Human Meme

This episode explains T.S.

This episode explores how removing prestige and context, as shown in a violin experiment, reveals that perceived superiority often vanishes when only intrinsic qualities like sound are considered, applying this insight to various aspects of society including art, luxury goods, and democracy.

A folklorist documents a strange Halloween phenomenon where people in a neighborhood begin forgetting their own identities while retaining all other memories.

David Bowles discusses his novel 'The Held Land', which tells three interconnected stories spanning 159 years about a quarter section of Nebraska prairie and the people who lived there, exploring themes of inheritance, displacement, and forgotten histories.

This episode explores how society often dismisses or mocks extraordinary achievements and historical figures, using examples like Helen Keller, Shakespeare, and Apollo astronauts to illustrate a cultural pattern of turning genius into a joke.

The host shares a poignant memory from 25 years ago where a mother gave her college-bound daughter the powerful advice to attend every funeral as an act of support for the living, which inspired a book and deeper reflection on mortality.

The host introduces his new anthology of essays exploring how landscapes hold collective memory, particularly focusing on the Great Plains and the concept of 'Erinnerungslandschaft'.

This episode explores Vera Rubin's groundbreaking discovery of dark matter through her observations of the Andromeda Galaxy's rotation, highlighting her scientific perseverance and the physics community's initial skepticism.

This episode explores how the original cast recording of Wicked, specifically crafted for Idina Menzel's voice, creates a haunting legacy that influences subsequent performers and theater interpretations.

The host reflects on his teenage years in 1982 when he wrote a dark, unproduced TV series about troubled high school students running a newspaper, exploring how adolescent experiences shape creative work.

This episode reflects on life's challenges and the simple truths that provide comfort.

The host introduces his novel 'The Last Living American White Male', exploring how classification systems categorize individuals and the implications of being the last person in a demographic category.

This episode explores the concept of inherited historical debt tied to land in America's Great Plains, focusing on the displacement of Native peoples and the lasting consequences.

This episode explores the philosophical significance of the obscure character Boodle Boy from a 1974 Columbo episode and how it serves as a framework for creative intervention.

The host discusses his new book of short stories, exploring how characters inhabit the body for decades and the universal cost of extraordinary abilities across diverse narratives.

This episode discusses the completion of the ASL Linguistics for Practitioners trilogy with a focus on the new book 'Beyond the Hands', exploring non-manual grammar and its significance in American Sign Language.

This episode explores three hidden discoveries: forests controlling weather, consciousness stuttering, and worms building civilization, framed in poetic and philosophical language about humanity and nature.

This episode explores the concept of pervasive data scoring systems, comparing China's social credit score to America's distributed algorithmic systems, and traces their philosophical origins over 500 years.

This episode explores transgenerational epigenetics, revealing how experiences like a grandmother's fear can alter DNA through methyl groups and be inherited, challenging traditional views of genetics.

David Bowles discusses his unsettling novella 'Civility Certified: A Dossier Novella', exploring how verification systems create permanent records that process individuals without violence but with profound psychological impact.

This episode explores the concept of time through the physical reality of light travel from the sun and how writing a book about it revealed deeper insights about perception and existence.

This episode explores how shoulder and arm movements in American Sign Language carry semantic meaning beyond handshapes, challenging traditional views of language as purely cognitive.

This episode explores how the evolution of human speech, through the descent of the larynx, created a dangerous anatomical trade-off that makes choking a leading cause of accidental death.

The host discusses the journey of a story about four disembodied cat heads in space that evolved from a podcast into a book, exploring themes of storytelling and permanence.

This episode explores the philosophical question of whose consciousness and experience is presented when an actor performs a playwright's words on stage, drawing from the host's 40 years in theater.

The host discusses his new horror novel 'The Borrowed Saint', exploring themes of identity through a boy who discovers he can copy others' facial features onto his own reflection.

The host reflects on an empty shelf at LaGuardia Community College that once held a TTY machine for deaf communication, exploring themes of technological obsolescence and human connection.

This episode explores the profound implications of genetic testing revealing unexpected kinship and shared ancestry across cultural boundaries, as discussed through the lens of a new novel.

This episode celebrates hip hop culture with energetic music and calls for unity within the community.

The host discusses his new fractional fiction novel exploring the meaning of saying 'Amen' to prayers, using a 1916 scene where a widow refuses to assent to a war prayer as a starting point.

David Bowles discusses his new young adult book series 'The Elements' while analyzing how Western culture perpetuates harmful memes about disability through language and narrative patterns.

This episode explores the paradox of Broadway's 41 theaters, which generated record revenue in the 2024-25 season despite most being empty and no commercially produced musicals recouping their costs.

The host reflects on a childhood theater experience that revealed how art can bypass conscious thought to create involuntary emotional and physical responses in an audience.

This episode explores why current AI systems fail to invent the future, using the Galileo Test as a framework to examine limitations in human-like creativity and consciousness.

The host discusses his new book on American Sign Language classifiers and spatial grammar, exploring how sign language differs from spoken language in its use of space and simultaneous expression.

The host reflects on a 2013 incident in Jersey City where historic cobblestones were paved over with asphalt, exploring the tension between modern convenience and historical preservation in urban infrastructure.

This episode explores the concept of forest consciousness through scientific research on mycorrhizal networks that enable trees to communicate, share resources, and potentially think without traditional neural architecture.

The host introduces his novel 'The Wound Remains Faithful,' which explores the enduring impact of grief through the story of a teenage girl who disappears and the decades-long aftermath on her family.

David Bowles discusses his new book 'Abandoned in Place,' which analyzes the passive grammar used in sentences about abandonment to obscure responsibility.

This episode explores the history of Martha's Vineyard Sign Language, a unique community where deaf and hearing residents communicated naturally for centuries, challenging modern perceptions of disability and inclusion.

This episode explores the challenges of dealing with online trolls and harassing reviews in digital spaces.

The host discusses his novel 'The Somnambulist's Prophecy', exploring the concept of prophetic dreams and why the idea of knowing the future haunts human consciousness.

The episode opens with the murder of director Rob Reiner and his wife Michelle in Los Angeles in December 2025.