http://unwelcomeguests.net/2 Hours/week of Intelligent Talk Radio, made since 2000, for love, not money...http://www.unwelcomeguests.net/favicon.icohttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/2013-05-18T12:35:14-07:00Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.netUnwelcome Guests MaintenanceBot scripthttp://unwelcomeguests.net/653

Unwelcome Guests Episode #653 - The Biopsychosocial Approach (Understanding The Growth Of Child Development Disorders)

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-05-18T12:35:14-07:002013-05-18T12:35:14-07:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/652

Unwelcome Guests Episode #652 - Is Humanity In Its Right Mind? (The Rise and Rise Of The Left Brain)

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-05-11T03:31:04-07:002013-05-11T03:31:04-07:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/651

Unwelcome Guests Episode #651 - Deep Green Resistance (Earth At Risk Conference)

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-05-04T06:59:30-07:002013-05-04T06:59:30-07:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/650

Unwelcome Guests Episode #650 - Fighting Nature To The Last Drop (Resource Extraction in India and Alberta)

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-04-27T13:30:38-07:002013-04-27T13:30:38-07:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/649

Unwelcome Guests Episode #649 - Why Money Will End (And How To Prepare)

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-04-21T00:24:35-07:002013-04-21T00:24:35-07:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/648

Unwelcome Guests Episode #648 - The Monoculture of Modernity (Reflections on The Many Ways To Live)

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-04-13T07:15:00-07:002013-04-13T07:15:00-07:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/647

Unwelcome Guests Episode #647 - Making The Universe Your Employer (Giving Up The Burden Of Money)

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-04-06T13:19:02-07:002013-04-06T13:19:02-07:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/646

Another philosophical episode this week, featuring a range of reflections from the wise on what life has taught them, and how (and why) the world has changed since their youth. Our main readings are books by Wendell Berry, John Taylor Gatto and Henry David Thoreau.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-03-09T14:36:22-08:002013-03-09T14:36:22-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/645

A stark contrast with last week's show, we look this week behind the facade of the separation of powers in USA. Do any effective checks remain on how the US government behaves itself? Or is the external threat of massive dissent the only check left to the ongoing rollout of the totalitarian state's surveillance and control grid.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-03-02T12:25:51-08:002013-03-02T12:25:51-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/644

A carpe diem show this week which asks "Do you have a personal philosophy?" If you are one of the many people who have not given the matter much thought, Professor William Irvine cautions against accepting the 'default philosophy' of hedonistic consumerism. Now is the time to decide what you stand for and to refuse to stand for anything less!

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-02-23T17:36:55-08:002013-02-23T17:36:55-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/643

What would it mean to live 'a higher & more ethereal life' we ask this week in a successor program to last week's show. The quote is from Henry David Thoreau's classic Walden which we keep reading, and which details the shed he built by Walden Pond in 1845 at a cost of $28.12½ (i.e. around $1000 nowadays). Our main presentation is a 2013 interview about Direct Action to resist the US government sponsored armed gangs who are attempting to evict people from their homes. We supplement this with short readings from John Taylor Gatto's Underground History of American Education and from Suelo.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-02-16T15:22:49-08:002013-02-16T15:22:49-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/642

A poem by Wendell Berry starts us off on a differently paced, more musical set of episodes this week. As a counter to what Jacques Fresco terms 'base articiality of materialism and mindless consumption' we weave a tapestry of thoughts including those from iconoclastic earthy thinkers including Suelo, the moneyless resident of a Utah desert from whom we heard in episode 600 and the American Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-02-09T15:45:37-08:002013-02-09T15:45:37-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/641

This episode continues where we left off last time, with a radio adaptation of the remainder of the most recent of Scott Noble's 2012 film, The Power Principle. This half focuses on the sequence of fears used by the ruling elite to keep the 99% submissive and afraid, whether of communists, nuclear war or Muslim fundamentalists. Insiders and other commentators reveal a bigger picture of US Foreign Policy driven by an aggressive and ruthless clique using organisations such as the CIA, the arms industry and big media to exploit and oppress the 99% both at home and abroad.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-02-02T10:48:16-08:002013-02-02T10:48:16-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/640

This week we devote the whole show to the first part of a radio adaptation of Metanoia's latest film, The Power Principle. Using examples of Iran, Guatemala, Congo, Chile and Greece a wide range of insiders and historians unmask the Cold War as a propaganda cover for the war between the rest of the world and resource hungry US corporations.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-01-26T15:23:52-08:002013-01-26T15:23:52-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/639

This week we hear the voices of three now deceased authors on the topics of technology and Social Control. First a vintage 1962 recording of Aldous Huxley speaking on the prospects for technototalitarianism. Next it's a more relaxed interview with science fiction author Kurt Vonnegut and we conclude with a musical collage of 1970's wisdom from E. F. Schumacher.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-01-18T21:46:02-08:002013-01-18T21:46:02-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/638

This week two speakers give us a new angle on why so many people seem addicted to living lives that leave them unfulfilled. Firstly, doctor and addiction specialist Gabor Maté gives a personal reflection on the question "Who We Are When We Are Not Addicted?". After a musical break we hear a radio adaptation of Consumed - The Human Experience, which looks at how marketing is finely tuned to hijacking human evolutionary drives.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-01-12T13:24:46-08:002013-01-12T13:24:46-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/637

This week an invitation to reflect on capitalism in crisis not as an economic but a political phenomenon. We hear two 'bigger picture' talks on the interrelationships between Economics and Politics, one with a European focus, one which concentrates on USA. First Tariq Ali gives us "The Rotten Heart of Europe" summarising the machinations of the political elite in Europe. Next it is Gar Alperovitz, author of "America Beyond Capitalism", on the growth of US movements to decentralize wealth and ownership.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2013-01-04T11:28:18-08:002013-01-04T11:28:18-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/636

This week we turn our attention to the 'War on Drugs', which as addiction specialist Gabor Maté points out is of course a war on drug users. We start with a hour on "The Science of Drug Politics" by former UK Government Chief Drugs advisor, Professor David Nutt whose testimony clearly suggests that scientific considerations were of minor interest to the politicians he was supposed to advise. Next we hear Dr. Maté who touches on some of the reasons why the War On Drugs may not be failure after all...

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2012-12-29T14:19:37-08:002012-12-29T14:19:37-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/635

Last week we reflected on whether people's penchant for doomsday predictions and tales of the living dead was connected to their common experience of life under capitalism. This week, given the absence of an apocalyptic Mayan doomsday event, we ask whether a conscious effort to reject such catastrophism is in order, and what a progressive future might look like.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2012-12-21T21:54:32-08:002012-12-21T21:54:32-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/634

On our last show before December 21st, 2012, we examine the spectre of 'catastrophe'. Does the popularity of undead imagery reveal anything about modern society? We begin by revisiting David Graeber's insights on Tiv mythology at the time of the African slave trade, then examine the underpinning of the modern university and schooling systems as a way to decode the barrage of modern day warnings of the 'Fiscal Cliff'.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2012-12-15T14:29:07-08:002012-12-15T14:29:07-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/633

Is planet earth facing a food crisis? Are there too many people here? Can humanity afford to tackle desertification in the Sahel? Filmmaker Mike Freedman, food activist Tristram Stuart, author Ronald Wright and finally permaculturist and aid worker Tony Rinaudo all contribute their voices to this week's challenge to simplistic and reductionist thinking on such matters.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2012-12-08T14:29:07-08:002012-12-08T14:29:07-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/632

Whether in terms of biodiversity, Peak Oil, water shortages or whatever, we've looked many times on this show at the damaged and degraded planet earth that we are leaving for our children. This week we take another angle, looking at the damage done to the very brains and minds of our children.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2012-12-01T14:29:07-08:002012-12-01T14:29:07-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/631

This week, exceptionally, we hear two pieces from a single speaker, John Taylor Gatto. He is in poor health having been slow to recover from a stroke last year, so we reflect on his genius with two classic talks: "Bianca, You Animal, Shut Up!" and "The Neglected Genius of American Spirituality".

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2012-11-24T08:07:56-08:002012-11-24T08:07:56-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/630

Did you know that the earth is currently experiencing the biggest mass extinction in in the last 65 million years? That half the worlds' plants and animals may go extinct in the next 30 years? Or that extinctions are happening at an accelerating pace already around 1000 times the natural rate?

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2012-11-17T10:23:15-08:002012-11-17T10:23:15-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/629

This week we conclude our reading of David Graeber's Debt, The First 5000 Years with a focus on the fraud of land 'ownership' and economics. A mix of new and familiar speakers include a reading by Lyn Gerry from episode 90 and a radio adaptation of an Adam Curtis film, The League of Gentlemen.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2012-11-10T01:33:29-08:002012-11-10T01:33:29-08:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/628

This week we learn how much effort has been put to making people assume that the virtues of capitalism are beyond question. We hear three Marxian commentators offering their own angles on the development of capitalism in USA, interspersed with a reprise of Noam Chomsky from episode 29 on the elite's determination to control the public mind lest the democratic state serve the wishes of the majority rather than the privilege of the few.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2012-11-03T13:09:38-07:002012-11-03T13:09:38-07:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/627

This week, two Marxist professors speak on the social impact of capitalism and especially in USA. First, Silvia Federici speaks on 'The Progressive Process of Desocialization', how capitalism breaks down communities and people's human relationships of care. Next it is the turn of Richard Wolff who applies his Marxian class analysis to the US household, noting that more and more adults are rejecting the traditional (feudal) model of domestic exploitation and either living alone or in more egalitarian patterns.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2012-10-27T09:00:46-07:002012-10-27T09:00:46-07:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/626

This week we note some similarities between the so called extreme 'left' and 'right' ends of the political spectrum - when the government claims the ability to unilaterally decide how to run things, the stated ideology often goes by the board anyway. Bryan Gould discusses the confidential 'trade agreement' TPP, noting that it is less about free trade and more about subduing national sovereignty to the multinational corporations who devised it. In our second hour, we continue with Richard Wolff's Marxian class analysis, looking specifically at the 1917 Russian revolution.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2012-10-18T13:32:05-07:002012-10-18T13:32:05-07:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/625

This week is something of a continuation of last week's show, featuring the second part of economics professor Richard Wolff on Marxian class analysis, and we approach the end of David Graeber's Debt, The First 5000 Years. It is an aid to help to rethink what you think you know about economics and politics and possibly jettison some categories of thought which are unhelpful.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2012-10-13T12:33:55-07:002012-10-13T12:33:55-07:00http://unwelcomeguests.net/624

As we approach the climax of David Graeber's Debt, The First 5000 Years, we begin a series of talks by Economics Professor Richard Wolff introducing Marxian class analysis.

Robin Uptonhttp://RobinUpton.comunwelcome-via-atom@unwelcomeguests.net2012-10-06T08:10:19-07:002012-10-06T08:10:19-07:00