Douglas Rushkoff's Blog, page 10
February 5, 2019
January 30, 2019
Team Human the Manifesto is Out, New Episodes, Book Tour
Team Human the manifesto is Out Now!
My new book Team Human, launches today. I’ve never written to everyone in my address book before, but this is by far the most important publication of my career: a manifesto arguing for human dignity and prosperity in a digital age.
Autonomous technologies, runaway markets and weaponized media seem to have overturned civil society, paralyzing our ability to think constructively, connect meaningfully, or act purposefully. Yet the root causes for our collective disempowerment are based on some very old, false ideas about competition, individuality, scarcity, and progress. We needn’t embed these values in the digital landscape of tomorrow. They are obsolete. We must stop optimizing human beings for technology, and start optimizing technology for us.
It’s time we reassert the human agenda. And we must do so together – not as individual players – but as the team we actually are. Team Human.
I would be grateful if you purchase this book, which also supports the Team Human podcast.
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Upcoming Book Tour Events:
SAN FRANCISCO
Jan 30: Commonwealth Club – 6:30 PM
NEW YORK
Feb 4 – WNYC Greene Space – Team Human Live with Naomi Klein – 7:00 PM
BOSTON
Feb 7 – MIT Media Lab – 2:00 PM
Feb 7 – Harvard Books – 7:00 PM
LONDON
Feb 14 – RSA – 1:00 PM
Feb 15 – British Library with George Monbiot – 7:00 PM
PORTLAND
Feb 21 – Powell’s Portland – 7:00 PM
Feb 22 – Team Human Live at BunkBar – 8:30 PM
NEW YORK
March 4 – WNYC Greene Space – with Assemblyman Ron Kim and author Anya Kamenetz – 7:00 PM
AUSTIN, TX
March 8-12 – SXSW Keynote
New Episodes of Team Human!
Scroll below for great new episodes of the podcast including Russiagate skeptic Aaron Maté, a live book launch event with Seth Godin, and a two-part live show from Civic Hall with NY Commissioner for International affairs Penny Abeywardena and futurist, technologist, and mage Mark Pesce!
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December 17, 2018
Team Human: The TED Talk is posted
Check out the Team Human manifesto, presented in ten minutes!
Want more? Catch up on over 100 episodes of the Team Human Podcast at teamhuman.fm
And order the new book, Team Human here.
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December 12, 2018
Team Human Live at Civic Hall Tomorrow 12/13, New Episode!
Join Douglas Rushkoff’s Team Human Show for a live discussion with Penny Abeywardena and Mark Pesce | Doors 5:30 PM Showtime 6 PM.
Click here for FREE tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/penny-abeywardena-and-mark-pesce-with-douglas-rushkoff-team-human-live-tickets-52664675462?aff=ebdssbdestsearch
Not in New York this week? Check out the latest Team Human. Geert Lovink and Douglas share a deep conversation about moving beyond platforms and formats. Can we overcome our dehumanizing technology? Listen and read more below:
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 of shows and live events, all made possible thanks to the support of our dedicated listeners. You can support Team Human on Patreon and propel us into next year and next season.You can also help by reviewing the show on iTunes.
Happy holidays and we’ll see you on book tour and back on the podcast waves in January!
Music Credits: On this episode you heard Fugazi’s “Foreman’s Dog” in the intro, fading into a track from Team Human Episode 31 guest R.U. Sirius. Mid-show transition music thanks to Herkimer Diamonds and outro music thanks to the mighty Mike Watt: beak-holding-letter-man.
Check out Douglas’s regular column on Medium.
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December 5, 2018
Team Human: “The Commodity of Authenticity” and “System Reboot”
You know how YouTuber’s always start their videos with some forced, casual greeting like, “Hey guys!” It’s actually a faux, learned style of authenticity. And the more authentic it sounds, the higher the views and happier the algorithms. Authenticity (or the simulation of authenticity) is the new commodity.
My Team Human guest this week, Jamie Cohen, warns how the gaming of authenticity and its amplification by algorithms threaten serious social consequences. Jamie shares his case studies of famous YouTubers like Tyler Oakley and Casey Neistat. Together we 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/
I open the show with a monologue on how we all became Russia’s “useful idiots.”
And last week’s conversation with business reformer Jason Stockwood is still fresh!
What if businesses engaged in social justice simply by adopting the radical stance of providing goods and services people actually need. Instead of spending millions on marketing to convince people to buy and do stuff that’s bad for them (and the rest of the world) why not just manufacture goods and deliver services that solve real problems for people? It’s a radical, daring, and counterintuitive idea, to be sure. But business reformer Jason Stockwood thinks businesses can still choose to respond to existing demand, and improve people’s lives, rather than manipulate people and destroy their planet. Is there still room in capitalism to embed social justice? Here Jason in conversation with me on the Team Human Show.
I also do a monologue on how we can use our Facebook newsfeeds as an indication of what the internet thinks about us, and then change our behavior if we don’t like what we see…
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November 25, 2018
November 15, 2018
Team Human is Done!
From Douglas Rushkoff’s mailing list. Subscribe Here
Team Human, the book, is on its way from the printer’s to the publishers. You, pre-ordering it now, for yourself, your friends or your whole company/organization (if you have one) helps me and the book in all sorts of ways. No, we shouldn’t rework our whole lives to satisfy the algorithms that judge the importance of a book. But front-loading book sales triggers everything from store orders to book reviews. So if you plan to get it, or have a fund you’re allowed to spend on things like this, please do!
It’s a really nice little book – a handbook-size manifesto with no dust jacket. Meant to fit in an activist’s back pocket. I also just recorded the audio book last week. And I really loved reading it, which is rare for me at this moment in the process. This book feels like the culmination of everything I’ve been writing and saying for the past 25 years – and it’s surprising it took only 40,000 words to do it.
Meanwhile, I’ve been recording Team Human episodes and monologues every week for the past 2+ years. This week’s with Chenjerai Kumanyika, is among my favorites. So is the conversation with Stanford prof Fred Turner – about the countercultural roots of digital tech and the need for less dramatic, incremental change than we’re used to. And this one with Nora Bateson about “warm data.”
I’ll be going on a big book tour from late January through March. Highlights will include a Team Human Live at WNYC Greenspace on Feb 4 with Naomi Klein. I’m also doing a Team Human Live with Mark Pesce and Penny Abeywardena at Civic Hall on December 13. Save the dates. Info to follow.
I’ve also been posting articles, essays, and my weekly Team Human monologues on Medium.com. You can find them all here. Also, the first Team Human interview is up here at Nomad.
I’ll be better about sending messages, articles, and updates over the coming weeks. It’s been doozy of a month on personal and professional levels. I’m really looking forward to seeing everyone this winter and spring.
d
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November 7, 2018
Team Human: Two New Episodes, Meetup and Medium
Don’t miss the most recent episodes of Team Human!
On Episode 109, Douglas hosted 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.
This week on Episode 110, Douglas hosts Susan Basterfield and Anthony Cabraal from Enspiral.
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?
You can find Douglas’s new regular column, as well as links to episodes of Team Human on Medium. Visit https://medium.com/@rushkoff
Join the first Team Human Meetup November 12, 2018. Details here: https://www.meetup.com/team-human-nyc/
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