I have an essay in WIRED today speculating about the consequences of the rise of intellectual interview podcasts. When we listen to podcasts we form parasocial relationships with the guests and hosts, psychologically treating it much as a real-life social interaction—shifting our tone of voice to match what we hear and so on. What are the long-term consequences of that? How are we changing? I had a lot of fun collaborating with
Long time reader, first time commenter. I read the article on wired, and thought it was an interesting idea, but I'm not convinced on the specifics. I know it is really difficult to compress a large amount of scholarship into a speculative short article, but is the central analogy between the renaissance and the current moment close enough to make useful predictions?
For instance, the Republic of Letters did not merely influence the way people talked to each other. Presumably, it had a more profound influence on the written word. But text en masse was an emerging phenomenon, and thus more susceptible to founder effects. Perhaps the Republic of letters did not influence existing modes of communication so much as it won the war for a new, and vitally powerful, medium.
It seems to me that podcasting itself will never be as directly influential a medium as the written word; it just does not compress information sufficiently. So in this counter interpretation, the question then becomes: will intellectual podcasting help shape new media, or only influence old ones?
Enjoyed reading this. Reflections of what makes a public sphere and how writing and reading letters was a means of intellectual stimuli. Fascinating jump forward to DYI broadcasting for reinvigorating public interest in the lines of influential thought patterns.
Just read the piece. Loved it. I've been podcasting since January 2007 and have never once thought about the role of podcasts in influencing how people talk. Thanks so much for the good food for thought.
I'm a 70 year old White male of Italian descent. Retired social worker. I live in Connecticut. My health isn't great and when I had my prostate cancer surgery last year I was told that I had about 5 more years before I shuffled off from the world's stage. I have never listened to a podcast and never will. If I need info I prefer to read it in 5 minutes rather than listen to some-one yacking for 30.
I don't use ANY social media either - unless you want to say letters of comment (or to the editor) are a form of social media.
The 2 years of enforced isolation due to the Covid nonsense was a wonderful time for me. I caught up on a lot of reading. Yours was an interesting article. I'm glad that I read it!
I do occasionally find myself imitating elements of Jordan Peterson's speaking style after listening to his lectures/podcasts. My internal monologue is often influenced by the writing style in the books I read, but I don't think this leaks out into my speech like the results of listening to podcasts and watching videos.
Long time reader, first time commenter. I read the article on wired, and thought it was an interesting idea, but I'm not convinced on the specifics. I know it is really difficult to compress a large amount of scholarship into a speculative short article, but is the central analogy between the renaissance and the current moment close enough to make useful predictions?
For instance, the Republic of Letters did not merely influence the way people talked to each other. Presumably, it had a more profound influence on the written word. But text en masse was an emerging phenomenon, and thus more susceptible to founder effects. Perhaps the Republic of letters did not influence existing modes of communication so much as it won the war for a new, and vitally powerful, medium.
It seems to me that podcasting itself will never be as directly influential a medium as the written word; it just does not compress information sufficiently. So in this counter interpretation, the question then becomes: will intellectual podcasting help shape new media, or only influence old ones?
Enjoyed reading this. Reflections of what makes a public sphere and how writing and reading letters was a means of intellectual stimuli. Fascinating jump forward to DYI broadcasting for reinvigorating public interest in the lines of influential thought patterns.
Just read the piece. Loved it. I've been podcasting since January 2007 and have never once thought about the role of podcasts in influencing how people talk. Thanks so much for the good food for thought.
I'm a 70 year old White male of Italian descent. Retired social worker. I live in Connecticut. My health isn't great and when I had my prostate cancer surgery last year I was told that I had about 5 more years before I shuffled off from the world's stage. I have never listened to a podcast and never will. If I need info I prefer to read it in 5 minutes rather than listen to some-one yacking for 30.
I don't use ANY social media either - unless you want to say letters of comment (or to the editor) are a form of social media.
The 2 years of enforced isolation due to the Covid nonsense was a wonderful time for me. I caught up on a lot of reading. Yours was an interesting article. I'm glad that I read it!
I do occasionally find myself imitating elements of Jordan Peterson's speaking style after listening to his lectures/podcasts. My internal monologue is often influenced by the writing style in the books I read, but I don't think this leaks out into my speech like the results of listening to podcasts and watching videos.
Congrats on getting published in Wired. Very cool, brother.
Good read