Plutopia News Network

Jon and Scoop take a nostalgic trip to the early days of the computer and online communication. We discuss our first computers and their impact on our lives, our early online experiences, and programs and services that change the way we work and play. We’re inspired by our recent conversations with Kevin Driscoll, author of The Modem World: A Prehistory of Social Media : Kevin Driscoll: The...

Dr. Roy Casagranda, Professor of Government at Austin Community College, and wise observer of politics, returns to the Plutopia podcast. Roy is also a political philosopher, aspiring feminist, author, internationalist, struggling revolutionary. We discuss the January 6th hearings, the Supreme Court vs. abortion, gerrymandering, angry and frightened voters, dog whistles, and 2024 presidential hopef...

Media Studies professor and “The Modem World” author Kevin Driscoll joins Jon and Scoop in taking a nostalgic and informative look back at the early days of online and Internet communication. Kevin explains the impact of early bulletin board systems, newsgroups, online services, and the coming of the web. This conversation is a followup to our February conversation https://plutopia.io/...

Ufology: the study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may have extraordinary (e.g. extraterrestrial or extra-dimensional) origins. Often derided by skeptics and science educators as an example of pseudoscience, ufology has can represent a field of legitimate scientific investigation, as practiced by Stanton Friedman, Jacques Vallée, Allen Hynek, et al. A ufologis...

Jim Rutt, host of “The Jim Rutt Show” podcast, joins Jon and Scoop for a wide-ranging discussion about business and technology. Jim details his start in business and tech, his time running Network Solutions, the evolution of the Internet, cancel culture, and AI censorship. Jim is also President and co-founder of the MIT Free Speech Alliance. He is the Executive Producer of the film &#8...

Before the Internet changed the way we experienced movies, dark theaters, and late night tv were the sole venues where sci-fi and horror fans could get a regular fix of cheap movie thrills. This time, on the Plutopia podcast, Jon, Scoop and Maggie discuss their favorite classic films, from the golden age of sci-fi and horror. Jon: They had Kid Shows then, on Saturday morning. So you’d go dow...

Philosopher Charles Herrman interviews Michael Webb, an advocate for the practice of meditative inquiry. They discuss interviewing and questioning, stillness, truth, centering, and much more. Michael Webb: Truth isn’t necessarily instrumental. A lot of people might think that, ‘I want to know something because I want to use it in order to achieve something else.’ Charles Herrman:...

In this episode, Jon and Scoop talk to Alexandra Alvarez about her new company “Love x Alex,” her activity supporting the “Free Britney” movement, which was seeking an end to Britney Spears’ court-ordered guardianship. The movement helped jump-start her line of fashion and pop culture goodies. We talk about her move from major studio casting to independent designer, m...

Jon and Scoop do a deep dive into the land of free speech, which is what this country’s supposed to be – land of the free, home of the brave. We discuss current issues of free speech in the Internet/post-Truth era. Jon: Should you be able to ban people from a system like Twitter? Which is supposedly set up for conversation, and has increasingly had to find ways to manage and moderate t...

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...