57 | Astra Taylor on the Promise and Challenge of Democracy

57 | Astra Taylor on the Promise and Challenge of Democracy

"Democracy may not exist, but we'll miss it when it's gone" — or so suggests the title of Astra Taylor's new book. We all know how democracy falls short, in practice, of its lofty ideals; but we can also appreciate how democratic values are crucial in the fight for a more just society. In this conversation, we dig into the nature of democracy, from its origins to the present day. We talk about who gets to participate, how economic inequality affects political inequality, and how democratic ideals manifest themselves in any number of real-world situations.

Support Mindscape on Patreon or Paypal.

Astra Taylor is a filmmaker, author, and activist. Her documentary films include Zizek!, The Examined Life, and most recently What Is Democracy? Her books include The People's Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital age and the new Democracy May Not Exist, But We'll Miss It When It's Gone. She has taught sociology at the university level, and written for publications from n+1 to The London Review of Books. She was active in the Occupy movement, and is a co-founder of the Debt Collective.


Episoder(417)

55 | A Conversation with Rob Reid on Quantum Mechanics and Many Worlds

55 | A Conversation with Rob Reid on Quantum Mechanics and Many Worlds

As you may have heard, I have a new book coming out in September, Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime. To celebrate, we're going to have more than the usual number o...

15 Jul 20191h 26min

54 | Indre Viskontas on Music and the Brain

54 | Indre Viskontas on Music and the Brain

It doesn't mean much to say music affects your brain — everything that happens to you affects your brain. But music affects your brain in certain specific ways, from changing our mood to helping us le...

8 Jul 20191h 15min

53 | Solo -- On Morality and Rationality

53 | Solo -- On Morality and Rationality

What does it mean to be a good person? To act ethically and morally in the world? In the old days we might appeal to the instructions we get from God, but a modern naturalist has to look elsewhere. To...

1 Jul 20192h 5min

52 | Frank Lantz on the Logic and Emotion of Games

52 | Frank Lantz on the Logic and Emotion of Games

Games play an important, and arguably increasing, role in human life. We play games on our computers and our phones, watch other people compete in games, and occasionally break out the cards or the Mo...

24 Jun 20191h 4min

51 | Anthony Aguirre on Cosmology, Zen, Entropy, and Information

51 | Anthony Aguirre on Cosmology, Zen, Entropy, and Information

Cosmologists have a standard set of puzzles they think about: the nature of dark matter and dark energy, whether there was a period of inflation, the evolution of structure, and so on. But there are a...

17 Jun 20191h 31min

50 | Patricia Churchland on Conscience, Morality, and the Brain

50 | Patricia Churchland on Conscience, Morality, and the Brain

It's fun to spend time thinking about how other people should behave, but fortunately we also have an inner voice that keeps offering opinions about how we should behave ourselves: our conscience. Whe...

10 Jun 20191h 12min

49 | Nicholas Christakis on Humanity, Biology, and What Makes Us Good

49 | Nicholas Christakis on Humanity, Biology, and What Makes Us Good

It's easy to be cynical about humanity's present state and future prospects. But we have made it this far, and in some ways we're doing better than we used to be. Today's guest, Nicholas Christakis, i...

3 Jun 20191h 54min

48 | Marq de Villiers on Hell and Damnation

48 | Marq de Villiers on Hell and Damnation

If you're bad, we are taught, you go to Hell. Who in the world came up with that idea? Some will answer God, but for the purpose of today's podcast discussion we'll put that possibility aside and look...

27 Mai 20191h 11min

Populært innen Vitenskap

fastlegen
rekommandert
tingenes-tilstand
forskningno
sinnsyn
rss-rekommandert
smart-forklart
liberal-halvtime
villmarksliv
jss
fjellsportpodden
pod-britannia
vett-og-vitenskap-med-gaute-einevoll
tomprat-med-gunnar-tjomlid
rss-paradigmepodden
psykopoden
dekodet-2
rss-nysgjerrige-norge
nevropodden
rss-overskuddsliv