Dylan Levi King joins Ash Milton to discuss his PALLADIUM 05 article on the cult of Jiao Yulu and China's convergence with Western technocracy. Local Communist Party cadres of the 60s and 70s experimented with economic reforms that seeded China’s economic success. Jiao Yulu was their model.

Since then things have changed. China has become no less susceptible to demographic change, financialization, and reliance on opinion polling than its Western counterparts. But there will always be potential for experimentation on China’s frontiers—something that Dylan will go on to capture in his latest article, Empire of The Golden Triangle.

Dylan Levi King is a writer living in Tokyo. His Twitter handle is @dylanleviking.

Palladium Correspondent Fin DePencier joined Ash Milton from the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraine, where he has been reporting on the ongoing Russian invasion. In addition to events on the ground, they discussed the wider implications of this war for Russia's sphere of influence, given its recent history of frozen conflict and continuing involvement in Central Asia and the Middle East.

One recent example of this influence occurred in Kazakhstan during its widespread protests and riots in January 2022. A Russian-led intervention by the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) quelled these protests and secured the position of its new president against his own predecessor. Fin reported on these events for Palladium.

Fin has left Kharkiv since this podcast was recorded. The city has come under escalated assault. Follow on Twitter and Instagram for ongoing updates and for his other work.

Richard Hanania joins Ash Milton to talk about the U.S. confrontation with Russia and why it keeps enduring. With the U.S. keeping the door open for future NATO expansion in eastern Europe, Russia is continuing its own military build-up in the region. Most recently, tensions rose again over Ukraine and its future. What drives the ideologies behind the foreign policy? And what does it really take to update entrenched political worldviews?

Richard Hanania is President of the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology (CSPI) and a research fellow at Defense Priorities. He also writes via Substack.

Charles Coulombe joins Ash Milton to discuss the rise and fall of the WASP ruling class, which he also covered in Palladium 04. America's upper class went from disparate networks of families to a national elite in only a few generations. Then, they lost it all. Topics include the WASPs' intentional cultivation of their internal culture, the decay of their ideologies and institutions, and more.

Palladium 04 is our latest quarterly print edition, including an anthology of work and original art. To receive this and future copies, subscribe now.

Samo Burja joins Wolf Tivy to discuss his article in Palladium 04 on how rising classes become new elites. Historically, cycles of violence often break out at these moments, and yet elites are surprisingly good at surviving the resulting turnover. Are there better ways of integrating new players into a society's elite?

Palladium 04 is our latest quarterly print edition, including an anthology of work and original art. To receive this and future copies, subscribe now.

Avetis Muradyan joins Ash Milton in Brazil to discuss his article in Palladium 04 on why elites often rise from the criminal underworld. Other topics include observations on the Brazilian favelas, the importance of frontiers, and how one learns to be human.

Palladium 04 is coming out in Winter 2021. The theme is Cultivating Elites. In this special episode, Wolf Tivy and Ash Milton discussed why developing the consciousness and culture necessary to act as an elite is not an easy task, but one that requires institutional and personal investment. They also previewed some of the articles included in this upcoming print edition: a new piece from Wolf about why you should quit your job, as well as articles on Skull and Bones, America's WASP elites, the criminal underworld, and more.

This special episode is available to all listeners. To sign up and receive copies of Palladium 04 and other print editions, subscribe here.

Members also receive the full editions of regular episodes, in addition to other benefits.

Wolf Tivy and Ash Milton discuss why scientific management driven by digital technologies is becoming a dominant philosophy of governance in both China and the West. Other topics include why governments no longer want to mobilize their populations, whether chaos in society is really a bad thing, and Dylan Levi King's recent article on Chinese digital technocracy.

The first half of the show is available to all our listeners. The full discussion is available to Palladium Members. Members also get to participate in the Palladium Community Salons, which the editorial podcasts are often based on, as well as other benefits like the community chat.

To become a Palladium Member, subscribe here.

Geremie Barmé joins Ash Milton to discuss his decades of experience in China and what previous upheavals in its leadership can teach us about the Xi era. Topics include his time studying alongside red guards at Chinese universities during the Cultural Revolution, Mao's return in modern Chinese ideology, and the real heritage of neo-Confucianism.

Geremie is an Australian sinologist and author. He currently edits China Heritage and is founder of The Wairarapa Academy for New Sinology. 

The first half of the show is available to all our listeners. The full discussion is available to Palladium Members. Members also get to participate in the Palladium Community Salons, which the editorial podcasts are often based on, as well as other benefits like the community chat.

To become a Palladium Member, subscribe here.

Kevin Kelly joins the salon to discuss his new book and photographic travelogue: Vanishing Asia. Covering decades of Kevin's travels through 35 different countries across the Asian continent, this three-volume project records the traditions and pasts that are vanishing in the face of Asian modernity.

Other topics include the value of printed work, why futurists should care about history, and why Kevin doesn't regret the vanishing of the past too much.

Kevin is co-founder of Wired magazine, where he continues to hold the title of Senior Maverick. He is also co-chair of the Long Now Foundation and a prolific writer, photographer, and traveler.

Palladium Magazine previously interviewed Kevin about his philosophy of technology and related topics. Check out that discussion here.