Best Pythagorean Podcasts (2025)

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VESPERS Pt. 2 (w/ Millaze) 1:26:19

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17d ago1:26:19

1:26:19

CW: eating disorders are discussed a few times in this episode. Vespers is a limited series within Disintegrator that focuses on the creative feedback loops between music and social media. It follows from the Nobody Listens to Music Anymore superlecture, where themes of youth identity formation, reference-as-medium, generative AI, and the complexit…

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VESPERS Pt. 1 (w/ RayonBase) 48:10

1M ago48:10

48:10

Vespers is a limited series within Disintegrator that focuses on the creative feedback loops between music and social media. It follows from the Nobody Listens to Music Anymore superlecture, where themes of youth identity formation, reference-as-medium, generative AI, and the complexities of working with the total archive are discussed in more deta…

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32. I Put a Post on You (w/ Dana Dawud, feat. Open Secret) 1:22:15

1M ago1:22:15

1:22:15

Artist and curator Dana Dawud joins Disintegrator to talk about Open Secret, her touring platform for internet cinema, and her evolving film series Monad. We discuss the blur as a visual device and trend, the impossibility of representing Palestine, being trained by AI and building myth in the age of the feed. The audio is laced with reflections by…

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31. Incarnation (w/ Pete Wolfendale) 1:04:42

2M ago1:04:42

1:04:42

We’re joined by philosopher Peter Wolfendale — a singular voice in contemporary theory, known for his work on autonomy and the metaphysics of cognition. In this episode, we dive deep into the philosophical problems behind artificial general intelligence, not from the angle of safety or speed, but from the standpoint of what it means to think, to re…

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LONGUE DURÉE Pt. 2 (w/ Timothy Morton) 1:15:33

3M ago1:15:33

1:15:33

CW: There is some brief discussion of abusive familial relationships at several points within this episode. Two titanic figures in contemporary theory join us for two separate and strongly divergent episodes on the status of revolutionary thought in political philosophy today. Timothy Morton is one of the most outspoken and controversial voices in …

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LONGUE DURÉE Pt. 1 (w/ Ray Brassier) 1:08:12

3M ago1:08:12

1:08:12

Two titanic figures in contemporary theory join us for two separate and strongly divergent episodes on the status of revolutionary thought in political philosophy today. Ray Brassier influenced a generation of philosophers not only with his outstanding and highly rigorous writing, but also his absolutely stunning translations of Quentin Meillassoux…

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28. Imperative Pythagoreanism (w/ Giuseppe Longo) 59:50

3M ago59:50

59:50

It’s such an honor to welcome Giuseppe Longo to the pod! Professor Giuseppe Longo is the Research Director Emeritus at Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. His work spans mathematics, computer science, biology, especially through the connective theoretical tissue of epistemology. Our conversation or…

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27. Critique as Commodity (w/ Morgane Billuart) 58:36

4M ago58:36

58:36

We’re on with Morgane Billuart, a writer and artist and a researcher whose work engages critically with technologically mediated and determined worlds — not least within her exceptional book “Cycles, the Sacred and the Doomed: Inquiries in Female Health Technologies.” Morgane joins us to talk about a large, recent research project on a particular c…

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26. The Great Outdoors (w/ Gordon White) 1:01:09

4M ago1:01:09

1:01:09

Gordon White is a chaos magician, shamanic practitioner, and permaculture designer based in Tasmania. He podcasts and teaches through the vehicle of Rune Soup, the world's largest magic academy, and he writes prolifically -- not only on the Rune Soup blog but in several incredible books. Gordon's breadth and depth of knowledge is unbelievably humbl…

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25. CRIT (w/ Avocado Ibuprofen) 46:35

5M ago46:35

46:35

You already follow @avocado_ibuprofen. His memes IV-ed into the arm of the artworld, circulating through the DMs; they are acidic and thereaputic, they throw up solidarity through critique and gentle negation. We talk about art education, disappointment, exhaustion, glamour, and a beautiful idea (automating the viewer) he began to expand upon in an…

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24. A Girl is a Gun (w/ Alex Quicho) 1:08:53

5M ago1:08:53

1:08:53

Few people have done more to define the contemporary media theory landscape than Alex Quicho @amfq, an indefinable thinker and artist and intellectual force who brought Girl Theory to the front and center of The Discourse. One note, friend of the pod Morgane Billuart has also just released an interview with Alex on her excellent podcast Becoming th…

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[Superlecture]: Nobody Listens to Music Anymore (Marek) 53:20

6M ago53:20

53:20

On finishing the project of music, on TikTokCore and SpotifyCore, on music as cosplay and the technicity of cultural imperialism, on the bureaucratic turn in the arts, on being dangerous. Lecture given for my beloved DMR at Columbia University at the beginning of December. Feeling a bit bolder than usual on this one, but it's cuz my toddler is slee…

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23. The Club (w/ Li Zhenhua) 51:11

7M ago51:11

51:11

No notes, pure vivid realness and realism. Li Zhenhua is a major force in the art world, especially in film. A tone poem from Torino. Marek's favorite episode.By Marek Poliks, Roberto Alonso

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22. Janky (w/ Daniel Felstead and Jenn Leung) 54:41

7M ago54:41

54:41

Two of our discourse besties from UAL's Fashion Media Practice & Criticism -- experiential designers Daniel Felstead and Jenn Leung -- join us to talk Janky Capitalism (the obvious falling-apart weirdness of the world while capital spins off farther and farther away from it, leaving us behind), Roblox, and neural media. You probably know their work…

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21. LIFE (w/ Blaise Agüera y Arcas) 1:02:39

8M ago1:02:39

1:02:39

Blaise Agüera y Arcas is one of most important people in AI, and apart from his leadership position as CTO of Technology & Society at Google, he has one of those resumes or affiliations lists that seems to span a lot of very fundamental things. He’s amazing; the thoughtfulness and generosity with which he communicates on this episode gently embrace…

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20. Low-Power Mode (w/ Tega Brain) 51:09

8M ago51:09

51:09

A very warm welcome to Helena McFadzean, who is joining the Disintegrator wrecking crew. This week’s episode features one of our favorite artists, Tega Brain. In this episode, we talk through two of our favorite pieces, both of which are not just great exercises in conceptual design, but are actual practical engineering projects whose artistry cons…

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19. Anamnesis & Prosthetic Imagination (w/ Jonathan Impett) 37:00

10M ago37:00

37:00

Here’s a gem from our archive, a recording with Jonathan Impett — Director of Research at the Orpheus Instituut. Impett has had a MAJOR impact on Roberto and Marek, a kind of intellectual godfather to the two of us. His staggering breadth of knowledge continues to blow our minds. You can find more about Impett's work here. A number of references fr…

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112 The Korinthian War 2:35:49

10M ago2:35:49

2:35:49

In this episode, we discuss the first three years of the Korinthian War from 395-393 BC Show Notes: http://www.thehistoryofancientgreece.com/2024/09/112-korinthian-war.html

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18. What is a World? (w/ Patricia Reed) 1:11:53

10M ago1:11:53

1:11:53

Majorly excited to have Patricia Reed on the pod. This is a beefy episode! If I was looking for a major reset in my relationship to the world around me, I'd start here. Here’s a list of the references we make throughout the interview: Here's that e-flux diagram I talk about in the intro, and here's a lecture in which she discusses this diagram. Her…

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17. Computation is Computation (w/ M. Beatrice Fazi) 51:00

10M ago51:00

51:00

This episode features one of our most anticipated guests: M. Beatrice Fazi. M. Beatrice Fazi is a philosopher working in philosophy of computation, philosophy of technology and media philosophy. In this episode we mostly cover some key definitions relating to computation and its onto-epistemology grounded in Fazi’s landmark book, Contingent Computa…

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𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛 (𝑤/ 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑚01) 54:41

11M ago54:41

54:41

𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑚01 𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑠 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑡𝑎𝑙𝑘 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑒By Marek Poliks, Roberto Alonso

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16. Sh*tshow Theory (w/ Mattin & Inigo Wilkins) 49:35

11M ago49:35

49:35

BACK with some of the world's foremost experts on NOISE: Mattin & Inigo Wilkins. Relevant links include: The Noise Research Union (NRU) which involves both Mattin and Inigo alongside founding members Cécile Malaspina, Martina Raponi, Miguel Prado, and Sonia de Jager. Mattin's AWESOME book Social Dissonance (out on Urbanomic). Mattin's podcast Socia…

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15. Systems (w/ Georgina Voss) 54:33

12M ago54:33

54:33

In this episode, Georgina Voss helps Roberto and Marek kick off on a journey to think about the relationship between human agency and political scale, specifically how that relationship is mediated by technology. The next few episodes will stick to this theme. Georgina's work spans the arts, anthropology, policy, technology, cultural theory -- and,…

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[Hyperlecture] Marek & Roberto: Non-Player Dynamics: Agency Fetish in Game-World 1:43:33

1y ago1:43:33

1:43:33

Youtube for the full experience + Q&A. In the pod, I say to just listen to the audio, but honestly the video is really really fire. Lecture given to our friends at Foreign Objekt, now ON POD. Programmer and Organizer: Sepideh Majidi Moderator: Maure Coise Video Edit: Shaum Mehra Tons of references here from all over the place, but definitely strong…

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14. Deathcare for the End of the World (w/ Patricia MacCormack) 54:09

1y ago54:09

54:09

This one is deep so see tons of explanatory resources below. The philosophy talk turns to political talk (easier to grok) after about 15 minutes, but the philosophical context adds a lot of richness to the latter conversation. Patricia MacCormack is driving productive tension between philosophy and political action. Her Ahuman Manifesto is strongly…

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Northern Lights, New Camera, Cosmological Action 53:57

1y ago53:57

53:57

Edward and Chris discuss the recent Northern Lights show seen across the UK, the discovery of new free-floating planets, massive black holes and the completion of the largest camera ever built. Ian Harrison joins us to report on the latest tensions in cosmology, and the potential solutions to a problem that has been concerning cosmologists for the …

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13. Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Creative Production (Marek Solo Ep.) 25:56

1y ago25:56

25:56

Creativity = sus.By Marek Poliks, Roberto Alonso

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12. Piles (w/ Alex Reisner) 40:39

1y ago40:39

40:39

Alex Reisner's writing in the Atlantic is some of the best investigative coverage of Large Language Models out there. In this episode, we talk through the mind-bogglingly vast archives of random pirated material that provide every major commercial LLMs with their linguistic faculty. Definitely check out his writing on https://www.theatlantic.com/au…

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Dust to dust 42:25

1y ago42:25

42:25

Edward Gomez and Chris North discuss names going to Jupiter on the Europa Clipper mission, which is currently being assembled. Then there is a new cannibal star, suspected of eating its own planets, and the detection of new "Galactic Streams" of stars that all formed together but have since spread out through the Galaxy. Finally, we move onto plane…

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11. Reinventing the Surface (w/ Refik Anadol) 36:31

1y ago36:31

36:31

Refik Anadol, and by extension Refik Anadol Studio, is one of the most visible, if not the most visible, artists working with large models today. His work is everywhere, from MoMa to the Biennale Venezia, from the very first Las Vegas Exosphere art display to the front of Walt Disney Concert Hall. We’re delighted to have had him on the pod to talk …

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10. Voice (w/ Jennifer Walshe) 49:53

1+ y ago49:53

49:53

Jennifer Walshe is one of the coolest people we know. Her artistic work and thought has broken our brains for years, leaving us shipwrecked in its torrential waves of reference and irony and joy and conceptual viscera. We talk about her recent piece for the Unsound Dispatch, 13 Ways of Looking at AI, Art & Music — a series of vignettes that in thei…

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[Bonus] Non-Player Dynamics (Teaser) 6:04

1+ y ago6:04

6:04

Go here for more information about the upcoming talk that Roberto and Marek are doing Sunday, March 10, at 10AM Pacific. It's virtual, so come join us!!!By Marek Poliks, Roberto Alonso

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111 The Spartan Hegemony 2:18:00

1+ y ago2:18:00

2:18:00

In this episode, we discuss Spartan imperial policy at home and abroad in the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War at Sparta from 404-396 BC, including their war with Elis, the imperial ambitions of Lysander and the ascension of Agesilaos, Kinadon's foiled socio-political revolution, and Sparta's invasion of Persia to "free" the Eastern Greeks Show N…

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9. Alignment (w/ Benjamin Bratton) 53:49

1+ y ago53:49

53:49

Benjamin Bratton writes about world-spanning intelligences, grinding geopolitical tectonics, “accidental megastructures” of geotechnical cruft, the millienia-long terraforming project through which humans rendered an earth into a world, and the question of what global-scale order means in the twilight of the Westphalian nation-state. Candidly, if e…

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8. World Models (w/ Anil Bawa-Cavia) 58:58

1+ y ago58:58

58:58

Anil Bawa-Cavia (AA Cavia) is one of our favorite writers and practitioners on the philosophy of computation. We discovered his work through Logiciel, on &&& (we <3 &&&!), both a gorgeous book in print and an elegant formal depiction of what computation might actually be (a definition that stands in striking contrast to the limitations imposed upon…

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XRISM and Matter's Final Screams 49:15

1+ y ago49:15

49:15

This month Edward and Chris talk the recent lunar missions - Astrobotic's Peregrine and Japan's SLIM. There's also the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars on what turned out post-recording to be it's final flight! Further afield we talk mega-structures on a galactic scale and asteroids crashing to Earth. January also saw the first light from the XRISM sat…

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7. Protocols of Encounter (w/ Sofian Audry) 43:12

1+ y ago43:12

43:12

Sofian Audry wrote Art in the Age of Machine Learning, an absolute canon read that contextualizes the contemporary flurry of creative AI application and detournement within a much longer lineage of human-machine relations. Their chapter in Choreomata straddles theory and practice, situating Sofian’s own work in the field of robotics within a histor…

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6. Autolinguistics & Autopoetics (w/ Sasha Stiles) 44:53

1+ y ago44:53

44:53

Sasha Stiles writes poetry with and as machines. We first encountered her work as a direct, powerful rejoinder to the allegation that AI-generated work is cold, unfeeling, or lifeless. Her chapter in Choreomata underlines the technicity implicit in language and in poetics, positioning technology not as a thing one applies to language but instead as…

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2023 Review and 2024 look-ahead 23:41

1+ y ago23:41

23:41

Chris North and Edward Gomez review some stories from 2023, with asteroid missions, lunar rovers and aurora sightings. Plus a look forward to 2024, including launches of missions to asteroids and Jupiter's moons, and more commercial missions to the moon.By Chris North and Edward Gomez

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[Bonus] Choreomata Launch Panel (w/ Foreign Objekt) 1:22:25

1+ y ago1:22:25

1:22:25

Here's the audio version of the Choreomata book launch with Foreign Objekt, featuring Anil Bawa-Cavia, Jonathan Impett, Mattin, Reza Negarestani, Keith Tilford, and Jennifer Walshe. MANY thanks to Sepideh Majidi. The full video is here. You can find Choreomata anywhere, especially here.By Marek Poliks, Roberto Alonso

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The "What the Heck" Particle 21:41

1+ y ago21:41

21:41

Chris and Edward discuss the announcement of the detection of a highly energetic cosmic ray, dubbed "Amerterasu" or the "What the Heck" particle. Elsewhere, there is a new study of star formation in "pristine" dwarf galaxies, and the first every discovery of a disc around a star in another galaxy!By Chris North and Edward Gomez

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5. The Unknown X (w/ Luciana Parisi) 50:15

1+ y ago50:15

50:15

Luciana Parisi has produced some of the 21st century’s most daring and bold work in the theories of cybernetics, information, and computation. Her work has had a major impact on both Marek and Roberto’s artistic practices, specifically her early work in the inorganic components of human reproduction. Just a brief content note — we mention some comp…

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4. Capital Sticks to Itself (Marek Solo Ep.) 27:01

1+ y ago27:01

27:01

First - come to our book launch, hosted by our friends at Foreign Objekt and organized by Sepideh Majidi. Dec 9 at 9AM Pacific: https://www.foreignobjekt.com/post/choreomata-book-launch-panel-ai-as-mass-performance. Since both Roberto and Marek are traveling this week, we’re doing something a little different this time — Marek put together a solo-c…

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3. Deep Learning as Parasite (w/ Jon McCormack) 43:04

1+ y ago43:04

43:04

Jon McCormack has been investigating the relationships between machine intelligences and creativity for decades. In Episode 3, Jon joins Marek and Roberto to speak about the social and cultural implications of AI -- beginning with the parasitism that deep learning methodologies practice upon human culture and the downstream effects on how we think,…

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2. Free Labor, Hidden Labor (w/ Tiziana Terranova) 46:41

1+ y ago46:41

46:41

Tiziana Terranova has provided all of us with one of the sharpest critical accounts of the modern internet. In this episode, Tiziana, Roberto, and Marek discuss the labor dynamics at play in the contemporary digital economy -- from changes in the social status of creative work, the hidden labor underpinning the mechanics of the virtual world, and t…

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Planet Bashing and Dipsticks of the Universe 46:20

1+ y ago46:20

46:20

Recorded in late October, Chris and Edward discuss recent proposals for an all-British mission to space, the launch of Psyche to...erm...Psyche, and Edward's involvement with the detection of something called a Synestia - planets bashing together. Cardiff University also hosted Prof Duncan Lorimer, who was jointly awarded the 2023 Shaw Prize for th…

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1. Human is Not a Thing (w/ Reza Negarestani) 58:14

1+ y ago58:14

58:14

Reza Negarestani has put together one of the strongest philosophical conceptions of Artificial General Intelligence. In this episode, Reza, Marek, and Roberto hit virtually every limit of AI theory -- from the outer banks of the "human", the boundaries of creativity and imagination, the borderlands of contemporary computation, and the social and po…

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Life, but not as we know it? 20:01

1+ y ago20:01

20:01

Chris and Edward discuss some recent stories, such as tantalising possible (emphasis on the possible) detections by JWST of interesting molecules on an exoplanet which coul (emphasis on the could) indicate signs of life. There's also new data on Europa, also from JWST, showing carbon dioxide on its surface - what does this mean? And further afield,…

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National Astronomy Meeting - part 2 30:10

2y ago30:10

30:10

Dr Ian Harrisonreports from the National Astronomy meeting, which we held in Cardiff back in July. You can hear a couple of interviews we conducted on the previous episode, but in this episode we have a bit of a deep dive into machine learning with Ashley Spindler, what we mean by a modelling in astrophysics with Niall Jeffrey, and what we're learn…

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NAM 2023 1:00:40

2y ago1:00:40

1:00:40

July marked the UK's annual National Astronomy Meeting, which this year took place in Cardiff. Chris North, Edward Gomez and Ian Harrison discuss a few recent stories from this month and at the conference, including the Euclid space telescope launch, India's Chandrayaan 3 moon mission, gravitational waves from supermassive black holes, feeding blac…