Appendix: Supplemental Material to the Book of Common Knowledge
News & Politics Podcasts
An Appendix is a collection of material that adds meaning and context to the main text of a book, but, for whatever reason, didn't quite fit into the material itself. While usually quite important, often it just doesn't fit into the overall narrative neatly, so the author leaves it out and throws it in the back. In this series, we treat common knowledge as a book, that tells an overall story, but often times misses key bits of information simply because they just don't fit neatly into the narrative. An appendix doesn't change the story, but for those that take the time to turn to it, it does offer a new context, and a new perspective. Join us over the coming weeks as add appendices to the book of common knowledge, including: Immortality, The oldest coincidence, The arc of Progress, What Cain killing Able really meant, and whether the Constitution was written to fail.
Location:
United States
Description:
An Appendix is a collection of material that adds meaning and context to the main text of a book, but, for whatever reason, didn't quite fit into the material itself. While usually quite important, often it just doesn't fit into the overall narrative neatly, so the author leaves it out and throws it in the back. In this series, we treat common knowledge as a book, that tells an overall story, but often times misses key bits of information simply because they just don't fit neatly into the narrative. An appendix doesn't change the story, but for those that take the time to turn to it, it does offer a new context, and a new perspective. Join us over the coming weeks as add appendices to the book of common knowledge, including: Immortality, The oldest coincidence, The arc of Progress, What Cain killing Able really meant, and whether the Constitution was written to fail.
Language:
English
Episodes
Christmas
12/18/2018
Dear Editor— I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus? Virginia O'Hanlon 115 West Ninety Fifth Street Music In late summer 1897, a young girl in New York City wrote to the New York Sun with a VERY important question. She wanted to know if Santa Claus was real. Her schoolmates had been telling her, you see, that he wasn’t. And she just had to know. So at the urging...
Duration:00:16:27
Democracy Part 2
11/1/2018
In today’s episode, we’re going to ask the two simplish questions: If the 5 regimes are real, and if they devolve into one another like Socrates suggested, have we seen this in the US? The second question: Could this have been what the founders wanted all along?
Duration:00:40:02
Democracy--Pt 1
10/26/2018
The American Experiment started with something almost unrecognizable to what we see and experience today. And not just in a “we have hundreds of millions of people and nuclear weapons now” kind of way. But a much more fundamental way. Not only is the size, scope, and importance of our government wholly different than what the founders intended, but the way we interact with it, too, is entirely different. Democracy wasn’t in the cards for us–not at first at least. Open hearings, political...
Duration:00:30:15
Season 2, Episode 1--Addiction
10/11/2018
There’s a classic experiment where scientists took a rat and put it in a box and gave it two spigots to drink from: a water spigot and a spigot with a morphine mixture. The rat started with the water, and then one day, tried the morphine. He seemed to like it, because the next day, he had the morphine again. Then some more morphine. And before you knew it, the rat was drinking only morphine in higher and higher quantities. And that, dear listeners, is our classic understanding of addiction....
Duration:00:30:51
Season 2 Teaser
8/28/2018
Duration:00:01:46
Episode 9-Common Knowledge
8/8/2018
Salem, 1692. A now infamous scene is about to unfold, stealing the lives of 25 innocent people, and leaving centuries of mystery and warning in its wake. 300 years later and we still don't know why it happened. But maybe that's the wrong question. Maybe the better question is "How" did it happen?
Duration:00:27:11
Episode 8--Presidents
7/27/2018
If an outsider were to look at Presidential elections over the past few decades, he’d be forgiven for thinking that we’re, well, a little schizophrenic. Our presidential choices oscilate from conservative to liberal pretty regularly, and that’s without taking into account our last two elections–where we elected our first Black President and then immediately followed it up with a President that shows far less deference to non-white Americans. It really does send mixed signals to ourselves and...
Duration:00:28:58
Episode 7--SCOTUS
7/13/2018
Duration:00:22:20
Coming Soon: Patriotism--A Miniseries!
7/6/2018
Duration:00:02:46
Episode 6--Artificial Intelligence
6/22/2018
Today’s episode is dedicated to a test that the smartest and wealthiest entrepeneurs in the world are trying to ace. A test that thousands of the world’s brightest folks are working on right now. A test that, once we ace it, according to some, we can’t go back. So, today’s appendix comes in the form of a simple test, actuated by a bunch of 1s and 0s, to the book of common knowledge on Artificial Intelligence.
Duration:00:15:56
Minisode 1: Noodlebakers
6/15/2018
We had a lot of extra fodder from this week’s episode. So we thought we’d give you a little treat before the weekend--something maybe you can use to ignite a conversation at brunch, or spark interest from that cutie across the room at happy hour. So, without further ado, we present some of our favorite thought experiments and paradoxes, in no particular order.
Duration:00:07:49
Episode 4--Time
6/12/2018
Today’s Appendix has a pretty simple goal: To get a glimpse of the fourth dimension--of time. We won’t be able to answer all of the questions posed above, but we can get a good start. And since we can’t go up into the 4th dimension, we’re going to have to start by going down into the second. And that’s where we begin with Today’s Appendix, coming in the form of a few shapes cut out of paper, clipped to the back of the very real, very physical book of Common Knowledge on Time.
Duration:00:26:07
Episode 3--Shakespeare
5/29/2018
In the early 20th entury, we started an experiment with the English language. Combined with new technologies, that experiment, for the last century, has completely reshaped how we hear and experience Shakespeare. Join us in today’s Appendix as we listen to a video clip, edited to the last page of a very, very, VERY long book of Common Knowledge on William Shakespeare
Duration:00:17:27
Episode 2--Fake News
5/22/2018
Here at the appendix, we believe, among other things, that history does indeed rhyme with itself–that many things that happen today have happened, in some form, time and time before. And today’s episode looks at two such instances, nearly 200 years apart. One has ended, and the other has barely begun–but maybe they rhyme just enough to tell us what’s in store. So, without further adieu, Today’s Appendix comes in the form of a Newspaper Article, paperclipped to the last page of the Book of...
Duration:00:15:16
Appendix: Season 1
5/13/2018
An Appendix is a collection of material that adds meaning and context to the main text of a book, but, for whatever reason, didn’t quite fit into the material itself. While usually quite important, often it just doesn’t fit into the overall narrative neatly, so the author leaves it out and throws it in the back. In this series, we treat common knowledge as a book, that tells an overall story, but often times misses key bits of information simply because they just don’t fit neatly into the...
Duration:00:01:18
Episode 1- Immortality
5/13/2018
For our first Appendix to the Book of Common Knowledge, we’re going after one of the largest volumes–Immortality. Our common understanding is that it’s a powerful force that, while having some very good, and some very bad effects, is wholly unattainable unless you’re half God or have made a deal with the devil. But in this appendix, we’ll see that while the main rules still apply, it’s not exactly unattainable.
Duration:00:12:35