Team Human

Playing for Team Human today: musician, investor, reformer, and the author of Zucked: Waking up to the Facebook Catastrophe, Roger McNamee.Roger will be talking about his mentorship of Mark Zuckerberg and what went wrong. Was it naive idealism? The imperatives of growth-driven capitalism? Greed? Rushkoff and McNamee look at how things have derailed and what must be done to reclaim the driver’s seat for technologies run amok.“There are no rules today.” McNamee warns of online surveillance and the increasing power of behavioral modification. We’ve gone from being exploited as “the product” to becoming “fuel for the fire.”Join Douglas and Roger for a behind-the-scenes look at what is driving these powerful and pernicious platforms.Douglas opens with a monologue proposing a hypothetical. What if Zuckerberg had stayed in school? Would a little more study of history, literature, or a few more ethics courses have prevented the Facebook catastrophe?This special episode of Team Human was recorded live in front of a st

Playing for Team Human Today is lifelong activist, warrior, and witch Blaed Spence AND writer, professor, and author of Slow Media, Jennifer Rauch.Today’s show continues our ‘live from the road’ series as Douglas brings Team Human to the Bunk Bar in Portland, Oregon for an event in collaboration with XRAY radio.Douglas opens with a monologue arguing that politics are still stuck in the television age. What might politics look like when we are not reduced to mere spectators but instead become engaged as active participants?(@1min30s)Blaed Spence joins Douglas on stage for a conversation about the subversive act of looking away from our screens and into each other’s eyes. For Spence, it’ about embracing the opportunity for the awe, wonderment, imagination, and ultimately, true connection. (starts at @12min30s)Author and professor Jennifer Rauch then joins the stage asking us to imagine ourselves as more than just “eyeballs and wallets.” Like Spence, Rauch argues that looking away from our devices and engaging i

Playing for Team Human today: award-winning journalist, activist, and author of No Is Not Enough, This Changes Everything, The Shock Doctrine, No Logo, and most recently, The Battle For Paradise, Naomi Klein.Klein and Rushkoff share a conversation about moving beyond the ideology of individualism. It’s a discussion about what it means, in concrete terms, to forge solidarity with others. Klein finds hope in people’s ability to overcome divides by working together, in common labor, on a common project. One example Klein celebrates is the Green New Deal with its multifaceted and intersectional approach to solving the triple threat of climate crisis, economic inequality, and the surge of racist nationalism. Speaking live on stage at WNYC's the Greene Space, Klein and Rushkoff make a case for humanizing the universal project of saving our planet. After all, the survival of life on earth is a “big tent” under which we all can and must organize.This special episode of Team Human was recorded live in front of a studi

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 dismi

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

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 con

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

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 thank

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 Aud

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 soli

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

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

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-

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 wildes

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 , 

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 s

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 Mi

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

Playing for Team Human today is systems thinker, writer, and filmmaker Nora Bateson. Nora will be telling us how to stop looking at things as objects and begin seeing the spaces and connections between them. It’s not too late to bring our species back from the brink! This conversation was recorded backstage in Palo Alto at the Institute For the Future's (IFTF) 50th Anniversary Gala.I first met at Nora Bateson at a general semantics conference where she was screening her then brand new film An Ecology of Mind about her father Gregory Bateson, one of the principle developers of cybernetic and systems theory. But as I got to know Nora and her work, particularly the book Small Arcs of Larger Circles, I realized she was taking what we think of as systems theory to a whole new and intrinsically human level. I ran into her again at the fiftieth anniversary conference of the Institute For the Future in Palo Alto where she gave an entirely optimistic yet grounded talk on how to bring an awareness of the limi

Playing for Team Human today a double header of people trying to effect real cultural change in very different ways. Up first is cultural anthropologist, host of the 2 Dope Boys podcast, and consultant Philip McKenzie. Philip makes the case for injecting corporate america with the values of social justice by subverting the machine from within. Following Philip is founder of Front Porch Forum, Michael Wood Lewis. Michael shows us how the net can be used to turn residents back into neighbors. It’s a story about the transformative power of witnessing everyday acts of neighborliness. For more on Philip McKenzie, visit https://philipmckenzie.com/Check out Philip’s podcast 2 Dope Boys. Episode 26 features Philip's conversation with Douglas Rushkoff! http://www.twodopeboyspod.com/blog/2016/9/1/on-point-26-douglas-rushkoff-throwing-rocks-at-the-google-busLearn more about Front Porch Forum and Vermont’s “Quiet Digital Revolution.” Visit https://frontporchforum.com/and check out this trailer for a new documen