Winning Slowly

Show Notes You heard that right, everyone. Who knows, maybe we’ll be back someday, though! (Long-time listeners: stick around for the last bit of this episode. Trust us.) Music “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Something special Respond We (still!) love to hear your thoughts. Hit us up via Twitter, Facebook, or email!

Reviewing what we learned in 2020—and ranking what we read! So many books! Also: MARIMBAAAAAAAAAAA!!! Show Notes The books we covered this season: Phaedrus, Plato: 8.02, 8.03 The Postmodern Condition, Lyotard: 8.04, 8.05 The Age of Spiritual Machines, Ray Kurzweil: 8.06, 8.07 Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton: 8.08, 8.09 The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, Elizabeth Eisenstein: 8.10, 8.11 Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, Simone Browne: 8.12, 8.13 The Real World of Technology, Ursula Franklin: 8.14, 8.15 Evolution as a Religion, Mary Midgley: 8.16, 8.17 Contact, Carl Sagan: 8.18, 8.19 Twitter and Tear Gas, Zeynep Tüfekçi: 8.20, 8.21 Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan: 8.22 Stephen’s list Twitter and Tear Gas Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore The Printing Press as an Agent of Change The Postmodern Condition Contact Jurassic Park Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness The Real World of Technology Phaedrus The Age of Spiritual Machines Evolution as a Religion Chris’s lis

Neal Stephenson at double speed and with a smile on his face. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan Show Notes Robin Sloan Sourdough Ruby George Saunders Cory Doctorow Credits Music “Getaway Car”, by Ezekiel Songs originally written by Make Sure. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

The things we learned from Zeynep Tüfeçki’s examination of social media and sociopolitical change. (We liked this book a lot.) Twitter and Tear Gas, Zeynep Tüfeçki Show Notes Zeynep Tüfeçki her recently-launched newsletter Insight 52-Cent Party Cultural Revolution Tianenmen Square Twitter and the 2020 US election Twitter’s own take Hunter Biden Electoral college Ben Thompson Matt Levine’s newsletter Money Stuff His latest issue before going on parental leave back in August profiled in the New York Times Matching blazers For the ’gram Upcoming Book December (8.22 and 8.23): Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan. Credits Music “Drop Off”, by Vertaal, feat. Severin Bruhin & Loren Hignell Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this

Walking through Zeynep Tüfeçki’s masterful explanation of the relationship between social media and protest movements. Twitter and Tear Gas, Zeynep Tüfeçki Show Notes Things we mentioned on the show, in the order we mentioned them: Zeynep Tüfeçki her recently-launched newsletter Insight modern Turkey Zapatistas Occupy Wall Street 1999 World Trade Organization protests Arab Spring Tea Party China’s treatment of the Uyghurs Capacities/capabilities The Capability Approach, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Amartya Sen American Civil Rights Movement March on Washington Montgomery Bus Boycott John Lewis The Internet Archive Upcoming Book December (8.22 and 8.23): Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan. Credits Music “Ode to Youth”, by Liam Mour Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Spons

Thinking about Carl Sagan's views on belief, and how they relate to religion and science Contact, Carl Sagan Show Notes After reading Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel Contact and watching the 1995 movie of the same name, we discuss a major epistemological question: what are the acceptable grounds for belief? Are religious belief and scientific proof compatible? Sagan’s surprisingly nuanced views give us interesting ways forward. Things we mentioned on the show, in the order we mentioned them: Carl Sagan Cosmos: TV show and book Non-overlapping Magisteria More commentary on Sagan’s complex and complicated relationship with religion One of many episodes of the Bible Project talking about God working through history Richard Dawkins “Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward in full” (Carradini version, a mashup of the KJV and NIV translations of Matthew 6:2) Sagan’s views on religion and nuclear war Jenkins and LaHaye dispensationalist eschatology, otherwise known as the Left Behind series Postmillenialis

Another book from the ’80s, but hey: at least this one is fiction! Contact, Carl Sagan Show Notes We read Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel Contact and watched the 1995 movie of the same name. In this episode, our overview of the book: its plot and its basic interests. Things we mentioned on the show, in the order we mentioned them: Carl Sagan Cosmos: TV show and book Neil Degrasse Tyson Fermi Paradox Wow! signal Very Large Array Arecibo Observatory Neil Patrick Harris (wait for it, it’ll all make sense in the end) Upcoming Book November (8.20 and 8.21): Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest, Zeynep Tufecki. You can also download it from Tufecki’s website as a PDF. December (8.22 and 8.23): Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan. Credits Music “It’s a Movie, It’s a Dream” by Josh Caress. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as y

We argue with Mary Midgley on how she did what she did, more than what she did. Evolution as a Religion, Mary Midgley Show Notes Descartes’ belief that people can’t be rational without God; see paragraph six Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene David Hume Immanuel Kant John Rawls, the specific claim Stephen most has a problem with is the veil of ignorance concept explained in this page (although this is not mentioned in the episode) Jacques Monod Wickedness: A Philosophical Essay Robinson Crusoe Here’s another great cover of the book from the ’80s! Have to climb to Omega, man! Upcoming Book October (8.18 and 8.19): Contact, Carl Sagan (and the movie) November (8.20 and 8.21): Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest, Zeynep Tufecki. You can also download it from Tufecki’s website as a PDF. Credits Music “Sailor’s Cry” by A.M.R via Silk Music. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you

What had Mary Midgley so incredibly angry in the 1980s, and what did she do about it? Evolution as a Religion, Mary Midgley Show Notes Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene “Superman” and Friedrich Nietzsche David Hume Immanuel Kant The other book Chris is reading on politics &c. currently: Politics and the Order of Love, Eric Gregory Here’s another great cover of the book from the ’80s! Have to climb to Omega, man! Upcoming Book October (8.18 and 8.19): Contact, Carl Sagan November (8.20 and 8.21): Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest, Zeynep Tufecki. You can also download it from Tufecki’s website as a PDF. Credits Music “Acquainted with the Night” by Ezra Feinberg. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show

We point out several concerns that we have with the arguments Dr. Franklin makes in her lectures-turned-book: the ineffectiveness of her holistic and prescriptive technologies frame, her deeply cynical view on policy, and other thorny places that her arguments lead (like the Soviet Union). The Real World of Technology, Ursula Franklin Show Notes Cold War peace movement Peace movements in Canada Second-wave feminism (to which Dr. Franklin’s feminism approximately belongs to) History of environmental movements, post-WWII Bijker, Hughes & Pinch’s seminal work on Social Construction of Technology: Stephen left out Hughes. Sorry, Thomas P. Hughes. Actor-Network Theory John Law and Annemarie Mol’s Handpump article: Stephen incorrectly only mentioned Mol instead of Law and Mol. Sorry, John Law. Robert Moses’s bridges Bay of Pigs invasion, also sometimes known as the Bay of Pigs incident: Stephen’s point in bringing this up was to allude to the point made neatly in the Wikipedia article: “[The failed invasio

The Real World of Technology, Ursula Franklin Show Notes Cold War peace movement Peace movements in Canada Second-wave feminism (to which Dr. Franklin’s feminism approximately belongs to) Third-wave feminism (to which Dr. Franklin’s feminism approximately does not belong to): Oklahoma historically dumping stuff in rivers Arkansas historically dumping stuff in Oklahoma’s rivers Oklahoma contemporarily dumping stuff in rivers Here’s the great cover of the book from the ’80s–note that at no time are floppy disks mentioned in the book. Purple cover of a book with a floppy disk superimposed over a person’s face Upcoming Books September (8.16 and 8.17): Evolution as a Religion: Strange Hopes and Stranger Fears, Mary Midgley October (8.18 and 8.19): Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology, Neil Postman Credits Music “Mission Plan” by Matthew Shaw. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. We usually announce that on the show, but a temporary glitch corrupted that section of the pod

Discussing Simone Browne’s epistemology, ideas, and arguments: what persuaded us, and what didn’t? Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness—Explained, Simone Browne Show Notes Critical theory Critical race theory Black feminism Intersectionality White as default in AI, potentially due to biased/non-diverse training data Finding God in the Lord of the Rings Looking for God in Harry Potter Surveillance Studies David Hume The two main subjects we mentioned on the show as relevant were critical theory (and specifically critical race theory) and surveillance studies. Notably, while Browne describes herself as a black feminist and makes reference to the adjacent idea of intersectionality, she never explicitly refers to critical (race) theory. We applied the term to her work based on the historical and interpretive methods she used. Reminder: as noted in 8.12, Stephen was definitely recording from a closet and some of his level drops are a result of (potentially) getting hit in the face with a sweater:

Digging into Simone Browne’s application of critical race theory to surveillance studies. Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness—Explained, Simone Browne Show Notes The two main subjects we mentioned on the show as relevant were critical theory (and specifically critical race theory) and surveillance studies. Notably, while Browne describes herself as a black feminist and makes reference to the adjacent idea of intersectionality, she never explicitly refers to critical (race) theory. We applied the term to her work based on the historical and interpretive methods she used. Stephen reviewed our intro music, Joshua Crumbly’s “New Rock Thingy,” here. Finally (as noted on air), Stephen was definitely recording from a closet: screenshot of our Zoom call with Stephen in a closet Upcoming Books August (8.14 and 8.15): The Real World of Technology, Ursula Franklin September (8.16 and 8.17): (probably) Technopoly, Neil Postman (We actually have a tentative plan through the end of the year… but we’ll publ

The printing press and the internet are often compared. How similar in impact are they really? The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, Elizabeth Eisenstein Show Notes Eisenstein’s outline: dissemination standardization reorganization data collection preservation amplification reinforcement cultural effects the Republic of Letters Links to things mentioned on the show: On context collapse: 2.02: Basketballs ≠ Pumpkins Our strongest take on “big data:” 6.06: A Kind of Blindness—Smart cities, “big data”, and the meaninglessness of mere information. The Republic of Letters Clarkives Upcoming books July (8.12 and 8.13): Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, Simone Brown August (8.14 and 8.15): The Real World of Technology, Ursula Franklin September (8.16 and 8.17): (probably) Technopoly, Neil Postman Music drawn, by Trevor Ransom. Used by permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This m

Digging into Elizabeth Eisenstein’s magisterial and seminal work on how print changed culture. The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, Elizabeth Eisenstein Show Notes We almost entirely ended up talking about the contents of this book specifically! And we weren’t joking about how dense it is: A picture Chris snapped of p. 113 of The Printing Press as an Agent of Change We did mention a couple other episodes of the show: 8.08: Jurassic Park—Explained on friction 7.09: Frictioneers Upcoming books July (8.12 and 8.13): Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, Simone Brown August (8.14 and 8.15): The Real World of Technology, Ursula Franklin September (8.16 and 8.17): (probably) Technopoly, Neil Postman Music “Alpha Orionis” by Juffbass “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to suppor

Don’t go into science for the money: you will get killed by dinosaurs. Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton (and the movie!) Show Notes We put dinosaurs mostly in the background and talk about what Crichton really wanted to discuss: the science/industrial complex, the limits of science to interpret or re-create nature, the limits of discovery, and disciplinary power. Things mentioned on the show People trying to recreate mammoths in Siberia to fix … climate change? The world’s fastest supercomputer being used for climate simulations, among other things The wild tale of Anthony Levandoski’s self-driving cars corporate espionage Self-driving cars as a zero-sum game We also mentioned the famous “you didn’t stop to consider whether you should…” quote in 6.11: Very Thoughtful Ethics Dogs. Upcoming books Note that we’ve ended up changing plans since we recorded our Kurzweil episodes! We originally planned to read Simone Browne’s Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, but decided to talk a

What the well-known novel and movie have to say about science, ethics, epistemology, and hubris. Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton (and the movie!) Show Notes Things mentioned on the show Media OS—see TVTropes’ “Extreme Graphical Representation” for many examples. The Expanse TV series overview book series overview Caliban’s War: the book in which “complex simple systems” appear Nuclear meltdowns Three-Mile Island Chernobyl Fukushima Upcoming books Note that we’ve ended up changing plans since we recorded our Kurzweil episodes! We originally planned to read Simone Browne’s Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, but decided to talk about our “background” reading so far! June: The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, Elizabeth Eisenstein July: Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, Simone Brown Music “Achime” by TENGGER “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Danie

Digging into Kurzweil’s deficient view of culture and human nature—from sex and family to epistemology and human dignity. The Age of Spiritual Machines, Ray Kurzweil Show Notes Things mentioned on the show Stephen’s music blog 7.06 and 7.07: The ERLC AI Statement Parts 1 and 2 Mass Effect and Mass Affection The Matrix I, Robot Tolkien, Aüle, dwarves: Dwarves: Origin at Tolkien Gateway Aüle: The Creation of the Dwarves at Lord of the Rings Wiki Turing test and Alan Turing Lanier via Jacobs, 59th thesis Upcoming books May: Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton (and the movie!) June: Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, Simone Brown Music “SOL” by Pascal Schumacher “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Re

Reading Ray Kurzweil’s prognostications about the future—and coming to terms with his ruthless optimism. The Age of Spiritual Machines, Ray Kurzweil Show Notes Things mentioned on the show The Age of Intelligent Machines Moore’s Law Universal constants, and especially the speed of light You Are Not a Gadget, by Jaron Lanier The Shallows, by Nicholas Carr René Descartes Ludwig Wittgenstein Paul Feyerabend Thomas Kuhn and particularly The Structure of Scientific Revolutions Daniel Dennett Pentium III and Core i7s Turing test and Alan Turing John Searle’s Chinese Room Argument: “Minds, Brains and Programs” a helpful deep dive Chris’ blog post about it in 2018 Lanier via Jacobs, 59th thesis Google’s Calico project Upcoming books May: Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton (and the movie!) June: Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, Simone Brown Music “King of Thumbs” by Alex Dowling “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their

The Postmodern Condition, Jean–François Lyotard Lyotard’s postmodernism, the politics of power, and aesthetics: what do we keep and what do we reject? Show Notes Errata Chris, because he was slightly sick, forgot that although we were recording in February, the episode was coming out in March. This threw off everything we said about dates for the rest of the episode. Whoops! (The book schedule is adjusted accordingly below.) Things mentioned on the show “Information wants to be free” The Year of Our Lord 1943, Alan Jacobs, which we discussed in 7.01: Do We Really Need to Keep the Internet Around? Simone Weil Jacques Ellul The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn From Chris’ newsletter, quoting and discussing Elizabeth Eisenstein’s note on learning: Across the Sundering Seas 2020 #07 Richard Dawkins Apophatic theology and via negativa Upcoming books April: The Age of Spiritual Machines, Ray Kurzweil May: Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton (and the movie!) June: Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of