Team Human

Playing For Team Human today, the brilliant and terrifying artist and bio-hacker Heather Dewey- Hagborg. As a transdisciplinary artist, Heather explores the intersection of science, art and biopolitics. Heather recently made the headlines with a project called Stranger Visions, in which she collected random human genetic material left behind in the detritus of public spaces to generate portrait masks of strangers using a process called forensic DNA phenotyping.In another recent project, Radical Love: Chelsea Manning, Heather again used this process of DNA phenotyping to create a series of 3D portraits of whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who is not allowed to be photographed while in prison. Radical Love is both subversive and thought-provoking as it calls attention to Manning’s incarceration as well as issues of gender stereotypes and identity.Visit Heather’s website deweyhagborg.com to learn more about Heather’s many works.Learn more about genspace.org. Genspace promotes “citizen science” offering public access to  biotechnology, lab, and educational resources. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s Team Human was recorded live on the floor of the 2016 Personal Democracy Forum, where we caught up with Marina Gorbis, executive director to the Institute for the Future (IFTF). Marina joins Team Human to help us see how a utilitarian value set has been embedded into our society and its technologies. Together Marina and Douglas discuss those ambiguous and even anomalous qualities of being human, while looking to a future that embraces humanity as something greater than mere data points.This episode also features Rushkoff’s closing talk at the Personal Democracy Forum.You can learn more about the Marina’s Work at IFTF by visiting iftf.org or directly linking to her latest book: The Nature of the Future: Dispatches from the Socialstructed World.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human today is Kio Stark. Kio’s new book When Strangers Meet explores the transformative power to be found in person-to-person interactions with strangers. Kio describes how even a brief interaction can foster empathy and open up the possibility for meaningful human connection. Kio and Douglas challenge the unwritten rules of social interaction and talk about how basic human connection can spark positive social change.Links:Kio’s recent New York Times travel feature, “5 Ways Total Strangers Can Make Your Trip Better” can be found here.In today’s episode, Kio describes this online game, Clocking In, created by RaceForward.org as a tool to build solidarity in the struggle for workplace justice and fair wages.Connecting with strangers is about respect and recognizing the fundamental value of the people we encounter. Check out ihollaback.org to learn more about ending harassment in public spaces. There you can find numerous resources and ways to get involved.Kio’s Ted Talk: “Why You Should Talk To Strangers”     Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human today: Andy Bichlbaum of the infamous Yes Men, the world’s most accomplished working culture hackers, responsible for devastating satirical attacks on Dow Chemical, Halliburton, Exxon, the US Chamber of Commerce, Dupont, and others.Bichlbaum is going to share with us the secret to fighting against even violent oppression with playful resistance.After listening to the show, check out the Yes Lab, a resource for playful resisters everywhere. http://yeslab.org/And check out our resources page for an expanding list of ways to get involved in the actions featured on the show. This week we’ve added links to activist toolkits, instruction, and useful strategies for creative protest under the section “Protest and Resistance”. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today on Team Human we’re looking at protest. While we may be willing to raise our voices, sign petitions, and even get arrested, are we willing and ready to take hold of power? Author, activist, and Occupy Wall Street co-creator Micah White gives a passionate assessment of the state of protest today while putting forth his own vision for revolutionary social change or what he calls, The End of Protest.Micah is also currently running for Mayor of Nehalem, Oregon. View his campaign here.If you enjoyed this episode, check out Episode 01 where we talk to fellow Occupiers and Debt Resisters Astra Taylor and Thomas Gokey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Playing for Team Human is Esteban Kelly. Kelly is an exemplary leader in the movement for promoting solidarity and workplace democracy. While working with the Mariposa Food Co-op, Kelly founded the Food Justice and Anti Racism working group. He was also appointed by the Mayor of Philadelphia to the Philadelphia Food Policy Advisory Council. Currently, Esteban Kelly serves as Co-Executive director of the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives as well as a director of AORTA, the Anti- Oppression Resource and Training Alliance. Kelly is also a co-founder and current board member of the Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance (PACA). A complete bio highlighting Kelly’s commitment to embodying democratic principles of workplace democracy, social justice, and activism can be found at Kelly’s Bio Page at AORTA .Visit our Resources page for ways to start your own worker cooperative. There you’ll find case studies, how-to’s, and further inspiring information on solidarity movements and the effort to build a more democratic and just economy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Special Pre-Launch Episode: Recorded January 2016Playing for Team Human today is Professor Richard Maxwell. Richard Maxwell is a political economist of media. His research begins at the intersection of politics and economics to analyze the global media, their social and cultural impact, and the policies that regulate their reach and operations. Richard has published on a wide array of media topics. Recent work includes The Routledge Companion to Labor and Media (Editor) Media and the Ecological Crisis (co-editor) and Greening the Media with Toby Miller. In this episode of Team Human, Professor Maxwell provides an eye opening account of the environmental damage caused by media technology, the myth of a “Post Industrial” society, and what we must do create a world sustainable for people.Richard Maxwell and Toby Miller’s regular column, “Greening the Media” can be read here at Psychology Today.Inspired by this episode to get involved? Visit our ever-expanding resources page to learn how to transform your own technology consumption along with ways to exert pressure on the big polluters and labor exploiters across the globe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joining team human are debt resisters Astra Taylor and Thomas Gokey. Astra Taylor is a filmmaker, writer, activist, and musician. Her films include the documentaries Zizek! and the Examined Life. Taylor’s recent book The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age takes a hard look at the persisting and embedded inequalities in today’s digital media landscape. Thomas Gokey is a visual artist, adjunct professor at Syracuse University, and activist. Gokey’s piece entitled, Total Amount of Money Rendered in Exchange for a Masters of Fine Arts Degree to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Pulped into Four Sheets of Paper reimagined his own student debt as art. Both Thomas Gokey and Astra Taylor seized the momentum of Occupy Wall Street to help launch a direct action campaign of debt resistance. Working through the collective force of Strike Debt, Rolling Jubilee, and the Debt Collective, Gokey and Taylor are fighting back against the economic injustice of debt in America.Visit our resources page to learn more about debt, to connect with a network of support, and learn ways to resist the oppressive systems of debt in our society. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.