Althouse: A new Bloggingheads, in which I talk to Douglas Rushkoff about his book "Life, Inc."

June 23, 2009

A new Bloggingheads, in which I talk to Douglas Rushkoff about his book "Life, Inc."

Is "corporatism" the structure of our lives?

You can buy the book here. It's good. And I really read it!

20 comments:

Sprezzatura said...: The last bit is excruciatingly boring to listen to.

I usually don't watch. Instead I let bloggingheads play in the background while I do other stuff. But, this time I, near the end of this, was very closely looking for an Althouse eye roll, or thumb twiddling, or some other sign of extreme boredom.

She didn't even blink. Impressive stamina.; 6/23/09, 10:04 PM
bagoh20 said...: Maybe I missed something, but the idea that suburbia was planned to control men is simply looking for a way to make the idea fit the result. If you actually watched this soup being made, which I did for some part of my life and read about for the earlier expansions, you can plainly see a simple process of individuals and small groups pooling money and investing it in housing projects for the purpose of making personal profit. Occasionally one might have a novel purpose in addition to profit, but profit is the driver. It was simple, it was normal, it was decentralized. It was just a more modern version of all the schemes people have come up with for centuries to invest capitol and get rich. Coming to America, starting businesses, going west, mining for gold, Buffalo Bill's show circuses, amusement parks, household products, software, hardware, infomercials, diets, get rich quick programs personal development, blogging. It's endless - knock on wood.; 6/23/09, 10:23 PM
john said...: It did run a little long. I found myself wondering if the bird was matching his song to the loudness of Ann's voice.

Women were taller in the middle ages? I gotta look that up.; 6/23/09, 10:42 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Yeah, the birds on my end are ridiculous. Also, I had some recording problems, which they've smoothed over leaving a certain amount of unevenness.

The MacBook Air really doesn't have what it takes to do hour-long QuickTime videos, which shouldn't be a big deal.; 6/23/09, 11:00 PM
David said...: Almost every assertion Rushkoff makes is wrong. Do you really think FDR was worred that returning vets would be "crazy?" FDR died in 1945. Levittown wasn't started until 1947. So they "worked together" on it? Chartered monopolies and all the evil medieval roots he names are virtually extinct today. He's 180 degrees wrong about centralized currency, too. A currency based on "something real" (like gold?) can become "scarce" if stocks of the underlying store of value don't grow as fast as the economy the currency supports. And so what really.

His conclusions require that lending at interest depends on a centraliized currency, which it should be obvious it does not.

"Corporatism" appears to be whatever causes stuff Rushoff doesn't like, including the kitchen sink.; 6/23/09, 11:34 PM
Anonymous said...: who cares if he is wrong or right...

from somebody who got the bad end of the deal in a good neighborhood on christmas eve, and then turned 180 degrees the next thanksgiving to get the other end of a bad deal in a lesser neighborhood, I just notice the red green affect.

look at the stars look how they shine for you, doug, and they were yellow..; 6/23/09, 11:49 PM
rcocean said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/23/09, 11:55 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I was told that the reason they made me practice ground balls 4 to 5 hours straight was because it would strengthen my muscle memory, and thereby creating the ability to make the easy plays blindfolded. de facil a facilisimo.

I'm arguing at my meetings that "addiction" could be related to a kind of muscle memory that is "unaccepted" instead of accepted. And because this "truth" is intuitive it makes it possible for the addict to play fast and loose with the truth.

I'm not getting my point across very well at the mettings for the very similar reasons this guy is talking about.; 6/24/09, 12:47 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: The 'addiction currency' if you will has created a language that addicts learn and blirtout on command because it reinforces that structure and by doing so the addict knows it is in his benefit to play along because it benefits that structure. It's as if he is rewarded for it.

An example - People like me with insurance can relapse and not pay a consequence commensurate with people I know are there on the states dime. they just dont come back because there are many waiting or whatever. When i ask its as if who waht? It was not a person. so I stoped asking.

there is nothing that convinces me more against addiction than sitting in (as I have been forced to do) on meetings with other addicts.

It's phony haven.; 6/24/09, 1:32 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: We have created these survival cocoons for people to fit into.

we pretend to help but we are really not. we are just players beholden to some kind of industry.; 6/24/09, 1:40 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: i heard the whole dam thing w/o a problem!

Btw Althouse that was a good push about how people might interpret certain ideas.

its as if - ok there are no new ideas, you got us - aren't you smart?
so what we have to do is retake the old ideas, FREE them and re-tell them as if for the first time.

COULD there possibly be a reason Why Bruno and Borat resonate?; 6/24/09, 2:15 AM
Ron said...: A terrible bloggingheads. So many things are dismissed not based on a reasonable argument, but because they disagree with Rushkoff "knows to true." Nothing he said made me want to even look at the book, much less read it.; 6/24/09, 2:20 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: the pharmaceutical industry would not survive if were not for So many things are dismissed not based on a reasonable arguments.; 6/24/09, 2:48 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: We have created a support system for things we rather not face, not confront, just as strong as the GW Bridge. I would argue its even stronger.; 6/24/09, 3:04 AM
The Dude said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 6/24/09, 6:52 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "Nothing he said made me want to even look at the book, much less read it."

It's a Malcolm Gladwell type book that has one big framework that's used to explain a lot of things. I agree that there are many things to argue with, but it was thought provoking, with lots of interesting details.; 6/24/09, 7:19 AM
Moose said...: Ann, whats with the jr. pirate/dead end kids look?

You seem to be quite into striped shirts and that bob. You look better with long hair...; 6/24/09, 11:08 AM
traditionalguy said...: Dear Professor: That was an excellent interchange of ideas between two brillant thinkers. It made my day to listen to it. It felt like I was watching two expert tennis players hit it back and forth with out a fault or unforced error. He is onto something about social groups needing each other and living well until the King takes his protection money. That is the basis of our Founding Fathers writing us a separation of powers Constitution. The problem remains and only honesty allows a resolution of the tensions between the Government and the governed. That is why the Media abdicating its watchdog role and bowing at the feet of a half-black Messiah figure is the biggest story of my lifetime.; 6/24/09, 3:13 PM
bearbee said...: When everyone in the world has a car, refrigerator and iPod, then what?

Rarely watch blogginheads. People chattering through ideological lens with nothing interesting to advance. This was an exception.; 6/24/09, 5:15 PM
David said...: When everyone in the world has a horse, an ice box, and a gramophone, what then?; 6/24/09, 10:13 PM