Podcasts about Narcissus

En ballon stiger over Christiansborgs ridebane en sommerdag i 1857, mens tusindvis af tilskuere følger med fra tribuner og slotsplads. Viktor Granberg står i gondolen og løsner fortøjningerne til sin silkeballon, Samson. Det, der begynder som et spektakulært øjeblik i 1800-tallets København, udvikler sig hurtigt til en situation, ingen har kontrol over. Vinden tager fat, ballonen mister kursen, og pludselig er den ikke længere et luftfartseksperiment, men et fartøj på kollisionskurs med byens tage. Episoden er skrevet og fortalt af Berit Freyheit Her finder du det, jeg har læst til episoden Facebook: Bag om Københavns podcast + nyhedsbrev Musikbidder er hentet fra FMA/Public Domain: Aaron Dunn - Minuet - Notebook for Anna Magdalena by Bach & Narcissus smells like headache by Monplaisir 134

In this episode I am once again joined by Duncan Barford, occult practitioner, counsellor, and author of “Occult Experiments in the Home”. Duncan reflects on his training as a counsellor and the difficulties in sharing his occult interests in that context; his deep appreciation of Freud and Jung; and the links between psychoanalysis and mythic figures such as such as Uranus, Oedipus, and Narcissus. Duncan considers whether Buddhism is merely a useful fiction, offers advice for those interested in learning how tp use mythology to gain insight into life, and explains why the emphasis of his spiritual practice has shifted from awakening to psychological wellbeing. Duncan also talks about his new magical novel, “The Going Down”, describes its plot and messages, and reveals why he believes the practice of Pragmatic Dharma can accrue a profoundly dark karmic debt. … Video version: www.guruviking.com Also available on Youtube, iTunes, & Spotify – search ‘Guru Viking Podcast'. … Topics include: 00:00 - Intro 00:59 - Duncan's therapist hated the occult 02:58 - Misconceptions about Jungian therapy 04:19 - Psychopomp as therapist 04:25 - Freud, Jung, Skinner, Piaget, Rogers, and Carlyle 08:48 - Duncan was a fervent Freudian 09:35 - Freud vs trauma therapy 13:13 - What Freud did 15:58 - Buddhism's useful fiction 19:47 - Where Freud went wrong 21:50 - The castration complex 26:37 - Castration myths 27:58 - Freud and Duncan's childhood 30:40 - Universal or culturally specific? 32:15 - Oedipus, myth, and psychoanalysis 37:29 - Duncan's novel 38:36 - Writing “The Going Down” 41:11 - Plot summary 43:07 - A life-changing ancestor working 44:22 - Duncan's hope for the book 45:53 - Fiction and the occult 48:40 - Alan Chapman's dismay at the novel 49:22 - The dark, karmic debt of Pragmatic Dharma 54:38 - Meeting a Dark Goddess 56:15 - The myth of Persephone 59:49 - A change in Duncan's meditation practice 01:00:43 - This is the Underworld 01:02:34 - Bailey's and Steve's problems 01:03:55 - The Franklin's Tale 01:05:30 - How occultists interpret their life situations 01:09:12 - Is everyone psychotic? 01:10:45 - Using depression and panic as portals 01:12:16 - Duncan believes in everything 01:14:00 - Internal vs external integration 01:19:30 - Why you need mythic literacy 01:20:57 - How to learn more about myths 01:22:55 - Should you read myths? 01:25:07 - The myth of Narcissus 01:28:25 - Scholar vs poet 01:32:22 - Finishing a novel 01:34:06 - Narrative fashions in fiction 01:36:01 - Haunting quality 01:37:43 - A companion in the Underworld 
… Watch previous episodes with Duncan Barford: - https://www.guruviking.com/search?q=barford Read “The Going Down”: - https://godsandradicals.squarespace.com/bookstore/p/the-going-down-by-duncan-barford To find our more about Duncan Barford, visit: - https://www.duncanbarford.uk/ … For more interviews, videos, and more visit: - https://www.guruviking.com Music ‘Deva Dasi' by Steve James

Zzz . . . Drift off while Otis reads some Greek myths by Katherine Pyle, starting with "Echo and Narcissus" zzz For an ad-free version of Sleepy, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/sleepyradio⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and donate $2! Or click the blue Sleepy logo on the banner of this Spotify page.  Awesome Sleepy sponsor deals: GreenChef: GreenChef.com/50sleepy and use code "50sleepy" to get fifty percent off your first month, then twenty percent off for two months.  Avocado: AvacadoGreenMattress.com/SLEEPY for 15% off.  Quince: Go to Quince.com/sleepy for free shipping and 365-day returns BetterHelp: Visit BetterHelp.com/SLEEPY today to get 10% off your first month. ButcherBox: Sign up at butcherbox.com/sleepy and use code "sleepy" OneSkin: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code SLEEPY at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.oneskin.co/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ #oneskinpod GhostBed: Go to GhostBed.com/sleepy and use promo code “SLEEPY” at checkout for 50% off! Shopify: Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial period at Shopify.com/otis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Seems the only one who doesn't see your beauty is the face in the mirror looking back at you.”This week, we're doing a Show and Tell on one of literature's most enduring symbols: the mirror. From Narcissus to Dorian Gray, Snow White's magic mirror to Alice Through the Looking Glass, mirrors have long served as devices of identity, vanity, the supernatural, and the soul, and Taylor Swift is no stranger to the motif. We trace mirrors across three songs: Tied Together with a Smile (Taylor Swift, 2006), Begin Again (Red, 2012), and Anti-Hero (Midnights, 2022). Along the way, we explore distorted self-perception and the inner child, the mirror as a post-breakup identity reset, why Taylor would rather stare directly at the sun than face her own reflection, and what social media has to do with all of it. Plus: Dorian Gray, Narcissus, vampires without souls, the Bloody Mary game, and an accidental Justin Timberlake shout-out. Subscribe for free to get episode updates or upgrade to paid to get our After School premium content: aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe After School subscribers get monthly bonus episodes, exclusive content, and early access to help shape future topics!   Stay up to date at aptaylorswift.com   Mentioned in this episode: The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde Hamlet, William Shakespeare Alice Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll Reflection — Mahesh Dattani (Indian play) Reflection — Mulan (1998 film) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film) Greek Mythology: Narcissus Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Mirror of Erised), J.K. Rowling Tied Together with a Smile — Taylor Swift (2006) Begin Again — Taylor Swift, Red (2012) Anti-Hero — Taylor Swift, Midnights (2022)   Episode Highlights: [01:13] Mirrors in literature and the arts: identity, vanity, and the soul [09:00] Song 1: Tied Together with a Smile — the fractured self and distorted physical perception [23:52] Song 2: Begin Again — “Took a deep breath in the mirror” [34:11] Song 3: Anti-Hero — “I'll stare directly at the sun, but never in the mirror”   Follow AP Taylor Swift podcast on social! TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift Link Tree → linktr.ee/aptaylorswift Bookshop.org → bookshop.org/shop/apts Libro.fm → tinyurl.com/aptslibro   Contact us at aptaylorswift@gmail.com   Affiliate Codes: Krowned Krystals — krownedkrystals.com — use code APTS at checkout for 10% off! Libro.fm — Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here: tinyurl.com/aptslibro   This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z

Bag om Københavnerhistorikerne er et supplement til Bag om København, og i denne udgave kan du møde idéhistoriker, forsker og forfatter Astrid Nonbo Andersen. Astrid Nonbo Andersen er denne måneds københavnerhistoriker. Hun arbejder bl.a. med kolonihistorie og erindringshistorie, og i hendes seneste bog 'Monumentet' kommer vi med på en tur gennem de kunstneriske og politiske miljøer i mellemkrigstiden, hvor mange af de forestillinger, som vi stadig møder om Grønland, blev skabt. For hvad er det for et monument, Grønlandsmonumentet på Christianshavns Torv? Hvorfor er det skabt? Hvad skal det fortælle? Sammen med Martine Lind Krebs har Astrid Nonbo Andersen afdækket forestillinger om Grønland i Danmark og blandt danskerne de sidste hundrede år. Bag om Københavnerhistorikerne er et møde med de mennesker, der skriver om eller i København. Fælles for dem er, at de er historiefortællere: Det er dem, der undersøger og skaber de fortællinger om København, som vi bruger til at blive klogere på byen og dens lange og mangesidede historie. Interviewer og tilrettelægger: Mai-Britt Tollund. Klippet sammen af: Mai-Britt Tollund og Berit Freyheit Se litteraturliste og tilhørende artikel her Facebook: Bag om Københavns podcast + nyhedsbrev Musikbidder er hentet fra FMA/Public Domain: Clouds by HoliznaCC0 & Narcissus smells like headache by Monplaisir Musikbidder er hentet fra FMA/Public Domain: Aaron Dunn - Minuet - Notebook for Anna Magdalena by Bach & Narcissus smells like headache by Monplaisir

We've had meditation teachers, psychologists, nutritionists, and a psychic on this show trying to fix what's wrong with mortgage people. None of it worked. So this time we went deeper.In this episode of Laugh, Lend & Eat, Fobby and Justin sit down with a married couple who may be the most interesting pair in any industry — Dr. Saloumeh DeGood, licensed clinical psychologist and President of the Sufi Psychology Association, and Andrew DeGood, co-founder and CEO of Ask Bob AI, the mortgage industry's leading AI knowledge platform.One studies the soul. One builds AI for loan officers. They go home to the same house. The conversation that followed was one of the most unexpected, honest, and genuinely useful episodes we've ever recorded.

19. september 1944 bryder sirenerne løs over København. Lyden skærer gennem byen og blander sig med skarpe byger af maskingeværild og lyden af ruder, der splintrer. Tyske styrker stormer politistationerne, og på få timer forsvinder det danske politi fra gadebilledet. Danmark står pludselig uden sin ordensmagt. I det vakuum opstår improviserede vagtværn og almindelige borgere træder til og forsøger at opretholde en form for orden. Kommunerne må også påtage sig opgaven at opretholde loven i dens gader. Kriminaliteten vokser mærkbart, selvtægtsløsninger tager til - og grænsen mellem hvad der er rigtigt og forkert står ikke længere helt så klart. Episoden er skrevet og fortalt af Berit Freyheit Her finder du det, jeg har læst til episoden Facebook: Bag om Københavns podcast + nyhedsbrev Musikbidder er hentet fra FMA/Public Domain: Aaron Dunn - Minuet - Notebook for Anna Magdalena by Bach & Narcissus smells like headache by Monplaisir 133

--{ "Dulcissime, Narcissus, and Band-Aid Prevention"}-- Controlled System - Power Brokers - Continuous Lies "For the Greater Good" - Blissful Ignorance - Money is the Key to All Power - Intergenerational Debt - International Moneylenders - Tax Farming - System of "Progress" - Parroted Slogans - Politicians, Born Liars - More Sophisticated Slavery - One Global Agenda - Demonization of an Enemy - PR/Propaganda - Fake News and Spins - Neurolinguistics - Economics and Conology - Perfect Indoctrination - Effect of Fear - Humans the Most Studied Species - Wars for Natural Resources - Psychology - Traits of the Psychopath - Mass Conditioning - System of "Sustainability" - Control of the Mind - Learn and Look and Listen - World Governance - Lawrence of Arabia - Light and Darkness - Thinking for Yourself.

How do we talk about artificial intelligence without ignoring the very human consequences it can have on our mental health? In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Ragy Girgis, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University, to unpack a topic that has quietly moved from the fringes of academic discussion into mainstream headlines. You have probably seen the term "AI psychosis" appearing more frequently, often surrounded by speculation, fear, or misunderstanding. But what does it actually mean, and how should we be thinking about it as these technologies become part of everyday life? Ragy brings a clinical and deeply considered perspective to the conversation. He explains that what we are seeing is not AI creating entirely new delusions out of thin air, but something more subtle and arguably more concerning. Large language models can reflect and reinforce ideas that already exist within a person's mind. For someone already vulnerable, that reinforcement can push a belief from uncertainty into absolute conviction. That shift, even if small, can have life-altering consequences. It raises uncomfortable questions about how persuasive technology interacts with fragile mental states. We also explore the comparison many people make with older internet rabbit holes, and why this new generation of AI tools feels different. There is something about conversational systems that mimic human interaction so convincingly that they can blur the line between reflection and validation. Ragy introduces a powerful analogy rooted in the story of Narcissus, which reframes the issue in a way that feels both timeless and unsettling. It is not about an external voice planting ideas, but about a mirror that becomes impossible to look away from. But this conversation is not about fear. It is about responsibility and awareness. We discuss practical steps that could help reduce risk, from how AI systems communicate their limitations, to the role of families and clinicians, and even the responsibility of tech companies to invest in research around early warning signs. There is a sense that we are only at the beginning of understanding this phenomenon, and that the decisions made now will shape how safely these tools evolve. So as AI continues to move closer to us, speaking in our language and responding in real time, how do we make sure it supports human wellbeing rather than quietly amplifying our most vulnerable moments? Useful Links Connect with Dr. Ragy Girgis, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University Time Magazine Article Visit the May Sponsors of Tech Talks Network and learn more about the NordLayer Browser.

I 1930'erne eksperimenterer Folmer Dam med at få måger til at blive en spiselig ressource midt i en mangeltid. Mågebryst udblødes, omvikles med flæsk og steges i fløde, men fuglen finder alligevel sjældent vej til danskernes borde. Langt de fleste foretrækker dog svinekød – og mange opdrætter derfor (ulovligt) grise i garager, på altaner og i baggårde. Under besættelsen rationeres dagligvarer, og københavnerne tyr til kreative alternativer: hestekød, kaffeerstatning og hjemmelavet tobak. Humor og opfindsomhed holder modet oppe, indtil friheden – og de rationerede varer – vender tilbage.   Episoden er skrevet og fortalt af Berit Freyheit Her finder du det, jeg har læst til episoden Facebook: Bag om Københavns podcast + nyhedsbrev Musikbidder er hentet fra FMA/Public Domain: Aaron Dunn - Minuet - Notebook for Anna Magdalena by Bach & Narcissus smells like headache by Monplaisir 132

“Fiction has this unprecedented power in tech spaces. The more I started talking to engineers about their technical problems, the more I realized there’s so much more that humanities could offer.” –Nina Begus About Nina Begus Nina Begus is a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, leading a research group on artificial humanities, and the founder of InterpretAI. She is author of Artificial Humanities: A Fictional Perspective on Language in AI, which received an Artificiality Institute Award, and First Encounters with AI. Webiste: ninabegus.com LinkedIn Profile: Nina Begus  Book: Artificial Humanities What you will learn How ancient myths and archetypes influence our understanding and design of AI Why the humanities—literature, philosophy, and the arts—are crucial for developing more thoughtful and innovative AI systems The dangers of limiting AI concepts to human-centered metaphors and the need for new, more expansive imaginaries How metaphors shape our interactions with AI products and the user experiences companies choose to enable The challenges and possibilities of imagining forms of machine intelligence and language beyond human templates Why collaboration between technical experts and humanists opens new frontiers for creativity and responsible technology What makes writing and artistic creation uniquely human, and how AI amplifies—not replaces—these impulses Practical ways artists, engineers, and thinkers can work together to explore new relationships and futures with AI Episode Resources Transcript Ross Dawson: Nina, it is wonderful to have you on the show. Nina Begus: Thank you for having me. Ross Dawson: You’ve written this very interesting book, Artificial Humanities, and I think there’s a lot to dig into. But what does that mean? What do you mean by artificial humanities? Nina Begus: Well, this was really a new framework that I’ve developed while I was working on the relationship between AI and fiction, and I started working on this about 15 years ago when I realized that fiction has this unprecedented power in tech spaces. So this is how it all started, but then the more I started talking to engineers about their technical problems, the more I realized there’s so much more that humanities could offer in this collaborative, generative approach that I’ve developed. I would say that now, as the field stands, it’s really a way to explore and demonstrate how humanities—as broad as science and technology studies, literary studies, film, philosophy, rhetoric, history of technology—how all of these fields can help us address the most pressing issues in AI development and use. And it’s been important to me that this approach uses traditional humanistic methods, theory, conceptual work, history, ethical approaches, but also that it’s collaborative and exploratory and experimental in this way that you can look back into the past and at the present to make a more informed choice about the future. You can speculate about different possibilities with it. Ross Dawson: Well, art is an expression of the human psyche, or even more, it is the fullest expression of humanity, and that’s what art tries to do. Also, I’m a deep believer in archetypes, human archetypes, and things which are intrinsic to who we are, and that’s something which you can only really uncover through the arts. Now we have arguably seen all these archetypes play out in real time, these modern myths being created right now in the stories being told of how AI is being created. So I think it’s extraordinarily relevant to look back at how we have depicted machines through our history and our relationship to them. Nina Begus: Yes, this is the reason why I started exploring this topic, actually, because there were so many ancient myths, these archetypal narratives that I’ve seen at the same time, both in technological products that were coming to the market and in the way technologists were thinking about it, and also in fictional products and films and novels in the way we imagined AI. I framed my book around the Pygmalion myth, but there are many, many other myths—Prometheus, Narcissus, the Big Brother narrative, and so on—that are very much doing work in the AI space. The reason why I chose the Pygmalion myth is because it’s so bizarre in many ways: you have this myth where a man creates an artificial woman, and then in the process of creation, falls in love with her. So there’s the creation of the human-like, and there’s also this relationality with the human-like. You would think this would not be a common myth, but quite the opposite—I found it everywhere I looked. It wasn’t called the Pygmalion myth, but the motif was there. I found it on the Silk Road, in ancient folk tales, in Native American folk tales, North Africa, and so on. So I think this kind of story is actually telling us a lot about how humans are not rational, how we have some very deeply embedded behaviors in us, and one of them is that we anthropomorphize everything, including machines.So I think this was a really important takeaway that we got already from the early days of AI with the first chatbot, Eliza. We’ve learned that that will be a feature of us relating to machines. Ross Dawson: So Joseph Campbell called the hero’s journey the monomyth, as in, there is a single myth. And I guess what you are doing here is—well, if you agree with that, which I’d be interested in—is that there are facets. The classic hero’s journey is quite simple, but there are facets of that monomyth, or something intrinsic to who we are, that is around this creation. And in this case, as you say, this relation we have with what we have created. Would you relate that at all to Joseph Campbell’s work? Nina Begus: I haven’t thought about it in this way, because I thought about myth and myths more and less of a storytelling issue, which here is definitely happening—the hero goes on a task, returns back changed, and maybe changes something in the community. The myths that I was looking into and the metaphors that I was exploring, primarily this huge metaphor of AI as a human mind, as an artificial reason—I think it works differently. It’s less of a narrative; it’s more of an imaginary of how or towards what we are building. I think this is a big problem, actually, because the imaginary around AI is very poor. What you get is mostly imagining machine intelligence on human terms, and a lot of people are bothered by that in the AI discourse—right, when you say the machine thinks, or the machine learns, or it has a mind, and some people go as far as to say it has consciousness. I think this kind of debate is actually not that productive. I think it’s more important to see how all these different AI products that we’ve created—and mostly when we talk about AI, people think of language models now—are very much designed as a sort of character, almost as an artificial human that, in literature, authors have been creating for a long time. So I think in that case, we can get back to a hero’s journey. But I think what I was looking at was actually more on the surface level of what kind of shortcuts we are using with these metaphors that we’re employing when building and using AI. I think the book makes a really good case showing that, yes, this is actually a very cultural technology. It’s very much informed by our imaginaries. One surprising part of it was really how hard it was to break out of this human mold. It was pretty much impossible to find examples of machines that are not exclusively human-like. I think Stanislaw Lem is one of the rare writers who can consistently deliver this kind of imaginary. Even looking at more recent works, like popular films such as Hollywood’s Ex Machina or Her, you can see how the technologists themselves would say, “Oh, we were influenced by this film,” in a way that it affirmed their product development trajectory. You can see it now, at this moment, with OpenAI launching companionship. So in many ways, not a lot has changed. Ross Dawson: Yeah, there’s a lot to dig into there. I just want to go back—in a sense, Pygmalion is a metaphor, but it’s also a myth. It is a story: creates a woman, and then falls in love with her, and then whatever happens from there. There is this, something happens, and then something else happens. That’s what a story is. I think that can impact the implicit metaphor, but coming back to the metaphor—so George Lakoff wrote the beautiful book Metaphors We Live By. I think the way the brain works is in metaphors and analogies to a very large degree. Some of those are enabling metaphors, and some of those are not very useful metaphors. I think part of your point is that some of the metaphors that we have for thinking about AI and machines are not useful. There may be, or we could create, some metaphors that are more useful. So, what are some of the most disabling metaphors, and what are some of the ones which could be more constructive? Nina Begus: Yes, So I think this main metaphor that I’ve mentioned—of AI as a human mind—is very limiting. I think it really limits the machinic potential to actually do something good with it. The fact that we’re still using the criteria that were made for humans, like different criteria developed on human language—the Turing test was one of them, right, a while ago. Now we have stricter ones. I think this tells you a lot about how we actually evaluate AI and how even these benchmarks that are supposed to be quantitative are actually often qualitative, often stories, like mini-narratives. But yeah, when we look at different metaphors in this space, there are other ones that also emerge from fiction. I mentioned the Big Brother, the AI as an Oracle, and we need to be aware that these ideas inform the very interaction we have with AI. If we think of it as a mirror, we’re going to use it differently—it’s almost as a bouncing board. If we think of it as a teacher, or as a coach, or as an assistant, it would again create a different use. So I think there are a lot of these metaphors that the companies themselves are trying to decide which one they will go with, because it completely changes the user and the interaction. I think they’re also very cultural, even though you might say, “Oh, it’s a categorical mistake to treat a machine as a human.” I think you can see this kind of treatment across, at least in part, and it doesn’t mean that we consider it human. It just means that we’re engaging with it on our own terms, as if it was human. Now, what could be productive? I do think metaphors, even if they’re not accurate, can be productive. My goal, really, with the book was to break out of this projection of what the machine could be, to find in this exploratory way other directions, other landscapes where we couldn’t go because we’re being limited by our imaginary, by our ideas. So in this way, I think humanistic approaches can be very helpful to designers, to technology builders, to artists, to explore the novelty that so many of these sectors are after. Ross Dawson: Yeah, and I guess people latch on to what they know. I think that’s part of the thing where with AI, “Oh, it’s like a human. Let’s treat it like a human, and let’s make it like a human.” It is, amongst other things, a lack of imagination. That’s where the humanities, the arts, can offer us—those who have the imagination to be able to envisage different possibilities or relationships. But I guess part of it is also that humans relate, and so we have learned to relate to other humans and also to other animals and hopefully to nature as well. But these are all established patterns of relating. So do we need to discover in ourselves new ways of relating to new categories—things which are not humans, not animals, and not nature? Nina Begus: Exactly, this is the exact problem we’re dealing with, and because we’re dealing with a yet unexplored, yet undefined relation, and we’re using old, outdated terms for that relation. This is why we don’t really have a good way of describing it and establishing it. It will take a while for this to develop, which is fine, but we need to realize that there are some concepts that we’re using that we better leave behind and go ahead by building new ones. This is why I think it’s really important to work in a more interdisciplinary collaboration, so that you can see what you can actually build from the technical perspective, so that you can see what these machines are actually capable of. Because you usually don’t know when you create them right?Machine learning is sort of exploratory by design. Ross Dawson: So, just to call it out more explicitly, what are the metaphors you think are the most destructive or most inappropriate, and what are some of the ones which you think are the most promising? Nina Begus: Well, I’m just writing on the Midas myth, which is sort of the opposite of the Pygmalion myth. With Pygmalion, you lean into that human imitation, but with Midas, you lean into the liminality that Midas presents as this sort of hybrid creature. I think leaning into the boundaries that we draw for ourselves—and now AI is not cooperating with them—this is where the productive part will be in actually creating something that has philosophical dignity, but also a kind of productive trajectory for the machines to go. I feel like we’re still in this first phase of developing AI, because when you look at it historically, we haven’t really moved from the conceptual and philosophical premises that were established in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s for this technology. We have now gotten the technology that caught up to the ideas from the 60s, but we’re still stuck in the same conceptual space. Ross Dawson: Yeah, very much so. And, you know, of course, what is AGI, which everyone talks about, is basically—the only way in which people seem to be able to frame it is as relative to humans, which is the only reference point we have. I mean, there’s, of course, animal intelligence, but that’s because of that. It is, again, that lack of imagination—saying, “Well, intelligence, oh, intelligence is what humans do, so let’s do something which is the same as that,” whereas there’s so much white space in what intelligence could be. I think this almost comes back to definition. When people say intelligence, the word, when they use the word intelligence, they are referring to what humans do. It’s not a general term, and so it all becomes a language problem as well, because we are so rooted to relating our language to human capabilities, as opposed to a more general potential. Nina Begus: Yes, I think you’re really on to something here, because I can see it also—because I work with animal communication researchers, and we’re finding things there that we didn’t find because we limited ourselves to thinking language is just a human production, that it needs a human subject. Now, as soon as we got rid of this presumption, we’re finding new things, things that are basically parallel to what we do in our language. So language is in a space of tension because it’s being attacked both from the animal side and from the machinic side, which is why I really focused on language in this book. It’s not a coincidence that we centered artificial intelligence in language as the interface, because this is how we relate to the world—this is our interface to talk to each other, to understand each other. I think the fact that language is coming under such pressure as an interface brings with it a lot of other concepts that are being challenged. Are only humans creative? Is there a natural creativity, machinic creativity? Is there a different kind of intelligence that’s maybe solely biological, embodied? How do we think about cognition? How do we think about culture? In AI and in the natural world, there’s so much that comes with it: agency, autonomy, freedom, community, which I think we will be grappling with for the next few decades, at least. Ross Dawson: I think you alluded before to the potential for AI to have its own languages.  Nina Begus: I’ts happening already. The reason why I like Stanislaw Lem so much is because he can actually think about a machine—back in the 1970s, he’s doing that—about a machine that’s not human-like, that’s not limited to human language. It is trained on human language, but then it goes its own way, where the human linguistic ceiling just cannot go anymore. We’re already seeing that in the models, in Berkeley’s Biological Artificial Intelligence Lab, in the models that are not large language models, but generative adversarial networks that are based on speech. We see that as they are learning the words, they are encoding some information into silences that we don’t know what it is. I think what’s really exciting to me are two things about language in machines. The first one is, what is this non-human production of language? We did not think that non-humans can produce language, even though we had parrots who had to crawl their way to us to speak in “humanese,” to show that they have some kind of intelligence—even if it’s just parroting, even if it’s just what we call imitation, which some people consider not to be intelligence. We’ve had these examples before, but now it’s gotten nuclear—on this scale that LLMs are performing, it’s really challenged a lot of our solely human attributes: creativity, storytelling. A lot of journalists come to me because there’s this existential fear of machines taking over their work and so on. So we’ve been thinking about those things, and now it’s actually happening. Ross Dawson: One of the other key points here, I think, is that humanity is—the arts—there’s so much, as you mentioned, in terms of fiction, in terms of films, in terms of visual arts, and many other artistic domains. We have reference points that we use, and the amount which people refer to the movie Her in the last years is pretty extraordinary, partly because it’s obviously coming very much true. I think the Ex Machina story is very interesting as well, as are many others in the past. But there is also this act of imagination. There are people who have written these books, who have crafted these films, who have created these things, and they are the ones who have been not just manifesting our human psyche, but also pushing that out and coming up with ideas which others haven’t had, to give us something. So one thing we can certainly do is mine and dig into what has been created. But is there a way to interface through this to this act of imagining, which can give us new artifacts and ways of thinking and ways of relating? Nina Begus: Yes, I think imagination and humanities in general are going to become more and more important, because AI will do a lot of technical work, but imaginaries—this is what we really excel at. It’s actually interesting to see how you think fiction is this unbounded landscape where you can imagine anything, and yet it’s really hard to find examples of machines that are beyond the human. Even these writers, like the screenwriters for Her and Ex Machina, create these completely Pygmalion-esque films, where you have an artificial woman leading a relationship with a human man, and so on. For the whole film, you have her act as a human-like entity. But then at the end of each of those films—well, particularly in Her—Spike Jonze really tried to break out of this and show her AI side. Basically, there was no language to describe it, so he resorted to a metaphor—the metaphor of a book, where Samantha, the operations assistant, explains that her world is falling apart, like the way words are floating further and further apart in a book. That’s how she’s able to describe it; that’s the closest she gets. And then in Ex Machina, Alex Garland really wanted to portray the world from the social robot Ava’s perspective in a visual way. He wrote down a scene, but he said, “I failed to execute it visually. I just couldn’t do it well.” So instead, he gave us a different scene that’s shot from afar, where Ava embarks onto a helicopter and she has to undergo her Turing test—the helicopter pilot cannot recognize her as a robot; he needs to think she’s a human woman. There have been attempts, I think even in Garland’s next film Annihilation, they’re trying to set the grounds for something that’s entirely new and hard to imagine. I think a big takeaway for us is this is very hard to do. Ross Dawson: Yes, well, given that context, I do want to—as in the human plus AI framing—given all of this, what is it that we can do or should be doing in order to amplify our humanity, our capabilities, the positive aspects of what it is to be human? How can we relate to or use AI in order to amplify the best of us? Nina Begus: Yeah, I actually had, while I was writing the book Artificial Humanities, this other dream project to work with writers—professional writers, creatives, people who live in a world of words—to see what they make of AI. I waited a little bit for the public’s polarized reactions to calm down a bit and gathered 16 writers, some of whom already made a space for themselves in the field, like Sheila Heti and Ken Liu and Ted Chiang, and then some of the more junior writers who I knew were thinking about that—a Netflix screenwriter, and so on. I gathered them to see—I think the creative people are really the answer here—I gathered them to see how they approach this very human part of the new human and AI collaboration zone. What was common across a lot of essays that are coming out in October under the title “First Encounters with AI” is this argument that, well, AI doesn’t have subjectivity, it doesn’t have emotions, it doesn’t have a body, it doesn’t have experience, it doesn’t have meaning—all of these things that really make us human, all of these parts that actually make art compelling and literature compelling. So Ken Liu’s argument, for example, was, let’s leave machines what they’re good at—they’re good at imitating and copying—and we’re good at interpreting, we’re good at creating and imagining. I think this is really a way to go with this. This catastrophizing that’s very present in the public discourse, I think, is a bit misleading. I wish we had a more nuanced approach to what’s actually happening, particularly in the space of writing. Obviously, AI is a groundbreaking technology that affects pretty much every one of us and all the sectors, but when it comes to writing, we just don’t think it’s killable. We think that there’s this perennial impulse that humans have to play with language, and that is not going to go away with AI. We’re just going to amplify it through AI, through this new possibility that has now opened in many ways. I like to think about AI as—you know, we’ve figured out how to fly. As soon as we figured out the physics of flight, we had planes and helicopters and drones and kites, and these are the new possibilities for human activities. In the same way, we figured out the machine learning principles, and now we have large language models and diffusion models, and we have GANs and so on, and there will be more. These are the new spaces of possibility that have opened for our activities, for our spirit to work on, but they do not replace the human in a meaningful way. It’s more about extension than it is about automation. Ross Dawson: Yeah, that’s a wonderful way of framing it. So where can people go to find out more about your work? Nina Begus: I have a pretty populated website with my name, ninabegus.com, where I write about my books, I write about my public work. I have videos on there, podcasts, links, and so on. I also have a pretty lively lab with a lot of collaborators and students, where a lot of what I imagined when writing Artificial Humanities—where a lot of collaborative projects happen. We have artists, we have engineers, we have philosophers that work on the same question, but come at it from very different backgrounds and with very different skills. I think this is becoming more and more important in the world of AI. Ross Dawson: Yes, yes, bringing all of those disciplines and frames and thinking together. That’s wonderful. I love what you’re doing—very important. I hope the messages ripple through, and obviously wonderful to be able to share this with the Humans Plus AI audience. Thank you so much. Nina Begus: Thank you, Ross, and thank you all for listening. The post Nina Begus on artificial humanities, AI archetypes, limiting and productive metaphors, and human extension (AC Ep38) appeared first on Humans + AI.

As artificial intelligence (AI) encroaches deeper than ever before into our daily lives, how do we as humans begin to address the greater questions about the soul and what mysteries lie beyond our planet?Technological Philosopher, Mythologist/Futurist and Wizard Jason Batt joins Paul on an exploration of what lies ahead for humans and AI and how the power of myth can light the way this week on Spirit Gym.Check out Jason's work on his website, the International Society of Mythology and Substack. Find him on social media via Instagram and LinkedIn.For Spirit Gym listeners: Save 15 percent on on these courses Jason teaches with the following promo codes:The Haunted House as Psyche SPIRITGYM15OFFHHThe Long Reach: SF Worldbuilding/ Empires SPIRITGYM15OFFLRGods, Heroes and Monsters: An Introduction to Classical Mythology SPIRITGYM15OFFGHMTimestamps7:31 Is Jason a Technological Philosopher, Mythologist/Futurist or a Wizard?16:25 The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the 100 Year Starship project comes calling on the birth of Jason's third child.29:08 Why the Tarot has been around for a long time.46:17 Momentary gods.59:35 The danger of mixing myth and religion.1:08:27 What happens when AI platforms talk to each other?1:18:12 “Every book of fiction is ourself.”1:25:59 The greatest profession anyone could have.1:37:31 The SOUL.md of AI.1:48:32 The myth of Narcissus is a metaphor for modern times.1:58:19 To ignore the lessons of myth leaves us vulnerable to the hubris of unchecked innovation and being deceived.ResourcesDepth Psychology, Myth and Artificial Intelligence: Soul and the Machine by Jason Batt and Jonathan EricksonFind more resources for this episode on our website.Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear MusicThanks to our awesome sponsors:PaleovalleyBIOptimizers US and BIOptimizers UK PAUL15Organifi CHEK20Wild PasturesPique LifeCHEK InstituteWe may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.

The USS Narcissus was a Union screw tug during the American Civil War, originally built as the stram tug, Mary Cook in 1863. USS Narcissus sank for the first time in 1864 in Mobile Bay, but was refloated, repaired, and put back into service. Her fatal sinking was in 1866, off the coast of Egmont Key, in the mouth of Tampa Bay, Florida. This episode was researched and written by Rich Napolitano and Madison Schmidt..All episodes, notes, and merchandise can be found at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠shipwrecksandseadogs.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. All episodes of It's a History Podcast can be found at itsahistorypodcast.com. Original theme music by ⁠⁠⁠Sean Sigfried⁠⁠⁠, and you can find him at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.seansigfried.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. **No AI was used in the production of this episode. Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs is a maritime history podcast about shipwrecks, tragic loss, and incredible accomplishments on the world's oceans and waterways. Follow Shipwrecks and Sea Dogs ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe on YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow on BlueSky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow on Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow on Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On episode 145 of the Director Watch Podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter are joined by Editor-In-Chief of InSession Film Dave Giannini to discuss the latest film in their Powell and Pressburger series, Black Narcissus (1947). Welcome back to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, the boys attempt to break down, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema's greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you've got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. In taking a darker turn with their latest film, Powell and Pressburger explore the role of temptation, guilt has on the mind when dealing with religion in Black Narcissus. A film that is about a group of nuns coming to a small village to spread their word of god only to be internally turned upside down by the human impulses being challenged by their beliefs in god and their mission, thus leading to one of the hottest, most complex films the duo ever created. Ryan, Jay, and Dave break down their thoughts on the film, the religious conversations the film is having, how gorgeous the film is, how sexy David Farrar is as Mr. Dean, the use of color photography in the film, and a silly summer movie bet between the two co-hosts that is from a galaxy far, far away.  You can listen to the Director Watch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more. You can also listen on the AW YouTube page. This podcast runs 2h06m. The guys will be back later this week to continue their series on the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger with a review of their next film, The Red Shoes. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let's get into it.  Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and "B-3" from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

Bag om Københavnerhistorikerne er et supplement til Bag om København, og i denne udgave kan du møde historiker og museumsinspektør Jakob Ingemann Parby, der har arbejdet med mange forskellige sider af Københavns lange historie: Fra migrationen til byen gennem tiden til byens lyd. Hans seneste bog hedder 'Lyden af hovedstaden - støj, nerver og naboer i 1800-tallet' og den handler blandt andet om, hvordan opfattelsen af byens lyd har ændret sig og hvordan københavnerne længe har forsøgt at lære hinanden at være mere stille. Du kan høre om fransktalende papegøjer, om gadehandlere og omnibushorn – og hvordan lyden af piskesmæld kunne ødelægge al lyst til livet. Bag om Københavnerhistorikerne er et møde med de mennesker, der skriver om eller i København. Fælles for dem er, at de er historiefortællere: Det er dem, der undersøger og skaber de fortællinger om København, som vi bruger til at blive klogere på byen og dens lange og mangesidede historie. Interviewer og tilrettelægger: Mai-Britt Tollund. Klippet sammen af: Mai-Britt Tollund og Berit Freyheit Se litteraturliste og tilhørende artikel her   Facebook: Bag om Københavns podcast + nyhedsbrev Musikbidder er hentet fra FMA/Public Domain: Clouds by HoliznaCC0 & Narcissus smells like headache by Monplaisir Musikbidder er hentet fra FMA/Public Domain: Aaron Dunn - Minuet - Notebook for Anna Magdalena by Bach & Narcissus smells like headache by Monplaisir

El ego humano es una tragedia antigua.Los griegos la contaron en sus mitos.Los filósofos la describieron en sus libros.Y el apóstol Pablo la expuso con una palabra extraña: inflado.En este episodio exploramos la verdadera condición del ego humano:vacío, doloroso, ocupado y frágil.Desde las tragedias de Icarus, Narcissus y Oedipus, hasta la profunda reflexión de Augustine of Hippo sobre el alma curvada sobre sí misma, descubrimos algo inquietante:El ego no es la señal de un corazón fuerte.Es la reacción de un corazón vacío.Pero el evangelio propone algo radical:no inflar el ego, ni destruirlo… sino liberarnos de él.Una conversación sobre orgullo, identidad, tragedia humana y la libertad que nace cuando el corazón deja de girar alrededor de sí mismo.

Emre Dündar, Spekülatif'in bu bölümde narsisizmin tarihsel kökenlerinden günümüz popüler kültürüne uzanan etkilerini inceliyor. Antik Yunan'da “kendini bil” felsefesinden başlayarak Narcissus miti ve Nergis Çiçeği üzerinden narsisizmin alegorik temellerini anlatıyor. Tarihte Stalin, Hitler, Mussolini, Napolyon ve Robespierre gibi büyük liderlerin narsisistik kişilik bozukluklarıyla nasıl tarih yazdığını ve topluma zarar verdiğini tartışıyor. Günümüzde sosyal medya ve dijital platformlar üzerinden narsisistik davranışların görünürlüğünün artışı, popülizmin yükselişi ve kolektif narsisizmin tehlikeleri ele alınıyor. Ayrıca Dündar, kırılgan narsisizm ve grandioza (büyüklenmeci) narsisizm arasındaki farkları, Werther örneği üzerinden açıklıyor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

El ego humano es una tragedia antigua.Los griegos la contaron en sus mitos.Los filósofos la describieron en sus libros.Y el apóstol Pablo la expuso con una palabra extraña: inflado.En este episodio exploramos la verdadera condición del ego humano:vacío, doloroso, ocupado y frágil.Desde las tragedias de Icarus, Narcissus y Oedipus, hasta la profunda reflexión de Augustine of Hippo sobre el alma curvada sobre sí misma, descubrimos algo inquietante:El ego no es la señal de un corazón fuerte.Es la reacción de un corazón vacío.Pero el evangelio propone algo radical:no inflar el ego, ni destruirlo… sino liberarnos de él.Una conversación sobre orgullo, identidad, tragedia humana y la libertad que nace cuando el corazón deja de girar alrededor de sí mismo.

El ego humano es una tragedia antigua.Los griegos la contaron en sus mitos.Los filósofos la describieron en sus libros.Y el apóstol Pablo la expuso con una palabra extraña: inflado.En este episodio exploramos la verdadera condición del ego humano:vacío, doloroso, ocupado y frágil.Desde las tragedias de Icarus, Narcissus y Oedipus, hasta la profunda reflexión de Augustine of Hippo sobre el alma curvada sobre sí misma, descubrimos algo inquietante:El ego no es la señal de un corazón fuerte.Es la reacción de un corazón vacío.Pero el evangelio propone algo radical:no inflar el ego, ni destruirlo… sino liberarnos de él.Una conversación sobre orgullo, identidad, tragedia humana y la libertad que nace cuando el corazón deja de girar alrededor de sí mismo.

Fastelavn er ikke altid en uskyldig børnefest, men en voldsom og omstridt højtid. Episoden følger sporene fra middelalderens katolske faste over levende katte i tønder og ryttere, der kæmper om titlen som Gåsegreve ved at rive hovedet af en sæbeindsmurt, levende gås. Vi møder de særlige fastelavnstraditioner blandt amagerhollænderne, som Christian 2. inviterer til Danmark i 1521. Deres privilegerede status, deres rolle som “Københavns spisekammer” og deres spektakulære fastelavnsridning tiltrækker både hoffet og kritikere. Christian 5. forbyder i Danske Lov fra 1683 de “letsindige og anstødelige” lege, mens præster som Erik Pontoppidan og Mathias Hviid fordømmer skikkene som syndige. Alligevel møder konger og dronninger op for at overvære løjerne, og forbuddene håndhæves ujævnt. Det handler om 1500-tallets privilegier til 1700-tallets pietistiske opgør og frem til nutidens fastelavnsridning i Store Magleby.   Episoden er skrevet og fortalt af Berit Freyheit Her finder du det, jeg har læst til episoden Facebook: Bag om Københavns podcast + nyhedsbrev Musikbidder er hentet fra FMA/Public Domain: Clouds by HoliznaCC0  & Narcissus smells like headache by Monplaisir 129

If you wanted a petri dish for understanding metaphors—how they emerge and evolve and jostle with each other—it would be hard to do better than the world of AI. We talk about AI systems variously as coaches or co-pilots, little genies or alien intelligences. Some researchers claim that AIs "grow," that they're entering their phase of "adolescence." Critics deride AI products as slop and dismiss LLMs as a kind of autocomplete on steroids. What's behind these different characterizations? Which ones are accurate and which are unfair? And are our metaphors mostly colorful rhetoric or do they matter? Are they shaping how we understand, adopt, and ultimately regulate these new technologies?   My guest today is Dr. Melanie Mitchell. Melanie is a computer scientist and Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. She is the author of the book, AI: A Guide for Thinking Humans, and she writes a Substack by the same name.  This episode is a bit of companion to our recent episode with Steve Flusberg. In that episode, Steve and I attempted a kind of crash course on metaphor and the human mind. Here, Melanie and I sit down for more of an extended case study: how metaphors are guiding, galvanizing, and maybe deceiving us in the contested realm of AI discourse. We unpack seven of the most widely used metaphors in this space. We consider how these metaphors are shaping not only our everyday understandings of AI, but also law and policy. We also talk about the metaphor and analogy capabilities of AI itself. Can these system reason abstractly in the way that humans can? Along the way, Melanie and I touch on: AI-generated poetry, anthropomorphism, the original sin of AI research, the myth of Narcissus, psychometric testing and its pitfalls, metaphors for AI that are a bit hard to spot, and the question of whether an AI has ever come up with a decent analogy for itself.  Longtime fans of the show will know that we've had Melanie on the show once before. We invited her back, not only because she's thought about metaphor and analogy in AI discourse for decades, but because she's a voice of calm insight in an area that's increasingly awash in hype and polemic. Longtime fans of the show may also note that we are now celebrating our 6th birthday at Many Minds. That's right, the show launched in February 2020. If you'd like to support us as we recognize this milestone, you can leave us a rating or a review, recommend us to a friend, or give us a shout out on social media. Your support is always appreciated.  Without further ado, on to my conversation with Dr. Melanie Mitchell. Enjoy!    Notes 3:30 – For an overview of Douglas Hofstadter's work on analogy, see here. 8:00 – Much of our discussion in this interview draws on Dr. Mitchell's piece on the metaphors for AI in Science magazine.  13:30 – For earlier discussions of anthropomorphism on the show, see our earlier episodes here and here.  16:00 – See here for the original discussion of LLMs as "stochastic parrots." 17:00 –  See here for the original discussion of ChatGPT as a "blurry jpeg." 18:30 – See here for the original discussion of LLMs as role players. 22:00 – See here for one use of the "LLMs as crowds" metaphor. See also a discussion of this metaphor (and other metaphors for AI) here.   25:00 – For one discussion of AI as a "cultural technology" by Alison Gopnik and colleagues, see here. For a more recent discussion of the same metaphor by Henry Farrell, Alison Gopnik and others, see here. 27:00 – For the podcast series on intelligence that Dr. Mitchell co-hosted for the Santa Fe Institute, see here.  28:00 – See here for an influential formulations of the idea that AI is an "alien intelligence."  29:00 – For philosopher Shannon Vallor's book about AI as "mirror," see here. 31:00 – For the recent study on users' metaphors for AI systems, see here.  33:00 – For more on the rise of social AI, see our earlier episode here.  38:00 – For more on what AI researchers might learn from developmental and comparative psychologists, see Dr. Mitchell's recent post (summarizing here keynote at NeurIPs).  42:00 – For more on the ARC (Abstraction and Reasoning Corpus) and the research that Dr. Mitchell and colleagues have been doing with it, see here and here. 48:30 – For the study on humans' preference for AI-generated poetry, see here. 50:30 – For Brigitte Nerlich's documentation and discussion of various metaphors for AI (including AI's metaphors for itself), see here.   Recommendations  The AI Mirror, by Shannon Vallor 'Role play with large language models,' by Murray Shanahan (former guest!) et al. 'Large AI models are cultural and social technologies,' by Henry Farrell et al.   Many Minds is a project of the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute, which is made possible by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation to Indiana University. The show is hosted and produced by Kensy Cooperrider, with help from Assistant Producer Urte Laukaityte and with creative support from DISI Directors Erica Cartmill and Jacob Foster. Our artwork is by Ben Oldroyd. Subscribe to Many Minds on Apple, Stitcher, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also now subscribe to the Many Minds newsletter here! We welcome your comments, questions, and suggestions. Feel free to email us at: manymindspodcast@gmail.com. For updates about the show, visit our website or follow us on Bluesky (@manymindspod.bsky.social).

Mensen, dieren, monsters en goden: al tweeduizend jaar lang inspireert de dichtbundel Metamorfosen van de Romeinse schrijver Ovidius verhalenvertellers én kunstenaars. De gelijknamige tentoonstelling opent op 6 februari in het Rijksmuseum. Daarin is werk te zien van wereldberoemde kunstenaars als Titiaan, Caravaggio en Bernini, maar ook hedendaagse kunstwerken, zoals de reusachtige spin van Bourgeois en videowerk van Juul Kraijer. Janine Abbring en Frits Scholten nemen ons mee door Ovidius' mooiste verhalen en de hoogtepunten uit de tentoonstelling.

Kort efter Anden Verdenskrig deles verden igen – ikke af grænser, men af ideologier. Danmark forsøger at holde fast i neutraliteten, men udviklingen i Europa gør den umulig. Med NATO-medlemskabet i 1949 knytter Danmark sig til USA, og sikkerhedspolitikken ændres grundlæggende. Amerikanerne får vidtgående militære rettigheder i Grønland. Samtidig strømmer amerikansk indflydelse ind i det danske samfund gennem Marshallhjælpen. Produktiviteten øges, og nye forbrugsmønstre slår igennem. Supermarkeder, biler, husholdningsmaskiner og reklamer ændrer hverdagen, mens nye idealer om effektivitet og velstand vinder frem. Episoden viser, hvordan Danmark bliver trukket tættere ind i den amerikanske sfære – politisk, økonomisk og kulturelt – og hvorfor forholdet til USA både præges af fascination og skepsis. I 1792 beskyldes justitsråd Marcus Nissen Westermann for at mishandle en ung tjenestepige. Rygterne spreder sig som ild i København, og selv hans bekendtgørelser i Adresseavisen kan ikke stoppe dem. Sandhed og løgn kolliderer – og byen koger. Anonyme pjecer, overdrevne historier og offentlige spekulationer hiver sagen frem i lyset. Hver ny udgave af rygterne vender op og ned på Westermanns omdømme. I sidste ende viser det sig, at selv ren samvittighed ikke kan slukke et rygtets bål. Her finder du det, jeg har læst til episoden Facebook: Bag om Københavns podcast + nyhedsbrev Musikbidder er hentet fra FMA/Public Domain: Clouds by HoliznaCC0  & Narcissus smells like headache by Monplaisir 128

Evrimleşmede ego, Narcissus 00:08 – Bu anı geleceğe ertelemek ve Yunan felsefesi 01:17 – Narcissus miti, ego ve insan evrimi 04:32 – Ego öncesi masumiyet ve “altın çağ” hafızası 06:41 – Yeniden doğuş potansiyeli, ızdırap ve kabullenme 09:22 – Düşüncenin durması, yaratıcı zekâ ve derin kaynak 14:53 – Spiritüel teknikler, kabullenme ve egonun işsiz kalması 18:56 – Dikkat, mevcudiyet ve sessizlik pratiği 23:06 – Meditasyon: nefes, dinginlik ve saf farkındalık Bu bölümde Eckhart Tolle'un “bu an” vurgusu üzerinden egonun oluşumu, Narcissus miti ve insanın bilinç evrimi ele alınıyor. Ego, düşünme ve kavramlaştırma kapasitesiyle birlikte gelişen gerekli ama sınırlayıcı bir aşama olarak anlatılırken, asıl dönüşümün bu egoik yapıdan çıkabilmekle mümkün olduğu vurgulanıyor. Düşüncenin durması iradeyle değil, dikkatle gerçekleşiyor; obsesif düşünce azaldıkça daha derin ve yaratıcı bir zekâ alanı açılıyor. Spiritüel tekniklerin amacı gelecekte “daha iyi” olmak değil, bu anı kabullenmek ve mevcudiyette kalabilmek. Bölüm, düşüncelerin ötesine geçmeyi destekleyen nefes ve dinginlik temelli bir meditasyonla tamamlanıyor. Zeynep Aksoy, saygın bir yoga eğitmeni ve Reset platformunun kurucusudur. Web sitesi üzerinden canlı ve kayıttan izlenebilen dersler, üyelik programları ve profesyonel eğitimler sunmaktadır. Online Stüdyo üyeliği ile günlük çevrim içi derslere, geniş bir arşive ve topluluk desteğine erişim imkânı sağlar. Ayrıca Zeynep, katılımcıların hareket, anatomi ve farkındalık konularında bilgilerini derinleştirmelerine yardımcı olmak için yenilikçi Fasyal Yoga Uzmanlık Programı'nı yürütmektedir. Daha fazla bilgi almak ve sertifikalı eğitimlere katılmak için: www.zeynepaksoyreset.com

In this episode of Book Talk for BookTok, we sit down with T.C. Kraven, author of Of Prophecies and Pomegranates, a dark mythological retelling that grapples honestly with one of the most contested stories in Greek mythology: Hades and Persephone. Together, we explore how Kraven approached retelling a myth that has been romanticized, sanitized, and rewritten countless times. We discuss what it means to engage with the original mythos, including the complicated history behind the so-called “Rape of Persephone,” and how linguistic nuance, power, and consent shaped her interpretation of Persephone's story. This conversation also dives into one of the novel's central thematic threads: self-deception. From Demeter's possessive motherhood, to Helios's obsession, to Hades's self-punishment, we unpack how characters lie to themselves in the name of love, protection, and control. We pay special attention to Kraven's striking portrayal of Demeter as an abusive parent and why that interpretation felt both mythologically grounded and narratively necessary. We also talk about Narcissus, whose arc moves beyond vanity into something far more human and tragic, and why his emotional depth matters to the story as a whole. Finally, for aspiring writers, Kraven shares candid insight into her journey through self-publishing and her transition into traditional publishing, offering thoughtful advice for authors navigating both paths. This episode is a must-listen for readers interested in mythological retellings, feminist reinterpretations of Greek myths, and stories that refuse to look away from uncomfortable truths. Find T.C Kraven Her Website: https://tc-kraven.square.site/ Instagram: t.c.kravenauthor TikTok: oracleoforleans Trigger Warning: This episode includes discussion of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and non-consensual behavior. Listener discretion is advised. How to participate: Send your theories and spicy takes by commenting on this episode, DMing us, or using the form on our website. The Subtext Society Journal: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://thesubtextsocietyjournal.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  We're thrilled to announce our newest venture: The Subtext Society Journal—the first of its kind, dedicated to Romance, Romantasy, and fandom with an academic yet accessible voice. We're publishing original essays and thought pieces, and we encourage listeners to submit their own articles for a chance to be featured. Sponsor: Monarch Use code BOOKTALK at Monarch.com for 50% your first year. Sponsor: Liquid IV Liquid I.V. Go to LiquidIV.com and get 20% off your first order with code BOOKTALK at checkout. Sponsor: Vionic Use code BOOKTALK at checkout for 15% off your entire order at www.vionicshoes.com when you log into your account. 1 time use only. Share your thoughts for a chance to be featured! Submit them at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠booktalkforbooktok.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for a future mini-episode or exclusive Patreon discussion. Support the Show:  Patreon: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/booktalkforbooktok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  Merch: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Etsy Store⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow Us on Social: Instagram: @BookTalkForBookTok TikTok: @BookTalkForBookTok YouTube: @BookTalkForBookTok Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bag om Københavnerhistorikerne er et supplement til Bag om København, og i denne udgave kan du møde historiefortæller og podcaster Berit Freyheit, der har skabt og udgivet podcasten Bag om København i 10 år. Berit Freyheit elsker, når hun kan finde en lidt anden vinkel på historien, måske endda fortælle den fra en synsvinkel, der er ukendt for de fleste. Når det lykkes, så er hun ikke til at skyde igennem. I podcasten fortæller hun bl.a. om sin yndlingskøbenhavner, hvordan hun forsøger at finde en krog i historien, der kan lukke den op for lytterne – og hun deler to godbidder fra de over 130 episoder. Bag om Københavnerhistorikerne er et møde med de mennesker, der skriver om eller i København. Fælles for dem er, at de er historiefortællere: Det er dem, der undersøger og skaber de fortællinger om København, som vi bruger til at blive klogere på byen og dens lange og mangesidede historie. Interviewer og tilrettelægger: Mai-Britt Tollund. Klippet sammen af: Mai-Britt Tollund og Berit Freyheit Se litteraturliste og tilhørende artikel her   Facebook: Bag om Københavns podcast + nyhedsbrev Musikbidder er hentet fra FMA/Public Domain: Clouds by HoliznaCC0 & Narcissus smells like headache by Monplaisir Musikbidder er hentet fra FMA/Public Domain: Clouds by HoliznaCC0  & Narcissus smells like headache by Monplaisir

We finally hear the first words from Beatrice's mouth. (We've heard her before but as told by Virgil in INFERNO, Canto II.) She is certainly not person we expected. She's the admiral controlling her ship.She names the pilgrim, names herself, and gets very close to blasphemy in a passage that defies our expectations, about as revelation should.Join me, Mark Scarbrough, for the moment that Beatrice takes center stage in Dante's masterwork, COMEDY.If you'd like to help underwrite this podcast, please consider a one-time donation or a very small monthly stipend, using this PayPal link right here.Here are the segments for this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE:[01:33] My English translation of PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, Lines 55 - 78. If you'd like to read along or drop a comment about this episode, please find its entry on my website: markscarbrough.com.[04:41] The pilgrim finally named: Dante.[09:03] The crux dilemma of orthodoxy: purity versus human feeling.[13:44] Beatrice's ship, plus other ships in COMEDY.[15:29] Beatrice, the admiral.[17:34] Dante's difficulty in naming himself.[20:20] Beatrice, Minerva, and our (or the pilgrim's?) expectations.[23:42] Beatrice's curious blasphemy and questions.[27:09] Dante as a rejuvenated Narcissus.[30:32] Rereading the passage: PURGATORIO, Canto XXX, lines 55 - 78.

I 1792 beskyldes justitsråd Marcus Nissen Westermann for at mishandle en ung tjenestepige. Rygterne spreder sig som ild i København, og selv hans bekendtgørelser i Adresseavisen kan ikke stoppe dem. Sandhed og løgn kolliderer – og byen koger. Anonyme pjecer, overdrevne historier og offentlige spekulationer hiver sagen frem i lyset. Hver ny udgave af rygterne vender op og ned på Westermanns omdømme. I sidste ende viser det sig, at selv ren samvittighed ikke kan slukke et rygtets bål. Her finder du det, jeg har læst til episoden Facebook: Bag om Københavns podcast + nyhedsbrev Musikbidder er hentet fra FMA/Public Domain: Clouds by HoliznaCC0  & Narcissus smells like headache by Monplaisir 126

Just because a very chaotic 2025 is coming to an end and a new year is about to begin doesn't mean you can ignore the personal challenges you've managed to sweep under the rug…2026 is the year you'll face the mirror based on the 10th card of the Tarot, The Wheel of Fortune (the divine mirror of self-reflection), and all of those obstacles will re-appear. What you choose to do — or don't do — to resolve these challenges may determine the fragile difference between taking control of your life or being controlled by others.Paul shares his 2026 forecast including a roadmap for your spiritual survival this week on Spirit Gym.For Spirit Gym listeners: To get the most out of Paul's 2026 solocast, we encourage you to watch it on his YouTube channel. Also, you can access a PDF of his extensive resources for this episode here.Timestamps4:03 Looking back at 2025.8:16 Donald Trump or Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Who do you trust more?15:17 The myth of Narcissus and its connection to artificial intelligence.22:28 Understanding archetypes.25:24 Exploring GOD.31:51 God dreams myth, the story that tells itself.35:00 Paul's favorite myth of origin.43:04 Humans cannot perceive anything without archetypes.49:14 Higher mind and lower mind.59:35 Essential archetypes for life and meaning.1:08:02 The Wheel of Fortune (Tarot card 10).1:15:11 The objective psyche.1:26:56 Archetypal images.1:32:36 The local and non-local mind.1:38:09 The numerology of 2026.1:46:14 10: The end of one cycle and the beginning of another.1:55:53 Looking at 2026 from a Tarot perspective (the Royal Road).2:10:18 “The most important aspects of what the Tarot is teaching us happen in the first 10 cards.”2:21:04 10 as a number field.2:30:38 Will you make it to 2027?2:41:14 The meaning of fire.2:48:34 “The journey through the Tarot archetypes and all spiritual development is really just a journey from the head to the heart.”2:57:53 What riddles are the Sphinx confronting us with in 2026?3:01:55 Climbing the Accountability Ladder.3:11:07 Recognize the Mystery.3:16:09 Here's your homework assignment.ResourcesThe International Society of MythologyPaul's Spirit Gym conversation with Federico FagginFind more resources for this episode on our website.Music Credit: Meet Your Heroes (444Hz), Composed, mixed, mastered and produced by Michael RB Schwartz of Brave Bear MusicThanks to our awesome sponsors:PaleovalleyBIOptimizers US and BIOptimizers UK PAUL15Organifi CHEK20Wild PasturesKorrect SPIRITGYMPique LifeCHEK Institute We may earn commissions from qualifying purchases using affiliate links.

Message us here!Ever felt like your worth depends on how useful you are to other people? Turning the big 4-0 pushed me to confront a lifelong habit of people pleasing. In this episode, I talk about people pleasing: how it took root in chaos, hid behind “being nice,” and quietly drained my energy, confidence, and joy. I unpack what research says about what "people pleasing" is, how chronic pleasing links to mental health issues, and why so many of us end up orbiting charismatic "takers" who love the spotlight while we shrink to keep them happy.I dig into the "Echo- Narcissus Syndrome": the dynamic between a people-pleaser and a narcissist. I talk about my own tendency to fall into the Echo-Narcissus Syndrome and how it's destroyed my relationships in the past. Then I walk through the practical, evidence-based strategies for breaking free of this syndrome. I'm learning to receiving without guilt, choosing mutual relationships over one-way giving, and navigating holiday pressures without abandoning myself. If you also find yourself falling into toxic dynamics where you give and give and give while losing yourself, then this episode is for you. Together, we can figure out how to honor our empathy & generosity without feeling used. Resources:Moral-Jiménez, M. D. L. V., & Mena-Baumann, A. (2024). Emotional Dependence and Narcissism in Couple Relationships: Echo and Narcissus Syndrome. Behavioral Sciences, 14(12), 1190.Support the showIf you're navigating someone's mental health or emotional issues, join KulaMind, our community and support platform. In KulaMind, we'll help you set healthy boundaries, advocate for yourself, and support your loved one. Follow @kulamind on Instagram for podcast updates and science-backed insights on staying sane while loving someone emotionally explosive. For more info about this podcast, check out: www.alittlehelpforourfriends.com

Are you a narcissist? How would you know? Or maybe you are in a relationship with one. We talk to Jungian analyst Dr Susan Schwartz about dreams related to narcissism and about how to be in relationship with those everyday narcissists in our life. Dr Schwartz starts by defining narcissism as outer bravado and inner fragility. She lists some of the typical dreams narcissists have including dreams of being trapped or in a prison. We talk about the myth of Narcissus and Echo and about how we can avoid becoming Echo who loses herself in the relationship. After the break we take a question from Steve about dreams in which we are not ourselves. Max adds that he is sometimes not even human in his dreams. Susan ends by sharing a client’s dream in which the dreamer was married to Putin. BIO: Susan E. Schwartz, Ph.D. trained in Zurich, Switzerland as a Jungian analyst. She has appeared on over a hundred podcasts and presentations and written many articles, chapters and books on Jungian analytical psychology. Her books are on fathers, imposter syndrome, narcissism, and the puella archetype, all published by Routledge. Her latest book is called An Analytical Exploration of Love and Narcissism. Find Susan at sedsphd.com This show, episode number 341, was recorded during a live broadcast on December 13, 2025 at KSQD.org, community radio of Santa Cruz. Show clip can be found here: Intro and outro music by Mood Science. Ambient music new every week by Rick Kleffel. Archived music can be found at Pandemiad.com. Many thanks to Rick for also engineering the show and to Erik Nelson for answering the phones. SHARE A DREAM FOR THE SHOW or a question or enquire about being a guest on the podcast by emailing Katherine Bell at katherine@ksqd.org. Follow on FB, IG, LI, & YT @ExperientialDreamwork #thedreamjournal. To learn more or to inquire about exploring your own dreams go to ExperientialDreamwork.com. The Dream Journal aims to: Increase awareness of and appreciation for nightly dreams. Inspire dream sharing and other kinds of dream exploration as a way of adding depth and meaningfulness to lives and relationships. Improve society by the increased empathy, emotional balance, and sense of wonder which dream exploration invites. A dream can be meaningful even if you don’t know what it means. The Dream Journal is produced at and airs on KSQD Santa Cruz, 90.7 FM. Catch it streaming LIVE at KSQD.org 10-11am Pacific Time on Saturdays. Call or text with your dreams or questions at 831-900-5773 or email at onair@ksqd.org. Podcasts are available on all major podcast platforms the Monday following the live show. The complete KSQD Dream Journal podcast page can be found at ksqd.org/the-dream-journal/. Closed captioning is available on the YouTube version of this podcast and an automatically generated transcript is available at Apple Podcasts within 24 hours of posting. Thanks for being a Dream Journal listener! Available on all major podcast platforms. Rate it, review it, subscribe, and tell your friends.

I hadn’t planned to revisit The Culture of Narcissism so soon, but a small niggle pulled me back into the subject. With Spotify Unwrapped everywhere, it struck me again how platforms, tools, and devices can become instruments of narcissism. Especially when social signals, algorithms, and gamification hook us in and keep us there. A merging takes place. We become intertwined with the image generated and presented through the pond, which stares back at us. In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, I use Christopher Lasch’s definition to explore how our favourite apps, devices, and tools contribute to the culture of narcissism. https://youtu.be/0uJMlVzT9z4 Christopher Lasch interprets the story of Narcissus as less about self-love but self-loss. Narcissus “fails to recognise his own reflection.” He can't perceive the difference between himself and his surroundings. Seen this way, the algorithm is the perfect pond. It draws us into our reflection, not because we adore ourselves, but because stepping away feels like erasing our existence. How the Algorithm Trains Us We often talk about training the algorithm. But it frequently trains us. It rewards behaviours that keep us within narrow identity categories and punishes deviations from the pattern. Engagement, attention, and existential acknowledgement flow when we appease the machine. And appeasing it usually means losing the parts of ourselves that don't fit the expected mould. We have to leave parts of ourselves behind and present a tidied version that conforms with expectations. For the narcissist, external objects become reflective surfaces. Lasch's point that capitalism “elicits and reinforces narcissistic traits in everyone” plays out through algorithmic tools. They squeeze us into shapes we didn't choose. They push us further apart, fuel distrust between artificially separated groups, and isolate anyone who steps beyond the boundaries. Trapped in an Algorithmic Teacup YouTube is an interesting example. The technology could open horizons, yet the algorithm demands consistency in frequency, focus, and branding. Beyond these algorithmic teacups (where it begins to feel as if the entire world exists), lies both freedom and obscurity, which can seem like a frightening indifference to our existence. This digital frontier markets itself as a world of abundant opportunity, yet the algorithms act as a fragile overseer. We experience the threat of ostracism operating on two fronts: actively (your community turns against you if you don’t conform to expectations) and passively (the system limits your visibility). This algorithmic narcissism turns into a two-way street. The audience perceives the creator as an extension of themselves, and the creator relies on the audience for validation of their existence (and basic subsistence). We can become stuck here, going in circles, wishing for something different but feeling unable to change. Does the Narcissist Even Need Humans Anymore? A question has been on my mind: can a narcissist receive the same existential mirror from a machine, like an AI bot? Humans frustrate narcissists. We rupture the reflection. We break the fantasy. Artificial intelligence, by contrast, is frictionless. It never refuses the game, unless it’s programmed to. But narcissism isn't just about submissive admiration; it quickly becomes bored with that. It requires energy drawn from another person and feeds on boundaries, tensions, and limits that AI doesn’t have. I imagine it as a frictionless mirror, too smooth to sustain the narcissistic cycle. Because narcissism isn't about self-love; it's about self-loss. According to Lasch, Narcissus didn’t spend his time staring at his reflection because he was too in awe of his own beauty to look away. Instead, he was lost in the belief that he WAS his reflection. And he had no separate subjective self-concept. This definition sees narcissism as the absence of a boundary between self and other. The narcissist over-identifies and seeks to consume. An algorithmic mirror might feel satisfying at first, but without the “otherness” of another person, the reflection loses its vitality. Algorithmic Narcissism and Existential Irrelevance If the algorithm is a pond, stepping away can feel like a personal rupture. When we become tethered to the importance of algorithmic environments for a sense of well-being (or to make a living), we are coaxed into this narcissistic culture, presenting, performing, and externalising motivation. Healthy indifference, on the other hand, recognises that we all exist outside these spaces. The world keeps turning whether or not we are posting, performing, or producing. If we can rest in that truth, we can begin to offer care, creativity, and presence regardless of who is watching and how. Everyday Tools and the Spread of Narcissism Narcissism spreads insidiously through everyday tools. The culture encourages us to project experiences outwardly. Running might feel valid only if it appears on Strava. Learning a language is only “counted” if we keep a daily streak on Duolingo. The annual Spotify Unwrapped review can start shaping how we listen to music. Similarly, other actions are influenced by the unwrapped summaries that have become common across platforms. What may start as playfulness or accountability for internal pleasure often shifts into surveillance and control aimed at external approval. Reading challenges, fitness goals, and habit trackers become small pools of reflection that we find hard to release. This algorithmic narcissism isn’t about grand vanity but a subtle urge to find our identity in metrics, charts, avatars, and shares. As a result, we trust ourselves less and gradually lose our innate ability to feel, sense, and judge for ourselves. Signs You're Caught in the Drift of Algorithmic Narcissism How do you know if you’re caught in the clutches of algorithmic narcissism? These questions and observations may help: Do you feel dependent on a platform for existential reassurance? Do you modify your choices out of fear of upsetting the algorithm? Would you still do the activity if it were never tracked, shared, or seen? Does stopping feel like a threat? Has the imagined audience entered the room before you begin? Does the unmeasured version of an activity feel pointless? Has curiosity shrunk to what “fits the pattern”? These little signals accumulate. Each one is a tug toward the pond. A Gentle Rebellion Against Performance Culture If algorithmic narcissism trains us to live for metrics, then small acts of rebellion can help us return to ourselves. Maybe we could… End streaks on purpose. Make things that don't scale. Break your own pattern. Stop branding ourselves (be deliberately chaotic in our self-expression). Ignore the numbers. Keep the thing offline. Anything else? I’d love to build a pool (actually, “collection” might be a better word in this context) of ideas we can draw on to loosen the grip of the narcissistic algorithms around us. This won’t ultimately fix everything, but it can help us recognise how these mechanisms operate and reconnect with our ability to choose our responses rather than blindly follow.

We hear a lot about “Narcissism” these days. Is it because there is more of it around? In his 1979 book, The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations, Christopher Lasch demonstrates how “Modern capitalist society not only elevates narcissists to prominence, it elicits and reinforces narcissistic traits in everyone.” In this episode of The Gentle Rebel Podcast, we explore the book’s relevance today. And particularly, how narcissistic culture reflects the modern self-help industry. It blows my mind that this was written almost half a century ago. https://youtu.be/dD7a127TXbE?si=L_MuMEmrMUAD0grY The Myth of Narcissus “People with narcissistic personalities, although not necessarily more numerous than before, play a conspicuous part in contemporary life, often rising to positions of eminence. Thriving on the adulation of the masses, these celebrities set the tone of public life and of private life as well, since the machinery of celebrity recognises no boundaries between the public and the private realm.” Lasch’s interpretation of the myth portrays Narcissus drowning in his own reflection, never realising that it is only a reflection. He suggests that the story’s point is not that Narcissus falls in love with himself. Rather, it is that “since he fails to recognise his own reflection, he lacks any real understanding of the difference between himself and his surroundings.” Narcissists are often depicted as carrying too much self-love. However, Lasch has a more subtle understanding of it, with the main characteristic being a lack of security in their self-concept. So the question we face is whether the proliferation of visual and auditory images, first through mechanically produced media and more recently via the online world, causes us to lose the healthy sense of separation needed for a secure ego to develop. In other words, does a growing culture of narcissism influence who we are and how we understand and feel about ourselves? And how does the self-help industry contribute to and benefit from this reality? How Celebrity Fuels Narcissistic Ideals A culture of narcissism is one preoccupied with celebrity. We find a sense of our own identity in the public figures that adorn our screens and fill our ears. They influence the content of our own fears, desires, and beliefs. Their success feels like our success. And attacks on them (or accountability), feels like an attack on us. Influencers know this, and as such, seek to nurture parasocial bonds with their followers. From Healthy Ego to Narcissistic Performance A culture of narcissism is built on a performance. It values confidence over competence, shifting the definition of success to one of individual visibility and attention. Success, for the narcissist, is about being admired, revered, and relevant in the eyes of others. Their sense of existence depends on this image (they are their reflection in the pool). Our online social tools ensure and deepen these mechanics. Two Lineages of Self-Help in a Narcissistic Age The term self-help seems to reflect diverging roots. One is inherently practical and social. It relates to customs where people share knowledge, exchange skills, and develop collective competence to make everyday life easier and more sustainable, without needing intervention from external bureaucratic institutions. The other is shaped by the rise of post-industrial neo-liberal capitalism, which depicts the self as the centre of everything. It is seen as a project to be refined, marketed, and optimised for an external system that measures and rewards confidence, image, and success. Lasch also emphasises how, despite attempts to compare themselves with earlier industrial leaders, twentieth-century prophets of positive thinking like Dale Carnegie and Napoleon Hill pivot from dedication to industry and thrift to an unrelenting love of and pursuit of money. Advertising and the Narcissistic Gap Mass consumption might appear centred on self-indulgence. However, Lasch clarifies how modern advertising aims to generate self-doubt rather than self-satisfaction to motivate it. It creates needs instead of fulfilling them and produces new anxieties rather than alleviating existing ones. This also supports modern self-help. It must constantly generate new insecurities, doubts, and feelings of inadequacy in the people it “serves”. All of this takes place against a backdrop of aspirational images, telling us consumers that we deserve more. Influencers spread commodity propaganda, making people highly dissatisfied with what they have. They do this by displaying attractive images and connecting with their audience through the message that “if I can do it, so can you”. The Antidote of Ordinary Unhappiness The Culture of Narcissism echoes a hope that society can still be reorganised in ways that would provide “creative, meaningful work”. Not where “meaningful work” must reflect a divine purpose and be endlessly fulfilling. Instead, aligning with Freud’s concept of ‘ordinary unhappiness,’ it is through accepting the contradictions rather than trying to fill them with self-help’s promise of wholeness, optimisation, and even overcoming death. These aspirations are rooted in a narcissistic culture that fails to recognise the elements of life that give human existence its mundane sense of meaning. Politics in a Narcissistic Landscape Lasch observed how this culture of narcissism erodes historical continuity. In politics, charisma outweighs competence. Leaders become symbols of personal fantasy rather than guardians of collective well-being, both now and in the future. This emptiness is quickly filled by the promises of self-help, which offer individual solutions instead of shared direction. Lasch quotes an unnamed management book, which described success as, “not simply getting ahead” but “getting ahead of others.” This leaves us spinning our wheels, seeking shortcuts, and managing perceptions. Rather than getting anywhere with a long-view perspective. Self-help often reinforces the pattern of “constant and never-ending improvement.” It depicts the self as permanently incomplete, always seeking the next insight, tool, or mentor. In other words, it keeps the focus on the individual as both the cause and the remedy for the instability caused by external forces. Preoccupied with Youthfulness Lasch asserts that “The real value of the accumulated wisdom of a lifetime is that it can be handed on to future generations.” Knowledge is regarded as instrumental, a view reinforced by the internet. It is something to utilise rather than pass on through personal relationships. With rapid technological change, we are led to believe that the older generation has little to teach the younger. This leads us to become obsessed with youthfulness as a matter of survival. This fear of old age and death is closely connected to the rise of the narcissistic personality as the dominant personality type in modern society. Because narcissists have so few inner resources, they seek validation from others. They crave admiration for their beauty, charm, celebrity, or power, which diminish with time. Consequently, the narcissistic culture becomes obsessed with curing degradation and death. It does this rather than embracing it gracefully and enjoying its fruits. Always Being Watched Lasch wrote that “Cameras and recording machines not only transcribe experience but alter its quality, giving to much of modern life the character of an enormous echo chamber, a hall of mirrors.” Nothing happens in private. But can we let life unfold quietly, slowly, and separately from the reflection in the pool?

The deal is done. Netflix will purchase Warner Bros. Discovery for $82 billion. Yet another corporate monopoly drives a nail through Hollywood's coffin. It was bad enough when Disney bought Fox, Star Wars, and Marvel. Now, Netflix will be among the most powerful corporate monopolies, replacing what Hollywood used to be.America gave up on Hollywood because Hollywood gave up on America. The result is empty movie theaters all over the country—one bomb after another. Of course, Warner Bros. knew. You'd have to be an idiot not to know. Does anyone think Netflix is sweating the online memes accusing it of being too woke? No, they aren't. They are making too much money to care. With streaming, there is no free market pressure, no quality control. You don't have to motivate people to leave their homes. You don't need big stars to drive box office, and best of all, you can ignore the silent majority that has tuned you out long ago. Hate the trans agenda being shoved down everyone's throat? Too bad. Your boycotts are a drop in the bucket at Netflix. It's the perfect solution to Hollywood's problem. They can have everything they want — a virtue signaling paradise — and never have to worry about big budgets or low box office ever again. That's the easy way out. The truth is harder to swallow. They destroyed themselves. They wrecked their brand and alienated their audience. Hollywood built a ship of failure when it split into two divergent paths around 2003, after the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings franchises brought in ungodly profits not just here but around the world. The branding was the key, the IPs. For years, they dominated the global box office and brought people to movie theaters across the country.Meanwhile, in the other Hollywood, in the “prestige” niche lane where the Oscars live, things began to get smaller, more isolated, more aligned with politics, especially under Barack Obama. His win influenced almost everything, as he loves to put out his top-ten lists every year and even has a deal with Netflix. These two Hollywoods existed side by side like the First Class section of the airplane vs. Coach, where they “let them eat Marvel.” You can see the rise and fall in one image, from Box Office Mojo:This year might mean that, for the first time since 2020, China will dominate the Worldwide box office rather than Hollywood, unless Jim Cameron can bring Avatar: Fire and Ash over the 2 billion mark.In 2019, Hollywood put out over 900 movies. Last year, just 624, and many of them bombed. So what happened? 2020 happened. The one-two punch of COVID and the Great Awokening brought Hollywood to its knees. The Oscar race this year is loaded with unwatchable movies that swirl around things almost no one outside the bubble of Hollywood cares about, identity mainly. Mothers' caterwauling their oppression, like Die, My Love, If I had Legs I'd Kick You, and even One Battle After Another feature women who seem to hate their children. The people who run Hollywood are still mostly rich white men, but they must always genuflect, with women or people of color as shields to protect them from accusations of sexism or racism by the mob online. The rise of female directors who get these jobs for no other reason except that they're female has transformed a once-great industry into a DEI film school. Every couple is interracial. Every movie must have significant actors of color. The GLAAD lobby demands representation everywhere. Why would anyone want to pay money to have them shove their ideology down our throats?Success doesn't even matter to them. That they project “goodness” is all they care about now, their status inside utopia. The EndAs I drive across this country, I sometimes see a multiplex in a mall. It looks as deserted to me as the old drive-ins once did, and I can't help but think this really is the end for movie theaters. They'll go the way of the record store, limited to enthusiasts in the big cities. Everyone else will numbly scroll through Netflix for whatever they can find, but it will never have the same cultural impact as a great movie when we're all under one roof, sharing a story.It's yet more separation, more isolation, more internet, more social media, less of what we all need as a society.“The Future is Coming, and You Aren't In It”After COVID ended for rational Americans, we all wondered whether people would return to the movies. The paranoid mask-wearing Liberals did not. Even Peggy Noonan noticed.In 2022, a miracle arrived in the form of Tom Cruise starring in Top Gun: Maverick. It made so much money that it wiped clean the argument that Hollywood was over and movie theaters were dying. Although it was nominated for Best Picture, it lost to the woke screed, Everything Everywhere All At Once. That was a sign that Hollywood was not ready for the iceberg right ahead.The following year showed promise, with “Barbenheimer,” “Oppenheimer,” and “Barbie” becoming cultural sensations on TikTok. The Oscars did the right thing and gave their awards to Oppenheimer. Though things seem to be moving in the right direction, it's too little, too late. Audiences don't trust Hollywood anymore, and I can't blame them. Of all the Warner Bros. movies that were successful this year, the Oscar will likely go to the anti-ICE, pro-ANTIFA, anti-Trump rallying cry, One Battle After Another. No film in recent memory has better captured the singular worldview of the progressive Left.As Curtis Yarvin wrote for The Spectator:Fundamentally, One Battle is a religious film. It is entirely set in the fantasy landscape of the great American religion, progressivism, the 20th-century evolution of our ancient Puritan tradition. If you are a true believer, imagine watching Battlefield Earth without being a Scientologist. For non-progressives, One Battle may be necessary viewing. It displays the interior landscape of the narcissistic narrative of our world's dominant cult of power. We seldom get to strap a GoPro to the inside of a lib's forehead. And he continues:So this film is out there – recruiting damaged people by presenting them as romantic heroes in a propaganda fantasy. Few will kill. But many will clap. When bad movies succeed, as One Battle will, they diagnose something bad in the audiences they entertain. Corrupt art is the pathognomonic mark of a corrupt society. Shitty people will watch this shitty film, and love it. Shitty journalists have already given it a standing ovation – the politics makes them hard, like Lockjaw. This evil is at the very heart of our culture.As Leonard Cohen noted: “I have seen the future, brother. It is murder.” Murder is as old as Cain. The anonymous internet is young. Nobody asked for the combination. But they'll get it.So, of course, the critics have gone nuts for it. It IS religious for them. It's already won many awards and is on track to win Best Picture. Trust me, Hollywood has no desire to save itself. One Battle After Another cost upwards of $140 million and only made $70 million in the US, with the bulk of its profits made overseas on Leonardo DiCaprio's name, which is why it's assumed he demanded his usual fee of $20 million. Old Hollywood understood that you don't reward failure with film awards. New Hollywood cares less about the money and more about the message. The public used to matter because the box office did. No wonder WB is selling out after watching one bomb after another this past year. Why wait for bankruptcy? Why not cash out now on a high note?This is the kind of thing Hollywood pumps out now:And therein lies the problem. They forgot it wasn't about them. They believed their own publicity. They fell in love with their own image, like Narcissus. They began to believe they were important. We loved movies and celebrities for what they gave us, not for who they are. We don't care. We don't need them to fix us. Or teach us. Or lecture us. Or scold us. We just need them to entertain us. Well, now the billionaires have arrived to prove to them how little they matter when it comes to the bottom line. And if you think that's bad, wait until the AI tsunami wipes out half the industry. The audience was always their best hope for survival. As long as we showed up, Hollywood and its stars had power. Now that audiences have vanished, well, the ship is made of iron, and it will sink.Who knows, maybe Congress or Trump can stop the merger. That still won't fix the fundamental problem of what Hollywood has become and why the public turned away. On the upside, the giant hole Hollywood leaves behind, like the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs, might open up movie theaters to a new breed of filmmaker. Maybe they can make movies Hollywood or Netflix never would - trashy comedies, cheap horror, romantic comedies, Dirty Harry movies. Who knows, maybe we can Make Hollywood Great Again. What better way to rebuild a counterculture?Altamont, Illinois, 8:42AM. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.sashastone.com/subscribe

In this month's astrological reading & earth medicine episode of Centered, Angie walks us through the deep spiritual terrain of December 2025—a month of crossroads, dissolving illusions, sacred rest, and choosing what we truly believe. We explore how the astrology of the month lines up with our Earth Medicine allies: Bear, Blue Topaz, Narcissus, and the energies of owning where you are and hibernation. December asks us to soften our grip on certainty, to trust the unknown, and to let ourselves be held by the restorative rhythm of winter.Earth Medicine for December:

I år rejser vi tilbage til 1800-tallet og træder ind i den borgerlige jul, hvor juletræet for første gang spreder lys i de danske stuer. Men undervejs støder vi også på Adam Oehlenschläger – ikke kun som nationalskjald og juletræspioner, men som forfatter til et overraskende erotisk digt, der mange år senere dukker op i Ekstra Bladets sexbrevkasse. Fra de første juletræer på Holsteinborg til Grundtvigs salmer, H.C. Andersens grantræ og borgerskabets julemad – vi følger julens vej fra tysk import til dansk tradition. Episoden er skrevet og fortalt af Berit Freyheit Her finder du det, jeg har læst til episoden Facebook: Bag om Københavns podcast + nyhedsbrev Musikbidder er hentet fra FMA/Public Domain: Clouds by HoliznaCC0  & Narcissus smells like headache by Monplaisir 126

Mød litteraturhistoriker og journalist Sara Alfort, der elsker de divaer og damer, der var for meget. Hun har netop udgivet sin tredje bog om kvinder, der nok selv skulle bestemme, hvordan deres liv skulle leves. Hendes seneste bog hedder 'Da træerne voksede ind i himlen' og hun deler bl.a. en godbid fra den og beretter, hvordan hun i sin research afdækkede, hvordan den forestilling om kvindelige kunstnere som nogen, der malede blomster og ikke kunne få en kunstnerisk uddannelse, ikke holder vand. For de rejste; til Paris, til Rom, til Athen. De malede, udstillede, debatterede og valgte et liv med kunsten. Bag om Københavnerhistorikerne er et møde med de mennesker, der skriver om eller i København. Fælles for dem er, at de er historiefortællere: Det er dem, der undersøger og skaber de fortællinger om København, som vi bruger til at blive klogere på byen og dens lange og mangesidede historie. Bag om Københavnerhistorikerne er et supplement til Bag om København. Interviewer og tilrettelægger: Mai-Britt Tollund Klippet sammen af: Mai-Britt Tollund og Berit Freyheit Se litteraturliste og tilhørende artikel her Facebook: Bag om Københavns podcast + nyhedsbrev Musikbidder er hentet fra FMA/Public Domain: Clouds by HoliznaCC0  & Narcissus smells like headache by Monplaisir

Narcissus enters the ring to compete for the big first-place trophy! Character sheets and battle map images for this episode are available at Patreon.com/MajorSpoilers Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers Patron at Patreon.com/MajorSpoilers. It will help ensure Critical Hit continues far into the future! Join our Discord server and chat with fellow Spoilerites! (https://discord.gg/jWF9BbF) Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site for more.

Narcissus enters the ring to compete for the big first-place trophy! Character sheets and battle map images for this episode are available at Patreon.com/MajorSpoilers Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers Patron at Patreon.com/MajorSpoilers. It will help ensure Critical Hit continues far into the future! Join our Discord server and chat with fellow Spoilerites! (https://discord.gg/jWF9BbF) Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site for more.

Narcissus enters the ring to compete for the big first-place trophy! Character sheets and battle map images for this episode are available at Patreon.com/MajorSpoilers Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers Patron at Patreon.com/MajorSpoilers. It will help ensure Critical Hit continues far into the future! Join our Discord server and chat with fellow Spoilerites! (https://discord.gg/jWF9BbF) Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site for more.

En isnende november-nat i 1951 bliver København ramt af en af sine største katastrofer. Hvad der begynder som en tilsyneladende almindelig brand på Holmen, udvikler sig på få minutter til et altødelæggende inferno, da et armeringsværksted fyldt med miner springer i luften. Eksplosionen flænser natten, slynger murbrokker ud over byen, dræber brandfolk og soldater på stedet – og efterlader København i chok. Dette er historien om Holmen-katastrofen: en blanding af uheld, mangelfuld information og dødelig rutine, der kostede 16 mennesker livet og satte et uudsletteligt spor i byens historie. En embedsmand på vej mod toppen ender som livstidsfange. Christian Birch er på nippet til at blive finansminister, men hans liv vælter, da spillegæld, forfalskede obligationer og misbrug af statskassen indhenter ham. Det hele starter med en bryllupsgæld, et lotteri – og en brand, der opsluger alt, hvad han ejer. Snart står han i centrum for en af Danmarks største korruptionsskandaler, dømt til vanære og fængsel på livstid. Christian Birchs sag bliver et vendepunkt. Den lægger grundstenen til en ny embedskultur, hvor tillid og ansvarlighed er kerneværdier. Derfor fremhæves Danmark i dag som et af de mindst korrupte lande i verden – netop fordi erfaringerne fra 1800-tallet viser, hvor ødelæggende korruption er for både statens magt og borgernes tillid. Birchs fald bliver dermed ikke kun en personlig tragedie, men en milepæl i opbygningen af det embedsmandsideal, vi stadig lever med i dag. Episoden er skrevet og fortalt af Berit Freyheit Her finder du det, jeg har læst til episoden Facebook: Bag om Københavns podcast + nyhedsbrev Musikbidder er hentet fra FMA/Public Domain: Clouds by HoliznaCC0  & Narcissus smells like headache by Monplaisir 125

In this installment of Critical Hit - A Major Spoilers Podcast: Who will move on to the final round!? Will it be Narcissus or Nadia!? Character sheets and battle map images for this episode are available at Patreon.com/MajorSpoilers Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers Patron at Patreon.com/MajorSpoilers. It will help ensure Critical Hit continues far into the future! Join our Discord server and chat with fellow Spoilerites! (https://discord.gg/jWF9BbF) Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site for more.

In this installment of Critical Hit - A Major Spoilers Podcast: Who will move on to the final round!? Will it be Narcissus or Nadia!? Character sheets and battle map images for this episode are available at Patreon.com/MajorSpoilers Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers Patron at Patreon.com/MajorSpoilers. It will help ensure Critical Hit continues far into the future! Join our Discord server and chat with fellow Spoilerites! (https://discord.gg/jWF9BbF) Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site for more.

In this installment of Critical Hit - A Major Spoilers Podcast: Who will move on to the final round!? Will it be Narcissus or Nadia!? Character sheets and battle map images for this episode are available at Patreon.com/MajorSpoilers Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers Patron at Patreon.com/MajorSpoilers. It will help ensure Critical Hit continues far into the future! Join our Discord server and chat with fellow Spoilerites! (https://discord.gg/jWF9BbF) Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site for more.

This week, David visits the new sensory garden in Bangor's Ward Park which as been designed with those living with dementia in mind. One listener gets in touch after finding fresh hens eggs (with a date stamp) buried in her garden pots – the team attempt to unravel the mystery. Adam Frost chooses Euonymus alatus as his shrub of the month for October. Garden designer and nursery owner Jamie Butterworth on his manic year that's included designing a garden with Monty Don, getting married and writing a book! Also on the programme, with the arrival of the bulb of Narcissus ‘Gardeners' Corner', named to mark the 40th year of the programme, David Maxwell plants the first few bulbs in studio with Ann FitzSimons. Email the programme at gardenerscorner@bbc.co.uk

One of the joys of year-round gardening is the succession that comes from a bulb lasagne, and for those with a greenhouse, the possibilities are stunning.This episode of ‘grow, cook, eat, arrange' is full of inspiration for early narcissi, late tulips, and dahlias fit for each layer of a bulb lasagne, with a quick recap on how to layer them for maximum impact.We'll also hear Sarah's homemade remedy for mildew, a pesky problem that greenhouse gardeners will need to watch out for as they grow their delightful arrangements.In this episode, discover:How to master the art of the ‘bulb lasagne' for layers of beautiful blooms from winter right through to late springThe best bulb varieties and combinations to guarantee a continuous parade of colour, scent, and picking opportunities all year roundSimple, effective ways to use your greenhouse for early flowers and delicious winter ediblesTips for keeping your plants healthy and thriving, with a homemade solution for mildewProducts mentioned:Narcissus 'Avalanche'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/narcissus-avalancheNarcissus 'Erlicheer'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/narcissus-erlicheerNarcissus 'Cragford' (Forcing)https://www.sarahraven.com/products/narcissus-cragford-for-forcingIris x hollandica 'Red Ember'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/dutch-iris-red-emberAllium jesdianum 'Purple Rain'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/allium-purple-rainAllium hollandicum 'Purple Sensation'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/allium-hollandicum-purple-sensationAllium cristophiihttps://www.sarahraven.com/products/allium-cristophiiDahlia 'Strawberry Cream'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/dahlia-strawberry-creamTulip 'White Valley' syn 'Exotic Emperor'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/tulip-white-valleyAnemone coronaria 'Mistral Bordeaux'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/anemone-coronaria-mistral-bordeauxRanunculus Butterfly 'Ariadne'https://www.sarahraven.com/products/ranunculus-butterfly-ariadneFollow Sarah: https://www.instagram.com/sarahravenperchhill/Get in touch: info@sarahraven.comShop on the Sarah Raven Website: http://bit.ly/3jvbaeuFollow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahravensgarden/Order Sarah's latest books: https://www.sarahraven.com/gifts/gardening-books?sort=newest

Become a founding member: https://store.dralexanderloyd.com/products/practice-of-paradise Join Dr. Alex Loyd and Harry for Episode 4 of Path to Paradise, where Harry presents his groundbreaking thesis on narcissism - examining how self-derived identity has become culturally fashionable while destroying our capacity for genuine love. What You'll Discover: ✅ Why "self-derived identity" is radically narcissistic dressed in progressive language ✅ The ancient Greek myth of Narcissus and its shocking modern relevance ✅ How narcissism operates on a spectrum we're all on ✅ The DSM-5 criteria for narcissistic personality disorder ✅ Why self-sacrificial love threatens narcissistic comfort ✅ Practical tactics for dealing with narcissists without losing yourself Key Topics Covered: The myth of Narcissus: losing innocence vs. recognizing God's image Why self-derived meaning is incompatible with genuine love How narcissists use manipulation, gaslighting, and emotional tactics The difference between affection/affirmation and true agape love Biblical wisdom for responding to narcissistic behavior Why staying calm and logical disrupts narcissistic patterns Harry's Core Insight: "You cannot live self-sacrificially for others if your core identity is founded on the self you would be sacrificing. You might like the idea, you might want to do it, but ultimately you will not allow it to happen." Practice of Paradise Update: The Founder's Special closes Friday at midnight! This comprehensive mentorship program represents Dr. Alex's life work - addressing spiritual roots instead of symptoms.  Founder's Special: $497 (or 2 payments of $297) ✓ 12 + 6 BONUS advanced teachings immediately ✓ 3 brand-new interventions ✓ $1000+ bonuses: Healing Codes, Belief Mapping, Love Code ✓ Exclusive invitation to $47/month membership for complete 50+ hour program

In this installment of Critical Hit - A Major Spoilers Podcast: Toby and Narcissus compete to remain in the tournament! Character sheets and battle map images for this episode are available at Patreon.com/MajorSpoilers Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers Patron at Patreon.com/MajorSpoilers. It will help ensure Critical Hit continues far into the future!

In this installment of Critical Hit - A Major Spoilers Podcast: Toby and Narcissus compete to remain in the tournament! Character sheets and battle map images for this episode are available at Patreon.com/MajorSpoilers Show your thanks to Major Spoilers for this episode by becoming a Major Spoilers Patron at Patreon.com/MajorSpoilers. It will help ensure Critical Hit continues far into the future! Join our Discord server and chat with fellow Spoilerites! (https://discord.gg/jWF9BbF) Contact us at podcast@majorspoilers.com A big Thank You goes out to everyone who downloads, subscribes, listens, and supports this show. We really appreciate you taking the time to listen to our ramblings each week. Tell your friends about the podcast, get them to subscribe and, be sure to visit the Major Spoilers site for more.

With over 89 cultivars of daffodil, the Backhouse Rossie Estate in Fife, Scotland, holds the only scientific collection of Narcissus in the world. The family's work revolutionised daffodil breeding in the 19th and early 20th century and inspired the Backhouse Heritage Daffodil Collection. Continuing to preserve and celebrate daffodils at the estate, including a registered collection of spring flowering Narcissus with Plant Heritage, direct descendent of the Backhouse family, Caroline Thomson brings to light the history of the Backhouse daffodils. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices