Metastatic Modernity Video Series

This page serves to put the Metastatic Modernity video series (introduced here) in one convenient place, in chronological order. Each entry has a title, a one-line description of the content, the embedded video (can also click at lower left to watch on YouTube where comments and chapter navigation appear), and a link to the associated complementary write-up.

An aside on quality: it improves somewhat during the course of the series. I used a platform called Prezi, and through Episode 5 recorded using the browser interface, limited to 720p. I then switched to using their desktop app, which got me 1080p but worked my laptop hard enough that the fan noise became an issue. I started using an external microphone a few episodes later, so that by Episode 11 the A/V quality is sorted out. Please bear with me…

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Episode 1: Stage IV

What is modernity and what does this series aim to do?

The companion write-up is Metastatic Modernity Launch.

Episode 2: Cosmology

Astrophysical perspective on our insignificance

The companion write-up is MM #2: Cosmology.

Episode 3: Early Life

The tremendous problem-solving upon which we utterly rely today

The companion write-up is MM #3: Early Life.

Episode 4: Evolution

Simple, elegant, and subtle in the context of a co-evolved community

The companion write-up is MM #4: Evolution.

Episode 5: Our Biological Inheritance

Almost everything we are is gifted by ancestry

The companion write-up is MM #5: Our Biological Inheritance.

Episode 6: Accidental Tourists

We aren’t the pinnacle, purpose, or destiny of evolution

The companion write-up is MM #6: Accidental Tourists.

Episode 7: Ecological Nosedive

Documenting the explosive start of the sixth mass extinction.

The companion write-up is MM #7: Ecological Nosedive

Episode 8: Timeline

Putting modernity into context as a flash in terms of relevant timescales.

The companion write-up is MM #8: Timeline

Episode 9: Recipe for Disaster

How did we fall into this trap? Who’s idea was it? This is weird.

The companion write-up is MM #9: Recipe for Disaster

Episode 10: Just Ditch the Bad?

Can we keep the nifty parts and just jettison the ill effects?

The companion write-up is MM #10: Ditch the Bad?

Episode 11: What About Renewables?

Won’t we solve the problems via technology?

The companion write-up is MM #11: Renewable Salvation?

Episode 12: Human Supremacy

How we became such narcissists and why it’s deeply problematic

The companion write-up is MM #12: Human Supremacy

Episode 13: A Species out of Context

A terminal departure from our evolved, ecological context

The companion write-up is MM #13: A Species out of Context

Episode 14: Cancer Diagnosis

Humans are a victim of this self-terminating disease, and at great risk

The companion write-up is MM #14: Cancer Diagnosis

Episode 15: What Now?

A difficult transition looms. What to expect and how we might react

The companion write-up is MM #15: What Now?

Episode 16: Recap and Mythology

Tying it all together toward a unified outlook, and throwing in our cultural mythologies for contrast

The companion write-up is MM #16: Recap and Mythology

Episode 17: Being Human

Establishing who we really are, valuing the truly important

The companion write-up is MM #17: Being Human

Episode 18: What Can I Do?

How might we put our good intentions and wishes into practice?

The companion write-up is MM #18: What Can I Do?

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