Plastic Pills

The First Cyberwar (Early Access | Ad-free)

You didn't just think another week was gonna pass by without some of that new content? 

Concept Vlog - Baudrillard's "The Gulf War Did Not Take Place"

We're headed to the bane of the haters: Jean Baudrillard's essays in  "The Gulf War Did Not Take Place," with analysis of the events that would follow e.g. "Operation Iraqi Freedom."  

Text link: https://amzn.to/2WoLx82

Pill Pod 56 - Structuralism is a Lie!? (Exclusive)

Erik brings a shocking discovery to the Pill Pod, oh yea and what the hell is structuralism anyway?

This is the last line of the edited Course in General Linguistics:
"La linguistique a pour unique et véritable objet la langue envisagée en elle-même et pour elle-même"
translated as
"The only true object of study in linguistics is the language, considered in itself and for its own sake"

Pill Pod 55 - "I Would Prefer Not To"

Evoked by no less than Agamben, Byung-Chul Han, Deleuze, and Zizek's wardrobe, Bartleby is a compelling character. This week we are joined by Lit Vic to bust us into some literary analysis of a prophet of American capitalism: Herman Melville, in his text "Bartleby, the Scrivener." Read the text for free here: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks...

(Livestream) - FEEDOCRACY

A follow up to the Technopticon musings, this is a second pass at the  current scopic regime and its relation to post-visual technocracy.

Pill Pod 54 - FIGHT NIGHT: Zizek vs. Deleuze II (Exclusive)

It's a long one. Is Deleuze for anarchists, fascists, or worst of all, for yuppies? What's "new" in politics? Will Victor be convinced to read Deleuze? All these questions and more will be tackled as Zizek stuffs hot dogs into Deleuze's pants and runs away.

(Livestream) - Technopticon

Livestream 17/09/21 5PM EST.

Patrons will have heard a bit of the theory behind this already, but this is a rearticulation of the hegemony of light in thought, plus military logistics.

What do you want posted here?

Hey all. I just had a quick question as to what you expect to get posted here. We about half patron-exclusive stuff, and about half public stuff. Up until now I have only been posting the exclusives here. Just wanted to know, is that the best way? Or would it be more convenient to have the public stuff (thinking mainly podcasts, livestreams) all gathered here together?

Pill Pod 53 - FIGHT NIGHT: Zizek vs. Deleuze I (Exclusive)

Long-awaited, much requested, but it took a while for the four of us to all have time to read this book, but this ep has got the juice. Feels like we barely scratched the surface with this one, so there will be a part 2, where we duke it out over Zizek's critique of Deleuze in "Organs Without Bodies" (which I do not recommend you read if you want to learn anything about Deleuze's thought).

Thank you all for your support in keeping this going, while I think these episodes are the best, t...

Concept Vlog - The Information Bomb & Virilio (Exclusive)

Some o' that hot-n-ready content, as prescribed. From suburban sprawl to DNA splicing, and yet another Frenchman.

Sorry that some of the audio is peaking I must've hit the little knobby thing by accident. Anyway, this foray covers more of Paul Virilio's work than two books, but the most referenced are The Information Bomb (https://amzn.to/3mSHThs) and Speed and Politics (2021-09-02 18:59:20 +0000 UTC View Post

Pill Pod 51 - Performativity II: Judith Butler (Exclusive)

We distill Judith Butler's Gender Trouble as one of the later texts of poststructuralism. Although gender is obviously the central example of the book, it figures primarily as a deconstruction of the naturalized body. 

Concept Vlog - Posthuman Cyberwar (Video Exclusive)

On that Virilio, on that Heidegger, on that Weber, on that Petrarch. Disenchantment and the philosophy of tech.

Pill Pod 50 - Performativity I (Exclusive)

This is part 1 of 2 on performativity covering... a lot... but mostly J.L. Austin's "Performative Utterances" and Judith Butler's "Gender Trouble." There were also a reference to Althusser's "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses" dropped along the way. 

Some linguistic acts attempt to represent the world... others strive to create new ones.

Pill Pod 48 - Critical Theory is Conspiracy Theory

Quarantine Agamben! He's at it again! This episode we got into it the kindred bond between critical theory and conspiracy theory, how states do and do not dominate in response to pandemics, and how Deleuze dominates Agamben in response to Foucaults.

Find Agamben's blog post here: 

https://www.quodlibet.it/giorgio-agamben-cittadini-di-seconda-classe

The Wait is Over... Cybersocialism Documentary (Early Access)

Thank you all so much for backing me up on this monster, which has consumed my life for 3.5 months. It did come down to the wire, as I finished this morning, nevertheless, it is finished.

I hope you take some pride in this as well; a lot of people left, and without all those names at the end of the video, this wouldn't have happened as I would have been pitching for freelance projects making ads for electric scooters and pot dispensaries all summer. It's my opinion, but I think the wor...

Cybersocialism Trailer

There's a lot of work left to do in the next 7 days, but we're as close as we've ever been.

Cybersyn Doc - The.Final.Update.

The wait is almost over--we're almost single digits away. Here I offer the fragments of sanity left to me. Please PM me if you are seeing this message and do NOT want your name in the video credits (First name, last initial). Hyped!

Pill Pod 47 - Hyperobjects, Pre-Post-Political Realism & Couples Therapy (Exclusive)

Bit of a grab bag on this one, we haven't done a "personal" episode in about 6 months so we thought it would be a good idea to catch up on what we're reading, writing, and researching outside of the podcast. Erik gives a primer on hyperobject cartography and speculative realism; Victor explains his argument that permanent revolution is phenomenologically impossible; and Matt explains how a woman named Cathy turned him into a Rawlsian socialist. 

Pill Pod 46 - Nihilism (Exclusive)

Heyyo, here is your weekend podcast episode, featuring Uncle Bob, Baudrillard, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Lacan and the simple question: Dude, why not just bin meaningfulness as an evaluation of life?

For the curious here is the book we were referencing, A Defence of Nihilism https://amzn.to/3i6lmdl

Apotheosis: Allende (+ New Footage!)

Today we're getting Christological. One important addendum: I kept referring to Kierkegaard's distinction between apostle and prophet, which should actually be the distinction between a genius and an apostle; my apologies go out to St. Paul.

Pill Pod 44 - Critical Race Hysteria (Exclusive)

This week we depart from the usual solemnities to diagnose the latest object of conservative hysteria: critical race theory. It's being banned from curricula, bounced around conservative media outlets, and kicking off the careers of some new fear-mongering pundits. But what actually is it?

Attached is Derrick Bell's lecture "Who's Afraid of Critical Race Theory?"

Find the referenced Center for Renewing America's examples of "CRT" here: 2021-06-22 19:27:41 +0000 UTC View Post

Salvador Allende's Final Words

Hey all, I realize the Patreon page has been a little dry this month. I moved last weekend and all the joys that come with it: packing, painting, putting new bookshelves together so I don't have to keep them in the closet anymore... you know the drill. As such, my output's lower than usual.

I'll be back on live next week when everything is set up (my camera is still in a box somewhere), but for now I'll share this with you. I put together a vid of Salvador Allende's final words, record...

Pill Pod 43 - FIGHT NIGHT: Foucault Slaps Back (Exclusive)

Not to be called a n00b, Foucault slaps back at Derrida (eventually) with "My Body, This Paper, This Fire" defending his Madness and Civilization from Derrida's critique (see Pill Pod 42). Foucault claims Derrida can't read Latin properly, and more substantively, that Derrida includes subsumes madness under the dreaming philosopher, while Descartes juridically separates them so as to exclude madness from meditation.

Cybernetic Minds ft. Erik from the Pillpod

We are going to be discussing Cybernetics and it's general utility, maybe some Bateson, maybe Guattari, come hang out!

Pill Pod 42 - FIGHT NIGHT, Round 2: Derrida vs. Foucault

The Year is 1963 and our Versus Series continues with Fight Night Round 2, in which a young challenger, Jacques 'Derridevil' Derrida, comes at Dr. Archaeology himself, Michel Foucault, accusing him of committing the cardinal cosmological sin: METAPHYSICS.

After a sound pounding through the first few pages, Derridevil lands a crippling blow, that Foucault's reading of Descartes was "naive," enough for Foucault to freeze him out for the next 20 years.

Tune in next week for Foucault'...

Upcoming Live: Friday May 28. Cybernetic Brainwaves w/ Erik of Pillpod (16:00 ET)

Mark those calendars, we have some video progress and a special guest to go into the "extended  mind" aspect of cybernetics and systems theory. Bring your insights,  your questions, and let's do the thing.

Pill Pod 41 - FIGHT NIGHT, Round 1: Baudrillard vs. Foucault (Exclusive)

Welcome to Round 1 of our new series, which covers theorists' takedowns of other theorists. This episode features an exciting 1977 bout between the young iconoclast, Jean Baudrillard and the king of the French academy, Michel Foucault, as found in the provocatively titled: Forget Foucault. Can a well-timed tag team with Deleuze save Foucault? Or will Baudrillard be forever condemned to circle in the Disneyland teacups alone?

Livestream: Cybersyn Behind the Scenes (updated link)

Let's talk Allende and Cybernetics with some clips of what's already finished, and for the first time  ever: my editing process.

Exclusive Livestream coming Friday 16:00 EST

Doing this one three hours later than the last one, so as to not show timezone favouritism.

This week I'll talk Allende and Cybernetics, plus show you the project outline, some clips of what's already finished, and for the first time ever: my editing process.

Pill Pod 39 - Oculus Grift (Exclusive)

The Pill Pod is joined by Meaghan, a real life cognitive scientist and VR researcher, to answer our ignorant questions about brains, behaviour and perception while we try to deduce whether or not Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology holds up in virtual reality.