Topic: Diet Soap

[ Episode #22 // Picking Battles ]

Formerly abundant raw materials which enabled the creation of capitalist economies are falling short of allowing the system to grow any further. With this historic moment, the opportunity to re-imagine the nature of work and the structure of society arises. Maintaining a balance between the steps necessary for self preservation in a depleting culture while decoupling from the system and pursuing more meaningful work is a key challenge to thriving in the near future. If the status quo is being blatantly exposed as a fiction, what role can we play in writing the new society? Out of the 168 hours in any give week, what can be done outside of the 40 given to our employers to create the new world we envision?

In Extraenvironmentalist #22 we speak with writer, thinker and podcaster Doug Lain about his outlook on life in the time of Late Capitalism which is the primary topic of his recent non-fiction book Pick Your Battle.  We discuss the need to manage expectations around work at what feels like the end of history and how to avoid cynicism about social change while being surround by so many catastrophes. As we produce our lives, how much of living is a fiction? What role do dystopian and utopian writers have in forming a vision of the world ahead? Can we use creative acts to derail the capitalist system before it derails us while creating abundant cities for all?


 

// Music (in order of appearance)
Juj - My Room via SoundCloud
The Drums - Money (Craft Spells Remix) via Neighborhood Brains
Kermit the Frog - It's Not Easy Being Green (Andrew Bird Cover) via You Ain't No Picasso
Moloko - Sing It Back (Can 7 1390's Remix) via IndieShuffle
Frenic - New World via The Chuckness
Minnesota - Breathe via The Breakbeat Depot

// Extended Clips
Unwelcome Guests #565 - The World Crisis and the Wholeness of Life
The Delusion of Green Capitalism
All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace
Nature Does Not Exist

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[ Episode #3 // Ideological Energy ]

A truly well-informed person will undoubtedly discover the rapid rate at which belief in business as usual is collapsing. This collapse extends to include our ecosystems, our human systems and our thought systems. Is deflating societal complexity fueled by cheap energy causing this collapse? Would such a collapse inherently allow for a positive social transformation? Do the organizing principles in society disappear when the energy supporting them transforms to naught but entropy?

In The Extraenvironmentalist #3 we expand on these questions through a debate between KMO of the C-Realm Podcast and Doug Lain of the Diet Soap Podcast. We use Dmitry Orlov's 5 Stages of Collapse as a base for the discussion.

Doug challenged KMO on Facebook by stating that he heard KMO saying he was looking forward to collapse. In the ensuing exchange, well outside the capacity of the Facebook medium, it was decided that Doug was unclear on KMO's views which he intended to critique. We've structured this episode to narrow down the discussion and in doing so expose some interesting connections between collapse, complexity, ideology and energy.

Additionally, Seth talks about Elk and we unveil our new voicemail inbox which could possibly summon extradimensional mind-structures if you're not careful with it.

 

// Media Links
Youtube | Cultural Theory: Althusser's Concept of Ideology
Podcast | What Now with Ken Rose Broadcast on 6.28.2010 ft. Joseph Tainter

// Music (in order of appearance)
The Mynabirds - Numbers Don't Lie via OneTrackMind
Chicago Bulls Intro Song
Gold Panda - Same Dream China via Pitchfork
Miike Snow - Animal (Mark Ronson remix) via AudioPorn Central
Glasser - Home via Stereogum
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs (Christian TV Mix) via The Music Slut
Gold Panda - Quitters Raga via Pitchfork

// Corrections and Blunders (Please do correct us if you find something we've said to be factually inaccurate)

Justin left his skype sounds on during the interview and they are distracting

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