Team Human

A unique episode of Team Human, on today's show Douglas Rushkoff is joined by longtime friend and counterculture legend R.U. Sirius (aka Ken Goffman), founding editor of Mondo 2000. R.U. will help us evaluate the place of the counterculture in the digital landscape. Is counterculture even possible today? Is humanity itself the counterculture as we resist increasingly quantified and abstracted lives? Together R.U. and Rushkoff playfully and thoughtfully examine these questions while asserting those quirky yet challenging expressions of humanity not so easily reduced to code or marketing demographics.The music on today's show comes from a variety of R.U. Sirius's musical projects. Visit https://rusirius.bandcamp.com/ to listen. Follow Sirius's work at https://stealthissingularity.com/. Musicians are encouraged to connect with R.U.Sirius to collaborate. Needle drops in this show:Glad-Handed I PoliticianPunching A Nazi Be My Valerie SolanisLove is the Product President Mussolini Makes the Planes Run On Time Get

Playing for Team Human today is Bas van Abel. Bas is the founder of Fairphone, which began with the radical idea that technology should be built without exploiting human laborers and destroying the planet. Van Abel's experiment of building a "fair" phone has taken him around the world to witness first-hand the lives made invisible in the digital supply chain. Bas and Douglas talk about how putting people first requires both a redesign of economic systems and a reshaping of our individual perspectives as consumers in an age of hyper-materialism.Learn more about Fairphone here. Watch this VPRO documentary on producing the fairphoneOn today's opening monologue, Rushkoff on his weekend viewing of the Broadway sensation Hamilton and the tension between retreating into fantasy versus committing to fix our reality.Photos thanks to Fairphone's Flickr Photostream Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human today is media historian and theorist Caroline Jack. Caroline is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Data + Society Research Institute. In today's episode Caroline and Douglas explore how powerful people and institutions shape networked civic life through media and communications technology. Caroline has us think deeply and broadly about corporate personhood, imagined machines, epistemological chaos… in other words–media and persuasion.You can find more of Caroline Jack’s work on her Medium Blog including this recent piece entitled “What’s Propaganda Got To Do With It?”In today's monologue Rushkoff offers a thought-provoking take on the exhausting and overwhelming news cycle. Rather than be defeated by cynicism, how might we foster both internal coherence and focused collaborative action? Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human today is digital media artist, activist, and filmmaker Alex Rivera. Known for his acclaimed 2008 feature film, Sleep Dealer, Rivera's work explores the contradictions of a free-flowing globalized economy and the simultaneous stigmatizing of immigrant laborers and erecting of border walls. Together, Rivera and Douglas Rushkoff interrogate the rhetoric of the digital "global village." We'll learn about what Rivera calls "Dronification," a highly connected, yet ever-more alienated digital subjectivity. Rivera and Rushkoff then discuss how we might restore true human connection and build bottom-up solidarity, or what the Zapatistas call "globalization from below."In today's intro monologue Rushkoff considers the need for both empowering local, grassroots organizing as well as fortifying public structures that bring the benefit of mutual aid and collectivity up to scale.This episode closes with a song from Team Human co-producer/editor Stephen Bartolomei, entitled&nb

Playing for Team Human today is activist trainer and executive director of theRules.org, Alnoor Ladha.Ladha will help us understand the interplay between political organization, system thinking, storytelling, technology, and the decentralization of power. In a conversation spanning a wide range of topics including anarchism, collective organizing, local economies, psychedelics, and even spirituality, Ladha and Rushkoff underscore the multifaceted and necessary work of building a resilient and just society.Learn more about Alnoor and his work at http://therules.org/In today's monologue Rushkoff addresses the deleterious effects of our algorithmically programmed cyber experience. Are Facebook and Google a threat to the health of civil society? How can we restore human agency and critical thinking to our digital lives? Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human today is Jason Van Anden. Jason is an artist, inventor, and software developer who builds apps to promote social justice. In 2011, Van Anden invented I’m Getting Arrested, software that enabled Occupy Wall Street demonstrators to alert friends and family in the event they were arrested. In 2012 Van Anden developed Stop and Frisk Watch , a tool used to monitor the New York City Police Department’s controversial practice. Van Anden has since has gone on to head Quadrant 2, developers of Mobile Justice, a police video taping app and part of the Bystanders Rule! platform. Quadrant 2 is also currently developing Workit, designed to offer networked support for 1.3 million non-unionized Walmart employees.In this episode, Van Anden and Rushkoff talk about flipping handheld digital technology toward human ends. How can technology be re-centered to effect real world change? How might technology promote proactive, activist efforts on the ground? Van Anden and Rushkoff, look at these questions and

Playing for Team Human today is data-visualization humanist Danne Woo. Woo is going to share with us how he uses data to provoke critical thinking, humor, and even human connection with his creative design. Woo is the creator of Data Visual  a user-friendly web-based design interface that empowers individuals to create their own shareable data-driven graphics. We'll learn why the Trump presidency has inspired Woo to design "a chart a day" and to "make tweets trump again". Dannewoo.com is where you can find a link to Woo’s work. Check out the politically inspired projects like “Make Tweets Trump Again” and Woo’s Chrome extension “Don’t Support Trump Supporters” driven by data from the #grabyourwallet campaign. Woo’s site also features creative works including Woo’s large format multiplayer game Splat! and his generative font project,Type Galapagos, plus the fantastically quirky music projects AC Symphony and Light Hum.Design your own data visualizatio

Playing for Team Human today is Brian Fitzgerald, co-founder of Tinkergarten. Tinkergarten began as the passion project of Brian and his wife, Meghan, a long-time educator. As new parents, Brian and Meghan were looking for hands-on, outdoor learning experiences for their daughter. Unable to find any, they started Tinkergarten. Today, Tinkergarten is a growing community focused on bringing memorable, tactile, and outdoor educational play opportunities to children and parents. Brian shares how his background in technology and education led him to build networking tools that help get kids off of screens and out into the physical world. You can become a Tinkergarten leader, find your own local Tinkergarten, or even download free DIY Tinkergarten lesson plans at tinkergarten.com.Today’s episode kicks off with Douglas Rushkoff answering a question he has received more and more since launching Team Human: “Are you anti-digital?”   Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.co

Playing for Team Human today is Silvia Zuur. In 2012, Zuur founded Chalkle to reignite adult education in New Zealand. Today, Zuur serves as a director at Enspiral, a social impact network that builds community driven solutions for a diverse set of issues including education, funding, and cooperative organizing. Enspiral is famously home to Loomio, a cooperative founded 2012 to create more effective tools for collaborative decision-making. Zuur joins Douglas Rushkoff to talk about the value of open, people-focused organizing strategies and her efforts to facilitate sustainable solutions for positive social change.Enspiral offers a number of resources from accounting strategies, metrics, apps, volunteer resources, and decision making tools on their ventures page.Visit handbook.enspiral.com for a model on how Enspiral has structured their business. Enspiral also relates the details of both their successes and struggles on their blog, blog.enspiral.com.  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See aca

This week’s Team Human is part 2 of a fascinating conversation between longtime friends Zach Leary and Douglas Rushkoff. Check out part 1 over on Zach’s show, It’s All Happening. Rushkoff and Zach take a winding path through the “psychedelic substrate” of digital technology, looking back at the strange trips that birthed the modern web and virtual space of the internet. Most importantly, Leary and Rushkoff retrieve those human connections; the compassion, vision, and care for others that still just might save us in the digital age.Rushkoff begins today’s show with a thought provoking monologue. Is resistance futile in a digital society? Tune in to find out more! Episode page photo credit: Flickr User Joi Ito  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human today is L.A. Kauffman. Douglas met with Kauffman on the eve of the release of her new book, Direct Action, Protest and the Reinvention of American Radicalism, published by Verso press. Direct Action charts a history of renewal and reinvention in activist movements since the 1960s with a focus on how we might learn from both the successes and failures of our radical past.In today’s episode, L.A. offers an invigorating commitment to protest, grassroots organizing, and the fight for justice. Douglas and L.A. spoke just days before Women’s March on Washington. They discuss what direct action means by connecting the dots from Mayday action of 1971 and ACT UP in the 1980s and 90s, all the way up to the mobilization happening this month in Washington and across the country.Links:From Verso: https://www.versobooks.com/books/2331-direct-action :“Propelled by more than 100 candid interviews conducted over a span of decades, this elegant and lively history showcases the voices of key player

Playing for Team Human is Jonathan Larsen. Larsen is a journalist, comedy writer, and TV producer who has worked on the Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart, Up w/ Chris Hayes, and Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann. Larsen recently launched TheFingNews.com, a news digest that brings context, analysis, and humor to the daily news.Jonathan joins Douglas Rushkoff to talk about the Fucking News and the new Indivertible Guide. In a wide-ranging conversation, Larsen and Rushkoff look behind the scenes of reporting and discuss propaganda, fake news, and strategies for resisting the reality TV show era of the Trump presidency.From the Indivertible Guide:“We believe that the next four—Jesus H. Christ—years depend on citizens across the country standing indivertible against the mainstream media bullshit agenda. Our premise is that even evil Trump supporters and craven TV news people are good at heart. We believe that buying into TV news’ false crises and speculative narratives will only further empower Trump to victimize our fel

Playing for Team Human is Brian Hughes. Brian is a recent graduate of the Media Studies Graduate Program at CUNY Queens College, home to Team Human and the Laboratory for Digital Humanism. Hughes’s work explores media origins and portrayals of extremism. On today’s episode, Hughes begins by sharing his research on Arab Nationalism as related to media technologies from global broadcast to networked communications. Using his recent MA thesis as the springboard, Hughes and Rushkoff take a deep look at nationalist and extremist affinities that have surfaced both at home and abroad. How do hypertext, memes, and even magick fit into this story? Tune in to find out.Read Brian Hughes’s MA thesis linked in the abstract below and at queenscollege.media:“The 20th Century witnessed several opportunities to unify the Arab peoples as a political and identitarian bloc. None of these attempts, however, resulted in a lasting pan-Arab nationalism. Brian Hughes‘s thesis, Communications Technologies

Playing for Team Human Today is Ari Wallach. In a conversation that spans politics, technology, history, and even biology, Wallach and Rushkoff look at the threat of short-term thinking in times of crisis. This freewheeling discussion tackles deep assumptions of both the Left and the Right, while striving toward a long-term strategy for rebuilding solidarity and progress in society.Visit Ari’s website AriWallach.com to learn more about his work.  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human today, all the way from Sweden, is local food facilitator Viktor Zaunders. Zaunders is working to organize sustainable, regenerative, and collaborative local food systems. In this episode, Zaunders and Douglas talk about permaculture and the lessons that can be applied to social systems at large.Visit Viktor’s website zaunders.net to learn more about the variety of projects he is working on.In this interview, Zaunders mentions Open Source Ecology. They provide a wealth of resources that encourage collaborative and innovative ecodesign. Visit their site opensourceecology.org Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human today is Natalie Foster. Foster brings a unique determination and optimism to questions surrounding the future of work. Her research as a fellow of the Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative and as an affiliate at the Institute for the Future focuses on rebuilding the social contract for the changing landscape of labor in the 21st century. On today’s episode, Foster and Rushkoff discuss worker protections, cooperative ownership, precarious labor, and the future of jobs in an increasingly automated digital economy.Visit our special resources page to explore the organizations and initiatives Foster describes in this episode. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human today is psychiatrist, psychopharmacologist, and psychedelics researcher Dr. Julie Holland. Dr. Holland explains the role of psychedelics in helping people gain the new forms of information and awareness they need to become more fully human. Is there the potential for greater understanding and human connection through the psychedelic experience? Together Holland and Rushkoff explore this question, charting out a path toward greater empathy and solidarity.Today’s monologue features Rushkoff on Timothy Leary and “Finding the Others.” Visit XY Magazine for his complete essay, featured as part of the recent relaunch of the magazine.Dr. Holland’s latest book is Moody Bitches: The Truth about the Drugs You’re Taking, the Sleep You’re Missing, the Sex You’re Not  Having, and What’s Really Making You Crazy Visit Dr. Holland’s website for useful links to educate yourself about psychedelics. Here are a few places to start with:MAPS – The Multidisciplinary Association

Rushkoff visits greatagain.gov and conducts a thought experiment: what if we all apply to work in Trump’s administration? A post-election special episode. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human is author, activist, ethnomusicologist and singer Kyra Gaunt Ph.D. Kyra’s research on the harassment of young women and people of color has recently focused on the YouTube phenomenon of twerking videos and trolling. In today’s episode Kyra and Douglas talk about invisible audiences and their effect on social media interaction. Kyra warns how persistent media disproportionately stigmatizes marginalized communities. She offers strategies to reclaim “full spectrum humanity,” both on and off-line, celebrating the nuance and complexity of identity formation in safe spaces.Learn more about Kyra and follow her work at kyraocity.wordpress.com and visit Kyra’s TED profile. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human is Mushon Zer-Aviv. Mushon shares his creative strategies for resistance against assimilation into the big data mindset. His playful, interactive designs turn the cult of data collection on its head, re-ambiguating humans and embracing the most quirky, inspired, and anomalous aspects of our lives. Mushon’s recent project, AdNauseam.io  challenges surveillance advertising by feeding it back into itself. Check out this and his many projects linked below. You can also learn more about “reambiguation” on Mushon’s  Medium blog. Full bio from Mushon.com: Mushon is a designer, an educator and a media activist based in Tel Aviv. His work and writing explore the boundaries of interface and the biases of techno-culture as they are redrawn through politics, design and networks. Among Mushon’s collaborations, he is the CO-founder of Shual.com – a foxy design studio; YouAreNotHere.org – a tour of Gaza through the streets of Tel Aviv; Kriegspiel – a computer game version of th