I am told that I am poor at being “in the moment,” and I confess it to be the case. I am nothing if not riddled with anxieties, large and small. At my worst, I am engulfed in worries, drenched in waves of stomach-sickening dread, doubt, and guilt. But normally, just going about my day, I maintain a manageable baseline of unease; the quiet hum of preoccupation with Other Things always resonating, if just barely. I am told this is... Read more
Ross Andersen’s interview with Elon Musk at Aeon, on Musk’s ambitions for Mars colonization, is a gem. “Interview” doesn’t do it justice; it’s part interview, part examination of the motivations (Musk’s and civilization’s) for a Mars migration, as well as a meditation on the humanity of such an endeavor. A big takeaway is how Musk sees a Mars trip not simply as a lofty goal of humanistic enrichment, but as a last and only best hope for a species tied... Read more
Nicholas Carr is a thinker I struggle with. (I mean, I struggle with his thoughts as expressed in written form, I don’t struggle with him personally or physically. Just so we’re clear.) Ever since introducing the rhetorical question “Is Google making us stupid?” I’ve been skeptical of his, let us say “conservative” perspective on technology. By this I mean he is among those who have taken it upon themselves to serve as dampening pedals on the otherwise boisterous enthusiasm generally... Read more
The idea for this episode was to talk about our respective obsessions over our tech gadgets, but somehow we also got into brain folds and dopamine squirts and Members Only jackets. In the grand perspective, I assure you, it all makes sense. Dedicated to Jony Ive in his Infinite White Heaven, Episode 3 of the iMortal Show stars Gia Mora and Chris Sawyer. Your browser does not support the audio element. Subscribe in iTunes or by RSS. You can download... Read more
A college girlfriend of mine used to pride herself on being kind of pro-death. She wasn’t goth, per se, but she was certainly contrarian, and when we’d get into existential discussions (far too often for my late teenaged self who was more interested in physical explorations), she’d tell me that she wasn’t afraid of death. Well, I am, I’d tell her. The idea that everything ends, and you don’t even have the benefit of being aware that it’s over, it’s... Read more
Did you already know about this? You probably already know about this. Look, I had heard of MC Frontalot, but being 36 and out of touch, I never heard any of his stuff. Little did I know that he is artist rapping about toilet paper manufacture in Elmo’s Potty Time, which, let me tell you, I have seen many, many times. So I’m already impressed. But lemme back up. Something recently got me thinking, wow, Voltron‘s lips sure are drawn... Read more
Your browser does not support the audio element. You are what you tweet? Do your “likes” tell the story of who you are? For so many of us, major portions of our lives are lived non-corporeally. We don’t define ourselves solely by what we do in physical space in interaction with other live bodies, but also through pixelated representations of ourselves on social media. How do we strike a balance between the real world and the streams of Twitter and... Read more
I’m doing some light Twitter culling tonight, as the relentlessness that is the Torrent of Feelings, the constant barrage of snark and attacks and outrage and disgust, is getting to be too much. Tonight I came upon this song by Jonathan Mann (the song-a-day guy who has been kind enough to pal around with me a little on Twitter). It’s just right. Read more
This is just a quick post to let you know that the iMortal Show, which I unveiled a few days ago, has finally been approved by the iTunes gods. So now you can subscribe to the show through iTunes on your computer and on the iOS Podcasts app, as well as (presumably) any other podcast app. I was really happy with how the first episode turned out, and I can tell you now that I’m editing it, episode two is... Read more
If you follow technology news at all, you’re probably tired of hearing variations on the word “disruption.” You’ve maybe heard the words “revolutionary” or “revolutionize” a few too many times in the past decade, to the point where it sounds kind of silly. I get that. While it’s undeniable that the Age of the iPhone has fundamentally changed so much of our day-to-day lives, the constant acknowledgement of these changes, and the fact that it never seems to be enough, can... Read more
iMortal
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In