web01.fireside.fm Thu, 30 Apr 2026 07:38:16 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Weird Studies - Episodes Tagged with “Academia” https://www.weirdstudies.com/tags/academia Wed, 07 Sep 2022 10:00:00 -0400 Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality." en-us episodic Art and philosophy at the limits of the thinkable Phil Ford and J. F. Martel Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality." yes weird, art, philosophy Phil Ford and J. F. Martel admin@weirdstudies.com Episode 130: Holiday Memories https://www.weirdstudies.com/130 50c991ad-4dcb-473f-b014-9802b97bdd51 Wed, 07 Sep 2022 10:00:00 -0400 Phil Ford and J. F. Martel 130 Holiday Memories full Phil Ford and J. F. Martel Phil and JF discuss their recent adventures in the United Kingdom. 1:16:31 yes In August, 2022, JF and Phil flew to the UK to attend the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) at the University of St. Andrews and the Supernormal Festival in Oxfordshire. In addition to recording two live shows (to be released in the coming weeks), they encountered billiant minds, novel ideas, and arresting works of art that opened new avenues for thought. It's these encounters that anchor this conversation, which branches off to touch ideas such as the elusive ideal of intersciplinarity, Hakim Bey's temporary autonomous zone, the legacy of the 20th-century counterculture, the fate of revolutionary movements, non--human intelligences, and the weirdness of human thought. Header Image by RomitaGirl67 via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vintage_Malibu_Barbie_2.jpg#mw-jump-to-license). Listen to volume 1 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-1) and volume 2 (https://pierre-yvesmartel.bandcamp.com/album/weird-studies-music-from-the-podcast-vol-2) of the Weird Studies soundtrack by Pierre-Yves Martel (https://www.pymartel.com) Support us on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/weirdstudies) Find us on Discord (https://discord.com/invite/Jw22CHfGwp) Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau (https://cottonbureau.com/products/can-o-content#/13435958/tee-men-standard-tee-vintage-black-tri-blend-s)! Get your Weird Studies merchandise (https://www.redbubble.com/people/Weird-Studies/shop?asc=u) (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.) Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop (https://bookshop.org/shop/weirdstudies) References Dial M for Musicology, Interdisciplinarity (https://dialmformusicology.wordpress.com/2015/06/28/disciplinarity/) Hakim Bey, The Temporary Autonomous Zone (https://bookshop.org/books/t-a-z-the-temporary-autonomous-zone-ontological-anarchy-poetic-terrorism/9781570271519) Entitled Opinions Podcast (https://entitledopinions.stanford.edu/episodes) William Gibson, Foreword to Samuel Delaney’s Dhalgren (https://bookshop.org/books/dhalgren/9780375706684) DISI Podcast, Many Minds (https://disi.org/manyminds/) John Krakauer (https://www.santafe.edu/people/profile/john-krakauer), professor of nuerology and neuroscience Hunter S. Thompson (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson), American journalist The Great Ape Dictionary (https://greatapedictionary.ac.uk/), specific database used by Cat Hobaiter (https://zenodo.org/record/5600472#.Yxe3NOzMK_L) interdisciplinarity, DISI, supernormal, weird studies, strange attractor, temporary autonomous zone, anarchy, institutions In August, 2022, JF and Phil flew to the UK to attend the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) at the University of St. Andrews and the Supernormal Festival in Oxfordshire. In addition to recording two live shows (to be released in the coming weeks), they encountered billiant minds, novel ideas, and arresting works of art that opened new avenues for thought. It's these encounters that anchor this conversation, which branches off to touch ideas such as the elusive ideal of intersciplinarity, Hakim Bey's temporary autonomous zone, the legacy of the 20th-century counterculture, the fate of revolutionary movements, non--human intelligences, and the weirdness of human thought.

Header Image by RomitaGirl67 via Wikimedia Commons.

Listen to volume 1 and volume 2 of the Weird Studies soundtrack by Pierre-Yves Martel
Support us on Patreon
Find us on Discord
Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau!
Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.)
Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop

References

Dial M for Musicology, Interdisciplinarity
Hakim Bey, The Temporary Autonomous Zone
Entitled Opinions Podcast
William Gibson, Foreword to Samuel Delaney’s Dhalgren
DISI Podcast, Many Minds
John Krakauer, professor of nuerology and neuroscience
Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist
The Great Ape Dictionary, specific database used by Cat Hobaiter

]]> In August, 2022, JF and Phil flew to the UK to attend the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) at the University of St. Andrews and the Supernormal Festival in Oxfordshire. In addition to recording two live shows (to be released in the coming weeks), they encountered billiant minds, novel ideas, and arresting works of art that opened new avenues for thought. It's these encounters that anchor this conversation, which branches off to touch ideas such as the elusive ideal of intersciplinarity, Hakim Bey's temporary autonomous zone, the legacy of the 20th-century counterculture, the fate of revolutionary movements, non--human intelligences, and the weirdness of human thought.

Header Image by RomitaGirl67 via Wikimedia Commons.

Listen to volume 1 and volume 2 of the Weird Studies soundtrack by Pierre-Yves Martel
Support us on Patreon
Find us on Discord
Get the new T-shirt design from Cotton Bureau!
Get your Weird Studies merchandise (t-shirts, coffee mugs, etc.)
Visit the Weird Studies Bookshop

References

Dial M for Musicology, Interdisciplinarity
Hakim Bey, The Temporary Autonomous Zone
Entitled Opinions Podcast
William Gibson, Foreword to Samuel Delaney’s Dhalgren
DISI Podcast, Many Minds
John Krakauer, professor of nuerology and neuroscience
Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist
The Great Ape Dictionary, specific database used by Cat Hobaiter

]]> Episode 110: Monks of the Cultural Apocalypse: 'The Glass Bead Game,' Part Two https://www.weirdstudies.com/110 78584ab3-ac0c-48b9-8075-a23b701f4b12 Wed, 10 Nov 2021 11:00:00 -0500 Phil Ford and J. F. Martel 110 Monks of the Cultural Apocalypse: 'The Glass Bead Game,' Part Two full Phil Ford and J. F. Martel JF and Phil resume their discussion on Hermann Hesse's "The Glass Bead Game," this time with a focus on what the novel reveals about the value of culture in our times. 1:13:19 yes In the current "attention economy," which has resulted in plummeting literacy rates and the almost wanton neglect of various cultural practices, what significance does culture even have? Why seek to preserve something our age has decided doesn't have to exist? Perhaps Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game can be read as an answer to those questions. The order of monastic scholars in the novel exists mainly to remember what others were happy to consign to oblivion. In this episode, Phil and JF discuss Hesse's ideas on the order and its sacred game in terms of how they might help us meet the challenge facing anyone who believes the value of culture can't be expressed in dollars and cents. REFERENCES Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780312278496) Pope Benedict XVI (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Benedict_XVI), former head of the Catholic church J.S. Bach, Well Tempered Clavier, Rosalyn Tureck (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XoAJ98PbDM) interpretation and Glenn Gould (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOHnzWo8FXY) interpretation Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781453722480) Chauvet Cave (https://archeologie.culture.fr/chauvet/en) Peter Bebergal Strange Frequencies (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780143111825) Andy Goldsworthy (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Goldsworthy), British artist Alain de Botton, Religion for Atheists (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780307476821) William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780312160623) glass bead game, Hermann Hesse, analysis, meaning, symbolism, commentary In the current "attention economy," which has resulted in plummeting literacy rates and the almost wanton neglect of various cultural practices, what significance does culture even have? Why seek to preserve something our age has decided doesn't have to exist? Perhaps Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game can be read as an answer to those questions. The order of monastic scholars in the novel exists mainly to remember what others were happy to consign to oblivion. In this episode, Phil and JF discuss Hesse's ideas on the order and its sacred game in terms of how they might help us meet the challenge facing anyone who believes the value of culture can't be expressed in dollars and cents.

REFERENCES

Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game
Pope Benedict XVI, former head of the Catholic church
J.S. Bach, Well Tempered Clavier, Rosalyn Tureck interpretation and Glenn Gould interpretation
Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
Chauvet Cave
Peter Bebergal Strange Frequencies
Andy Goldsworthy, British artist
Alain de Botton, Religion for Atheists
William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light

]]> In the current "attention economy," which has resulted in plummeting literacy rates and the almost wanton neglect of various cultural practices, what significance does culture even have? Why seek to preserve something our age has decided doesn't have to exist? Perhaps Hermann Hesse's The Glass Bead Game can be read as an answer to those questions. The order of monastic scholars in the novel exists mainly to remember what others were happy to consign to oblivion. In this episode, Phil and JF discuss Hesse's ideas on the order and its sacred game in terms of how they might help us meet the challenge facing anyone who believes the value of culture can't be expressed in dollars and cents.

REFERENCES

Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game
Pope Benedict XVI, former head of the Catholic church
J.S. Bach, Well Tempered Clavier, Rosalyn Tureck interpretation and Glenn Gould interpretation
Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
Chauvet Cave
Peter Bebergal Strange Frequencies
Andy Goldsworthy, British artist
Alain de Botton, Religion for Atheists
William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light

]]> Episode 109: Infinite Play: On 'The Glass Bead Game,' by Hermann Hesse https://www.weirdstudies.com/109 7dc701ce-5d3a-4db3-b3e6-b71411af9266 Wed, 27 Oct 2021 10:30:00 -0400 Phil Ford and J. F. Martel 109 Infinite Play: On 'The Glass Bead Game,' by Hermann Hesse full Phil Ford and J. F. Martel Phil and JF discuss Hesse's final novel, a quiet masterwork of science fiction about a game that encompasses all of reality. 1:20:14 yes JF and Phil have been talking about doing a show on The Glass Bead Game since Weird Studies' earliest beginnings. It is a science-fiction novel that alights on some of the key ideas that run through the podcast: the dichotomy of work and play, the limits and affordances of institutional life, the obscure boundary where certainty gives way to mystery... Throughout his literary career, Hesse wrote about people trying to square their inner and outer selves, their life in the spirit and their life in the world. The Glass Bead Game brings this central concern to a properly ambiguous and heartbreaking conclusion. But the novel is more than a brilliant work of philosophical or psychological literature. It is also an act of prophecy -- one that seems intended for us now. Header image by Liz West, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green_marbles_2.jpg). REFERENCES Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780312278496) Paul Hindemith (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Hindemith), German composer Morris Berman, The Twilight of American Culture (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780393321692) Alfred Korzybski, concept of Time Binding Christopher Nolan, Memento (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/) William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780312160623) Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain (https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780679772873) David Tracy, [The Analogical Imagination: Christian Theology and the Culture of Pluralism](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/790661.AnalogicalImagination)_ Jeremy Johnson, Seeing Through the World: Jean Gebser and Integral Consciousness (https://bookshop.org/books/seeing-through-the-world-jean-gebser-and-integral-consciousness/9781947544154) Teilhard de Chardin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Teilhard_de_Chardin), French theologian Mathesis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathesis_universalis) Joshua Ramey, The Hermetic Deleuze (https://bookshop.org/books/the-hermetic-deleuze-philosophy-and-spiritual-ordeal/9780822352297) Weird Studies, Episode 22 with Joshua Ramey (https://www.weirdstudies.com/22) Joseph Needham (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Needham), British historian of Chinese culture James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games (https://bookshop.org/books/finite-and-infinite-games/9781476731711) hermann Hesse, glass bead game, analysis, meaning, ludic studies, infinite game, weird studies, discussion JF and Phil have been talking about doing a show on The Glass Bead Game since Weird Studies' earliest beginnings. It is a science-fiction novel that alights on some of the key ideas that run through the podcast: the dichotomy of work and play, the limits and affordances of institutional life, the obscure boundary where certainty gives way to mystery... Throughout his literary career, Hesse wrote about people trying to square their inner and outer selves, their life in the spirit and their life in the world. The Glass Bead Game brings this central concern to a properly ambiguous and heartbreaking conclusion. But the novel is more than a brilliant work of philosophical or psychological literature. It is also an act of prophecy -- one that seems intended for us now.

Header image by Liz West, via Wikimedia Commons.

REFERENCES

Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game

Paul Hindemith, German composer
Morris Berman, The Twilight of American Culture
Alfred Korzybski, concept of Time Binding
Christopher Nolan, Memento
William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light
Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain
David Tracy, The Analogical Imagination: Christian Theology and the Culture of Pluralism
Jeremy Johnson, Seeing Through the World: Jean Gebser and Integral Consciousness
Teilhard de Chardin, French theologian
Mathesis
Joshua Ramey, The Hermetic Deleuze
Weird Studies, Episode 22 with Joshua Ramey
Joseph Needham, British historian of Chinese culture
James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games

]]> JF and Phil have been talking about doing a show on The Glass Bead Game since Weird Studies' earliest beginnings. It is a science-fiction novel that alights on some of the key ideas that run through the podcast: the dichotomy of work and play, the limits and affordances of institutional life, the obscure boundary where certainty gives way to mystery... Throughout his literary career, Hesse wrote about people trying to square their inner and outer selves, their life in the spirit and their life in the world. The Glass Bead Game brings this central concern to a properly ambiguous and heartbreaking conclusion. But the novel is more than a brilliant work of philosophical or psychological literature. It is also an act of prophecy -- one that seems intended for us now.

Header image by Liz West, via Wikimedia Commons.

REFERENCES

Herman Hesse, The Glass Bead Game

Paul Hindemith, German composer
Morris Berman, The Twilight of American Culture
Alfred Korzybski, concept of Time Binding
Christopher Nolan, Memento
William Irwin Thompson, The Time Falling Bodies Take to Light
Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain
David Tracy, The Analogical Imagination: Christian Theology and the Culture of Pluralism
Jeremy Johnson, Seeing Through the World: Jean Gebser and Integral Consciousness
Teilhard de Chardin, French theologian
Mathesis
Joshua Ramey, The Hermetic Deleuze
Weird Studies, Episode 22 with Joshua Ramey
Joseph Needham, British historian of Chinese culture
James Carse, Finite and Infinite Games

]]>