Palladium Podcast

Palladium editors Wolf Tivy and Matt Ellison join Skinner Layne of Wild Studios. We discuss why Palladium and Wild Studios are hosting the AI Conclave in Spain this November. Learn more and join us: https://aiconclave.io The AI Conclave is a month-long pop-up campus for deep study of the biggest questions—in Mediterranean nature: for healthy bodies, minds, and souls. November 1-30, 2023. Apply now. Full funding and scholarships are available.

Tea Törmänen and Marco Visscher join Ash Milton to discuss their recent article on how Finland's Greens chose nuclear energy and the differences between degrowth and ecomodernism. Recently, the Finnish Green Party has been leading the way among green movements in embracing nuclear energy. Tea and Marco tell us why that came to be and how it could be the future for the rest of Europe. The trio also discuss how human demography has and will shape energy consumption, and the question of degrowth-oriented environmental solutions that seem to prioritize "punishing" humanity more than redeeming it. Tea Törmänen is a Finland-based biologist and member of Finland’s Green Party. She is the International Coordinator of RePlanet. Marco Visscher is a Netherlands-based journalist and author of Waarom we niet bang hoeven te zijn voor kernenergie (Why We Need Not Fear Nuclear Energy).

Jesse Velay-Vitow joins Ash Milton to discuss how recent geopolitical realignments, energy crises, and migration patterns will shape the rest of the twenty-first century. Recent energy crises in Europe have helped to put nuclear energy back on a strong footing. But does that mean that powers like Iran will be able to build them? How will industrializing nations vulnerable to climate change like India balance economic growth with ecological stability? What will mass "climate migration" look like, and what will be the political structures needed to address it? These are all questions that Jesse and Ash take on in this episode. Jesse Velay-Vitow is a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto Department of Physics, researching paleoclimate and ice-ocean interactions. He tweets @JesseVelay, and his article "Climate Change Is Inevitable" is available in print in PALLADIUM 07: Garden Planet. Palladium members receive our quarterly print edition and invitations to exclusive events.

Dylan Levi King joins Wolf Tivy to discuss his featured 07 article on North Korean environmentalist policies, Japanese whaling, and the ecotheology that undergirds them.   When Kim Il-Sung, the founder of North Korea, was fighting against Japanese occupiers, environmentalism and folk mythology were interwoven parts of his legend—it was rumored he could turn pine tree cones into flaming bullets, preventing the Japanese from harvesting the pine forests for their imperial wars. It was only one part of a much wider "ecotheology" that characterizes North Korean environmentalist policies even today.   Wolf and Dylan also discuss the recent history of Japanese whaling—how global initiatives, beginning in the 1970s, aimed to curtail the practice with mixed results. The Japanese still continue to hunt whales, but argue that is done so on sustainable terms. Ecosovereignty and ecotheology are concepts that will define a world that is now beginning a long climactic and geopolitical shift.   Dylan Levi King is a Tokyo-based translator of modern Chinese literature and a writer on contemporary online culture. You can follow him on Twitter @dylanleviking. His article "Environmentalism in One Country" can be read here, and it is currently available in print in PALLADIUM 07: Garden Planet.

Ash Milton joins Alexander Gelland to discuss his recent article on the life of the Abbé Henri Gregoire, a priest who was one of the leaders of the French Revolution.   Henri Gregoire is a mysterious figure. Both revolutionary and clerical, universalistic and patriotic, he embodies many of the contradictions of the Revolution. Walking us through his biography and elite-level political life during the Enlightenment, Ash makes a case for how Henri Gregoire's beliefs anticipated those of future revolutionaries around the world.   Ash Milton is the Managing Editor of Palladium Magazine.

Eron Wolf joins Wolf Tivy to discuss alternative computing and the trappings of the streamlined user experience.   As computing technology has become more widespread, the possibilities it offers the user have been narrowed. DRM restrictions, software bloat, and "appification" have made tinkering more difficult. Attempts at fixing this, such as the open-source software movement, have not been able to halt the trend. How can it be done differently?   Eron Wolf is a Software Author at FUTO, an organization dedicated to improving tech sovereignty for the user. He founded Yahoo! Games and was a seed investor for Whatsapp. He tweets @eron_wolf.

Mathis Bitton joins Ash Milton to discuss his PALLADIUM 05 article on state centralization under Charles de Gaulle, the institutional history of French liberalism, and how a nation is built. France occupies a unique position among the Western powers. With public spending at two thirds of its GDP, the French bureaucratic state has historically required a powerful executive. Charles de Gaulle refounded the state after the end of World War II and built a system that ensured the French executive is representative of the people's will, able to instantly reorganize the government when needed, and a living embodiment the nation's traditions. Mathis Bitton is a student of political theory at Yale University. His writing focuses on liberalism and institutional development. You can follow him on Twitter @mlbitton.

Nicolas Villarreal joins Ash Milton to discuss his 05 article on how capitalist giants use socialist cybernetic planning, cybernetic methods of organizing supply chains, and their impact on the worker.   Socialist Chile centrally planned its economy using Project Cybersyn, which used computerized feedback loops to give production managers live updates on changes in demand and other production indicators. This helped solved the “bullwhip” problem, where producers belatedly learned of changes in demand that originate further down the supply chain.   Capitalist supergiants like Amazon and Walmart use similar systems to maintain efficiency. But ultimately the workers are made to work at the tempo of an automated feedback system that leads to injury and exhaustion. Nicolas and Ash also discuss how industrial rationalization and efficiency can lead to worker organization. Nicolas’s article "How Capitalist Giants Use Socialist Cybernetic Planning" is featured in PALLADIUM 05: Centralizing Society.   Nicolas Villarreal works as an analyst for a government contractor and formerly worked in federal banking regulation. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, and author of the novel Caeruleus. He tweets @NicolasDVillar1.  

Charles Smith joins Alexander Gelland to talk about his 2020 article Confronting Modernity Means Overcoming Humanism, featured in PALLADIUM 05: Centralizing Society. The emancipating power of modernity has escaped our control and begun to resemble its opposite. But, if we have the vision to see it through, new technologies promise a radical reshaping of our society for the better.   Join Alex and Charles as they discuss how posthuman societies resemble those of the past, where legitimacy comes from, and the unutilized power of digital communities.

Erik Hoel joins Ash Milton to discuss the current state of education, how it succeeded aristocratic tutoring, and what it means for progress. Up until the creation of mass schooling in the nineteenth century, tutelage was the most common form of education. Only aristocrats were able to afford this, and with the disappearance of aristocratic society so too has tutoring fallen out of practice. But its advantages are what enabled great works of genius to emerge over the past three hundred years. Scientists like Bertrand Russell, William James, and Ludwig Wittgenstein were all given individual instruction at a young age, which was a key part of their success. Erik and Ash discuss the history of the practice and if there is a viable future for it.    Erik Hoel is a research assistant professor at Tufts University. He recently published his debut novel, and his other writing can be found at his Substack.