Reviewing what we learned in 2020—and ranking what we read!

Neal Stephenson at double speed and with a smile on his face.

The things we learned from Zeynep Tüfekçi’s examination of social media and sociopolitical change. (We liked this book a lot.)

Walking through Zeynep Tüfekçi’s masterful explanation of the relationship between social media and protest movements.

Thinking about Carl Sagan's views on belief, and how they relate to religion and science

Another book from the ’80s, but hey: at least this one is fiction! We read Carl Sagan’s 1985 novel Contact and watched the 1995 movie of the same name. In this episode, our overview of the book: its plot and its basic interests.

We argue with Mary Midgley on how she did what she did, more than what she did.

What had Mary Midgley so incredibly angry in the 1980’s, and what did she do about it?

We point out several concerns that we have with the arguments Dr. Franklin makes in her lectures-turned-book: the ineffectiveness of her holistic and prescriptive technologies frame, her deeply cynical view on policy, and other thorny places that her arguments lead (like the Soviet Union). The Real World of Technology, Ursula Franklin Show Notes Cold War peace movement Peace movements in Canada Second-wave feminism (to which Dr. Franklin’s feminism approximately belongs to) History of environmental movements, post-WWII Bijker, Hughes & Pinch’s seminal work on Social Construction of Technology: Stephen left out Hughes. Sorry, Thomas P. Hughes. Actor-Network Theory John Law and Annemarie Mol’s Handpump article: Stephen incorrectly only mentioned Mol instead of Law and Mol. Sorry, John Law. Robert Moses’s bridges Bay of Pigs invasion, also sometimes known as the Bay of Pigs incident: Stephen’s point in bringing this up was to allude to the point made neatly in the Wikipedia article: “[The failed invasion] also pushed Cuba closer to the Soviet Union, and those strengthened Soviet-Cuban relations would lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.” Almost no nuclear power plants have been built since 1990 Nuclear power plants historically have decreased carbon emissions significantly: see paragraph four Here’s the great cover of the book from the ’80s–note that at no time are floppy disks mentioned in the book. Dr. Franklin does not advocate throwing floppy discs at people’s faces, presumably Upcoming Book September (8.16 and 8.17): Evolution as a Religion: Strange Hopes and Stranger Fears, Mary Midgley Credits Music “Vista” by Escaper. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. We usually announce that on the show, but a technical error resulted in a second straight month without verbal crediting. Argh! Argh! “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!

The Real World of Technology, Ursula Franklin Show Notes Cold War peace movement Peace movements in Canada Second-wave feminism (to which Dr. Franklin’s feminism approximately belongs to) Third-wave feminism (to which Dr. Franklin’s feminism approximately does not belong to): Oklahoma historically dumping stuff in rivers Arkansas historically dumping stuff in Oklahoma’s rivers Oklahoma contemporarily dumping stuff in rivers Here’s the great cover of the book from the ’80s–note that at no time are floppy disks mentioned in the book. Purple cover of a book with a floppy disk superimposed over a person’s face Upcoming Books September (8.16 and 8.17): Evolution as a Religion: Strange Hopes and Stranger Fears, Mary Midgley October (8.18 and 8.19): Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology, Neil Postman Credits Music “Mission Plan” by Matthew Shaw. Used by permission, please don’t use without permission. We usually announce that on the show, but a temporary glitch corrupted that section of the podcast. Whoops. Also, learn more about Matthew Shaw, this song, and Stephen’s long and storied enthusiasm for Shaw’s work here. “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, meaning you can do whatever you want with this music… as long as you share it for others to likewise do what they want. Sponsors Many thanks to the people who help us make this show possible by their financial support! This month’s sponsors: Daniel Ellcey Douglas Campos Jake Grant Marnix Klooster Spencer Smith If you’d like to support the show, you can make a pledge at Patreon or give directly via Square Cash. Respond We love to hear your thoughts. Shoot us an email, or hit us up on Twitter or Facebook!