Sam Berkson is a poet and blogger. Sam is a really passionate and active writer, performer, and organizer (of culture and politics) in London. We recorded this podcast in Sam’s flat in Tottenham at 3am on a Friday night.
Sam's recent book, Settled Wanderers, is out now with Influx Press. You can find more of Sam's work on his website and you can hit him up at @AngrySamPoet.
Notes with timestamps
general patterns of the universe!!! 00:01
full automation or nah? 00:03
what’s up with Red Bull owning the whole world of extreme sports? 00:06
the crazy growth in performance in extreme sports 00:07
linguistic invariance, principles and parameters 00:14
even educated people basically don’t know shit 00:16
how natural human mental functioning is really faulty 00:18
the metaphor of the elephant and its rider 00:19:30
right-wing vs. left-wing models of human needs 00:24
the problem of aggregating from individualism to tribalism to global community 00:28
nobody does anything great out of desperation 00:44
why you have to be realistic about what thinking can do - 00:46
talking with people isn’t about solving problems but doing something meaningful 00:47
if listeners don’t like my podcasts then they're fired! 00:49