given just the past couple of years and how these kinds of rolling lockdowns and interruptions to global travel and just almost the wholesale cancellation of the public space, how that might have affected the way that we digest our information.Chris Mayer:And I don't think we really fully understand it yet. That's the other thing is even social media, it's been around a while now. But I don't know yet that we fully appreciate and understand it, what its impacts are and how it's changed things. It took decades before people really figured out TV and how to use it and what its effects were and, yeah, it may take some time. And it's creates a whole new concept. I mean, it was one of the part in the book I like where he talks about, there are many examples of this kind of thing. But he talks about how even the concept of news of the day, it didn't exist unless you had a medium that you could see what was going on in faraway places, and made me think that that's one of the other things about Twitter.Here's the line I like. He says the news of the day is a figment of our technological imagination. And if one thinks about not just Twitter but any kind of social media or the internet generally is you can instantly see what's going on all the way across the world. And everyone right away have an opinion. I mean, it's like ... So even in Russia, Ukraine, how many times you see people that put little Ukraine flags on their Twitter page? Or how many people, they ... It becomes a show in itself.How much is this is really genuine and how much of it is just, "Look at me, I'm on what they call virtue signaling. Look at me, I'm on the right side." And you aren't doing crap for Russia, Ukraine, putting a little flag on your profile. You know, you want to do something to help out? There's lots of ways you can help. Rather than just, look at me pandering to the public opinion. So I don't know. Postman makes you ... When you read Postman, you can get pessimistic about this stuff.Joel Bowman:Right.Chris Mayer:He knows it too because he's always critiquing and he doesn't necessarily have solutions. He tries hard at the end of the book to have some solutions to this.Joel Bowman:One of the things that I liked, which seems to go a little bit begging nowadays when you've read how-to books or nonfiction type 12 steps to this or what have you. They're heavy on prescribed solutions but not necessarily on asking questions. And one of the things I think that Postman did, at least in one of the interviews that I saw, the interviewer tasked him with like, "Okay, well, you seem to diagnose a pretty good problem here, but what have you got?"And he came up with a series of questions and I thought it was very Socratic of him where he sat back and said, "Well, I think for a start, we need to be sensitive to the kinds of questions that these new technologies ask of us." For example, who benefits from this particular medium, this new medium of communication, for example? Is it the community? Is it society as a whole? Is it a small group of people who are, excuse me, who are the owners? What problem does this technology solve is another question that he had, and he used the example where he had just been to buy, this will date the interview a little bit, but a brand new Honda Accord when he bought it at 295 and he said the salesperson there at the car yard was upselling him to cruise control.Chris Mayer:I remember this interview, yeah.Joel Bowman:So what problem does cruise control address? And the salesman was like, "I've never had that asked to me before, but I guess the problem is just keeping your foot on the gas." Of course, Postman's response was, "Well, I've been driving for, whatever, 45 years used now and that hasn't presented itself as a problem thus far." So anyway, just the framework of asking questions-Chris Mayer:Yes, that's one of the very memorable bits. I remember that interview because I remember that exact example. And I often think about that. When I get a new technology, oh, what solutions does this solve exactly? What problem does it solve? And it's like you almost read the book because the way he ends Amusing Ourselves to Death is with a whole series of questions. Again, because he's ... But he says there's a good reason for that in the end.Chris Mayer:I like this line where he says, "To ask the question is to break the spell." So you get hypnotized by this new medium or new technologies. But if you just ask the question, immediately, you are less under that influence and at least you're thinking about different ways it's impacting yourself and what you can say, what other people are saying, why they're saying it, things like who benefits. There's a lot of questions you can ask. And it diffuses it a little, its influence. Same thing if you see a persuasive piece of advertising, you know what's going on.Joel Bowman:Right.Chris Mayer:If buying doesn't make you sell, I want you to buy something. Just knowing that helps break the spell a little bit, right? Not always because sometimes things are so subconsciously influential. You can't really do anything about it. I've noticed that at least with myself sometimes, too. Damn it, they planted this idea in your head. Almost like I want to not see certain advertising. So I don't even want to see it because it's like magic and it pushes little buttons in your subconscious. So, yeah, that's your best route of resistance is to ask the questions.Joel Bowman:Yeah, it's a so what do you think of the emperor's new clothes type of question.Chris Mayer:Yeah.Joel Bowman:Well, actually, now that you've mentioned it, he does look a little naked over there.Chris Mayer:Yeah, it is. Postman's books are really easy to read. And this book is like, is it 200 pages long, it's 160 pages. And all of his books are like that. They're short. They're like sub 200. And they're very easy to read, quotable, witty. And they're only dated by the examples, like you said. He'll make references of things going on in Nicaragua or President Reagan. But if you didn't have those examples, it's really applicable.And he is a really good translator for Marshall McLuhan because he was really influenced by McLuhan. And McLuhan stuff is much more difficult and harder to read. I mean, I have this one here at Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media, which is a classic. I mean, this book came out, I think, in the '60s. But a lot of the ideas Postman has come out of McLuhan. And this book is big, fat book and a dense book. But if you wanted to go into where this stuff came from, you could go to McLuhan.And there's one part in here, for example, because Postman is big on this too, like I mentioned, he's big into the medium and thinking about, "Well, what its effects are," really what its purpose is, the old Greek word like teleology. It has an almost inbuilt purpose, even though you may not know it. And McLuhan has this one chapter, where he talks about how we're all asleep and we don't necessarily think about what we're saying. For example, he's responding to a general says that, "We're too prone to make technological instruments the scapegoats for the sins of those who wield them."And Marshall McLuhan is saying, "That's ridiculous." And at first, I remember when I read that quote, I was like, "Makes sense to me," right? Technology, it's how people use it. And McLuhan is saying, "No, that's ridiculous." He goes, "Let me consider this. Suppose we were to say apple pie in itself is neither good or bad, it's the way it's used that determines its value. Or the smallpox virus isn't itself neither good or bad, it's the way it's used that determines its value. Or again, firearms are in themselves neither good or bad, it's the way they're used that determines its value. That is, if the slugs reached the right people, firearms are good.If TV too fires the right ammunition at the right people, it is good. I am not being perverse," he says. So I love that style because it makes you think, it makes you think about stuff. That's why it's such a great book.Thank you for reading Bonner Private Research. This post is public, so feel free to share it with sinners and saints alike...Joel Bowman:He goes all the way back to the agrarian revolution and the advent of the written word. And then all the way through to ... I guess Postman was probably influenced by his idea of the reading public, for example.Chris Mayer:Yeah. The trivium, McLuhan's big on that, the basic building blocks of knowledge. Yeah. And he was a big fan of James Joyce. And, yeah, the ancient Greeks. Yeah, he's challenging to read. But I think ... It took me two months to get to that book and I would just read a little bit every day. But lots of thoughtful stuff in there.Joel Bowman:That's interesting. It brings up another point as well. And as a card-carrying Joyce Head, who's about to head off to Dublin for the centennial balloons day celebration this June 16th. Yeah. Write me if you're going to be there and we'll grab a beer with the other freaks and geeks doing the balloon walk is this idea of attention span. And you mentioned this McLuhan's dense and rewarding book if you can put a couple of months into it. And obviously, Ulysses is notoriously a century on. And we're still unpacking all the different layers there.I'm wondering, to go back to Postman's questioning the nature of the medium itself as opposed to just the information that it's delivering, how you think these new mediums have affected both the individual and society in general's attention span. And how much we can pay attention to ... I mean, we have a look at these news cycles, they seem to just be getting increasingly shorter, where you need to, as you say, have an opinion on the history of Eastern European geopolitics. One week, you need to be a vaccinologist. The next week, you need to be a critical race theorist. The next week, you need to know all these things.I mean, how are these new mediums affecting our ability to be modern polymaths?Chris Mayer:Yes. Yeah, I agree. I mean, society in general, we become very impatient people with what we read. I mean, there's that little acronym people throw around, TLDR, too long, didn't read.Joel Bowman:Oh, right.Chris Mayer:And that's sad to me. People put that out. Yeah. And they put it out there like they're smart or being witty somehow but summarizing some longer argument in a soundbite. But, yeah, I mean, that's exactly right. A lot of the books in my library, you're not going to find the quick New York Times bestseller. A lot of these books, they take time to get through, but that's the rewarding part of it is to spend a couple of months with one book, an author, an idea and going through it.I mean, it seems like that's really becoming something that fewer and fewer people are interested in, right? I mean, like you say, it's a death of long-form journalism is another area where you see that. Everything has to be compressed and served up so somebody can get it in 30 seconds of lesson and be done.Joel Bowman:Yeah, even I think about this with regards to just the realm of fiction in general. Maybe have a different experience here but pretty much all ... And this seems to go very along that, this would be incredibly unpopular to say, but it seems to go very much along gender lines, where guys tend to read, older guys that I know, tend to read nonfiction and completely issued fiction have just zero patience for it, fall asleep at page three. And it seems to be only women, at least that I speak to, who have any patience for fiction and maybe that's just they have different types of patience or different types of tolerance levels, do you find that as well. It's kind of a weird observation.Chris Mayer:Yeah. I mean, one of the things I've observed too is that a lot of new books that come out, especially, I don't know, they're more topical or about investing and they're mostly nonfiction, they all tend to be around 200 pages. Almost like the publishers have drawn a line.Joel Bowman:This is the public's attention span!Chris Mayer:Yeah, it's 200 pages, substantial enough where you can still sell it as a book between 200 covers, but it's not going to put off anybody to show them this. Every once in a while, there are exceptions, right? And they become noteworthy in themselves. I remember when David Foster Wallace had Infinite Jest. Remember, that was a brick.Joel Bowman:Yeah.Chris Mayer:And David Graeber's Debt book was another big fat one that became a bestseller. So there are exceptions, but in general, a lot of these books are pretty thin.Joel Bowman:I wonder how many of those big classic tomes, if Dostoevsky or Thomas Mann rocked up with Buddenbrooks to the publisher with like-Chris Mayer:And then it comes in with Critique of Pure Reason, here you go.Joel Bowman:I'm sorry, you've got to ... Yeah, you're going to have to-Chris Mayer:We'll break that up in a series of 10.Joel Bowman:Yeah, yeah. How about we do a Netflix special and then people can binge it overnight? So do you-Chris Mayer:There's one thing you mentioned that I want to get to before I forget was you said about, you have to feel like you have an opinion about everything. In one week, you're a vaccinologist. And next week, you're an expert on recurring foreign pot. I mean, that's classic.But that reminded me of one of Postman's solutions. And it's not in any of the books we've discussed. There's another book called How to Watch the News or something like that. But in the end, he gives 10 things. And one of them is, try to reduce the number of opinions you have by a third. So it's just an interesting exercise to go through. Try it yourself just for a week. Try to ... Instead of when you see some story or some idea, try not to have an opinion about it and say, "I don't know."Joel Bowman:Yeah.Chris Mayer:It's interesting. It's almost a little liberating because every time you take an opinion, it's almost like you're staking some ground and making a commitment because then people are more reluctant to change their opinions. So if you try to withhold your opinion as long as possible and limit the number of opinions you have, it's interesting psychological effect, just trying it out.Joel Bowman:I could see how that could have a cascading effect as well in an increasingly bifurcated society, where if you voice a particular opinion on one issue, it almost hems you in with regards to a whole litany of other issues that might have absolutely nothing to do with the original issue at hand. I mean ... Chris Mayer:Absolutely.Joel Bowman:... things that are completely independent like, "Oh, you believe in global warming, okay, you have to wear masks during a pandemic outside playing golf." Just things that have nothing to do with one another, but we have to be Team Red or Team Blue.Chris Mayer:Yeah, exactly. What, do you believe in climate warming? Well, Trump was a good president. What do you mean? How are those two related?Joel Bowman:Right.Chris Mayer:Everything's politicized or whatever. That's another reason why they resist labels. That's another exercise is just resist labeling yourself, resist taking on any label because, again, that hems you in. Suddenly, you think yourself as a X. And there's some internal pressure to believe everything that an X believes or whatever. And it makes you take sides just based on a label rather than reasoning your way through the issues.Joel Bowman:So do you think that there's a takeaway or some applicable lesson to be drawn as an investor? I mean, in definitely multiple senses, if you're the one guy who's going to sit through and read the big dense tomes and not just skim the executive summary, does that give you an edge, or?Chris Mayer:Yeah, I think there's always an edge for the patient, who are willing to read the footnotes, as the old saying goes. But it's tough because if everyone else thinks the other way, in the short term, you can look pretty dumb. And you can look pretty dumb for a while. I mean, it could go on for months or you may not get validation for a year or several years.So it requires patience to go through that but also patience to then suffer when things aren't going your way for a while. I see it all the time. Some report will come out on some company and I'll know that it's sensationalist and not particularly true in certain areas, but it'll still not stock down from 10% or 15%. And then it may not recover for months until it cycles through. And for those of us who are professional investors and live on reported returns, it can be difficult. Well, just hang on, it's coming.Joel Bowman:Right. I guess it must happen the other way, too. Yeah, go on.Chris Mayer:Yeah. Otherwise helps too, I was talking about labels. I mean, people will label certain companies in certain ways because they want you to think about it in a certain way. But you get past the label. So for example, I don't know, let's take a random example, people that are being on Tesla will want you to think of Tesla as a technology company in some way or is a battery company, where people who are not so enamored with Tesla folks and say, "Well, no, it's a car company." And they look at it through that lens.And so you come through very different points of view, depending on what label you adapt. And that happens all the time as well.Joel Bowman:And I guess it must go the other way as well when something flashes across the news and new technology and something shoots to the moon. And you might be sitting there saying, "Actually, this thing, it doesn't have any earnings. It's got no growth. It's got no pathway to profitability." But you're watching a mania unfold.Chris Mayer:That's probably actually more common because I've been in volatile markets close to 30 years and I've seen that happen many times to me, where I'll be sitting and these companies will be flying and I won't be involved in any of them, but it takes time and then they unravel. So you see companies like Carvana didn't make any money but has a concept that got people excited and went to the moon. And now it's starting to finally come apart. There's a lot of other businesses like that that don't make any money. But they had a concept.And what I've seen people do, and particularly younger investors will do, I mean younger than me, they'll focus on things that I thought they'll talk about unit economics. So they'll say, I don't know, I don't want to use too many specific name companies, but let's say Company X, they sell something. And the unit economics of what they sell is really compelling. But the company overall is still not making any money because the operating expenses and everything below that line is high and it continues to grow. But they say, "Oh, when it scales." And then they do these projections based on unit economics.And what happens a lot is those businesses never get to that scale or they continue to grow, but the operating expenses continue to grow right along with it, and they never quite get there. And so I have this basic rule that I want companies to make a GAAP profit, a profit according to generally accepted accounting principles. And if you just have that filter alone, I know you would have avoided a lot of the trouble over the last six to nine months, where these companies have fallen 70%, 80%, 90%. Didn't make any money, but for a little while, they were darlings.Joel Bowman:Yeah, it's interesting. I spoke to our mutual friend, Mr. Eric Fry, last week. And I asked him if there was a couple of key takeaways that he could give to our listeners with regards to investing and when you're getting all this noise to talk again about the Postman idea of this saturation, this glut of information, how to cut through that noise in just a couple of basic starting filters that investors can use.And he said at the margin, you can cut out a lot of noise by just looking at earnings as a company outgrowing earnings. And he said, "It sounds almost facile, but it's ignored by a lot of people because they focus on crafty accounting." And Eric referred to it as accounting wizardry where, well, it's earnings but it's adjusted for this, or all these other adjustments that the accounting department makes that can hide a lot of a company's lack of earnings or lack of earnings growth.And then one of your favorite indicators, of course, was insider buying or selling. And at the margin, you're not going to be right all the time but those two things can help cut out a lot of the information or the glut of information that is maybe not as worthwhile as others would have one believe.Chris Mayer:Yeah, I would say overwhelmingly, for most investors probably, almost everyone is listening to us, just following the companies that make a profit. Just that filter alone. Now, we have to be fair, you're going to miss sometimes a great business. I mean, Amazon didn't report a GAAP profit for quite a while, right? So you're going to have to ... I wrote a blog post about this not too long ago, that every filter you create is going to have fish slipped through the net. I mean, that's the nature of it, you're not going to catch everything.But the idea of having a filter as an investor is to cut down on that universe because if you're looking globally, as I do, there's tens, thousands security. So you have to find some way to look at that world. And for me, yeah, profit. The other way to do it is inside ownership that cuts out a lot of stuff. I'm only investing in companies where there's a family or there's a CEO or somebody owns a decent slug of stock.The other thing that you always use is balance sheet, just looking at anything that's got a lot of debt out. So if you just sift by that, suddenly, the stuff that falls through is worth taking a look at, usually. And doesn't mean, of course, that there isn't some debt-fueled company that has no insider ownership that's going to be a 10 bagger. Of course, I'm going to miss that.Joel Bowman:Right.Chris Mayer:But that's the nature of filters.Joel Bowman:And I guess it imposes whether you're looking at information just in general from the media. It could be political information or entertainment information or whatever the news cycle is, or information that informs your investing. If you employ some of these tools, then it can impose a lot of self-discipline on you, when you're just focused on a smaller universe, as you say.Chris Mayer:It does. And then the other question, I take a very hard pragmatic approach when it comes to trying to sift through news and economic reports is I always ask myself, "Well, what would be the consequence of taking a belief here either way? Would it matter?"Joel Bowman:Taking a kind of agnostic approach from the outset, yeah.Chris Mayer:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it was a mix ... Should I spent a lot of time figuring out the Russia-Ukraine thing? What practical difference would it make to me to take one side or the other? Or just lots of political questions or that way. And it helps you conserve your mental energy and your focus.Chris Mayer:There's another saying I like, where it's ... I don't know who first said it, but it's you are what you pay attention to. So you think about that, you are what you pay attention to. So if you pay attention a lot of this trivial nonsense all the time, that's who you are, that's who you become. Do you want to be that? Feed your mind good stuff. Pay attention to things that have some consequence that matter.Joel Bowman:Yeah. I think virtue is the habits that we undertake every day.Chris Mayer:Yeah.Joel Bowman:And it can be a bit of a spiral. I mean, I think we've probably, all listeners included, been around people who are so caught up in the whirlwind of Postman's information glut and this rapidly constricting news cycle that it's pretty easy to get yourself overheated. I mean, just from like a mental health standpoint, it's pretty easy to get yourself overheated on things that, well, are you going to become an expert in this in the next day or weeks? Shouldn't you focus on things that are, that old Voltaire quote, of tending your own garden that we have other things to do.Chris Mayer:There's a lot of wisdom like that. Girth is about sweeping your own doorstep.Joel Bowman:Sweeping your own doorstep, yeah. There you go.Chris Mayer:Wise people. But it gets to the title of his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death. So much of this is really entertainment. I mean, what we call news is entertainment. It's packaged that way. It's meant to elicit a reaction. And if you allow yourself, you're just letting them tug in control of you. So, yeah, I think that's a good message out of that.Joel Bowman:And so just changing tack slightly, what do you think of Twitter as a tool? I mean, we've talked about the drawbacks and the potential detrimental effects. I know a lot of people who see it as a tool to be able to cut through other information because they're able to focus on maybe a few investors that they like, and they follow, and it's kind of real-time.Chris Mayer:Yeah, I have a love and hate relationship with Twitter, really, because on the one hand, I've met some interesting people through Twitter. That has been valuable. There's been research that has been exchanged over Twitter. That's been valuable. I've got, I don't know, over 30,000 followers. So from a business perspective, it brings attention. I know at least a couple of investors have found me through Twitter. So it's not of no value, but then I am very mindful of the downside, too. So there are ways that I manage it. I'm only on it for certain times. So I'll go and try and tweak some things.I like to joke with my friends and say, "My Twitter account is a one-way feed." I put stuff out but I'm not going to engage anybody. Don't be offended if I don't see your tweet, I don't favorite you and retweet you. I don't do it for anybody. I don't pay favorite and tweet. I have lots of people I follow. It seems almost like a courtesy and they follow you. "Okay, I'll follow you." But I don't get into it that much because it's an enormous time sink otherwise.And you find yourself just ... I've had this early on when I was on Twitter, you're there for 45 minutes and then you're done. You're like, "Well, what did I do?" It's like junk food for the brain. What did I really get out of it? Yeah. So I tried to manage it. I limit myself.And the other things I've learned too, and this was earlier on, I used to talk much more about positions. But then I found that was a negative to do that because then people start to think of you as the guy for that position and then they want to come and ask you everything, every twist and turn. You got to be the guy who narrates it for people. And again, it may affect me in ways I don't really appreciate, forced me to dig in on a name that otherwise if all these people didn't know I owned it, they'd be gone or whatever.So I've limited that as well. I have discussed some names, times, but I don't give people the running commentary of what I'm doing or any of that anymore. So there are ways to manage it. Yeah.Joel Bowman:If they want the running commentary of what you're doing, they can follow your blog and I'll give you a plug, Chris, at woodlockhousefamilycapital.com for our listeners who want to find out more about your work.Chris Mayer:There you go. Thank you. You Google that and you'll find it. I write an occasional blog and then my Twitter which I do occasionally. The other annoying thing about Twitter is I keep getting these impostor accounts.Joel Bowman:Oh, really?Chris Mayer:It's crazy.Joel Bowman:Do you have the real Chris Mayer or something like that? What's your handle so people can avoid those?Chris Mayer:No, I tried Twitter. I tried to get verified a couple of times and they keep rejecting me. I think I'm just not quite famous enough or something.Joel Bowman:Oh, okay.Chris Mayer:But it's terrible because people will come up with a Twitter page, it looks exactly like mine. My handle is chriswmayer. They'll change it by some minor way. It'd be chrisi or they have two i's in or an x or something like that. But they make the page otherwise look exactly like mine and they tweet the same thing. And then they use it to sell some garbage.Most of the time, I've caught them pretty early and they don't have very many followers. But there was one that I just found, people were telling me about, has more followers than my real account. It's pretty embarrassing.Joel Bowman:Wow. Well, maybe you'll get the Fatal Conceits podcast bump and that will get you up to blue check status.Chris Mayer:There you go. That's it. I need that blue checkmark. I mean, there are other investors I know, they have blue checkmarks. And they're not particularly any more famous than I am. I mean, within investing, they're known, but they're not really that well known outside that world and they have blue checkmark. So I don't know what they did.Joel Bowman:Well, we'll probably have a whole other discussion on just the elitism that goes on within the new communication technology platforms. But one, you're talking about Twitter being a one-way relationship for you then and it reminded me of one quote of Postman's, which I wanted to get in. And this is another one of the questions that he routinely asks in order to frame the discussion you see. It's constantly going on in his own head. And it's as simple as, am I using this technology or is it using me? I think that cuts to the heart of the matter.Chris Mayer:I like that one. That's really good. That's really, really good.Joel Bowman:Right.Chris Mayer:Yeah. Yeah, the irony is I'll put that on Twitter.Joel Bowman:But in a one-way relationship.Chris Mayer:There you go.Joel Bowman:All right, Chris, that's probably a pretty good place to leave it for this one, mate. Thank you as always for sharing your insights. You've recommended so many good books to me over the years...Chris Mayer:Well, that's good. I'm glad you like Postman and, clearly, you've read quite a bit of stuff because you were spot on the whole time. Yeah.Joel Bowman:I'll put a link to a few of his books underneath because hopefully our listeners can get something out of them as well.Chris Mayer:And another one, Technopoly, I think it is. Those are the two that I would really recommend. Very good. And then after that, you can find your way to his other books as you're interested in different topics.[Ed. Note: Find these two books here…Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show BusinessTechnopoly: The Surrender of Culture to TechnologyJoel Bowman:Perfect. Chris Mayer, Woodlock House Family Capital fund, check it out. And chriswmayer, don't be taken in by the impostors on Twitter. And for our listeners, please head over to our Substack, which is at bonnerprivateresearch.substack.com, where you can find plenty more material, including conversations just like this one. That's all. Catch you next week.Thank you for reading Bonner Private Research. This post is public, so feel free to share it with media elites and talking heads alike... This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bonnerprivateresearch.substack.com/subscribe

Chris Martin is an editor at Moody Publishers and a social media, marketing, and communications consultant. He writes regularly in his Substack newsletter, Terms of Service, and is publishing a book by the same name in February. Today, Chris shares how he was led into ministry, got a job working in publishing, and why he thinks social media does more harm than good. We have an extensive conversation about what social media is doing to us, common misconceptions, and what we can do to think more critically about it. Every Christian should be asking and seeking answers to these questions. Chris' story reminds us that God often leads through our circumstances to the exact place we need to be. Listen to Chris' story now! Stories Chris shared: Growing up in a Christian family in Indiana Thinking of faith in very transactional terms as a child The Sunday School teacher who led him to Christ Choosing to go to Taylor for college The intervention his friends staged to go into ministry How having theological debates shaped him Not getting a scholarship to Trinity Evangelical Divinity School Getting a job in social media and going to seminary The car accident that gave him a sense of reverence for the Lord Coaching authors on how to use social media How social media is shaping us Great quotes from Chris: I want you to steward your gifts better on the internet. Even though I'd grown up in church, I'd never been taught theology. Man created social media to serve man; but man has come to serve social media. Social media are not neutral tools that can be used for good or evil. Resources we mentioned: Chris's website Terms of Service: The Real Cost of Social Media by Chris Martin Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power by Shoshana Zuboff Related episodes: Jay Kim and Why We Need Real People Felicia Song and Digital Discipleship Phil Mershon and the Creative's Journey The post Chris Martin and How Social Media Shapes Us appeared first on Eric Nevins.

Bu bölümde Neil Postman'ın Amusing Ourselves To Death (Televizyon Öldüren Eğlence) kitabı üzerine sohbet ettik, biraz Gibi dizisi üzerine yorum yapıp daha sonra da topluluk kurma konusu hakkında konuştuk.Bizi dinlemekten keyif alıyorsanız, kahve ısmarlayarak bizi destekleyebilirsiniz. :)Bölümde konuştuğumuz bazı konular hakkında linkler:Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/74034.Amusing_Ourselves_to_DeathTechnopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/79678.TechnopolyAbraham Lincoln: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_LincolnRonald Reagan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_ReaganBrave New World: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5129.Brave_New_WorldDeutsche Welle RSS: https://www.dw.com/en/rss/s-31500Gibi: https://www.exxen.com/tr/detail/serie/gibi/22396Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/455.Marshall_McLuhanEmrah Safa Gürkan: https://twitter.com/jeandpardaillanDesign for the Real World: Human Ecology and Social Change: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/190560.Design_for_the_Real_WorldMeta has built an AI supercomputer it says will be world's fastest by end of 2022: https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/24/22898651/meta-artificial-intelligence-ai-supercomputer-rsc-2022'Fight Club' has a new ending in China. And this time, the authorities win: https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/26/media/china-fight-club-ending-censorship-mic-intl-hnk/index.htmlHer: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/The Spacing Effect: How to Improve Learning and Maximize Retention: https://fs.blog/spacing-effect/NSIstanbul: https://twitter.com/NS_IstanbulKanvas: https://twitter.com/kanvasTTNSIstanbul'un Hikayesi: https://seyfedd.in/writing/nsistanbulun-hikayesiGet Together: https://gettogether.worlderkekten dönme merzifonlu katolik taş fırın ustaları kıraathanesi: https://eksisozluk.com/erkekten-donme-merzifonlu-tas-firin-ustalari--5969360Bus factor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_factorKommunity: https://kommunity.comEmir Karşıyakalı: https://twitter.com/EmirKarsiyakaliYorumlarınızı ve sorularınızı hey@seyfedd.in e-posta adresine iletebilirsiniz.

Bu bölümde Microsoft'un Activision satın almasını konuştuk ve Neden Activision? Neden şimdi? Oyun sektörüne etkisine ne olacak? Metaverse için mi satın alındı? Xbox tekel mi oluyor? sorularının cevabını bulmaya çalıştık.Bölümde konuştuğumuz bazı konular hakkında linkler:The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - Title Announcement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhqGCPMfkNM Microsoft'un Activision satın alma duyurusu: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2022/01/18/welcoming-activision-blizzard-to-microsoft-gaming/Activision Blizzard: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Activision_BlizzardRead Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick's letter addressing the harassment allegations: https://www.theverge.com/2021/7/27/22597166/activision-blizzard-ceo-bobby-kotick-letter-sexual-harrassment-allegationsBethesda Softworks: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethesda_SoftworksMicrosoft to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion: https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/18/22889258/microsoft-activision-blizzard-xbox-acquisition-call-of-duty-overwatchXbox Cloud Gaming: https://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-game-pass/cloud-gamingNintendo Switch: https://www.nintendo.com/switch/Sid Meier's Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50489373-sid-meier-s-memoirHeroes of the Storm: https://heroesofthestorm.com/en-us/Black Mirror: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2085059/Inception: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1375666/Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Oil_Co._of_New_Jersey_v._United_StatesTencent: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TencentPower On: The Story of Xbox | Chapter 1: The Renegades: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJYsA1jXf60The Men Who Built America: https://www.amazon.com/The-Men-Who-Built-America/dp/B07F232GH5Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/74034.Amusing_Ourselves_to_DeathYorumlarınızı ve sorularınızı hey@seyfedd.in e-posta adresine iletebilirsiniz.

Felicia Song is  a professor of sociology who studies social and cultural impact of digital technologies. Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence and Place in the Digital Age. Today, Felicia share her experience growing up in a fundamentalist, Chinese church, discovering the Holy Spirit in college, and what she's learned about God by studying sociology. We also talk about her book and how Christians can be wise as we live with technology. Felicia's story reminds us to be wise about how we think and practice technology as Christians. Listen to Felicia's story now! Stories Felicia shared: Teaching sociology at Westmont Growing up in a Christian family in New Jersey The vibrant Chinese church she attended Never not believing in God Joining InterVarsity and interacting with non-Asian Christians for the first time Attending a Vineyard church for the first time Discovering that she came from a fundamentalist tradition Going to L'Abri Fellowship Noticing her students getting email for the first time What she's learned about God from studying sociology How liturgy formed her experience Why she wrote Restless Devices Her encouragement for the way forward with technology Great quotes from Felicia: It's not so much the content that shapes us; it's really the form or the practices. As human beings, we are meaning makers. We live in a meaning-filled world because we serve a meaning-filled God. We do not need to live under the tyranny of our technologies. We serve a good Lord, but technologies are often brutal and merciless lords. Resources we mentioned: Felicia's website Restless Devices: Recovering Personhood, Presence, and Place in the Digital Age by Felicia Song Fundamentalism and American Culture (New Edition) by George Marsden Truce Podcast Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker Related episodes: Jay Kim and Why We Need Real People Grace Ji-Sun Kim and Healing Our Broken Humanity Os Guinness and Understanding Our Moment The post Felicia Song and Digital Discipleship appeared first on Eric Nevins.

Neil Postman postulated that society avoided the totalitarian nightmares of George Orwell, only to embrace the frivolous idiocy of Aldous Huxley. His book “Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business” questions the effects of television and infotainment on politics and culture. Andrew Young and Justin Robert Young join to discuss. New history podcast: Losers, Pretenders & Scoundrels https://link.chtbl.com/SvbVq0zp Nita Fashions: https://www.nitafashions.com/

One of the more celebrated aspects of contemporary media is that it seems so much more participatory. In principle, at least, anyone can for example establish a Twitter or a YouTube account, and share their experiences or views with minimal censorious intervention. Some have explained this apparently more participatory media culture with reference to the capacities of technologies. After all, people can participate more easily when so many media functions are collapsed into an internet-enabled device like a smartphone. And yet, for others, this technological explanation is flawed, underplaying longer-term cultural shifts, which these new technologies might more properly be seen as crystallizing.  In this episode, we begin with work by thinkers such as Henry Jenkins, who have notably opposed technological explanations for a participatory media culture. For Jenkins, ordinary people's participation in media creation is about more than gadgets, devices or platforms. Rather, it is a momentous cultural shift, towards new and potentially democratising forms of 'collective intelligence' that blur the old distinction between media ‘producers' and ‘audiences'. Jenkins' work has been widely discussed. For some, his model of ‘a convergence culture' overemphasises the individual agency of media participants. Sure, they may be technically freer and more enabled than in the past, but when someone creates or shares a meme, for example, they also partially reproduce or conform to cultural norms. We might also ask: does insisting on ‘culture' bring us back to the same unsustainable technology/culture dichotomy we have challenged in earlier episodes?  It is probably difficult to conceive, for example, of the cultural conditions for a so-called post-truth politics without some account of the technical affordances of social media platforms. Thinkers Discussed: Tim Dwyer (Media Convergence); Lev Manovich (Software Takes Command); Ithiel de Sola Pool (Technologies of Freedom: On Free Speech in an Electronic Age); Thomas Friedman (Thank you for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations); Henry Jenkins (Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide); Axel Bruns (Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond: From Production to Produsage); Pierre Lévy (Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace); Bernard Stiegler (The Economy of Contribution); Jose Van Dijck (Users Like You? Theorizing Agency in User-Generated Content); Richard Dawkins (The Selfish Gene); Limor Shifman (Memes in Digital Culture); Noam Gal, Limor Shifman and Zohar Kamph (‘It Gets Better': Internet Memes and the Construction of Collective Identity); danah boyd (Social Network Sites as Networked Publics: Affordances, Dynamics, and Implications); Jason Hannan (Trolling Ourselves to Death? Social Media and Post-Truth Politics); Neil Postman (Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business).

On this episode of Vox Conversations, Sean Illing talks with Chris Hayes, author, commentator, and host of All In With Chris Hayes on MSNBC. They discuss his recent essay in the New Yorker about fame and the internet, why we seek attention from strangers online, and how some German philosophers might offer guidance for our predicament. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), Interviews Writer, Vox Guest: Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes), host, All In With Chris Hayes on MSNBC References:  "On the Internet, We're Always Famous" by Chris Hayes (New Yorker; Sept. 24) “We Should All Know Less About Each Other” by Michelle Goldberg (New York Times; Nov. 1) Plato, Phaedrus (c. 370 BCE) Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman (Penguin; 2005) G.W.F. Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit (1807) Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the "Phenomenology of Spirit" by Alexandre Kojève (1947; tr. 1969) The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads by Tim Wu (Vintage; 2017) Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment by Robert Wright (Simon & Schuster; 2018) Enjoyed this episode? Rate Vox Conversations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Be the first to know when new episodes of Vox Conversations drop by following or subscribing in your favorite podcast app. Support Vox Conversations and Recode Daily by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode of Vox Conversations was made by:  Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Engineer: Paul Robert Mounsey Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: Amber Hall Vox Audio Fellow: Victoria Dominguez Additional engineering by Melissa Pons from Hemlock Creek Productions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sean Illing talks with Chris Hayes, author, commentator, and host of All In With Chris Hayes on MSNBC. They discuss his recent essay in the New Yorker about fame and the internet, why we seek attention from strangers online, and how some German philosophers might offer guidance for our predicament. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), Interviews Writer, Vox Guest: Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes), host, All In With Chris Hayes on MSNBC References:  "On the Internet, We're Always Famous" by Chris Hayes (New Yorker; Sept. 24) “We Should All Know Less About Each Other” by Michelle Goldberg (New York Times; Nov. 1) Plato, Phaedrus (c. 370 BCE) Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman (Penguin; 2005) G.W.F. Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit (1807) Introduction to the Reading of Hegel: Lectures on the "Phenomenology of Spirit" by Alexandre Kojève (1947; tr. 1969) The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads by Tim Wu (Vintage; 2017) Why Buddhism is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment by Robert Wright (Simon & Schuster; 2018) Enjoyed this episode? Rate Vox Conversations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Vox Conversations by subscribing in your favorite podcast app. Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by:  Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Engineer: Paul Robert Mounsey Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: Amber Hall Vox Audio Fellow: Victoria Dominguez Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bu bölümde Apple Business Essential, Shopify Hydrogen, Weta Digital'in satın alınması, Forza Horizon 5, Technopoly kitabı ve daha birçok farklı konu üzerine sohbet ettik.Apple Business Essential: https://www.apple.com/business/essentials/IBM says it is 3X more expensive to manage PCs than Macs: https://www.computerworld.com/article/3131906/ibm-says-macs-are-even-cheaper-to-run-than-it-thought.htmlShop Pay: https://shop.app/what-shop-doesMeet Hydrogen: A React Framework For Dynamic, Contextual And Personalized E-Commerce: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2021/11/hydrogen-react-framework-dynamic-contextual-personalized-ecommerce/Mesut Çevik'in M1 Max Macbook Pro 14" incelemesi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYF9rUWCzqsWeta Digital: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weta_DigitalUnity is buying Peter Jackson's Weta Digital for over $1.6B: https://techcrunch.com/2021/11/09/unity-is-buying-peter-jacksons-weta-digital-for-over-1-6b/?_guc_consent_skip=1636811719Microsoft and the Metaverse: https://stratechery.com/2021/microsoft-and-the-metaverse/Hollywood studio Legendary bought for $3.5 bn in largest Chinese acquisition: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/12/hollywood-studio-legendary-bought-for-35-bn-in-largest-chinese-acquistionThe Metaverse Is Already Here — It's Minecraft: https://debugger.medium.com/the-metaverse-is-already-here-its-minecraft-99c89ed8ba2Niantic CEO: ‘AR Is Where the Real Metaverse Is Going to Happen': https://www.wired.com/story/john-hanke-niantic-augmented-reality-real-metaverse/The Medium is the Massage: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25955.The_Medium_is_the_MassageNew World: https://www.newworld.com/en-gbForza Horizon 5: https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/forza-horizon-5Borderlands 3: https://borderlands.com/de-DE/welcome/Logitech Driving Force: https://www.logitechg.com/en-us/products/driving/driving-force-racing-wheel.941-000121.htmlTechnopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology - Neil Postman: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/79678.TechnopolyAmusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business - Neil Postman: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/74034.Amusing_Ourselves_to_DeathThe Disappearance of Childhood - Neil Postman: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/79679.The_Disappearance_of_ChildhoodDemystifying Public Speaking: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32784222-demystifying-public-speakingMindset: The New Psychology of Success: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40745.MindsetJoe Rogan's thoughts on paternity leave: https://www.reddit.com/r/JoeRogan/comments/qh46qd/joes_thoughts_on_paternity_leave/How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36613747-how-to-change-your-mindCooked - Michael Pollan: https://www.netflix.com/title/80022456Farklı Düşün Twitter hesabı: https://twitter.com/farklidusun_

KS joins IA for the first time to discuss how the unprecedented changes of 2020 allowed her to return to her passion after more than a decade-long hiatus. The conversation centers around the unique ways in which everyone has attempted to cope with these bizarre times as well as a range of related topics including: identifying with our successes and failures the weight of success and trying to live up to it the futility of attempting to recapture our past selves our growing empathy problem the false dichotomy of creators vs consumers becoming comfortable with "making" others uncomfortable and many more! Notable mentions: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1r4hJ1h58CWwUQe3MxPuau (Maluma) - Columbian singer and songwriter https://www.amazon.com/Amusing-Ourselves-Death-Discourse-Business/dp/014303653X (Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business) by Neil Postman Check out KS' latest work https://ksrevivo.com/home (here). For more from IA or to submit your AMA questions, check us out on https://www.instagram.com/impostorsanon/ (Instagram) and https://www.twitter.com/impostorsanon/ (Twitter) @impostorsanon!

Bu bölümde Facebook'un isim değişikliğinden, Metaverse'ün hayatımız üzerine olabilecek etkilerinden, Twitch'deki dolandırıcılardan ve son olarak hayalindeki işe girmek için neler yapmak gerekiyor onlardan bahsettik.Bizi dinlemekten keyif alıyorsanız, kahve ısmarlayarak bizi destekleyebilirsiniz. :)Apple Reports 4Q 2021 Results: $20.6B Profit on $83.4B Revenue: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/10/28/apple-4q-2021-earnings/Supply Constraints Cost Apple $6 Billion in Q4 2021: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/10/28/apple-supply-constraints-6-billion-q4-2021/The Box: How the Shipping Container Made the World Smaller and the World Economy Bigger: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/316767.The_BoxJust in Time (JIT): https://www.investopedia.com/terms/j/jit.aspApple Reportedly Using iPad Components in iPhone 13 to Offset Shortages: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/11/02/apple-shifts-ipad-parts-to-iphone-13-shortages/Apple Parlatma Bezi: https://www.apple.com/tr/shop/product/MM6F3ZM/A/parlatma-beziMeta: https://about.facebook.com/metaMeta: https://stratechery.com/2021/meta/Apple's Privacy Features Have Cost Social Media Companies Nearly $10 Billion in Revenue: https://www.macrumors.com/2021/11/01/apple-privacy-social-media-companies/Facebook's Oculus Quest will soon be called the Meta Quest: https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22751220/facebook-portal-oculus-quest-meta-horizon-renamingFacebook plans to hire 10,000 in Europe to build a virtual reality-based 'metaverse': https://www.npr.org/2021/10/18/1047033994/facebook-metaverse-10-000-workers-europe-virtual-realityFacebook is spending at least $10 billion this year on its metaverse division: https://www.npr.org/2021/10/18/1047033994/facebook-metaverse-10-000-workers-europe-virtual-realityMicrosoft HoloLens: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/hololensSecond Life: https://secondlife.comMicrosoft Loop is a new Office app for the hybrid work era: https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/2/22758951/microsoft-loop-fluid-components-office-collaboration-appNotion: https://www.notion.soFluid Framework: https://github.com/microsoft/FluidFrameworkTechnopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology - Neil Postman: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/79678.TechnopolyAmusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business - Neil Postman: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/74034.Amusing_Ourselves_to_DeathMicrosoft Teams enters the metaverse race with 3D avatars and immersive meetings: https://www.theverge.com/2021/11/2/22758974/microsoft-teams-metaverse-mesh-3d-avatars-meetings-featuresAkşam Muhabbeti: CV Hazırlamak: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNnv3fk0Fd8Yorumlarınızı ve sorularınızı hey@seyfedd.in e-posta adresine iletebilirsiniz.

The guys are discussing one of Kenny's selections. Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business." Links to things mentioned in this episode: Christmas Crocs Postman Quote Kenny read about Brave New World/1984 Marshall McLuhan - The medium is the message Lincoln Douglas Debates Study: Picking Winners on Looks Nixon JFK Audio -vs- Video Kansas journalist fired after viewers complained about her looks Selling the News - Switchfoot OK Touché! Podcast Books mentioned: Animal Farm & 1984 - George Orwell Brave New World - Aldous Huxley Co Aytch - Private Sam Watkins Grant - Ron Chernow Digital Minimalism - Cal Newport Deep Work - Cal Newport --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/kenny-james65/message

Continuing on Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business with guest Brian Hirt. Is the written word really so much more suited for providing context than television? To hear the full second part, you'll need to go sign up at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support.

On Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985) with guest Brian Hirt. How does the form in which we receive media affect how we think? Education theorist Postman (building on Marshall McLuhan) claimed that television has eroded our capacity to reason and given us the expectation that everything in the world must entertain. Is this a viable piece of social construction theory? How does the critique apply to the Internet age? Part two of this episode is only going to be available to you if you sign up at partiallyexaminedlife.com/support. Get it now or listen to a preview. Sponsors: Save 20% on an annual membership of at TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/PEL. See headspace.com/PEL for a free month's access to a library of guided meditations. Learn about St. John's College summer programs at SJC.edu/summer2021. Get a loan to lower your monthly payments at Upstart.com/PEL.

On VirtuesThe Many Faces of Virtue, Donald DeMarco Boys to Men the Transforming Power of Virtue, Tim Fray & Curtis MartinFictionLove in the Ruins, Walker PercySpiritual OrderNew Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas MertonSaints in the World (The Adventure of Christian Life), Rev. Jesus UrteagaThe Reckless Way of Love, Dorthy DaySocial OrderAmusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, Neil PostmanCynical Theories, Helen Pluckrose & James LindsayBeyond Good Intentions, Fr. Juan Luis LordaIdentity, Francis Fukuyama

In a world of 24/7 news, endless information, multiple channels, fake news, sponsored news, competing voices, and little space for reflection, how should we think about the news media? How can we be informed but not overwhelmed? How do we discern what is true, what is right, and what is helpful? To what extent does the news shape us — and how we can make sure we're shaped by the right thing? Join the entirely newsworthy and totally media-unsavvy Andy Bannister, Aaron Edwards, and Michael Ots as they explore all these questions and more, with the usual mix of wit and wisdom. The book that Andy mentions in the show a few times is Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business". First published in 1985 and reprinted many times since, it's an incredibly sobering (and prophetic) look at what the media is doing to our minds and souls. You can find it at any good bookseller. *** Pod of the Gaps is a listener-supported podcast. Please help us keep going and growing by giving a small donation at https://www.patreon.com/wkop — thank you! *** Find links to Apple iTunes, Spotify, and other podcast providers on our home page at http://bit.ly/podofthegaps

Can the way we consume information make us unable to tell truth from lies? Neil Postman thought so. In his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman says everything has been turned into entertainment: Our politics, religion, news, athletics, our commerce – even our education – have all been turned into forms of entertainment. This has weakened our ability to reason about society’s important questions. In this Amusing Ourselves to Death book summary, I’ll break down – in my own words – why Postman believes the shift from a society built around reading, to a society built around moving pictures and music, has devolved our discourse into a dangerous level of nonsense. America was built upon reading In 1854, in a lecture hall in Peoria, Illinois, Abraham Lincoln was in a debate. His debate opponent, Stephen A. Douglas, had just finished a three-hour speech. Lincoln reminded the audience it was 5 p.m., he himself would be speaking for at least three hours, and Douglas would get a chance to respond. He told the audience, Go home, have dinner, and come back for four more hours of lecture. Is today’s technology “nothing new?” Every time a new technology comes along, there are people who think the sky is falling. There are also people who say it’s nothing new. They’ll show you that old picture of men on a commuter train, with their faces buried in newspapers, or they might remind you Socrates worried people would be made forgetful by the breakthrough technology of: writing. If we think back to our own memories from ten or twenty years ago, we have to conclude that not much has changed. It’s different technology, with the same people. Yes, attention spans are shorter But this scene from Lincoln’s debate from more than 150 years ago is a stark contrast from today’s world. It’s hard to imagine ordinary citizens gathering in the local lecture hall to sit and listen to seven hours of debate, without so much as a smartphone to stay occupied if things got dull. What’s even more remarkable is neither Lincoln nor Douglas were presidential candidates at the time – they weren’t even candidates for the Senate. America was the most reading-focused culture ever Postman uses this lecture scene to paint a picture of what he says was probably the most print-oriented culture ever. Unlike in England, in Colonial America reading wasn’t an elitist activity. Postman estimates that the literacy rate for men in Massachusetts and Connecticut was around 90 or 95%. Farm boys plowed the fields with a book in hand, reading Shakespeare, Emerson, or Thoreau. Thomas Paine, who wrote the mega-best-selling Common Sense had little formal schooling, and before coming to America, had come from England’s lowest laboring class. Still, Paine wrote political philosophy on par with Voltaire and Rousseau. When Charles Dickens visited America in 1842, it was as if a movie star had visited. Dickens himself said, “There never was a King or Emperor upon earth so cheered and followed by the crowds.” Today’s media is built around images Since Amusing Ourselves to Death was written in the 1980’s, it’s not concerned with Facebook nor TikTok nor Twitter. It’s concerned with television. But as Marshall McLuhan said, “the medium is the message”, and the characteristics of the television medium translate well into the characteristics of today’s media. Today’s media isn’t built around words – it’s built around images. Television is images It’s easy to turn the channel on a television, or to turn the television off completely. They sit running in the house while people do other things. Remember from my Understanding Media summary that pieces of content within a medium compete with one another in what I summed up as a “Darwinian battle.” Only the strong survive, and to survive on television you need many moving pictures, changing every fraction of a second. Whatever content is put on television, it needs to be adapted to these demands. Internet media is images Extend that thinking to Instagram or YouTube. For your media to get noticed, you need eye-catching images. If it’s video, you need quick cuts, graphics, and music. Even where there are words, words are used as if they were images. Headlines are too short to carry much content, but are also misleading and hyperbolic. Our media shapes how we decide what is true Our media is how we share ideas. It’s how we have discussions about what is important. To decide what is important, we need to compare one fact to another. But to compare facts, we also need to agree upon what is true. The media is the metaphor Postman revises Marshall McLuhan’s famous statement, “the medium is the message.” As Postman points out, a message says something directly. It makes a concrete statement that can be agreed or disagreed with – a proposition. Media based around images is not sending messages that make concrete statements. So, Postman says “the medium is the metaphor.” Today’s media merely makes suggestions. By not making concrete statements, it’s open to interpretation. You may have heard various news stories referred to as “Rorschach tests.” In an actual Rorschach test, you look at something ambiguous – an ink blot – and that ambiguous thing serves as a metaphor for some idea. It makes you think of something. Our media, in being image-based instead of text-based, is ambiguous. It serves as a metaphor that’s open to interpretation. Pay attention the next time you see a news headline about a politician who said something. It will be accompanied by an image of that politician. Is that image actually of the moment that person said that thing? Usually not (not that it matters). It’s often not even from the same event. Instead, you’ll see an expression on the politician’s face. Whether it’s carefully chosen for the emotion it conveys, or chosen based upon click-through rate, it ascribes ambiguous meaning to the words in the headline. It’s a metaphor. And those who agree or don’t agree with what the politician said – or who merely identify or don’t identify with that politician’s party – will derive different meanings from that headline/image combination. Images cannot express the truth Here’s where our image-based culture becomes a problem. When our media is not making concrete statements that can be agreed or disagreed with, we can no longer distinguish fact from fiction. Our media is the basis of our – fancy word here – epistemology: How we decide what is true. What’s even more dangerous about images is that we think “seeing is believing.” If we see an image or a video of an incident, we take what we’ve seen – or rather how we’ve interpreted what we’ve seen – as the truth. But it’s open to interpretation. It’s a Rorschach test. The medium is the metaphor. I’m always reminded of this when I see campaigns where models share pre-Photoshop images of their bodies. It’s great we’re becoming aware of how images are manipulated, but at the root of this is one problem: Even the raw image is not the truth. No image is an objective representation of reality. It’s a picture, made by a camera. Three dimensions broken down into two. The fact that few seem to recognize this is troubling. The written word can express the truth As Postman argues, the written word – unlike images – can better express the truth. When you read long-form text, you follow a line of thought. You consume it in isolation, and have the mental resources available to consider whether the author is overgeneralizing, abusing logic, or exploiting biases. You can review things that are confusing, or notice contradictions. Postman recognizes that words are not infallible. There were newspapers in the 1830’s, such as New York’s Sun and Herald that mostly covered sensational events about crime and sex. But there were two major turning points in how we used the written word. One was the invention of the electric telegraph. Once information could be conveyed around the world within seconds, information became a commodity to be sold, and thus manufactured. The first American newspaper was three pages long and monthly. Our 24-hour news cycle is manufactured information. Another major turning point was when advertising ceased to be used to convey information. Instead of making statements that could be confirmed or refuted, advertisers started using – along with images such as babies in high chairs – slogans, or “nonpropositional” language. Words as images, if you will. Maybe the question about the model in the ad shouldn’t be about whether she or he is Photoshopped, but rather why they’re in the ad at all? The models in ads, Photoshopped or not, are not there to present factual statements – they are there to make nonpropositional statements. They are there to serve as metaphors. Our world is not “Orwellian.” It’s “Huxleyan.” When people worry about the quality of information in our media landscape, people often describe it as “Orwellian.” What they’re suggesting is that our media is like that of George Orwell’s 1984, where a totalitarian power controls information through tactics such as eliminating words from language, rewriting history, and distributing disinformation. By controlling information, this totalitarian power controls the people. But Postman says our world is not Orwellian. Rather, it’s “Huxleyan.” In Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, the people aren’t so much oppressed by the government’s control of information. Instead, they’re oppressed by their own addiction to entertainment. If you haven’t read Brave New World, it’s worth reading. A genetically-engineered society of various castes – all grown in labs, with no mothers, fathers, or family – spends most of its time flying in helicopters to mini-golf courses, having sex with one another, and escaping reality by taking a drug called “soma.” (If you’ve ever heard the Strokes’ song, “Soma,” you know based upon the lyrics “soma is what they would take when hard times opened their eyes.”) The society presented in Brave New World is a slightly less idiotic form of the society presented in Mike Judge’s movie, Idiocracy. Entertainment itself is not dangerous – if you know it’s entertainment Postman isn’t an old man telling the kids to get off his lawn – though he may sound like it sometimes. He’s not trying to say there should be no television at all. What he’s saying is the characteristics of the medium of television are such that everything on it has to be presented as entertainment. Think about the television news. Presumably, we watch the news for information – to be informed and make rational decisions about our lives and our society. But why do news programs have a theme song? It plays when it opens, it plays when it closes, it plays before and after commercial breaks. They play similar music when presenting “breaking news.” Music creates a mood. The only reason there could be for a news show to have music – not to mention the cool graphics – is because a news show is entertainment. “Now ... this” The TV news is a good analogy for Postman’s view of our world – which is fitting since he sees the media landscape as shaping discourse. On television news, you might see coverage of a horrific bus crash. You see aerial footage of the wreckage, as the newscaster tells you fifteen people met their fiery demise. That takes a few seconds, then the newscaster says, “Now ... this.” And we cut to the five day forecast. “Now ... this,” sums up the 1985 media landscape for Postman. Instead of long expanses of text that make cohesive arguments, it’s one image, then another image, with no connection between the two. “Now ... this.” When our media does not convey messages, but instead only ambiguous metaphors, and when the statements made by those metaphors aren’t connected, there’s no hope for reason. The “peek-a-boo” world Postman also calls it the “peek-a-boo” world, like a child’s game of peek-a-boo. One event after another pops into view for a moment, then vanishes. It’s entertaining, but it asks nothing of us. Referring again to the world as Huxleyian rather than Orwellian, Postman says: there is no Newspeak here. Lies have not been defined as truth nor truth as lies. All that has happened is that the public has adjusted to incoherence and been amused into indifference. People might say that lies today are indeed defined as truth. But remember, the media is the metaphor. What is a lie to one person is somehow interpreted as the truth to another. There’s no foundation upon which to distinguish lies from the truth because, per Postman’s thesis, our discourse has devolved into nonsense. The dominant medium shapes all other media You might have caught a contradiction in this summary: The Lincoln/Douglas debate was spoken word, not written words. Isn’t Postman’s argument that America was founded as a highly-literate society? What’s impressive about the Lincoln/Douglas debates isn’t just the attention span it demonstrated in the populace, but also the complexity of the sentences that audience was able to follow. As I mentioned in my Understanding Media summary, I change the way I write based upon how it will sound on the podcast. I don’t think of it as “dumbing down” – but I recognize that our media landscape is predominantly images and audio, and that people listen in distracting environments. The dominant form of media shapes the rest of the media. America before images only had words As Postman illustrates the Lincoln/Douglas debate, he argues that since the audience consumed mostly long-form written media, they were able to understand extremely complex language. For example, one sentence Lincoln said: “It will readily occur to you that I cannot, in half an hour, notice all the things that so able a man as Judge Douglas can say in an hour and a half; and I hope, therefore, if there be anything that he has said upon which you would like to hear something from me, but which I omit to comment upon, you will bear in mind that it would be expecting an impossibility for me to cover his whole ground.” Huh? Keep in mind, at the time of these debates in the 1850’s – aside from live events such as this one – there was only printed stuff. Not only were there no smartphones nor television nor true crime podcasts, there was no radio, no movies, and there weren’t even photographs! People on the street wouldn’t have recognized James Madison Imagine this striking observation by Postman: Each of the first fifteen U.S. presidents could have walked down the street, and the average person wouldn’t have recognized them. Our leaders were only known for their words, not for their appearance. Contrast that to today’s political landscape, where our politicians have to look the right way in the television debates. They also better be able to dish out sick burns on Twitter. A final quote from Postman: Americans no longer talk to each other, they entertain each other. They do not exchange ideas; they exchange images. They do not argue with propositions; they argue with good looks, celebrities and commercials. There’s your Amusing Ourselves to Death summary Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business was published in 1985. This media theory classic – alongside Understanding Media, which I talked about on episode 248 – is more relevant than ever. I hope you enjoyed this summary. Mind Management, Not Time Management now available! After nearly a decade of work, Mind Management, Not Time Management is now available! This book will show you how to manage your mental energy to be productive when creativity matters. Buy it now! My Weekly Newsletter: Love Mondays Start off each week with a dose of inspiration to help you make it as a creative. Sign up at: kadavy.net/mondays. About Your Host, David Kadavy David Kadavy is author of Mind Management, Not Time Management, The Heart to Start and Design for Hackers. Through the Love Your Work podcast, his Love Mondays newsletter, and self-publishing coaching David helps you make it as a creative. Follow David on: Twitter Instagram Facebook YouTube Subscribe to Love Your Work Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Stitcher YouTube RSS Email Support the show on Patreon Put your money where your mind is. Patreon lets you support independent creators like me. Support now on Patreon »     Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/amusing-ourselves-to-death-book-summary-neil-postman

One of the more celebrated aspects of contemporary media is that it seems so much more participatory. In principle, at least, anyone can for example establish a Twitter or a YouTube account, and share their experiences or views with minimal censorious intervention. Some have explained this apparently more participatory media culture with reference to the capacities of technologies. After all, people can participate more easily when so many media functions are collapsed into an internet-enabled device like a smartphone. And yet, for others, this technological explanation is flawed, underplaying longer-term cultural shifts, which these new technologies might more properly be seen as crystallizing.  In this episode, we begin with work by thinkers such as Henry Jenkins, who have notably opposed technological explanations for a participatory media culture. For Jenkins, ordinary people's participation in media creation is about more than gadgets, devices or platforms. Rather, it is a momentous cultural shift, towards new and potentially democratising forms of 'collective intelligence' that blur the old distinction between media ‘producers' and ‘audiences'. Jenkins' work has been widely discussed. For some, his model of ‘a convergence culture' overemphasises the individual agency of media participants. Sure, they may be technically freer and more enabled than in the past, but when someone creates or shares a meme, for example, they also partially reproduce or conform to cultural norms. We might also ask: does insisting on ‘culture' bring us back to the same unsustainable technology/culture dichotomy we have challenged in earlier episodes?  It is probably difficult to conceive, for example, of the cultural conditions for a so-called post-truth politics without some account of the technical affordances of social media platforms. Thinkers Discussed: Tim Dwyer (Media Convergence); Lev Manovich (Software Takes Command); Ithiel de Sola Pool (Technologies of Freedom: On Free Speech in an Electronic Age); Thomas Friedman (Thank you for Being Late: An Optimist's Guide to Thriving in the Age of Accelerations); Henry Jenkins (Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide); Axel Bruns (Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond: From Production to Produsage); Pierre Lévy (Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace); Bernard Stiegler (The Economy of Contribution); Jose Van Dijck (Users Like You? Theorizing Agency in User-Generated Content); Richard Dawkins (The Selfish Gene); Limor Shifman (Memes in Digital Culture); Noam Gal, Limor Shifman and Zohar Kamph (‘It Gets Better': Internet Memes and the Construction of Collective Identity); danah boyd (Social Network Sites as Networked Publics: Affordances, Dynamics, and Implications); Jason Hannan (Trolling Ourselves to Death? Social Media and Post-Truth Politics); Neil Postman (Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business).

Cal Newport reveals how the rise of email led to a productivity disaster and what we can do to change that. — YOU'LL LEARN — 1) How email changed the way we work for worse 2) Simple strategies for cutting down the email back-and-forth 3) Why we feel guilty when we don't respond—and what to do about it Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep647 for clickable versions of the links below. — ABOUT CAL — Cal Newport is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University. In addition to researching cutting­ edge technology, he also writes about the impact of these innovations on our culture. Newport is the author of six books, including the New York Times bestseller, Digital Minimalism, which argues that we should be much more selective about the technologies we adopt in our personal lives, and Deep Work, which argues that focus is the new I.Q. in the modern workplace. Newport's work has been published in over 25 languages and has been featured in many major publications, including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, New Yorker, Washington Post, and Economist, and his long-running blog Study Hacks, which receives over 3 million visits a year. He's also a frequent guest on NPR. • Cal's book: A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload • Cal's book: Deep Work (Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World) • Cal's podcast: Deep Questions • Cal's planner: Time Block Planner • Cal's website: CalNewport.com — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW — • App: Calendly • App: Trello • Researcher: Sophie Leroy • Book: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman • Previous episode: 632: How to Reclaim 40 Hours Every Month (WITHOUT Multitasking!) with Dave Crenshaw — THANK YOU SPONSORS! — • LinkedIn Jobs. Post your first job for free at linkedin.com/awesomeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode reviews - Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman (1931 – 2003) Penguin Books 1985

What do Van Jones, Bruce Springsteen and a humanist author from the 1980s have to do with the future of America? Let's find out! Story performed by: Aaron Calafato Audio Production: Ken Wendt  Original Art: Pete Whitehead Podcast Coordinator: Cori Birce Creative Consultant: Anthony Vorndran  Source Material: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985) . A book by educator Neil Postman. Published by Viking Penguin Renegades: Born in the USA - A Spotify Original Podcast From Higher Ground Make sure to subscribe & rate 7MS! https://www.7minutestoriespod.com/

Author and pastor Brett McCracken joins Todd and Ryan to talk about his new book, The Wisdom Pyramid, and how Christians can maintain a balanced diet of information in the midst of a post-truth world. Mentioned ResourcesBrett McCracken, The Wisdom Pyramid: Feeding Your Soul in a Post-Truth WorldCarl Trueman, The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual RevolutionNeil Platinga, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

My friend Brett McCracken, senior editor for the Gospel Coalition, joins me on WeeklyTech to talk about the search for wisdom in the midst of information overload.Sign up to receive the WeeklyTech newsletter each Monday morning at jasonthacker.com/weeklytech.Meet Brett:Brett McCracken is a writer and journalist based in Southern California. He is the author of several books and has written for places such as The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, CNN.com, Christianity Today, and ERLC. He speaks and lectures frequently at universities, churches, and conferences. Brett is a graduate of Wheaton College and UCLA and is currently pursuing a master’s in theology at Talbot School of Theology. Brett and his wife Kira live in Santa Ana, California and are active in their local church, Southlands, where Brett serves as a pastor/elder. Resources:The Wisdom Pyramid: Feeding Your Soul in a Post-Truth World by Brett McCrackenAmusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil PostmanThe Technological Society by Jacques Ellul

Are you preaching in a way that speaks to people, in their vocations? In this episode Matt Woodley talks to Steven Garber, author and Senior Fellow for Vocation and the Common Good for the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. He’s also the author of "Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good." Matt and Steven explore how pastors can equip people, with their preaching for their everyday lives, and vocations as teachers, garbage men, doctors, and corporate executives. Steven shares the story of a retired, Wall Street CEO who felt slighted by the church “You know – I’ve been a faithful member of the church for a long time, and I’ve tried to be there regularly whenever I could be there to be part of the church’s life. I contributed to the church’s life in many ways, as I’ve been able to. I’ve never in my life heard a sermon where the preacher thought about somebody like me when he prepared his sermon.” Check out what was referenced on the podcast: • Steven Garber's book Visions of Vocation: Common Grace for the Common Good. IVP, 2014. https://www.ivpress.com/visions-of-vocation • Neil Postman’s book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in The Age of Show Business. Penguin Books, 2006. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/297276/amusing-ourselves-to-death-by-neil-postman/ • Nicholas Karr’s book the Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains. W.W Norton & Company, 2010. https://wwnorton.com/books/The-Shallows/

Reid Hoffman is a Silicon Valley stalwart in the modern technology world. On the investing side, he is a Partner @ Greylock, one of the leading venture firms of the last 2 decades with a portfolio including Facebook, Airbnb, Dropbox, Figma, Appdynamics and Okta to name a few. Reid has led investments in Airbnb, Convoy, Coda and Aurora to name a few. As an operator, Reid co-founded LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network and before LinkedIn, Reid served as executive vice president at PayPal, where he was a founding board member. If that was not enough, Reid is the co-author of Blitzscaling and two New York Times best-selling books: The Start-up of You and The Alliance.  In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Reid made his way into the world of startups, came to found Linkedin and how that led to his joining Greylock? 2.) Does Reid consider himself an innate and natural leader today? How has his leadership style changed over time? What elements does Reid struggle with? How has he scaled to these leadership challenges? What does Reid believe are the different strands of leadership? 3.) How does Reid think about what separates the good from the great board members? What is the biggest danger for board members today? How do the very best founders manage their boards? How does Reid think about the weight of his words today? 4.) How does Reid think about the importance of ownership? How does Reid analyse price today? What was the story behind Greylock investing in Airbnb? What did Reid see so clearly and before anyone else saw it? What is the story with Stripe? Why did Reid turn Stripe down? 5.) How does Reid think about ensuring venture partnerships always have a learning mindset? What can be done deliberately to ensure this? Where do many people struggle here? How can partners develop trust within venture partnerships? Where does trust most often break down? Item’s Mentioned In Today’s Episode Reid’s Favourite Book: Thinking, Fast and Slow, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business As always you can follow Harry and The Twenty Minute VC on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Instagram here for mojito madness and all things 20VC.

This week the guy's talk about Neil Postman's book, Amusing Ouselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business and how it's relevant today more than ever. Published in 1985, Postman's book explains how show business, especially television, has changed the public discourse and led us to where we are today. In a place where News, Politics, and even religion are subject to their entertainment value.

The Bible has a lot to say about the world and the dangers of the world, and yet this is the place where God has placed us to serve Him. In this episode, we discuss something that is at the heart of living the Christian life, and that is, “How Should Christians Relate to the World?” Book Recommendations: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman Art and the Bible by Francis Schaeffer How Should We Then Live?: The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture by Francis Schaeffer

In the first installment of The Art of the Opening Page, here is an excerpt from Neil Postman's 1985 book, "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business." Buy the book here: https://www.amazon.com/Amusing-Ourselves-Death-Discourse-Business/dp/014303653X/ Any comments, or suggestions for readings I should make in later episodes, can be emailed to humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com. I assume that the small amount of work presented in each episode constitutes fair use. Publishers, authors, or other copyright holders who would prefer to not have their work presented here can also email me at humanvoiceswakeus1@gmail.com, and I will remove the episode immediately.

这一期我们围绕社交产品展开讨论：社交产品是互联网领域创新的永动机，社交媒体也以今非昔比，走向分离的关系网络与内容网络，社交产品的话题似乎也随着资本的关注是几年一轮回的热度主题。自 Covid-19 疫情以来，美国也涌现了新的产品机遇或形态，如Zoom已不仅是在线办公，及Clubhouse...通过与陌陌设计副总裁董宇的深度沟通，可以窥视到一个社交网络的要素与他们的最新实践。本期主播：张伟 Rokey，EICO 联合创始人本期嘉宾：董宇 Nos ，陌陌设计副总裁，Pott 创始人EICO是一家产品设计咨询公司。EICO TALKS播客节目希望将我们对与产品设计的实践与思考，通过与优秀的产品人，创业者，思考者的对谈形式分享出来。坚持EICO产品核心论的原则，每期话题围绕产品展开，涉及体验、科技、设计、商业、消费等领域的新趋势与独立观点。以下是我们聊的主要话题：【01:38】社交底层是一种信息交换的行为。【10:05】陌陌探探的头像，是最低成本的内容供给和共识认知。【12:05】社交撮合的黑盒，不可确定性。【16:23】社交产品是创新发动机。【18:16】新的社交产品 Cludhouse，构建在观念之上的新形态。【22:40】投资人 Josh 认为真正的社交，是能让人一起打扑克、一起大笑。【29:54】抖音是移动版的十佳球或搞笑视频大合集。【31:10】位置，即得性，归类，POI值得重做一遍。【39:39】社交媒体走向社交与媒体两个方向。【43:50】从设计师到产品创业者，重新发现设计的价值：精准。【48:55】陌陌设计团队，设计的工程与情感属性。相关阅读：1.Pott 是一个基于地点的图片分享社区；2.《Status as a service》作者 Eugene Wei，亚马逊战略部分的首位分析师，曾任职 Amazon、Hulu、Flipboard、Oculus VR，2017 年开始把大多数时间贡献到他自己关于媒介和科技的研究中；3.Clubhouse，是一款承载高流动性语音对话的社交产品。详细可参考 Wired 2020 年 5 月报道《What Is Clubhouse, and Why Does Silicon Valley Care?》；4.Josh Elman（https://twitter.com/joshelman）他的个人资料中这样介绍自己：产品：Twitter, FB Connect, LinkedIn, Robinhood；现任董事会：@Medium @Mammothmedia @DiscordApp 曾任董事会：@tiktok_us @smartthings @houseparty5.《娱乐至死》（Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business），作者尼尔·波兹曼（Neil Postman）。初版于 1985 年，一本研究媒介和社会文化塑造的著作。配乐：- Joker（Six Umbrellas）- Effemeah Weeps（Uncan）联系我们：EICO 公众号：EICOEICO 官网：eicoinc.com与我们联系： Service@eicoinc.com

这一期我们围绕社交产品展开讨论：社交产品是互联网领域创新的永动机，社交媒体也以今非昔比，走向分离的关系网络与内容网络，社交产品的话题似乎也随着资本的关注是几年一轮回的热度主题。自 Covid-19 疫情以来，美国也涌现了新的产品机遇或形态，如Zoom已不仅是在线办公，及Clubhouse...通过与陌陌设计副总裁董宇的深度沟通，可以窥视到一个社交网络的要素与他们的最新实践。本期主播：张伟 Rokey，EICO 联合创始人本期嘉宾：董宇 Nos ，陌陌设计副总裁，Pott 创始人EICO是一家产品设计咨询公司。EICO TALKS播客节目希望将我们对与产品设计的实践与思考，通过与优秀的产品人，创业者，思考者的对谈形式分享出来。坚持EICO产品核心论的原则，每期话题围绕产品展开，涉及体验、科技、设计、商业、消费等领域的新趋势与独立观点。以下是我们聊的主要话题：【01:38】社交底层是一种信息交换的行为。【10:05】陌陌探探的头像，是最低成本的内容供给和共识认知。【12:05】社交撮合的黑盒，不可确定性。【16:23】社交产品是创新发动机。【18:16】新的社交产品 Cludhouse，构建在观念之上的新形态。【22:40】投资人 Josh 认为真正的社交，是能让人一起打扑克、一起大笑。【29:54】抖音是移动版的十佳球或搞笑视频大合集。【31:10】位置，即得性，归类，POI值得重做一遍。【39:39】社交媒体走向社交与媒体两个方向。【43:50】从设计师到产品创业者，重新发现设计的价值：精准。【48:55】陌陌设计团队，设计的工程与情感属性。相关阅读：1.Pott 是一个基于地点的图片分享社区；2.《Status as a service》作者 Eugene Wei，亚马逊战略部分的首位分析师，曾任职 Amazon、Hulu、Flipboard、Oculus VR，2017 年开始把大多数时间贡献到他自己关于媒介和科技的研究中；3.Clubhouse，是一款承载高流动性语音对话的社交产品。详细可参考 Wired 2020 年 5 月报道《What Is Clubhouse, and Why Does Silicon Valley Care?》；4.Josh Elman（https://twitter.com/joshelman）他的个人资料中这样介绍自己：产品：Twitter, FB Connect, LinkedIn, Robinhood；现任董事会：@Medium @Mammothmedia @DiscordApp 曾任董事会：@tiktok_us @smartthings @houseparty5.《娱乐至死》（Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business），作者尼尔·波兹曼（Neil Postman）。初版于 1985 年，一本研究媒介和社会文化塑造的著作。配乐：- Joker（Six Umbrellas）- Effemeah Weeps（Uncan）联系我们：EICO 公众号：EICOEICO 官网：eicoinc.com与我们联系： Service@eicoinc.com

这一期我们围绕社交产品展开讨论：社交产品是互联网领域创新的永动机，社交媒体也以今非昔比，走向分离的关系网络与内容网络，社交产品的话题似乎也随着资本的关注是几年一轮回的热度主题。自 Covid-19 疫情以来，美国也涌现了新的产品机遇或形态，如Zoom已不仅是在线办公，及Clubhouse...通过与陌陌设计副总裁董宇的深度沟通，可以窥视到一个社交网络的要素与他们的最新实践。本期主播：张伟 Rokey，EICO 联合创始人本期嘉宾：董宇 Nos ，陌陌设计副总裁，Pott 创始人EICO是一家产品设计咨询公司。EICO TALKS播客节目希望将我们对与产品设计的实践与思考，通过与优秀的产品人，创业者，思考者的对谈形式分享出来。坚持EICO产品核心论的原则，每期话题围绕产品展开，涉及体验、科技、设计、商业、消费等领域的新趋势与独立观点。以下是我们聊的主要话题：【01:38】社交底层是一种信息交换的行为。【10:05】陌陌探探的头像，是最低成本的内容供给和共识认知。【12:05】社交撮合的黑盒，不可确定性。【16:23】社交产品是创新发动机。【18:16】新的社交产品 Cludhouse，构建在观念之上的新形态。【22:40】投资人 Josh 认为真正的社交，是能让人一起打扑克、一起大笑。【29:54】抖音是移动版的十佳球或搞笑视频大合集。【31:10】位置，即得性，归类，POI值得重做一遍。【39:39】社交媒体走向社交与媒体两个方向。【43:50】从设计师到产品创业者，重新发现设计的价值：精准。【48:55】陌陌设计团队，设计的工程与情感属性。相关阅读：1.Pott 是一个基于地点的图片分享社区；2.《Status as a service》作者 Eugene Wei，亚马逊战略部分的首位分析师，曾任职 Amazon、Hulu、Flipboard、Oculus VR，2017 年开始把大多数时间贡献到他自己关于媒介和科技的研究中；3.Clubhouse，是一款承载高流动性语音对话的社交产品。详细可参考 Wired 2020 年 5 月报道《What Is Clubhouse, and Why Does Silicon Valley Care?》；4.Josh Elman（https://twitter.com/joshelman）他的个人资料中这样介绍自己：产品：Twitter, FB Connect, LinkedIn, Robinhood；现任董事会：@Medium @Mammothmedia @DiscordApp 曾任董事会：@tiktok_us @smartthings @houseparty5.《娱乐至死》（Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business），作者尼尔·波兹曼（Neil Postman）。初版于 1985 年，一本研究媒介和社会文化塑造的著作。配乐：- Joker（Six Umbrellas）- Effemeah Weeps（Uncan）联系我们：EICO 公众号：EICOEICO 官网：eicoinc.com与我们联系： Service@eicoinc.com

Special thanks to Jonah Mancino, who composed the intro/outro music for Half My Age.Dan Benjamin on the pandemic panic (Road Work with John Roderick)The biological and social aspect of disease (This Podcast will Kill You)Drains properly, like a gentleman (French drains vs. dry wells)Short, terse sentences (The Hemingway App)The Medium is the Message (Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman: Read it!)Our boy John Roderick is on a cruise! (JoCo Cruise)The Great Toilet Paper Wars of 2020 (Get you a bidet. And use this link! Desperate times=Desperate measures.)

My book reviews for November: The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes – and Why By: Amanda Ripley The Mapping of Love and Death (Maisie Dobbs, #7) By: Jacqueline Winspear The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution By: Francis Fukuyama The Odyssey By: Homer Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl By: Harriet Ann Jacobs You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life By: Jen Sincero Ayoade on Top By: Richard Ayoade Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business By: Neil Postman Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology By: Neil Postman Midnight Riot (Peter Grant, #1) By: Ben Aaronovitch Aeschylus I: The Persians, The Seven Against Thebes, The Suppliant Maidens, Prometheus Bound By: Aeschylus

Topics we discussed:??The changing landscape of today's politicsOur outrage addictionHate-reading and hate-watching ?What C.S. Lewis would have to say about today's extremist politicsChecking the fruits of our conversations and social media usageResources we mentioned: "How the News and Politics is Destroying Your Soul (And What You Can Do About It)" by Joe Heschmeyer"Do Democratic Presidencies Reduce the Abortion Rate?" by Joe Heschmeyer"Chick-fil-A's Creepy Infiltration of New York City" in the New Yorker"Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business" by Neil Postman"The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business" by Charles Duhigg?? Find Holy Family School of Faith:Online????

We first chatted about Growing Gills with Addie Zierman in this episode on self-care, resourcing, and diving back into writing after some time away. Then, we got the chance to interview Jessica Abel herself on her method for creating systems that help you be creative in this episode. And then we realized that we had a lot to say about what Growing Gills taught each of us and how we’re incorporating those lessons into spending time on our own much-neglected creative projects. That’s what this episode is all about. Get your hands on a copy of Growing Gills: How to Find Creative Focus When You’re Drowning in Your Daily Life and the free workbook on Jessica’s site here and start creating! Or check out Jessica’s Creative Focus Workshop, which is an even more intense, instructor-led process to set up strategies to help make your creative work happen. Other things we talked about: Ashley uses the Insight Timer - Meditation App. Abbie is probably going to download that ASAP and try the session Ashley recommends, “Five Minute Break for Reflection by Tony Brady”. Atomic Habits by James Clear The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden (Winternight Trilogy #2) How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen by Joanna Faber and Julie King Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman (updated edition!) King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo Here’s where you can find Ashley: Personal blog: http://www.ashleybrookswrites.com Business website: http://www.brookseditorial.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/brookseditorial Twitter: http://twitter.com/brookseditorial Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/brookseditorial Here’s where you can find Abbie: Website: http://www.inkwellsandimages.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/abbigailekriebs Twitter: http://twitter.com/abbigailekriebs Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/abbigailekriebs/ Facebook: http://facebook.com/inkwellsandimages

My guest this week, Eugene Wei, has one of the most interesting backgrounds of anyone I’ve had on the podcast. He worked at Amazon early in its life, was the head of product at Hulu and Flipboard, and head of video and Oculus.   Our conversation is about the intersection of technology, media, culture. We discuss Eugene’s concept of invisible asymptotes: why growth slows down (for both companies and people) and how some can burst through. I’d list more of the topics, but we covered so much that you should just listen.   Finally, I’ll say that after spending a day with Eugene (including a wildly interesting dinner with Eugene, past podcast guest Sam Hinkie, and future podcast guest Kevin Kwok) that he is the type of uniquely interesting and kind person I am always searching for and one that I wish I could bet on somehow. If you know more people like this, reach out and suggest them for this podcast. Now, enjoy our conversation.   For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag   Show Notes 1:38 - (First Question) – Idea of cuisine and empire             1:52 – Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History 4:20 – Key takeaways from the Defiant Ones Documentary 8;25 – Being convinced to buy a sports coat 11:10 – The concept of invisible asymptote 17:43 – How the medium shapes the messaging and the impact of cameras everywhere on society             17:48– Invisible asymptotes             17:56 –  Selfies as a second language 22:57 – Proof of work in building a social network 32:51 – Magnification of inequalities in digital networks             34:01 – The Lessons of History 36:47 – His thoughts on the media industry’s impact on society as a whole 39:42 – His time at Hulu 44:48 – Places where video could replace text 47:30 – The need for media for any business looking to grow             49:35 – Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business 53:08 – Personal asymptotes 57:19 -  Habit building and goal setting 1:00:29 – Travel recommendations 1:03:24 – Movie recommendations 1:08:16 – Product recommendations and what makes them indispensable             1:10:44 – Creation: Life and How to Make It 1:13:23 – Thoughts on the art of conversation             1:14:59 – The Most Human Human: What Artificial Intelligence Teaches Us About Being Alive 1:18:30 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Eugene   Learn More For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.  Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub Follow Patrick on twitter at @patrick_oshag

The first anniversary of Radio Atlantic this week coincides with one of the newsiest weeks of 2018. So we’ve decided to take the opportunity to lift our sights above the fog of news for a few minutes, and discuss the things that are most important to remember—the Keepers of the Year. We revisit some of the most memorable keepers of the show’s earliest months, and share reflections from our Atlantic colleagues. Links - “Nanette Is a Radical, Transformative Work of Comedy” (Sophie Gilbert, June 27, 2018) - Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (Neil Postman, 1985) - “My Family's Slave” (Alex Tizon, June 2017 Issue) - “Complicating the Narratives” (Amanda Ripley, Medium, June 27, 2018) - “how to do nothing” (Jenny Odell, Medium, June 29, 2017) - “Philip Roth's final interview: 'Life can stop on a dime'” (Charles Mcgrath, Irish Times, January 22, 2018) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we discuss technology and its effects on our lives, our families, and what we can do to establish greater discipline in our use of this wonderful, yet powerful tool. Our recommended reading list: – "How to Break Up with Your Phone" by Catherine Price (http://a.co/8EdhHXi) – "Digital Detox" by Damon Zahariades (http://a.co/7tc0NtJ) – "The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise" by Robert Cardinal Sarah (http://a.co/gtorEHA) – "The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains" by Nicholas Carr (http://a.co/1FS6lEW) – "The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future(Or, Don 't Trust Anyone Under 30)" by Mark Bauerlein (http://a.co/dYnew7o) – "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business" by Neil Postman (http://a.co/7e7tClR) – "Silicon Snake Oil: Second Thoughts on the Information Highway" by Clifford Stoll (http://a.co/4eh8Fmn) – YourBrainOnPorn.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-furrow/message

In 2011, Tristan Harris’s company, Apture, was acquired by Google. Inside Google, he became unnerved by how the company worked. There was all this energy going into making the products better, more addicting, more delightful. But what if all that made the users’ lives worse, more busy, more distracted? Harris wrote up his worries in a slide deck manifesto. “A Call to Minimize Distraction & Respect Users’ Attention” went viral within the company and led to Harris being named Google’s “design ethicist.” But he soon realized that he couldn’t change enough from the inside. The business model wasn’t built to give users back their time. It was built to take ever more of it. Harris, who co-founded the Center for Humane Technology, has become the most influential critic of how Silicon Valley designs products to addict us. His terms, like the need to focus on “Time Well Spent,” have been adopted (or perhaps coopted) by, among others, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg. I interviewed Harris recently for my podcast. We talked about how the 2016 election threw Silicon Valley into crisis, why negative emotions dominate online, where Silicon Valley’s model of human decisionmaking went wrong, whether he buys Zuckerberg's change of heart, what happened when meditation master Thich Nhat Hahn came to Google, what it means to control your own time, and what can be done about it. Further Reading: A Verge interview with Jaron Lanier where he talks about the idea that to maximize engagement, you need to maximize emotional engagement, and the emotions that are most engaging are the negative ones. Tristan mentions Kahneman’s System 1 & System 2 thinking. Here’s an explanation of that.  The Onion article Ezra mentioned about the ways meditation is applied in Silicon Valley The New York Times piece with a headline Tristan says is somewhat different from the truth A description of the Facebook earnings call that Tristan mentioned  The Stanford Persuasive Technology lab Tristan mentioned to explain the psychology behind the Snapchat Streak  Ezra mentioned Ralph Nader’s Consumer Movement. Here’s a description of that.  The New York Times article on greyscaling a phone that Tristan and Ezra discuss Recommended books Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves Reprint Edition by Adam Hochschild Finite and Infinite Games by James P. Carse Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology by Neil Postman  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode, Dystopian Fiction! And some of us are considerably more excited about it than others. We talk about the difference between oppressive and consumerist dystopias, how things that were shocking or innovative in fiction in the past may no longer be seen as such, and whether we live in a dystopia. Plus! Special guest senior foreign correspondent, Amanda, reporting in after being undercover in the overthereland! You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or your favourite podcast delivery system. In this episode Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | Jessi | Amanda Wanner Dystopian books we read for the podcast Steeple by Jon Wallace The Chrysalids by John Wyndham (The Midwich Cuckoos was turned into Village/Children of the Damned not Children of the Corn) The Lottery by Shirley Jackson The Girl Who Was Plugged In by James Tiptree Jr. Literary criticism on the portrayal of the body (Wikipedia section) The Power by Naomi Alderman The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination by Margaret Atwood Zone One by Colson Whitehead The Destructives by Matthew De Abaitua Autonomous by Annalee Newitz Wool by Hugh Howey Other dystopian books we mentioned Red Rising by Pierce Brown (Matthew briefly mentioned this in our Space Opera episode) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (Celsius 233) The Giver by Lois Lowry The Tripods series by John Christopher The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau Battle Royale by Koushun Takami The Uglies by Scott Westerfeld Divergent by Veronica Roth 1984 by George Orwell Lord of the Flies by William Golding The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin Brave New World by Aldous Huxley The Bees by Laline Paull Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee We by Yevgeny Zamyatin The Wicked and the Divine by Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut Black Mirror (TV show) Links, Articles, and Things Goodreads' Dystopia section Huxley vs Orwell webcomic by Stuart McMillen An adaptation of Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman An explanation of why it's not on McMillen's website 100 Great Works of Dystopian Fiction International Upset: 11 Dystopian Novels from Around the World Social credit ratings in China Questions Do you think our current world is a dystopia? I live in a dystopia, what should I do? What counts as dystopia? Is all post-apocalyptic fiction dystopian? Is all cyberpunk fiction dystopian? Any alternative history dystopic recommendations? Why would you/would you not describe historical events/books as dystopias? Please write a 1000+ word essay on the relationship between Christian dispensationalism and the Western dystopian literary history. I will send you special mail?! What book recommendations do you have for someone living in a dystopia? What goes on the Book Club for Masochists bingo sheet? Check out our Pinterest board and Tumblr posts, follow us on Twitter, join our Facebook Group, or send us an email! Join us again on Tuesday, December 5th when we’ll be discussing Favourite Childhood Books! Then come back on Tuesday, December 19th when we’ll be discussing the “genre” Books Turned into Movies (and TV shows)!

Living Our Vocations, Season One, Book Club Episode 1 (The Book, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child, with Anna Mussmann)   In this episode, Kaitlyn talks to Anna about the introduction and first chapter of the book Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child by Anthony Esolen. Anna shares her insights into education and discusses how we can expand our children’s (and our own) imaginations. We consider questions like: How can we help engage our children in learning history and teach them to respect those who have gone before us, instead of just accepting the politically correct stereotypes commonly taught today? Why is memorization useful, especially when so much information is just a Google search away? How can we teach our children to appreciate nature, and spark their imaginations with time spent outdoors? Links: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman Beauty in the Word by Stratford Caldecott Some great articles from Anna at The Federalist about engaging stir-crazy toddlers, understanding the nature and purpose of education, and recognizing “ideological kidnappers”

REFLECTION QUOTES “One of the peculiar sins of the twentieth century, which we've developed to a very high level, is the sin of credulity. It has been said that when human beings stop believing in God they believe in nothing. The truth is much worse: they believe in anything.” ~Malcolm Muggeridge (1903-1990), English journalist “We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn't, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held [and] we…had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares. But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another…equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required…. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think…. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity…. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture…. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny ‘failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions.' In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us.” “When two human beings get together, they're co-present, there is built into it a certain responsibility we have for each other…. You can't just turn off a person. On the Internet, you can.” ― Neil Postman (1931-2003), New York University professor and author of Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business “As Michel Foucault pointed out in his detailed study of the mechanisms of power, nothing suits power so well as extreme individualism. In fact, he explains, political and corporate interests aim at nothing less than ‘individualization,' since it is far easier to manipulate a collection of discrete and increasingly independent individuals than a community.” ~ The New York Times, December 16, 2012 SERMON PASSAGE Acts 17:2-4 – Paul in Thessalonica 2 And according to Paul's custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3 explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ.” 4 And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a large number of the God-fearing Greeks and a number of the leading women. Act 17:16-17 – Paul in Athens 16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols. 17 So he was reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Gentiles, and in the market place every day with those who happened to be present. Acts 18:4-5, 11 – Paul in Corinth 4 And he was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. 5 But when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ. 11 And he settled there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them. Acts 19:8-10 – Paul in Ephesus 8 And he entered the synagogue and continued speaking out boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God. 9 But when some were becoming hardened and disobedient, speaking evil of the Way before the people, he withdrew from them and took away the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. 10 This took place for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. Acts 28:23-24, 30-31 – Paul in Rome 23 When they had set a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and from the Prophets, from morning until evening. 24 Some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe. 30 And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, 31 preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness, unhindered.

Even as Las Vegas is known for its exuberant shows making it the entertainment capital of the United States, we only continue our compulsive addiction to be entertained and amused as author Neil Postman so "prophetically" anticipated in his book published 26 years ago entitled "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business."