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Team Human
James Howard Kunstler "The Long Emergency"
Playing for Team Human today, author, social critic, and public speaker James Howard Kunstler.
Kunstler discusses how the current pandemic is just the beginning of a process he calls ‘The Long Emergency.” “When the dust settles, we’re tasked with reorganizing our lives.” he says.
Further, Kuntsler discusses the implications of a debt-based economy when debt can’t be paid and money ceases to represent anything. “When capital doesn’t function, it stops being money.”
Kunstler looks at how humans might reorient themselves after the pandemic. How might humans connect to the world? What will the re-enchantment of the human experience and human life look like?
In his monologue, Rushkoff looks at how the Trump administration views the economic shutdown as an equal or greater danger to the pandemic because of what it might allow humans to realize: That humans work for the economy instead of our economy working for us.
Read the written version of Rushkoff’s version “We Wish to Inform You That Your Death is Highly Profitable” from Medium’s GEN: https://gen.medium.com/we-wish-to-inform-you-that-your-death-is-highly-profitable-22c73744055c
For more information on Kuntsler’s books: https://kunstler.com/writings/books/
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— Credits —
Hosted by Douglas Rushkoff
Produced by Josh Chapdelaine
Audio Edited & Mixed by Luke Robert Mason
Our community manager is Michael Bass.
Music by Fugazi (On this Episode you heard “Foreman’s Dog” in the intro – thanks to the kindness of the band and Dischord Records.)
Special thanks to Stephen Bartolomei, who helps us all keep grounded in reality.
Team Human is a Production of the Laboratory for Digital Humanism at Queens College.
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