Podcast appearances and mentions of Ian Bogost

If the Trump administration's actions and rhetoric against universities sound vaguely familiar, that may be because they've already happened elsewhere. Over the years, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has dismantled his country's higher-education system; cracked down on diversity, dissent, and critical thinking; and cast academic institutions as dangerous. So what does that mean for the future of higher ed in America? Further reading: Ian Bogost on “The End of College Life” Anne Applebaum on “America's Future Is Hungary” Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You'll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/podsub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our latest season of How To is a collection of our favorite episodes from past seasons—a best-of series focused on slowing down, making space, and finding meaning in our hectic lives. This episode, from our fifth season, How to Keep Time, features co-hosts Ian Bogost and Becca Rashid in conversation with Oliver Burkeman to explore what it can look like to let go in a culture preoccupied with productivity. Write to us at howtopodcast@theatlantic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This new season of How To is a collection of our favorite episodes from past seasons—a best-of series focused on slowing down, making space, and finding meaning in our hectic lives. This episode, from our fifth season, called How to Keep Time, features host Ian Bogost in conversation with Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, the author of several books on rest and a director at 4 Day Week Global. The two explore how varied understandings of rest can affect our ability to gain real benefits from it. Write to us at howtopodcast@theatlantic.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two of our discourse besties from UAL's Fashion Media Practice & Criticism -- experiential designers Daniel Felstead and Jenn Leung -- join us to talk Janky Capitalism (the obvious falling-apart weirdness of the world while capital spins off farther and farther away from it, leaving us behind), Roblox, and neural media. You probably know their work from the iconic 'The Metaverse in Janky Capitalism' on Dis and its associated 'Literally No Place' and 'Always on My Mind' -- or from associated speaking / discourse production all over the internet (++ more on Jenn (link) and Daniel (link)).References from the pod include:Ruba Al-Sweel's awesome piece for SQD: 'Sandbox Semiotics' referenced in the intro.Jenn references artworld queen Anna Uddenberg (e.g. 'Continental Breakfast'), Harvard's GSD's Guide to Shopping, and Ian Bogost (whose critique of anthropomorphism in video games we really relate to).Daniel references Sam Cummins from Nymphet Alumni, a favorite podcast that everyone should already know and spend all their time listening to.Daniel references Catherine Malabou's concept of plasticity (throughout her work, typically referencing neuroscientific plasticisty, here used in its more generalized form).The second half of the episode spends some time with the theory of K. Allado-McDowell, specifically the concept of neural media. We could not recommend this episode of our other favorite podcast (New Models) more strongly.Roberto mentions Zachary Horton's 'Cosmic Zoom', which is our obsession atm.Ok enjoyyyy byee!

Neste episódio, recebemos Flávia Garcia de Carvalho, Doutora e Mestre em Ciências pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Informação e Comunicação em Saúde (PPGICS) do Icict/Fiocruz sob a linha de concentração: Informação, Comunicação e Mediações em Saúde. Conversamos sobre sua jornada acadêmica e seu artigo intitulado Intertextualidade Procedimental: intertextualidade das regras e mecânicas em jogos digitais, que discute a intertextualidade com o conceito de retórica procedimental, a partir das contribuições de Ian Bogost. Também conversamos sobre narratologia vs ludologia, indústria cultural, arte e muito mais. Ouça também o Regras do Jogo 22 - Jogos Persuasivos, com Leonardo Moroni, onde discutimos pela primeira vez o conceito de retórica procedimental. Conheça o Fiocruz Jogos. Ajude a financiar o Holodeck Design no Apoia.se e Orelo.cc ou fazendo doações pelo PicPay. Siga o Holodeck Design no Twitter, Facebook, Instagram e TikTok e entre no grupo para ouvintes do Telegram! Nossos episódios são gravados ao vivo em nosso canal na Twitch e YouTube, faça parte também da conversa. Participantes Fernando Henrique Anderson do Patrocínio Flávia Garcia de Carvalho Cupons de Desconto regrasdojogo – 10% Descontos em todas as camisas da Veste Esquerda. Músicas: Persona 5 – Beneath The Mask lofi chill remix GUILD MERCHANT – Rebellion

Remember "piling into a car?" Remember "soccer moms" driving minivans? Remember when every other car wasn't a black SUV shaped like a shoe? Writer Ian Bogost talks about the latest changes in cars, and attitudes.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 28, 2024 is: avatar • AV-uh-tar • noun An avatar is an electronic image (as in a video game) that represents, and can be manipulated by, a computer user. Avatar can also refer to the embodiment of something (such as a concept or philosophy) often in a person, or to an incarnation of a deity—especially a Hindu deity, such as Vishnu. // Before they started playing the game, Maeve and Sanaa customized their avatars. // She has come to be regarded as an avatar of charity and concern for the poor. See the entry > Examples: “‘I am crying,' my editor said when I connected with her via FaceTime on my Apple Vision Pro. ‘You look like a computer man.' What made her choke with laughter was ... the digital avatar that the device had generated when I had pointed its curved, glass front at my face during setup. I couldn't see the me that she saw, but apparently it was uncanny. You look handsome and refined, she told me, but also fake.” — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 3 Feb. 2024 Did you know? Water. Earth. Fire. Air. These are just some of the elements and environments that video game avatars—the images representing and controlled by players—have faced since the days of Space Invaders, to say nothing of today's Pandora's box of assorted baddies. Avatar comes from the Sanskrit word avatāraḥ, meaning “descent.” When avatar first appeared in English in the late 18th century, it referred to the descent of a deity to the earth—typically, the incarnation in earthly form of Vishnu or another Hindu deity. It later came to refer to any incarnation in human form, and then to any embodiment (such as the embodiment of a concept or philosophy), whether or not in the form of a person. All of these senses of avatar are still in use today, joined by the more recent computing/gaming sense, which may refer to “you” embodied as a mustachioed Italian plumber, for example, even if you are not, in fact, a mustachioed Italian plumber.

Ian Bogost, contributing writer at The Atlantic and a lover and expert on soft drinks, joins Michael to talk about his piece "J. D. Vance Has a Point About Mountain Dew." Original air date 26 July 2024.

Join your hosts Katherine and Shelbi to reflect on the convenience culture that touches almost every aspect of our lives, and when and how we press pause in order to come together and connect.Everything on DemandWhile streaming services have shifted the shared experience of tuning into prime time, they've also played into nostalgia by bringing back shows like Reba and Sex and the City, creating new moments to tune in together (and fuel online discourse).The sheer amount of content and the algorithms that serve it is a vast machine, making it that much more amusing when something goes viral and resonates on a large scale (we're looking at you, Black Twitter).Endless delivery options can jeopardize moments of connection, and there's a balance of knowing that time is money and choosing the moments when to be a more engaged consumer in the community.Data Driven Tech Meets Social CompetitionSocial media gives an on demand view of what you have or don't have that can be motivating and disheartening, with millennial “experience culture”, fast fashion, and expectations to present a certain way online sometimes making us lose the plot on what our own “why” is.Taking a cue from Gen Z and sharing a broader picture of your lived experience online creates an opportunity to connect more authentically and reduce misconceptions of others' feelings based on what we see on social media, for example Brittney Reynolds.Wearable tech can do so many amazing things for our health and knowledge, but it's up to the consumer to decide what tools are helpful and what may be overwhelming to them as an individual.AirPods are the crown jewels and status symbol we wear as convenience queens, but the content and connectivity (and noise cancellation) they provide make them blinders to the world around us (referencing Scott Galloway's 2018 tweet of Ian Bogost's Atlantic article, Apple's Airpods Are an Omen).Advancements Come with Cultural SetbacksRevisiting nostalgic television and reading old articles of technological cautionary tales demonstrate how past, present, and future are all intertwined.The advancements that fuel our on demand culture don't all necessarily have to change (and many won't), but it is our role to consider how they impact our lives and interpersonal dynamics, and where we can add our own human touch.Question of the Week:In what ways would you like to shift your relationship to on demand culture in order to better connect with others?You can email us at tablepancakespod@gmail.com and leave us a voice memo here. We'd also love if you'd rate, review and subscribe to the show!Join the Table Pancakes Community on IG: @tablepancakespodStay in touch with us: @shelbihq & @katherinehfoster Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this week's episode Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) discuss Ian Bogost's essay at The Atlantic suggesting the 4K revolution is a bit of a scam. Then they review Dune: Part Two, the second half of Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of Frank Herbert's classic novel. Make sure to swing by Friday for our bonus episode on Vulture's ranking of the 100 greatest action sequences. And if you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend!

Boyd breaks down the newly released border bill legislation and later turns to Eric Boehm to get a fresh perspective on what would actually solve the issues everyones worried about. Matt Stoller joins the show to talk to Boyd about how the Affordable care act changed American healthcare. Ian Bogost gives his take on what's wrong with modern universities, James Gelvin dives into important history in the Middle East and more!  

Lawmakers across the country are having a fit debating the merits of DEI, and universities have taken center stage. Is DEI to blame for higher education's falling approval rate? Is it keeping our young people from holistic conversation or keeping them safe? According to Brian Rosenberg, DEI really isn't what we should be focusing on. Joining the show to break down his interview on the issue, Ian Bogost from the Atlantic.

Time flies, time is money, time waits for no one. We are so conditioned to obsess over time, how we use it, and getting the most out of it – or else, we feel guilty. In this episode of KQED's Forum, co-hosts Becca Rashid and Ian Bogost of the Atlantic's ‘How to Keep Time' talk with Grace Won about optimizing “free” time, and why we struggle to comfortably do nothing.  Episode transcript

Time flies. Time is money. Time waits for no one. There is no shortage of aphorisms about time because we are consumed by the minutes, hours, days and years that constitute a life. We want to use time efficiently; we want to get the most out of it; we feel guilty wasting it. But maybe we should reclaim our relationship with time. That's what co-hosts Becca Rashid and Ian Bogost argue for in the latest season of the Atlantic's popular “How To” podcast series. In “How to Keep Time,” Rashid and Bogost examine whether hacks to be more productive work, how to optimize “free” time and why we struggle to comfortably do nothing. Set your clock and join us. Guests: Becca Rashid, co-host and producer, the Atlantic Magazine podcast "How to Keep Time" Ian Bogost, co-host, the Atlantic Magazine podcast "How to Keep Time." Bogost is a contributing editor at the Atlantic and a professor in arts and sciences at Washington University in St. Louis

For the holiday, Radio Atlantic is sharing the first episode of the Atlantic podcast How to Keep Time. Co-hosts Becca Rashid and the Atlantic contributing writer Ian Bogost examine our relationship with time and what we can do to reclaim it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before laptops allowed us to take the office home and smartphones could light up with notifications at any hour, work time and “life” time had clearer boundaries. Today, work is not done exclusively in the workplace, and that makes it harder to leave work at work.  Co-hosts Becca Rashid and Ian Bogost examine the habits that shrink our available time, and Ignacio Sánchez Prado, a professor of Latin American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, offers his reflections on American culture and shares suggestions for how to use the time we do have, for life.  This episode was co-hosted by Becca Rashid and Ian Bogost. Becca Rashid also produces the show. Editing by Jocelyn Frank and Claudine Ebeid. Fact-check by Ena Alvarado. Engineering by Rob Smierciak. The managing editor of How to Keep Time is Andrea Valdez. Write to us at howtopodcast@theatlantic.com.  Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift today at theatlantic.com/podgift. For a limited time, select new subscriptions will come with the bold Atlantic tote bag as a free holiday bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Many of us complain about being too busy—and about not having enough time to do the things we really want to do. But has busyness become an excuse for our inability to focus on what matters?  According to Neeru Paharia, a marketing professor at Arizona State University, time is a sort of luxury good—the more of it you have, the more valuable you are. But her research also revealed that, for many Americans, having less time and being busy can be a status symbol for others to notice. And when it comes to the signals we create for ourselves, sociologist Melissa Mazmanian reveals a few myths that may be keeping us from living the lives we want with the meaningful connections we crave.  Music by Dylan Sitts (“On the Fritz”) and Rob Smierciak (“Slow Money,” “Guitar Time,” “Ambient Time”). This episode was co-hosted by Becca Rashid and Ian Bogost. Becca Rashid also produces the show. Editing by Jocelyn Frank and Claudine Ebeid. Fact-check by Ena Alvarado. Engineering by Rob Smierciak. The managing editor of How to Keep Time is Andrea Valdez. Write to us at howtopodcast@theatlantic.com.  Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift today at theatlantic.com/podgift. For a limited time, select new subscriptions will come with the bold Atlantic tote bag as a free holiday bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Co-hosts Becca Rashid and Ian Bogost explore our relationship with time and how to reclaim it. Why is it so important to be productive? Why can it feel like there's never enough time in a day? Why are so many of us conditioned to believe that being more productive makes us better people? This episode was co-hosted by Becca Rashid and Ian Bogost. Becca Rashid also produces the show. Editing by Jocelyn Frank and Claudine Ebeid. Fact-check by Ena Alvarado. Engineering by Rob Smierciak. The managing editor of How to Keep Time is Andrea Valdez. Write to us at howtopodcast@theatlantic.com.  Music from by Dylan Sitts (“On the Fritz”), Gavin Luke (“Time Zones”), Martin Guaffin (“The Time”), and Rob Smierciak (“Slow Money,” “Guitar Time”). Want to share unlimited access to The Atlantic with your loved ones? Give a gift today at theatlantic.com/podgift. For a limited time, select new subscriptions will come with the bold Atlantic tote bag as a free holiday bonus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

America Dissected comes to you LIVE from Atlanta at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting. Abdul reflects on the ways that the internet is fundamentally reshaping the way we think about place–and its impact on public health. Then he sits down with Ian Bogost, professor, video game designer, and contributing writer at the Atlantic.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for November 14, 2023 is: exigent • EK-suh-junt • adjective Exigent is a formal word that describes things that need to be dealt with immediately, as well as people who expect significant time, attention, effort, etc. from other people. // The warrantless search of the property was permitted because of exigent circumstances. // He struggled to satisfy the needs of the exigent client. See the entry > Examples: "People don't tend to reveal their true selves while careening across a landscape. Unless, of course, civilization has ended—a cheap setup that, I must begrudgingly admit, motivates character development in an exigent way. The most famous literary and filmic specimen that focuses, as games do, on spatial traversal amid existential threat is Lord of the Rings—which, of course, exerted a strong influence on the development of games in the first place." — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 29 Jan. 2023 Did you know? Exigent is a formal word with meanings closely tied to its Latin forbear, exigere, meaning "to demand." Exigent things and people demand attention—for example, an exigent client expects so much that they are hard to satisfy, and exigent circumstances are so significant that they can be used to justify certain police actions without the warrant typically required. Before exigent joined the language in the early 1600s, the noun exigency was being used to refer to something that is necessary in a particular situation—for example, the exigencies of an emergency situation might require that certain usual precautions be ignored. That word dates to the late 1500s, but even earlier, in the mid-1400s, exigence was on the scene doing the same job. All three words—exigent, exigency, and exigence—continue to meet the demands of English users, albeit not frequently in everyday conversation.

On today's episode of Hear Me Out… lovable underdogs? For a long time, we've been sold — and we've bought — the idea of the nerd hero; usually a man, usually brilliant, and usually a social outcast who, inevitably, gets the girl. That was the happy ending. But now, we're surrounded by powerful, self-styled nerds who have it all and still want more. And, to some, it's increasingly hard to root for these guys. Ian Bogost, a writer and video game designer, joins us.  If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com Podcast production by Maura Currie You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of Hear Me Out… lovable underdogs? For a long time, we've been sold — and we've bought — the idea of the nerd hero; usually a man, usually brilliant, and usually a social outcast who, inevitably, gets the girl. That was the happy ending. But now, we're surrounded by powerful, self-styled nerds who have it all and still want more. And, to some, it's increasingly hard to root for these guys. Ian Bogost, a writer and video game designer, joins us.  If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com Podcast production by Maura Currie You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of Hear Me Out… lovable underdogs? For a long time, we've been sold — and we've bought — the idea of the nerd hero; usually a man, usually brilliant, and usually a social outcast who, inevitably, gets the girl. That was the happy ending. But now, we're surrounded by powerful, self-styled nerds who have it all and still want more. And, to some, it's increasingly hard to root for these guys. Ian Bogost, a writer and video game designer, joins us.  If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com Podcast production by Maura Currie You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of Hear Me Out… lovable underdogs? For a long time, we've been sold — and we've bought — the idea of the nerd hero; usually a man, usually brilliant, and usually a social outcast who, inevitably, gets the girl. That was the happy ending. But now, we're surrounded by powerful, self-styled nerds who have it all and still want more. And, to some, it's increasingly hard to root for these guys. Ian Bogost, a writer and video game designer, joins us.  If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com Podcast production by Maura Currie You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of Hear Me Out… lovable underdogs? For a long time, we've been sold — and we've bought — the idea of the nerd hero; usually a man, usually brilliant, and usually a social outcast who, inevitably, gets the girl. That was the happy ending. But now, we're surrounded by powerful, self-styled nerds who have it all and still want more. And, to some, it's increasingly hard to root for these guys. Ian Bogost, a writer and video game designer, joins us.  If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com Podcast production by Maura Currie You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of Hear Me Out… lovable underdogs? For a long time, we've been sold — and we've bought — the idea of the nerd hero; usually a man, usually brilliant, and usually a social outcast who, inevitably, gets the girl. That was the happy ending. But now, we're surrounded by powerful, self-styled nerds who have it all and still want more. And, to some, it's increasingly hard to root for these guys. Ian Bogost, a writer and video game designer, joins us.  If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com Podcast production by Maura Currie You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today's episode of Hear Me Out… lovable underdogs? For a long time, we've been sold — and we've bought — the idea of the nerd hero; usually a man, usually brilliant, and usually a social outcast who, inevitably, gets the girl. That was the happy ending. But now, we're surrounded by powerful, self-styled nerds who have it all and still want more. And, to some, it's increasingly hard to root for these guys. Ian Bogost, a writer and video game designer, joins us.  If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com Podcast production by Maura Currie You can skip all the ads in Hear Me Out by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/hearmeoutplus for just $15 a month for your first three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why can it feel like there's never enough time in a day, and why are so many of us conditioned to believe that being more productive makes us better people? On How to Keep Time, co-hosts Becca Rashid and contributing writer Ian Bogost talk with social scientists, authors, philosophers, and theoretical physicists to learn more about time and how to reclaim it. How to Keep Time launches December 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Writer, programmer, and tech consultant Alex Reisner joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about his recent Atlantic articles on Books3, a massive data set that includes hundreds of thousands of pirated e-books, and that Meta and other companies have used to train generative AI. Reisner explains how he extracted book names and titles from long strings of text in Books3 to create a searchable database, and why not finding yourself in the database doesn't mean your work is safe. He also reflects on the dangers of metaphorical language in discussing AI, what he's heard from legal experts, what publishers are and aren't doing, and how piracy has shifted from benefiting individuals to helping corporations profit. Reisner reads from his groundbreaking Atlantic coverage. To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This episode of the podcast was produced by Anne Kniggendorf. Alex Reisner in The Atlantic “These 183,000 Books Are Fueling the Biggest Fight in Publishing and Tech” “What I Found in a Database Meta Uses to Train Generative AI” “Revealed: The Authors Whose Pirated Books Are Powering Generative AI” Others: Open Letter to Generative AI Leaders (The Authors Guild) Practical Tips for Authors to Protect Their Works from AI Use (The Authors Guild) “Some writers are furious that AI consumed their books. Others? Less so,” by Sophia Nguyen, The Washington Post  Fiction/Non/Fiction, Season 6, Episode 17: “Chatbot vs. Writer: Vauhini Vara on the Perils and Possibilities of Artificial Intelligence” “My Books Were Used to Train AI,” by Stephen King, The Atlantic “Murdered by My Replica?” by Margaret Atwood, The Atlantic “My Books Were Used to Train Meta's Generative AI. Good.” by Ian Bogost, The Atlantic Alice Munro Rebecca Solnit Meghan O'Rourke George Saunders  Ta-Nehisi Coates Martin Amis “Sarah Silverman is suing OpenAI and Meta for copyright infringement,” by Wes Davis, The Verge Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bestselling novelist and former Twitter employee Robin Sloan joins co-hosts Whitney Terrell and V.V. Ganeshananthan to talk about how Elon Musk's ownership of Twitter and the rise of new platforms like Mastodon, Bluesky, and Meta's Threads are shaping a new ecosystem of social media. The co-hosts and Sloan grapple with the unruliness of Twitter over time, political polarization on different platforms and the risks of disinformation, and what the end of Twitter—now rebranded as X—might look like. Sloan reflects on the role social media plays (or doesn't) in authors' careers, as well as his own decision to leave Twitter. Finally, he reads from his 2012 novel Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. To hear the full episode, subscribe through iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app (include the forward slashes when searching). You can also listen by streaming from the player below. Check out video versions of our interviews on the Fiction/Non/Fiction Instagram account, the Fiction/Non/Fiction YouTube Channel, and our show website: https://www.fnfpodcast.net/ This episode of the podcast was produced by Amanda Trout and Anne Kniggendorf. Robin Sloan Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore Sourdough “Conspiracy Museum” (The Atlantic) Others: “Robin Sloan leaves Twitter's Media Partnerships team,” The Next Web, November 11, 2011 “Bay Area author Robin Sloan dishes on 'Sourdough,' Twitter and books,” San Jose Mercury-News, May 18, 2019 “How to Write Science Fiction That Isn't 'Useful,'” Robin Sloan interviewed by Ellen Cushing, The Atlantic, May 15, 2020 “The Age of Social Media Is Ending,” by Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, Nov. 10, 2022 “Threads users looking for 'genuine connection' as Twitter-like social media platform goes back to basics,” ABC News (Australia), July 14, 2023. “Social Media Is Dead,” by Edward Ongweso Jr., Vice, Nov. 8, 2022. “Social Media Died When It Stopped Being Social and Became About Making Money,” by Enrique Dans, Forbes, May 13, 2019 “With the rise of AI, social media platforms could face perfect storm of misinformation in 2024,” CNN Business, July 17, 2023 “Threads, Twitter, and the Future of Social Media,” by Sriram Krishnan, The New York Times (Opinion), July 15, 2023 “Zombie Twitter Has Arrived,” by Ian Bogost and Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, July 6, 2023 “The Weaponization of Social Media and Real World Consequences,” by Dave Davies, National Public Radio, October 9, 2018 “Conservative social networks like Gettr and Parler keep making the same mistake,” by Casey Newton, The Verge, Jul 6, 2021 “Tucker Carlson's show on Twitter makes ad deal with anti-ESG shopping app” by Brian Schwartz, CNBC, July 16, 2023 “Taylor Swift Gets Political On Social Media As Nashville Elections Start,” by Aimée Lutkin, Elle, July 15, 2023 “Despite cries of censorship, conservatives dominate social media,” by Mark Scott, POLITICO, Oct. 26, 2020 “Robin Sloan's 'Sourdough' Is a Fascinating Riddle” by Andy Newman, The Atlantic, Dec. 5, 2017 “Book Armageddon is a Myth: Interview with Robin Sloan” by Lex Berko, Vice, April 10, 2013 “More than eight-in-ten Americans get news from digital devices” Jan. 2021 Study by Elisa Shearer, Pew Research Center, Jan. 12, 2021 “Conservative Social Media— A New Norm?” by Kayla Morrison, Brown Political Review, Dec. 3, 2022 “Robin Sloan: Describing the emotions of life online,” by Josh Kramer, New Public, Mar. 13, 2022 “Computer Stories: A.I. Is Beginning to Assist Novelists—Robin Sloan” by David Streitfeld, The New York Times, Oct. 18, 2018 “The Infinite Deaths of Social Media” by Jason Parham, WIRED, May 4, 2022 “Social media is doomed to die” by Ellis Hamburger, The Verge, April 18, 2023 “The Future of Social Media Is a Lot Less Social” by Brian X. Chen, The New York Times, April 19, 2023 “Delhi Man Creates Device Which Allows You To Order Pizza With Your Mind,” by Anoushka Sharma, NDTV, July 21, 2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For a few days in early November, it seemed like Twitter might go down in flames. That hasn't happened—yet—but the prospect of the platform's end has forced a reckoning. What would its loss mean for the countless journalists, academics, and politicians who rely on it? Would we be better or worse off? And could a diminished Twitter augur the death of social media in general? On episode 58 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene talk with the writer Max Read about Twitter's possible futures, and with Ian Bogost, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, about why we should embrace the end of social media.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode Chris Gondek interviews Ed Finn, author of the new book What Algorithms Want. Tune in for an interesting discussion on algorithm disconnect revolving around things humans regularly use, like Siri. And listen in for a definition of the phrase "culture machines". We depend on--we believe in--algorithms to help us get a ride, choose which book to buy, execute a mathematical proof. It's as if we think of code as a magic spell, an incantation to reveal what we need to know and even what we want. Humans have always believed that certain invocations--the marriage vow, the shaman's curse--do not merely describe the world but make it. Computation casts a cultural shadow that is shaped by this long tradition of magical thinking. In this book, Ed Finn considers how the algorithm--in practical terms, "a method for solving a problem"--has its roots not only in mathematical logic but also in cybernetics, philosophy, and magical thinking. Finn argues that the algorithm deploys concepts from the idealized space of computation in a messy reality, with unpredictable and sometimes fascinating results. Drawing on sources that range from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash to Diderot's Encyclopédie, from Adam Smith to the Star Trek computer, Finn explores the gap between theoretical ideas and pragmatic instructions. He examines the development of intelligent assistants like Siri, the rise of algorithmic aesthetics at Netflix, Ian Bogost's satiric Facebook game Cow Clicker, and the revolutionary economics of Bitcoin. He describes Google's goal of anticipating our questions, Uber's cartoon maps and black box accounting, and what Facebook tells us about programmable value, among other things. If we want to understand the gap between abstraction and messy reality, Finn argues, we need to build a model of "algorithmic reading" and scholarship that attends to process, spearheading a new experimental humanities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In this episode Chris Gondek interviews Ed Finn, author of the new book What Algorithms Want. Tune in for an interesting discussion on algorithm disconnect revolving around things humans regularly use, like Siri. And listen in for a definition of the phrase "culture machines". We depend on--we believe in--algorithms to help us get a ride, choose which book to buy, execute a mathematical proof. It's as if we think of code as a magic spell, an incantation to reveal what we need to know and even what we want. Humans have always believed that certain invocations--the marriage vow, the shaman's curse--do not merely describe the world but make it. Computation casts a cultural shadow that is shaped by this long tradition of magical thinking. In this book, Ed Finn considers how the algorithm--in practical terms, "a method for solving a problem"--has its roots not only in mathematical logic but also in cybernetics, philosophy, and magical thinking. Finn argues that the algorithm deploys concepts from the idealized space of computation in a messy reality, with unpredictable and sometimes fascinating results. Drawing on sources that range from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash to Diderot's Encyclopédie, from Adam Smith to the Star Trek computer, Finn explores the gap between theoretical ideas and pragmatic instructions. He examines the development of intelligent assistants like Siri, the rise of algorithmic aesthetics at Netflix, Ian Bogost's satiric Facebook game Cow Clicker, and the revolutionary economics of Bitcoin. He describes Google's goal of anticipating our questions, Uber's cartoon maps and black box accounting, and what Facebook tells us about programmable value, among other things. If we want to understand the gap between abstraction and messy reality, Finn argues, we need to build a model of "algorithmic reading" and scholarship that attends to process, spearheading a new experimental humanities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/systems-and-cybernetics

In this episode Chris Gondek interviews Ed Finn, author of the new book What Algorithms Want. Tune in for an interesting discussion on algorithm disconnect revolving around things humans regularly use, like Siri. And listen in for a definition of the phrase "culture machines". We depend on--we believe in--algorithms to help us get a ride, choose which book to buy, execute a mathematical proof. It's as if we think of code as a magic spell, an incantation to reveal what we need to know and even what we want. Humans have always believed that certain invocations--the marriage vow, the shaman's curse--do not merely describe the world but make it. Computation casts a cultural shadow that is shaped by this long tradition of magical thinking. In this book, Ed Finn considers how the algorithm--in practical terms, "a method for solving a problem"--has its roots not only in mathematical logic but also in cybernetics, philosophy, and magical thinking. Finn argues that the algorithm deploys concepts from the idealized space of computation in a messy reality, with unpredictable and sometimes fascinating results. Drawing on sources that range from Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash to Diderot's Encyclopédie, from Adam Smith to the Star Trek computer, Finn explores the gap between theoretical ideas and pragmatic instructions. He examines the development of intelligent assistants like Siri, the rise of algorithmic aesthetics at Netflix, Ian Bogost's satiric Facebook game Cow Clicker, and the revolutionary economics of Bitcoin. He describes Google's goal of anticipating our questions, Uber's cartoon maps and black box accounting, and what Facebook tells us about programmable value, among other things. If we want to understand the gap between abstraction and messy reality, Finn argues, we need to build a model of "algorithmic reading" and scholarship that attends to process, spearheading a new experimental humanities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-technology-and-society

For a few days in early November, it seemed like Twitter might go down in flames. That hasn't happened—yet—but the prospect of the platform's end has forced a reckoning. What would its loss mean for the countless journalists, academics, and politicians who rely on it? Would we be better or worse off? And could a diminished Twitter augur the death of social media in general? On episode 58 of The Politics of Everything, hosts Laura Marsh and Alex Pareene talk with the writer Max Read about Twitter's possible futures, and with Ian Bogost, a contributing writer at The Atlantic, about why we should embrace the end of social media.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ian Bogost, author and professor at Washington University in St. Louis, talks with Jon about the demise of online social networks. In a recent Atlantic article, “The Age of Social Media Is Ending,” Bogost examines the platforms' dipping trajectory and argues that people just aren't meant to talk to each other this much. He joins Offline to elaborate on how Twitter, Instagram and TikTok have sacrificed connection for content, friendship for sponsorship––and why a cultural shift in how we interact with these platforms may be closer than we think. For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

Sean Illing talks with technology writer and philosopher Ian Bogost about the state of social media — especially in the wake of Elon Musk's recent acquisition of Twitter. They discuss the recent but surprising history of the platforms that have come to dominate the lives of so many, and note a crucial shift that made social media what is today. Sean and Ian also talk about how Silicon Valley views "scale," whether Twitter should be treated as a public utility, and how — as a society — we might be able to quit. Host: Sean Illing (@seanilling), host, The Gray Area Guest: Ian Bogost (@ibogost), contributing writer, The Atlantic; professor and director of film & media studies, Washington University of St. Louis References:  "The Age of Social Media Is Ending" by Ian Bogost (The Atlantic; Nov. 10) "The Madness of Twitter" by Ian Bogost (The Atlantic; Nov. 22) "People Aren't Meant to Talk This Much" by Ian Bogost (The Atlantic; Oct. 22, 2021) "Facebook Is A Doomsday Machine" by Adrienne LaFrance (The Atlantic; Dec. 15, 2020) Understanding Media by Marshall McLuhan (1964) The Paradox of Democracy: Free Speech, Open Media, and Perilous Persuasion by Zac Gershberg & Sean Illing (U. Chicago; 2022)   Enjoyed this episode? Rate The Gray Area ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of The Gray Area. Subscribe in your favorite podcast app. Support The Gray Area by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts This episode was made by:  Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Engineer: Patrick Boyd Editorial Director, Vox Talk: A.M. Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In dieser Folge zu Gast: Martin Fehrensen, Gründer des Social Media Watchblogs und die wahrscheinlich qualifizierteste Person Deutschlands, um das Chaos rund um Elon Musks Übernahme von Twitter zu entwirren. Der Social Media Watchblog Newsletter liefert mehrmals wöchentlich Analysen über die Entwicklungen internationaler Tech-Unternehmen und ihre Bedeutungen für Gesellschaft und Politik.  Es geht um die Frage, welche konkreten Folgen sich aus Musks “free speech”-Programmatik ergeben – insbesondere für marginalisierte Gruppen? Welche Communities bleiben, und welche verlassen die Plattform? Wie viel Chaos und wie viel Kalkül steckt hinter Musks Machenschaften und welches politische Lager profitiert eigentlich vom Untergang Twitters?  Hier geht's zum Social Media Watchblog: https://socialmediawatchblog.de/  Hier geht's zum Garbage Day Newsletter: https://www.garbageday.email/archive  Hier geht's zum Platformer Newsletter: https://www.platformer.news/  Und hier findet Ihr den Artikel von Ian Bogost: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/11/twitter-facebook-social-media-decline/672074/  Hier geht's zur Analyse über die politischen Ziele von Elon Musk: https://www.freitag.de/autoren/the-guardian/elon-musk-verfolgt-mit-seiner-twitter-uebernahme-ziele-der-politischen-rechten

Earlier this month, The Atlantic published an essay by our guest, Ian Bogost, titled "The Age of Social Media is Ending." Since then there have been layoffs at several social media companies, including Facebook and Twitter, and collapsing stock prices throughout the industry. What's happening? And what's next? For more about this episode, please visit MarkTwainStudies.com/Downscaling

It has been less than a month since Elon Musk officially took the reins at Twitter. In that short time, there have been mass layoffs, advertisers have pulled back on spending, and some of the platform's most prominent users have threatened to leave. But Twitter is not the only social media company experiencing upheaval. In the last year, Mark Zuckerberg's Meta has lost hundreds of billions of dollars in value and cut more than 10,000 jobs. Diane spoke with Ian Bogost, director of the film and media studies program at Washington University in St. Louis and a contributing writer at The Atlantic. In a recent essay Bogost asks if the age of social media is ending, and explains why he thinks that might not be such a bad thing.

Welcome back to the Convivial Society. In this installment, you'll find the audio version of two recent posts: “The Pathologies of the Attention Economy” and “Impoverished Emotional Lives.” I've not combined audio from two separate installments before, but the second is a short “Is this anything?” post, so I thought it would be fine to include it here. (By the way, I realized after the fact that I thoughtlessly mispronounced Herbert Simon's name as Simone. I'm not, however, sufficiently embarrassed to go back and re-record or edit the audio. So there you have it.)If you've been reading over the past few months, you know that I've gone back and forth on how best to deliver the audio version of the essays. I've settled for now on this method, which is to send out a supplement to the text version of the essay. Because not all of you listen to the audio version, I'll include some additional materials (links, resources, etc.) so that this email is not without potential value to those who do not listen to the audio. Farewell Real LifeI noted in a footnote recently that Real Life Magazine had lost its funding and would be shutting down. This is a shame. Real Life consistently published smart and thoughtful essays exploring various dimensions of internet culture. I had the pleasure of writing three pieces for the magazine between 2018 and 2019: ”The Easy Way Out,” “Always On,” and “Personal Panopticons.” I was also pleasantly surprised to encounter essays in the past year or two drawing on the work of Ivan Illich: “Labors of Love” and “Appropriate Measures,” each co-authored by Jackie Brown and Philippe Mesly, as well as “Doctor's Orders” by Aimee Walleston. And at any given time I've usually had a handful of Real Life essays open in tabs waiting to be read or shared. Here are some more recent pieces that are worth your time: “Our Friend the Atom The aesthetics of the Atomic Age helped whitewash the threat of nuclear disaster,” “Hard to See How trauma became synonymous with authenticity,” and “Life's a Glitch The non-apocalypse of Y2K obscures the lessons it has for the present.” LinksThe latest installment in Jon Askonas's ongoing series in The New Atlantis is out from behind the paywall today. In “How Stewart Made Tucker,” Askonas weaves a compelling account of how Jon Stewart prepared the way for Tucker Carlson and others: In his quest to turn real news from the exception into the norm, he pioneered a business model that made it nearly impossible. It's a model of content production and audience catering perfectly suited to monetize alternate realities delivered to fragmented audiences. It tells us what we want to hear and leaves us with the sense that “they” have departed for fantasy worlds while “we” have our heads on straight. Americans finally have what they didn't before. The phony theatrics have been destroyed — and replaced not by an earnest new above-the-fray centrism but a more authentic fanaticism.You can find earlier installments in the series here: Reality — A post-mortem. Reading through the essay, I was struck again and again by how foreign and distant the world of late 90s and early aughts. In any case, the Jon's work in this series is worth your time. Kashmir Hill spent a lot of time in Meta's Horizons to tell us about life in the metaverse: My goal was to visit at every hour of the day and night, all 24 of them at least once, to learn the ebbs and flows of Horizon and to meet the metaverse's earliest adopters. I gave up television, books and a lot of sleep over the past few months to spend dozens of hours as an animated, floating, legless version of myself.I wanted to understand who was currently there and why, and whether the rest of us would ever want to join them. Ian Bogost on smart thermostats and the claims made on their behalf: After looking into the matter, I'm less confused but more distressed: Smart heating and cooling is even more knotted up than I thought. Ultimately, your smart thermostat isn't made to help you. It's there to help others—for reasons that might or might not benefit you directly, or ever.Sun-ha Hong's paper on predictions without futures. From the abstract: … the growing emphasis on prediction as AI's skeleton key to all social problems constitutes what religious studies calls cosmograms: universalizing models that govern how facts and values relate to each other, providing a common and normative point of reference. In a predictive paradigm, social problems are made conceivable only as objects of calculative control—control that can never be fulfilled but that persists as an eternally deferred and recycled horizon. I show how this technofuture is maintained not so much by producing literally accurate predictions of future events but through ritualized demonstrations of predictive time.MiscellanyAs I wrote about the possibility that the structure of online experience might impoverish our emotional lives, I recalled the opening paragraph of the Dutch historian Johan Huizinga's The Waning of the Middle Ages. I can't say that I have a straightforward connection to make between “the passionate intensity of life” Huizinga describes and my own speculations the affective consequences of digital media, but I think there may be something worth getting at. When the world was half a thousand years younger all events had much sharper outlines than now. The distance between sadness and joy, between good and bad fortune, seemed to be much greater than for us; every experience had that degree of directness and absoluteness that joy and sadness still have in the mind of a child. Every even, every deed was defined in given and expressive forms and was in accord with the solemnity of a tight, invariable life style. The great events of human life—birth, marriage, death—by virtue of the sacraments, basked in the radiance of divine mystery. But even the lesser events—a journey, labor, a visit—were accompanied by a multitude of blessings, ceremonies, sayings, and conventions. From the perspective of media ecology, the shift to print as the dominant cultural medium is interpreted as having the effect of tempering the emotional intensity of oral culture and tending instead toward an ironizing effect as it generates a distance between an emotion and its experssion. Digital media curiously scrambles these dynamics by generating an instantaneity of delivery that mimics the immediacy of physical presence. In 2019, I wrote in The New Atlantis about how digital media scrambles the pscyhodynamics (Walter Ong's phrase) of orality and literacy in often unhelpful ways: “The Inescapable Town Square.” Here's a bit from that piece: The result is that we combine the weaknesses of each medium while losing their strengths. We are thrust once more into a live, immediate, and active communicative context — the moment regains its heat — but we remain without the non-verbal cues that sustain meaning-making in such contexts. We lose whatever moderating influence the full presence of another human being before us might cast on the passions the moment engendered. This not-altogether-present and not-altogether-absent audience encourages a kind of performative pugilism.To my knowledge, Ivan Illich never met nor corresponded with Hannah Arendt. However, in my efforts to “break bread with the dead,” as Auden once put it, they're often seated together at the table. In a similarly convivial spirit, here is an excerpt from a recent book by Alissa Wilkinson: I learn from Hannah Arendt that a feast is only possible among friends, or people whose hearts are open to becoming friends. Or you could put it another way: any meal can become a feast when shared with friends engaged in the activity of thinking their way through the world and loving it together. A mere meal is a necessity for life, a fact of being human. But it is transformed into something much more important, something vital to the life of the world, when the people who share the table are engaging in the practices of love and of thinking.Finally, here's a paragraph from Jacques Ellul's Propaganda recently highlighted by Jeffrey Bilbro: In individualist theory the individual has eminent value, man himself is the master of his life; in individualist reality each human being is subject to innumerable forces and influences, and is not at all master of his own life. As long as solidly constituted groups exist, those who are integrated into them are subject to them. But at the same time they are protected by them against such external influences as propaganda. An individual can be influenced by forces such as propaganda only when he is cut off from membership in local groups. Because such groups are organic and have a well-structured material, spiritual, and emotional life, they are not easily penetrated by propaganda.Cheers! Hope you are all well, Michael Get full access to The Convivial Society at theconvivialsociety.substack.com/subscribe

Paul Roquet is an MIT associate professor in media studies and Japan studies; his earlier work includes Ambient Media. It was his recent mind-bending The Immersive Enclosure that prompted John and Elizabeth to invite him to discuss the history of "head-mounted media" and the perceptual implications of virtual reality. Paul Elizabeth and John discuss the appeal of leaving actuality aside and how the desire to shut off immediate surroundings shapes VR's rollout in Japan. The discussion covers perceptual scale-change as part of VR's appeal--is that true of earlier artwork as well? They explore moral panic in Japan and America, recap the history of early VR headset adapters on trains and compare various Japanese words for "virtual" and their antonyms. Paul wonders if the ephemerality of the views glimpsed in a rock garden served as guiding paradigm for how VR is experienced. Mentioned in the episode Yoshikazu Nango, "A new form of 'solitary space'...." (2021) Haruki Murakami's detailed fictional worlds of the 1980's onwards: real-feeling yet not actual history. Walter Scott's Waverley novels: can we also understand the novel as an immersive machine that leaves readers half in their actual world? Lewis Carrol's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), with its interplay between enclosure and expansion, and its shrinking/expanding motif) Ian Bogost on e-readers C S Lewis's wardrobe as portal in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) Lukacs focuses on the dizzying and transformative scale in Naturalism in "Narrate or Describe?" (1936) Wearable heart monitors as feedback machines for watching scary movies. The pre-history of Pokemon Go is various games played by early users of VR headsets on trains. Sword Art Online is a breakout popular example of Japanese stories of players trapped inside a game-world Thomas Boellstroff, Coming of Age in Second Life We Met in Virtual Reality Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash (1992) coined the concept of the metaverse. Recallable Books Madeline L'Engle The Wind in the Door (1973). Cervantes, Don Quixote (1606/1615) Futari Okajima Klein Bottle (1989) Collections such as Immersed in Technology, Future Visions, Virtual Realities and their Discontents; also, other early VR criticism of the 1990s including early feminist critique, scattered across journals in the early to mid 1990s . Paul feels someone should put together those germane articles into a new collection. Read the transcript here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Paul Roquet is an MIT associate professor in media studies and Japan studies; his earlier work includes Ambient Media. It was his recent mind-bending The Immersive Enclosure that prompted John and Elizabeth to invite him to discuss the history of "head-mounted media" and the perceptual implications of virtual reality. Paul Elizabeth and John discuss the appeal of leaving actuality aside and how the desire to shut off immediate surroundings shapes VR's rollout in Japan. The discussion covers perceptual scale-change as part of VR's appeal--is that true of earlier artwork as well? They explore moral panic in Japan and America, recap the history of early VR headset adapters on trains and compare various Japanese words for "virtual" and their antonyms. Paul wonders if the ephemerality of the views glimpsed in a rock garden served as guiding paradigm for how VR is experienced. Mentioned in the episode Yoshikazu Nango, "A new form of 'solitary space'...." (2021) Haruki Murakami's detailed fictional worlds of the 1980's onwards: real-feeling yet not actual history. Walter Scott's Waverley novels: can we also understand the novel as an immersive machine that leaves readers half in their actual world? Lewis Carrol's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), with its interplay between enclosure and expansion, and its shrinking/expanding motif) Ian Bogost on e-readers C S Lewis's wardrobe as portal in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) Lukacs focuses on the dizzying and transformative scale in Naturalism in "Narrate or Describe?" (1936) Wearable heart monitors as feedback machines for watching scary movies. The pre-history of Pokemon Go is various games played by early users of VR headsets on trains. Sword Art Online is a breakout popular example of Japanese stories of players trapped inside a game-world Thomas Boellstroff, Coming of Age in Second Life We Met in Virtual Reality Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash (1992) coined the concept of the metaverse. Recallable Books Madeline L'Engle The Wind in the Door (1973). Cervantes, Don Quixote (1606/1615) Futari Okajima Klein Bottle (1989) Collections such as Immersed in Technology, Future Visions, Virtual Realities and their Discontents; also, other early VR criticism of the 1990s including early feminist critique, scattered across journals in the early to mid 1990s . Paul feels someone should put together those germane articles into a new collection. Read the transcript here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/east-asian-studies

Paul Roquet is an MIT associate professor in media studies and Japan studies; his earlier work includes Ambient Media. It was his recent mind-bending The Immersive Enclosure that prompted John and Elizabeth to invite him to discuss the history of "head-mounted media" and the perceptual implications of virtual reality. Paul Elizabeth and John discuss the appeal of leaving actuality aside and how the desire to shut off immediate surroundings shapes VR's rollout in Japan. The discussion covers perceptual scale-change as part of VR's appeal--is that true of earlier artwork as well? They explore moral panic in Japan and America, recap the history of early VR headset adapters on trains and compare various Japanese words for "virtual" and their antonyms. Paul wonders if the ephemerality of the views glimpsed in a rock garden served as guiding paradigm for how VR is experienced. Mentioned in the episode Yoshikazu Nango, "A new form of 'solitary space'...." (2021) Haruki Murakami's detailed fictional worlds of the 1980's onwards: real-feeling yet not actual history. Walter Scott's Waverley novels: can we also understand the novel as an immersive machine that leaves readers half in their actual world? Lewis Carrol's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), with its interplay between enclosure and expansion, and its shrinking/expanding motif) Ian Bogost on e-readers C S Lewis's wardrobe as portal in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) Lukacs focuses on the dizzying and transformative scale in Naturalism in "Narrate or Describe?" (1936) Wearable heart monitors as feedback machines for watching scary movies. The pre-history of Pokemon Go is various games played by early users of VR headsets on trains. Sword Art Online is a breakout popular example of Japanese stories of players trapped inside a game-world Thomas Boellstroff, Coming of Age in Second Life We Met in Virtual Reality Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash (1992) coined the concept of the metaverse. Recallable Books Madeline L'Engle The Wind in the Door (1973). Cervantes, Don Quixote (1606/1615) Futari Okajima Klein Bottle (1989) Collections such as Immersed in Technology, Future Visions, Virtual Realities and their Discontents; also, other early VR criticism of the 1990s including early feminist critique, scattered across journals in the early to mid 1990s . Paul feels someone should put together those germane articles into a new collection. Read the transcript here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science-fiction

Paul Roquet is an MIT associate professor in media studies and Japan studies; his earlier work includes Ambient Media. It was his recent mind-bending The Immersive Enclosure that prompted John and Elizabeth to invite him to discuss the history of "head-mounted media" and the perceptual implications of virtual reality. Paul Elizabeth and John discuss the appeal of leaving actuality aside and how the desire to shut off immediate surroundings shapes VR's rollout in Japan. The discussion covers perceptual scale-change as part of VR's appeal--is that true of earlier artwork as well? They explore moral panic in Japan and America, recap the history of early VR headset adapters on trains and compare various Japanese words for "virtual" and their antonyms. Paul wonders if the ephemerality of the views glimpsed in a rock garden served as guiding paradigm for how VR is experienced. Mentioned in the episode Yoshikazu Nango, "A new form of 'solitary space'...." (2021) Haruki Murakami's detailed fictional worlds of the 1980's onwards: real-feeling yet not actual history. Walter Scott's Waverley novels: can we also understand the novel as an immersive machine that leaves readers half in their actual world? Lewis Carrol's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), with its interplay between enclosure and expansion, and its shrinking/expanding motif) Ian Bogost on e-readers C S Lewis's wardrobe as portal in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) Lukacs focuses on the dizzying and transformative scale in Naturalism in "Narrate or Describe?" (1936) Wearable heart monitors as feedback machines for watching scary movies. The pre-history of Pokemon Go is various games played by early users of VR headsets on trains. Sword Art Online is a breakout popular example of Japanese stories of players trapped inside a game-world Thomas Boellstroff, Coming of Age in Second Life We Met in Virtual Reality Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash (1992) coined the concept of the metaverse. Recallable Books Madeline L'Engle The Wind in the Door (1973). Cervantes, Don Quixote (1606/1615) Futari Okajima Klein Bottle (1989) Collections such as Immersed in Technology, Future Visions, Virtual Realities and their Discontents; also, other early VR criticism of the 1990s including early feminist critique, scattered across journals in the early to mid 1990s . Paul feels someone should put together those germane articles into a new collection. Read the transcript here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Paul Roquet is an MIT associate professor in media studies and Japan studies; his earlier work includes Ambient Media. It was his recent mind-bending The Immersive Enclosure that prompted John and Elizabeth to invite him to discuss the history of "head-mounted media" and the perceptual implications of virtual reality. Paul Elizabeth and John discuss the appeal of leaving actuality aside and how the desire to shut off immediate surroundings shapes VR's rollout in Japan. The discussion covers perceptual scale-change as part of VR's appeal--is that true of earlier artwork as well? They explore moral panic in Japan and America, recap the history of early VR headset adapters on trains and compare various Japanese words for "virtual" and their antonyms. Paul wonders if the ephemerality of the views glimpsed in a rock garden served as guiding paradigm for how VR is experienced. Mentioned in the episode Yoshikazu Nango, "A new form of 'solitary space'...." (2021) Haruki Murakami's detailed fictional worlds of the 1980's onwards: real-feeling yet not actual history. Walter Scott's Waverley novels: can we also understand the novel as an immersive machine that leaves readers half in their actual world? Lewis Carrol's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), with its interplay between enclosure and expansion, and its shrinking/expanding motif) Ian Bogost on e-readers C S Lewis's wardrobe as portal in The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950) Lukacs focuses on the dizzying and transformative scale in Naturalism in "Narrate or Describe?" (1936) Wearable heart monitors as feedback machines for watching scary movies. The pre-history of Pokemon Go is various games played by early users of VR headsets on trains. Sword Art Online is a breakout popular example of Japanese stories of players trapped inside a game-world Thomas Boellstroff, Coming of Age in Second Life We Met in Virtual Reality Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash (1992) coined the concept of the metaverse. Recallable Books Madeline L'Engle The Wind in the Door (1973). Cervantes, Don Quixote (1606/1615) Futari Okajima Klein Bottle (1989) Collections such as Immersed in Technology, Future Visions, Virtual Realities and their Discontents; also, other early VR criticism of the 1990s including early feminist critique, scattered across journals in the early to mid 1990s . Paul feels someone should put together those germane articles into a new collection. Read the transcript here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literary-studies

How cool are e-bikes? How revolutionary will they be? During 2020 and 2021, e-bike sales surged 2.4 times over previous periods and essentially transitioned from a fringe product to an almost mainstream purchase in North America. E-bike sales could be considered a huge win for micromobility and alternative transportation advocates, but don't tell that to Ian Bogost, whose recent Atlantic piece paints e-bikes in a humor-laced take as an awkward, doomed-to-fail Frankenstein of the motorcycle and bicycle. In “The E-bike Is a Monstrosity,” Bogost derides e-bikes as unsafe, awkward to ride, and less cool than a motorcycle or a $5,000 road-racing bicycle.  Clearly, Bogost is examining e-bikes through a cultural lens, rather than one focused on transportation. Today on Upzoned, host Abby Kinney and co-host Chuck Marohn discuss the e-bike's potential to hasten a transition to more thickly settled places with slower-moving streets, allowing families to own one car and then supplementing it with other micromobiity options. ADDITIONAL SHOW NOTES “The E-Bike Is a Monstrosity,” Ian Bogost, The Atlantic (August 2022). Abby Kinney (Twitter). Chuck Marohn (Twitter). Theme Music by Kemet the Phantom.

The term “metaverse” was coined in a 1993 science fiction novel. Since then, it's grown from a dystopian literary concept to a reality that corporations want to sell you. Strap on some VR goggles and escape your tired analog life! Except that the systemic issues we already have seem to be creeping into the metaverse, too. As the lines between virtuality and physicality continue to blur, companies like Mark Zuckerberg's Meta are setting their sights on virtual worlds. It's a new frontier, full of potential – and full of our valuable data. Metaverses like Second Life or World of Warcraft can be positive and even game-changing experiences on the individual level, but when it comes to navigating a virtual society with a capitalist backdrop…things get a bit dicey. On this episode, guest host and producer Ren Bangert explores the metaverse. First, we hear a love story from the glory days of Second Life, told to us by Sandrine Han – a scholar of virtual worlds and a long-time Second Lifer. Then, writer and game developer Ian Bogost takes us on a deep dive into the corporatization of the metaverse. We'll hear how the metaverse has grown from a dystopian warning from science fiction to a sinister data-mining reality – and how even the shiniest of tech utopias are still functioning under the same old capitalism. —————————-SUPPORT THE SHOW—————————- You can support the show for free by following or subscribing on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or whichever app you use. This is the best way to help us out and it costs nothing so we'd really appreciate you clicking that button. If you want to do a little more we would love it if you chip in. You can find us on patreon.com/dartsandletters. Patrons get content early, and occasionally there's bonus material on there too. ——————-ABOUT THE SHOW—————— For a full list of credits, contact information, and more, visit our about page. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

The term "metaverse" comes from a 1993 science fiction novel. Since then, it's grown from a dystopian literary concept to a reality that corporations want to sell you. Strap on some VR goggles and escape your tired analog life! Except that the systemic issues we already have seem to be creeping into the metaverse, too.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for April 9, 2022 is: construe • kun-STROO • verb Construe means "to analyze the arrangement and connection of words in a sentence" or "to understand or explain the sense or intention of something in a particular way." // The teacher asked the students to construe the Greek philosopher's statement. // The website provides medical information but that information should not be construed as a diagnosis. See the entry > Examples: "So NFTs … feel strange and novel because normal people don't usually construe monetary value in mere references to everyday things, like a cash-register receipt, or computer data." — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 4 Feb. 2022 Did you know? Construe comes from the Latin verb construere, meaning "to construct." There is also misconstrue, meaning "to put a wrong construction (that is, a wrong interpretation) on" or "to misinterpret."