Today, we have a fascinating conversation about race and popular culture, particularly around what’s happened recently in the United States following the murder of George Floyd and the protests and uprisings that have followed. As you will hear, this event follows an unfortunate pattern and history that sadly, spans decades. I wanted to explore them within some historical and cultural context. So, I invited Dr. Todd Boyd, aka “The Notorious PhD” onto the podcast – and he graciously accepted.
If you are new to Dr. Boyd, he is the Katherine and Frank Price Chair for the Study of Race and Popular Culture at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Dr. Boyd is an author, media commentator, producer and scholar. The has appeared in numerous documentaries, most recently in the popular Netflix series “The Last Dance” which was about Michael Jordan’s last season with the Chicago Bulls. He wrote and produced the cult classic film “The Wood” and produced the Netflix documentary “At All Costs”. Dr. Boyd’s books include The Notorious PhD’s Guide to the Super Fly 1970s, Young, Black, Rich and Famous, The New H.N.I.C. and Am I Black Enough For You? He has written articles for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and the Guardian, amongst others.
Dr. Boyd is a pioneer. He developed a new field of study in the 1990s on Hip Hop culture. His work makes connections across sport, cinema, music, fashion, art and politics. This not just a conversation about race in the USA – and by extension many other countries. It is also a conversation about the importance of popular culture and how culture does more than merely reflect society – it can help shape it in unseen and often uncertain ways.
Show notes:
Recent piece by Dr. Boyd in the The Guardian on racism in Hollywood
The Watts Riot / Watts Rebellion
Colin Kaepernick and Roger Goodell
1968 Olympics Black Power Salute
Isiah Thomas and the Dennis Rodman comments on Larry Bird
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Like what you heard?
Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK
Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast
Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo
Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings
Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Our free course module “How to Set Up Any Decision for Success” from our upcoming course How to Make Decisions With Calm and Confidence
This episode takes on a topic we’ve not tackled before – sentientism. My guest is Jamie Woodhouse. Jamie is an advisor, campaigner and a former colleague of mine (he was a partner at Accenture). For the purposes of this episode however, he is a sentientist. Sentientism is an ethical philosophy that uses reason and evidence to consider all sentient beings – that is, beings that can experience suffering or flourishing.
Jamie runs a website on the topic, campaigns and provides thought leadership on this topic. This is a conversation that is increasingly relevant given Covid19 and our relationship with the natural world. It is also relevant because it isn’t possible to discuss this topic without discussing reason, evidence and science.
In this episode, we cover:
- What sentientism is and arguments for it;
- How it differs from ethical veganism;
- Why secular humanism (which embraces human reason and ethics as the basis for morality and decision-making) needs an overhaul;
- Tribalism and why many of us don’t change our minds in light of evidence contrary to our views;
- Sentientism and artificial intelligence – which led us to the film Blade Runner of course;
- Much more
Show notes:
The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity by Toby Ord
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Like what you heard?
Subscribe and/or leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts: http://apple.co/1PjLmK
Subscribe on Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/all-things-risk/the-all-things-risk-podcast
Subscribe on Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ben-cattaneo
Follow the podcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/RiskThings
Drop us a note: allthingsrisk@gmail.com
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Our free course module “How to Set Up Any Decision for Success” from our upcoming course How to Make Decisions With Calm and Confidence