Meaning Making Machines

Alissa Hessler is a writer and photographer, most well-known for her now decade old project, Urban Exodus. Through countless podcasts, stunning atmospheric photography, and candid interviews, Alissa has documented the lives and transitions of hundreds of former urbanites who decided to move to the country. These stories share the triumphs and difficulties they've experienced since leaving the conveniences of city life. Her book Ditch the City and Go Country, was hugely helpful and inspirational to me during my own move to the country. In 2020, I helped Alissa launch the Urban Exodus podcast, with which I worked with her as a producer on.

In our conversation we speak about Alissa’s personal journey in following love to the countryside, the creation of Urban Exodus, the history of urbanization and the hollowing out of rural communities, accepting ideological differences, preparing for the AI future, and retaining our humanity.

Show Links:

Substack: http://simoneleon.substack.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simone.leon/

Alissa’s Links:

Urban Exodus website: urbanexodus.com

Urban Exodus Podcast: urbanexodus.com/podcast

Alissa’s website: alissahessler.com

Book: Ditch the City and Go Country: https://bookshop.org/a/15851/9781624143915

Mentioned in this Episode:

WSJ: Parents in Tech Want Their Kids to Go Into the Arts Instead: https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/careers/parents-in-tech-want-their-kids-to-go-into-the-arts-instead-6966b658

Music and editing by Simon Linsteadt: www.simonvictorlinsteadt.com

Welcome to part 2 of my conversation with Sylvia Linsteadt! If you haven’t seen part 1 of our conversation, you can do so HERE.

If you don’t know her work already, Sylvia is an author, a scholar of ancient history and myth, and a certified wildlife tracker. Her work - both fiction & non-fiction is rooted in myth, ecology, feminism, and bioregionalism. I highly recommend exploring her wonderful substack The Pollen Basket.

This week, we continue our discussion of the feminine, diving deeper into the psychological and spiritual implications of things like birth control, egg freezing, and the concept of artificial womb technology. We speak about the wisdom of the female experience as being rooted in the body, and what that means for us as we navigate life in disembodied modernity.

Show Links:

Substack: http://simoneleon.substack.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@simone123621

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simone.leon/

Sylvia’s Links:

Website: https://www.sylviavictorlinsteadt.com

Substack: https://sylviavlinsteadt.substack.com

When Women Were the Land Course: https://advaya.life/courses/when-women-were-the-land

Mentioned in this episode:

Brit Marling NYT Article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/07/opinion/sunday/brit-marling-women-movies.html

Kyle XY: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756509/

The Chalice and the Blade: https://bookshop.org/a/15851/9780062502896

Music and editing by Simon Linsteadt: www.simonvictorlinsteadt.com

Kyle is a crypto millionaire and a futurist. As a young adult, he was a part of the punk/anarchist scene in New Orleans. He squatted in a communal house, dumpster-dived, and made his best efforts to reject capitalism. After becoming disillusioned with the lifestyle, he left the south and began studying futurism.

Shortly thereafter, he got into the world of NFTs. His most successful project reached a trading value of $1.5 million. More recently, he launched an alt-coin or a “shitcoin” that reached a market cap of $8 million.

On this episode, he shares his perspective on AI, the future, and the human experience post-singularity. He’s a deep thinker has some bold predictions about the next few decades.

Will people treat AI like gods? In a future without jobs, in what new ways will humans create identity? Should we try to “solve” death? Will people en masse implant chips in their brains? How will we create meaning in a post-labor future? All things we dive into in this episode...

Show Links:

Substack: http://simoneleon.substack.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@simone123621

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simone.leon/

Mentioned in this episode:

Ancient Greek Computer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism

Her (2013): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Her_(2013_film)

The Singularity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity

Fully Automated Luxury Communism: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/06/give-us-fully-automated-luxury-communism/592099/

Music and editing by Simon Linsteadt: https://www.simonvictorlinsteadt.com

Death limits life, disease limits health, loss limits love, and scarcity limits abundance. And as any economist will tell you, limitation drives value. The gods had none. And so, with every whim fulfilled, with the threat of death nonexistent, their limitless treasures were worthless. An essay on the power of limitation.

Read full piece here: https://simoneleon.substack.com/p/b404f0d9-9361-4412-aa65-64652490ba75

Sylvia Victor Linsteadt is an author, a scholar of ancient history and myth, and a certified wildlife tracker. Her work - both fiction & non-fiction is rooted in myth, ecology, feminism, and bioregionalism.

In our conversation we speak about matrilineal vs. patrilineal cultures, motherhood across time, female fertility the connection between greek gods, aliens, and us, the relationship between fiction and spirituality, and more…

Show Links:

Substack: http://simoneleon.substack.com

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@simone123621

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simone.leon/

Sylvia’s Links:

Website: https://www.sylviavictorlinsteadt.com

Substack: https://sylviavlinsteadt.substack.com

When Women Were the Land Course: https://advaya.life/courses/when-women-were-the-land

Mentioned in this episode:

Scholar Heide Göttner-Abendroth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heide_Göttner-Abendroth

Walden Two by B.F. Skinner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden_Two

Anthropologist Chris Knight: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Knight_(anthropologist)

VC who wants to live forever Bryan Johnson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryan_Johnson

Time Travel UFO Hypothesis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-traveler_UFO_hypothesis

Music and editing by Simon Linsteadt: https://www.simonvictorlinsteadt.com

This past Christmas night I dreamt of divine terror. The night after Christmas, I dreamt of demonic pleasure. An essay about my own Christmas Carol.

Read full piece here: https://simoneleon.substack.com/p/5e75356d-f635-43df-bfda-c6ec47657173

Connecting the deep past with the imminent future through art, religion, and technology. Subscribe on simoneleon.substack.com or wherever you get your podcasts!

Despite not being Catholic, or raised any sort of Christian, recently I have begun praying the rosary. I find the circularity of it, the repetition, the endlessness of the practice soothing. I feel it aligns me with some greater movement of life. An essay about how Christ and the Virgin Mary reflect the natural world’s most essential patterns.

Read full piece here: https://simoneleon.substack.com/p/136ac3ce-1b6e-4b13-8857-26c538a0948c