Listen "How to Keep Grifters from Stealing Your Soul"
Episode Synopsis
Who really invents the world we all live in? We do. Read the post that inspired this episode: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/p/who-invents-the-world Subscribe to Andrea Pitzer’s Degenerate Art newsletter to support Next Comes What: https://degenerateart.beehiiv.com/subscribe This week, Next Comes What considers the shell game played by dictators and billionaires alike, as they seek to gain power over humanity. Andrea Pitzer explores the new twist in the story of millionaire-turned-lifestyle-guru Bryan Johnson, who's now trying to found a new religion based on optimizing and preserving the human body. She considers the case of Nayib Bukele in El Salvador, who's trying to prevent people from learning details of the secret deals he made with gang members to make him look like an effective leader. Andrea looks at Donald Trump's attempt to likewise appear omnipotent in ways he is not. Then she turns to how AI is being pushed hard across the board in ways that make it difficult to avoid using. Each of the cases she reviews reveals powerful actors trying to make everyday people dependent or even helpless in the face of who really runs the world. But politicians ought to serve at the will of the people, and companies should provide technology that serves humanity instead of undermining it. The large mass of us, from ditch-diggers to artists, invent the world each day. We hold a power that we shouldn't surrender, despite those with bad motives trying their best to take it from us.
More episodes of the podcast Next Comes What
You don't have to swallow frogs
02/10/2025
Kill this podcast?
25/09/2025
A Few Bad Men
18/09/2025
Why Speaking Out Matters
11/09/2025
Why Journalists Ignore Reality
04/09/2025
One Day Trump Will Be Gone
28/08/2025
5 Ways Concentration Camps Close
22/08/2025
How We Got to Fascism
14/08/2025
How to Get ICE Out of Your Town
06/08/2025
Don't Wait
31/07/2025