Overthink

Generational differences emerge in subtle ways, but how do we identify these? And how does the new generation of youth culture Gen Z is defining differ from Ellie and David’s generation of millennials? Feeling a bit out of touch, Ellie and David interview Overthink production assistants Anna Solomon and Sam Hernandez to tell them all about Gen Z values.Works DiscussedJose Ortega y Gasset, El tema de nuestro tiempoWilliam Strauss and Neil Howe, GenerationsWilliam Strauss and Neil Howe, The Fourth TurningBobby Duffy, The Generation MythMark Bauerlein, The Dumbest GenerationSupport the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast

What do Freudian slips, Josie and the Pussycats, and solving math problems have in common? Psychoanalysis claims to have some answers! Sigmund Freud suggests that unconscious desires, fears, and trauma influence us without us being conscious of them. In pop culture, the unconscious is often depicted as the realm of dirty thoughts and subliminal messages, but does the unconscious actually even exist? In episode 50 (!), Ellie and David explore the unconscious and the existentialist challenge to it from Jean-Paul Sartre.Works DiscussedSigmund Freud, “The Unconscious”Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and NothingnessJosie and the Pussycats (2001)The Exorcist (1973)Karl Popper, Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific KnowledgeStanislas Dehaene, The Code of Consciousness Jacques Hadamard, An Essay on the Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical FieldJacques Derrida, “Freud and the Scene of Writing”Support the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast

Why do humans in every known culture love juicy gossip? Some theorists say gossip evolved as the modern version of picking fleas off our friends, reassuring those around us of our shared social bonds. Others argue that it reinforces social norms by outlining what behaviors are bad, or even scandalous. In episode 49, Ellie and David gossip about gossip — when is it wrong to gossip, and when might it be the ethical choice? Many scholars throughout history have condemned gossip as idle chitchat that slanders others, but some feminist and decolonial thinkers have reclaimed its utility for fighting against systems of oppression that exclude them from formal modes of communication. Episode 49 spills the tea on gossip.  Works DiscussedSipping with Socrates, “Socrates’ view of gossip”Immanuel Kant, AnthropologyThomas Aquinas, Summa TheologicaSoren Kierkegaard, The Present Age: On the Death of RebellionThe Bible, 1 Timothy 5:13Megan L. Robbins and Alexander Karan, “Who Gossips and How in Everyday Life?”Robin Dunbar, Grooming, Gossip, and the Evolution of LanguageGiambattista Vico, The New ScienceBaumeister, Roy F., Liqing Zhang, and Kathleen D. Vohs, “Gossip as Cultural Learning”SurvivorRanajit Guha, Elementary Aspects of Peasant Insurgency in Colonial IndiaSissela Bok, Secrets: On the Ethics of Concealment and RevelationSupport the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast

We’re always worried about being productive enough with our time, but where does this compulsion come from? In episode 48, Ellie and David examine productivity culture and the drive to produce. Although research says longer hours don’t equal more productivity, capitalism encourages us to always be working, even at the cost of our mental and physical health. How does this inefficient approach to work (and our lives outside of it) stifle our growth and creativity? According to Twitter memes and Bifo, refusing productivity for lazy relaxation on the beach may be a revolutionary rejection of productivity culture, but Adorno contends that laziness recycles us into merely consuming commodities for capitalism instead of producing them. What can a creative, process-based approach offer us that a productivist one cannot, and what value might there be in just producing less?Works CitedAmelia Horgan, “The ‘Dark Academia’ Subculture Offers a Fantasy Alternative to the Neoliberal University”John Pencavel, “The Productivity of Working Hours”Shainaz Firfiray, “Long hours at the office could be killing you – the case for a shorter working week”Economic Policy Institute, “The Productivity-Pay Gap”Foucault, History of MadnessFranco Berardi, FuturabilityHerbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional ManTheodor Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged LifeMihály Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal ExperienceCal Newport, “It’s Time to Embrace Slow Productivity”Mark Fisher, Capitalist RealismSupport the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast

Is rage a bad thing? Philosophers usually frame anger as an unhealthy or even immoral emotion that leads us away from compassion and towards violence, but episode 47 guest Myisha Cherry's new book makes The Case for Rage as a powerful tool for anti-racist work. Before their discussion with Dr. Cherry, Ellie and David discuss contrasting theories of anger from  Martha Nussbaum and Buddhism. Can rage be rooted in love rather than hate, and drive us towards a more just world?Works DiscussedMyisha Cherry, The Case for Rage: Why Anger is Essential to Anti-Racist StrugglePeter Sloterdijk, Rage and TimeMartha Nussbaum, Anger and Forgiveness: Resentment, Generosity, JusticeAeschylus, The OresteiaShantideva, BodhicaryāvatāraEmily McRae, "Metabolizing Anger: A Tantric Buddhist Solution to theProblem of Moral Anger"Silvan Tomkins, Exploring AffectAudre Lorde, “The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism”Myisha Cherry and Owen Flanagan, The Moral Psychology of AngerMartin Luther King Jr., “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”Amia Srinivasan, “The Aptness of Anger”Support the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast

Is it really better to exist than not exist? With rampant climate destruction, income inequality, and suffering in the world, some have begun to question whether it is ethical to create new life, knowing it will suffer. In episode 46 of Overthink, Ellie and David explore the intellectual tradition of anti-natalism. Why did Schopenhauer think that life was ultimately dominated by suffering, and why did Nietzsche think he was so wrong? How has anti-natalism emerged out of the trend of pessimism, and how can we be optimistic about generating new life in what can at times be such a hard world?Works DiscussedSoul (2020)Capernaum (2018)David Benatar, Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into ExistenceArthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and RepresentationElizabeth Harman, “Critical Study of David Benatar. Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006)Thaddeus Metz, “Are Lives Worth Creating?”Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of TragedyThéophile de Giraud, The Art of Guillotining the Procreators: Anti-Natalist ManifestoPlato, The LawsSupport the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast

Have you ever hugged a tree? In episode 45 of Overthink, Ellie and David head into nature to explore the philosophical side of trees. Often, trees have been ignored, even as they populate so much of the space around us. Why did Socrates say he could learn nothing from trees, and why did Nietzsche write so romantically about them? Deleuze and Guattari criticize trees for being too vertically organized, but Michael Marder argues that they're far more cooperative than we ever imagined. In that spirit, trees are clearly alive, but Peter Wohlleben goes as far as to say they could possibly be intelligent, and even have language of their own. Does that mean that trees deserve rights? Ellie and David get into the root of it in episode 45!Works DiscussedRichard Powers, The OverstoryPlato, PhaedrusMartin Buber, I and ThouAristotle, De Anima Plotinus, EnneadsHans Jonas, The Phenomenon of LifePeter Wohlleben, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They CommunicateMassimo E. Maffei and Wilhelm Boland, “The Silent Scream of the Lima Bean”Monica Gagliano et al., “Learning by association in plants”Monica Gagliano et al., “Plants learn and remember: let’s get used to it”Simona Ginsburg and Eva Jablonka, The Evolution of the Sensitive Soul: Learning and the Origins of ConsciousnessChristopher Stone, “Should Trees Have Standing?”Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, A Thousand PlateausFriedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of TragedyMichael Marder, “In (Philosophical) Defense of Trees”Support the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast

Ellie and David discuss heteropessimism, exploring disillusionment with heterosexuality in post #metoo society. They examine the reasons for heteropessimism, consider alternatives like political lesbianism, and question attraction to harmful relationships. Topics include patriarchy, power dynamics, political lesbianism, emotional suppression in men, and gendered emotional communication.

Some podcasts only talk the talk, but David and Ellie walk the walk (or talk the walk?) in episode 43 by diving into the philosophy of walking. Walking is a complex sociocultural practice that raises fascinating questions about history, power, and freedom. Why did our ancestors transition from walking on all fours to walking on two legs, and how did this shape our evolution as a species? Why have so many philosophers throughout history (from Aristotle to Rousseau) insisted on incorporating walks into their daily routines? And how do systems of oppression—such as classism, racism, sexism, transphobia, and ableism—mold our experience of walking, determining where and even how we can walk?*correction: when Ellie says "James DeSilva," she meant "Jeremy DeSilva"! Our apologies to the author of First Steps. Works Discussed Charles Baudelaire, “The Painter of Modern Life” Frédéric Gros, A Philosophy of Walking Gayle Salamon, The Life and Death of Latisha King: A Critical Phenomenology of TransphobiaJane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American CitiesJennifer McDuff and Alison Phinney, "Walking With Meaning: Subjective Experiences of Physical Activity in Dementia"Jeremy DeSilva, First Steps: How Upright Walking Made us Human Jo Livingstone and Lovia Gyarkye, "Death to the Flâneur"Lauren Elkin, Flâneuse: Women Walk the City in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Venice and London Marily Oppezzo and Daniel L. Schwartz, "Give Your Ideas Some Legs: The Positive Effect of Walking on Creative Thinking"Michel de Certeau, "Walking in the City" Quill R. Kukla, "City Spaces, Pace Bias, and the Production of Disability"Support the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast

Would you willingly plug yourself into an experience-simulating machine such as The Matrix? What would happen to society if robots suddenly became conscious? What would you do if, for some reason, you encountered an utterly alien life form? Many of us first ponder big philosophical questions such as these through  exposure to science fiction stories  in books or movies. In episode 42, Ellie and David explore the power of sci-fi. After considering the origins of this genre, they interview Dr. Helen De Cruz, an expert on the philosophy of science fiction, about how our brains process sci-fi stories differently than other speculative narratives, including philosophical thought experiments!Works DiscussedHelen De Cruz, Johan De Smedt, and Eric Schwitzgebel, Philosophy Through Science Fiction Stories: Exploring the Boundaries of the PossibleJohan De Smedt and Helen De Cruz. "The Epistemic Value of Speculative Fiction"Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and SimulationThe Matrix Decoded: Le Nouvel Observateur Interview With Jean Baudrillard, 2004Ted Chiang, "Story of Your Life"Ursula K. Le Guin, The DispossessedUrsula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of DarknessZhuangzi, The Inner ChaptersMary Shelley, FrankensteinPhilip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?The Matrix (film)Zenon, Girl of the Twenty-First Century (film) Arrival (film)Dune (film)I, Robot (film)Robert Nozick, “The Experience Machine"Ruth Garrett Millikan, “On Swampkinds"Support the showPatreon | patreon.com/overthinkpodcast Website | overthinkpodcast.comInstagram & Twitter | @overthink_podEmail | dearoverthink@gmail.comYouTube | Overthink podcast