logo
episode-header-image
Aug 2025
1 h

It’s time to get weird

Vox
About this episode
The internet was supposed to set us free. But somewhere along the way, it became a tool for surveillance, extraction, and control. What happened? And is there still time to reclaim the weird, untapped potential of the digital world? This week, Sean is joined by Douglas Rushkoff. He’s a media theorist, author of Survival of the Richest and Team Human, and ho ... Show More
Up next
Jun 12
The people who want AI to replace us
Sean talks with writer Sigal Samuel about AI successionism, the growing movement that sees artificial intelligence as humanity’s rightful successor. They discuss why some people in the AI world think humanity should be replaced, how this vision borrows from old religious ideas ab ... Show More
49m 14s
Jun 8
Understanding our dreams
Sean talks with dream scientist Michelle Carr about what dreams are, why we have them, and what they might reveal about the mind. They discuss nightmares, lucid dreaming, memory, consciousness, and whether dreams are just random brain noise or a kind of overnight therapy. They al ... Show More
47m 57s
Jun 1
Do we really need to work so hard?
Americans have absorbed the Protestant work ethic: the idea that our value as human beings – and our eventual salvation – is determined by how hard we work. Political philosopher Elizabeth Anderson explains how this evolved, why it pervades everything, and why it’s no longer serv ... Show More
41m 50s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2025
American Capitalism in Decay: An Analysis (Pokepreet X Rev Left)
<p><em>(There was a small audio issue at the end of this episode, we fixed it and are re-releasing it)</em><br /> <br /> Breht goes on the Pokepreet Podcast as a guest to have a fun and fiery conversation about his ideological development, why the United States is so hostile to s ... Show More
2h 18m
Sep 2024
The Politics of Pleasure w/ Eric Wycoff Rogers and Zarinah Agnew
<p>Capitalism's addiction to growth doesn't just show up in the external world. It can also be found inside us—in our manufactured desire for more and better. Not only do we have to keep wanting to keep the machine going, we have to keep wanting what is "scarce" and easily privat ... Show More
1h 26m
Jul 2024
Introducing Shell Game, a Strange and Immersive AI Experiment
What would happen if you created a digital copy of yourself, powered by AI, and set it loose in the world? Evan Ratliff, longtime tech journalist, decided to find out. He combined a clone of his voice, an AI chatbot, and a phone line—many phone lines, actually—into what are calle ... Show More
2m 52s
Jun 2025
Imagining the Digital Afterlife
The animated TV series Pantheon (streaming on Netflix) asks what if you could upload your mind to the Internet? Would still be human? Would we create a virtual paradise where everyone got to live forever? Or would we find new and more sophisticated ways to destroy each other? I t ... Show More
43m 34s
Dec 2024
How to Be a Good Ancestor w/ Roman Krznaric
<p class="MsoNormal">It's been said that "the shortest path to the future is always one through the deepening of the past." But how do we balance the past, present, and future, when all three weigh so heavily on our consciousness and our social existence?</p> <p class="MsoNormal" ... Show More
1h 22m
Jul 2025
How to recapture the joy of the early internet | Michael Sun
Before algorithms ruled our feeds, the internet was a mess — glitchy, chaotic and full of unexpected magic. Internet culture writer Michael Sun reflects on the wild digital world of the 2000s — and makes a funny, wry case for why we need to reclaim its spontaneity, weirdness and ... Show More
12m 5s
Nov 2024
The Tech-God Complex: Why We Need to be Skeptics
Silicon Valley's interest in AI is driven by more than just profit and innovation. There’s an unmistakable mystical quality to it as well. In this episode, Daniel and Aza sit down with humanist chaplain Greg Epstein to explore the fascinating parallels between technology and reli ... Show More
46m 32s
Mar 2025
Expanded Love: The New Paradigm of Dating, Relationships & Life!
The first episode of Season 3 of The New Truth Podcast with Kate! If you are feeling like any facet of your life is out of alignment, this episode is for you! It is an invitation to take full responsibility for your truths, your life, your relationships and also will illuminate a ... Show More
33m 42s