RUSHKOFF

Hosted by Douglas Rushkoff

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About the show

Author Douglas Rushkoff's conversations and public monologues. Monologues span topics such as human autonomy, compassion and community, to technology, economics, media environments, magick and the occult, science, and nature. Conversations with fellow writers, artists and thinkers such as Alan Moore, Grant Morrison, Brian Eno, Naomi Klein, Cory Doctorow, and Nora Bateson. Become a Patron & Access Full Conversations at: http://patreon.com/rushkoff

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60 recent

13 min

Sherry Turkle: Conversation (Public Preview)

🌍 Listen to the full conversation, plus exclusive livestreams, Q&A and more with Douglas Rushkoff: http://patreon.com/rushkoff Douglas Rushkoff is joined by MIT professor, psychologist, and author Sherry Turkle for an intimate conversation about artificial intelligence, the illusion of machine empathy, and what it means to be human. Drawing on her latest book, Artificial Intimacy , Turkle explores how AI companions, digital immortality, and synthetic relationships threaten to replace genuine human connection with technological simulations. Together, they examine Silicon Valley’s obsession with transcending mortality, the psychological importance of grief, and the erosion of our capacity for conversation, reading, and empathy. Ultimately, they ask whether our growing dependence on artificial intelligence is helping us live more fully - or teaching us to abandon the very experiences that make life worth living. 👉🏻 Follow Douglas Rushkoff: http://instagram.com/douglasrushkoff http://tiktok.com/douglasrushkoff http://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com Our Sponsors: * Check out Uncommon Goods and use my code uncommongoods.com/TEAMHUMAN for a great deal: https://www.uncommongoods.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

14 min

Networks Don’t Throttle. Platforms Do: Zuck, Musk, and the Eugenics of Selective Reduction

🌍 Become a Patron to receive ad-free access to videos, exclusive conversations and livestream Q&As with Douglas Rushkoff: http://patreon.com/rushkoff The internet was supposed to be a decentralised network of people sharing ideas, experimenting with identities, and imagining new possibilities. So how did it become a collection of privately owned platforms controlled by a handful of tech billionaires? From Elon Musk’s control over Starlink in Ukraine to Meta’s alleged interference in Brazilian politics, Douglas Rushkoff explores how the promise of an open internet gave way to systems of surveillance, corporate power, and algorithmic control. Reflecting on his experiences of the early internet, Rushkoff explains the fundamental difference between networks and platforms, why that distinction matters more than ever, and how we might reclaim the decentralised, collaborative spirit of the internet before its owners gain even greater control over our lives. 👉🏻 Follow Douglas Rushkoff: http://instagram.com/douglasrushkoff http://tiktok.com/douglasrushkoff http://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com Our Sponsors: * Check out Uncommon Goods and use my code uncommongoods.com/TEAMHUMAN for a great deal: https://www.uncommongoods.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

7 min

Setting Team Human Free

🌍 Support to receive ad-free access to videos, livestream Q&As with Rushkoff: http://patreon.com/teamhuman I’m retiring the podcast title Team Human, but I’m going to use that channel for my conversations and research interviews for both the new book and my work going forward. Instead of recording an interview with someone who needs to promote the book they’ve just published, I will record the conversation I need to have to figure something out myself. 👉🏻 Follow Douglas Rushkoff: http://instagram.com/douglasrushkoff http://tiktok.com/douglasrushkoff http://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com Our Sponsors: * Check out Uncommon Goods and use my code uncommongoods.com/TEAMHUMAN for a great deal: https://www.uncommongoods.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

1 hr 0 min

Lies We Believe About Data w/ danah boyd

🌍 Support the show to receive ad-free access to videos, livestream Q&As with Rushkoff: http://patreon.com/teamhuman What happens when the people holding democracy together are pushed to the breaking point? Douglas Rushkoff speaks with researcher and author danah boyd about the invisible human labor behind America’s institutions, the political battles over who gets counted, and why data is never as objective as we think. From the quiet heroism of civil servants to the erosion of public trust, they explore how democracy depends not just on numbers and systems, but on the people who make them work. 👉🏻 Follow Douglas Rushkoff: http://instagram.com/douglasrushkoff http://tiktok.com/douglasrushkoff http://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com Our Sponsors: * Check out Uncommon Goods and use my code uncommongoods.com/TEAMHUMAN for a great deal: https://www.uncommongoods.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

1 hr 11 min

Can Psychedelics Save Humanity? w/ Rick Doblin

🔗 Go to http://groundnews.com/th to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world. Psychedelic pioneer and MAPS founder Rick Doblin joins Douglas Rushkoff to explore the future of psychedelic healing after 40 years of fighting for legalization. From the FDA’s rejection of MDMA-assisted therapy to Big Pharma’s attempts to commercialize consciousness, they examine the tension between healing and profit, freedom and control. Can psychedelics help us reconnect with ourselves and each other, or will the institutions bringing them into the mainstream undermine their transformative potential? 🌍 Support the show to receive ad-free access to videos, livestream Q&As with Rushkoff: http://patreon.com/teamhuman 👉🏻 Follow Douglas Rushkoff: http://instagram.com/douglasrushkoff http://tiktok.com/douglasrushkoff http://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com Our Sponsors: * Check out Uncommon Goods and use my code uncommongoods.com/TEAMHUMAN for a great deal: https://www.uncommongoods.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

1 hr 13 min

Here’s How We Stay Human w/ Samantha Sweetwater

🔗 Go to http://groundnews.com/th to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world. Systems thinker Samantha Sweetwater joins Douglas Rushkoff to explore how we stay human in a world coming apart. They discuss nervous system regulation, embodiment as political strategy, moving beyond oppositional activism, metabolizing grief, reclaiming joy, and building more beautiful ways of living together amid civilizational upheaval. 🌍 Support the show to receive ad-free access to videos, livestream Q&As with Rushkoff: http://patreon.com/teamhuman 👉🏻 Follow Douglas Rushkoff: http://instagram.com/douglasrushkoff http://tiktok.com/douglasrushkoff http://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com Our Sponsors: * Check out Uncommon Goods and use my code uncommongoods.com/TEAMHUMAN for a great deal: https://www.uncommongoods.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

1 hr 11 min

Here Is Worth Fighting For w/ Naomi Klein & Astra Taylor

🌍 Support the show to receive ad-free access to videos, livestream Q&As with Rushkoff: http://patreon.com/teamhuman Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor join Douglas Rushkoff to discuss their new book End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World, exploring the forces driving authoritarianism, the seductive fantasy of escape, the growing alliance between technology and power, and what it means to resist by staying rooted in the here and now. Together, they make the case for a politics of “here-ness” - choosing community, solidarity, mutual aid, and a commitment to the living world over bunkers, borders, and dreams of escape. 👉🏻 Follow Douglas Rushkoff: http://instagram.com/douglasrushkoff http://tiktok.com/douglasrushkoff http://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com Our Sponsors: * Check out Uncommon Goods and use my code uncommongoods.com/TEAMHUMAN for a great deal: https://www.uncommongoods.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

1 hr 4 min

America Is Losing Its Grip on Reality w/ Kurt Andersen

🔗 Go to http://groundnews.com/th to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world. Douglas Rushkoff sits down with author, journalist, and Spy magazine co-founder Kurt Andersen to explore what happens when a country can no longer agree on what’s real. Using Andersen’s new novel The Breakup, which imagines a near-future America fractured along political lines as a jumping-off point. They discuss conspiracy culture, the collapse of shared reality, the psychology of political identity, Donald Trump and Spy magazine, AI and technological solutionism, the possibility of American disunion, and why local communities may offer an antidote to our increasingly fictionalized online world. They also reflect on the disappearing culture of magazines, the pressure to constantly produce for platforms, and what writers are actually for in an age of algorithms and instant feedback. 🌍 Support the show to receive ad-free access to videos, livestream Q&As with Rushkoff: http://patreon.com/teamhuman 👉🏻 Follow Douglas Rushkoff: http://instagram.com/douglasrushkoff http://tiktok.com/douglasrushkoff http://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com Our Sponsors: * Check out Uncommon Goods and use my code uncommongoods.com/TEAMHUMAN for a great deal: https://www.uncommongoods.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

1 hr 1 min

Make Your Entire Life a Work of Art w/ Kenya (Robinson)

🔗 Go to groundnews.com/th to get 40% off the unlimited access Vantage plan and unlock world-wide perspectives on the stories shaping our world. Artist Kenya (Robinson) joins Douglas Rushkoff to explore what happens when the boundary between art and everyday life disappears. From earning an MFA at Yale to working as a mail carrier and training as an auto mechanic, (Robinson) reflects on class, race, ambition, institutional definitions of success, and learning to see work itself as creative practice. Along the way, she connects automotive systems to tarot, ritual, energy, and “deep magic,” while considering how artists can loosen their grip on recognition, take care of themselves, and transform the ordinary materials of life into something meaningful. 🌍 Support the show to receive ad-free access to videos, livestream Q&As with Rushkoff: http://patreon.com/teamhuman 👉🏻 Follow Douglas Rushkoff: http://instagram.com/douglasrushkoff http://tiktok.com/douglasrushkoff http://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com Our Sponsors: * Check out Uncommon Goods and use my code uncommongoods.com/TEAMHUMAN for a great deal: https://www.uncommongoods.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

56 min

The Pope Is Officially Team Human w/ Catherine Connors

🌍 Support the show to receive ad-free access to videos, livestream Q&As with Rushkoff: http://patreon.com/teamhuman Douglas Rushkoff is joined by storyteller and thinker Catherine Connors to explore Pope Leo XIV’s remarkable intervention into the AI debate. Together, they unpack his critique of transhumanism, technological inevitability and Silicon Valley’s vision of human progress and his radical case for the dignity, imperfection and magnificence of being human. 👉🏻 Follow Douglas Rushkoff: http://instagram.com/douglasrushkoff http://tiktok.com/douglasrushkoff http://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com Our Sponsors: * Check out Uncommon Goods and use my code uncommongoods.com/TEAMHUMAN for a great deal: https://www.uncommongoods.com Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy