De-Escalating Complexities: Jonathon Keats

Informer

As we enter these long, hot days of this unusual year, I'll be releasing three special episodes that aim to provide some dreamy inspiration for late summer. Between now and labor day, I'll be speaking with three dynamic artists over three episodes. The conversations move from foundational questions around what technology actually means to playful platforms for new forms of co-creation and community, and then finally to a discussion of astrology as an ancient, vital technology for spiritual practice.

These artists, Jonathon Keats, Constant Dullaart, and Astrologer Deborah Fisher, give us new space to dream as we enter these late summer days when reality seems to be consumed by the sun. I hope your are enlivened by the work of this special trio of thinkers and makers, with these Dog Days Special episodes.

Today's episode of Informer, part 1 of 3 Dog Days Special episodes, is with experimental philosopher and artist Jonathon Keats. Jonathan's work forefronts ways in which decisions are made in technology, highlighting the fact that they are decisions, not inevitabilities. He talks about technology as a way in which we become who we are and one which can also *distort* who we become. I think you'll enjoy this episode, as it articulates a lot of the topics that I've been exploring this year. i find his work to provide an insightful foundation, a look at the first causes that brought us to where we are, from human's first use of the pick axe to this moment of emergent capitalisms based on surveillance and instrumentalization of behavior. Jonathon has a background in philosophy and brings it to bear in a practice that is always burrowing into our innate relationships between the technologies we create and how that influences our sense of self.