Free Forum with Terrence McNally

The documentary FOR SAMA - airing on PBS Tuesday 11/19 - takes us inside Aleppo during the brutal siege by al Assad and the Russians. Waad al-Kateab began shooting graffiti on university walls and a revolution rose around her - followed by an overwhelming response. Best Doc, Cannes Film Festival, Doc Grand Jury Prize, SXSW. I talk with directors Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts, and with Dr. Hamza al-Kateab, who ran the last hospital in East Aleppo. Listen. You’ll get a unique feel for life - and death - in Syria. Learn more at forsamafilm.com

I talk with EMMANUEL SAEZ, UC Berkeley economist, about his newest book, THE TRIUMPH OF INJUSTICE: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay - co-authored with Gabriel Zucman. The pair grabbed headlines when their book reported that in 2018, for the first time in history, America’s richest billionaires paid a lower effective tax rate than the working class. Their solutions include a wealth tax, and they’ve advised Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders on their proposals. You can learn more at taxjusticenow.org

I talk with JEREMY RIFKIN, advisor to China and the European Union, and author of 20 books about the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, society, and the environment. In his newest book, THE GREEN NEW DEAL: Why the Fossil Fuel Civilization Will Collapse by 2028, and the Bold Economic Plan to Save Life on Earth, he draws on successful lessons from bold initiatives in Europe and China to flesh out what it will take to pull it off in the US.

Whistleblowers are in the news. And Trump’s not the first to attack them. Here’s my 2013 show on the documentary, WAR ON WHISTLEBLOWERS: Free Press and the National Security State. I speak with producer/director, ROBERT GREENWALD, and with THOMAS TAMM and FRANZ GAYL, two of the four whistleblowers in the film, punished under Bush and Obama for standing up to demand accountability and defend the constitution.

In his documentary SEX, DRUGS & BICYCLES, high-tech entrepreneur JONATHAN BLANK asks, “How scary is life in a social democracy?” Beyond windmills, cannabis “coffeeshops”, and the red light district, Holland has one of the best economies in the world, is top 5 in almost every quality of life index, #1 for work-life balance. Dutch kids are the happiest in the world, the healthcare system is #3, and the government runs a budget surplus. Boo!

With impeachment hearings starting, let’s listen to a couple of past heroes, men of principle, including one whose electoral opponent resigned rather than face his own impeachment. In the first half, I talk with longtime Senator and 1972 Democratic presidential candidate, GEORGE MCGOVERN, followed by my conversation with HOWARD ZINN, a leader of the anti-Vietnam War movement and author of A People's History of the United States. Both were recorded in 2005.

Episode Summary: Welcome to Free Forum, a show that features conversations with people who offer pieces of the puzzle of “a world that just might work” -- provocative approaches to business, environment, health, science, politics, media and culture.  In this episode, Terrence welcomes Emmy-nominated filmmaker, speaker and Webby Awards Founder Tiffany Shlain to the podcast. Terrence and Tiffany discuss her career path, the societal impact of technology, and the inspiration for her book, 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week. They share their thoughts on how the digital age has impacted not just the way we live our lives, but how we think, feel and communicate with one another. Tiffany expounds on her family’s decade-long transformative practice of turning off screens one day each week for what she calls her Technology Shabbat. Finally, Terrence and Tiffany explore what the future could look like for our world if we act swiftly and resist the addiction that technology has inflicted on us as a people.  What We Covered:  03:05 – Introducing today’s guest, Tiffany Shlain 05:52 – Tiffany’s career path 09:10 – Two seminal events that shaped Tiffany’s life 10:29 – The origin of the Webby Awards 13:02 – A simple practice Tiffany has implemented in her life 15:27 – Is technology our doom or deliverance? 21:00 – Character Day 23:51 – Breaking down the relationship between technology and society 26:11 – How screens have become a 24/7 addiction 30:49 – The stress that smart phones induce 32:59 – The Five-Minute Journal 34:20 – Brain science 35:55 – Terrence speaks to his own usage of technology 38:04 – Tiffany encourages the audience to participate in unplugging for a full 24 hours for four straight weeks 40:52 – The beauty of the text Shabbat 43:17 – Terrence and Tiffany speak to the newness of this technological phenomenon46:45 – Terrence poses an interesting thought experiment to Tiffany 55:01 – Terrence leaves the audience with one big idea  Tweetables: “You could say that I’ve really been focused on this issue of technology – what does it mean to be human, when does technology amplify us and when does it amputate us?” (08:39)  “When you’re this distracted, it’s really hard to do big picture thinking.” (10:13)  “I never expected, I never ever expected, that everyone would be just staring at screens all the time and not being present in the real world.” (11:49)  “It is clear that what was begun as a mission to connect and unite mankind has mutated into a pernicious distortion machine that has disconnected mankind and put us at each other’s throats and, in doing so, has destroyed and is destroying institutions and knowledge that have taken centuries to develop.” (18:56)  “It takes twenty-three minutes to regain your flow when you’ve been interrupted and just seeing someone else’s smart phone go off on the table will distract you.” (30:07)  “It’s our favorite day of the week. We’re not giving up something. It’s literally our favorite day because we’re doing all things that you don’t really do anymore because you’re on your phone.” (39:37)  “It’s such a liberating feeling when you realize you don’t need permission to tell everyone in your life, ‘Ya know, I’m gonna take twenty four hours completely off just to recharge.’” (42:52)  “It’s not healthy. It’s just not healthy do be this available to everything and everyone at every moment.” (52:27)  “I often say that civilization is going to die by convenience.” (53:32)  Links Mentioned: Terrence’s LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/terrencemcnally/  Terrence’s Website – https://aworldthatjustmightwork.com/  Terrence’s Email – temcnally@mac.com  Tiffany’s Websites – https://www.letitripple.org/about/tiffany-shlain/ & http://24SixLife.com Tiffany’s Twitter – @tiffanyshlain https://twitter.com/tiffanyshlain  Tiffany’s Instagram – @tiffanyshlain https://www.instagram.com/tiffanyshlain/?hl=en  Tiffany’s Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=623232620  Tiffany’s Book – 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week Websites Mentioned: https://front.moveon.org/  https://www.letitripple.org/character-day/  http://couragecampaign.org/  https://5calls.org/  https://350.org/  https://www.waituntil8th.org/  Books Mentioned:  The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week Documentaries Mentioned:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iX8GxLP1FHo 

As soon as I picked up and started reading LESSONS FROM A DARK TIME, I wanted to have this conversation with ADAM HOCHSCHILD. As a writer, he doesn’t waste your time. He brings an artist’s touch and a moralist’s conscience to the issues and events he grapples with. He’s one of the founders of Mother Jones Magazine, and threaded through his journalism and his books - King Leopold’s Ghost, Spain in Our Hearts among them - is his concern for social justice and the people who fight for it. How did we get thorough dark times in our past? How are we going to get through these?

I offer a commentary on what I call 60s2.0 - generations with shared values coming together to create the sort of fundamental change we need in order to improve the daily lives of millions and to solve the enormous problems we've created for ourselves.

Life expectancy has grown 30 years in the U.S. since 1900—from 47 to 77. Meanwhile the rapid pace of new technology is changing the nature of work, so that you may struggle to keep up. 40% now have a boss who is younger than they are. After 24 years as CEO, CHIP CONLEY sold Joie de Vivre, the second largest boutique hotel brand in America. Four years later, the young founders of Airbnb hired him as Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy. Reflecting on his four years in that role, Conley proposes a new stage of life - the “Modern Elder” – for people who possess both the wisdom of age and the curiosity of youth, and who are searching for meaning, not retirement. He’s the author of Peak; Emotional Equations; and Wisdom at Work.https://www.modernelderacademy.com/chip-conley