A legend of Australian comedy, Meshel Laurie has endured her share of woke social media pile-ons. The top-rating radio host, comedian and TV performer is invariably described as “divisive”. Why? Because she’s a woman? Because she’s uncensored? 
Meshel’s podcasts are Australian True Crime and Can We Be Real. Here, she and Josh reflect on social media, alcohol, drugs, comedy, stardom, Buddhism, the pandemic, and how to discuss male violence without alienating men.
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Meshel Laurie: Comedy, Cancellation, and Male Violence

The world has never been more connected. Yet never more divided. We yell at each other from inside our echo chambers. But change doesn’t happen inside an echo chamber. It’s time to get out, to stretch our legs, to step on some land mines. It's time to have an uncomfortable conversation with Josh Szeps.
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In Silicon Valley, it's hard to overstate the significance of Jaron Lanier. He coined the term "virtual reality" and founded the first virtual reality company in the '80s. You may recognise him as the dreadlocked polymath in the The Social Dilemma, Netflix's documentary about the harms of social media.
Today, he is a leader of a dissident group of tech geniuses who believe the hype of A.I. is overblown, in both its capabilities and its risks. While many of his colleagues speak of artificial intelligence as a mythological turning point for civilisation, he argues -- in books and in a series of groundbreaking essays in The New Yorker magazine -- that A.I. is just a tool. It's a mindless auto-complete bot.
Lanier's humanism is laudable and infectious. But Josh can't quite grok his dismissiveness of artificial intelligence. In this chat, Jaron is as frustrated by this impasse as Josh is. Enjoy the resulting to-and-fro.
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Jaron Lanier: "There's No Such Thing as Artificial 'Intelligence'"

Why is the Australian government in a court battle with Elon Musk? Should taxpayers be paying for disabled Australians to hire hookers? Should campus protestors be as upset about the plight of the Uighurs as of Palestinians? And why has a lady been driving around with a deadly snake stowed in her car for months?
Josh breaks down the most intriguing stories of the week with two scintillating commentators: Claire Lehmann, the founder and editor of Quillette and a columnist for The Australian newspaper, and Peter van Onselen, the political editor of the Daily Mail Australia and a politics professor at the University of Western Australia.
This is a taste of a longer episode for premium subscribers. If you'd like to hear the whole thing, pop over to the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe
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THE PANEL:  Taxpayer-Funded Prostitutes, Elon vs Australia, and Snakes in a Car with Claire Lehmann and Peter van Onselen

Could independent politicians kill off the two-party system and make politics more accountable?
At the last Australian election, a decade of conservative government rule was brought to an end thanks largely to a wave of so-called "teal independents" supported by Simon Holmes à Court’s organisation. 
The son of Australia’s first billionaire and the heir to generations of influential politicians and businessmen, Simon Holmes à Court has become one of the most significant figures in Australian politics. His political revolution has challenged the status quo of the two major political parties and allowed communities to wrestle back power from institutions that don't represent them. This is a fascinating, wide ranging chat with a brilliant mind.
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Simon Holmes à Court: Beyond Political Parties

Australia is in the grip of a national reckoning about male violence against women. Last month, 11 women died at the hands of men, almost half of whom were killed in the Bondi stabbing. Countless news reports describe an epidemic of men killing women. Rallies all over the country emphasise the central message: Men Need To Do Better. But what do the facts say? How can we best fix the problem? And is Josh merely being a defensive, toxic male when he says it’s “not all men”? Josh seeks to bring reason to an emotional conversation.
To get more content like this, and so much more besides, hit the Substack page at https://uncomfortableconversations.substack.com/subscribe
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Meshel Laurie: Comedy, Cancellation, and Male Violence

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