{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Ep 10: Cyberpunk and Dystopia; Whats to love about what we fear?","description":"The guys discuss the state of mega-corp's and merging of very large companies\r\nBruce brings up the reduction in wages and the rise of available technologies\r\nSean talks about the tragic elements of Cyberpunk\r\nSean wonders what there is to like about tragedy\r\nBruce brings up the idea of noir romanticism\r\nSean talks about flawed characters and Ryver talks about the hopefullness embedded in tragedy\r\nThe guys discuss theories of tragedy in philology\r\nRyver asks us to consider historical forces as a central focus of the need for tragedy\r\nSean suggests schadenfreude as a possible explanation\r\nRyver talks about the focus of old tragedy being the world ending in some sense\r\nSean juxtaposes worlds ending with cyberpunk's sense that the world just drones on without us\r\nBruce and Sean discuss the ideas of utopia and dystopia as less grand notions and more slight changes in trajectory\r\nRyver gives some examples of each and identifies some commonalities between them\r\nSean analogizes the concepts to Startrek vs Star Wars\r\nRyver talks a little about how scarcity and desire weave into the landscape of cyberpunk\r\nBruce brings up the prevalence of technologies that are amazing and yet treated as unimpressive\r\nSean paraphrases a quote “We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders.” by G.K. Chesterton to discuss the technologies of the cyberpunk aesthetic\r\nThe whole group discusses the incredible ability of cyberpunk to predict future conditions and the humanistic elements that weave us into the story\r\nBruce brings up “1984” and “Brave New World” as archetypes of dystopian fiction that shape cyberpunk\r\nSean talks about Schopenhauer's metaphysics and the duality of the Terrible Reality and the Beautiful Illusion as they are presented and how they influenced Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy\r\nBruce brings up H.P. Lovecraft and Ryver refines the concepts involved in dread\r\nThe guys discuss the notion of existential dread and how it relates to “Soylent Green”\r\nSean refocuses the discussion onto what what gets out of dread\r\nRyver talks about the satisfaction of being manipulated instead of being at the whim of uncaring unthinking forces\r\nSean suggests that the reason we connect so strongly is that we are all the people who would make the choices that lead to a cyberpunk future\r\nBruce suggests that the cyberpunk hero is the existentialist hero: condemned to freedom and burdened by the knowledge of whats really going on\r\nRyver disagrees and cites 1984 as a character who escapes the burden of absolute freedom\r\nSean brings up the famous Satre quote “Hell is other people” and suggest that if we are the background characters then we are the means by which the hero is made to suffer\r\nThe guys mull over the idea of what a hero or protagonist is in the cyberpunk genre\r\nRyver brings up the idea that our complacency is the force which makes cyberpunk possible\r\nSean talks about the rabble-rouser and journalism specifically the quote that the job of the press is “To afflict the comfortable, and comfort the afflicted.” and how it relates to the cyberpunk state of affairs\r\nRyver talks about this as it relates to the notion of stagnation and growth\r\nBruce talks about this as an appeal of cyberpunk\r\nRyver takes the last word to recommend some great cyberpunk literature.\r\nAnd as always please give us your honest review on iTunes and Stitcher. It helps us make the show better with every one we get to read.\r\nHelp keep the show going and the moon safe by supporting us on Patreon\r\nhttps:\/\/patreon.com\/Philosophy\r\nHelp keep us from disappearing by engaging us on the social media platform of your choice:\r\nhttp:\/\/www.philosophicalchaingang.com\r\nhttp:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/professormetal\r\nhttp:\/\/www.twitter.com\/PChainGang\r\nhttps:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PChainGang\r\nhttps:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/PChainGang\/\r\nhttp:\/\/www.soundcloud.com\/philosophical-chain-gang","author_name":"Professor Metal's Irate Debate and Calamitous Commentary","author_url":"http:\/\/www.PhilosophicalChainGang.com","html":"