8.18: Contact—Explained

Show Notes You heard that right, everyone. Who knows, maybe we’ll be back someday, though! (Long-time listeners: stick around for the last bit of this episode. Trust us.) Music “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Something special Respond We (still!) love to hear your thoughts. Hit us up via Twitter, Facebook, or email!

Reviewing what we learned in 2020—and ranking what we read! So many books! Also: MARIMBAAAAAAAAAAA!!! Show Notes The books we covered this season: Phaedrus, Plato: 8.02, 8.03 The Postmodern Condition, Lyotard: 8.04, 8.05 The Age of Spiritual Machines, Ray Kurzweil: 8.06, 8.07 Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton: 8.08, 8.09 The Printing Press as an Agent of Change, Elizabeth Eisenstein: 8.10, 8.11 Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, Simone Browne: 8.12, 8.13 The Real World of Technology, Ursula Franklin: 8.14, 8.15 Evolution as a Religion, Mary Midgley: 8.16, 8.17 Contact, Carl Sagan: 8.18, 8.19 Twitter and Tear Gas, Zeynep Tüfekçi: 8.20, 8.21 Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan: 8.22 Stephen’s list Twitter and Tear Gas Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore The Printing Press as an Agent of Change The Postmodern Condition Contact Jurassic Park Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness The Real World of Technology Phaedrus The Age of Spiritual Machines Evolution as a Religion Chris’s list Twitter and Tear Gas Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore The Printing Press as an Agent of Change Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness Jurassic Park Phaedrus Contact The Real World of Technology The Postmodern Condition The Age of Spiritual Machines Evolution as a Religion Credits Music “Foxglove”, by Ryan Dugré. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

Neal Stephenson at double speed and with a smile on his face. Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan Show Notes Robin Sloan Sourdough Ruby George Saunders Cory Doctorow Credits Music “Getaway Car”, by Ezekiel Songs originally written by Make Sure. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

The things we learned from Zeynep Tüfekçi’s examination of social media and sociopolitical change. (We liked this book a lot.) Twitter and Tear Gas, Zeynep Tüfekçi Show Notes Zeynep Tüfekçi her recently-launched newsletter Insight 52-Cent Party Cultural Revolution Tianenmen Square Twitter and the 2020 US election Twitter’s own take Hunter Biden Electoral college Ben Thompson Matt Levine’s newsletter Money Stuff His latest issue before going on parental leave back in August profiled in the New York Times Matching blazers For the ’gram Upcoming Book December (8.22 and 8.23): Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan. Credits Music “Drop Off”, by Vertaal, feat. Severin Bruhin & Loren Hignell Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

Walking through Zeynep Tüfekçi’s masterful explanation of the relationship between social media and protest movements. Twitter and Tear Gas, Zeynep Tüfekçi Show Notes Things we mentioned on the show, in the order we mentioned them: Zeynep Tüfekçi her recently-launched newsletter Insight modern Turkey Zapatistas Occupy Wall Street 1999 World Trade Organization protests Arab Spring Tea Party China’s treatment of the Uyghurs Capacities/capabilities The Capability Approach, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Amartya Sen American Civil Rights Movement March on Washington Montgomery Bus Boycott John Lewis The Internet Archive Upcoming Book December (8.22 and 8.23): Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan. Credits Music “Ode to Youth”, by Liam Mour Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

Thinking about Carl Sagan's views on belief, and how they relate to religion and science Contact, Carl Sagan Show Notes After reading Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel Contact and watching the 1995 movie of the same name, we discuss a major epistemological question: what are the acceptable grounds for belief? Are religious belief and scientific proof compatible? Sagan’s surprisingly nuanced views give us interesting ways forward. Things we mentioned on the show, in the order we mentioned them: Carl Sagan Cosmos: TV show and book Non-overlapping Magisteria More commentary on Sagan’s complex and complicated relationship with religion One of many episodes of the Bible Project talking about God working through history Richard Dawkins “Verily I say unto you, they have received their reward in full” (Carradini version, a mashup of the KJV and NIV translations of Matthew 6:2) Sagan’s views on religion and nuclear war Jenkins and LaHaye dispensationalist eschatology, otherwise known as the Left Behind series Postmillenialism Soviet genetics, also known as Lysenkoism (bonus: Lysenkoism is based partially on Lamarckism, which should be familiar to you if you just listened to our episodes on Mary Midgley’s work) Upcoming Book November (8.20 and 8.21): Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest, Zeynep Tufecki. You can also download it from Tufecki’s website as a PDF. December (8.22 and 8.23): Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan. Credits Music “Character” by Kylie Odetta. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

Another book from the ’80s, but hey: at least this one is fiction! Contact, Carl Sagan Show Notes We read Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel Contact and watched the 1995 movie of the same name. In this episode, our overview of the book: its plot and its basic interests. Things we mentioned on the show, in the order we mentioned them: Carl Sagan Cosmos: TV show and book Neil Degrasse Tyson Fermi Paradox Wow! signal Very Large Array Arecibo Observatory Neil Patrick Harris (wait for it, it’ll all make sense in the end) Upcoming Book November (8.20 and 8.21): Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest, Zeynep Tufecki. You can also download it from Tufecki’s website as a PDF. December (8.22 and 8.23): Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan. Credits Music “It’s a Movie, It’s a Dream” by Josh Caress. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

We argue with Mary Midgley on how she did what she did, more than what she did. Evolution as a Religion, Mary Midgley Show Notes Descartes’ belief that people can’t be rational without God; see paragraph six Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene David Hume Immanuel Kant John Rawls, the specific claim Stephen most has a problem with is the veil of ignorance concept explained in this page (although this is not mentioned in the episode) Jacques Monod Wickedness: A Philosophical Essay Robinson Crusoe Here’s another great cover of the book from the ’80s! Have to climb to Omega, man! Upcoming Book October (8.18 and 8.19): Contact, Carl Sagan (and the movie) November (8.20 and 8.21): Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest, Zeynep Tufecki. You can also download it from Tufecki’s website as a PDF. Credits Music “Sailor’s Cry” by A.M.R via Silk Music. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

What had Mary Midgley so incredibly angry in the 1980s, and what did she do about it? Evolution as a Religion, Mary Midgley Show Notes Richard Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene “Superman” and Friedrich Nietzsche David Hume Immanuel Kant The other book Chris is reading on politics &c. currently: Politics and the Order of Love, Eric Gregory Here’s another great cover of the book from the ’80s! Have to climb to Omega, man! Upcoming Book October (8.18 and 8.19): Contact, Carl Sagan November (8.20 and 8.21): Twitter and Tear Gas: The Power and Fragility of Networked Protest, Zeynep Tufecki. You can also download it from Tufecki’s website as a PDF. Credits Music “Acquainted with the Night” by Ezra Feinberg. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

We point out several concerns that we have with the arguments Dr. Franklin makes in her lectures-turned-book: the ineffectiveness of her holistic and prescriptive technologies frame, her deeply cynical view on policy, and other thorny places that her arguments lead (like the Soviet Union). The Real World of Technology, Ursula Franklin Show Notes Cold War peace movement Peace movements in Canada Second-wave feminism (to which Dr. Franklin’s feminism approximately belongs to) History of environmental movements, post-WWII Bijker, Hughes & Pinch’s seminal work on Social Construction of Technology: Stephen left out Hughes. Sorry, Thomas P. Hughes. Actor-Network Theory John Law and Annemarie Mol’s Handpump article: Stephen incorrectly only mentioned Mol instead of Law and Mol. Sorry, John Law. Robert Moses’s bridges Bay of Pigs invasion, also sometimes known as the Bay of Pigs incident: Stephen’s point in bringing this up was to allude to the point made neatly in the Wikipedia article: “[The failed invasion] also pushed Cuba closer to the Soviet Union, and those strengthened Soviet-Cuban relations would lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.” Almost no nuclear power plants have been built since 1990 Nuclear power plants historically have decreased carbon emissions significantly: see paragraph four Here’s the great cover of the book from the ’80s–note that at no time are floppy disks mentioned in the book. Dr. Franklin does not advocate throwing floppy discs at people’s faces, presumably Upcoming Book September (8.16 and 8.17): Evolution as a Religion: Strange Hopes and Stranger Fears, Mary Midgley Credits Music “Vista” by Escaper. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. We usually announce that on the show, but a technical error resulted in a second straight month without verbal crediting. Argh! Argh! “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!