The World Via

The World Via

By The World ViaSociety & CulturePhilosophy
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The World Via episodes

  • The World via Magic

    Hello, and welcome to the World Via.

    Today we're going to delve into details that the devil himself may find vexing. We're going to try and explain that which defies explanation, articulate the indescribable, take you to the boundary of reason, and then take one step beyond.

    With slight hands and clear minds, we'll attempt to keep the code while escaping the code, confiding and confounding at the same time. You may miss our directions, but we think you'll still be happy to gather around and follow the object of our conversation, today on the World via Magic.

    2 hr 34 min
  • The World via Celebrations

    Hello, and welcome to the World Via.

    We are emotional creatures, possessed at times by passions beyond our control. Today, we're going to discuss how those passions arise from victory, how they arise from solemnity, how they arise from the simple passage of time.

    We're going to consider how the collective bubbling of our passionate brains binds us together, and how passionate we can be about persuasive contrivances. We will try to guide you through this liminal space, overturn some norms and maybe elect a ruler of the ridiculous.

    Whatever your pleasure, we hope you have a good time together, today on the World via Celebrations.

    2 hr 25 min
  • The World via Juggling

    Hello and welcome to The World Via.

    We all enjoy having a little bit of wonder in our lives. A dash of magic that shakes us out of the mundane moment. There’s something about the unexpected, the mesmerizing, the unexplained, that brings us to a childlike state that captures our attention and blanks the mind.

    It's interesting that we enjoy this loss of control, this brief passage, in which our minds and bodies are not our own. Held hostage to the perplexing and the fascinating, perhaps it’s then unsurprising that those among us who can induce this state, are looked upon with both reverence and suspicion. Have been placed upon the biggest stages and banished to back alleys.

    Are we awed or stupefied by their technical skill, their athletic feats, their dazzling artistry, or their mathematical genius?

    Is there something divine or devilish in Mills Mess or Burke’s Barrage? What are they doing with those flaming torches or growling chainsaws?

    We’ll toss these questions back-and-forth between us today on The World via Juggling.

    1 hr 53 min
  • The World via Nothing

    Hello and welcome to The World Via.

    We are presented with a challenge today.

    What do you talk about when you don’t have anything to talk about? How do you address an absence of a thing? Or a thing that is not present?

    Do you speak of the space around it or the potential that has not been realized within it? Do you ignore it, pretending that there’s nothing amiss?

    Is it a mystery that is meant to be investigated with reason or a given that is accepted with faith?

    What do you do when you realize that zero is greater than zero? When you realize that silence is not silent...?

    When you realize that the vacuum is not quite empty?

    Will we stand with Nietzsche, sit with Buddha, or abhor Aristotle?

    Empty yourself and gather all your zero point energy to find out, today, on The World via Nothing.

    2 hr 10 min
  • The World via Pets

    Hello and welcome to The World Via.

    It’s a common observation that life in the information age has led to a greater ability to digitally connect with our fellow humans across time and space, but, has it also led to increased feelings of solitude and loneliness? Increased feelings of disconnection?

    As neat as digital watches, Super Mario and infinite cat videos are, it appears that we need real physical presence to maintain our mental and emotional health. The moment we can’t be near family or friends, a friendly, furry, feathery, or scaly face, may give us that little dose of empathy and intimacy. Through play, care, exercise, comfort, and occasional bouts of wonder, we can form deep and enriching emotional bonds with beings that are sometimes simply stoked to be fed.

    Which kind of begs the question once asked by a man named Perry, can we serve the same purpose?

    We’ll find out today on The World via Pets.

    2 hr 7 min
  • The World via Art

    Hello and welcome to The World Via.

    Today, we are going to talk about creation, about shared experience, about context, about intention. We’re gonna wrestle with judgment, comparison, objectivity, and subjectivity good taste and bad taste. We will consider the deep cultural significance of the thong song and the gaucheness of Michelangelo’s David.

    We will discuss the vast swaths of human creativity from our earliest ancestors to our contemporary automatons. We’re gonna run over well-trodden ground, borrow shamelessly from those who’ve come before and present the product as our own creation and then ask what it means if a machine does the same.

    Please put on your painters cap, grab your writer’s pen, pick up your drumsticks, put on your dancing shoes,  find your yarn, heat up the kiln, and join us in a dialogue across time and space, today on The World via Art.

    1 hr
  • The World via Buffalo Wings

    Hello and welcome to The World Via.

    We seem to love binaries. The choice between two items juxtaposed, produces a minor thrill in many of us. Ahhh, good. I can cast my lot and demonstrate my knowledge and allegiance through a simple choice of A or B.

    Is it true or false? Choose the left or right? Will we win or lose? The consequences can be mundane or grand but the ease of choice, the reduction of myriad possibilities into a pair, seems to fit neatly within our minds.

    Of course it’s been observed that often dyads exist on a spectrum. That the neat clean lines blur and mingle and that a middle space can be found and understood between concepts.

    Today, however, we will reject compromise. For the debate is simple and clear. Breaded or fried? Boneless or bone-in? Wing or drum? Ranch or blue cheese? All these questions will be answered on The World via Buffalo Wings.

    2 hr 5 min
  • The World via Sconces

    Hello and welcome to The World Via.

    Today, we are bringing you a glimpse into the past. The past that foreshadowed the  present, which in turn, illuminates the future. You’ll listen to a brief foray into meaning, adherence and identity. We will discuss verticality, horizontality, touch on luminosity and explore teleology.

    Please lean back, support yourself against a planar surface and enjoy this brief shine upon the passage of your day, here on The World via Sconces.

    14 min
  • The World via Quality

    Hello and welcome to The World Via.

    When you sit and listen to our production. Your device of choice translates the digital signal of our recording into waves of compressed air that are received by your ears, detected by specialized cells, and then transmitted to your brain.

    Your brain translates these waves into the sounds of our voices, questing and questioning, our mirthful laughter and burdened sighs. The creaking of our chairs and the scratching of our fidgets.

    Do you ever wonder if the sounds you are hearing are the same as those experienced by other listeners?

    Are you experiencing all that this podcast has to offer?

    Is this podcast offering you all that it is capable of?

    Have we, your hosts, put in the care required to ensure that your expectations are not just met, they are exceeded?

    And can we truly understand what your experience will actually be?

    We’re not sure but we’ll do our best to answer these questions in a diligent, repeatable, efficient and aesthetically pleasing matter, today on The World via Quality.

    1 hr 44 min
  • The World via The Simpsons

    Hello and welcome to The World Via the Simpsons.

    Today, we’re gonna take a ride down to 742 Evergreen Terrace. Sit back on a well-worn 3-seater couch, turn on the old flatscreen, and engage in a discussion about a cartoon.

    Will we be boorish or bratty, sagacious or skeptical, or will we simply observe with child or animal-like wonder at the behemoth that this simple show about a simple family in a simple town became.

    We hope you enjoy today’s episode of The World via The Simpsons.

    1 hr 2 min

About The World Via

From the publisher's feed

The World Via podcast is the first self-proclaimed "Citizen Philosophy" podcast.