Note: This episode contains spoilers for the film Gattaca and the short story “Real Artists” by Ken Liu.

This week we sat down with Ari Schwartz— a composer, harpist, and all-around experimental artist. We talk about Ari’s talent for shitposting as well as whether or not postmodernism has killed sincerity. And, of course, whether or not you would genetically engineer your kids. Find out who!

EPISODE TIMESTAMPS

00:00:28 - How has the romantic movement affected postmodernism?

00:01:38 - The challenges of conveying sincerity during postmodernity

00:06:48 - Ari's attempts to make high art more accessible and interactive

00:11:44 - Geidi Primes and speculative lies

00:12:48 - But what IS speculative fiction?

00:15:38 - Substitute teachers are extremely wack

00:21:08 - Gattaca and genetic engineering

00:22:54 - Some takes on polygenic embryo selection

00:28:22 - Enough talk— would you actually genetically engineer your kid?

00:33:28 - The romantic case for uncertainty / indeterminism

00:38:18 - Kevin and Gordon are big randomness enjoyers

00:40:04 - The art of shitposting

00:42:15 - Ari's valiant attempt to describe why a shitpost is funny

00:43:02 - The magic of Baman Piderman

00:48:47 - The strange coherence of Welcome to Night Vale

00:50:04 - Thoughts on art awards and awards awards

00:59:59 - Kevin asks Ari a bunch of questions about "objectively good art"

01:01:55 - "Real Artists" by Ken Liu

01:04:57 - Conclusion and final recommendations

The screening service we talk about in the episode is LifeView by Genomic Prediction.

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