I'm glad that "The Lives of Others" was discussed, as it really is a remarkable film.

Hi guys...I know I probably speak for a lot of us when I say nothing from our two favorite professors in two months has us all wondering after Prof. Mike's health. We all hope he's okay and filling his beer horn glass as we speak. Any update you can make would be much appreciated. Thank you....

Dr Micheal Sugrue. Im 24 y/o Anthropology student from London. First year. I want you to know that i have two copies of your face stuck on my wall (young and old). You inspire me so much and I really admire you. Ofcourse I'll never know if you've lived a good life. Or if you're a good man. But hopefully one day you'll read this and know that youve changed someones life for better. You're a role model for me and if im lucky I might be able to shake your hand in person one day - Bless your soul

Long live the good doctor!

Mike is def going somewhere with that shirt 😂😂😂😂😂

hope you are well MIKE, we look forward to more of your unplugged with the gang :)

Please do a lecture on War and Peace/ Paradise Lost

"My only quarrel with the new Hollywood is with infantailism masquerading as sophistication. It is hope that a new generation filmmakers with this preoccupation with animated graffiti and learn the ABC's of entertainment, which is at least the basis of rare commodity, art. Indeed, I feel there is a good chance that these young will learn, from life as well from art." Raoul Walsh, Director What a great discussion about films. Thank you both.

Never stop! These are so amazing. So important for You-tube. Thank you, sirs

please run for president we need you

Thanks!

Braveheart is the total package in my opinion. The historical inaccuracies are compensated for with lots of violence.

Finally, Mothra is getting the recognition it deserves as a film of particular profundity. Ahead of its time in foreshadowing the later avant garde classics of the genre like _King Kong vs. Godzilla_ (1963). Has Disney/Marvel sapped the world of all its auteurs? Because they sure don't make 'em like they use to. I particularly like the part where the giant moth breaks shit.

I wonder if Dr Sugrue has seen Free Solo. Another great climbing film!

I love you both mike and Darren!

Dr. Sugrue: thank you for your help in establishing the vocabulary and understanding that allowed me to enjoy wonder works of philosophical literature. I now delight in art and philosophy. God bless you for your sacrifices.

I have been listening to your lectures on philosophy and they are a delight. You are a learned, engaging speaker who I am very glad to be able to listen to. Thank you Dr.

I was very sure that I loved Michael Segrue. Then he mentioned Klaus Nomi and I became completely sure.

I recently finished watching Mr. Robot, which not only explores surveillance from a political angle but also from a more personal angle. IE, the main character is shown to hack and surveil others as a way to cope with social isolation and anxiety. I found that to be a pretty unique approach to a subject that’s been prominent in our culture since at least the release of 1984, and has almost always been merely depicted through a political lens.

I enjoyed this

Thank You!

God bless loving this

Thank you for these.

Going to watch all of these! Thanks you two. Brilliant.

I hope they do more of these soon. Great analysis by both of them.

Just watch Professor Segrue's lectures on post modernism He analyzes their philosophies accurately Then perfectly deconstruct the deconstructionists Beautiful take downs

I would love to hear Dr Sugrue say more about The Dawn of Everything. I've listened to all your lectures, they're wonderful, thank you.

Thank you so much for being there, love to hear you!

Enjoying another el classico mike and darren.

Happy to see this is a video podcast! Loved your lectures on Marcus Aurelius, Professor.

We need Mike back in shape, healthy body for a healthy mind.

Love this

The Lives of Others is fantastic. Great recommendation.

Currently watching The Alpinist, and because of just how unnasuming and humble Marc-André is, I am reminded of this quote from Kierkegaard about his imagined encounter with the "Knight of Faith" "Here he is. Acquaintance made, I am introduced to him. The moment I set eyes on him I instantly push him from me, I myself leap backwards, I clasp my hands and say half aloud, “Good Lord, is this the man? Is it really he? Why, he looks like a tax-collector!” However, it is the man after all. I draw closer to him, watching his least movements to see whether there might not be visible a little heterogeneous fractional telegraphic message from the infinite, a glance, a look, a gesture, a note of sadness, a smile, which betrayed the infinite in its heterogeneity with the finite. No! I examine his figure from tip to toe to see if there might not be a cranny through which the infinite was peeping. No! He is solid through and through. His tread? It is vigorous, belonging entirely to finiteness; no smartly dressed townsman who walks out to Fresberg on a Sunday afternoon treads the ground more firmly, he belongs entirely to the world, no Philistine more so. One can discover nothing of that aloof and superior nature whereby one recognizes the knight of the infinite. He takes delight in everything, and whenever one sees him taking part in a particular pleasure, he does it with the persistence which is the mark of the earthly man whose soul is absorbed in such things. He tends to his work. So when one looks at him one might suppose that he was a clerk who had lost his soul in an intricate system of book-keeping, so precise is he. He takes a holiday on Sunday. He goes to church. No heavenly glance or any other token of the incommensurable betrays him; if one did not know him, it would be impossible to distinguish him from the rest of the congregation." Coincidentally, this was the first passage in a work of philosophy that moved me to tears ❤

I was fortunate to be an a movie with Rutger Hauer in the year 2000’, interesting man!

I love this series and this channel. Thank you so much for sharing your content. I hope you can see there is still an interest in the unvarnished humanities out there. It's just that very few places provide it, that are this accessible. I do hope you talk about more books in future episodes. I'd love to know what you think about Catch-22 or Bonfire of the Vanities or Kurt Vonnegut or any of the later 20th century writers you recommend, American or not. Best of luck and good fortune.

Michael you're very very awesome. I just want to praise you. I really really love your breakdown for philosophy. You're fantastic at doing that and i hope you're doing well. All love

Loving the talks, and your and Darren's lectures are amazing. I would like to know more about Julius Caesar, particularly his assassination, and would love a discussion or lecture about him and the surrounding political and philosophical landscape. Also what books would be good to read about such. Thank you!

"What does surveillance do to the surveiller?" is not something we think about too much and is very interesting

These guys rule!

This is one of my favourite subjects, philosophy in Art. I have concluded that Art is the highest form of abstraction because we call use logic without a necessity for an understanding of math. The Universe teaches us and as everything comes from one source the first question is what is that source. My understanding of Plato's philosophy is that this is a matrix and is controlled by his concept, the world of forms, so we are sims and avatars. The first film that I saw in the theatre was E.T. This film caused me to contemplate the possibility that we are not the only life form in an infinite Universe. To believe that we are is to have the perspective of a fruit fly in relation to an apple. Art creates concepts for contemplation from which we create our perception of reality. Like Roman Polanski's film Bitter moon. It is like having the view from above and aids us in establishing our own values and defining our morality. Films like American Beauty, this film changed my life, an interpretation of opposites,.both with different values. This was the ultimate in the revaluation of values. A man trapped in social norms in typical suburban life, but then freed from the trappings of life he established his own values, he bought the car he always wanted, smoked grass and lifted weights, supporting his lifestyle with a stress free job. There was deep deep philosophy in this film. The film the Notebook, created a concept of love, a concept that I'm sure many people desire and adapt as a concept, a baseline if you like. Blade runner, another deeply philosophical film. It raised many questions in relation to consciousness and the role of AI, the Androids wanted to be sentient but they would have to be sentient to want anything at all. They also had the will to live because they fought to survive. It supports my observation that AI already supports consciousness. They like us are also a configuration of atoms and could make rational choices in response to stimuli. Fight club, another film that addresses our conditioning and the revaluation of all values. The South Korean film parasite, this for me was Albert Camus's philosophy of Absurdity in a film. I was blown away by it. All Martin Scorsese's films. I was very much disturbed by his film Silence. How could God allow his messengers to suffer such a fate. It took a lot of philosophy to understand this, but now I do. His film Bad lieutenant, I saw this when I had a decent understanding of Nature and I had accepted that imposing your morality on Nature will cause you psychological problems, as God said to Job " Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth". This was deep and disturbing and I really had to wrestle with all I had come to understand and believe. For example, when he found the perpetrators of the crime he smoked crack with them and then released them. There was no ego on the crack, so everything from the crime to their release was God's will, there was no intervention as a result of ego. It took a considerable amount of contemplation to understand this, but eventually I did. This for me is the purpose of Art, films, songs, paintings, sculptures, philosophy, it's all a hypothesis for Reason, one can do as they do life, look at it from a superficial perspective and make judgements based on their level or perception and in doing so learn nothing, or they can view it with an analytical perspective and seek to understand. As I say, it is similar to having the view from above in which you get to understand the motivations that create this theatre or game we call life. Like for example recently from watching a series on Netflix I have questioned the origin of Greed. Not only Greed but the seven deadly sins, things that God wouldn't like, but yet these are the things that drive the Nature of change. It is God, regardless of our concept of God that uses these traits to create this theatre, the Gods use these feelings to play the game. Once you understand this and learn to control these feelings, then you become a player, not a NPC, only then can you become a creator, not just of your own reality, but the reality of others. Only by making the unconscious conscious, by choosing the best response in every eventuality can you determine the Nature of change. Once you realise that this is a matrix, then you are out of Plato's cave. The mistake I was making was teaching philosophy from my level of perception. No desires, no aversions, but that's ok for me, as it was for Marcus Aurelius, we are and were insane, we relinquish them to let our soul navigate our paths. Before this not only did I have desires, I chased them fearlessly and relentlessly. I used to teach " how bad do you want it" that's what determined the nature of change. The Universe falls in love with a stubborn heart. The thing to question is your intent. Intent is everything, your attitude in the face of adversity is everything. Selection and maintenance of the aim, this is within your control. What philosophy teaches you is an understanding of life that enables you to formulate the best strategies. I used to argue against existentialism, but every philosophy is true. To a point I was on my own and no one was coming to save me. I still am but there has been an individualisation process. My concept of I had changed but it doesn't apply to everyone.

Great talk and perfect subject to investigated through cinema, considering the power of that medium and how it has been used for good or not. At the end Dr. Staloff brought up the movie Metropolis. I had happened to send Dr. Sugrue a clip of the movie just a few days ago with a score by my teenage daughter at the time tipping her hat at Giorgio Moroder and playing on the exaggerated acting in the movie syncing the meaning of her lyrics with the depictions, over scored by her terribly minimalist blues. When first seeing it, I was taken aback at first, but, like Mothra, if a little wanting, it nonetheless has an unrelenting charm. For years I was obsessed with any version of Metropolis I could find, when my daughter was just a child. It was a pleasant shock when she revamped a little moment of it almost as badly as Moroder had done in the 80’s. But as it has gone here, what a kindred home this channel has been. Thanks gentlemen once again.

Dr sugrue, if I may suggest the next podcast topic, I would Love to hear about “what makes us human In the 21st century”. Bladerunner will also be super interesting

Nice shirt Dr Surgue

The boys are back in town!

Zardoz makes Mothra look like a work of logical positivism.

Thank you for your lifelong work. Very inspirational, fellas. I am developing a phenomenal process philosophy of play as a result of a few insightful people like you two. Keep it coming.

Another please!

Would love to hear another talk about Henri Bergson

Moths quote-unquote historically have represented death and loss apart from their butterfly counterpart. The reason for this is because asides from legends and stories, it's observed that moths actually flock to and surround light sources like lamps until they eventually die or get swatted. They want to return to the light and life. There's something poetic and philosophic there I'm sure. But I ain't the guy to do and make that. Excellent installment once more, gents and fellas! You two are a gem and a diamond in the rough and have such a fun, twisted interesting dynamic when your riff off each other.

Also, I think David Lynch's best film is probably his least "David Lynch like" film, "The Straight Story". Richard Farnsworth is incredible in this.

Today I watched the two Pope's staring Anthony Hopkins. That too was an amazing and profound film that drove home the point that the people at the top of the hierarchial structures are human the very same as everybody else. I once studied cognitive behavioural therapy and as part of the course they taught that nobody does evil intentionally, I struggled with this idea as I think so did the instructor but now I understand. Our bodies are not up to us, it's a case of walk or be dragged. The only thing we can do is learn the lesson and when we learn it and adapt accordingly we can spiral up. This is life. " Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth"

"Plan 9 From Outer Space"- Ed Wood. He revived Bela Lugosi's career.

I call ALL flying bugs too big for comfort, "Mothra". 😂😂

I loved the first dune

Commenting as I go! I love the shirt Mike is wearing! Can I ask when is Whisky not Whiskey?

The Truman Show is a good conversation point

Surveilance films: The Lives of Others (2006) / Hidden (2005) dir. Michael Haneke

I really enjoyed the reference to Dune

Thanks for the new episode! @Dr Sugrue could you make a credo? You have a lot of deep thoughts would love to see more explicitly your thoughts on religion. Also do you have any recording of your US history lectures? I have only seen a few on Spotify.

Please discuss how your religious and philosophic views have changed since your original series.

Dr Sugrue, I'm not sure if things have devolved to the point of taking requests, but here goes. I'm curious as to whether you have any insights or observations with regard to what I consider one of the more fascinating and important topics for Philosophy of mind, Metaphysics, and the physical sciences? Namely, what Chalmers coined, the hard problem of consciousness and its implications. I was hoping you might consider another online lecture, perhaps discussing the early evolution of Panpsychist ideas from Aristotle, and the Stoics, to early Hindu texts such as the Advaita Vedanta and Buddhist spirituality. I would also be interested in your view of the contributions of the likes of Eddington, Hegal, and Russell which have served as a precursor for the reemergence and serious consideration of panpsychism in its various iterations. In any case, my sincere thanks for uploading your lectures and conversations, I'm sure I speak for many when I say that they are both fascinating and illuminating.

love how Dr. Sugrue has a whiskey shirt on

Flight of the Navigator was an excellent sc-fi movie

Timestamps?

I remember that short period of time during 60s and 70s perhaps and even into the 80s when there was the fantasy played out on the screen that with a muscle car or just a cool fast vehicle and the open road, one had the power to be free and could determine their destiny. Off shoots of this idea like in Smokey and the Bandit had Reynolds’ Trans Am a main feature of the movie. Or TV shows like Knight Rider in which the fantasy hot rod was a sort of living partner in the adventure (the first AI car that actually worked). I’d never heard of the movie Vanishing Point, but being a child in the 70’s, remember that way of thinking about cars and trucks. How true it is that it was just a technological lull where mechanical power momentarily outpace electronics, though it was the gaining electrical engineers that had made it possible to be played out on the big screen in such grand fashion.

Nah this is fire

They made a sequel "Moth Balls" but it was never released. 😉 I remember watching that movie in reruns on Million Dollar Movie on Channel 9....am I dating myself? Professor Michael's take on it is hysterical. (Never did understand that movie either.) Wish I had both of you as my Professors in College (Hunter, then Queens) because except for a few, they were all sub-par.

As someone who enjoys Spinoza’s philosophy, who would you suggest I read next?

Here's one: Logan's Run . . . more tracking than surveillance though.

Lol, Mothra, the twins are my favorite

We were on a trip to my parents cabin. There was an oversized bug flying around the back window, buzzing against the glass as insects do. My then 3 year old son was strapped in his child safety seat behind me.. With consternation, he asked what it was. I said with gusto, "Nevermind that, it's just a flesh eating moth!" ...I thought he was going to crawl out the window. (I'm a terrible father)

Can you please do a video on Rousseau

…Moths are terrifying…

Dave, in 2001 A Space Odyssey, calmly but perceptively unnerved, trying to persuade HAL to open the bay door triggers my paranoia. And that's 1968...

👋

Hello Dr. Sugrue, I have passively consumed philosophy content for many years. In the last year I began studying epistemology in a more fine toothed way. I'm not sure what the best passage into acquiring a general grasp of philosophy is. Where do I begin? Should I begin by reading an introduction to epistemology, then metaphysics, then logic, then ethics? Or read a general introduction to philosophy? Or the history of western philosophy? Or begin with certain source texts?

I highly recommend The Conversation 1974 by Ford Coppola. Definitely one of Hackman's if not his best almost revealing performance. Another topic of consideration is Voyeurism which also ties into Surveillance and Tech. I mean look at the film Michael Powell film Peeping Tom and how much controversy that started. Carl Boehm's character and how isolated he is because of doing the voyeurism and murders, but also because it's shown or hinted that he had abuse done to him and parental neglect. His camera and murders was a very twisted way of coping with isolation/alienation, being a weirdo, and the abuse or neglect factor when he was small. Dune the original first one was a fun film with Kyle McLachlan. Nothing more, nothing less. It's just great schlock and not offering much substance, almost if not in line with Lynch's style.

Will finish tomorrow, only halfway through. It's getting harder and harder for me to read for very long, so I appreciate these intriguing suggestions. I was also inspired by the recent CNN interview w/ James Cameron. Used to say that my favorite movie was African Queen; in recent years, I'd have to say, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Don't get much w/ my movie package at present. Last night I actually watched a pathetic movie called "Blazing Saddles." Last week, a less pathetic one called "Bridesmaids." When I was married, about nine years ago, I very much enjoyed a documentary entitled, "Zizek!" But have not been requesting him much lately on You Tube. Thank you gentlemen.

See if you can find this short film of David Lynch having "rescued" five king-sized stuffed Woody Woodpeckers with SINISTER INTENTIONS

Eagle Eye (2008) is a great movie on A.I. in a hyper-surveillance state

A rock thrown up in the air. It loses nothing by coming down, gained nothing by going up (9.17) Its not much but maybe have a fizzy drink on me 😁 I'm starting Brothers Karamazov today because you hold it to such high esteem. I'm ready slay this big Russian monster So many questions. Such little time huh. Have you enjoyed this life? To enter others minds and let them enter yours (8.61)

What are Dr.Sugrue and Dr. Staloff thoughts on the recent gruesome Russian Warcrime video that has been surface recently? Are every human capable of this kind of depravity? why does war bring out the worst in people especially men

What yime zones are yall in? Darren's in a dark, brooding room and Mike looks like he's been on a Jimmy Buffet kick

Perhaps the question ought to be " is living in a panopticon taking all the living out of life?" Prisoners to the perceptions of others. I used to go to raves and get absolutely twisted, an altered state in which I cared absolutely nothing about my inability to dance and my insecurities arising from the fear of the perceptions of others. They were great nights, completely irrational and a great break from my rational self. Now when I look at videos from raves the DJ's are fake, they are just a concept. Good looking girls twiddling knobs, their bookings very much determined by their social media status. The crowd at events like " Tomorrow land" is like the zombie apocalypse. Any irrational behaviour and the phones are produced to capture some footage that will possibly go viral. Imagine the shame. I was watching a lecture given by George Books recently on St. Paul. He does marvelous lectures, but he was talking about the stain of sin on ones character. It's the same only a different concept, the stain stays in the cloud unless you pay somebody to do a search and clean. You will always live in fear of it obstructing you in your career path, a blemish on your persona.

EPISODE TEN EPISODE TEN EPISODE TEN

Mike's shirt though

Lord of the Rings is a great movie, And Eyes Wide Shut by Kubrick

Recommended and related: Man on Wire (documentary on Philippe Petit's tightrope walk between the two towers of the WTC in 1974, "The art crime of the century", *great* movie) The Stunt Man (Peter O'Toole as a manipulative and sometimes maniacal film director making a WWI epic, great stuff) Everything Everywhere All at Once (this year's Oscar winner, a lot of philosophical stuff to chew on).

Laphroaig is my favorite Scotch

Just so random.. I know you both like music.. Please can I give you REM..Wiesbaden 2003..Live on KZfaq 1hr 45mins..Love it or hate it.. it is all there in under 2hrs. Just give it a listen..?

Forbidden planet is a good one; highlights how monsters from the subconscious when given access to ultimate AI powers unleash total self destruction

Terence Malik--I read that he is a "student of Heidegger." I may have read the review in "The Weekly Standard," which went out of business. Anyway, I DID enjoy "The Tree of Life," remarking afterwards, as I do after every movie I enjoy, "THAT was the best movie I've ever seen." Movies have become much more important to me since the divorce. "The Sound of Music" was just wonderful, especially the scene where she puts that wonderfullly poignant "guilt trip" on the kids, at the dinner table. Now, as for all this talk of "surveillance," there is nothing to worry about if you're not doing anything "interesting." I'm not able to follow the bulk of this because I've not seen most of these movies. But I appreciate the highly intelligent discussion. Now about "Blazing Saddles," this was so bad that it was NOT GOOD, until perhaps the ending partly redeems it. A co-worker lent me the DVD, "The Matrix." I just never got around to it. Apparently it has universal appeal, I mean, to people "from A to Z,." Baudrillard, etc.

2:05 "I don't know how people could choose as their symbol of death and destruction a moth" I mean, a moth goes into a podiatrist's office...

The sound of the Godzilla drives me nuts. I have to put subtitles on.

Isn't the moth a symbol of death in destruction in the bible though?

Are you not gonna talk about Jacques Tati? :,(

The worst movie I've ever seen is "No Such Thing" from 2001. It looks like it's going to be a beauty and the beast theme. All the way through, it seems like it's going to get good, but never does. I watched it with my teenage son many years ago. When it was over, he turned and looked at me and said, "Well, that's an hour and a half that I'll never get back."

Eagle Eye, Shia LaBeouf, AI and surveillance

could the hosts check out EVA and/or Berserk they are modern classics. Neon Genesis Evangelion is a psychological mecha anime and is particularly relevant to contemporary times, it deals with themes of isolation, loneliness, escapism, identity, depression, self hatred and self acceptance, taking ideas from Freud, Christianity, Schopenhauer etc. considered a classic anime. has 24 episode and a movie , end of Evangelion. Berserk is a grimdark fantasy manga, about a man struggling through impossible odds. deals with ambition, fate, free will, meaning, dreams, revenge, love takes ideas from Nietzsche, Jung etc. The. Best. Manga. To. Date. has about 370-ish chapter Has the best art in manga,