Interviews & Podcasts
Hosts Vinson Cunningham, Naomi Fry, and Alexandra Schwartz discuss Speculative Communities and my concept of Homo Speculans on their CRITICS AT LARGE podcast: A fascination with mysticism has swept across the culture, cropping up in astrology apps such as Co-Star and shows like “The Curse” and “True Detective.” What does our obsession with predicting the future say about our present? (listen from around 39:00’’).
Interviewed by the Spanish daily EL PAIS on how ultra-liberalism and precariousness created the ‘cryptobros.’ I argued that to understand the current tide of crypto-politics around the globe it is important to focus on the collective imaginaries that fuel it.
Locarno Film Festival Futurespectives
Interviewed by Gabby Sanderson for the Locarno Film Festival podcast, alongside guests ranging from Matt Dillon to Daisy Edgar-Jones. We discussed the role of speculation in the the worlds of film and visual culture, and how critical sociology can help with navigating the present climate of uncertainty in the arts and creative industry.
The Majority Report with Sam Seder
Interviewed by Emma Vigeland for one of America’s best political news shows. Over coffee, we discussed the different meanings of speculation in economics and everyday life, the persisting appeal of Trumpism, and the potential for a more progressive speculative politics in today’s financialised world.
Interviewed by On The Ledger podcast host Ian Rogers on my book Speculative Communities. We had a lively discussion about some of the following questions: In this age of modern loneliness, is swiping the new sign of being part of a community? What do regressive conspiracy movements tell us about a new sense of belonging? With the hyper financialization of our everyday lives, should we demonize new technologies and speculation?
Interviewed by the Against the Grain hosts on California’s radical radio KPFA 94.1 FM. We discussed the so-called ‘anxiety epidemic’ among university students and its links to financialization, as well as the possibilities of resistance and new forms of solidarity through the politics of anxiety.
Interviewed by political analyst Alex Hochuli for the global politics podcast Aufhebunga Bunga. We seem unable to make long-lasting commitments. Everything is uncertain. Do dating apps, Tik Tok and other social media give birth to 'speculative communities'? And is populism a speculation on the future, a leap into the unknown? Are 'speculative communities' the way out of our impasse?
Hosted by the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne, Germany, I gave a public lecture on my book Speculative Communities. The lecture focused on the controversial history of financial speculation, from the birth of Chicago’s first formalised futures markets to today’s worlds of crypto-trading and NFT art.
Hosted by the London Review of Books Bookshop, I was in conversation with some of my favourite thinkers: artist and writer James Bridle, journalist and commentator Grace Blakeley, sociologist and LRB contributor Will Davies. For the UK launch of my book Speculative Communities, we discussed the cult of crypto-trading, the meanings of solidarity in the face of conspiracy illusions, and possibilities for counter-speculative politics.
Hosted and interviewed by Grace Blakeley at Tribune magazine, for her regular podcast featuring socialist news, theory and action with guests from around the world. Discussing the formation of a new kind of subject – homo speculans – and how mutual cooperation in the context of the deep and pervasive uncertainty that characterises life under financial capitalism is building new communities and new forms of resistance to financialisation.
Concepts for the ‘New Normal’: Speculation
Contribution to a UCL Institute of Advanced Studies Talk Piece. Is speculation a useful term to think about our current times? And can multiple forms of speculation and their conflation help us understand our way into the new normal and our material and psychological circumstances? With André M. Carrington (UC Riverside), Ming Tsao (composer) and Marina Vishmidt (Goldsmiths). Music by Afrikan Sciences, Ming Tsao, Active Denial System and Shō.
Conspiracy Games and Counter-games
https://conspiracy.games
Podcast Season (2021-2022). Co-produced and presented with Max Haiven and AT Kingsmith: a research and intervention project exploring the rise of conspiracies, conspiracy theories and conspiratorial thinking in a gamified capitalist world.
The Order of Unmanageable Risks
https://anxious.community
Podcast Season (2020-2021). Co-produced and presented with Max Haiven: a research and intervention project exploring how economic forces shape our mental health, and asking bigger questions about how a system of chaotic uncertainty and risk management leads to an anxious society.
Counterspeculations audiotour of the City of London
Podcast produced with the UCL Urban Laboratory: an interactive walking guide to the City of London, the square mile of England’s capital known for centuries as a hub for the development of finance capital.