Winning Slowly

Structures and systems, agency and individuals: three axes (and a sub-axis) for thinking about the world we live in...

In which we laugh at ourselves and explain why you didn't get a new episode this week, but will get one next week, but not the week after that. Systems are hard, people.

P.S. We might just have more bonus episodes at some point. Like this one, they'll be in the feed, and in the Bonus category on the site, but not highlighted in the "Current Season" on the front page. Because they're, well... bonus episodes...

Negative → Positive / Visible / Legal → Social: marijuana legalization and how systems change. Show Notes Marijuana legalization is happening in various states in the United States. How does that kind of change fit into the system we’ve devised for talking about structure and agency/systems and individuals? Because norms do change: all the time. How? * Previous episodes mentioned on the show: * 4...

In which we look at Facebook... but not like we ever have before. Why are people starting to turn *off* Facebook, and what social pressures are arising from that? How do social pressures of this sort work, and what kinds of changes do they affect? * Previous discussions of social media or episodes referenced directly on the show: * 0.13: Ten Thousandth Lightbulb – What Happened to ADN, Paying to Socialize, Free or Not Free * 1...

Positive / Visible / Social (Organized): orchestras and the question of “public goods” Show notes We talk about orchestras, ask whether financial viability is a guide to the health or importance of particular institutions (hint: Betteridge’s Law), and look at how orchestras and other such institutions can be real markers of cultural health even for the people they don’t directly affect...

Negative / Invisible / Legal (Organized): civil forfeiture and entrenched legal evil Show Notes We take on civil forfeiture. The short version: we _hate_ it. It’s a wicked injustice and we think it ought to be fought, and fought hard. (If you want to hear Chris and Stephen get actually angry about something, this is the episode.) Music - “Faint Not” by Jenny & Tyler – used by permission, and with the deepest gratitude. - “Winning Slowly Theme” by Chris Krycho...

Art, faith, how culture shapes and is shaped by us, and more in The Gray Havens’ latest album Show Notes Chris and Stephen have a wide-ranging conversation with Dave Radford of husband-and-wife folk-pop duo The Gray Havens about the value and purpose of art, the business side of the music industry, and the process of putting together their latest album, Ghost of a King...

Positive / Invisible / Legal (Organized): public libraries and the common good Show Notes We talk *libraries*. Why? Because public libraries are *awesome*. They're on of the few unalloyed successes in social experiments. They do good in a wide array of areas, and they're free to use (because we support them as taxpayers). If you want to hear Chris giddy, this is the episode. The second of two episodes recorded live at NC State University on September 22, 2016...

Reflections on the necessity, and the limitations, of empathy in light of the 2016 American election cycle Show Notes In the wake of the surprising outcome of the 2016 American presidential election, we talk about how we do politics going forward. In particular, we look at how empathy and treating each other (no matter how sharp our differences) as people made in the image of God must inform our politics, even as we acknowledge that no amount of empathy will overcome all disagreements...

At the end of 5.08 we made an offhand joke about Andrew Jackson. On further consideration, that joke wasn't funny: it missed some *incredibly* important realities. We got this wrong.