The new show, Hacking State is now up and live. Please go check it out at hackingstate.substack.com. All future interviews and audio essays will be located on the new feed. Thank you all once again for listening. Hope to see you there. Support Hacking State: https://hackingstate.substack.com/subscribe Listen on: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@alexmurshak Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/hacking-state/id1689677076 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1XB9XYULrAY4dp0qIJVvCg RSS: h...
May 31, 2023•1 min
I speak with Mike Elias and James Ellis of IdeaMarket.io, who are building out a market for attention-worthiness. IdeaMarket is a peer-to-peer zeitgeist management system with a mission to replace corporate media as the public’s arbiter of credibility. The core idea is to apply a risk-management approach to sensemaking and public discourse. Visit https://ideamarket.io/ to learn more. Mike Elias is the CEO/Founder, a philosopher, entrepreneur, blues musician, cartoonist, writer. James Ellis is a ...
Dec 14, 2021•59 min
Samo Burja is founder of Bismarck Analysis, a consulting firm that investigates the political and institutional landscape of society. He is also a research fellow at the LongNow Foundation, where he studies how institutions can endure for centuries and millennia, and a Senior Research Fellow in political science at the Foresight Institute where he advises on how institutions can shape the future of technology. Writer, speaker, and strategist. We discuss his Great Founder Theory, his hypothesis t...
Nov 29, 2021•1 hr 16 min
Gabriel successfully cofounded and sold one of the earliest Bitcoin exchanges in Canada. We talked about his decision and experience starting a cryptocurrency exchange, the limits to automated governance, decentralized statecraft, and ta smart contract constitution. Agora Politics is dedicated to upgrading our outdated theories of politics. Doing so requires honest and forthright engagement with not only academics, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, twitter anons, and luminaries of all types who are ...
Sep 27, 2021•50 min
William Johnsen is former graduate chair and coordinator of undergraduate programs in the Department of English at Michigan State University, editor of “Contagion: The Journal of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion”, and general editor of "Studies in Violence, Mimesis, and Culture” a book series through Michigan State University Press. We talk about his work spreading the ideas of René Girard, imitation, mimesis & the internet, the role of the scapegoat, Girard’s radical interpretation o...
Sep 17, 2021•1 hr 31 min
Anna Brodsky is cofounder of the Global Redesign Institute, a childcare activist, and advocate for Structural Satyagraha: the design and implementation of infrastructure which supports and rewards nonviolent behavior. We talk about the meaning of structural satyagraha, American inventor Buckminster Fuller’s term Dymaxion, Project Cybersyn, and their lovechild, Dymaxyn, open source cities, education, childcare as the regulatory subsystem of the community, post-scarcity, open-access governance, an...
Sep 07, 2021•1 hr 38 min
Nina Power is a cultural critic, social theorist, philosopher, author, and translator. Her upcoming book, “What Do Men Want” is forthcoming later this year. Take the Illich course from Nina herself at https://Illichcourse.com Use coupon code AGORA to get 30% off! We discuss the works of Roman Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher, and social critic, Ivan Illich, covering some of his most famous works such as Deschooling Society, Medical Nemesis, & Tools for Conviviality, we also discuss l...
Sep 01, 2021•1 hr 9 min
Alex Feinberg's work focuses on optimizing performance to get the best in health and business. We cover: - His journey through professional athletics, finance, tech, and fitness - Understanding human nature for success in business and sports - His investigations into conspiracy and the shadow world - Hedging against inflation and rule by fiat - Breaking out of systems that condition learned helplessness - The importance of training as a closed feedback loop - Pathologies of large institutions - ...
Aug 25, 2021•1 hr 7 min
I am joined by writer, horrorist, and anonymous internet denizen Zero HP Lovecraft. We discuss anonymity and pseudonymity, peer-to-peer censorship, asymmetric cyberwarfare, the origins of Zero HP Lovecraft, horrific and utopian technological visions of the future, the dark side of technology, acceleration and human agency, his latest work “Don’t Make Me Think”, multi-sensory narrative experiences, cancellation, and The Zero HP NFT. Read Zero HP Lovecraft On Substack: https://zerohplovecraft.subs...
Aug 09, 2021•1 hr 25 min
I am joined by director of the metamodern think tank, Abstract-Org's Brent Cooper, for an exercise in constructive disagreement. We come together from different perspectives to address leaky abstractions, The IDW, Critical Race Studies vs. Critical Race Theory, Intersectionality, globalization & cosmopolitanism, Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), and thinking big in the face of endemic incrementalism. Agora Politics is about upgrading our outdated theories of politics. To do so, we need to be wil...
Aug 04, 2021•2 hr 50 min
Nicholas is writer, author, and creator of the Eclectic Spacewalk project. We talk about the Overview Effect, the dangers of overarching narratives abstracting away from particulars, connection through storytelling, making the invisible visible, information flows, Open Source Everything, the 2nd psychedelic renaissance, and his hope for a moon base. You can find more of Nicholas' writings and learn more about Eclectic Spacewalk on Substack & Medium, and follow him on twitter @Espacewalk. – A...
Jul 12, 2021•1 hr 27 min
Heraclitus stands alone among the pre-socratic philosophers. Contradictory, riddlesome, and enigmatic, he remains one of the most influential, yet least well-understood figures in Western philosophy. Born to a noble family in Ephesus, a city in Ionia, Greek Asia Minor, present day Turkey. Supposedly, he passed on a kingship, awarding it instead to his brother, to pursue a life as a roaming philosopher. He was self-taught. Heraclitus is not associated with any of the prominent schools of philosph...
Jul 06, 2021•46 min
In Western philosophy, we have yet to move beyond the life and death of Socrates. Though his time has long since passed, we would be remiss to think there’s nothing to be gained, or to be remembered, by returning to accounts of this legendary figure. Socrates, the gadfly of Athens. A man, held in such high esteem that he is revered even to this day, despite writing nothing down to be recorded for posterity, and otherwise lacking in the accouterments of worldly and material success. Not a conquer...
Jun 06, 2021•32 min
Cody Moser is an anthropologist and PhD candidate studying cultural evolution in the department of cognitive and information sciences at University of California Merced. We talk about science and scientism, famed molecular biologist Rupert Sheldrake, his theory of Morphic Resonance, and what he calls the 10 tenets that make up the ideology of scientific materialism, asking whether evolution has a telos, how to reboot scientific exploration through patronage, tolerating cranks and free inquiry, a...
Jun 04, 2021•2 hr 18 min
Jim Rutt is the former CEO of Network Solutions, and former chairman of the Santa Fe Institute for the study of complex systems sciences, as well as host of the Jim Rutt Show, an interview podcast series examining cutting-edge thinking in science and technology and the future of our economic, political and social systems and institutions. Jim Rutt joins me to talk Game~B, an ambitious, decentralized civilization-level operating system for optimizing human flourishing. We cover: the origins of Ga...
May 28, 2021•1 hr 50 min
Richard Bartlett is an expert on decentralized organizations as well as cofounder of The Hum Team, Enspiral, & Loomio. We talk about practical anarchism, the Occupy movement’s experiments in radical democracy, escaping domination and coercion, Patterns of Decentralization, debt, and the future of work. You can follow Richard on Twitter: @richdecibels You can follow me on Twitter: @amurshak -- Agora Politics is dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics. Subscribe on: ...
May 19, 2021•59 min
John David Ebert is a cultural critic, poet, and author of over 20 books, including: Art After Metaphysics, The New Media Invasion, The Age of Catastrophe, and Dead Celebrities, Living Icons. We talk about mentorship, constructing a bespoke education, the Monomyth, the Night Sea Journey, ideology vs. myth, Spengler, civilizational life cycles, late stage American Imperialism, wether Western Civilization is doomed, hermeticism, radical subjectivity, Anima & Animus possession (Jung), tension b...
Apr 22, 2021•1 hr 32 min
Matthew Pirkowski joins me to discuss crypto, money and the state, sovereignty and global arbitrage, multipolar traps, corporation and defection, information warfare, complexity catastrophe, time preferences, and fitness vs. truth. You can follow Matt on Twitter: @MattPirkowski If you enjoy this episode, please consider funding more conversations like these with our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/agorapolitics -- You can follow Agora Politics on Twitter: @agora_politics Follow Alex Murshak: @a...
Apr 15, 2021•1 hr 57 min
-- SUBSCRIBE ON PATREON FOR FULL EPISODE -- In Western philosophy, we have yet to move beyond the life and death of Socrates. Though his time has long since passed, we would be remiss to think there’s nothing to be gained, or to be remembered, by returning to accounts of this legendary figure. Socrates, the gadfly of Athens. A man, held in such high esteem that he is revered even to this day, despite writing nothing down to be recorded for posterity, and otherwise lacking in the accouterments of...
Apr 09, 2021•3 min
Political scientist Michael Millerman joins me to discuss the philosophy of Leo Strauss, esoteric writing, and Alexandr Dugin's 4th Political Theory. We talk about Leo Strauss, the tension between the philosopher and the city, why some of the best intellectual work is happening outside academia, the crisis of rationalism, the value of returning to the great works, esoteric writing, the necessity of subtlety, grounding our conceptions of the good, Alexandr Dugin and the 4th Political Theory. Mich...
Mar 19, 2021•1 hr 20 min
Geoff Shullenberger is creator of the Outsider Theory blog and newly launched Outsider Theory podcast, as well as Senior Lecturer at New York University’s Expository Writing Program. We talk about his Outsider Theory project, conspiracy & elite paranoia, our schizophrenizing media complex, Boudrillard and Hyperreality, scapegoating, Marcuse’s concept of Repressive Tolerance, and touching third rails of American politics. You can learn more about the Outsider Theory project on Geoff's blog at...
Feb 15, 2021•1 hr 48 min
Raven Connolly hosts Socratic Speed-dating and sensemaking sessions at The Stoa. You can find out more about Raven’s work at TheStoa.ca and follow Raven on Twitter @spiral_virus. We talk about the acceleration of trends in online dating and romance due to the pandemic, the institution of marriage and non-monogomy, influencer culture, mimesis, and sexual inequality, declining fertility in the West and technological substitutes for intimacy, the value of organized religion, the Bible in Western Cu...
Jan 27, 2021•1 hr 41 min
Jason Snyder is faculty in the department of sustainable development at Appalachian State University. We talk homesteading, localism, permaculture, population decentralization, and possibilities for alternative, sustainable, human-centered communities. You can find Jason @cognazor on Twitter. Agora Politics is a podcast about the future of politics. Subscribe on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politics Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKug Apple: https://podcasts....
Jan 08, 2021•1 hr 12 min
A Color Revolution is a term coined by Russian military strategists for the preferred way the United States enacts regime change. The goal of staging a color revolution is to create conditions suitable to have a pretext for military intervention on behalf of the people, either internally or externally, to get rid of the current regime. So named because the protesting forces involved usually coalesce around a symbolic color of resistance, such as the Rose Revolution in Georgia in 2012, the Orange...
Dec 14, 2020•14 min
Will Buckner is a research assistant at the Human Systems and Behavior Lab based in the Department of Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University. Evolutionary anthropologists trace the origins and development of human nature and culture in societies around the world. Join Will Buckner (@evolving_moloch) and I as we delve deep on secret societies, initiation rituals, tribalism, the Hobbesian-Rousseauian split in the Western mind, technological complexity and the incentives surrounding human vi...
Nov 23, 2020•1 hr 13 min
Eric Kaufmann is professor of Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London, and author of "Whiteshift: Populism, Immigration, and the Future of White Majorities". Eric’s research interests focus on demography, ethnicity, nationalism, and the study of white ethnic majorities in Western countries, We talk about what Eric lays out as the 2 whiteshifts that are coming, Why support for right-wing populism in Western nations is driven by demographics, identity, and attachment, not economics, the...
Nov 01, 2020•1 hr 20 min
On Samuel Francis' Anarcho-tyranny, the managerial state, the McCloskey affair, and the right-left convergence on corrupt governance. Agora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense out of our outdated theories of politics. Subscribe on: Twitter: https://twitter.com/agora_politics Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/agorapolitics Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSDjdhAe9Z7EatYg3OGLKug Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agora-politics/id1496531814 Soundcloud: https://soun...
Oct 14, 2020•33 min
Razib Khan is a geneticist, writer, and public intellectual. He hosts a show on genetics and evolution “The Insight”, and “Browncast”. He has written for The New York Times, National Review, India Today, Slate, City Journal, and a number of other publications. We talk consumer genomics, heritability of political preferences, demographic shifts, Ashkenazi ancestry, cultural evolution, India vs. China, and China’s coming demographic collapse. Agora Politics is a podcast dedicated to making sense o...
Sep 10, 2020•1 hr 3 min
Cody Moser is an evolutionary anthropologist and Cognitive and Information Sciences grad student at University of California Merced. We cover: How much has the world has changed since Coronavirus? Peter Turchin’s 2020 prediction, Intra-Elite competition, Cliodynamics, Ideological herd immunity, Are we in a civil war?, Reorganizing society after the Great Reset, Return to Localism, Microcredentialing and the future of online education, The end of universities as the gatekeepers of knowledge, Will...
Aug 31, 2020•1 hr 34 min
A reading of "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" by Ursula La Guin. Last night, I was on twitter seeing updates on the Democratic National Convention, and I was thinking about the choices in front of us and how we, as individuals, might avoid becoming deranged by our complicity in a system that leaves us but few actionable choices from which to decide our future. For some reason, I was reminded of this short story by Ursula La Guin, which I had read years ago and since forgotten; called “The On...
Aug 21, 2020•17 min
