Episode 135
I spoke with L. M. Sacasas about:
* His writing and intellectual influences
* The value of asking hard questions about technology and our relationship to it
* What happens when we decide to outsource skills and competency
* Evolving notions of what it means to be human and questions about how to live a good life
Enjoy—and let me know what you think!
Michael is Executive Director of the Christian Study Center of Gainesville, Florida and author of The Convivial Society, a newsletter about technology and society.
He does some of the best writing on technology I’ve had the pleasure to read, and I highly recommend his newsletter.
Find me on Twitter for updates on new episodes, and reach me at editor@thegradient.pub for feedback, ideas, guest suggestions.
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Outline:
* (00:00) Intro
* (01:12) On podcasts as a medium
* (06:12) Michael’s writing
* (12:38) Michael’s intellectual influences, contingency
* (18:48) Moral seriousness
* (22:00) Michael’s ambitions for his work
* (26:17) The value of asking the right questions (about technology)
* (34:18) Technology use and the “natural” pace of human life
* (46:40) Outsourcing of skills and competency, engagement with others
* (55:33) Inevitability narratives and technological determinism, the “Borg Complex”
* (1:05:10) Notions of what it is to be human, embodiment
* (1:12:37) Higher cognition vs. the body, dichotomies
* (1:22:10) The body as a starting point for philosophy, questions about the adoption of new technologies
* (1:30:01) Enthusiasm about technology and the cultural milieu
* (1:35:30) Projectivism, desire for knowledge about and control of the world
* (1:41:22) Positive visions for the future
* (1:47:11) Outro
Links:
* Michael’s Substack: The Convivial Society and his book, The Frailest Thing: Ten Years of Thinking about the Meaning of Technology
* Michael’s Twitter
* Essays
* Humanist Technology Criticism
* What Does the Critic Love?
* The Ambling Mind
* Waste Your Time, Your Life May Depend On It
* The Work of Art
* The Stuff of (a Well-Lived) Life
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thegradientpub.substack.com/subscribe
