Team Human

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

Playing for Team Human is art activist Steve Lambert. Steve reclaims public spaces with his work, igniting the radical imagination and critical thinking of his audience collaborators. With his recent piece, “Capitalism Works For Me!(True/False),” Lambert brought an interactive scoreboard out to the public, and in doing so, sparked an honest, candid, and personal discussion about how the economy is working for people.Lambert is a founder and director of the Center for Artistic Activism where he hosts resources and workshops to help aspiring activists innovate new means of social transformation.Visit Steve’s website visitsteve.com to learn more about his many interactive art projects.More links to creative and playful means of engagement can also be found at the Team Human resources page under the heading “Protest and Resistance”  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human is Aaron Dignan. Aaron is a strategist, author, and founder of the Ready, where he works on updating the “organizational operating systems” of business. Dignan has advised top executives at global brands including GE, Ford, and American Express. In today’s episode, Aaron and Douglas speak candidly about what goes on behind the scenes in the halls of corporate power. Can businesses be redesigned into more meaningful and cooperative work structures in the growth driven economy? What might it take to “hack the corporation” into something that serves people over profit?  You can find Aaron’s blog on Medium or on his website at aarondignan.com. Also, check out Aaron’s book, Game Frame: Using Games as a Strategy for Success . In Game Frame, Dignan boasts that “the future of work is play!” Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human today is D.C. Vito, Executive Director of The LAMP (Learning About Multimedia Project). The LAMP brings hands-on media education into underserved communities, empowering students and teachers with the skills needed to comprehend, create, and critique media. In today’s episode, D.C. and Douglas make the concept of “media literacy” tangible for an interactive media era, while unmasking the social programming lurking just behind the screen.Learn more at thelamp.org. There you’ll find MediaBreaker, a free online program that enables students to deconstruct, re-edit, and remix the messages in current advertising campaigns.Visit our resources page here on teamhuman.fm for a quick connection to the many valuable media breaking tools the LAMP offers.  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing For Team Human today, the brilliant and terrifying artist and bio-hacker Heather Dewey- Hagborg. As a transdisciplinary artist, Heather explores the intersection of science, art and biopolitics. Heather recently made the headlines with a project called Stranger Visions, in which she collected random human genetic material left behind in the detritus of public spaces to generate portrait masks of strangers using a process called forensic DNA phenotyping.In another recent project, Radical Love: Chelsea Manning, Heather again used this process of DNA phenotyping to create a series of 3D portraits of whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who is not allowed to be photographed while in prison. Radical Love is both subversive and thought-provoking as it calls attention to Manning’s incarceration as well as issues of gender stereotypes and identity.Visit Heather’s website deweyhagborg.com to learn more about Heather’s many works.Learn more about genspace.org. Genspace promotes “citizen science̶

Today’s Team Human was recorded live on the floor of the 2016 Personal Democracy Forum, where we caught up with Marina Gorbis, executive director to the Institute for the Future (IFTF). Marina joins Team Human to help us see how a utilitarian value set has been embedded into our society and its technologies. Together Marina and Douglas discuss those ambiguous and even anomalous qualities of being human, while looking to a future that embraces humanity as something greater than mere data points.This episode also features Rushkoff’s closing talk at the Personal Democracy Forum.You can learn more about the Marina’s Work at IFTF by visiting iftf.org or directly linking to her latest book: The Nature of the Future: Dispatches from the Socialstructed World.  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human today is Kio Stark. Kio’s new book When Strangers Meet explores the transformative power to be found in person-to-person interactions with strangers. Kio describes how even a brief interaction can foster empathy and open up the possibility for meaningful human connection. Kio and Douglas challenge the unwritten rules of social interaction and talk about how basic human connection can spark positive social change.Links:Kio’s recent New York Times travel feature, “5 Ways Total Strangers Can Make Your Trip Better” can be found here.In today’s episode, Kio describes this online game, Clocking In, created by RaceForward.org as a tool to build solidarity in the struggle for workplace justice and fair wages.Connecting with strangers is about respect and recognizing the fundamental value of the people we encounter. Check out ihollaback.org to learn more about ending harassment in public spaces. There you can find numerous resources and ways to get involved.Kio̵

Playing for Team Human today: Andy Bichlbaum of the infamous Yes Men, the world’s most accomplished working culture hackers, responsible for devastating satirical attacks on Dow Chemical, Halliburton, Exxon, the US Chamber of Commerce, Dupont, and others.Bichlbaum is going to share with us the secret to fighting against even violent oppression with playful resistance.After listening to the show, check out the Yes Lab, a resource for playful resisters everywhere. http://yeslab.org/And check out our resources page for an expanding list of ways to get involved in the actions featured on the show. This week we’ve added links to activist toolkits, instruction, and useful strategies for creative protest under the section “Protest and Resistance”. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.