Yesterday this talk came up twice in two very different conversations, one related to game design and the other related to the nature and necessity of complexity and energy in society. This is a talk worth watching (or listening) to.
The talk in question is a Civilization Far From Equilibrium: Energy, Complexity and Human Survival by Thomas Homer-Dixon. It was delivered last June at the Equinox Summit in Waterloo.
This lecture given by John Naughton is stunning. In this half-hour long talk he breaks down how technology actually changes us in ways we didn’t expect; it’s amazing how large our blind spots can be when it comes to new technologies. The last half of the video is Q&A.
Chris Hedges gave a really good lecture on TVO’s Big Ideas about his book Death of the Liberal Class
I encourage you to listen to (or watch) this lecture has Hedges has a lot of big statements that can really get you thinking.
Big Idea’s page on Chris Hedges lecture.
Slavoj Zizek gave a talk at CUNY and Fora has is online, which is pretty handy. It’s a good lecture, if a little long (I suggest skipping to about the 10min mark), that covers quite a bit.
Zizek goes into our relationship with nature, the material and immaterial world, and how it relates to politics and religion. Definitely a good lecture!
It gets me thinking about how do games fit into his understanding of authenticity and what the meaning of games actually is (if anything).
New Games on the App Store