Pill Pod 27 - The Burnout Society (Exclusive)
Added 2021-01-26 03:46:46 +0000 UTCYou demanded, and we capitulated. Here is our discussion of The Burnout Society by Byung-Chul Han.
Find the book here: https://amzn.to/3sW85IL
Comments
Zizek's 'I would rather not' finds traction in China: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/05/the-low-desire-life-why-people-in-china-are-rejecting-high-pressure-jobs-in-favour-of-lying-flat
Wayne Ha
2021-07-14 18:15:04 +0000 UTCFreedom as you're using it here is definitely a simulacrum: your free time isn't really free, as you need time to recuperate, time to do household chores, time to prepare for the next day(s) of work, and now, time to spend hustling to get that side income, time to monetise any hobbies you may have, and, of course, to consume. Erik totally killed it with the 'we are the masters and the slaves' bit. And Victor's bit on 'you don't HAVE to go on Twitter' and Matt's 'don't you want to be competitive' etc etc reminded me of Deleuzian control, where those who do play the game and who do go full competitive (might) get that position, or that higher income or whatever and those who don't want to get filtered by the system into lesser achiever's with less access to real and social capital. Great stuff as usual, definitely not boring.
anacidcommie
2021-05-07 16:23:53 +0000 UTCHey Pills can't remember which episode you talked about this so I'm just going to post here, but there are people who tweet as an artistic process. See scallopshotel and Exiscath as a couple of examples
Myles Jeffers
2021-03-24 18:39:10 +0000 UTC'There is no such thing as mental health, only tiredness', said an elder Asian relative.
Wayne Ha
2021-03-07 09:28:46 +0000 UTCReally good discussion
Matthew
2021-01-29 12:18:35 +0000 UTCI really enjoyed this one, one of favorites, but with one caveat, god damn you guys couldn’t all just read “Bartleby the scrivener”? 😆 It’s such a great story and it’s like 30 pages I had to break balls a little, sorry, I love the pod 😀
Matthew Battaglia
2021-01-27 20:26:11 +0000 UTCThat's good feedback, thanks. It was intentionally charitable, I think, with the goal as a presentation of "here's what readers can get from this book" than a critical reading. The disagreements usually come up with the authors we know really well, or assume you all know about already. Thanks for the input though, there's always points of disagreement to bring up between the 'poles' of the pod, and we can articulate those differences if it's educational.
Plastic Pills
2021-01-27 05:45:34 +0000 UTCJust a comment on the format. I liked listening to it. But the fact that you were in so strong agreement made it feel a bit long winded, and as of two voices would’ve suited it better. Of course you can’t know if that’ll be the case up front. But I think the pods where you disagree carry much more information.
Theis Egeberg
2021-01-27 05:02:38 +0000 UTCA video on Bartleby and interpretations would be awesome. As you said, many have written on him and I feel like the character is relevant for understanding the present.
Guillermo Garrido-Lestache Vidal
2021-01-26 23:13:26 +0000 UTCGerman-American here, definitely agree. You'll certainly hear things like "the newest star of German philosophy," which may be where people are getting the idea that he's overrated, but I don't think I'd quite call him a public intellectual so much as a popular philosopher/cultural critic.
Dawson Highland
2021-01-26 18:06:39 +0000 UTC“There are no more slaves and masters, only slaves commanding other slaves” from Anti Oedipus. A lot of the discussion reminded me of that quote.
Ian Banghart
2021-01-26 16:57:14 +0000 UTCHey there. Great Episode as always! As one of your German patrons I have to say I've heard about Byung-Chul Han before, but he is not a very visible figure in the public discourse. You are most likely to encounter him in the feuilleton section of one of the more serious newspapers when some critic analyses his work. I would compare him more to a popular intellectual like Richard David Precht than to the more serious ones like Jürgen Habermas or Peter Sloterdijk.
Mathias Vonende
2021-01-26 14:10:28 +0000 UTCIt's definitely in the same family, though the key difference is that One Dimensional Man focused on the creation of the consumer, in that consumption is a "reward" for alienated labour, whereas the achievement society creates a producer, or a hyper-producer, such that even after wrapping up your day at the alienation factory there's more to do to "work on yourself" when you get home.
Plastic Pills
2021-01-26 13:43:56 +0000 UTCSo how much further do you think this book expands on some of the principles of One Dimensional Man or Fear of Freedom/Sane Society? Enjoyed this format, look forward to more.
Ryan Beveridge
2021-01-26 13:01:24 +0000 UTCTrue say! Think that comes up near the end
Plastic Pills
2021-01-26 05:45:10 +0000 UTCAYYE Pills looks like my Byung Chul Han recommendation resonated well (; I remember you didn’t know who he was when I recommended the Transparency Society
1DimeMan
2021-01-26 03:50:17 +0000 UTC
