Lost Xplorers

What happens when a point becomes a line?, the Atlantean Halls of Record, Atlantis as a Greek cautionary tale, the difference between a lost civilization and a lost tribe, the importance of ruins, the truth of Atlantis, the need for speculation, afrofuturism, the different thought processes between tribes and civilizations, and mapmaking. 

Lots of Gus noise in this one! It was quite the experience.

Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis

Atlantis Disney movie

Atlantis games

The Maracot Deep

Kull of Atlantis

Plato’s Timaeus and Critias

Francis López de Gómara 

Edgar Cayce

Sir Thomas More’s Utopia

Forlandia

Welcome to the 117th episode of No Country...or the 1st episode of "Lost Xplorers." The "E" has gone missing. Kris and I were chatting on the phone about a new book that he's working on called The Lost Xplorer's Handbook. That started lighting up parts of my brain. I've recently been getting back into esoteric stuff, archaeology, history, and anthropology, and I wondered, "What if we changed the name of the podcast, redirected our focus a bit?"

We discuss the recent change in this episode. I think you'll hear the enthusiasm. Next week we start talking about Atlantis, but this week we talk about our new direction, electricity, "the line and the field," and I'm given the challenge of breaking it to an imaginary friend that I'm a little tired of virtual children.

On this episode, we discuss:

Nap: Interrupted, what would happen if you were shrunk to the size of an ant, the rise of the Sophists, the possibility of knowledge, the value of speculation, believing everything, thought-terminating clichés, rudeness, and how not being a dick is the most important goal in this day and age.

Notes:

Harold Budd

The Voyage of the Beagle

"Letter Concerning the Fire on the "Helen" by Alfred Russel Wallace

One of my favorite episodes, now. In this episode, Kris and I take Michael Heizer's recently-completed fifty-year art/architecture project "City" as a frame to talk about collaboration, ego, atomization, and communitarianism.

Notes:

Michael Heizer

Land Art Movement

Robert Smithson

Michael Govan

Basin and Range National Monument

James Turrell

Final Hot Desert

Roden crater

Christo

Florence Goodenough's "Draw a Person" test

On this episode, we talk the realm of angels and saints, visits from the dead, baby DJs, not complaining, externalizing thought, Giordano Bruno, books as sacred objects, the roots of the word “tradition,” the humors, order and secrecy, the importance of worlding, symmetry, and bonds.

Henry Corbin - The History of Islamic Philosophy

James Hillman - The Dream and the Underworld

Llullian wheel

Vovelles

On this episode, we talk about covid recovery, finding your focus, monetization, and how that idea relates to value and values. We also have an imaginative challenge about artworks conversing, and a dream of a public toilet. 

David Blaine

James Nestor

The Woman in the Dunes by Kobo Abe

Sorry for the delay on this one. As we talk about in this episode, I've been a bit under the weather. On this episode, we talk about icons and heritage, and whether or not our youngest generations have any connection to time and history. Can we still have devotional practices when everyone has become atomized?

What does it mean to say that something is "on the record"? Who's keeping this record? Kris and I talk about moving away from community, becoming a stranger to old friends, and developing tribes instead. It's good to be a part of a tribe...not so much a mob. Also, David is tasked with making a billionaire believe that he lives in 1988.

On this episode, Kris and I continue our discussion of mental maps. We're getting really close to something here

Sorry for the lateness, my cord broke on this one.

TOO MANY MIKES.

On this episode, Kris and I discuss Marshall Islands stick charts (known as Mattang), and their relation to the maps we know and (no longer know how to) use. How do we construct maps in our minds? What is their relation to the territory? When is it good to trust a guide?

Kris tasks me with inventing a scenario involving deals, and we tell each other our dreams. (Giant Hyenas!)