loader from loading.io

Pixar's Soul: Finding Yourself Under Capitalism

Literate Machine

Release Date: 03/27/2021

10,000 Subscriber Q&A show art 10,000 Subscriber Q&A

Literate Machine

This a Q&A episode in honor of the YouTube channel hitting 10,000 subscribers. Topics include degrowth and socialism, private cities, anime, Loki Season 2, and my cat  In this video I say I couldn't think of a source talking about alienation, work, and mental health, but after I made it I came across this video that does a pretty good job at the basics: Thanks for listening! You can support me on Patreon at https://patreon.com/ericrosenfield and get early access to videos like this one, extra content, exclusive author's notes and more! You can also tip me at...

info_outline
How Capitalism Becomes Feudalism (Severance and Technofeudalism) show art How Capitalism Becomes Feudalism (Severance and Technofeudalism)

Literate Machine

As commerce transforms around the new rent-extracting digital fiefdoms, algorithms and AI become a way to transform skilled labor into machine-learning piecework. In Severance, technology is used to "sever" people's working selves from their actual selves, creating the perfect, dehumanized work force. Bibliography: https://literatemachine.com/2024/06/25/how-capitalism-becomes-feudalism-severance-and-technofuedalism/#bibliography Blog version and links to the podcast and mailing list at https://literatemachine.com You can support this project at Patreon.com/ericrosenfield where for as little as...

info_outline
Elon Musk, Wokeness, and the Myth of Meritocracy show art Elon Musk, Wokeness, and the Myth of Meritocracy

Literate Machine

How Tony Stark, the myth of meritocracy, and our unspoken beliefs about genius explain Elon Musk and the (re)turn of eugenics to the right wing Blog version and information about podcast and mailing list: If you enjoyed this, please tell someone, as word-of-mouth is how projects like this grow. For as little as $1 an episode, you can get exclusive authors notes, excerpts, and early access to episodes by supporting me on Patreon at: Thanks to my current Patrons: Kathryn Carruthers, Gabi Ghita, Hristo Kolev, Kevin Cafferty, Ulysse Pence, Wilma Ezekowitz, IndustrialRobot, Not Invader Zim, Jason...

info_outline
How Will Capitalism End? The Orville, Eduard Bernstein, and What is to Be Done? show art How Will Capitalism End? The Orville, Eduard Bernstein, and What is to Be Done?

Literate Machine

What does comedic science fiction television show The Orville tell us about how capitalism will end? How did Germany go from having the largest and most powerful socialist movement in the world to finding its movement gutted and its country given over to fascists? How did Eduard Bernstein, despite his best intentioned, upend the Marxist movement and provide cover for those who wanted to destroy it? And was he actually right all along? All this and more will be answered! The previous video, Star Trek into Socialism, is not necessary for appreciating this one, but the two inform each other:...

info_outline
Star Trek into Socialism: or Who Deserves the Future show art Star Trek into Socialism: or Who Deserves the Future

Literate Machine

Does Star Trek show us what socialism looks like? What would it look like if we organized society democratically instead of allowing a few people to control most of the resources?   Bibliography and Further Reading * Obviously, the work of Marx and Engels is key to this piece. Particular texts I drew on here include The Civil War in France (1871) (modern editions contain the first draft and the address on the Civil War) and The Critique of the Gotha Programme (1875). Marx's "La Liberte" speech (1872) is where he proposes that some countries might transition to communism peacefully:...

info_outline
Loki and How Conservatives Become Fascists show art Loki and How Conservatives Become Fascists

Literate Machine

Marvel's Loki shows us what fascism looks like, and how it comes to take root within innocuous conservatism.   Corrections: • Rupert Murdoch and the Koch Bros are not Jewish. Actual examples of Jewish funders of the right include Sheldon Adelson and Ike Perlmutter. I may upload a revised version of this audio with the names changed. • Malthus never directly said that the poor and unskilled should be liquidated, but he did oppose aid to the poor on the theory that they should be allowed to naturally die out if they were of no use to society in order to preserve resources. Interstitial...

info_outline
The Confused Ideology of Schitt's Creek show art The Confused Ideology of Schitt's Creek

Literate Machine

How a show about poverty that can't ever bare to really show poverty illustrates everything we've been blind to. Support the show on Patreon and get early access to episodes and exclusive Authors Notes: Text of the show and more information about other formats it's available can be found at: Bibliography and Further Reading - Hallmark Christmas movie montage sourced from: - On the urban-rural divide of Christmas movies: - The TV Tropes entry for From New York to Nowhere: - Ted Koppel's piece on The Andy Griffith Show and modern politics: - A fascinating video that explains how the ethos...

info_outline
Defund the Paw Patrol show art Defund the Paw Patrol

Literate Machine

Is the Paw Patrol an unintentional conservative utopia? What can the show tell us about how the political spectrum views the police, its purpose, and its funding.

info_outline
How the Hippies Became Yuppies: The Trial of the Chicago 7 show art How the Hippies Became Yuppies: The Trial of the Chicago 7

Literate Machine

How Aaron Sorkin whitewashes the story of hippy activism, and how the hippy activists whitewashed themselves.

info_outline
Pixar's Soul: Finding Yourself Under Capitalism show art Pixar's Soul: Finding Yourself Under Capitalism

Literate Machine

Pete Doctor takes us into the meaning of life, but is there something hollow at its center of it?

info_outline
 
More Episodes

Pete Doctor takes us into the meaning of life, but is there something hollow at its center of it?

Bibliography and Further Reading

* Soul using uncomfortable blackface: https://noripatterson.medium.com/whats-wrong-with-pixar-s-soul-animation-racism-and-blackface-c9a7709cd50f
* Tom Wolfe’s famous article declaring the 70s the “me decade”: https://nymag.com/news/features/45938/
* Google ngram of the term “personal fulfillment” showing its rise in the 1960s and 70s: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Personal+fulfillment&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2CPersonal%20fulfillment%3B%2Cc0
* How distrust of the government among the hippy movement led them to embrace Libertarianism: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/may/19/comment
* Twitter thread about conservative’s using the “money can’t buy happiness” slogan to say we don’t need to raise the minimum wage: https://twitter.com/cons_owned/status/1372670714201968641/photo/1