In this edition of ADD’s summer series, Sine Nørholm Just shares her picks for a book and a podcast to pack in your beach bag – or a series to watch if the weather turns sour.
Watched: Adolescence
Like so many others, I recently binged Adolescence – equal parts fascinated by the brilliant production and horrified by the intense storyline. This is hardly a recommendation of something unknown, but I want to highlight the series nonetheless because it made such a strong (personal and collective) impression. The series is often viewed as a warning against young people’s use of social media in general, and particularly the risk of young boys being drawn into the manosphere. And it is that – but to me, it is more a story about everything surrounding that risk: all the factors that can lead to radicalization. What one takes away from the series likely depends on one’s own context. For me, it was the parents’ incomprehension, their “we thought he was safe in his room.” That line remains with me as a reminder to keep talking to my teenage boys – both about what they did at school and what they’ve seen on their screens.
Listened to: Uncanny Valley
If you’re interested in what’s happening in the U.S. tech world in and around Silicon Valley, Wired’s podcast Uncanny Valley is a great place to stay informed. The podcast combines profiles of central figures (Altman, Musk, Zuckerberg…) with increasingly political content. As it has become clear to everyone that technology is political, Wired as a whole has shifted in a more critical direction. As the magazine put it in the introduction to a recent special issue: “WIRED loves a rogue. Except rogues ruined the internet.” And one might add: rogues are in the process of ruining democracy. If you want to understand how, Uncanny Valley’s (and Wired’s broader) coverage of Musk’s comings and goings from the “Department of Government Efficiency” is well worth adding to your listening list.
Read: Octavia E. Butler’s Lilith’s Brood Trilogy
I’m currently reading Octavia E. Butler’s trilogy about Lilith and the group of humans who survive Earth’s destruction with the help of aliens – the Oankali – who evolve by trading genes with others. To humans, the Oankali are not just alien and frightening with their countless tentacles and their ability to communicate experiences and emotions through touch; they also represent the hope of survival through the threat of extinction. These are my first encounters with Butler’s work, and I’m thoroughly entertained by her vivid storytelling. At the same time, I’m inspired by how she uses science fiction to pose big questions about what it means to be human – questions about self and other, and about the bonds we manage (or fail) to forge between us and them. Like the perhaps more well-known work of Ursula K. Le Guin, Octavia E. Butler’s writing feels both relevant and urgent today – written in another time, yet unmistakably for our own.