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PODCAST

Critical Media Studies

The Critical Media Studies podcast discusses the interplay of technology and culture from an academic perspective. In each episode we consider the work of a prominent thinker in the field of critical media studies and discuss the implications of their work in relation to other thinkers and in light of current social contexts.

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

51:18

#116: Weil - On The Abolition of all Political...

Critical Media Studies ·

2026/04/03

In this episode Barry and Mike continue their discussion on Simone Weil’s essay, “On The Abolition of all Political Parties.” They discuss the opposition between the truth seeking individual and the party member, and then pivot to what this question looks like in the current day.

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48:14

#115: Simone Weil - On The Abolition of All Political...

Critical Media Studies ·

2026/03/20

This is the first of two episodes on Simone Weil’s 1943 essay, “On the Abolition of all Political Parties. In this episode Barry and Mike discuss the distinction Weil draws between “truth” and “ideology”.

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59:38

Guy Debord - The Society of the Spectacle

Critical Media Studies ·

2026/03/06

This is a repost of the Guy Debord episode that was originally posted on 3/15/23.In This episode of the Critical Media Studies podcast we discuss Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle. As the book is aphoristic, rather than trying to address the work as a whole, Barry and Mike look at what Debord means by Spectacle and hone in on a few particular sections (24-28). The focus of this episode settles around the question of whether or not there is a continuity between Debord's mediated society and

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57:45

#113: Merenda - Reading Arendt to Rethink Truth,...

Critical Media Studies ·

2026/02/20

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Federica Merenda’s essay, “Reading Arendt to Rethink Truth, Science, and Politics in the Era of Fake News”. They discuss Arendt’s distinction between factual truths and rational truths and how they reveal of the interplay of truth and politics.

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59:30

#112: Kracauer - Photography

Critical Media Studies ·

2026/02/06

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss the uncanny ways that Sigfreid Kracauer’s 1927 essay, Photography, anticipates the modern media landscape.

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47:22

#111: Siegfried Kracauer - Cult of Distraction: On...

Critical Media Studies ·

2026/01/23

Barry and Mike discuss Siegfried Kracauer's 1926 essay "Cult of Distraction: On Berlin's Picture Palaces." Written nearly 100 years ago, the essay is strangely relevant to our current political landscape. We pay special attention to Kracauer's unique notion of distraction, which contra Stiegler, Kracauer views as a stimulus to thought.

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43:51

#110: Yudkowski and Soares - If Anyone Builds it,...

Critical Media Studies ·

2026/01/09

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss “If Anyone Builds it, Everyone Dies: Why Superhuman AI Would Kill Us All” by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares. They discuss the main arguments about the inevitability of our demise at the hands of superhuman intelligence and present a few alternatives to this doomsday scenario.

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44:36

#109: Rachel Bitecofer -The Whole World Is Getting...

Critical Media Studies ·

2025/12/26

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Rachel Bitecofer’s substack article, “The Whole World is Getting Dumber (And the Smartphone Did It.)” We question whether her solution of banning smart phones from the classroom will make much of a difference or if we just have to go “scorched earth” on technology to regain our attention and focus.

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51:56

#108: Alberto Romero - AI Video Should Be Illegal

Critical Media Studies ·

2025/12/12

In this episode we discuss Alberto Romero’s Substack article on AI video. While Romero argues that perhaps we should seek legal remedies to the problems of deepfake video, Barry and Mike consider an alternative. They discuss the issues that deepfake video brings to the fore and wonder whether the problems caused by deepfake technologies can be resolved by law or if these technologies should be engaged pharmacologically.

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45:42

Alberto Romero - The Most Important Skill in the 21st...

Critical Media Studies ·

2025/11/28

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss “The Most Important Skill in the 21st Century,” Alberto Romero’s polemical defense of boredom in the media entertainment age.They discuss whether it’s possible to be bored today in the way that Romero seems to require.

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32:35

#106: Bernard Steigler - Elements of Pharmacology, pt. 2

Critical Media Studies ·

2025/11/14

This is part two of our discussion of Bernard Steigler's "Elements of Pharmacology". This time, Barry and Michael focus on Stiegler's discussion of the unique challenges posed by new digital 'pharmaka.'

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31:33

#105: Bernard Steigler - Elements of Pharmacology

Critical Media Studies ·

2025/10/31

This week on Critical Media Studies, Barry and Michael discuss Bernard Stiegler's "Elements of Pharmacology," a transcription of an interview with the Frenchphilosopher from June 2020, just two months prior to Stiegler's passing. This episode focuses on Stiegler's exposition of his key term "the pharmakon" and the defining role it plays in his media theory.

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52:16

#104: Juan Fontcuberta and the “paper-hankie picture”

Critical Media Studies ·

2025/10/17

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss “The Eye of God”, chapter 2 of Juan Fontcuberta’s book, Pandora’s Camera.They reflect upon the impacts that the shift from analogue to digital photography and consider whether the digital image “kills us just as much as it gives us life

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55:48

#103: Fontcuberta - Pandora's Camera

Critical Media Studies ·

2025/10/03

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Juan Fontcuberta’s “Pandora’s Camera” (2014). They discuss his take on Barthes and Kracauer’s theories about the relations between photography, philosophy, modernity, and existence.

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52:38

Andre Bazin - Ontology of the Photographic Image

Critical Media Studies ·

2025/09/19

In the “Ontology of the Photographic Image,” Andre Bazin makes the provocative claim that the invention of photography is "clearly the most important event in the history of the plastic arts." At the same time, Bazin questions our naïve faith that the photographic image is just as real as the object that it depicts. He goes on to provide an alternative history of painting and photography, highlighting the ways we value mechanical agency over human creativity. In this episode, Barry and Mike discuss

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49:54

#101: Heidegger - The Thing, pt. 2

Critical Media Studies ·

2025/09/05

This is the second of two discussions of Martin Heideger’s essay “The Thing.” Please see episode #100 for the first installment, which set the table (jug joke) for this discussion. In this episode Barry and Mike focus on Heidegger’s notion of “nearness” and the “thingliness” of the jug/thing.

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37:54

#100: Heidegger - The Thing, pt. 1

Critical Media Studies ·

2025/08/22

In this episode Barry and Mike begin their two-part discussion of Martin Heidegger’s 1949 lecture, “The Thing.”They focus on his concept of distancenessless as a unique problem of modernity and discuss how what he calls nearness might serve as an antidote.

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48:20

#99: On Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Artificial...

Critical Media Studies ·

2025/08/08

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss the idea of “frictionless” relationships in the age of artificial intimacy. ErikaHayasaki – “What Would a Real Friendship With A.I. Look Like? Maybe Like Hers?The New York Times Magazine7/20/2025TED Radio Hour -- How our relationships are changing in the age of “artificial intimacy"Friday,August2, 2024

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42:51

#98: The Re-enchanted World - Karl Knausgaard

Critical Media Studies ·

2025/07/25

In this episode Barry and Mike discuss Karl Ove Knausgaard’s article, “The Reenchanted World: On Finding Mystery in the Digital Age.” They examine Knausgaard’s proposed solution to the problem of the separation of knowledge from experience in an increasingly technological world.

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35:17

#97: AI in Art. A follow up to the Rob Horning...

Critical Media Studies ·

2025/07/11

In this episode Barry and Mike continue their discussion of the place of AI in art.They experiment with Suno and discuss the results.You can listen to those results at the links below.Barry's Tomatoes Barry's Tomatoes as Rock and Roll

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115 results

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