History of Philosophy Audio Archive

A few reflections on Bertrand Arthur William Russell, Third Earl and author of some of my favorite books.

Nuclear Risk Editorial Fellow Jack Kennedy https://jackkennedy.ie/about/ comes back for the second time to talk Strait of Hormuz, Israel's nuclear option, NATO proliferation risks, Nixon, Kissinger, and Vietnam. "Belt of radioactive cobalt" mentioned. By the way, ships are already paying in Yuan to access the Strait, and the IRGC has confirmed control of a working route through the Strait - if you pay in Chinese money...Follow Jack on BlueskyFollow Will on Substack - by the way, if you haven't rated the show on Spotify or Apple, please do so. The algo is suppressing my ratings to some degree. The Patreon version of this show has better music.Sources Mentioned:Iran’s Parliament working on bill to impose fees on ships in Strait of Hormuz (March 26 2026, AP)Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski (Carter Admin, Operation Cyclone) admits to using Mujahedeen fighters to create quagmire for Soviets - Jan 1998Poland seeks as much autonomy as possible in terms of nuclear arms, Tusk says (Reuters, March 3 2026)Not One Inch - M. E. SarotteGoverning From the Skies by Thomas HipplerThe Samson Option by Seymour HershWAS IT OBLITERATION? The US attack on Iran may not have wiped out its nuclear ambitions but it did set them back years by Seymour HershCamus editorial after Hiroshima (Aug 8th 1945)In The Loop (2009 British Diplomatic Comedy)The Thick of It (Also British Political Comedy)Inside the Kremlin's Cold War by Zubok and Pleshakov 1890 treatise Alfred Thayer Mahan The Influence of Sea Power on HistoryMusic and Image Credits:Didn't Know What I Was In For by Better Oblivion Community CenterCurb Your Enthusiasm Song Cover (YouTube)Cover Image: by Domiri Ganji (permission requested)GeneralOperation Unthinkable (Churchill)Arkangel Intervention / North Russia interventionHuman Remains in Space over Navajo ObjectionsThe Algiers Putsch 1961Operation Vulture (US Nuclear Negotiation with France over Dien Bien Phu, 1954, Dulles and Radford)1979 Vela Incident

Hiroshima rages while Nagasaki prays. FULL EPISODE DESCRIPTION ON PATREONI'm joined for a second time by friend of the show Franco Castro Escobar, a PhD researcher at Keele University in the UK. This time we discuss life in Nagasaki before, during, and after the nuclear attack, trauma and education, the developmental origins of youth antinuclear activists, hibaku Maria and the destruction of the Urakami Cathedral, Iwo Jima and the Pacific Theater, disaster storytelling and kataribe, militarism in San Diego, efforts to rewrite and suppress history in Japan, Iris Chang and Nanking, and American imperial activities vis a vis the dreaded "counterproliferation" - empowering allies to acquire nuclear weapons or attack adversary states with nuclear breakout potential as an alternative to diplomacy.We also talk about the beautiful camphor trees in Nagasaki, many of which are still alive today despite being charred and cracked by nuclear blast, the longstanding commitment to nonviolence and prayer as an alternative to hatred in Nagasaki, and some important poetry and theology connected to the hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor) movement that expresses the 'ultimate aspiration' of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to be the last cities attacked by atomic bombs as we transition to a more peaceful world, one that must be free of nuclear weapons and threats of their retention and use.This episode aims to answer a few questions that ought to be important to all of us, namely:How can children be taught the truth about the historical effects and current reality of nuclear weapons proliferation?Why did the United States really attack Hiroshima and Nagasaki?How do religious beliefs (and the lack thereof) influence how people interpret collective tragedies and respond?SHOW NOTESFranco's article Youth antinuclear socialisation in Japan: early encounters with the concept of nuclear weaponsUrakami Cathedral, largest Catholic cathedral in AsiaBook: The Bells of Nagasaki by Takashi NagaiResearch Center for Nuclear Weapons AbolitionKataribe StorytellingDisaster StorytellingMinamata Mercury Poisoning ScandalBarefoot Gen (Best Hiroshima teaching resource for kids, acc to Franco, genre: Anime and Manga)Book: Nagasaki by Susan SouthardBook: Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor CoerrBook: Flags of Our Fathers by James BradleyBook: When We Say Hiroshima: Selected Poems by Kurihara SadakoBook: Command and Control by Eric SchlosserBook: Nuclear War: A Scenario by Anne JacobsenBook: The Rape of Nanking by Iris ChangThe 1971 Blood Telegram (Bangladesh Genocide/US State Dept)Music Credit (Fair Use Asserted by Author): 福山雅治 - クスノキ-500年の風に吹かれて-（KUSUNOKI PROJECT ver.） https://youtu.be/JumRmUwmOgs

Happy Equinox. The Beginning, is at last: beginning.Music Credit: Beethoven / Piano Concerto No. 5 "Emperor" Gernot Schmalfuss / Music Director and Chief Conductor Gwhyneth Chen / Piano Evergreen Symphony Orchestra National Concert Hall, Taipei, Taiwan 13 Nov. 2020 (Creative Commons).Percy Bysshe ShelleyHymn to the Spirit of Nature (1820).from Prometheus Unbound (Act II, Scene V):Life of Life! Thy lips enkindleWith their love the breath between them;And thy smiles before they dwindleMake the cold air fire; then screen themIn those locks, where whoso gazesFaints, entangled in their mazes.Child of Light! Thy limbs are burningThrough the veil which seems to hide them,As the radiant lines of morningThrough thin clouds, ere they divide them;And this atmosphere divinestShrouds thee wheresoe'er thou shinest.Fair are others; none beholds Thee;But thy voice sounds low and tenderLike the fairest, for it folds theeFrom the sight, that liquid splendor;And all feel, yet see thee never,—As I feel now, lost for ever!Lamp of Earth! Wheree'er thou movestIts dim shapes are clad with brightness,And the souls of whom thou lovestWalk upon the winds with lightnessTill they fail, as I am failing,Dizzy, lost, yet unbewailing!

You can find the full talk from March 2025, officially-titled "Normalizing Genocide and the New World Order" at the link below, via The Sanctuary for Independent Media, which Chris has lectured at for years. Chris also writes on Substack "The Chris Hedges Report" and has a podcast of the same name.Hedges also wrote something like 12 books, which I've read about 9 of, personally. Each was life-changing. I would start with "Our Class: Trauma and Transformation in an American Prison" (2014) by Chris Hedges.Rest of episode description available free on Patreon.

Full episode description on PatreonI am joined (just in time for the all-important Vernal Equinox on March 21st) - with the brilliant and timely Dr. Maya Kornberg https://www.mayakornberg.com/.Her new book STUCK: How Money, Media, and Violence Prevent Change in Congress was released March 10th and can be purchased now. (Non-affiliate link). Personal Disclaimer: I was given a hardcover of this book to review by Page One Media. I have never paid anyone, nor has anyone ever paid me, nor will anyone ever pay, to come on my show.Dr. Kornberg is a senior research fellow at NYU Law's Brennan Center for Justice and the author of Inside Congressional: Committees: Function and Dysfunction in the Legislative Process.SOUND AND IMAGE CREDITS:Intro: Schubert, Impromptu No. 3 in G-flat Major by Max John. Link's to Max's work in other episode descriptions or by searching YouTube.Please watch as much Frank Capra as possible, including Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) from which I derive the cover image as well, apparently, as the absolutely bizarre trailer at the end, which you can watch here, courtesy Sony Pictures Entertainment (don't DMCA me, you swine! - it is artistic commentary and I assert Fair Use!):https://youtu.be/bXoF7w6IWAc

RIP Habermas. Rick Roderick and Michael Sugrue (both also gone, Sugrue earlier this year) remember the life and theory of Jürgen Habermas and the Frankfurt School."Don't think that this is some fancy-Dan academic exercise. A lot of people have died because they read a book the wrong way. "-Rick Roderick on Habermas and the importance of the humanities.

If you enjoy this work, please support the show on Patreon!Will (the host) writes a Substack page about various and sundry topics. Plotinus (204-270 CE) was a mystical philosopher who transformed Plato's metaphysical ideas about the Forms and the divine intellect or nous into a spiritual path. In this lecture, Pierre Grimes (1924-2024 CE) introduces Plotinus and his work as recorded by his student Porphyry in The Enneads - a six-part treatise on the mystical ascent of the soul."That which gives pre-eminence to the members of any class...is the word 'Greatness... No one would have an interest in that experience, if it was not also Beautiful"-this 03/24/1998 lecture, catalogue number NSPRS 092You can find the original video, with chalkboard explanations here.https://youtu.be/Cvs52cBjpgU?list=PLp6rnhCy8XkqKXmCtLRqC4hOFnEaVVWZxThe Internet home for the Noetic Society is available here, on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@NoeticSocietyPierre Grimes had a remarkable life. He was an American boy who volunteered to fight Fascism at the age of 17, and earned a Bronze Star with an Oak Leaf Cluster, a Purple Heart, and a Bronze Arrowhead (for the amphibious landing at Dramont "Red Beach" in the south of France, part of Operation Dragoon). For WW2-heads he served in the 1st Battalion, 142nd Infantry Regiment (part of the 36th Infantry Division). He saw heavy combat in the European theater, and participated in the grotesque and shocking liberation of 'satellite' concentration camps outside of Dachau.After the war, Grimes used philosophy to work with alcoholics on substance abuse. He thought the Socratic method of maieutics or 'midwifery' was a broadly-applicable dialectical procedure that could show false and disempowering beliefs for what they were, thus eliminating the root cause of a patient's substance-seeking and self-defeating behaviors. He wrote a pair of modern Socratic-style dialogues titled the Vinodorus and the Alcibiades in an attempt to promote philosophy as psychotherapy, and philosophy as a way of life.In this way, he resembles another philosophical psychotherapist whose work was transformed by his experience of the Nazi Holocaust, Jewish survivor Viktor Frankl. Frankl, like Grimes, was horrified at how casually otherwise decent people could commit acts of total moral worthlessness. He saw their easily parallelized nature, a normalized schizophrenia: at once decent family men who put others first and strove for wisdom and faith, and at the other extreme: disciplined killers and torturers who accomplished their task with vigor, clarity, enthusiasm, and yes, even Joy (As in Joy Division). The shock of Grimes' experience liberating these camps, combined with the heavy fighting he saw near the Monte Artemisio ridge and elsewhere left a deep mark, and triggered a search for wisdom in Greek and Hellenistic philosophy as well as the classics of Indian, Hindu, and Buddhist spirituality.In 1967 he started the Noetic Society to study Socrates, Plato, and the Neoplatonists along with Indian religion, tantra, and Zen. One of his most intriguing experiments was the software program "To Artemis: The Challenge to Know Thyself" which used "400 structured questions" to model a process users could follow to solve their own problems and explore their beliefs. This is no longer extant anywhere on the Internet - I have posted in various places trying to resurrect it, but to no avail. If you are willing to waste some time, contact whoever is left at this place, and see if we can revive Artemis, or at least read the questions.https://www.noeticsociety.org/members--//--Music by Max John, Schubert Impromptu No.3 in G-flat Majorhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icowasnkEqw

ADVISORY - Contains explicit description of warfare, killing, torture, and mutilation.FULL EPISODE DESCRIPTION ON PATREONMusic by Anapse.

FULL EPISODE DESCRIPTION ON PATREONI, William Engels, write articles on Substack.Books Mentioned:Arendt: Origins of TotalitarianismArendt: The Human ConditionArendt: Between Past and FutureProgressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness by Ven. Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche"Natality" as a conceptThe Heart Sutra2666 by Roberto Bolaño (review so far, on page 250 of 1000 - no exaggeration - depressing and smart, but still a bit boring.The VALIS Trilogy by Philip K. Dick

I read Epictetus Discourses and Enchiridion with Professor Gregory Sadler https://gregorybsadler.substack.com/ - although we both started off by dunking a bit on Bertrand Russell.Full show notes with books/links for free on Patreon

RIP Bruno Latour (1947-2022)Follow Will’s writing on his Substack page, Hemlock:https://williamengels.substack.comSupport the entire show on Patreon and get early access:https://patreon.com/c/hemlockpatreonIn 2013, philosopher Bruno Latour delivered his lecture series “Facing Gaia: Six Lectures on the Political Theology of Nature” at the St. Cecilia Hall inside the University of Edinburgh. These are the six lectures:Lecture 1: Once Out of NatureLecture 2: The New Climatic RegimeLecture 3: The Puzzling Face of a Secular GaiaLecture 4: Anthropocene and the Destruction of the GlobeLecture 5: War of the WorldsLecture 6: Inside the "Parliaments of Nature"For further context, you can read the full discussion guide (144 pages) here. Here's a quick intro taken from the discussion guide (which was dedicated to Continental philosopher Peter Sloterdijk):Summary of the lectures: Those six lectures in ‘natural religion’ explore what it could mean to live at the epoch of the Anthropocene when what was until now a mere décor for human history is becoming the principal actor. They confront head on the controversial figure of Gaia, that is, the Earth understood not as system but as what has a history, what mobilizes everything in the same geostory. Gaia is not Nature, nor is it a deity. In order to face a secular Gaia, we need to extract ourselves from the amalgam of Religion and Nature. It is a new form of political power that has to be explored through a renewed attempt at political theology composed of those three concepts: demos, theos and nomos. It is only once the multiplicity of people in conflicts for the new geopolitics of the Anthropocene is recognized, that the ‘planetary boundaries’ might be recognized as political delineations and the question of peace addressed. Neither Nature nor Gods bring unity and peace. ‘The people of Gaia’, the Earthbound might be the ‘artisans of peace’.The lectures are organized by groups of two, the two first ones deal with the question of Natural Religion per se and show that the notion is confusing because on the one hand 'nature' and 'religion' share too many attributes and, on the other, the two notions fail to register the originality of scientific practice and the specificity of the religious regime of enunciation.Once the pleonasm of Natural Religion is pushed aside, it becomes possible to take up, in the next two lectures, the question,first of Gaia as it has been conceived by James Lovelock and of the Anthropocene, as it has been explored by geologists and climate scientists. It is thus possible to differentiate the figure of the Earth and of the agencies that populate it from the notion of nature and of the globe thus bringing to the fore the geostory to which they all belong.In the last two lectures, after the notion of Natural Religion has been put aside, and after the complete originality of Gaia and geostory have been foregrounded, it becomes possible to reopen the political question at the heart of what will be life at the Anthropocene. Once the key question of war has been introduced, the search for a peace along the delineations allowed by politically relevant 'planetary boundaries' to which Earthbound (the new word for Humans) accept to be bound become again possible.Credits:Art Credit: Egyptian Fragment of Queen's Face, Amarna Period, Ancient Egypt, Metropolitan Museum of New York. Carved in yellow jasper. Creative Commons.Source Material, University of Edinburgh, 2013. Fair Use.Ending Song: Anastasia Huppmann performs Beethoven, Piano Sonata No.30 in E major. Creative Commons.Interlude Song: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 4 in E-flat major, performed by Burhan Erdemir. Creative Commons.Intro Song: Schubert, Impromptu No.3 in G-flat major, performed by Max John. Creative Commons.

"Fascism is the desire for a simple folk tale" - Thomas Mann, I think.Substack's and LEPHT HAND's own Emma Stamm https://substack.com/@elftheory rejoins Will for a follow-up conversation on nuclear weapons technology, Martin Heidegger's Question Concerning Technology (1954), artificial intelligence, psychedelics research, and why becoming idiots might save us in the end.Follow William Engels' writing on Substack:williamengels.substack.comFollow Will's entire creative output on Patreon.com:patreon.com/c/hemlockpatreonReferences:Walter Benjamin, Sixth Thesis on the Concept of HistoryJudith Herman (Trauma and Recovery)Castle Bravo Thermonuclear Bomb TestAtoms for Peace (1954)William Lovitt edition of Heidegger's essays, including Question Concerning Technology

RIP Michael Parenti (1933-2026). A brave, undimmed (sometimes controversial, of course) critic of that great juggernaut of death: the American Empire.HoPAA #180Watch the full video here from the College of DuPage here:https://youtu.be/OOF56wYTl1wREAD TRANSCRIPT AND POST MEMES ON PATREON:https://www.patreon.com/posts/151201440

Reading Martin Heidegger is tough. Here to introduce us to some core concepts in The Question Concerning Technology (1954) is Greg Sadler, whose YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@GregoryBSadler "That Philosophy Guy" has just racked up over 170K subscribers and whose podcast Sadler's Lectures (Spotify Link) is updated almost every day, including an ongoing discussion of Jeremy Bentham.This 2-part lecture, which you can watch on YouTube here covers Heidegger's discussion of Aristotelian causality, including the so-called 'Four Causes' as well as Heidegger's discussion of unveiling and bringing-forth (aletheia, Greek), enframing (Gestell) and standing-reserve. Rest of the shownotes on the Patreon post.

Hemlock #42 - Support the History of Philosophy Audio Archive on Patreon, and follow William Engels's writing on Substack.I am joined on this episode by independent writer and philosopher Emma Stamm to discuss the late, great, Mark Fisher. Emma is a member of the theory collective LEPHT HAND, and she has a new online course enrolling soon/now on Mark Fisher's "Acid Communism." You can also follow Emma's writing (Elf Theory) on Substack.SHOW NOTES:Books and Articles Referenced:Books by Mark Fisher:Acid Communism (Unfinished Introduction, 2016)Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? (2009)The Weird and the Eerie (2016)Postcapitalist Desire: The Final Lectures (2020)Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology, and Lost Futures (2014)K-Punk: Politics (Anthology, 2020)More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity (2025) by Adam BeckerTrauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror (1992) by Judith HermanPostscript on the Societies of Control (1990) by Gilles DeleuzeWorks by philosopher Byung-Chul Han:The Agony of Eros (2017)Psychopolitics: Neoliberalism and New Technologies of Power (2014)The Burnout Society (2010)Gaia Wakes: Earth's Emergent Consciousness in an Age of Environmental Devastation (2025) by Topher McDougalBook that Emma and I did NOT like about 'longtermism' and Effective Altruism: What We Owe the Future (2022) by William MacAskillOther Events, People, References:Haight-Ashbury Human Be-In (January 1967)Jacob Chansley the " QAnon Shaman"Timothy Leary and Eldridge Cleaver do LSD in Algeria (1970)

For Hemlock #41 on the History of Philosophy Audio Archive I am joined by MKUltra survivor Bill Yarborough to discuss government secrecy, Cold War hijinks, the refinement of torture techniques over the years, and the history of domestic covert operations in the United States.This episode contains descriptions of torture and child abuse, so please be forewarned.Bill has recently published a book (a work of fiction inspired by real experiences) about MKUltra. We dug in deep on the Cold War, the nuclear arms race, the Third Reich, movies about Nixon, Johnson, and Kennedy, and the origin of US torture programs in Latin America and elsewhere.NOTESBooks Referenced on the Show:Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control by Stephen Kinzer. (Highly Recommended / Excellent Author)The Search for the Manchurian Candidate: The CIA & Mind Control by John D. MarksThe Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism by Naomi Klein (also highly recommended. Klein is a marvelous journalist and writer).The Crying of Lot 49 (1966) by Thomas Pynchon (see the bit about "Dr. Hilarius" from Wikipedia:Dr. Hilarius – Oedipa's psychiatrist, who tries to prescribe LSD to Oedipa as well as to other housewives. Toward the end of the book, he goes crazy and admits to being a former Nazi medical intern at Buchenwald concentration camp, where he worked in a program on experimentally-induced insanity, which he supposed was a more "humane" way of dealing with Jewish prisoners than killing.JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died & Why It Matters by James W. Douglass (2008). Very good Kennedy assassination book. Includes an interesting discussion of Thomas Merton's (possible) assassination as well, along with rich connections to liberation theology.Movies Referenced on the Show:Secret Honor (Robert Altman, 1984)Thirteen Days (Roger Donaldson, 2000)Nixon: Director's Cut (Oliver Stone, 1995)Historical Events and Other References:Lead article in the Canadian Press about MKUltra lawsuitsOperation Paperclip (OSS/CIA Operation to bring Nazis to US)Hemi-Sync (Project Stargate developed guided meditation album for out-of-body experiences, one friend called it 'DIY MKUltra')Operation Sea-Spray (Domestic US Navy biological warfare experiment in SF)Operation Sunrise (OSS/Allen Dulles attempt to negotiate separate peace with Heinrich Himmler, AKA the Berne incident)Otto Ambros (Nazi concentration camp chemist, developer of Sarin gas and thalidomide)Otto Skorzeny (Waffen SS officer, rescued Benito Mussolini from prison, GLADIO operative)Unit 731 (Japanese Imperial Army biological warfare unit)Mike Mansfield (Senator, called for CIA oversight committee)Project Plowshare (theoretical nuclear terraforming of landscapes)Operation Gladio (stay-behind paramilitary network in Europe of far-right gangsters and mercenaries)40 Committee (Assassination program established under Eisenhower and headed by VP Nixon, responsible for planning Castro's assassination)Operation Midnight Climax (subproject of MKUltra, sex and interrogation)E. Howard Hunt (CIA agent, White House "plumber" under Nixon, prolific author)Happy nightmare reading...

Support the Archive on Patreon! Follow William Engels's writing on Substack. Who do the Black Hills really belong to? Was George Armstrong Custer a hero, an idiot, or a fanatic? Who carved Mount Rushmore, and what was it supposed to represent (the "apotheosis of Western Civilization?") What happened at Wounded Knee (in 1890, and 1973) - and why does Secretary of War (sic) Pete Hegseth (sick) want to make sure that those Medals of Honor are preserved?My guest on Hemlock #40 was Matthew Davis, author of A Biography of a Mountain: The Making and Meaning of Mount Rushmore available now in bookstores. You can read more about Matthew on his website, https://www.matthewdaviswriter.com/NOTESBooks:The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David TreuerAmerican Holocaust: The Conquest of the New World by David E. StannardDeath Sonnet for Custer by Walt Whitman (later titled "From Far Dakota's Canons" in Leaves of Grass:FROM far Dakota's cañons,Lands of the wild ravine, the dusky Sioux, the lonesome stretch, thesilence,Haply to-day a mournful wail, haply a trumpet-note for heroes.The battle-bulletin,The Indian ambuscade, the craft, the fatal environment,The cavalry companies fighting to the last in sternest heroism,In the midst of their little circle, with their slaughter'd horsesfor breastworks,The fall of Custer and all his officers and men.Continues yet the old, old legend of our race,The loftiest of life upheld by death, 10The ancient banner perfectly maintain'd,O lesson opportune, O how I welcome thee!As sitting in dark days,Lone, sulky, through the time's thick murk looking in vain for light,for hope,From unsuspected parts a fierce and momentary proof,(The sun there at the centre though conceal'd,Electric life forever at the centre,)Breaks forth a lightning flash.Thou of the tawny flowing hair in battle,I erewhile saw, with erect head, pressing ever in front, bearing abright sword in thy hand, 20Now ending well in death the splendid fever of thy deeds,(I bring no dirge for it or thee, I bring a glad triumphal sonnet,)Desperate and glorious, aye in defeat most desperate, most glorious,After thy many battles in which never yielding up a gun or a colorLeaving behind thee a memory sweet to soldiers,Thou yieldest up thyself.

Support this work on PatreonRead the full write-up on this archive on William Engels's Substack, Hemlock.Part 1 of 2:We all have our little solipsistic delusions, ghastly intuitions of utter singularity: that we are the only one in the house who ever fills the ice-cube tray, who unloads the clean dishwasher, who occasionally pees in the shower, whose eyelid twitches on first dates; that only we take casualness terribly seriously; that only we fashion supplication into courtesy; that only we hear the whiny pathos in a dog's yawn, the timeless sigh in the opening of the hermetically-sealed jar, the splattered laugh in the frying egg, the minor-D lament in the vacuum's scream; that only we feel the panic at sunset the rookie kindergartner feels at his mother's retreat. That only we love the only-we. That only we need the only-we. Solipsism binds us together, J.D. knows. That we feel lonely in a crowd; stop not to dwell on what's brought the crowd into being. That we are, always, faces in a crowd."-Westward The Course Of Empire Takes Its Way", Girl With Curious HairIn an act of desperate folly, I have collated (by my count, which could be wrong) twenty-nine different recordings of DFW, (29!) - and placed them in as strict a chronological order as the otherwise-degraded catalogues of 90s and 00s public radio metadata will allow. There are various (much older) DFW audio archive projects - which I have used to make this - but they are half the size/accuracy/detail of THIS behemoth. May its 14 hour bulk guide you through the 14-hour night of the Winter Solstice. Depending on latitude.If you listen to this, you are empowered to say with a straight face that you have heard every interview that David Foster Wallace ever gave. This is my holiday gift to all of you, and my sign-off for the year, as I head home for Christmas.Enjoy.Music Credits: Creative Commons: Chopin, Raindrop Prelude Op 28 No 15, CC-0 performed by Rousseau (YouTube)

Support this work on Patreon⁠⁠Read the full write-up on this archive on William Engels's Substack, Hemlock.⁠Part 2 of 2:We all have our little solipsistic delusions, ghastly intuitions of utter singularity: that we are the only one in the house who ever fills the ice-cube tray, who unloads the clean dishwasher, who occasionally pees in the shower, whose eyelid twitches on first dates; that only we take casualness terribly seriously; that only we fashion supplication into courtesy; that only we hear the whiny pathos in a dog's yawn, the timeless sigh in the opening of the hermetically-sealed jar, the splattered laugh in the frying egg, the minor-D lament in the vacuum's scream; that only we feel the panic at sunset the rookie kindergartner feels at his mother's retreat. That only we love the only-we. That only we need the only-we. Solipsism binds us together, J.D. knows. That we feel lonely in a crowd; stop not to dwell on what's brought the crowd into being. That we are, always, faces in a crowd."-Westward The Course Of Empire Takes Its Way", Girl With Curious HairIn an act of desperate folly, I have collated (by my count, which could be wrong) twenty-nine different recordings of DFW, (29!) - and placed them in as strict a chronological order as the otherwise-degraded catalogues of 90s and 00s public radio metadata will allow. There are various (much older) DFW audio archive projects - which I have used to make this - but they are half the size/accuracy/detail of THIS behemoth. May its 14 hour bulk guide you through the 14-hour night of the Winter Solstice. Depending on latitude.If you listen to this, you are empowered to say with a straight face that you have heard every interview that David Foster Wallace ever gave. This is my holiday gift to all of you, and my sign-off for the year, as I head home for Christmas.Enjoy.Music Credits: Creative Commons: Chopin, Raindrop Prelude Op 28 No 15, CC-0 performed by Rousseau (⁠YouTube⁠)

SOCIALSWill’s Patreon - patreon.com/c/hemlockpatreonWill’s Substack (Hemlock) - williamengels.substack.comBad Role Models on YouTube: youtube.com/@hemlock-ytThe Big BRM Playlist on YouTubeBad Role Models is a co-production of Richard Sinex, Thomas Vanek, and William Engels.ERRATA:I said "Nicholas Drake" when I meant "Thomas A. Drake" the pre-Snowden NSA whistleblower who condemned Stellar Winds (I said "Solar Winds") and the Trailblazer Project as unconstitutional.REFERENCESThe Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West by Nicholas W. Zamiska and Alexander C. KarpThe Philosopher in the Valley: Alex Karp, Palantir, and the Rise of the Surveillance State by Michael SteinbergerThe Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley's Pursuit of Power by Max ChafkinNobody's Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice by Virginia Roberts GiuffreThe Collapse of Complex Societies: New Studies in Archaeology by Joseph A. TainterTotal Information Awareness (US Domestic Surveillance Proposal)Machines of Loving Grace (Hemlock Podcast Episode)

SOUND CREDIT: The Chamber Stage (YouTube)Support the boys (Thomas Vanek & Richard Sinex) and I on Patreon and YouTube:https://patreon.com/c/hemlockpatreonhttps://www.youtube.com/@hemlock-ytBecause someone will ask: the Nixon tape is from Feb 1st 1972 and features the Reverend Billy Graham giving his fascinating interpretation of the Jewish Question in the Oval Office. Nixon concludes (its' a little garbled on the tape) by saying "I believe it. I can't say it but I believe it."https://www.nixonlibrary.gov/white-house-tapes/662/conversation-662-004The books in question are "The Contrarian" by Max Chafkin (the better book, for the record) and "The Philosopher in the Valley" by Michael Steinberger.

Looks like we're stuck with the Bad Elves, Frodo.You can find Jake’s work on his website, (The Rip Current) and you can find his podcast (same name) on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. His 2022 book The Loop: How Technology is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight Back is available on Amazon. He also writes under The Rip Current on Substack: https://theripcurrent.substack.com/Support my work and keep this channel alive on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/c/HemlockPatreon

Hemlock #39Nuclear war, and nuclear risk, are still just as real and just as close as they have been during the tensest eras of the Cold War. I had questions about where suspected nuclear flashpoints were forming - in South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Japan, and Iran - and wanted to review Trump's record of militarizing outer space, resuming nuclear testing, pre-emptively attacking Iran's nuclear reactor sites, and spending billions in a never-ending American quest for "Star Wars" or missile defense (in this latest iteration: not Reagan's SDI, but rather The Golden Dome). Which is why I invited Jack on the show.Jack Kennedy is the nuclear risk editorial fellow for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. He is a doctoral candidate and research associate at the Centre for International Security at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. His research focuses include strategic stability under conditions of multipolarity, extended deterrence, and coercive diplomacy. He previously worked at the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office, and as a journalist. He holds a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. You can read Jack's very insightful article Washington's neglect of South Korea's security concerns is a proliferation problem here. We had a wide-ranging and largely in-tune conversation about horizontal proliferation, nuclear latency, real policy wonk shit like specific treaties, and dug into the nuclear histories of the US, Iraq, Pakistan, South Africa, and North Korea.All this to say: this is how you don't blow up the world.References:1981 Iraqi Osirak Reactor Bombing (Operation Opera)Seymour Hersh Article about Iran's Nuclear Reactor Strike:I sort-of misremembered this article - estimates vary on how much the US strike set back the program. I said 'sixty days' which I heard somewhere but can't recall. Sy Hersh suggests 'years' but others imagine less, given that the centrifuges were likely not destroyed but merely buried. The size of the setback is ultimately immaterial to the point being made, a question of tactics. The principle of the strike itself was what made the situation dangerous and destabilizing and ultimately unworkable.https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/was-it-obliteration?utm_source=publication-search

Buy Graham's book on Terence on Amazon!Graham's website: https://www.edgecentral.net/Reputable information about psilocybin and harm reduction:https://www.erowid.org/plants/mushrooms/mushrooms.shtmlJames Fadiman's book/manual: https://www.psychedelicexplorersguide.com/"We are the inheritors of one million years of striving for the unspeakable"-Terence McKennaMore on Patreon:https://patreon.com/c/hemlockpatreon

A Creative Commons Zero "No Rights Reserved" free, open-source audiobook, narrated by William Engels. This is from Part 1, titled "The Window," Chapters 1-5.One of the most beautifully written and mind-expanding works of modernist literature, Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse (1927) has recently entered the public domain. I wanted to celebrate by performing my way though the many "head-hops", metaphysical digressions, synesthetic collages, and iridescently shimmering prose passages that make up this short but potent work. Enjoy.Support this work on Patreon

History of Philosophy Audio Archive, Episode #177I have always loved Michael Sugrue, and I will never stop posting his talks. RIP to a legend (1957-2024). Always been curious about Goethe’s Faust (Parts I and II) and thought this was serve a good introduction. If looking for a physical copy, I have heard that the scholarly, complete, Princeton edition is really good.Hear all the updates on where the channel is going on my (free!) Patreon (Link to Hemlock Patreon).

Follow Dr. Roy on Social Media:Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTubeReferencesStephen Skowronek // "The Politics Presidents Make" (1993)Rational Choice Theory (1955) "A Behavioral Model of Rational Choice" by Herbert A. SimonThe Nixon movie I couldn't remember was "Secret Honor" (Robert Altman, 1984)Abramowitz et. al study of Southern Republicans https://journals.shareok.org/arp/article/view/366Goldsboro Nuclear Disaster (1961)Palomares Nuclear Incident (1966)Notable Esoteric Platonists: Leo Strauss and Allan BloomAspasia and Pericles the YoungerGroup 40/Project 40 and Richard NixonOtto Ambros (Third Reich Scientist/Operation Paperclip)Dialogues by Plato:Meno (Knowledge, geometry, 'rememberance')Republic (Justice, the Noble Lie)Laches (Instruction in courage)Symposium (Love, homosexuality, Diotima)Crito (Fidelity to the state, homeliness)Seventh Letter / Seventh Epistle (Esoteric Platonism)GAZA LINKS:Oxfam - https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/emergencies/gaza-and-israel-emergency-appeal/MSF (Doctors Without Borders) - https://www.msf.org/gaza-israel-warPalestinian Youth Movement - https://www.palestinianyouthmovement.com/

Support this work and unlock more of it (for free!) on Patreonhttps://patreon.com/c/hemlockpatreonThis is from Hubert Dreyfus' 2008 Berkeley undergraduate course Philosophy 7 "Existentialism in Literature and Film"https://archive.org/details/ucberkeley_webcast_itunesu_461120622\Course Description: The course will be organized around various attempts to reinterpret the Judeo/Christian God, and to determine in what sense, if at all, such a God is still a living God. We will study Dostoyevsky's and Kierkegaard's attempts to preserve a non-theological version of the God of Christianity, as well as Nietzsche's attempt to save us from belief in any version of God offered by our tradition. We will view and discuss three films that deal with related issues.Those films are, for the record:Hiroshima Mon Amour (Alain Resnais, 1959)The Third Man (Orson Welles, 1949)Breathless, French: "À bout de souffle" (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)The books being read are:Fear and Trembling & The Sickness Unto Death (Kierkegaard)The Brothers Karamazov (Dostoevsky)Twilight of the Idols & The Gay Science (Nietzsche)Cover art is Caspar David Friedrich, "Monk by the Sea"

Support Sabrina's work and educate yourself on Israel, Palestine, and the US while connecting with likeminded people: Not only will you learn about the history, Zionism, US involvement and more, but it's a great way to connect with others who care about what's happening and learn ways that you can take action. The next class session starts January 10. Reserve your spot by December 12th and get a class journal (digital download) with space for notes, reflection questions, resource lists, an FAQ guide, and more!Follow Sabrina on Bluesky:https://bsky.app/profile/notetoselfzine.bsky.socialSIGN UP LINK FOR THE CLASS:https://www.eventbrite.com/e/6-week-course-on-israel-palestine-and-the-us-tickets-1809690195089

Demolishing the White House is just the beginning.Subscribe to Will Sanchez on Substack!https://substack.com/@philosophicalrebellionANNOUNCEMENTS:First: we are going to be soon starting a new audiobook series - this time it will be To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf - I will release it chapter by chapter, and the first chapter or two should be out within a week, if the Great Tao should accommodate. You can get updates on that and future open source audiobooks, narrated by me on the Patreon page.Second is that as we approach the finish line with Hubert Dreyfus’s Great Books course, I am looking for suggestions about where to go next, in terms of content - so if you are on Spotify please check the audience survey in this episode and vote on the things you want - If you’re not on Spotify then just email me with your desires, fantasies, crackpot ideas, and degenerate art and I will respond to you there: [email protected] is that this is an episode about politics in America, and William Sanchez and I leave no stone unturned, so if that’s not your cup of tea, then watch out for the fascism-free Virginia Woolf stuff that I’ll be making, as well as the more lighthearted project that I’m doing with my buddies Thomas and Richard over on Bad Role Models. But if it is your cup of tea, then you should support William’s work on Substack, and listen to my other interview with him. Links in the thing, as always.REFERENCESPaying for the Ballroom with Silicon Valley Tribute Money:https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/youtube-to-pay-24-5-million-to-settle-lawsuit-brought-by-trump-808f6823?reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink$50K Signing Bonus for ICE Officershttps://bbc.com/news/articles/cqle5newg0noBipartisan Bill to Force Release of Epstein Files Being Jammedhttps://thehill.com/homenews/house/5482096-massie-discharge-petition-epstein/Reagan and US Indicted by ICJ in 1986 for Terrorism Against Nicaraguahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua_vUnitedStatesBook: Bomb Power: The Modern Presidency and the National Security State by Garry Willshttps://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7254108-bomb-powerBernie Sanders' Saving American Democracy Amendmenthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_finance_reform_amendment#Saving_American_Democracy_Amendment

Even the dead are not safe.“It is easier to imagine the end of the world than it is to imagine the end of capitalism.” This statement, deliberately provocative, was made first by Continental philosopher Jean-Francois Lyotard before its later canonization by Mark Fisher in his 2009 theoretical masterpiece Capitalist Realism: Is there no alternative?. For Fisher, it is a call to action, and a structuring limit. Strictly speaking, it is probably an overstatement, at least without the implicit qualifier:As long as things continue as they have up until now.This is the statement: that our world is more likely to collapse from trophic exhaustion, reactive warfare, and molecular violence, than it is to shed capitalist practices and norms in favor of any of the many proposed alternatives. This same thought was expressed in another form - a case of convergent evolution emanating elsewhere in the landscape of literary Quotatia - humanity will go down in history as the first society that wouldn’t save itself because it wasn’t cost-effective.Advisory: discussion of death and suicide.References, Media Usage, and Sources:"NO" by Joy Harjo - September 2004"Resisting Left Melancholy" by Wendy BrownNB: If you cannot access this, try using sci-hub.se"Theses on the Philosophy of History" by Walter Benjamin - 1940Cover Art: "Smoldering Ghost: Happy Painting" by Michael PrettymanAmbience Tracks (Creative Commons) from Nemo's DreamscapesOutro Song: Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 30, Movement 3, performed by Anastasia Huppmann (Creative Commons, YouTube)Excerpt from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thompson.Ode to Mark Fisher: Part 1 - Introduction to Fisherology (Hemlock Substack)

Support the perpetuity and integrity of this work for just $5 per month, or hang out in the Patreon for free.Originally published as "On Wings of Art" (1984)."In this six-part series, renowned mythologist Joseph Campbell introduces and explores the unifying themes and mythological symbolism in James Joyce's three greatest literary works--A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses, and Finnegan's Wake--arguing that these three major works were the precursors to a fourth, even greater novel that Joyce never got to write."From A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916):He turned away from her suddenly and set off across the strand. His cheeks were aflame; his body was aglow; his limbs were trembling. On and on and on and on he strode, far out over the sands, singing wildly to the sea, crying to greet the advent of the life that had cried to him.Her image had passed into his soul for ever and no word had broken the holy silence of his ecstasy. Her eyes had called him and his soul had leaped at the call. To live, to err, to fall, to triumph, to recreate life out of life! A wild angel had appeared to him, the angel of mortal youth and beauty, an envoy from the fair courts of life, to throw open before him in an instant of ecstasy the gates of all the ways of error and glory. On and on and on and on!He halted suddenly and heard his heart in the silence. How far had he walked? What hour was it?There was no human figure near him nor any sound borne to him over the air. But the tide was near the turn and already the day was on the wane. He turned landward and ran towards the shore and, running up the sloping beach, reckless of the sharp shingle, found a sandy nook amid a ring of tufted sandknolls and lay down there that the peace and silence of the evening might still the riot of his blood.He felt above him the vast indifferent dome and the calm processes of the heavenly bodies: and the earth beneath him, the earth that had borne him, had taken him to her breast.He closed his eyes in the languor of sleep. His eyelids trembled as if they felt the vast cyclic movement of the earth and her watchers, trembled as if they felt the strange light of some new world. His soul was swooning into some new world, fantastic, dim, uncertain as under sea, traversed by cloudy shapes and beings. A world, a glimmer or a flower? Glimmering and trembling, trembling and unfolding, a breaking light, an opening flower, it spread in endless succession to itself, breaking in full crimson and unfolding and fading to palest rose, leaf by leaf and wave of light by wave of light, flooding all the heavens with its soft flushes, every flush deeper than other.----------------------Please consider donating to support humanitarian relief and lifesaving medical care in Gaza. The links below are verified and reputable charities and individuals who are desperate for medical care, asylum, shelter, and safety in Palestine.Fundraisers, Palestine Support, and Good Programs:⁠⁠Amjad Hamad and his Family⁠⁠⁠⁠Rulin and Family⁠⁠⁠⁠Sammar and her Husband⁠⁠⁠⁠MSF (Doctors Without Borders)⁠⁠⁠⁠Palestinian Youth Movement⁠⁠

The ultimate theological journey through the midlife crisis, presented by existentialist philosopher Bert Dreyfus in 2006 at UC Berkeley. (REPUPLOAD)Please consider donating to support humanitarian relief and lifesaving medical care in Gaza. The links below are verified and reputable charities and individuals who are desperate for medical care, asylum, shelter, and safety in Palestine.Fundraisers, Palestine Support, and Good Programs:⁠⁠Amjad Hamad and his Family⁠⁠⁠⁠Rulin and Family⁠⁠⁠⁠Sammar and her Husband⁠⁠⁠⁠MSF (Doctors Without Borders)⁠⁠⁠⁠Palestinian Youth Movement⁠⁠Read more about Bert Dreyfus

Support the show on Patreon!A nice change of pace for me as I am put on the hot-seat and forced to properly explain myself for once. Interview by Roubin Thind, a social media manager and podcast connoisseur, running down topics ranging from diplomacy to education and back.

And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.John 1:5, King James VersionThis is Part Four of a multipart series on the Great Books of the Western Tradition by Berkeley Professor of Philosophy Bert Dreyfus, which you can begin here.The source material is found here on Internet Archive.Who is God? What does it mean to be anointed (chrīstós, in Koine Greek), emptied of self (kénōsis), or resurrected? What is the world, seen through the eyes of love? How does philosophy encounter Christianity? In this two-lecture episode, Dreyfus takes these concepts apart and analyzes them in the terms of Heidegger, literary theory, and the hermeneutic approaches of different Continental thinkers.Please consider donating to support humanitarian relief and lifesaving medical care in Gaza. The links below are verified and reputable charities and individuals who are desperate for medical care, asylum, shelter, and safety in Palestine.Fundraisers, Palestine Support, and Good Programs:⁠⁠Amjad Hamad and his Family⁠⁠⁠⁠Rulin and Family⁠⁠⁠⁠Sammar and her Husband⁠⁠⁠⁠MSF (Doctors Without Borders)⁠⁠⁠⁠Palestinian Youth Movement

Paul Thomas Anderson made this when he was 28. So did Richard and Will.A celebration of the greatest movie of our greatest living director. Hats off to you, man.advisory: child abuse, self-harm, suicide.“Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets trying to find you.”―HafezMusic Credits:Violin version of Habañera by Katy AdelsonAria version of Habañera by Deutsch Opera BerlinTom Cruise Leaked Scientology Interview

Everything becomes its opposite. cw: animal harm, general doom.If this work is important to you, consider supporting my financial and creative independence on Patreon, for only $5 per month."All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace" (1967) by Richard BrautiganI like to think (andthe sooner the better!)of a cybernetic meadowwhere mammals and computerslive together in mutuallyprogramming harmonylike pure watertouching clear sky. I like to think(right now, please!)of a cybernetic forestfilled with pines and electronicswhere deer stroll peacefullypast computersas if they were flowerswith spinning blossoms. I like to think(it has to be!)of a cybernetic ecologywhere we are free of our laborsand joined back to nature,returned to our mammalbrothers and sisters,and all watched overby machines of loving grace.Poem: Batter my heart, three-person'd God by John DonneCredits:Richard Brautigan Reading "All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace"Palantir CEO Alex Karp Speaking in February 2025 in New York (End of Episode)Rachmaninoff, Prelude Op. 3 No. 2 in C-sharp Minor performed by Mr. Forte (Creative Commons)George Kennan, Memo PPS23, February 24th 1948. Declassified in June 1974.Books:The Assassination Complex by Jeremy Scahill and the Staff of The InterceptThe Power Elite by C. Wright Mills

Times are tough for everyone, but if you can spare $5 per month to support the History of Philosophy, my political writing, open source audiobooks, and simple intellectual entertainment, please consider joining my Patreon and helping me escape my day job.YouTube original video credit (Plum Village). Apparently first delivered in the "late 1980s".Read more about Thích Nhất Hạnh here.Music Credit: Schubert, Impromptu No. 3 in G-flat Major, performed by Max John.

The great Michael Parenti returns to HoPAA to enlighten us about capitalism's leading myths and legends. As the man says, 'brothers and sisters, WE own the airwaves'.Times are tough for everyone, but if you can pitch in $5 per month to support this project - a humanity and humanities-focused ad and spook-free education platform since 2023 - it would mean the world to me over on Patreon.This talk was uploaded in 2013, but the date of the lecture itself is unknown.Music Credit: Schubert, Impromptu No. 3 in G-flat Major, performed by Max John.Summary (Bot Generated):This podcast episode, featuring political scientist Michael Parenti, offers a critical deconstruction of the self-legitimating myths propagated by "the one percent" and giant corporate capitalism. The central thesis is that no ruling class rules nakedly, and the powerful actively take "strenuous efforts to justify their rule" through themes like the rags-to-riches mythology, fair play, and equal opportunity. The discussion focuses on two core capitalist myths: that the system creates general material prosperity and that it bolsters democracy. Parenti challenges the prosperity myth by citing "consumer realities" such as the corporate-driven replacement of public rail transit with polluting auto systems and the industrialization of food supplies. He concludes that the history of capitalism is one of great wealth and great poverty, which exist in a "dynamic interrelationship," with the wealth of the few resting on the poverty of the masses.Michael John Parenti (born September 30, 1933) is an American political scientist, academic historian, and cultural critic who writes on a wide range of scholarly and popular subjects. Known as a leading intellectual of the American Left, he has taught at numerous universities and is the author of over twenty books, including Democracy for the Few and Blackshirts and Reds. You can find more information about him on his Wikipedia page or his official website: The Michael Parenti Political Archive.Keywords: Corporate Capitalism, Ruling Class, The One Percent, Myths, Prosperity, Democracy, Wealth Inequality, Poverty, Horatio Alger, Transnational Corporations, Public Transit, Pollution, General Motors, Tobacco Industry, Nicotine, Perjury, Corporate Crime, Consumer Realities, Third World.This text was generated from a transcript by Gemini.

Keep this work free for everyone and unlock my entire corpus for $5 per month on Patreon!⁠Samuel Mathers is Bane, not Wolverine.People Mentioned:⁠Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers⁠⁠H. P. Blavatsky⁠⁠William Wynn Westcott⁠Aleister Crowley⁠John Dee⁠Edward Kelly⁠A. E. Waite⁠⁠Erich Fromm⁠ and ⁠Wilhelm Reich⁠References:⁠Douglas Haig, the Battle of the Somme, and Séances⁠"On 20th September 1906, Haig attended a séance with his sister Henrietta where he sought advice as to whether the expansion of the Territorial Army would be more satisfactory on a company or battalions basis. He was advised by the spiritualist a Miss McCreadie to adopt the former rather than the latter. Apparently, when Ms McCreadie gave this advice she was under the control of a native girl called ‘Sunshine’, who had Napoleon by her side. Haig must have found this circumstance most reassuring."⁠Kant's Hilariously Stupid Anthropology of Blackness⁠⁠Crowley Getting Kicked Down the Stairs by W. B. Yeats⁠⁠Victorian Mummy Powder⁠⁠Mahayana Buddhism⁠⁠Lawrence v. Texas (2003) Last Repeal of Anti-Sodomy Law in America⁠⁠The "Lost" Language of Senzar (Blavatsky)⁠⁠Master Hilarion (Also Blavatsky)⁠⁠Nazis Using Pendulums to (Not) Find British Ships⁠Out of their depth. By 1942, British Navy vessels had begun to shift the tide in the Atlantic battlefront, sinking more German U-boats than Hitler’s army could Allied submarines. Scientific progress proved a major factor in Allied dominance, with the development of Radar and Sonar technology significantly upping the odds of locating German vessels in deep water. But Germany Navy officials had a different strategy in mind: U-boat captain Hans Roeder convinced colleagues in arms the British were using pendulums to predict their boats’ location underwater. As an amateur pendulum dowser himself, the enterprising captain established the Pendulum Institute to pinpoint British ships, enlisting pendulum dowsers and occultists from across the country and tasking them with applying their clairvoyant powers to search for British vessels. Results were, unsurprisingly, not altogether successful.Books Mentioned:⁠Perdurabo by Richard Kaczynski⁠⁠The Mystical Qabalah by Dion Fortune⁠⁠The Key to Theosophy by H. P. Blavatsky⁠⁠John Dee and the Empire of Angels by Jason Louv⁠⁠The Golden Dawn by Israel Regardie⁠⁠A New Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry By A. E. Waite⁠⁠Escape From Freedom by Erich Fromm⁠⁠The Mass Psychology of Fascism by Wilhelm Reich⁠⁠The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, with a Commentary by Sri Swami Satchidanada⁠Aleister Crowley:⁠Liber 777⁠⁠Eight Lectures on Yoga⁠⁠Konx Om Pax - Light in Extension

The gates of hell are open night and day;Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:But to return, and view the cheerful skies,In this the task and mighty labor lies.-Vergil, AeneidYou can support the continuation of this effort, and get unlimited access to my entire body of work for$5 per month on Patreon.My favorite translation of the Aeneid is the Modern Library edition by Shadi Bartsch, which is richly introduced and essayed/footnoted, although the Fitzgerald and Dryden translations are also classic for their poetry.Read more about the late, great Hubert "Bert" Dreyfus here.Music Credit: (Intro and Outro): Max John, Schubert, Impromptu No. 3 in G-flat Major, Creative Commons (YouTube). Interlude is Peter Bradley-Fulgoni, from Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 4, Movement 2 (IMSLP).This series will have X parts:The Odyssey and the Archaic Greece (Done)Aeschylus and Greek Tragedy (Done)Aeneas and the Roman Tradition (This)Catholic Christianity: The Gospel of John, Dante's Comedy (Upcoming)Protestantism: Pascal's Pensées and Moby Dick (Upcoming)Stay tuned...

Kick in on Patreon to support the both of us!This is the new work.Movies:The Master (2012)There Will Be Blood (2007)Magnolia (1999)Boogie Nights (1997)Music:Violin Concerto in D Major, Movement III Allegro Giocoso by Johannes BrahmsEnter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) by Wu-Tang ClanEtude Op 10 No 3 in E Major "Tristesse" Composed by Frederic Chopin, (Best) Performed by Maurizio PolliniSong: "No Other Love" by Jo Stafford-//-No other love can warm my heartNow that I've known the comfort of your armsNo other love, oh the sweet contentmentThat I find with you everytime, everytimeNo other lips could want you moreFor I was born to glory in your kiss, forever yoursI was blessed with love to love youTill the stars burn out above youTill the moon is but a silver shellNo other love, let no other loveknow the wonder of your spell-//-ReferencesFor the general conversation of " God wants me to destroy you, obviously" see especially the Melian Dialogue.If you want to watch a Scientology documentary I would recommend Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief by Alex Gibney (2015).

Come join the Patreon!https://patreon.com/c/hemlockpatreonThe best version of Musashi in English that I have found is the book The Complete Musashi translated by Alexander Bennett, which is available in audiobook form and is quite short and scholarly to boot. Goodreads link.Books and Movies:Silence, Martin ScorsesePi, Darren AronofskyIntroduction to Zen Buddhism - D. T. SuzukiLinks:Eleusinian MysteriesErgotamine (LSD)Sekiro (From Software Game)Music Credit (Drums, Intro/Outro) by RelaxMusicPro on YouTube:https://youtu.be/M3cJs_m351AEdit: removed the part where Shogun Richard and I discussed the YouTube parody AI Am a Jedi, which you should look up just in case:https://youtu.be/v6So-4uvruU

Documentaries:Fahrenheit 9/11 (Michael Moore)Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror (Netflix)Citizenfour (Laura Poitras)Hollywoodgate (Ibrahim Nah'at)The Mauritanian (Kevin Macdonald)Books:Jason Burke, Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical IslamAlfred W. McCoy: The Politics of Heroin: CIA Complicity in the Global Drug TradeJoseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Blimes, The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq ConflictPeter Dale Scott, Drugs, Oil & War: The United States in Afghanistan, Colombia, and IndochinaRuss Baker, Family of Secrets: The Bush Dynasty, the Powerful Forces That Put it in the White House & What Their Influence Means for AmericaValerie Kaur, See No Stranger (Link)Barton Gellman: Angler: The Dick Cheney Vice Presidency and Dark Mirror: Edward Snowden and the American Surveillance StateRobert Fisk, Night of Power: The Betrayal of the Middle EastMichael C. Ruppert: Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil (Note to reader: serious conspiracy/crank material is found mixed quite freely with fact herein, read with due hazard in mind)Mohamedou Ould Slahi, Guantánmo DiaryFollow Sabrina Jennings on Bluesky or Patreon:⁠Note To Self // Patreon⁠Sabrina Jennings // BlueskyFollow William Engels on Bluesky or PatreonBlueskyPatreonFundraisers, Palestine Support, and Good Programs:⁠⁠Amjad Hamad and his Family⁠⁠⁠⁠Rulin and Family⁠⁠⁠⁠Sammar and her Husband⁠⁠⁠⁠MSF (Doctors Without Borders)⁠⁠⁠⁠Palestinian Youth Movement⁠⁠Further References:The Carlyle Group (US-Saudi Investment Firm of Bush Family Provenance)Clinton Destroys Pharmaceutical Factory in Sudan as DistractionUS Military Attacks on Journalists in Iraq War / Gulf War 2 (Wikipedia)False Intel on Iraqi Buildup at Saudi Border in 1990 (Christian Science Monitor)FDR and Abdul Aziz Meeting in 1945The Onion Router (Tor) Web Anonymization ToolPEGASUS - Zero Day iPhone Exploit

A truly decadent and indulgent episode for the genuinely twisted wordheads and storyfreaks still crawling on all fives. Cheers, you beautiful bastards.⁠Music by Anapse⁠, track Bisector off Streamsafe EssentialsBooksHells Angels by Hunter S ThompsonFear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S ThompsonScrewjack by Hunter S. ThompsonBetter Than Sex: The Gonzo Papers Vol 4 by Hunter S ThompsonFreak Power: Hunter S. Thompson's Campaign for Sheriff by Daniel Joseph WatkinsDark Alliance by Gary WebbGoebbels by Peter LongerichHST's Best Audiobook Narrator: Scott SowerFilm⁠Freak Power: The Ballot or the Bomb⁠⁠Fear and Loathing in Aspen⁠⁠Inherent Vice⁠⁠Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas⁠⁠The Rum Diary⁠Sundry Fed, Spook, and Military InitiativesCOINTELPRO (FBI)MHCHAOS (CIA)Project Plowshare (DARPA)

With special guest Deputy Dick filling in (for) Richard Sinex.⁠Music by Anapse⁠, track Bisector off Streamsafe Essentials--Books--Hells Angels by Hunter S ThompsonFear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S ThompsonScrewjack by Hunter S. ThompsonBetter Than Sex: The Gonzo Papers Vol 4 by Hunter S ThompsonFreak Power: Hunter S. Thompson's Campaign for Sheriff by Daniel Joseph WatkinsDark Alliance by Gary WebbGoebbels by Peter LongerichHST's Best Audiobook Narrator: Scott Sower--Film--⁠Freak Power: The Ballot or the Bomb⁠⁠Fear and Loathing in Aspen⁠⁠Inherent Vice⁠⁠Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas⁠⁠The Rum Diary⁠--Sundry Fed, Spook, and Military Initiatives--COINTELPRO (FBI)MHCHAOS (CIA)Project Plowshare (DARPA)

Music Credit: Beethoven, Piano Sonata No. 30 performed by Paavali Jumppanen, available on Museopen.The Alan Shapiro translation of the Oresteia is my favorite.Another episode (Hemlock #5) I did about Aeschylus can be found here. It talks in greater depth about the metaphor of the net, and centers Clytemnestra as the hero/main character of the post-Trojan scene.For fun and profit: reading the Wikipedia page on the Eleusinian Mysteries.He who learns, must suffer.Even in our sleep, pain: which time cannot forgetFalls drop by drop upon the heart.Until, in the fullness of time, against our will and in our despairThrough the awful grace of GodComes wisdom--Aeschylus, Agamemnon

Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying,Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast.Matthew 26:48Watch Judas and the Black Messiah:https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/judas-and-the-black-messiahFollow Sabrina on Bluesky or Patreon:⁠Note To Self // Patreon⁠Sabrina Jennings // BlueskyFundraisers, Palestine Support, and Good Programs:⁠⁠Amjad Hamad and his Family⁠⁠⁠⁠Rulin and Family⁠⁠⁠⁠Sammar and her Husband⁠⁠⁠⁠MSF (Doctors Without Borders)⁠⁠⁠⁠Palestinian Youth Movement⁠⁠References, Books, MentionsSouthern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)The Riot Report (DocDocs 6)Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC)WeathermenRainbow CoalitionG-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century by Beverly GageOne Nation Under Blackmail: The Sordid Union Between Intelligence and Organized Crime that Gave Rise to Jeffrey Epstein (Two Volumes) by Whitney WebbFBI Suicide Letter to Martin Luther King JrAn African American and Latinx History of the US by Paul OrtizCaste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel WilkersonCOINTELPROMHCHAOS / Operation CHAOSDark Alliance: The CIA, The Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion by Gary WebbDrugs as Weapons Against Us (Documentary)-//-

⁠Support me on Patreon⁠ - or leave a review for the show.Hubert "Bert" Dreyfus (1929-2017) was a ⁠professor of philosophy at UC Berkeley⁠ who specialized in phenomenology, 20th century Continental philosophy, artificial intelligence, Martin Heidegger, Michel Foucault, and the aesthetics/literature of existentialism from Dostoevsky and Kierkegaard to ⁠Terrence Malick⁠. He is probably most famous for his ⁠exposition of Heidegger's early masterpiece⁠ "Being and Time" (German: Sein und Zeit), and for his ⁠negative predictions about artificial intelligence.⁠ He taught multiple courses through MOOCs from roughly 2006-2012 about Greek philosophy, existentialism in film and literature, Heidegger's opus Being & Time, and the limits of AI. In this course he uses the ⁠Fitzgerald poetic translation⁠ of the Odyssey with his own amendments and R. Lattimores' meaning-literal translation.He was also extremely kind to me.Arete, techne, poesis, aletheia, gnosis...Books Mentioned:The Discovery of the Mind - Bruno SnellThe Greeks and the Irrational - E. R. Dodds-//-