EssayCast

Dylan Manna
  • 5.0 (1)
  • ARTS

EssayCast is a podcast dedicated to critical essays which I've written. I will read them, talk about them, and discuss them with others. I am a physicist, composer, and author interested in looking at the narrative of the history of ideas on our planet. I encourage commentary, critique, and collaboration.

  1. 05/05/2020

    Schedules and Boundaries

    When Benjamin Franklin wrote his autobiography, he made the interesting choice to include a graph that detailed his weekly schedule. In giving himself the solitude to work, he accomplished much. As we have grown accustomed to having fewer and weaker boundaries, interiority has declined. In this time the COVID-19 pandemic, it may be a perfect time to begin a habit of the great creators and plan our days.

    30 min

  2. 04/29/2020

    Altruism and the larger self

    Typically, people view altruism as the opposite of selfishness. If we reimagine our notions of self and other and imagine that one's sense of self is developmentally dynamic, altruism is simply as state of self so large that it encompasses more than the physical being possessed of consciousness. With sociopathy and narcissism on the small side of self, we can choose greater solipsism or larger community.

    30 min

  3. 04/14/2020

    Documentary film as a force of peace

    For a long while, it seemed that there were two categories of homemade videos; cute videos of cats and babies and those that appeal to schadenfreude where bears fall from trees or people are hit by cars. The documentary, once marginal, has become the great usurper. Serial programming must now vie for budgets against the docuseries. As a result, the world has grown more intimate and the exotic has become familiar. In this essaycast, I suggest the potential for film as a tool for world peace.

    45 min

  4. 04/07/2020

    Busking in the time of the Coronavirus

    Public art, specifically street music, is an often under appreciated component of a rich urban culture. As many people are forced into a shelter-in-place lifestyles with the outbreak of COVID-19, busking has disappeared. However, in New York City, where the state's governor has implemented a more stratified social distancing, busking may be a lifeline for both artist and viewer. I speak with J.P. Couling about his experience playing music in the parks and subways of the city that never sleeps.

    39 min

  5. 03/17/2020

    Protocol and the human NPC

    Non-Playing Characters, or, NPC's are a feature of video games. I suggest that there exist human NPC's who follow protocol rather than think for themselves. Here I discuss the what it is to live under the yoke of technology.

    36 min

  6. 02/24/2020

    secrets, image, and the end of interiority

    Compartmentalization resulting from parsing public and private leads to a form a social bondage. Transparency becomes anathema as people ceaselessly monitor their public image. Interiority does not emerge as expression, but is locked in secret sadness.

    34 min

  7. 02/17/2020

    futbols from the sky and national mythology

    A sport that merely requires a ball and a field may still be beyond the reach of many children too poor to afford food. Dropping footballs from drones to people all over the world may do great good for the disenfranchised. Further, these parcels from the air might be used to disseminate queues to the history of ideas. Special guests, Nemo D'Qrill, Charlie Hawksfield, Chris Mason, Maria Owen, & Sonja Teszler.

    40 min

  8. 02/10/2020

    Twitter, the instrument of POTUS

    With no moderation, the Twitter channel allows the president of the United States to command the attention of billions without filter. Never before has the unilateral dissemination of words been so extreme and so quick. The office of the POTUS would be far less effective in its destructive power without the social media giant, Twitter, being so dismissive of it's own rules.  Special guest Sonja Teszler. First episode of season two.

    49 min
See All (21)

About

EssayCast is a podcast dedicated to critical essays which I've written. I will read them, talk about them, and discuss them with others. I am a physicist, composer, and author interested in looking at the narrative of the history of ideas on our planet. I encourage commentary, critique, and collaboration.

Information

  • Creator
    Dylan Manna
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    21
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Dylan Manna, 2019
  • Show Website
    EssayCast