In conversation again with Pete Chambers. With this episode we have moved to a new recording setup and the audio quality is much better as a result. Thanks for the feedback from listeners and to our producer, Peter Van Hoesen, for his guidance. Our starting point is the extreme weather that has marked this year’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere.

China and its economy is currently in the news cycle.

The promotion cycle is telling us it is time to be interested in nuclear weapons. That the topic is getting more attention due to the release of a film, rather than because of heightened risks posed by such weapons is a reflection of the general lack of seriousness that permeates our present condition. This is not a note about Oppenheimer , I have not seen it yet, there is no firm release date announced for Japan.

This evening I found myself at the closest convenience store to my apartment, one of four that are within five minutes walk, all of which are open 24-7. How necessary such a situation is, well, that is besides the point, each is slightly closer for someone. Never mind the costs of keeping these places permanently staffed, lit and at the right temperature, just as long as the onigiri and beers are always available.

Many years ago as a graduate student I was reading a great deal of non-fiction thinking that is where I must look to learn about the world. How limited my view was. A dear friend gave me The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera and told me to read it, which I did, quickly followed by his other major works.

Last year I produced a series of conversations on thinking through technology and society, including with L.M. Sacasas, David Cayley, and Elke Schwarz. Some of the most productive were with my friend and colleague, Pete Chambers, a scholar based at RMIT University in Melbourne, whose work engages with traditions of critical and social theory.

W. H. Auden, ‘Musee des Beaux Arts’. For more: ‘A Poem (and a Painting) About the Suffering That Hides in Plain Sight’.

When a dam breaks, we can be confident bad things will follow. To what extent we can accurately forecast where exactly the water will rush to, what the precise damage will be, that is much more difficult to predict, as Falconer explains. War is much the same. Wars are a distinctive mixture of highly contingent, historically distinctive features and relatively constant dynamics that tend to reappear.

Josef Adalian and Lane Brown have written a thought provoking article about the state of the television industry, ‘The Binge Purge’. What is remarkable is how much of what is being described could be applied more broadly to describe many industries and institutions today.

I find myself in a disposable hotel, a place that could not have existed 10-15 years, and most likely will not exist again at some point in the near to medium term future when we are forced to consider more what we choose to build and consume.

I recently returned from a 5 day trip to Shanghai, my first visit to the city and the country since late 2019. It was interesting and instructive being back. While it was a short and incomplete visit, I thought it might be worthwhile sharing some observations, especially given that the vast majority of content on China is being produced at distance and with little direct engagement.