Team Human

Playing for Team Human today: New York State Assemblyman and candidate for New York City Public Advocate, Ron Kim. Ron will be helping us understand the power of local, grassroots activism and how to make government a thing of the people. With the election just around the corner, February 26th, Kim is spreading a message about putting community over corporations. “This is about people investing in people,” Kim explains. Hear Ron Kim’s vision for change that moves beyond “race to the bottom” politics that pit cities and states against each other.Rushkoff, just back from book tour in the UK, opens the show discussing a great awakening happening across the globe. Thousands of children in Great Britain walked out of school in protest of inaction on climate change. Here at home, grassroots activists won a powerful victory against Amazon and their proposed HQ2 in Queens (listen to last week's show with activists Amy Herzog and Jacinta Gonzalez). Meanwhile establishment pundits and politicians continue to dismiss these efforts as naive or foolish. What does this ridicule tell us about this revolutionary moment we are in? You can find versions of Rushkoff’s monologues as well as archives of this show on Medium.Team Human happens each week thanks to the generous support of our listeners on Patreon. Your support makes the hours of labor that go into each show possible. You can also help by reviewing the show on iTunes.On this episode you heard Fugazi’s “Foreman’s Dog” in the intro thanks to the kindness of the band and Dischord Records. Mid show was Throbbing Gristle’s “Walkabout” (See Team Human Episode 67 with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge.) Our outro features the Mike Watt ’s beak-holding-letter-man.Order Team Human the manifesto, now available everywhere!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Playing for Team Human today: immigrant rights activists Jacinta Gonzalez and Amy Herzog.Jacinta and Amy will be showing us why the people living in Queens, New York may not want to welcome Amazon’s HQ2 with open arms. With Amazon poised to deliver on lucrative government contracts for surveillance and immigration enforcement technologies, Jacinta and Amy make it clear that the stakes are higher than just rising rents and gentrification.On today’s episode we’ll take a hard look at Amazon’s “cloud industrial complex.” We’ll look at how surveillance technologies like Amazon’s Rekognition are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to programs that antagonize vulnerable communities. Jacinta and Amy give Team Human listeners a critical and concrete look at the multiple intersections between our technology giants, police-state enforcement policies, and the long history of corporate profiteering on the backs of marginalized peoples. Jacinta Gonzalez is field director for Mijente, a group organizing Latinx communities around issues of immigration, detention, and deportation. Mijente has a wealth of resources and information. To learn more about the Cloud Industrial Complex, check out Mijente’s report Who’s Behind Ice and link back to Mijente.net for links to more actions, petitions, and ways to get involved. https://ice.tech.blog/ is also a tremendous hub of information about the growing relationship between big tech and lucrative government contracts to equip ICE.Amy Herzog is a media historian whose research spans a broad range of interdisciplinary subjects. She is Professor of Media Studies at Queens College and a faculty member in the Departments of Theatre and Music at the CUNY Graduate Center, as well as the programs in Film Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies. She has also taught as Visiting Associate Professor at the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University. She is a co-founder of @NoAmazonAmazons. In the News:Tech firms make millions from Trump's anti-immigrant agenda, report finds:https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/23/silicon-valley-tech-firms-making-money-trump-anti-immigrant-agenda-reportAmazon is the invisible backbone behind ICE’s immigration crackdown:https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612335/amazon-is-the-invisible-backbone-behind-ices-immigration-crackdown/Facial Recognition and Voice Recognition via the Intercept:https://theintercept.com/2018/11/15/amazon-echo-voice-recognition-accents-alexa/https://theintercept.com/2018/07/30/amazon-facial-recognition-police-military/Douglas opens the show asking if we are taking the wrong approach in our communication about climate change? Can we move people away from feeling powerless to effect change and shape the future? What if we said, “Climate change is about to be defeated! Now is the time to go all in. Don’t miss the opportunity!” instead?Check out Douglas’s regular column on Medium for essay versions of this and other show monologues.Team Human happens each week thanks to the generous support of our listeners on Patreon. Your support makes the hours of labor that go into each show possible. You can also help by reviewing the show on iTunes.On this episode you heard Fugazi’s “Foreman’s Dog” in the intro thanks to the kindness of the band and Dischord Records. Mid show was Throbbing Gristle’s “Walkabout” See Team Human Episode 67 with Genesis Breyer P-Orridge. Our outro features the Mike Watt ’s beak-holding-letter-man.Order Team Human the book and manifesto, now available everywhere!  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this special episode of Team Human, Douglas is joined by Siobhan O’Connor, vice president of editorial at Medium. Siobhan and Douglas reverse roles as she hosts the official Team Human book launch. This event was recorded live at Civic Hall on January 23, just one day after the Team Human manifesto hit the shelves. Whether you’ve been a Team Human listener from the very beginning or just started reading the book, this conversation exemplifies Rushkoff at his most open and candid.Douglas begins with a monologue reflecting back on the classic lesson from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, "You are special just the way you are.” Updating this wise old maxim for a digital age, Rushkoff asserts:You are not just the inputs and outputs.You are not just the value you create for the market.You are not just the metrics that we have of your worth or your “net worth.”You are not just your utility value.So what does make humans so special? How do we reassert our inherent value the digital age? Join in on this live conversation to hear a hope-filled and provocative exploration of topics from the newly released Team Human manifesto.Check out Douglas’s regular column on Medium.Team Human happens each week thanks to the generous support of our listeners on Patreon. Your support makes the hours of labor that go into each show possible. You can also help by reviewing the show on iTunes.On this episode you heard Fugazi’s “Foreman’s Dog” in the intro thanks to the kindness of the band and Dischord Records. Mid show you heard R.U. Sirius’s President Mussolini Makes the Planes Run On Time. Our outro features the Mike Watt ’s beak-holding-letter-man.Photo credit: @EDLphotographyMore on this event:WWNorton, Civic Hall, and the Team Human podcast celebrate the launch of Douglas Rushkoff's new book, Team Human.Team Human is a manifesto―a fiery distillation of preeminent digital theorist Douglas Rushkoff’s most urgent thoughts on civilization and human nature. In one hundred lean and incisive statements, he argues that we are essentially social creatures, and that we achieve our greatest aspirations when we work together―not as individuals. Yet today society is threatened by a vast antihuman infrastructure that undermines our ability to connect. Money, once a means of exchange, is now a means of exploitation; education, conceived as way to elevate the working class, has become another assembly line; and the internet has only further divided us into increasingly atomized and radicalized groups. We are creating machine intelligences with the express purpose of controlling human thought and behavior.Team Human delivers a call to arms. If we are to resist and survive these destructive forces, we must recognize that being human is a team sport. In Rushkoff’s own words: “Being social may be the whole point.” Harnessing wide-ranging research on human evolution, biology, and psychology, Rushkoff shows that when we work together we realize greater happiness, productivity, and peace. If we can find the others who understand this fundamental truth and reassert our humanity ― together―we can make the world a better place to be human.Hosted bySiobhan O'Connoris the VP of editorial at Medium, an author, journalist, speaker, and strategist. She was a speaker at the Aspen Ideas festival and is the former executive editor of Time Magazine.Douglas Rushkoff is a media theorist, author, documentarian, and world-renowned public intellectual who has spent his prolific career thinking about how new media and technology are impacting culture and the economy. Named one of the world’s 10 most influential thinkers by MIT, Rushkoff has written 15 bestselling books and coined such concepts as “viral media,” “social currency,” and “digital natives.”  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Playing for Team Human today: journalist and Nation columnist Aaron Maté.Aaron is gong to break down “Russiagate,” taking a sober look at the media frenzy of “bombshell” stories asserting a Russian conspiracy behind the 2016 election. Maté explains why he thinks this narrative ultimately aligns with the longstanding interests of U.S. establishment power. He calls it a “privilege protection racket” that thrives on distraction and misdirection, turning the public away from a real critique of the rise of Trumpism that would otherwise implicate the neoliberal policies of democrats and conservatives alike, foreign policy think tanks, and the media. It’s a Team Human conversation that may play along a divide among listeners, but no matter where you fall on the question of collusion, Maté offers a thought provoking perspective on the dangers of this media obsession. Is the Russia fixation a media virus that our cultural immune system hasn't yet built the appropriate immune response to?Opening the show, Rushkoff offers another perspective on media viruses, looking at the way the Covington Catholic incident played out on social media and in the news last week. Rushkoff argues, “We are living in a media landscape where whoever can most convincingly say what a picture really is wins. Whoever names the meme, wins the meme.” Check out Rushkoff’s recent piece on the topic at CNN. Aaron Maté's work can be found at the Nation and via Twitter @aaronjmateTeam Human the manifesto is out now. Order your copy here or visit your favorite local book store.Check out Douglas’s regular column on Medium.Team Human happens each week thanks to the generous support of our listeners on Patreon. Your support makes the hours of labor that go into each show possible. Thank you so much! You can also help by reviewing the show on iTunes.On this episode you heard Fugazi’s “Foreman’s Dog” in the intro thanks to the kindness of the band and Dischord Records. Mid Show you heard R.U. Sirius's President Mussolini Makes the Planes Run On Time. Our outro features the Mike Watt ’s beak-holding-letter-man.   See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today’s episode is a special live celebration of the release of Team Human the book and manifesto, which is now available everywhere! On January 8th, Douglas was joined by acclaimed author Seth Godin for a pre-release book party at Betaworks Studios in NYC. Douglas reverses roles for the show, with Seth hosting the conversation. Not the typical book reading, Douglas and Seth use this live event as an opportunity to engage with each other and audience in a spontaneous, free-form Team Human conversation.It’s a talk launched by a question that cuts to the heart of the book itself – How have technologies meant to connect us come to alienate and atomize us instead? Douglas and Seth share why we must reclaim connection and Find the Others.“It’s not too late! We can retrieve what it means to be human in a digital age.”Join Douglas, Seth and the live Betaworks Studios audience for this invocation of the spirit of community and solidarity so desperately needed in this pivotal moment in the human story.A special thanks to Betaworks Studios and all those who attended this event.Photos by @ErikVPhoto. Check out the full album http://beta.works/2De372cOn this episode you heard Fugazi’s “Foreman’s Dog” in the intro thanks to the kindness of the band and Dischord Records. Our outro features the Mike Watt ’s beak-holding-letter-man.Check out Douglas’s regular column on Medium.You can support Team Human on Patreon. You can also help by reviewing the show on iTunes. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Playing for Team Human today; technologist, futurist, inventor and mage Mark Pesce.In this conversation with Douglas, part two of a live Team Human show at Civic Hall, Pesce offers a thought-provoking frame through which we might better understand our relationship to algorithms and artificial intelligence:What might you call a creature that feeds on your energy, knows your weaknesses, and can tamper with your emotional state in ways that compel you to act beyond your best interest? Centuries ago we might call this a demon. As algorithms are programmed to exploit humans in order to do their bidding, perhaps it's time to interrogate the Faustian bargains we make each time we sign up, log in, and click thru.It’s a fascinating and sinuous conversation that exemplifies the creative ways humans, together in a room, can think about technology and reassert power over the devils lurking in the details.If you enjoyed this conversation, check out Mark's podcast https://nextbillionseconds.com/This episode features an Audience Q&A with both guests; Penny Abeywardena and Mark PesceToday’s show is sponsored by the advertisements we have planted in your dreams…But you can also support us by purchasing the new manifesto, Team Human and becoming a patron on Patreon.Check out Rushkoff's regular columns on Medium.On this episode you heard Herkimer Diamonds in the preroll, plus Fugazi’s “Foreman’s Dog” in the intro. We also played Team Human Episode 31 guest R.U. Sirius in the transition and outro music thanks to the mighty Mike Watt: beak-holding-letter-man. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Playing for Team Human today: Penny Abeywardena.In part one of a two-part live Team Human show, Douglas is joined by New York City’s Commissioner for International Affairs, Penny Abeywardena. Penny’s work looks at the synergies between local and global issues. Guided by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, Penny is helping make New York City a significant player in global efforts to solve humanity’s most pressing issues of immigration, poverty, climate change, injustice, and inequality. In an era of virulent nationalism, racism at the border, and national disfunction; can cities like New York lead the way in solving global crises? Penny shares her insights and experiences, recorded live at the Civic Hall in Manhattan.Learn more the Mayor's Office of International Affairs here as well as programs discussed on the show; Global Vision | Urban Action and OneNYC. Douglas opens the evening with a monologue questioning the very concept of the nation state. Rushkoff asserts that community, rooted in solidarity – not borders or ethnicity – must be the organizing principle to enact social change. Join us next week for part two which includes technology philosopher and mage Mark Pesce, plus a conversation and audience Q&A with Penny, Mark, and Douglas.Team Human the manifesto is hot off the press! Order yours here. On this episode you heard Fugazi’s “Foreman’s Dog” and Herkimer Diamonds in the intro, plus original music thanks to listener Josh Sitron and the Team Human Band. We also played Team Human Episode 31 guest R.U. Sirius in the transition and outro music thanks to the mighty Mike Watt: beak-holding-letter-man. Check out Douglas’s regular column on Medium where you can read monologues like the one you heard on today's show.Team Human is listener supported. To subscribe via Patreon go to teamhuman.fm/support. You can also help by reviewing the show on iTunes. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Playing for Team Human today: media activist and scholar Geert Lovink. Geert will be helping us see how an understanding of the political economy is not enough. We have to reacquaint ourselves with the experiential layer of our humanity and even reclaim our sadness to counter the stultifying effects of platform capitalism. Today, when our sources of information are intimately intertwined with our social lives, it’s not as simple as just “going offline.” How can we overcome the anti-human agendas embedded in our technology? Today’s show reaches back to the origins of what became known as “tactical media” — using interactive media to promote the human agenda. Geert makes the case for reawakening this sensibility. You can learn more about Geert at networkedcultures.org and discover his forthcoming book Sad By Design: On Platform Nihilism.Team Human the manifesto is hot off the press! Order yours here. Ships in January. We've come to the end of the Team Human year! We are grateful for an amazing season of shows and live events, all made possible thanks to the support of our dedicated listeners. You can support Team Human on Patreon and propel us into next year and next season. You can also help by reviewing the show on iTunes.Happy holidays and we’ll see you on book tour and back on the podcast waves in January!On this episode you heard Fugazi’s “Foreman’s Dog” in the intro, fading into a track from Team Human Episode 31 guest R.U. Sirius. Mid-show transition music thanks to Herkimer Diamonds and outro music thanks to the mighty Mike Watt: beak-holding-letter-man. Check out Douglas’s regular column on Medium. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Playing for Team Human today: media and technology scholar Jamie Cohen. Jamie will be helping us understand the commodity of authenticity. His work looks at the ways authenticity is quantized and codified on media platforms such as YouTube. It’s a process through which trust and connection become instrumentalized as tools for the monetization and manipulation of audience attention. Jamie warns how, coupled with powerful algorithms, the gaming of authenticity threatens serious social consequences. Jamie joins Douglas to discuss his research, including his case studies of famous YouTubers like Tyler Oakley and Casey Neistat. Together they dig into the promise and peril of "populist" digital technologies; blogging, VR, and beyond. Jamie Cohen Is a professor at Molloy College where he started the New Media Program. He researches social media, memes, digital culture, and virtual reality. Learn more about Jamie’s work at http://www.jamesncohen.com/Douglas opens with a monologue on how we all became Russia's "useful idiots."Selected works cited for today’s show: Open TV by Aymar Jean ChristianWalter Benjamin’s The Work of Art in the Age of Mechnical ReproductionZeynep Tufekci “We’re Building A Dystopia Just To Make People Click On Ads”Douglas Rushkoff’s 2004 PBS FRONTLINE documentary The Persuaders and his 2014 documentary Generation LikeMusic Credits: Opening the show, we’re trying out a new Team Human original, recorded and performed by TH producer Stephen Bartolomei fading into a track from Team Human Episode 31 guest R.U. Sirius. Mid-show transition music thanks to Herkimer Diamonds and outro music thanks to the mighty Mike Watt: beak-holding-letter-man.Support Team Human by visiting teamhuman.fm/supportPre-Order Team Human Versions of Douglas’s monologues as well as streams of this podcast can be found on MediumPhotos by Josh Chapdelaine See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Playing for Team Human today: business reformer and the author of Reboot: A Blueprint for Happy Human Business in the Digital Age, Jason Stockwood. Jason will be showing us how to minimize the negative externalities of big business. It all comes down to the bizarre idea of providing goods and services that people actually need. Could such a radical business concept catch on today? Jason is striving to use business and technology to be part of the solution, rather than an extractive, negative force. Is there still room in capitalism to embed social justice?Rushkoff opens the show thinking about algorithms. What if we thought of algorithms as a kind of distorted biofeedback? What can we learn about humans from the ways in which algorithms fail?Music Credits: Opening the show, we're trying out a new Team Human original, recorded and performed by TH producer Stephen Bartolomei. Mid-show transition music thanks to Herkimer Diamonds and outro music thanks to the mighty Mike Watt: beak-holding-letter-man. Support Team Human by visiting teamhuman.fm/supportPre-Order Team Human Versions of Douglas’s monologues as well as streams of this podcast can be found on MediumReboot Screen photo by Andrew Mason See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Playing for Team Human today: activist, professor, podcast producer, journalist, and musician Chenjerai Kumanyika. Chenjerai joins Douglas in the basement Media Squat at CUNY Queens College for a conversation about why studying history matters more than ever as we fight for a just future. Chenjerai also shares a bit of his own unique personal history; how he went from working in an emergency room to a touring as an international hip hop artist, to his most recent work as an activist/journalist and now, college professor at Rutgers University. Drawing from these diverse contexts, Chenjerai helps us understand media and activism in a time of renewed racism and repression. A spirit of deep conviction and empathy animates Chenjerai’s work and shines through in this conversation with Douglas.Check out Chenjerai’s Peabody Award winning podcast, Uncivil, from GimletListen to Things I've Seen featured in today’s show, from Chenjerai’s group The Spooks."You won't believe the things I've seenFar beyond your wildest dreamsI've seen chaos and order reign supremeI've seen the beauty of the universe so peaceful and sereneIn seconds turn to violence and screams"A clip from Chenjerai's recent lecture at Penn State is featured in this episode. Find this and more here: https://www.soc119.org/2018/10/25/class-18-being-an-activist-w-dr-chenjerai-kumanyika/This week's TH Music Credits: Mike Watt: beak-holding-letter-man in the intro and outro, segue music by R.U. Sirius: President Mussolini Makes The Planes Run On Time, and Herkimer Diamonds in the Midroll. Support Team Human by visiting teamhuman.fm/supportVersions of Douglas's monologues as well as streams of this podcast can be found on Medium See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Playing for Team Human today: Susan Basterfield and Anthony Cabraal. Susan and Anthony share the open secrets of bottom-up collaboration as we celebrate the publication of Enspiral’s book, Better Work Together. It's a conversation about the power of working together, building on ideas “good enough to try,” and creating a space where it’s “safe to fail.”Looking for collaborative and participatory ways to create social change? Enspiral has collected and opened up its learnings for all to replicate.Douglas opens with a monologue about moving beyond “master plan” interventions. What does democracy look like on a human scale?If you enjoy this episode, check out Episode 23 with Enspiral teammate Silvia Zuur:https://teamhuman.fm/episodes/ep-23-silvia-zuur/And Episode 41 with Richard Bartlett:https://teamhuman.fm/episodes/ep-41-richard-d-bartlett-there-is-no-enemy-team/You can find Team Human episodes and more from Douglas at Medium.com/@Rushkoff Music Credits: Mike Watt: beak-holding-letter-man , Herkimer Diamonds , and closing music by R.U. Sirius: President Mussolini Makes The Planes Run On Time See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Playing for Team Human today: Jason Schmitt. Jason looks at the big business of for-profit academic publishing in his new documentary Paywall:The Business of Scholarship. Should the the world's research be locked behind closed doors? Jason makes the case for open access on today's Team Human.Opening the show, Rushkoff offers a monologue on the state of democracy. While our politicians and their propagandists have lost faith in our ability to vote purposefully, Team Human knows better. There has never been a more crucial time to get involved, not only at the polls next week but in civic life and community action beyond.Versions of Douglas's monologues can be found at https://medium.com/@rushkoff. We'll also be posting the entire back catalog in a new Team Human Collection at Medium.Visit Teamhuman.fm for complete access to the shows and patreon.com/teamhuman to sustain this show.Today we opened with intro music thanks to Mike Watt. The midroll featured Team Human Ep.31 Human Guest and friend R.U. Sirius. The show concluded with a track by Herkimer Diamonds. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Playing for Team Human today is playwright, actor, director, writer and teacher Jessica Blank. Jessica shares her insights into the process of building empathy through story. Through works such as her documentary plays the Exonerated and Aftermath, Jessica’s characters stare their audience directly in the eye, reach out to their heart, and open a pathway for transformation. This, Jessica explains, is the magic of being in shared space with people embodying real, human stories.Learn about her creative process, how she finds that opening for empathy, and how we might retrieve those human scale stories that are charged with the empathic power to bring about social change.Douglas opens the show with a monologue asking, "Is the nationalist, xenophobic, inward-turned America we’ve been projecting to the world as of late the real US?"On this episode you heard Fugazi’s “Foreman’s Dog” in the intro, Herkhimer Diamonds “Xmas Underwater” midway through, and our closing music is thanks to Mike Watt.Team Human is listener supported. To subscribe via Patreon or Drip, go to TeamHuman.fm/support . You can also help by reviewing the show on iTunes.Check out Douglas's new regular column on Medium. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Playing for Team Human today is Fred Turner, professor and Chair of the Department of Communication at Stanford University. Fred will be helping us recover the countercultural roots of digital media, while also imploring us to look toward the mundane, existing ways of staking our claim to authority over the world in which we live.Turner has done extensive research into the countercultural and even psychedelic roots of cyberculture, culminating in his extended biography of Stewart Brand titled From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism. Turner’s writing and research reaches even further back into the history of cyberculture with The Democratic Surround: Multimedia and American Liberalism from World War II to the Psychedelic Sixties where he explores and exposes the deepest origins of our touchscreen society. In this conversation, Fred and Douglas use these works as a jumping off point to a wide range of topics including a provocative discussion on the ways those early utopian visions of technology were subsumed into an ideology of individualism and ultimately, consumerism.Is it time to re-embrace the boring? In our quest to be our “authentic selves” at all times, have we forgotten the necessary, and sometimes mundane civic work that is required for concrete change both in our local and global communities? This and much more! On this episode you heard Fugazi’s “Foreman’s Dog” in the intro, Herkhimer Diamonds “Xmas Underwater” and our closing music is thanks to Mike Watt.Team Human is listener supported. To subscribe via Patreon or Drip, go to TeamHuman.fm/support . You can also help by reviewing the show on iTunes. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.