stuff

Too Much Internet

Walker

The Theory of Everything

Listen to the <a href="http://globalvoicesonline.org/-/world/middle-east-noth-africa/egypt/">Internet revolution live from Tahrir Square</a>. Also, <a href="http://www.friendfactor.org/">Gay activists</a> use Facebook to fight for freedom. <a href="http://www.hiphopslam.com">Billy Jam</a> reports on the <a href="http://savekusf.org/">KUSF community radio</a> shutdown and <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/evgenymorozov">Evgeny Morosov</a> talks about his new book "Net Delusion." PLUS Message Party!

Net Delusions

<a href="http://www.salon.com/life/internet_culture/index.html?story=/mtwt/feature/2011/01/18/what_i_can_find_online">Ada Calhoun</a> shows us just how much she can find out about us while <a href="http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2011/03/features/sharing-is-a-trap">Andrew Keen</a> tells us sharing is endangering our humanity. <a href="http://nymag.com/news/features/70977/">Alex Morris</a> tells us what the internet has done to young love and <a href="http://loveandradio.org">Nick Van Der Kolk</a> tells 'us what OK Cupid has done for his love life. PLUS: Your host visits an exhibit celebrating Cable Access TV from the early 80s and <a href="http://www.didierbigo.com/">Didier Bigo</a> explains his theory of the 'Data Double.'


Free To Behave Like A Fool Or A Machine

Programmer David Heinemeier Hansson tells us about his Out Of Office experience, David is a partner at 37signals and a co-author (with Jason Fried) of REMOTE: Office Not Required. We also meet Ignacio Uriarte, he left his cubicle for a career in Office Art. And Ravenna Koenig, TOE's newest correspondent, explains the difference between Facebook-Work & Work-Work. <a href="https://www.scrollkit.com/s/2uiFYP7">Click for more info</a> or VISIT toe.prx.org

Out Of The Office

Your host gets Internet overload at South By SouthWest Interactive, and gets a lesson in Branded Media and Coupons. <a href="http://www.ftrain.com/wwic.html">Paul Ford</a> explains why the Internet is a customer service medium and TMI's Chris tells us about Operation Persona. For more information visit the WFMU TMI page


New version with 25% more audio diary!  In 1984 your host was twelve years old and like George Orwell’s protagonist Winston Smith, he kept a diary for the citizens of the future. For this special installment of Benjamen Walker’s Theory of Everything we travel back in time and give this diary a soundtrack. TV commercials, radio spots, movie clips -  all sound from 1984 (the year not the book).  Along with personal memories of making the transition to middle school, the show focuses on four of the most important people of year:  Ronald Reagan, Michael Jackson, Steve Jobs and Clara Peller. Find out what totalitarianism really sounds like.
Sponsors: Zady.com + souverain.com

1984 (the year not the book)EXPANDED VERSION

NASA's Voyager spacecraft has landed: meet the aliens who found it. Performed by Chet Siegel and Peter McNerney. Produced by Jonathan Mitchell.

Voyager Found

A game of Dungeons and Dragons is thrown into chaos. Performed by Elana Fishbein, Jon Bander, Justin Moran, and Matt Shafeek. Written by Alejandro Kolleeny, and produced by Jonathan Mitchell.

Chaotic Neutral

This episode features a story made by Audio Smut (http://audiosmut.ca), a podcast about "your body, your heart, and your junk." Directed and produced by Kaitlin Prest in collaboration with composer Shani Aviram, this story is about how our thoughts can deceive us when we're falling head over heels. This story was developed and written based on 17 interviews on the topic of perception in early romantic relationships.  

Audio Smut's editors and story guides are Mitra Kaboli and Sharon Mashihi. Their associate producer is Shira Bannerman. 

Special thanks to Jen Ng, Megan Detrie, Samara Breger, and Ann Hepperman. And to the people interviewed for this piece, especially Ayinde Bennet, Armen Bazarian and Caroline McKeown.


Audio Smut

When I was in Beijing last summer I dropped by the Microsoft research campus to talk with  Dr. Yu Zheng. He studies the air pollution in his city, and the noise pollution in mine. Using algorithms he is able to predict what kinds of noises New Yorkers are most likely to hear in their neighborhoods. His algorithms could one day help city planners curb air pollution and noise or as Christian Sandvig notes they could be used by the GPS apps on our mobile devices to keep us from walking through neighborhoods perceived to have loud people hanging around outside. 

Christian Sandvig studies algorithms which is hard to do, most companies like Facebook and Google don’t make their algorithms public. In a recent study he asked Facebook users to explain how they imagine the Edgerank algorithm works (this is the algorithm that powers Facebook’s news feed). Sandvig discovered that most of his subjects had no idea there even was an algorithm at work. When they learned the truth, it was like a moment out of the Matrix. But none of the participants remained angry for long. Six months later they mostly reported satisfaction with the algorithms that determine what the can and can’t see. Sandvig finds this problematic, because our needs and desires often don’t match with the needs and desires of the companies who build the algorithms. 

“Ada’s algorithm” is the title of James Essinger’s new book. It tells the remarkable story about Ada Lovelace the woman who wrote the first computer program (or as James puts it - Algorithm)  in 1843. He believes Ada’s insights came from her “poetical” scientific brain. Suw Charman-Anderson, the founder of Ada Lovelace day, tells us more about this remarkable woman who was known as the Enchantress of numbers.  

Enchanting by Numbers

We tour Bold Machines with Makerbot co-founder Bre Pettis to learn about the future of Maker culture. Plus we visit China to learn what the next generation of Chinese makers have planned for the future. 

Making it Happen

Our mini-series about the internet continues. This week we take a close look at the fundamental business model of the web - advertising. In 1993 your host was a founding member of an international monkey wrench gang that fought billboards in outer space. He recently ran into one of his old comrades in Midtown-South (Manhattan’s tech district) and discovered that his side actually lost the war. Ethan Zuckerman, the man who invented the pop up ad, admits that we must rethink the fundamentals of the web, and activist, writer, and filmmaker Astra Taylor questions whether the internet actually benefits independent creators.

Paying For It (the dislike club part II)

This week TMI explores the world of pseudonyms.  <a href="http://www.carmelaciuraru.com/">Carmela Ciuraru</a> talks about some of the authors she profiles in her book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Nom-Plume-Secret-History-Pseudonyms/dp/0061735264/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305255473&sr=1-1">Nom de Plume</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/ing-Epic-Twitter-Quest-MayorEmanuel/dp/1451655142/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1316543292&sr=1-1">Dan Sinker</a> tells us about <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/MayorEmanuel">@MayorEmanuel</a> the fake twitter pseudonym  he created for Rahm Emanuel,  <a href="http://www.andycarvin.com/">Andy Carvin</a>, <a href="http://jilliancyork.com/2011/07/29/a-case-for-pseudonyms/">Jillian York</a> and <a href="http://xom.blogs.com/xoom/2011/08/say-no-to-the-meat-wallet.html">Meg Worley</a> weigh in on #nymwars. And Artist <a href="http://www.chriscollinsart.com/">Chris Collins</a> attempts to learn the story behind the handle <a href="http://www.artfagcity.com/2011/05/25/img-mgmt-a-letter-to-ron-tye-of-tyepilot-com/">Tyepilot</a>. PLUS TMI's special corespondent takes us inside the top secret world of rebranding. 

PSEUDONYMS

Photographer <a href="http://www.mitchepstein.net/work/americanpower/index.html">Mitch Epstein</a> traverses the USA in search of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/AMERICAN-POWER-Mitch-Epstein/dp/3865219241">American Power</a>, <a href="http://www.zsl.org/science/ioz-staff-students/raihani,1111,AR.html">Nichola Raihani</a> tells us about the power dynamics of the <a href="http://www.livescience.com/14596-cleaner-fish-sex-change.html">cleaner wrasse</a>, <a href="http://www.girlstothefront.com/bio.html">Sara Marcus</a> tells us the about the power of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Girls-Front-Story-Grrrl-Revolution/dp/0061806366/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330989299&sr=1-1-spell%22">Riot Girrrl</a>, <a href="http://users.utu.fi/valvil/">Valtteri Viljanen</a> demos <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/aus/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9781107007802">Spinoza's geometry of power</a>, "David" gets caught in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Power-Essential-Works-Foucault-1954-1984/dp/1565847091">Foucault's web of power</a>, and <a href="http://www.asc.upenn.edu/Faculty/Faculty-Bio.aspx?id=128">Joe Turow</a> explains to us how <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Daily-You-Advertising-Industry-Defining/dp/0300165013/">Advertising</a> holds all the real power.

POWER

The internet illuminati tells us how to think about Wikileaks. For <a href="http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/">Ethan Zuckerman</a> and <a href="http://www.rushkoff.com/">Douglas Rushkoff</a>, it's kind of an "I Told You So" moment. <a href="http://www.ellsberg.net/">Daniel Ellsberg</a> explains why Bradley Manning is a better comparison than Julian Assange while <a href="http://jilliancyork.com/">Jillian York</a> says FAIL to Time Magazine's choice for person of the year. Cartoonist <a href="http://joealterio.com/">Joe Alterio</a> draws the cables and <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/trailhead.html">Christopher Beam</a> celebrates the diplomatic 'talent' pool. Plus <a href="http://gabriellacoleman.org/">Gabriella Coleman</a> on Anonymous, <a href="http://www.evgenymorozov.com/">Evgeny Morozov</a> on DDOS, and your host asks "What Would China Do?"

All You Have to do is Ask (TMI Wikileaks Special)

We take a trip round the web to meet fellow TMiers: the 2006 runner up <a href="http://www.tmi-band.com/">cover band</a> from Tuscon, a BBC <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n55tq">radio comedy programme</a>, a recent <a href="http://lindsayallyndrucker.com/">unemployed college graduate</a>, and a strange <a href="http://tmi-comic.com/">cartoonist</a>. Also we meet "Chris" the TMi Washington D.C. correspondent for the first time. Plus your host explains why he chose to name the program "Too Much Information" in the first place, and why a good name is the most important factor when creating a new radio show. 

What's In A Name

<a href="http://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/brightsided.htm">Barbara Ehrenreich</a> says NO WAY to "Smile or Die", Peter Choyce tries out <a href="http://www.couchsurfing.org/">Couchsurfing</a>, <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/ZigZiglarQuotes">Zig Ziglar</a> Tweets, <a href="http://www.jeetheer.com/">Jeet Heer</a> 'splains Little Orphan Annie, <a href="http://hotchickssmilingatgroundzero.com/">Hot Chicks smile at Ground Zero</a>, <a href="http://stores.lulu.com/staceychil">Stacey Chillemi</a> talks about the benefits of being positive while your host talks up the POWER OF NEGATIVE THINKING

Power of Negative Thinking

Our series wraps up this week with Rolling Stone journalist <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/matt-taibbi-on-the-tea-party-20100928">Matt Taibbi</a> explaining why the Tea Party is full of shit. <a href="http://www.naomiharris.com/">Naomi Harris</a> takes us into the world of overweight swingers from the the Bible Belt. Your host suggests the 'rant heard round the world' is fake (or at least disingenuous). Internet activist <a href="http://law.fordham.edu/faculty/10930.htm">Zephyr Teachout</a> explains how a political opportunity was lost. Cartoonist <a href="http://www.thepaincomics.com/">Tim Kreider</a> fears the return of the madness, and TMI's man in DC goes to New Orleans to do something while your host goes to the Stewart/Colbert rally. 

Beyond The Fruited Plain (Part III)

Historian <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Whites-Their-Eyes-Revolution-American/dp/0691150273">Jill Lepore</a> talks Tea Party History. <a href="http://alecsoth.com/photography/">Alec Soth</a> photographs from the Middle, <a href="http://andreasilenzi.com/">Andrea S</a> discovers the Middle, and your host fears the Middle! Plus TMi's "Chris" learns more about who is really pulling the strings. 

Beyond The Fruited Plain (Part II)

First of a three part series on America and the Tea Party. Journalist <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Backlash-Right-Wing-Radicals-High-Def-Hucksters/dp/0061991716">Will Bunch</a> talks about the two years he spent researching his book "Backlash;" Historian <a href="http://www.zoetrodd.com/">Zoe Trodd</a> explains how the idea of protest gets appropriated by groups like the KKK, the White Citizens councils of the 1950s, and the Tea Party of today; Photographer <a href="http://www.fraenkelgallery.com/#s=0&mi=222&pt=1&pi=10000&p=0&a=21&at=1">Richard Misrach</a> photographs the voice of the people; your host recalls the first right wing person he ever met (his college roommate); and the TMI Washington D.C. correspondent starts a twisted journey into the secret depths of a conspiracy. 

Beyond The Fruited Plain (Part I)

This week we get status updates from TMi regulars Peter Choyce, <a href="http://andreasilenzi">Andrea Silenzi</a> and "Chris." <a href="http://timwu.org">Tim Wu</a> "Mr. Net Neutrality" tells us about his new book "The Master Switch" and Director <a href="http://philochsthemovie.com">Ken Bowser</a> tells us about his new Phil Ochs biopic "There but for Fortune." Plus: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/New-York-Dick-Galen-Smith/dp/1935613022">Galen Smith's</a> New York Dick! For more information visit the <a href="http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/38878">WFMU TMI page</a>

What A Difference Makes

Radio/Podcast host:
"Benjamen Walker's Theory of Everything" a proud member of PRX's Radiotopia collective. http://radiotopia.fm 
"Too Much Information" WFMU (2009 - 2013)
"The Big Ideas Podcast" The Guardian UK (2011 - 2012) 