politics

BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS, Ep11: “USS Callister” with David Gunkel

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Artificial Intelligence, Black Mirror, Black Mirror Reflections, Emergent Tech, Ethics, Philosophy, Politics, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, RMWMTMBM Archive, Technology, Technology and Human Values, Television 0 Comments

  For Episode 11– our first Christmas episode!– I am joined by Dr. David Gunkel to talk about the possibility of virtual moral agents, the seriousness of online games, science fiction’s bad politics, and “USS Callister” (Episode 1, Season 4 of Black Mirror), which first premiered in 2017.  Listen/Download BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS podcast episodes  Subscribe to BLACK…

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BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS podcast, Ep10: “Nosedive” with John Danaher

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Black Mirror, Black Mirror Reflections, Emergent Tech, Ethics, Philosophy, Politics, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Technology, Technology and Human Values 0 Comments

  For episode 10, I am joined by Dr. John Danaher to talk about social credit systems, the ubiquity of ranking metrics, whether or not its possible to go “off the grid,” and “Nosedive” (Season 3, Episode 1 of Black Mirror), which first premiered in 2016. Listen/Download BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS podcast episodes  Subscribe to BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS…

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Hotel Bar Sessions podcast: A brief history

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Hotel Bar Sessions, Philosophy, podcast, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive 0 Comments

I can’t be sure who’s still regularly checking in on this blog, but those of you who are have surely noticed that I’ve shifted my energies from blogging to podcasting over the last year. Beginning in November 2020, I did a 22-episode run of my first podcast BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS, in which I interviewed philosophers,…

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No Exit: The Problem with Facebook’s Algo-Policing

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Artificial Intelligence, Emergent Tech, Ethics, Facebook, Politics, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Social Media, Technology, Technology and Human Values 1 Comment

On Tuesday, this blog– which I very much consider an extension of myself– was finally released from Facebook jail, after having been “inside” for more than a month. I was reported by a user (who I do not know IRL and who is not a “Facebook friend” of mine) for violating Facebook’s “Community Standards,” specifically the…

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BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS, Ep1: “15 Million Merits” with Shannon Mussett

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Black Mirror, Black Mirror Reflections, Emergent Tech, Ethics, Philosophy, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Technology, Technology and Human Values, Television 0 Comments

  I’m sooooo excited to announce the release of our first episode of BLACK MIRROR REFLECTIONS podcast! As you may have heard– from my endless self-promoting on FB and Twitter– this podcast will be structured as a series of conversations between myself and some very smart people as we talk/think through the technology, philosophy, morality,…

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Black Mirror Reflections podcast

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Black Mirror, Black Mirror Reflections, BMR podcast, Ethics, Philosophy, Politics, Pop Culture/Film/Literature, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Technology, Technology and Human Values 0 Comments

  I’m in the process of recording the first few episodes of a (limited series) podcast entitled Black Mirror Reflections, which will be released next week. I’ve written a lot about Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror on this blog over the years, I regularly teach a course entitled “Technology and Human Values,” and I incorporate Black Mirror episodes in several…

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MEMPHIS VIRTUAL TIP BUCKET

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Ethics, Memphis, Music, Politics, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Working in Memphis Documentary 1 Comment

HELP SUPPORT LOCAL MEMPHIS MUSICIANS! To mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the Center for Disease Control has urged U.S. citizens to cancel all events of more than 50 people and to practice social distancing for the next 8 weeks. Cities and states across the nation are ordering all bars, clubs, and restaurants to close.  No doubt, the same will…

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“Even This Small Dream Feels Impossible”: Comradeship in the Face of the Posthuman

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Marx, Philosophy, Politics, RMWMTMBM Archive, Technology and Human Values 0 Comments

I recently finished reading the excellent new book by Jodi Dean (Political Science, Hobart and William Smith College) entitled Comrade: An Essay on Belonging. There are many reasons to recommend Dean’s all-too-brief, but brilliantly executed, text: its surgeon-like evisceration of the ideological cult of “allyship,” its elaboration of the truly liberatory promise of the “Communist Horizon” (which Dean…

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Gender Trouble at SPEP

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Ethics, Philosophy, Politics, Professional Academy, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, SPEP, Women and Gender Issues 0 Comments

Last week, I began my second year on the LGBTQ Advocacy Committee for The Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy (SPEP). This organization and this committee are important to me, personally and professionally, and I take my service responsibilities to both very seriously. Contrary to the general demographics/trends of professional Philosophy writ large, SPEP has…

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Feminism and the F-bomb

June 9, 2024 Leigh M. Johnson Democracy, Philosophy, Politics, Public Philosophy, RMWMTMBM Archive, Women and Gender Issues 0 Comments

I’ve observed a deeply problematic trend on social media of late, one that has been amplified amidst Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee and the several concurrent allegations of sexual assault leveled against Kavanaugh that have been made public in the past several days. Many people—who are (rightfully) outraged by…

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