Playing for Team Human is Jonathan Larsen. Larsen is a journalist, comedy writer, and TV producer who has worked on the Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart, Up w/ Chris Hayes, and Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann. Larsen recently launched TheFingNews.com, a news digest that brings context, analysis, and humor to the daily news.Jonathan joins Douglas Rushkoff to talk about the Fucking News and the new Indivertible Guide. In a wide-ranging conversation, Larsen and Rushkoff look behind the scenes of reporting and discuss propaganda, fake news, and strategies for resisting the reality TV show era of the Trump presidency.From the Indivertible Guide:“We believe that the next four—Jesus H. Christ—years depend on citizens across the country standing indivertible against the mainstream media bullshit agenda. Our premise is that even evil Trump supporters and craven TV news people are good at heart. We believe that buying into TV news’ false crises and speculative narratives will only further empower Trump to victimize our fellow citizens or, even worse, us (the specific, actual humans writing this). We hope that this guide will provide those who share these beliefs with useful tools to transform TV news.”Photo credit: Vin Crosbie via Visualhunt.com / CC BY-ND Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human is Brian Hughes. Brian is a recent graduate of the Media Studies Graduate Program at CUNY Queens College, home to Team Human and the Laboratory for Digital Humanism. Hughes’s work explores media origins and portrayals of extremism. On today’s episode, Hughes begins by sharing his research on Arab Nationalism as related to media technologies from global broadcast to networked communications. Using his recent MA thesis as the springboard, Hughes and Rushkoff take a deep look at nationalist and extremist affinities that have surfaced both at home and abroad. How do hypertext, memes, and even magick fit into this story? Tune in to find out.Read Brian Hughes’s MA thesis linked in the abstract below and at queenscollege.media:“The 20th Century witnessed several opportunities to unify the Arab peoples as a political and identitarian bloc. None of these attempts, however, resulted in a lasting pan-Arab nationalism. Brian Hughes‘s thesis, Communications Technologies and the End of Arab Nationalism, argues that the nationalist paradigm was at odds with those communications technologies available to spread the 20th Century Arab nationalist message. This mismatch has had dire and lasting consequences into the new millennium, including the rise of violent jihadist ideologies such as those of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.”More of Brian’s work can be found at the following links:http://qc-cuny.academia.edu/BrianHughesOn CNN:http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/16/opinions/how-to-fix-the-fake-news-problem-hughes/http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/24/opinions/social-media-false-narratives-hughes/  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human Today is Ari Wallach. In a conversation that spans politics, technology, history, and even biology, Wallach and Rushkoff look at the threat of short-term thinking in times of crisis. This freewheeling discussion tackles deep assumptions of both the Left and the Right, while striving toward a long-term strategy for rebuilding solidarity and progress in society.Visit Ari’s website AriWallach.com to learn more about his work.  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human today, all the way from Sweden, is local food facilitator Viktor Zaunders. Zaunders is working to organize sustainable, regenerative, and collaborative local food systems. In this episode, Zaunders and Douglas talk about permaculture and the lessons that can be applied to social systems at large.Visit Viktor’s website zaunders.net to learn more about the variety of projects he is working on.In this interview, Zaunders mentions Open Source Ecology. They provide a wealth of resources that encourage collaborative and innovative ecodesign. Visit their site opensourceecology.org Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human today is Natalie Foster. Foster brings a unique determination and optimism to questions surrounding the future of work. Her research as a fellow of the Aspen Institute Future of Work Initiative and as an affiliate at the Institute for the Future focuses on rebuilding the social contract for the changing landscape of labor in the 21st century. On today’s episode, Foster and Rushkoff discuss worker protections, cooperative ownership, precarious labor, and the future of jobs in an increasingly automated digital economy.Visit our special resources page to explore the organizations and initiatives Foster describes in this episode. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human today is psychiatrist, psychopharmacologist, and psychedelics researcher Dr. Julie Holland. Dr. Holland explains the role of psychedelics in helping people gain the new forms of information and awareness they need to become more fully human. Is there the potential for greater understanding and human connection through the psychedelic experience? Together Holland and Rushkoff explore this question, charting out a path toward greater empathy and solidarity.Today’s monologue features Rushkoff on Timothy Leary and “Finding the Others.” Visit XY Magazine for his complete essay, featured as part of the recent relaunch of the magazine.Dr. Holland’s latest book is Moody Bitches: The Truth about the Drugs You’re Taking, the Sleep You’re Missing, the Sex You’re Not  Having, and What’s Really Making You Crazy Visit Dr. Holland’s website for useful links to educate yourself about psychedelics. Here are a few places to start with:MAPS – The Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studiesmaps.orgDrug Policy Alliance – for education and reform of America’s drug lawsdpa.orgErowid (excellent resource for drug education)erowid.orgHeffter (supporting psychedelic research worldwide)heffter.orgOrsha Magyar’s NeuroTrition siteneurotrition.ca  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rushkoff visits greatagain.gov and conducts a thought experiment: what if we all apply to work in Trump’s administration? A post-election special episode. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human is author, activist, ethnomusicologist and singer Kyra Gaunt Ph.D. Kyra’s research on the harassment of young women and people of color has recently focused on the YouTube phenomenon of twerking videos and trolling. In today’s episode Kyra and Douglas talk about invisible audiences and their effect on social media interaction. Kyra warns how persistent media disproportionately stigmatizes marginalized communities. She offers strategies to reclaim “full spectrum humanity,” both on and off-line, celebrating the nuance and complexity of identity formation in safe spaces.Learn more about Kyra and follow her work at kyraocity.wordpress.com and visit Kyra’s TED profile. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human is Mushon Zer-Aviv. Mushon shares his creative strategies for resistance against assimilation into the big data mindset. His playful, interactive designs turn the cult of data collection on its head, re-ambiguating humans and embracing the most quirky, inspired, and anomalous aspects of our lives. Mushon’s recent project, AdNauseam.io  challenges surveillance advertising by feeding it back into itself. Check out this and his many projects linked below. You can also learn more about “reambiguation” on Mushon’s  Medium blog. Full bio from Mushon.com: Mushon is a designer, an educator and a media activist based in Tel Aviv. His work and writing explore the boundaries of interface and the biases of techno-culture as they are redrawn through politics, design and networks. Among Mushon’s collaborations, he is the CO-founder of Shual.com – a foxy design studio; YouAreNotHere.org – a tour of Gaza through the streets of Tel Aviv; Kriegspiel – a computer game version of the Situationist Game of War; the Turing Normalizing Machine – exploring algorithmic prejudice; the AdNauseam extension – clicking ads so you don’t have to; and multiple government transparency and civic participation initiatives with the Public Knowledge Workshop; Mushon also designed the map for Waze.com. Mushon is an alumni of Eyebeam – an art and technology center in New York. He teaches digital media as a senior faculty member at Shenkar School of Engineering and Design. Previously he taught new media research at NYU and Open Source design at Parsons the New School of Design and in Bezalel Academy of Art & Design. Read him at Mushon.com and follow him at @mushon. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human is art activist Steve Lambert. Steve reclaims public spaces with his work, igniting the radical imagination and critical thinking of his audience collaborators. With his recent piece, “Capitalism Works For Me!(True/False),” Lambert brought an interactive scoreboard out to the public, and in doing so, sparked an honest, candid, and personal discussion about how the economy is working for people.Lambert is a founder and director of the Center for Artistic Activism where he hosts resources and workshops to help aspiring activists innovate new means of social transformation.Visit Steve’s website visitsteve.com to learn more about his many interactive art projects.More links to creative and playful means of engagement can also be found at the Team Human resources page under the heading “Protest and Resistance”  Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.