This week we’re going to look back at some of our favourite items from 2010 on Spark. A digital potpourri! And no worries, we’ll have a brand new episode of Spark next week. But on this episode: A Super Sad Love Story, Twitter Strangers, Reality Shifting, and Drive. Click below to listen to the whole show, or download the MP3 (runs 54:00).
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:00 — 24.8MB)
You can also listen to individual stories below.
Daniel Pink on Drive
This item originally aired on Spark 109 – April 11 & 13, 2010. We often talk about the world of work on Spark, and specifically how that world is changing. Daniel Pink has thought so much about it that he’s written four books on the subject, including his latest Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Nora spoke with Daniel about the ways we are motivated to be better performers, and the answer just may surprise you! (Runs 13:15)
Play audio:
- Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
- RSA Animate – Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
- Full uncut version of interview with Daniel Pink
Gary Shteyngart on Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel
This item originally aired on Spark 120 – September 19 & 22, 2010. Gary Shteyngart’s new novel is called Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel, and it’s been making waves since it hit bookshelves back in July. It tells the story of two people who fall in love in a near-future New York, where the wealthy get nano-technology treatments to avoid aging, the US economy has collapsed and is tottering under war, class struggle, and a one- party state. And, it’s a comedy, with lots of satirical, dystopian, and hilarious things to say about contemporary techno-culture. (Runs 9:44)
Play audio:
Isabel Pedersen on Reality Shifting Devices
This item originally aired on Spark 124 – October 24 & 27, 2010. How would you like to simply think, “Where’s my dentist from here?” and have the directions show up on your mobile? Maybe you’d like to slip to your appointment unnoticed thanks to your invisibility cloak. And just to make sure you don’t forget your appointment in the first place, you’ve already been injected with nano-computers that will do your remembering for you. This future might not be as distant as we think. Isabel Pedersen is a Communications professor at Ryerson University who studies what she calls reality-shifting devices. She spoke with Nora about her concern that we’re not taking the time to consider the human implications of such technologies before we accept them as fact. (Runs 8:54)
Play audio:
Twitter Strangers
This item originally aired on Spark 121 – September 26 & 29, 2010. There’s an old saying: “Don’t talk to strangers!” But what about following them on Twitter? Well in Joel Johnson’s experience, there can be real advantages to following complete strangers online. In addition to Joel, Nora also spoke with Jonah Lehrer, who believes that following strangers on Twitter can expand our creative potential, an idea that’s been researched by Charlan Nemeth, who studies the role of dissent in creativity and thought. Her research suggests that simply by being exposed to minority dissenting viewpoints (whether we believe them or not) improves our creativity. (Runs 15:24)
Play audio:
- Joel Johnson
- Jonah Lehrer
- Charlan Nemeth
- Full uncut version of interviews with Joel Johnson and Jonah Lehrer
- theStwanger
- Pew Internet Report on American adults and Twitter
Episode Details
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loved you piece on different things adding to our life , there is a program call STUMBLE , its a tool bar you add to your browser , you hit the "Stumble" button and you get a get new site , you can set it to topics if you want , its really addicting , you find things you would never have even thought to look for before , its a whole different way too view the web … love your show … john