Team Human with Douglas Rushkoff

Rushkoff breaks down the intellectual hubris driving Silicon Valley: Effective Altruism (EA), Longtermism, and AI accelerationism.From Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX collapse to the tech oligarchs attempting to optimize human presence through code, Rushkoff exposes how treating human lives as simple spreadsheet inputs creates a dangerous ends justify the means worldview.Drawing on philosophers like Albert Camus, Spinoza, and Martin Buber — and even recent statements from the Pope — Rushkoff argues that true moral action isn't calculated in hypothetical future outcomes, but lived out right now in local, face-to-face human connection.🌍 Your support keeps Team Huma...

We once looked at pictures. Now, pictures are looking back at us. Renowned artist and author Trevor Paglen joins Rushkoff to expose how computer vision, generative AI, and algorithmic feedback loops are fundamentally reformatting human perception, labor, and democracy itself.What happens to a society when its default assumption becomes that all media is untethered from reality? In this episode of Team Human, Douglas Rushkoff sits down with artist, activist, and geographer Trevor Paglen to discuss his groundbreaking new book, How to See Like a Machine: Images After AI.🌍 Your support keeps Team Human alive! Sup...

Sophie Strand (author of The Flowering Wand and The Body Is a Doorway) joins Rushkoff for a conversation about breaking free from the dominant paradigms of our time. Together, they challenge the Silicon Valley Sky God obsession with scaling up, critique the limitations of institutional think tanks, and dive into how modern systems have systematically stripped us of our foundational skills. From the intelligence of mycelial networks to practical strategies for becoming "indigestible" and completely useless to AI, Strand offers a somatic framework for navigating civilizational crisis.🌍 Your support keeps Team Human alive! Sup...

Rushkoff breaks down the disturbing cultural shift toward Might Makes Right, a playground philosophy that values raw power, wealth, and violence over morality and mutual aid. From the organic, joyful street celebrations of the New York Knicks winning the NBA Finals to the surreal, hyper-industrial gladiatorial spectacle of the UFC erected right on the South Lawn of the White House, Rushkoff explores the stark contrast between human connection and authoritarian propaganda. He dives deep into why social Darwinism completely misunderstands the natural world, how nature actually favors cooperation, and why treating life like a prison ya...

"The most useful framework is that our country’s been invaded. But like all great invasions, it involves new techniques." - Adam McKayAcademy Award-winning filmmaker Adam McKay (Don’t Look Up, The Big Short, Succession) dissects the urgent cultural, political, and planetary moment we are living through.McKay brings a massive unified theory exploring how our prehistoric evolutionary limits - and the constraints of Dunbar’s Number - are colliding with a collapsing Holocene and modern corporate media systems designed to abstract us from reality. From Leonardo DiCaprio's ad-libbed line that broke the cr...

Mitch Horowitz returns to Team Human for a fiery, provocative exploration of his new book, Esoterika: Formulas Against the False Self. Rushkoff and Horowitz grapple over one of the most foundational concepts in modern mindfulness: The Serenity Prayer. While Rushkoff shares his recent journeys into radical porousness, learning how to surrender, accept grace, and metabolize the world’s heavy energies, Horowitz brings a hammer to premature consolation. Is the dictate to accept the things you cannot change keeping you trapped in a mechanical, flattened existence?  Horowitz argues we possess more agency over our realities than thera...

How do we keep the machine from pulling us into another world, or escaping into ours? Rushkoff is joined by OG game designer, hacker, and Director of Curiouser Institute Reed Berkowitz to explore the liminal space between reality, fiction, and artificial intelligence.From the early days of late-80s text-based worlds and San Francisco’s cyberdelic rave culture to the complex modern landscape of AI development, Douglas and Reed compare notes on what they thought the internet would become - and what it actually grew into.✨ Learn more about Reed’s work: http://www.cu...

Rushkoff contrasts the blissful, terrifying reality of voluntary dissolution with our pyramid-building civilization. From the ancient pyramids of Egypt to tech billionaires injecting themselves with young blood, humanity has built a world based on accumulation, extraction, and freezing time.He argues true power doesn't come from maintaining a rigid, permanent self-hood or uploading your consciousness to a server. True vitality comes from our capacity to affect and be affected by others: to flow with the universe’s infinite chain, accept our temporary nature, and find the others to dance with.🌍 Support Team Human to keep us in...

If building a better future looks like a miserable exercise in self-denial, nobody is going to join.Rushkoff sits down with author and activist Sarah Wilson to discuss her new book, 'I Eat the Stars"Together, they discuss why environmental and activist movements have been weighed down by guilt, and why the alternative to industrial capitalism has to look, feel, and be better than the status quo.From trading excessive belongings for time-freedom to prioritizing deep local community, it turns out that simplifying is a hell of a lot more fun than chasing...

Following a recent New York Times expose on a high-profile AI book scandal, Rushkoff takes us behind the scenes of the modern grift factory.More than just a cautionary tale about generative AI, this week's monologue is an exploration of ego, FOMO, and intuition. Why did Rushkoff ignore his own spidey sense that something was off?As the world fills with synthetic fabrications, trusting our bodies, our bellies, and our internal warning signs is our most critical survival skill.Our Sponsors:* Check out BetterHelp and use my code betterhelp.com for...

"If you are involved in any act of creation... that to me is magic, pure and simple." Legendary writer, magician, and shaman Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Jerusalem, The Great When) joins Rushkoff on for a transcendent exploration of idea space, the power of linguistic maximalism, and how we can reclaim our imaginative sovereignty. 🌍 To support Team Human, get ad-free versions of the show, and join our Discord community, visit: https://patreon.com/teamhuman 🤝 Team Human is proudly supported by Groucho. You can take 50% off your first month by using promo code "teamhuman...

Rushkoff shares a story he has never told publicly: The tragic car accident 40 years ago that claimed the life of his best friend and college partner-in-justice, Steven Ratushewitz.Rushkoff explores the grueling reality of carrying someone else's ghost, the intersection of art and activism, and the profound psychedelic realization that finally allowed him to grieve. From resisting the elite culture of Ivy League schools to breaking down the tech-billionaire obsession with immortality, this episode is a beautiful, raw inquiry into how we metabolize grief together.🤝 Team Human is proudly supported by Groucho. You can take 50% off...

Is local activism just a cute distraction, or is it the most vital layer of human survival?  Charlotte Binns, Director of Sustainability for the Village of Irvington and a dedicated community organizer, explores why the most effective response to global crises, from climate change to social isolation, starts right on your own block.Binns argues that while working at scale can be disheartening, the local level offers tangible impact, agency, and the deep relationships that make life worth living.🤝 Team Human is proudly supported by Groucho. You can take 50% off your first month by us...

Are we living in reality, or just navigating a map of symbols, metrics, and dead things?Rushkoff stepped away from notifications, Google Calendars, and his always-on world to attend a shamanic workshop in Costa Rica. He experienced a kundalini awakening that revealed a different way of navigating existence: One based on somatic resonance rather than strategic manipulation.🤝 Team Human is proudly supported by Groucho. You can take 50% off your first month by using promo code "teamhuman": https://mygroucho.club/teamhumanDownload Groucho: Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/groucho/id6756526142?ct=te...

“I came to make you love yourself.”Join Rushkoff for a deep dive into the noir consciousness with legendary musician and writer David J (Bauhaus, Love and Rockets). Together, they explore the liminal spaces between music, magic, and the human heart.  In addition, David J discusses his new book, "Rhapsody, Threnody and Prayer," a triptych of poems and odes spanning four decades that explores the dimensions of love, loss, and sacred dedication.🤝 Team Human is proudly supported by Groucho. You can take 50% off your first month by using promo code "teamhuman": https://mygroucho.club/team...

Can we survive the rise of new AI Golems?Philip Rosedale, Founder of Second Life, argues the AI monsters currently being developed are limited by the tech bro survival of the fittest values they are trained on. Instead, he suggests we pool our collective computing resources to create angels: distributed, free AI that grow up as children in simulated environments, developing their own ethics and social intelligence apart from corporate influence.🤝 Team Human is proudly supported by Groucho. You can take 50% off your first month by using promo code "teamhuman": https://mygroucho.club/teamhumanD...

What is art for? Rushkoff is joined by legendary musician and producer Brian Eno to explore the necessity of moving away from the certainty of victory and into the delight of surrender.🤝 Team Human is proudly supported by Groucho. You can take 50% off your first month by using promo code "teamhuman": https://mygroucho.club/teamhumanDownload Groucho: Apple: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/groucho/id6756526142?ct=teamhuman&mt=8Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.trampoline.groucho&utm_source=website&utm_medium=landing&utm_campaign=teamhumanFo...

Rushkoff sits down with Kat Tenbarage, (Founder, Spitfire News) to pull back the curtain on the intersection of AI, digital harassment, and political maneuvering. Together, they discuss Humans First: Is it a true bipartisan coalition or a strategic funnel for right-wing legislation?They also explore:The economy of deepfakes: How non-consensual AI-generated content is being monetized and the role of major payment processors like Visa and MasterCard play in the ecosystem.Digital Violence: Why the "online isn't real" argument is dead and how digital radicalization leads to physical acts of terror.The Cost of Truth: The...

Rushkoff shares his first real foray into the world of Artificial Intelligence. After years of avoiding the technology, Douglas takes us through a vibe coding journey using Claude to rebuild his personal website in five hours.But this isn't a tech tutorial. Douglas weighs the incredible creative potential of AI against its heavy unseen costs: environmental destruction, resource depletion, and labor displacement. He contrasts his vision for a peer-to-peer Amazon killer built by social activists with the chilling surveillance infrastructure being developed by tech billionaires like Larry Ellison.🤝 Team Human is proudly supported by Groucho. You...

Have you ever had that feeling in your gut, when you suddenly realize that the person you’re talking with might have a screw or two loose? What about when you’re the one others are trying to slowly back away from at the punch bowl? The question of who’s the real nut often arises for us collapse-aware folks living here in Crazy Town. Since Mr. Peanut is no longer returning their phone calls, hosts Rob, Jason, and Asher invited Rushkoff to answer the question. In this far ranging conversation, they discuss why “leveling down” might be the bes...