Podcasts about pineal express

In the two years since Pineal Express has been running, we, its operators, have sought to raise awareness about the major problems facing our species. Such problems include climate change, the risk of technological dystopia, and the latest rise of the authoritarian far-right worldwide. These problems have been worsened by the United States. But the United States also has the potential to ameliorate them, provided that its government is functional enough to do so. For that reason, among others, it is important that the United States government not fall into chronic stagnation, dysfunction, or in the extreme case: collapse or despotism. Presently, there are numerous structural weaknesses which threaten the efficacy and long term health of the United States government. Among these weaknesses is the electoral college, which has contradicted the popular vote in the election of two out of the last three presidents in their first terms. For demographic reasons and electoral vote apportionments over time, that kind of incongruity between the electoral college and popular vote may become more frequent, not less. Another structural weakness is legislative district gerrymandering on the state and federal level, now aided by precise, computer-driven optimization of legislative maps for partisan advantage, thereby making control of some legislative districts effectively voter-proof. Yet another structural weakness is the states’ leeway to enact laws which suppress voter turnout, chiefly among minorities, the poor, and the young. Still another weakness includes the campaign finance system, which allows for a kind of legalized corruption in government, with candidates at every stage of the electoral process disproportionately influenced by, if not outright dependent upon, those entities which bankroll them most. There is also the inherently unrepresentative nature of the US Senate, where right now the 40 million people living in California get two senators, whereas the 40 million people living in the least populated states get a combined total of forty-four senators. The scale of this problem may grow even more severe with demographic change over time. Lastly, there’s the Supreme Court, which is theoretically vulnerable to a cadre of ideologues capitalizing on their lifetime tenure to spend decades setting aside legal precedent in favor of enacting a partisan judicial agenda. One wonders precisely how close we are to that now. These structural weaknesses threaten the functionality and stability of the United States government because they make the government less representative of and less responsive to the general public. Furthermore, they raise the chances that an oligarchic minority can use government to stymie anti-corruption reforms or to consolidate undue power. It is worth mentioning that elected Republicans benefit disproportionately from each of these structural weaknesses, and therefore, they have an incentive to maintain the status quo insofar as they can. Hence there is great challenge in pursuing a reform agenda. Joining us today to talk about the pressing need to solve these fundamental problems of representation in the US government is Harvard Law Professor, Lawrence Lessig. Professor Lessig has argued that the United States has become “ungovernable” and that new, unprecedented efforts to reform the system are necessary. These efforts could include specific reform-minded election strategies, or an Article V Convention to propose constitutional amendments. Professor Lessig details his strategies for fixing our broken government on his podcast, Another Way. We do recommend listening to Another Way in tandem with this episode of Pineal Express. -- Thanks to EllE for this episode’s intro. EllE (electronic music): https://soundcloud.com/evynn3 EllE (rap): https://soundcloud.com/cycleofhands

What an extraordinary week in podcast universe! Jim Mack, co-host of Pineal Express infiltrates Podsmash's picks of the week. www.usehotels.com/blow code: LISTEN30 www.leaffilternow.com/blow --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/blow-jam/support

The hosts of one of the best podcasts around, Pineal Express, Jim Mack and Julian Willard stopped by Blow Jam HQ to hang out. BJ had a really insightful interview about politics & issues relating to the human condition with Jim and Julian, and also got to know some of their special talents outside of podcasting. (This episode was recorded outside on a gorgeous day last summer you will hear some authentic nature noises in the beautiful wooded outskirts of our hometown Binghamton NY) Join the Pineal Express Facebook Community https://www.facebook.com/PinealExpress/ And follow them on Twitter @pinealexpress   This ep is brought to you by Casper- get 50$ off any mattress purchase using code 50Sleep  https://www.caspertrial.com/blow --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/blow-jam/support

In Episode 10 of Pineal Express, we spoke with Binghamton University Philosopher Eric Dietrich about consciousness, skeptic philosophy, and paradoxes. If you haven't already listened to it, we recommend you go back and listen to Episode 10 before listening to this one. In this episode, we invited Eric Dietrich back to discuss his book Excellent Beauty: The Naturalness of Religion and the Unnaturalness of the World. In the book, Dietrich argues that religious belief is widespread across the human species because it has an evolutionary origin. He also argues that religious belief is false and largely destructive in modern times. Dietrich suggests that people could satisfy their need for wonder and awe not through religion, but rather by embracing the beautifully perplexing scientific mysteries. Dietrich calls these mysteries "Excellent Beauties"; they include consciousness, infinity, true-contradictions, and quantum mechanics, among others.

Hey listeners, Julian here. Jim and I, along with two friends of the show, produced a 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate Draft episode for our Patrons on patreon.com/PinealExpress This is a preview of that draft, during which the four of us took the opportunity to rag on former Vice Presidential candidate Tim Kaine, after I drafted him for my team in the fourth round. Special thanks to friends of the show Delia Blackman of the podcast Blow Jam and Carinne Vizvary for their participation in the draft. Get the full draft episode by becoming a Patron of Pineal Express.