My guest today is Michael Garfield, a paleontologist, futurist, writer, podcast host and strategic advisor whose “mind-jazz” performances — essays, music and fine art — bridge the worlds of art, science and philosophy.
This year, Michael received a $10k O’Shaughnessy Grant - https://newsletter.osv.llc/p/meet-our-2024-merchants-of-light) for his “Humans On the Loop” discussion series, which explores the nature of agency, power, responsibility and wisdom in the age of automation.
This whirlwind discussion is impossible to sum-up in a couple of sentences (just look at the number of books & articles mentioned!) Ultimately, it is a conversation about a subject I think about every day: how we can live curious, collaborative and fulfilling lives in our deeply weird, complex, probabilistic world.
I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. For the full transcript, episode takeaways, and bucketloads of other goodies designed to make you go, “Hmm, that’s interesting!”, check out our Substack - https://8ca54796.streaklinks.com/CJPd0z7cXCh07hc4JAiMaKTC/https%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter.osv.llc%2F.
Important Links:
- Michael’s Website - https://michaelgarfield.blogspot.com/p/michael.html
- Humans On The Loop - https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/p/hotl-01
- Twitter - https://x.com/michaelgarfield?lang=en
- Future Fossils Substack - https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/subscribe
Show Notes:
0:00:00 Intro
0:00:57 Main podcast
0:02:07 What is “mind jazz”?
0:11:29 Humans “ON” the loop?
0:26:17 The Red Queen hypothesis and the power of weirdness
0:37:09 Probabilistic thinking & the perils of optimization
0:53:35 Context collapse, pernicious convenience & coordination at scale
1:09:32 How organisations learn
1:18:59 Michael as World Emperor
Books, Articles & Podcasts Mentioned:
- The Nature of Technology: What It Is and How It Evolves; by W. Brian Arthur
- Pharmako-AI; by K Allado-McDowell
- The Global Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind from the Big Bang to the 21st Century; by Howard Bloom
- The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom
- One Summer: America, 1927; by Bill Bryson
- Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There; by Lewis Carroll
- The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
- Scale Theory: A Nondisciplinary Inquiry; by Joshua DiCaglio
- Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders and the Rise of Social Engineering; by Malcolm Gladwell
- The WEIRDest People in the World: How the West Became Psychologically Peculiar and Particularly Prosperous; by Joseph Henrich
- Do Conversation: There's No Such Thing as Small Talk; by Robert Poynton
- Reality Hunger: A Manifesto; by David Shields
- The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light: Mythology, Sexuality and the Origins of Culture; by William Irwin Thompson
- The New Inquisition: Irrational Rationalism and the Citadel of Science; by Robert Anton Wilson
- Designing Neural Media - https://www.berlinerfestspiele.de/en/gropius-bau/programm/journal/2023/k-allado-mcdowell-designing-neural-media; by K Allado-McDowell
- Pace Layering: How Complex Systems Learn and Keep Learning - https://jods.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/issue3-brand/release/2; by Steward Brand
- Losing Humanity: The Case against Killer Robots - https://www.hrw.org/report/2012/11/19/losing-humanity/case-against-killer-robots; by Bonnie Docherty
- What happens with digital rights management in the real world? - https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2014/feb/05/digital-rights-management; by Cory Doctorow
- The Evolution of Surveillance Part 1: Burgess Shale to Google Glass - https://michaelgarfield.medium.com/the-evolution-of-surveillance-part-1-burgess-shale-to-google-glass-220fefb3a906; by Michael Garfield
- An Introduction to Extitutional Theory - https://medium.com/berkman-klein-center/an-introduction-to-extitutional-theory-e74b5a49ea53; by Jessy Kate Schingler
- 175 - C. Thi Nguyen on The Seductions of Clarity, Weaponized Games, and Agency as Art - https://podtail.com/de/podcast/future-fossils/175-c-thi-nguyen-on-the-seductions-of-clarity-weap/; Future Fossils with Michael Garfield
- 🎶⚔️👏🏼 205 - Greg Thomas & Stephanie Lepp on Jazz Leadership & Antagonistic Cooperation - https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/p/205; Future Fossils with Michael Garfield
- 🌏🚜🫀212 - Manfred Laubichler & Geoffrey West on Life In The Anthropocene & Living Inside The Technosphere - https://michaelgarfield.substack.com/p/212; Future Fossils with Michael Garfield
