Socrates’ Hemlock Smoothie: Philosophy & Political Theory
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EP83: The WEF is Actually Bad, But Not Like That (ft. Raj Patel, Joel Bakan, and more)
The WEF is yet another example of the scrambled ideologues of our moment. Conservatives condemn the WEF, and news organizations like Rebel cover it doggedly; at the same time, left-leaning NGOs speak there, and progressive news organizations say little. On this episode, we examine the shifting politics around our global financial elites.Listen now -
EP80: Dr. Ex Machina (ft. Casey Ross & Ben Chin-Yee)
Could an artificial intelligence diagnosis what ails you? Medical futurists offer a techno-utopian vision of perfect personalized risk assessments, diagnoses, and treatment recommendations. Yet, recent stories belie this optimism.Listen now -
EP77: The Hearts of Men (ft. Vaush, Annie Kelly, & Nicholas Lemann)
Online masculinity is getting weirder and weirder. Now, we’ve got bro science, ball tanning, ball eatin,’ piss drinkin,’ and who knows what's next. We ask: what's broken in the hearts of men, and how might the left fix it?Listen now -
EP69: Mathematical Morality (ft. Émile P. Torres)
The collapse of the crypotcurrency exchange FTX has is forcing a reckoning in the financial world, with calls intensifying to reign in and regulate these emerging technologies. It's also forcing a philosophical reckoning about the ideas that inspired their CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried. SBF is a major proponent and funder of Effective Altruism.Listen now -
EP66: Technocracy Now!, pt. 3 (ft. Sam Adler-Bell & Alessandro Delfanti)
The first two episodes of this series told stories of technocrats who tied themselves to a muscular state. They believed the state could remake society, if it had the right expertise. However, the state under neoliberalism doesn’t have the technocratic ambitions or capacities it used to. Does that mean technocracy is dead? No, technocracy is just moving into the private sphere.Listen now