Challenging Time

In this episode with Daniel Ross, we do a deep dive into AI. Though I've been thinking about AI ( https://marioveen.com/2004/06/14/intelligent-artificiality/ ) I didn't really address it on this podcast yet. And who better to start this theme with than a philosopher of technology. Daniel Ross obtained his doctorate from Monash University in 2002. He is the author of Violent Democracy  (Cambridge U...

We discuss The Language of Climate Politics: Fossil Fuel Propaganda and How to Fight it . Genevieve Guenther  is the founding director of End Climate Silence and affiliate faculty at The New School, where she sits on the board of the Tishman Environment and Design Center. Dr. Guenther advises NGOs, corporations, and policymakers on fossil-fuel disinformation and climate communication, and she serv...

Arthur Oldeman is a climate change researcher, communicator, consultant, and activist. After his engineering studies, he recently finished his PhD research on climate variability and atmospheric dynamics in warm past climates. He writes about everything climate on weblog Klimaatveranda.nl and puts his climate expertise to use in politics with GroenLinks and activism with Scientist Rebellion. Curre...

This is the second part of our conversation about Mieke Bal's Moments of Meaning-Making: On Anachonism, Becoming, and Conceptualizing, published by Valiz . Mieke Bal (1946) is a Dutch theorist, video artist, and a well-known writer and feminist. She has been a Professor in Literary Theory (University of Amsterdam). In 1994 she was a co-founder of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA)....

We discuss Mieke Bal's Moments of Meaning-Making: On Anachonism, Becoming, and Conceptualizing, published by Valiz . Mieke Bal (1946) is a Dutch theorist, video artist, and a well-known writer and feminist. She has been a Professor in Literary Theory (University of Amsterdam). In 1994 she was a co-founder of the Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis (ASCA). Bal has been teaching at many institute...

We discuss Turning the arrow: education after the age of the world-view by Gert Biesta: https://www.pure.ed.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/507626803/BiestaAPJE2025TurningTheArrow.pdf   Gert Biesta is Professor of Public Education in the Centre for Public Education and Pedagogy at Maynooth University, Ireland, and Visiting Professor of Education at the Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HV...

We discuss Herald of a Restless World: How Henri Bergson brought philosophy to the people - The first English-language biography of Henri Bergson, the French philosopher who defined individual creativity and transformed twentieth-century thought. Emily Herring is a writer based in Paris. She received her PhD in the history and philosophy of science from the University of Leeds, and her writing has...

We discuss Ginie Servant-Miklos' new book Pedagogies of Collapse. This urgent, and radically honest, open access book looks collapse in the face, acknowledges the temptation for denial and despair, but chooses hope. Pedagogies of Collapse makes a dire, fact-packed case for the urgency of action, but resists the urge to fall into the usual categories of environmental discourses. The ebook version w...

We discuss Chris Julien's new book Everyday Activism ( Alledaags Activisme ). Chris is an activist and researcher, he is a PhD candidate at Utrecht University, where he works on ecological governance with an emphasis on new materialisms and decolonial ecology. He has an independent practice at the intersection of ecology and culture and is a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion in The Netherlands...

We discuss Turning to Stone: Discovering the Subtle Wisdom of Rocks by Marcia Bjornerud. Marcia Bjornerud is a professor of Environmental Studies and Geosciences at Lawrence University. She is a contributing writer to The New Yorker, Wired, The Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times and the author of Reading the Rocks, Timefulness, and Geopedia. Turning to Stone is available from Macmillan...

Dominic Pettman is University Professor of Media and New Humanities at the New School, and the author of numerous books on technology, humans, and other animals. We discussed his books Infinite Distraction and Peak Libido in episode 10 . His book Telling the Bees comes out later this year. In this episode, we discuss Sad Planets by Dominic Pettman and Eugene Thacker, which is available for order h...

dr. Petra Verdonk is an occupational and health psychologist and works as an associate professor at the department of Ethics, Justice and Humanities at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. In her research and teaching she focuses on gender and diversity in health and care. She has long-term experience with research and projects in the field of gender (especially but not only women), labor and health...

Dr. Zachary Stein is a founding team member at the Civilizational Research Institute. He was trained at the interface of philosophy, psychology, and education, and now works in fields related to the mitigation of global catastrophic risk. He is a widely sought after and award winning speaker, and a leading authority on the future of education and contemporary issues in human development. Zak is th...

Bestel hier: https://noordboek.nl/boek/hoe-plato-je-uit-je-grot-sleurt/    (Song ceated using Udio)

Stephen Porder is the Associate Provost for Sustainability and Acacia Professor of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology and Environment and Society at Brown University in the United States.  His research publications explore tropical rainforest ecology, the impacts of intensive agriculture on people and the environment, and the potential for large-scale tropical forest restoration. He also st...

  My book about Plato's allegory of the cave is now available for pre-order: https://noordboek.nl/boek/hoe-plato-je-uit-je-grot-sleurt/  Inez Schelfhout is a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist who specializes in the impact of war on next generations. So intergenerational effects and intergenerational trauma. Inez works at the ARQ Center '45 and the ARQ Knowledge Center for War , Persecution...

Dorita Sleur has been a spiritual teacher and guide for more than 20 years. She works with people tot become aware of the influence of Light in their lives. In her work, the Light creates balance in every area. If we learn to live from the light, the world will look different. We discuss Dorita's book The Soul's Task On Earth, which is available here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-souls-tas...

Dr Fabian E.Z. Ercan is a broadly interested (climate) biologist who does not shy away from broader discussions concerning natural sciences, philosophy, engineering and history. The dimension of time plays an important role in biology, ecology and climate and in the resulting science of paleoecology. Fabian combines these disciplines in his field of climate biology, but also to philosophise about...

Margarita Vossen is a medical doctor who has worked in several areas in medicine, both in the Netherlands and abroad (Zambia, Lesvos and Moldova). Currently she is working as a general practitioner in the south of the Netherlands. She is an ambassador for the 'Dutch Green Healthcare Alliance' ( Groene Zorg Alliantie ) and member of 'The Green General Practitioner' ( De Groene Huisarts ). In this r...

I interview Lee McIntyre about On Disinformation: How to fight for truth and protect democracy, available from MIT Press .   Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and a recent Lecturer in Ethics at Harvard Extension School. He holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a Ph. D. in Philosophy from the University of Michigan. He has...

Anne Kervers is a PhD candidate in political theory at the University of Amsterdam. She researches the political dimensions of money creation in relation to the climate finance gap. Previously she worked at Triodos Bank and completed studies in sustainability, economics, applied ethics and cultural analysis. Anne practices civil disobedience with Extinction Rebellion. https://twitter.com/unmutingm...

Anne Kervers is a PhD candidate in political theory at the University of Amsterdam. She researches the political dimensions of money creation in relation to the climate finance gap. Previously she worked at Triodos Bank and completed studies in sustainability, economics, applied ethics and cultural analysis. Anne practices civil disobedience with Extinction Rebellion. https://twitter.com/unmutingm...

Daniel Ross obtained his doctorate from Monash University in 2002. He is the author of Violent Democracy  (Cambridge University Press, 2004) and  Psychopolitical Anaphylaxis: Steps Towards a Metacosmics  (Open Humanities Press, 2021 -free to  download ). He is also the co-director with David Barison of the feature documentary  The Ister (rent or buy on Vimeo) , which premiered at the Rotterdam Int...

We discuss Michel Serres' 1990 book The Natural Contract . Our mountain guide through Plato's Cave and the philosophy of Michel Serres is Aldo Houterman. Aldo teaches Medical Ethics and Philosophy at the Amsterdam University Medical Center and is doing his PhD research at the ESPRIT center for sports, integrity and transition at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. His book ' We a...

Jessica den Outer has a Bachelor degree in international & European law and a Master degree in international environmental law. She has been advocating for the Rights of Nature and the interests of future generations since 2017 and received several awards for her work. In 2019, she was recognised as one of the youngest Earth-centered law experts within the United Nations Harmony with Nature networ...