Horned Joe and the New Journalism
$200,000,000. That, it turns out, is what the notorious Joe Rogan got for his deal with Spotify. The creator of the most successful podcast certainly paved the way for the whole genre. He is everyone’s favorite figure in the battle between anti-vaxxers and vaxxers, the “modern” and the “backward,” left and right, all those who envy him, are outraged by him or simply admire a strong persona. So who, in the end, is this seemingly simple-minded muscleman who has gathered so many eyeballs… and millions? How did it get to the point where even the White House grew indignant with his employers because of him? And how is his story connected to the future of journalism?
02Steve Jobs Is Risen!
Did you catch Steve Jobs as a guest on Joe Rogan’s podcast a month ago? Oh, it was fascinating. “Computers have the power to be 1,000 times more important than they are today. I throw my computer out the window every few years just to make sure it works.” Steve was in his signature form, visionary and funny, as he told some truly curious stories from the history of Apple. But wait… didn’t Steve Jobs pass away? So what? The interview is perfectly real. It was generated by artificial intelligence. What’s the big deal, it’s interesting, isn’t it? Want to chat with Einstein? No problem, technology makes even that possible. Are we ready for the moment when computers can imitate us so well that we won’t be able to tell ourselves apart? How is it possible, and is it right, to try to “resurrect” people by creating, one way or another, copies of them that are indistinguishable from the original?
03Lex Fridman, the Cool Scientist
A slightly dry young man in a thin tie and an impeccable suit sits behind the microphone, and across from him, one after another, come Musk, Zuckerberg, Kanye West, Vitalik Buterin, Noam Chomsky, Jaron Lanier and leading scientists from the world of artificial intelligence. Lex Fridman has been one of the most popular podcasters of recent months, even though by profession he is a scientist, an artificial intelligence researcher and a lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Born and raised in Moscow, of Jewish-Ukrainian descent, today he says he is American and speaks English without an accent. That does not stop him from blaming his new homeland for all the wars it wages around the world, just as he blames the old one. Lex is more than an interesting bird because of his successes. Here is what else is worth learning from his very curious story.
04“All the Stories Have Been Told. But How Will the Words Tremble?”
A director, rapper and podcaster meets a journalist, programmer and writer. A conversation with the roles of host and guest swapped… and although there are only two of us (plus, of course, one more wonderful podcaster), it turned out that these combinations of three callings apiece hold some interesting nuances. The podcast 2&200 is a classic of the genre and shows why this form of conversation is turning eyes and ears back toward shared words. We continue the conversation for admirers of Kusturica and/or Dostoevsky and/or Marx with Orlin Milchev, once known as MC ATILA, a man able to pierce with words and questions. He is also a director, and last year saw the release of his debut feature film, The Art of Falling. A guest with an unexpected view of the big issues of today, interwoven with technology. The “Scourge of God” has long ceased to be a single hero; it is what we have created online. But what is looming ahead?
05What Do You Want to Read Tomorrow?
How do we want tomorrow to look, and will we still tell truth from lies as we sink ever deeper into our bubbles? Over the past 20 years we have forgotten how to read long texts and changed our very relationship with the truth. My answer to how we save the future may sound idealistic, because I am betting on the contender losing the battle for attention most badly today: traditional media.
06Jordan Peterson: The Man Who Gave Life Its Meaning Back… or Did He?
A Canadian psychology professor is about to take the stage of Hall 1 at Sofia's National Palace of Culture to advise a mostly young audience on how to put their lives in order, and the tickets have sold out twice despite steep prices. Praised and contested, Jordan Peterson has won cult status as a most unusual online influencer. Are we rediscovering forgotten values through him, or returning to outdated ideas that no longer fit our time?
