Mathematician Philip Ording joins me to discuss his book, 99 Variations on a Proof, in which he finds the solution to (or "proves" his solution to) the same cubic equation over and over and over again - each time in a different style. Philip and I discuss how this approach can be described as mathematical anarchism, how math can be understood as everything from inflexibly authoritarian to infinitely free, and whether or not mathematical anarchism could be used to reshape math education. Plus Wittgenstein.

My guest today is Brian Terrell, a member of the Catholic Worker, a goat farmer, a peace protester, and a personal friend of Dorothy Day. Brian discusses the life and philosophy of Dorothy Day, helping us make sense of a movement which is both Catholic and anarchist.

You can learn more about Brian's work with the Nevada Desert Experience here: http://nevadadesertexperience.org/

My previous episodes on anarchism and the life of Jesus are:

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/37ea6a67-1a3e-49bd-b932-e40446491bda

https://player.captivate.fm/episode/845374c5-6fda-489d-a206-57abf2412269

David Goldblatt joins me to discuss the ethics of the 2022 World Cup. This World Cup is a triumph of corporate capitalism and corruption over workers' rights, human rights, and the environment. On the other hand, it's not clear that what David calls "a World Cup for our times" is really worse than any of the world sporting events held in places like China and Russia over the past decades. In this episode, David systematically lays out the problems with this tournament but also the ways that it is more symptom than disease.

Here's Amnesty's response to the cup, which David discussed on the show: World Cup of Shame

This week I'm joined by friend and colleague David Hill, composer of the Everyday Anarchism theme music! Our topic is Minima Moralia, a disconcerting book of aphorisms written by Theodor Adorno in the wake of the Holocaust. David and I discuss Adorno's legendary hatred of awesome things like jazz and anarchism, his role as an enemy of left-wing student activists in the 1960s, and the everyday nature of his critiques of capitalism.

I'm joined by game designer David Thompson to discuss his game Resist!, a solitaire card game about the Spanish Maquis's battle against Franco in the 1940s. David and I discuss the game design process, the little known history of the Spanish Maquis, and the way that the board game industry runs on mutual aid

Here are links to David's description of designing the game and an account of the Spanish Maquis

Although I'm a little late, I finally get around to honoring the 150th anniversary of the 1871 Paris Commune. My guest is Carolyn Eichner, author of The Paris Commune: A Brief History. We do an even briefer history of the Commune on this episode, as well as a discussion of the Commune's legacy and the sites in Paris you can visit to honor the Communards.

I'm joined today by Anthony Kaldellis, author of The Byzantine Republic and host of the podcast Byzantium and Friends. Anthony and I discuss how Byzantium, popularly associated with with bureaucracy and authoritarianism, depended on mass protests for political legitimacy.

What if Batman's biggest enemy isn't crime? What if his deepest fear isn't bats? What if the secret villain Batman faces in every Batman story is anarchism?

I keep trying to go on hiatus, but I keep making new episodes. I guess this is Season/Phase 2. Enjoy!

In this episode, I sit down with Revolutions podcaster Mike Duncan to discuss Kropotkin's influence on the Russian Revolution, protesting in Macron's France, mutual aid during the worst of the pandemic, and whether our current political system can avoid another revolution.

Many thanks to the people of Flyleaf Books, a wonderful Chapel Hill bookstore, who provided the venue for our interview. You can pick up Mike's books The Storm before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic and Hero of Two Worlds: The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution from them.

The authors behind the award-winning novel and TV series The Expanse join me to discuss the politics and sociology of the science fiction future they've created. The Expanse is not a dystopia or a utopia, just a regular ole topia, in which corporations and governments continue to compete and cooperate both with each other and with resistance movements and labor unions. But in space!

Daniel, Ty, and I discuss the historical analogues for the governments and resistance movements in The Expanse, the humanity of their characters, and how the series differs from its peers The Wire and Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire.