Escaping Screens: A Tech-Free Travel Quest, Part II

Podcast #24: Michael Zimmerman Gets Philosophical on Tech

In a wide-ranging conversation, philosopher Michael Zimmerman contextualizes our technological journey within the history of Western thought.

By Mo Lotman | January 9, 2019 | Artificial Intelligence, Culture, Employment, Environment, Ethics, Knowledge, Philosophy, Podcasts, Religion, Society | Acts of Enclosure, Addiction, Agriculture, Ancient World, Anger, Aristotle, Arnold Toynbee, Artificial General Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, Authenticity, Axial Age, Behavior, Bible, Bolsheviks, Boundaries, Buddhism, Capitlism, Carolyn Merchant, Christianity, Civilization, Control, Craving, Creativity, CRISPR, David Loy, Death, Decadence, Deep Ecology, Delusion, Desire, Distraction, Earth, Ease, Embodiment, Engineering, Environment, Eternity, Exploitation, Exponential Growth, Facebook, Fake News, Fate, Finitude, Fire, Francis Bacon, Friedrich Nietzsche, Gnosticism, Golden Rule, Google, Greed, Hatred, Hegel, Heiddeger, Hubris, Human Nature, Humanness, Immaturity, Immortality, Industrial Revolution, Infantilization, Isaiah, Islam, Jaron Lanier, Karl Jaspers, Karl Marx, Knowledge, Lab-Grown Meat, Life, Loss, Martin Rees, Marxism, Master-Slave Dialectic, Meaning, Meat-Eating, Mediation, Medieval World, Metallurgy, Mind, Mining, Modernity, Money Economy, Morality, Mortality, Native Americans, Nature, Nazis, News, Nihilism, Obesity, Pain, Pascal, Peter Thiel, Philosophy, Plato, Playing God, Power, Production, Progress, Propoganda, Protestant Reformation, Ray Kurzweil, Reincarnation, relationships, Religion, René Descartes, Resentment, Resources, Respect, Sailing, Security, Self-Mastery, Silicon Valley, Smartphones, Socialism, Soviets, Spirituality, Splintering, Steve Jobs, Suffering, The Overman, The Singularity, Trade, Traditional Societies, Transhumanism, Twitter, Utopia, Wealth, Wildfires, Will to Power, Wisdom, Wonder

Podcast #21: Betsy Brunner on Circumventing Censorship

Betsy Brunner of Idaho State examines social media and social movements, particularly in China, where she’s looked at the creative ways people get around the limits of surveillance and censorship.

By Mo Lotman | October 22, 2018 | Culture, Government, Human Rights, Media, Podcasts, Policing, Privacy, Society | Activism, Censors, Censorship, China, Creativity, Dystopia, Images, Language, Memes, Obfuscation, Protest, surveillance

Podcast #18: Catherine Steiner-Adair on Tech and Child Development

Catherine Steiner-Adair is a clinical psychologist whose empathic 2013 book The Big Disconnect warned us about the impacts of digital tech on child development and family relationships. She’s been on a non-stop speaking tour ever since.

By Mo Lotman | May 16, 2018 | Cognition, Education, Family, Health, Identity, Podcasts, Psychology, Relationships, Society, Well-Being | Anxiety, Apps, Attachment, Bonding, Boredom, Childhood Development, Creativity, Cyberbullying, Depression, Disconnection, Education, Exercise, Families, Gaming, Impulse Control, Laptops, Learning, Motor Skills, Obesity, Overstimulation, Parents, Permanence, Play, Porn, Quiet, Schools, Sexting, Shaming, smart phones, Social Media, Suicide, Tablets

Spotify Automates; Humans Get Played

When Spotify’s music algorithms lead one writer to a band he can’t stand that he loves, he wonders about who’s programming who.

By Reis Thebault | February 7, 2018 | Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Culture, Philosophy, Relationships | AI, Algorithms, Automation, CDs, Creativity, Discovery, Engagement, Geography, Houndmouth, Human Interaction, Identity, Midwest, Mix Tapes, Monoculture, music, Music Appreciation, Playlists, Sharing, Spotify, streaming

Podcast #15: David Greenfield on Internet Addiction

Psychiatrist, professor, and author David Greenfield, founder of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction, was one of the first medical professionals to recognize and study the addictive qualities of the Internet. He explains what we know, what it means, and what can be done.

By Mo Lotman | January 17, 2018 | Cognition, Family, Health, Neurology, Podcasts, Psychology, Society, Well-Being | Addiction, Alienation, Behavior, Boot Camps, Boredom, China, Community, Creativity, Detox, Distracted Driving, Dopamine, DSM, Facebook, Food, Gambling, Gaming, Health Care, Heroin, Humanity, Impulse Control, Inequality, Internet, Medicine, Public Space, Self-Medication, Sex, smart phones, Social Disconnection, Social Media, Teens, Unhappiness, Variable Ratio Reinforcement Schedule, Variable Reward, Video Games

Podcast #5: David Krakauer on Tech, Cognition, and Social Systems

David Krakauer is President and Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute, a private, not-for-profit, independent research and education center, where he focuses on the evolutionary history of information processing mechanisms in biology and culture. He sat down with The Technoskeptic to talk about the idea of complementary vs. competitive cognitive artifacts—that is, how technologies extend or supress our own capabilities.

By Art Keller | September 14, 2016 | Cognition, Podcasts, Society | Competitive Cognitive Artifacts, Complementary Cognitive Artifacts, Complexity Theory, Creativity, Cultural Change, Decision-Making, Evolution, Exponential Change, Idea Propogation, Intelligence, Machine Learning, Memory, Problem Solving, Understanding

An Apple® a Day Keeps Attention Away

From kindergarten to college, the US education system is investing more and more into putting iPads, e-readers, interactive whiteboards, and [...]

By Abigail Patrick | April 20, 2016 | Education, Psychology | Attention Span, Classroom, Communication, Creativity, E-books, Facebook, iPads, Reading, Social Interaction, Social Media