The Cult of the Asshole: Jeremy Sherman's psycho-proctological analysis of why there are so many assholes around these days


Author: Andrew Keen May 14, 2023 Duration: 33:52
Podcast episode
The Cult of the Asshole: Jeremy Sherman's psycho-proctological analysis of why there are so many assholes around these days

EPISODE 1496: In this KEEN ON show, Jeremy Sherman, the author of WHAT'S UP WITH ASSHOLES, offers a psycho-proctological analysis of why there are so many assholes around these days

Once there was no life. Then there was life. Now there’s so much strife we might end life as we know it. Jeremy Sherman researches all of that - strategy from the origins of life to everyday and political life. With a Masters in public policy and a Ph.D. in evolutionary and decision theory, he has collaborated for 20 years with Harvard/Berkeley scientist Terrence Deacon trying to solve the biggest mystery in science today: How mattering emerges from matter, life from chemistry, means-to-ends trying from cause-and-effect phenomenal. Sherman’s new book, Neither Ghost Nor Machine: The emergence and nature of selves (Columbia University Press) harvests altogether new scientific perspectives on value, significance, purpose, information, free will, and society. Sherman has also written over 1200 articles for Psychology Today on everyday decision-making, under the heading Ambigamy: Insights for the deeply romantic and deeply skeptical, and many articles elsewhere on political decision making. Delivering what Psychology Today’s editor in chief describes as, “mind candy for people who aren’t afraid to think” Sherman is playful yet rigorous, opening worm-cans of wonder and stirring readers to locate their everyday lives in the very big picture. His latest book is What's Up With Assholes? (2023)

Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.


More episodes

Duration: 41:34
In his new co-authored book It’s On You, the English behavioral scientist Nick Chater exposes how the rich and powerful - the THEM - have convinced us that we're to blame for society's deepest problems. Can't lose weight…

Duration: 45:34
According to the New Yorker writer Nicholas Niarchos, Africa is rich in both raw materials and tragic paradox. We know about the continent's wealth in the rare earth minerals that enable our global transition from fossil…

Duration: 36:29
Can Swiftynomics save America? That’s the intriguing thesis at the heart of Misty Heggeness’ new book about Swift’s impact on the American economy. Entitled Swiftynomics, it’s as much about Taylor Swift’s fans as it is a…

Duration: 47:03
The Music Man was a 1957 Broadway show written by Meredith Willson, a musician from the small Iowa town of Mason City. The popular play (and later movie) featured a con man called Harold Hill who ripped off the naive peo…

Duration: 54:43
Few biographers can claim to know what it feels like to be Thomas Jefferson more than the Charlottesville-based historian Andrew Burstein. The author of many books about Jefferson, Burstein’s latest, Being Thomas Jeffers…

Duration: 39:13
There was a time in the mid 20th century, the literary historian Gayle Feldman reminds us, when the book business was cool. Back then, New York publishing resembled Silicon Valley tech and the Mark Zuckerberg of his day…

Duration: 47:31
Trump’s Gazan dream is to overlay the complex human history with his own narcissistic real-estate fantasy. But for Maia Carter Hallward, co-author of a new contemporary history of Gaza, this once vibrant Mediterranean en…

Duration: 45:53
The great John Maynard Keynes explained it a century ago. In his 1930 essay, "Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren," Keynes predicted that the future would be defined by economic abundance rather than scarcity. B…

Duration: 31:58
WTF will happen in 2026? Over the last week, we’ve been running a series of interviews about the promise and peril of the new year. And in this new weekly magazine-style KEEN ON AMERICA show, we feature highlights of con…

Logo
Select station
VOL