talkPOPc's Podcast
talkPOPc (Philosophers' Ontological Party club), is public philosophy + cognitively-engaged art nonprofit founded by Dr. Dena Shottenkirk, who is both a philosopher and an artist. As a topic-based project (we are now on our fourth) talkPOPc sponsors one-to-one conversations between a participant and a philosopher (who always dons our amazing gold African king hat, along with our mascot Puppet!) These conversations are consensus-building conversations and feed back into Shottenkirk's related artworks and published philosophy. The conversations become collaborative acts of making both philosophy and art. Thus, each topic - #1. nominalism, #2. censorship, #3. art as cognition, and #4 power - has three "pillars" the associated artworks, the published philosophy book, and podcast conversations. Various philosophers participate (see our website talkpopc.org for the list of philosophers) and these conversations happen in various places. For example, we go into bars and have one-to-one conversations. We sit down next to the deli counter and hold a conversation with someone who has walked in to get a ham sandwich and walked out knowing so much more about their own thoughts. We go into the MDC prison in Brooklyn and have conversations. We set up in galleries where the artworks and the philosophy are also displayed. And we listen. Here are some of those conversations.
Change happens when people talk.
talkPOPc's Podcast
Episode 136: Stone
Timestamps:
- 00:10: Introductions
- 00:35: Organizing people and how it relates to power
- 02:05: How do we apply knowledge of Foucault to the real world?
- 03:55: Are people hesitant or afraid to use their power?
- 05:10: There's something in the air, people are aware of power
- 07:20: Personal, individualized power. Being an actor in the world
- 10:00: Cynicism on the rise. When promises aren't kept, people burn out
- 11:30: The pursuit of self-interest, computer science vs. building a new disruptive route
- 14:30: One slip and you're done, losing purpose and stability. What is there to lose vs. cynical depression
- 16:45: The state form of power. Capitalizing on people's fears
- 20:00: The experiences of protesting, solidarity vs. winning
- 22:30: MLK as good, Malcolm X as bad. The idolization of peaceful protest
- 25:45: To change power structures, we organize and develop leadership, the only way to build something big is to start one-on-one