Outsider Theory

Theory on the outside, theory of the outside, outside of the theory

About the show

Outsider Theory is an interview-based podcast exploring the mutations of theories outside of the authorized spaces of intellectual life as well as theories of that ever-alluring figure, the outsider, and related subjects.

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Episodes

  • Lockdown Literature with Tim Abrahams

    May 10th, 2023  |  1 hr 52 secs
    confinement, covid, domesticity, fiction, incarceration, isolation, literature, lockdown

    Architecture writer and publisher Tim Abrahams joins me to discuss his anthology of lockdown literature, "The Machine Book of Weird."

  •

    Disabling Medicine: Daniel Hadas with Medical Nemesis

    April 14th, 2023  |  1 hr 20 mins
    covid, iatrogenesis, ivan illich, medicine, public health, vaccines

    Guest host Daniel Hadas interviews Medical Nemesis on covid, Illich, industrialized medicine and thought, and more.

  • The Psychopolitics of Masturbation with Matthew Crawford

    March 4th, 2023  |  1 hr 37 mins
    christopher lasch, fascism, frankfurt school, masculinity, masturbation, psychoanalysis, theodor adorno, wilhelm reich

    Matthew Crawford joins me to discuss the sexual revolution, the politics of masturbation, Wilhelm Reich, the Frankfurt School, masculinity, the therapeutic state, and more.

  • The Automation of Midwittery with Brian Chau

    February 3rd, 2023  |  1 hr 2 mins
    artificial intelligence, bias, chatgpt, ideology, technology, wokeness

    Brian Chau returns to Outsider Theory to discuss ChatGPT's woke catechism.

  • Exiting the Vampires' Campus with Blaise Bayno

    December 26th, 2022  |  1 hr 19 mins
    academia, biopolitics, covid, critical theory, propaganda, theory

    I discuss academic fecklessness and propaganda with former critical theory PhD student Blaise Bayno.

  •

    Universal Basic MKUltra with Psyop Cinema

    October 25th, 2022  |  1 hr 40 mins
    assassin, catcher in the rye, charles manson, cia, counterculture, cultural engineering, hollywood, mark david chapman, mind control, mkultra, serial killer

    Thomas and Brett from Psyop Cinema join me to discuss Hollywood and cultural engineering.

  • The Rule of Midwits with Brian Chau

    August 31st, 2022  |  1 hr 41 mins
    blake masters, curtis yarvin, decentralization, institutions, jd vance, midwits, peter thiel, right-wing aesthetics, sorting mechanisms, universities, william f. buckley

    Brian Chau joins me to discuss institutions and why midwits rule them, decentralization, sorting mechanisms, right-wing aesthetics, Curtis Yarvin, William F. Buckley, and more.

  •

    RIP Reality with Jon Askonas

    July 18th, 2022  |  1 hr 35 mins
    adbusters, consensus reality, fake news, jon stewart, kalle lasn, marshall mcluhan, media theory, reality, stephen colbert, television, the internet

    Jon Askonas joins me to discuss his ongoing series of essays, "Reality: A Post-Mortem."

  •

    The Great Debasement with Alice Gribbin

    June 10th, 2022  |  2 hrs 5 mins
    art, censorship, culture, institutions, john berger, literature, museums, poetry, propaganda

    Alice Gribbin joins me to discuss her recent essay in Tablet, "The Great Debasement," on the recent ideological transformation of our major cultural institutions.

  • Right Critical Theory with Jacob Siegel

    May 9th, 2022  |  1 hr 45 mins
    blake masters, critical theory, elon musk, frankfurt school, herbert marcuse, jd vance, paul gottfried, paul piccone, peter thiel, samuel francis, telos

    Jacob Siegel joins me to discuss the rightward trajectory of certain insights of critical theory, especially in light of the history of the journal Telos and its founder and editor, Paul Piccone.

  • Theorizing the Culture War with Michael Cuenco

    April 25th, 2022  |  1 hr 50 mins
    culture war, elites, george orwell, james burnham, marshall mcluhan, post-literate epistemology, postmaterialism, ronald inglehart

    Writer and policy researcher Michael Cuenco joins me to discuss his recent American Affairs essay "'Victory is not Possible': a Theory of the Culture War," and two related essays.

  • Subversive Mobility vs Academic Orthodoxy with Jacob Shell

    April 4th, 2022  |  2 hrs 19 mins
    academia, biopolitics, de-growth, elephants, environmentalism, geography, infrastructure, ivan illich, marxism, mobility, transportation

    Geographer Jacob Shell joins me to discuss the Canadian trucker convoy in light of his research on "subversive mobility," how academic radicals became establishment apologists, plus pipelines, Ivan Illich, de-growth, elephants, and more.

  • A Critique of "The Dawn of Everything" with Sam Biagetti

    March 21st, 2022  |  3 hrs 3 mins
    david graeber, david wengrow, dawn of everything, human origins, noble savage, rousseau, social evolution

    Sam Biagetti of Historiansplaining podcast joins me to discuss David Graber and David Wengrow's "The Dawn of Everything."

  • The Invention of Symbology; or, Dan Brown, Part 2 (Angels and Demons & The Da Vinci Code) with Pseud Dionysius MPH

    February 27th, 2022  |  3 hrs 6 mins
    angels and demons, bloodlines, da vinci code, dan brown, institutions, opus dei, pierre plantard, priory of sion, robert langdon, secret societies, security state, semiotics, succession, symbology, the holy blood and the holy grail

    Pseud Dionysius MPH returns for an epic exploration of Dan Brown's turn from post-Cold War techno-thrillers to a new sort of novel, centered around the adventures of Harvard professor Robert Langdon, and of the persistent themes of Brown's writing: institutional crisis, elite succession, secrecy and revelation, and the need to restabilize knowledge.

  • The Road to Wigan Pier with Angela Nagle

    February 13th, 2022  |  1 hr 45 mins
    capitalism, communism, futurism, george orwell, industrialization, progress, socialism, the left, unemployment

    Angela Nagle returns to discuss George Orwell's 1937 book "The Road to Wigan Pier" and its many contemporary resonances.

  • HR-Karenism and its Enemies with Malcolm Kyeyune

    February 6th, 2022  |  2 hrs 31 mins
    canadian trucker convoy, class conflict, covid-19, elite overproduction, meritocracy, misinformation, populism, professional-managerial class, vaccine mandates

    Malcolm Kyeyune joins me to map out the contours of class conflict today.