Plutopia News Network

In this episode of the Plutopia podcast, AKMA Adam discusses his path to the priesthood, faith, interpretation and belief, doctrine, rock and roll, and postmodern thought. My work is interpreting the Bible and not teaching doctrine, and when I say this – my wife was a theologian – I’m envisioning her saying, “No, that’s not the way it is.” So I’m trying to...

People of a certain age will recognize the sound bites we play at the beginning of this episode. Specifically those who grew up between the end of World War II and the fall of the Soviet Union. This time on the Plutopia Podcast, Jon and Scoop take a walk down that scary part of memory lane known as The Cold War. The Cold War started in the late 1940s, and continued until 1991, when the Soviet Unio...

Author and futurist Jamais Cascio joins the Plutopia podcast as we explore the future of a world undergoing chaotic change. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as one of their top 100 global thinkers, Jamais helps us understand a world in chaos – rapid global disruptions – climate change – and scenarios about the future, often with an environmental focus. Jamais Cascio: The goal...

This time on the Plutopia podcast, maker, writer and former editorial director of Make Media Gareth Branwyn joins Jon and Scoop for a wide-ranging discussion about makers and making. We examine small town life, the maker movement, makers on YouTube, and Gareth’s new book, “Tales and Tips from the Workshop, Volume 2.” Gareth is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director...

Plutopian Maggie Duval interviews author, philosopher, and Burning Man champion Caveat Magister, in a wide-raging discussion about turning your life into art. Scoop and Jon are also on board in this conversation originally presented on the Plutopia Livestream. We discuss psychomagical experiences (a term first coined by Alejandro Jodorowsky ), immersive art, how to engage and move the psyche, the...

Last week Jon, while spending some time at SXSW 2022, took time to discuss the festival past and present with Scoop. We also took time to ponder Russia’s war on Ukraine 6,000 miles away. Jon: The Russian invasion of the Ukraine has been sort of put up or shut up for people. There was a vote in Congress, I think for calling off U.S. trade [relations] with Russia. They were going to pass a law...

Michael Tobis is a climate scientist and software developer based in Ottawa, Canada. Michael has joined us twice before to discuss climate change. In this episode, he joins Plutopians to give us his Canadian perspective on the recent trucker protest in Ottawa, Putin’s quest for power, the two party electoral system, nutty politicians, climate change, and the Texas electrical grid collapse. A...

In this episode, Jon and Scoop discuss the subjects that have been keeping them awake at night, or irritating them during the day. We dissect medical care and doctor-patient involvement, news sources and newspapers, conflicted conservatives, nuclear war, and vegans vs. carnivores. Scoop: “You really have to be a partner in your care. I’ve been an inpatient a few times, and I’ve a...

Kevin Driscoll is an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Virginia. His research involves alternative histories of the internet, the politics of amateur telecommunications, and the moral economy of consumer software. In this episode, we discuss the history of the Internet, media’s impact upon popular culture, and much more. Kevin is author of The Modem World , which expl...

Net.activist, lapsed journalist, and content designer Todd Lappin joins Plutopians to discuss free speech, the Communications Decency Act, control of misinformation, his work at Wired Magazine, Facebook and the Metaverse, his tiny fire truck, and much more. Todd has for 30 years been fascinated by the Internet, its potential, and the impact it has on society and our lives. Starting as as editor at...

Gary Gach is an author, translator, editor, teacher and poet with a lifelong interest in Buddhism and meditation. He is the author of several books, including Pause, Breathe, Smile. Gary joined Jon and Scoop to talk about the life and work of Thich Nhat Hanh, who died on January 22nd. Hanh was a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, prolific author, poet, teacher, and founder of the Plum...

Lex Pelger is a writer, scientist & lecturer on cannabis, psychedelics & the endocannabinoid system. Erik Davis has called him “a warrior of the weird.” Lex Pelger: “It was only racism that drove the war on drugs from its very beginning. The very first anti-drug laws were anti-opium laws against the Chinese in San Francisco, and the very first anti-cannabis laws were in...

In this week’s Plutopia podcast, poet Jane Hirshfield and writer Tiffany Lee Brown join Jon and Scoop to discuss creativity. Jane and Tiffany explain their individual creative processes and we discuss deadlines, blathering, confidence, fear of failure and Covid’s impact on Jane and Tiffany’s work. Jane Hirshfield: “I simply wait for something that needs to be said or for somethin...

Maggie Duval: “I’m writing a lot about sense of place – like everywhere I’ve lived, and I’ve been transient all my life, because of my Dad, his work, but also my own moving around. But I’ve lived everywhere from a town of thirty to Austin, which is like a bazillion now, or whatever. And then the Bay Area, too, and everywhere in between. But everywhere I’ve...

In this episode of the Plutopia podcast, Jon and Scoop check in with an obituary for 2021 and its politics. Our dynamic duopoly wax poetic about fascism, the election fraud fraud (aka the big lie ), red pill versus blue pill, Covid, and cryptocurrency. No politicians were injured in production of this podcast (but we seriously tried)! Scoop: There were a lot of German scientists that worked for th...

Ed Cavazos is an attorney who’s always focused on the cutting edges of technology law, including cyberlaw. He manages the Austin office of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman . Ed negotiates complex technology-related transactions and routinely advises on corporate and general business matters, licensing, strategic partnerships, development contracts, data rights and privacy issues. He represent...

In this episode of the Plutopia News Network podcast, Jon talks to Joe Verona, a certified professional hypnotist specializing in brainwave entrainment (BWE) and biofeedback. The original neurohacker, Joe has explored hypnosis, meditation, energy practices, lucid dreaming and out of body experience as well as clinical uses for brainwave entrainment. Joe has been on a mission to not only learn all...

This episode’s guest, Sam McChesney (aka Sam the Fungi ) is dedicated to ending mycophobia, changing mycostigma and connecting people through the power of mycelium. Sam joins Jon and Scoop for a wide-ranging talk about all things fungi. Sam on Sam… I discovered my affinity for fungi when I got over-stressed around my 18th year in the existence of this body. I was unable to eat many of...

Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Kevin Russell joins Jon and Scoop in this episode of the Plutopia Podcast. Kevin talks about his days with The Gourds and his current band: Shinyribs .  We also talk about violence at music venues, streaming music, Covid’s impact on the music business and a possible Gourds reunion. Stick around for the end of our session — Kevin plays a bit of mus...

Jasmina Tešanović – “I thought it was a temporary state of mind, but the more that time goes by, especially now with the more the system is broken of information… and I really tried to read between the lines in the press, in different languages, and now I have the Spanish language and French – I know many languages, you know… but I am more and more an idiot. If somebo...

Plutopia goes on a ride along… our friend Spike Gillespie was literally on the road when she spoke to Jon and Scoop for this week’s Plutopia podcast. Spike takes us on a free-wheeling tour of her ranch, her businesses, and Bastrop County, Texas. We also talk about her new restaurant in Smithville, small town Texas and fitting in, glamping, weddings, creating happy communities and much...

Former political consultant, current mixed martial arts blogger , editor of SB Nations’s Bloody Elbow, and host of the “Let It Roll” podcast Nate Wilcox joins the Plutopian crew for a verbal cage match about politics. He takes a break from blogging about mixed martial arts to take a few swings and kicks at politics and politicians. Jon and Scoop get in a few sucker punches, in a...

In this week’s Plutopia podcast, Jon and Scoop make a deep dive into death… also Halloween, sex, pagan celebrations, and Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). “Everyone is a beginner when it comes to death.” – Sallie Jiko Tisdale, “Everything Dies” in Lion’s Roar We don’t like to think about death in mainstream America. We hide it, and when we...

Just in time for Halloween – scary stories from the world of big tech!! Thanks to our friends at EFF-Austin, we present a session with author and tech veteran Vahid Razavi. He shares some of his personal experiences – many of them bad – from his time working for some well-known tech giants. He also shares the most important question to ask a hiring manager before accepting a job...

Hugo award-winning author Pat Cadigan joins Jon and Scoop to discuss her novelization of William Gibson’s first screenplay for Alien 3, the third movie in the Alien franchise. The final film wasn’t based on Gibson’s version, which had been discarded in rounds of rewriting and re-visioning. Sadly, critical response to the film was not good. Pat has created a novelization of Gibson...