The Dystopian Character of Philip K. Dick

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Philip K. Dick in his worldview, why do checks and balances fail in a democracy? How do things go wrong? Right? What's the actual problem? So he has this, you know, he clearly he's got this very strong paranoid streak. Everything is about Richard Nixon, which I suppose is not unreasonable given the way that the world is. He gets much, much better than his sense of politics as such are for that matter than a sense of character.

The one concept most valuable for understanding the news today might be Henry Farrell’s theory of weaponized interdependence. Whether it’s China’s influence over the NBA, the US ban of Huawei, or whether social media should be regulated on a global scale, Henry Farrell has played a key role articulating how global economic networks can enable state coercion.

Tyler and Henry discuss these issues and more, including what a big tech breakup would mean for security and privacy, why political economics suggests Facebook’s Oversight Board won’t work, what Italy might reveal about China’s future, his family connection to Joyce, his undying affection for My Bloody Valentine, why Philip K. Dick would have reveled in QAnon, why Twitter seems left-wing, and being a first generation academic blogger.

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Recorded October 7th, 2019 Other ways to connect

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