Critical Media Studies

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Ivan Illich’s 1982 talk “Silence is a Commons.” They focus on the ways the enclosure of the commons inaugurates a new “ecological order” in which the environment becomes a resource in the service of “progress.”

In this episode, Barry and Michael discuss Sheila Esposito's 2008 essay, (Title). They discuss Esposito's Luhmann-inspired take on the relation between memory and forgetting and the role of media technologies in creating the modern system of social memory.

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Hans-Georg Moeller’s book, Luhmann Explained: From Souls To Systems.They explore the agents of change in communication systems as theorized by Luhmann.

In this episode Barry and Mike continue their discussion of Luhmann. They talk, specifically, about the “recursively stabilized functional mechanisms” of mass media and their relevance to our 2026 media ecology.

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Niklas Luhmann’s 1996 book, “The Reality of the Mass Media”. After unpacking Luhmann’s model of modern media, they question the role of truth in media and ponder if our current understanding of mass media is compatible with Luhman’s model.

In the second part of their discussion Barry and Mike talk about Rose Horowitch’s ideas about reading and what it means to be post-literate in the digital world.

Barry and Mike begin a two-part discussion of Rose Horowitch’s investigation into post-literacy.In this episode we discuss her November 2024 article in The Atlantic Monthly, “The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books.” Our next episode will discuss her more recent article from the July 2026 issue of The Atlantic, “The Age of Reading is Over.”

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Ted Gioia’s “What You Won’t Learn About the Odyssey From the Movie.” They debate the significance of the “magical mystery song” at the heart of literature.

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Daniel Roher’s 2026 documentary, The AI Doc: Or, How I Became An Apocaloptimist. They apply Bernard Stiegler’s concept of the pharmakon to understand the various positions on the development of artificial intelligence presented in the film. Link to Lawrence Lessig’s 3/29/26 Substack review

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Louis Theroux’s “Inside the Manosphere” (March, 2026) and address the question: What does the Manosphere tell us about our current media environment?