Radio Live - Podcasts - Keen On America - Ewan Morrison on Against Nihilism: Why Belief in Anything is Better Than Nothing

Ewan Morrison on Against Nihilism: Why Belief in Anything is Better Than Nothing

Author: Andrew Keen December 15, 2022 Duration: 34:41

Podcast episode

Keen On America

Society Commentary Culture News

Keen On America is a sharp, fast-moving podcast hosted by author and commentator Andrew Keen. Known for asking impertinent questions, Keen cross-examines some of the world’s most thoughtful voices on politics, economics, history, culture, the environment, and technology. Each episode digs beneath headlines and hype to uncover what is really shaping America today and how those forces connect to global change. Listeners can expect challenging conversations rather than easy talking points, as Keen presses guests to explain not just what is happening, but why it matters and what might come next. Whether you are trying to make sense of polarized politics, rapid technological disruption, or shifting social norms, this show offers a bracing, critical lens. Tune in and listen episodes of Keen On America to hear Andrew Keen interrogate the ideas and assumptions that define contemporary American life.

Hosted by Andrew Keen, Keen On features conversations with some of the world’s leading thinkers and writers about the economic, political, and technological issues being discussed in the news, right now.

In this episode, Andrew is joined by Ewan Morrison, author of How to Survive Everything.

Ewan Morrison is a multiaward-winning novelist, screenwriter, and essayist. His novel Nina X won the Saltire Society Scottish Fiction Book of the Year and is being made into a feature film.

More episodes

Episode 2149: How the Populist Attack on Modern Government Endangers our Future

04.08.2024 Duration: 47:37

Much of the critical writing about authoritarianism warns that contemporary populism threatens democracy. But as Stephen Hanson and Jeffrey Kopstein argue in their interesting new book, The Assault on the State, this glo…

Episode page

Episode 2148: J. Doyne Farmer on how to Invent a Better Economics for a Better World

03.08.2024 Duration: 33:57

In the 1970’s, J. Doyne Farmer built the first wearable computer which he used to predict the game of roulette. While this didn’t make him particularly popular in casinos, it did mark the beginning of a glittering scient…

Episode page

Episode 2147: Matthew Warshauer on the Real Story of 9/11 (it's not what you think)

02.08.2024 Duration: 51:11

According to the historian Matthew Warshauer, there was no giant conspiracy on 9/11. The real story about September 11, 2001, he argues in his provocative new book Creating and Failing the 9/11 Generation, is its impact…

Episode page

Episode 2146: Sasha Issenberg on how to build more trust and transparency in American politics

31.07.2024 Duration: 38:00

Earlier this year, the prolific American political journalist Sasha Issenberg came on the show to offer a playbook for winning elections in our disinformation age. And, on a recent trip to Los Angeles, I sat down with Is…

Episode page

Episode 2145: Deesha Dyer explains how she undiplomatically rattled the entrenched culture of the White House

31.07.2024 Duration: 36:00

Many are called, but few are chosen. In her late twenties, Deesha Dyer was still in community college. By the age of 31, however, she had become Michelle Obama’s social secretary in the White House. So how did this self-…

Episode page

Episode 2144: Edward Ball on his own Family History of White Supremacy

29.07.2024 Duration: 37:22

What’s it like to discover a Klansman in one’s own family? A few weeks ago, R. Derek Black, the son of a KKK Grand Wizard and an intimate family friend of David Duke, came on the show to confess the exceptional nature of…

Episode page

Episode 2143: Andrea Freeman on Food Genocide and Oppression in the United States

28.07.2024 Duration: 42:19

We’ve been on a food & farming run this week. First, we talked with America’s “lunatic farmer,” Joel Salatin, about how regenerative agriculture can regenerate the United States. And we followed that up with the food blo…

Episode page

Episode 2142: Why the Kamala Harris campaign has all the strengths and weaknesses of a tech start-up

28.07.2024 Duration: 37:37

While Kamala Harris has announced that she wants to become the first Silicon Valley President, Donald Trump is speaking today at Bitcoin2024 in Nashville in a self-serving attempt to make Bitcoin Great Again. So where sh…

Episode page

Episode 2141: Nicola Twilley on how Refrigeration has Transformed our Food, our Planet, and Ourselves

26.07.2024 Duration: 49:47

A couple of days ago, America’s most controversial regenerative farmer, Joel Salatin, came on the show to explain how industrialized farming is killing our soil, our bodies and our souls. Today, the Los Angeles based foo…

Episode page

Episode 2140: Kimberly Meyer on five refugee women's invention of a new American dream

25.07.2024 Duration: 37:49

Yesterday, we were in rural Virginia interviewing the pioneering regenerative farmer, Joel Salatin. Today, we are on an equally innovative farm in Houston, Texas, in conversation with Kimberley Meyer, author of Accidenta…

Episode page

Episode 2139: Joel Salatin explains how to fix America, one bite at a time

25.07.2024 Duration: 55:19

As one of America’s most outspoken pioneers of regenerative agriculture, Joel Salatin is popularly known as The Lunatic Farmer. Others have accused him of being a bio-terrorist, Typhoid Mary, a charlatan, and starvation…

Episode page

Keen on America featuring Batya Ungar-Sargon

23.07.2024 Duration: 38:00

A hundred episodes ago, we had the author of Second Class, Batya Ungar-Sargon, on the show to talk specifically about how America’s elites have betrayed the country’s working men and women. So when I bumped into her at t…

Episode page

Episode 2137: Anne Snyder on how to morally repair and renew America

22.07.2024 Duration: 37:08

In the wake of Biden’s resignation and the coronation of Kamala Harris, it’s likely that this year’s election will be particularly divisive and vitriolic. We will hear endless hysteria about the election being the most i…

Episode page

KEEN ON America featuring Joshua Browder, Silicon Valley entrepreneur and great grandson of the US Communist Party leader

21.07.2024 Duration: 33:15

As CEO of the AI start-up DoNotPay, Joshua Browder is one of Silicon Valley’s rising young entrepreneurs. Born in the UK and educated at Stanford, Browder is from a remarkable family of American innovators and activists.…

Episode page

Episode 2135: J. Malcolm Garcia on the humanity of San Francisco's homeless community

20.07.2024 Duration: 39:22

Lauded by KEEN ON favorites like Dave Eggers & Dale Maharidge, J. Malcolm Garcia might be the Studs Terkel of contemporary American literature. Having worked as a social worker with San Francisco’s homeless community for…

Episode page