Share

cover art for Live at Gray Area Night Two Pt. 2: Erik Davis and Josette Melchor

Team Human

Live at Gray Area Night Two Pt. 2: Erik Davis and Josette Melchor

Ep. 78
•

Today on Team Human we conclude our series of live shows recorded at Gray Area Foundation for the Arts in the historic Mission district of San Francisco. Picking up where we left off last week and joining Douglas on stage are teammates Erik Davis and Josette Melchor. Erik Davis is the author of Techgnosis, Nomad Codes and host of The Expanding Mind podcast. Erik and Douglas start with the big question, “What the fuck is going on here?” What begins with a few laughs quickly digs into a mind-expanding conversation about those gray areas between religion, technology, and psychedelics. Erik and Douglas look for coherence and connection in these fractious times. Making this message concrete is Gray Area’s founder Josette Melchor. Josette resurrects our show segment “Real People Doing Real Things.” She offers both practical and profound lessons on building a safe space for community, creativity, and artistic exploration.

As we conclude this series, we’d like to thank our teammates at Gray Area; Josette Melchor, Seabrook Gubbins, Alric Burns, our guests for both nights Annalee Newitz, Howard Rheingold, Lauren McCarthy, Erik Davis, and (again!) Josette Melchor. Thank you to the San Francisco community who came out to support and participate in the show. And sincere gratitude to our Patreon members who’s sustaining subscriptions made travel and recording possible.

Sign up at Patreon. There you’ll find the complete, uncut San Francisco Live shows, plus other rewards and ways to Find the Others.

During this live performance we featured Intro music from Fugazi, plus excerpts from Throbbing Gristle (Listen to Genesis Breyer P-Orridge with Douglas on Episode 67). Mid-show you heard music by Mike Watt.

This week's playing cards (thanks to Bobby Campell)

More episodes

View all episodes

  • 347. Ari Kuschnir: Trump Ayahuasca - AI and the Alchemical Imaginary

    51:50||Ep. 347
    Ari Kuschnir, AI storyteller and artist,  takes us deep into the alchemy of AI storytelling as a form of social practice and activist imagination.Known for provocative AI videos imagining figures like Trump, Elon Musk, and world leaders undergoing spiritual transformations, Kushnir talks about using AI as a creative collaborator and as a tool to challenge the cultural addiction to dystopia.Along the way, they explore whether AI is flattening culture or opening new portals, why the future keeps being depicted as bleak, and what it might take to reclaim imagination as a collective human practice.Mastering the Alchemy of Storytelling Course: https://www.liminal.news/mastering-the-alchemy-of-ai-storytelling | Use code: ALCHEMY-TEAMHUMAN for a discountLearn more at: mssngpeces.comTeam Human is proudly sponsored by Everyone's Earth.Learn more about Everyone's Earth: https://everyonesearth.com/Change Diapers: https://changediapers.com/Cobi Dryer Sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Use the code “rush10” to receive 10% off of Cobi Dryer sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Support Team Human on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/teamhumanFollow Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff:Instagram: https:/www.instagram.com/douglasrushkoffYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJdUEh2Wh4fnswTLmqoEnhgTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@douglasrushkoffBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com

  • 347. Cracks in the Pavement

    18:06||Ep. 347
    Rushkoff discusses why the urgency and inevitability of our situation calls for us to consider the impossible.Team Human is proudly sponsored by Everyone's Earth.Learn more about Everyone's Earth: https://everyonesearth.com/Change Diapers: https://changediapers.com/Cobi Dryer Sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Use the code “rush10” to receive 10% off of Cobi Dryer sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Support Team Human on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/teamhumanFollow Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff:Instagram: https:/www.instagram.com/douglasrushkoffYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJdUEh2Wh4fnswTLmqoEnhgTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@douglasrushkoffBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com

  • 345. Vicki Robin: Parable of the Tribes

    01:20:58||Ep. 345
    Vicki Robin, author of classic books like Your Money or Your Life and Blessing and The Hands That Feed Us, and Rushkoff seek to embrace this challenging moment by embracing one another. Robin shares how growing older shifts your perspective from the personal to the universal, and why the questions we've been asking our whole lives might matter less than how we show up for each other.Team Human is proudly sponsored by Everyone's Earth.Learn more about Everyone's Earth: https://everyonesearth.com/Change Diapers: https://changediapers.com/Cobi Dryer Sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Use the code “rush10” to receive 10% off of Cobi Dryer sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Support Team Human on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/teamhumanFollow Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff:Instagram: https:/www.instagram.com/douglasrushkoffYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJdUEh2Wh4fnswTLmqoEnhgTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@douglasrushkoffBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com

  • 344. Jeremy Lent: Reweaving Civilization

    53:04||Ep. 344
    Jeremy Lent, author of The Patterning Instinct and integrator, helps us investigate the patterns of thought that have led our civilization to its current crisis of sustainability and develop the patterns of thought we need to get through to the other side.Team Human is proudly sponsored by Everyone's Earth.Learn more about Everyone's Earth: https://everyonesearth.com/Change Diapers: https://changediapers.com/Cobi Dryer Sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Use the code “rush10” to receive 10% off of Cobi Dryer sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Support Team Human on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/teamhumanFollow Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff:Instagram: https:/www.instagram.com/douglasrushkoffYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJdUEh2Wh4fnswTLmqoEnhgTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@douglasrushkoffBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com

  • 343. Arden Leigh: Chasing the Hungry Ghosts

    01:15:32||Ep. 343
    Arden Leigh , the creator and facilitator of The Re-Patterning Project and front woman of Arden and the Wolves, helps us negotiate a new relationship to our individual and collective creative power.Team Human is proudly sponsored by Everyone's Earth.Learn more about Everyone's Earth: https://everyonesearth.com/Change Diapers: https://changediapers.com/Cobi Dryer Sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Use the code “rush10” to receive 10% off of Cobi Dryer sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Support Team Human on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/teamhumanFollow Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff:Instagram: https:/www.instagram.com/douglasrushkoffBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com

  • 342. The Joy of Becoming Worthless…except to each other

    20:38||Ep. 342
    Could the end of employment be the beginning of something better? Rushkoff traces the history of work from medieval markets to AI automation to find hope in the cracks of collapse. He shows how the loss of “jobs” could open space for cooperation, creativity, and real human connection.Team Human is proudly sponsored by Everyone's Earth.Learn more about Everyone's Earth: https://everyonesearth.com/Change Diapers: https://changediapers.com/Cobi Dryer Sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Use the code “rush10” to receive 10% off of Cobi Dryer sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Support Team Human on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/teamhumanFollow Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff:Instagram: https:/www.instagram.com/douglasrushkoffBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com

  • 341. Jonathan Larsen: This is Just the Beginning - Enacting the Team Human Agenda

    01:01:26||Ep. 341
    Jonathan Larsen, Founder of The Fucking News, joins Rushkoff to discuss the 2025 U.S. Election and the path forward for Team Human.Team Human is proudly sponsored by Everyone's Earth.Learn more about Everyone's Earth: https://everyonesearth.com/Change Diapers: https://changediapers.com/Cobi Dryer Sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Use the code “rush10” to receive 10% off of Cobi Dryer sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Support Team Human on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/teamhumanFollow Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff:Instagram: https:/www.instagram.com/douglasrushkoffBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com

  • 340. Andrew Slack: Superman vs Ubermensch

    01:26:13||Ep. 340
    Andrew Slack, comedian and writer of Orphans, Empires, and the Search for a Better World, discusses the hidden history of corporate power, the mythic roots of American identity, and how hope - and solar panels - might just save us all.Team Human is proudly sponsored by Everyone's Earth.Learn more about Everyone's Earth: https://everyonesearth.com/Change Diapers: https://changediapers.com/Cobi Dryer Sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Use the code “rush10” to receive 10% off of Cobi Dryer sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Support Team Human on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/teamhumanFollow Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff:Instagram: https:/www.instagram.com/douglasrushkoffBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com

  • 339. Cory Doctorow: Enshittification is Not Inevitable

    01:17:28||Ep. 339
    Cory Doctorow, author of Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It, unpacks the systemic forces behind digital monopolies, regulatory capture, the erosion of user rights, and how collective action and policy change can reclaim technology for the public good.Team Human is proudly sponsored by Everyone's Earth.Learn more about Everyone's Earth: https://everyonesearth.com/Change Diapers: https://changediapers.com/Cobi Dryer Sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Use the code “rush10” to receive 10% off of Cobi Dryer sheets: https://cobidryersheets.com/Support Team Human on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/teamhumanFollow Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff:Instagram: https:/www.instagram.com/douglasrushkoffBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/rushkoff.com