Human Meme

Human Meme

By David BolesSociety & CultureArtsPerforming Arts
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Human Meme episodes

  • Respond. Don't React.
    Too often, we act in haste and not hegemony. We are instinctually programmed to react to pressure -- while the better of us choose, instead, to respond to danger instead of becoming part of the tension. The cohesion of the human soul requires a response, and never a reaction.
    11 min
  • Education vs. Allegiance
    Are we our thoughts, or are we our vows? In the everlasting battle between mind and country, we struggle to define our private lives against our best public interests. Do we owe ourselves to our moral victories, or our solemn vows? We cannot cut it both ways!
    11 min
  • The Fonda Effect
    Henry Fonda never stopped being where he was from. He was always an up-from-the-dirt Nebraskan, and the consequence of that fatality was an effect on his performances that was always influenced, and echoed in the dirt, sand, and gravel of the braided prairie. Nebraskans are famous for being friendly, but befriending a Nebraskan is altogether another matter!
    16 min
  • Knowing by Mistake
    We don't need to know better; we need to know differently. We must always be aware of challenging our past experiences against a future memory in amber. Do we really know everything required to live a prescient life? Or do we need to release what holds us back from learning something new? Have we yet to learn the correct, existential, pronunciation of Worcestershire sauce?
    13 min
  • The Bookstore
    Reading used to mean something of value was exchanged for the experience. Today, a book is but a memory of what it once meant to huddle your mind in a safe haven against a toxic sea.
    10 min
  • The Abused Child
    All children deserve our protection. Our children are abused every day by overeating, lack of sleep, and media exploitation. Let's address, and fight back against, this sort of abuse-by-proxy!
    12 min
  • Harold Bloom and the American Aesthetic
    We want our aesthetic to be universal; but it is framed by us where we stand. SuperGenius literary critic Harold Bloom urged us, before he died this week, to ask beyond "What is it for?" -- and to move our thoughtful analysis into a wider notion of wondering with understanding that breaks the context of nationalism, and severs the ties of human boundaries.
    13 min
  • Recognizing Skeletons
    We add definition to what we know by the skeletons we see. We recognize on the horizon the difference between a Church Steeple and an armored tank by processing a precognitive understanding of the midline of a skeleton structure based upon what we see. We apply those definitions of danger, and safety, to the rest of our lives in language and human associations.
    12 min
  • Letter to Bob Lefsetz
    Even our SuperGeniuses can sometimes be wrong. Let there be no doubt Bob Lefsetz is an intellectual giant among us. Several times a week, he implores us to be better people in his ubiquitous "Lefsetz Letter" but, alas, last week Bob released a missive entitled, "The Deaf Installer" that missed the mark, and wounded more than it healed. Here's why...
    10 min
  • The Babysitting Figurehead
    We make a difference by not trying. At least that's the idea of the game we play against money and power. We're hired to think, and act, but in the end, the authority above us only wants stasis and non-elasticity. How do we fight the incongruity of irrational change?
    11 min

About Human Meme

From the publisher's feed

The Human Meme podcast examines what separates human consciousness from mere biological existence. Each episode investigates the inherited behaviors, cultural transmissions, and cognitive patterns…