Plutopia News Network

Joanna Price, [https://www.joannatovaprice.com] a public librarian with an interest in community-building, discusses the dynamics of building resilient and compassionate online communities. She critiques large social media platforms, like Twitter and Facebook, for fostering alienation and trolls. Joanna shares her vision for smaller, more intimate communities of around 100 people that grow naturally without heavy promotion. This, she believes, reduces the likelihood of bad behavior while fostering kindness and individual empowerment. Moderation is seen as key, emphasizing compassion over punitive measures. She draws inspiration from early internet communities, such as the WELL, [https://www.well.com/] and discusses how her proposed new community, Elm’s Bright, seeks to create a positive, intergenerational space focused on shared learning and real-world activities. Joanna Price: > On the Internet, we’re very aware of trolls, right? Folks who do come in to intentionally cause trouble. And one of the goals of the kind of community that I’m envisioning is that it’s 100 people max, it probably starts out with somebody and some people they know, right? Either on the internet or in real life and it expands in a less dramatic, advertised way, right? In a sort of natural way that makes it less likely that you will get explicit trolling. But were that to occur, that would I think fall under the bad acting notion of – we just ban them. And, you know, I say we ban trolls and I think I don’t want to suggest that there’s no place for dark humor or fun, right? Like there’s a difference between when we say trolling and we can mean a few different things – sometimes we’re talking about what is essentially making jokes and that’s one thing. And sometimes we’re talking about stuff that’s a lot darker and a lot worse than that.

In this episode of the Plutopia podcast, writer and cyberculture celebrity R.U. Sirius discusses the evolution of Mondo 2000, [https://www.mondo2000.com/] a groundbreaking magazine he co-founded that blended tech, art, and psychedelics. Sirius reflects on its origins, transitioning from High Frontiers and Reality Hackers, exploring how psychedelic culture intertwined with early tech innovation. He recounts Mondo 2000’s unique style, challenges with censorship, and how it navigated the countercultural landscape. Sirius also shares anecdotes about collaborations with figures like Timothy Leary, the cyberpunk movement, and the media’s shift to digital culture. > I was watching a show called Science 2000. And it was all the most recent tech and science at that point in 1988 or 1989. And it was supported by advertising for something called Furnishing 2000. And I floated into Queen Mu’s bedroom and I said, “Let’s change the name and use 2000 to sell stuff.” And she immediately said Mondo because somehow she was imagining what the logo would look like. And she thought that would make for a really good logo, which was true. So there you have a rather trippy but a very opiated origin of becoming Mondo 2000. Coming soon from R.U. Sirius in collaboration with Shira Chess [https://grady.uga.edu/faculty/shira-chess/]: Freaks in the Machine: Mondo 2000 in Late 20th Century Tech Culture. [https://www.mondo2000.com/2024/09/23/freaks-in-the-machine-mondo-2000-in-late-20th-century-tech-culture/] With a foreword by Grant Morrison.

Ken Flippin, a seasoned Texas political consultant and activist, has launched the Green Wave PAC, [https://secure.actblue.com/donate/green-wave-pac-1] a political action committee aimed at promoting environmentally conscious political campaigns. Also focused on supporting public school advocates and ousting pro-voucher Republicans, Flippin’s PAC targets local races with the potential to sway the Texas House in favor of more progressive, community-oriented candidates. His broader vision includes ensuring that newly elected officials are well-prepared to tackle complex environmental issues in legislative sessions, and ultimately fostering joy, creativity, and agency in both local and statewide communities. Ken Flippin: > If you don’t have somebody that can walk you through, like if you end up on environmental reg or any of the committees that involve the environment (of which there are four), it’s hard to navigate all those issues. So the point of the PAC is, because I’ve been working in environmental policy for some time, to help them prepare, before the session and then during the session, for that. The house seats that I’m targeting all are public school supporters that are trying to oust pro voucher Republicans. And there’s about five or six across the state that we have a chance of winning. And what I’ve heard is that we can win three and we’ll be able to stop vouchers. Support Green Wave Pac by buying Texas Blue Swag! [https://texasblueswag.com/] Green Wave image by Chet Gipiti.

Glenn Smith [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glenn_W._Smith] is an author, activist and political consultant. He is not a fan of the conservative fanboys pushing the so-called “Great Replacement Theory.” [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Replacement_conspiracy_theory_in_the_United_States] Glenn also finds little to admire when they worship strongman dictators. In this episode of the Plutopia podcast, Glenn critiques the insecurity among white men driving far-right movements, highlighting how fear of losing status or resources pushes them toward authoritarianism. He emphasizes the dangers of populism and the misconception that dictators will only harm others, pointing out that history shows otherwise. He also touches on the current political climate, discussing efforts to undermine democracy, the role of activism, and the importance of legal battles in defending democratic principles. Glenn Smith: > How did so many European white men get so insecure? I mean honestly, in all of this country’s – from deep insecurity that somebody’s gonna take something they have away from them, they can’t compete with people in certain ways. I don’t really don’t know what it is, but it drives this need to dominate so they don’t have to fret about losing to somebody else every day of their lives. It’s a sad thing to see. They pretend that they do this out of strength, but really it’s out of a very unflattering weakness I think in the men who really begin to believe and to act in those ways. People seem to think that if they get a dictator it’s only going to be a dictator over those people they don’t like. They’re going to stay free, of course, but this dictator is only going to mess with people they already don’t like and it never, in history, has worked out that way. Ever. The people who think they’re getting the kind of dictator leader they want always wind up being just as victimized as anyone else under such leadership. You’d think people could like you learn it in high school, learn it in junior higher middle school, not fall for it over and over, but they sure do.

Christopher Brown is an author, attorney, and urban naturalist living in Austin, Texas. His newest book, A Natural History of Empty Lots: Field Notes from Urban Edgelands, Back Alleys, and Other Wild Places, [https://bookshop.org/a/52607/9781643263366] blends nature writing, memoir, and nonfiction. The book explores the intersection of nature and urban spaces, encouraging readers to reconnect with the wilderness found in city edgelands and forgotten lots. Brown’s narrative examines how wildlife adapts to urban environments and offers practical advice for rewilding urban life without relying on remote landscapes. Through personal stories and reflections, he inspires readers to appreciate and act on the urgent need to preserve biodiversity within their immediate surroundings. Chris writes a popular Substack newsletter about his adventures in the edgelands, called “Field Notes,” [https://fieldnotes.christopherbrown.com/] which we discussed in a previous podcast. [https://plutopia.io/plutopia-live-field-notes/] Chris also writes science fiction, including the novels Rule of Capture, [https://plutopia.io/christopher-brown-rule-of-capture/] Tropic of Kansas, [https://plutopia.io/christopher-brown-author-of-tropic-of-kansas/] and Failed State. [https://plutopia.io/christopher-brown-failed-state/] Chris Brown: > It is kind of a love story with place. It’s also a love story about nature and about the natural world and about learning to connect with nature in a way that doesn’t involve trying to inhabit some gear catalog or goofy car ad of imagining yourself in some remote depopulated landscape that probably doesn’t really exist much anymore in real life, right? > And coming to terms with it. There’s a bunch of great blue herons making their giant mess there in this trashy tree behind this dumpy old warehouse down the street. Why are they doing that there? It could have been because there’s nowhere else for them to go. > And getting excited about that and at the same time kind of saddened by that as you think about as you wonder if the presence of a lot of these animals in the city is because they’ve run out of other places to hang out.