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.

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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(415)

37 | Edward Watts on the End of the Roman Republic and Lessons for Democracy

37 | Edward Watts on the End of the Roman Republic and Lessons for Democracy

When many of us think "Ancient Rome," we think of the Empire and the Caesars. But the Empire was preceded by the Roman Republic, which flourished for a full five centuries. Why, after such a long and ...

11 Mar 20191h 31min

36 | David Albert on Quantum Measurement and the Problems with Many-Worlds

36 | David Albert on Quantum Measurement and the Problems with Many-Worlds

Quantum mechanics is our best theory of how reality works at a fundamental level, yet physicists still can't agree on what the theory actually says. At the heart of the puzzle is the "measurement prob...

4 Mar 20191h 42min

35 | Jessica Yellin on The Changing Ways We Get Our News

35 | Jessica Yellin on The Changing Ways We Get Our News

Everything we think about the world outside our immediate senses is shaped by information brought to us by other sources. In the case of what's currently happening to the human race, we call that info...

25 Feb 20191h 8min

34 | Paul Bloom on Empathy, Rationality, Morality, and Cruelty

34 | Paul Bloom on Empathy, Rationality, Morality, and Cruelty

Within every person's mind there is on ongoing battle between reason and emotion. It's not always a battle, of course; very often the two can work together. But at other times, our emotions push us to...

18 Feb 20191h 10min

33 | James Ladyman on Reality, Metaphysics, and Complexity

33 | James Ladyman on Reality, Metaphysics, and Complexity

Reality is a tricky thing. Is love real? What about the number 5? This is clearly a job for a philosopher, and James Ladyman is one of the world's acknowledged experts. He and his collaborators have b...

11 Feb 20191h 7min

32 | Naomi Oreskes on Climate Change and the Distortion of Scientific Facts

32 | Naomi Oreskes on Climate Change and the Distortion of Scientific Facts

Our climate is in the midst of dramatic changes, driven largely by human activity, with potentially enormous consequences for humanity and other species. That's why science tells us, anyway. But there...

4 Feb 20191h 10min

31 | Brian Greene on the Multiverse, Inflation, and the String Theory Landscape

31 | Brian Greene on the Multiverse, Inflation, and the String Theory Landscape

String theory was originally proposed as a relatively modest attempt to explain some features of strongly-interacting particles, but before too long developed into an ambitious attempt to unite all th...

28 Jan 20191h 11min

30 | Derek Leben on Ethics for Robots and Artificial Intelligences

30 | Derek Leben on Ethics for Robots and Artificial Intelligences

It's hardly news that computers are exerting ever more influence over our lives. And we're beginning to see the first glimmers of some kind of artificial intelligence: computer programs have become mu...

21 Jan 20191h 28min

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