Plutopia News Network

Climate activist, former hippie flower salesman and politician Max Nofziger returns to the Plutopia podcast. We discuss Max’s political career in Austin, his environmental activism, his in-progress memoir and much more. Max Nofziger: You know, I led those campaigns to stop fossil fuel plants. And nobody wants to do that now, you know why? Because it’s really hard. When we campaigned ag...

Zen Buddhist priest Renshin Bunce joins the Plutopia podcast to discuss Buddhism and Renshin’s life as a priest. Renshin received dharma transmission in 2013. She worked as a hospice chaplain from 2010 until she retired in 2022. Renshin Bunce: Soto Zen is no gaining idea. We don’t practice, and practice – there are a few words, like practice, like God, like love, like life &#8211...

Alan Chamberlain aka Axon explains his music and his journey to recovery. We explore country music, songwriting, the power of music in recovery, and the 12 Step process. Axon plays a few songs in the process. Alan is a singer/songwriter in the “herban” cowboy tradition. His songwriting examines the Western mythos in defiance of the popular image created by an atavistic mass media. He s...

Dave deBronkart and Doc Searls take aim at the American healthcare system. They discuss empowered patients, medical technology, electronic medical records, and much more. Dave, known on the internet as e-Patient Dave, is a blogger, health policy advisor and international keynote speaker. Dave beat stage IV kidney cancer in 2007. Doc is an American journalist, columnist, and a widely read blogger....

Howard Rheingold joins Jon and Scoop for a discussion that includes virtual communities, social media, AI and chatbots, media education, good vs bad on the Internet, cultural evolution, and tools for thought. Howard is a writer, critic, and teacher, former editor of “Whole Earth Review” , and author of several books including Virtual Reality, The Virtual Community, and Smart Mobs. Howa...

In this Plutopia podcast, we’re joined by Joanna Bryson, an academic expert in intelligence, both natural and artificial. In a conversation led by Wendy Grossman, we explore intelligence, both artificial and natural. Bryson has experience in programming and systems administration in several commercial sectors, and degrees in both psychology and AI from Chicago, Edinburgh, and MIT. She has be...

Writer, blogger, and author Wendy Grossman, author of net.wars joins Plutopians for a conversation about hacking with Bruce Schneier, an internationally renowned computer security professional and author. Bruce’s latest book, A Hacker’s Mind: How the Powerful Bend Society’s Rules, and How to Bend Them Back, is an expanded view of hacks and hackers beyond computers to other kinds...

Plutopians talk to Claire Fitch, a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography and the Environment at the University of Texas at Austin . Her research contemplates the role that simulated natures in virtual reality (VR) play in shaping trajectories of human-environment relations. In order to unravel the current forms and functions of this medium, she investigates various ways in which VR is used...

This time on the Plutopia Podcast, we feature a presentation about the OAUTH protocol, delivered at the May meeting of EFF-Austin. Due to the visual nature of the demo portion of the session, we have posted the entire video of the OAUTH presentation on our YouTube channel. For the audio podcast, we present an edited version. Plutopia’s Jon Lebkowsky introduced the session. If you wish to view the...

Ethan Smith has been an advocate for affordable student housing, particularly as it applies to UT-Austin’s student population. His 2021 thesis proposed a housing and equity strategy for UT. In this episode of the Plutopia Podcast, Ethan, Jon and Scoop explore the affordable housing crisis in Austin and it’s impact on students, musicians, and workers. Ethan Smith: “Median-income tied definiti...

Michael Webb joins Plutopians to discuss meditative inquiry, meditation practices and intelligence, experts, and much more. Michael Webb: It almost seems like an oxymoron, doesn’t it? To speak of thinking non-verbally. What the heck does that mean? And I would hasten to say, too, not only thinking non-verbally, but thinking without using mental images. That’s perhaps even more shocking...

With climate scientist Michael Tobis, Plutopians discuss the current state of climate change. We look at the good, the bad, the ugly, and the terrifying aspects of our climate dilemma. Michael Tobis: You’re just starting to get to the point where people are noticing, it’s going to get worse. It’s going to get more and more obvious. It’s going to get more and more difficult....

Former Austin City Council member and environmental activist Max Nofziger joins the Plutopia podcast. Max explains the evolution of Austin’s motto, “the Live Music Capital of the World,” and the affordability challenges facing Austin. Max has plenty of stories about Austin politics and politicians, and the area’s environmental struggles. Max Nofziger: Nancy Coplin, who was...

With online host, interaction designer and facilitator Nancy White, Plutopians Scoop and Jon explore online community, social media, macro- vs micro-connections, and much more. Nancy’s done international work supporting and practicing online and face to face group facilitation. She’s focused on distributed work, strategic planning, social learning, communities and networks. She knows a...

With writer, blogger, and author Wendy Grossman, Jon and Scoop discuss the differences between early Internet culture and the current state of the Internet and social media. Wendy focuses in her work on the Internet, computers, freedom, and privacy. She’s been writing about “net.wars” since the early 1990s, and her book by that name was published in 1997. Wendy Grossman: The plac...

Broadcaster, DJ, and audio engineer Tracey Schulz reports on the just concluded SXSW Film and TV Festival. We discuss new films that premiered at SXSW, and the stars who attended. Tracey Schulz: We’re coming off of “Everything, Everywhere, All At Once” and the things that stood out for me this year for Southby [the SXSW Festival], especially in film and TV, had Asian cast and fem...

Activist and political consultant Jaquita Wilson in a rebroadcast of our March 30th live show. We discuss the indictment of Donald Trump, announced only hours earlier. We also explore the job requirements for a Republican politician. Jaquita Wilson: See, this is the thing I was trying to talk about the other day around local politics, right. We’re discussing somebody that’s of Trump&#8...

Linguist and Professor Emeritus at the University of Texas Robert Wall joins Plutopians as we examine his long career and contributions to the study of language, mathematics, and computer science. Robert Wall: Language is deeply psychological. It goes on in people’s brains by processes that are somewhat mysterious. We don’t know how people acquire language so rapidly as children from j...

In this episode of Plutopia News Network, we include a recording of a 1977 press conference held by Dr. Timothy Leary, and Scoop’s 1975 interview with forensic psychologist Dr. Stephen Pittel. In 1977, Dr. Leary was the keynote speaker at the Libertarian Party’s national convention in San Francisco. In a press conference prior to his speech, he addressed some of his causes, including s...

This time on the Plutopia podcast, our friend Screamish Joy joins Jon and Scoop, as we discuss all things Texan. In this rebroadcast of our March Second live show, the Plutopians reveal everything you didn’t know about Texas….but didn’t care enough to ask! Screamish Joy: “I remember going places and people being like…because we were raised this way is like do you know your state song or do you kno...

Computer engineer and AI expert David Demaris joins Jon, Suzy and Scoop on this episode of the Plutopia podcast. We discuss ChatGPT and artificial intelligence, Microsoft’s Bing chatbot, deep fakes, dangerous technologies, bad actors, and much more. Will ChatGPT take over the world? What is artificial intelligence, and how does it differ from human intelligence? How can we ensure that artifi...

Judi Clark is an Analyst and an Emergency Preparedness Coordinator. She joins Plutopians as we do a deep dive into emergency response, and ways we can be better prepared. Judi Clark: If there are people who don’t want to really coordinate with this system, they’re not going to be very effective. They’re just going to be out doing stuff, and that’s going to be complicating e...

Blogger and podcaster Nathan Wilcox returns to the Plutopia podcast. We explore the emergence of ChatGPT, music and art created with artificial intelligence, the evolution of dance music, changes in the Austin music scene, streaming music, and of course, politics! “Nathan Wilcox: I’m very excited about the potential for AI in music-making. I guarantee you that’s where the next bi...

Plutopia News Network invited Carl Stone and Eric Theise for a conversation mainly focusing on Carl’s work/play as an electronic composer. Carl and Eric recently performed sold-out shows together in Northern California, with Carl playing electronic compositions via laptop, and Eric creating visuals. Carl Stone is a pioneer of live computer music, hailed by the Village Voice as “the king of s...

Broadcaster, DJ and Audio Engineer Tracey Schulz joins the Plutopia Podcast this time. Tracey is a regular voice on K.U.T. FM and K.O.O.P. Radio. He joins Scoop and Suzy in a wide-ranging discussion about radio, making media and much more.