On podcasts and conversation in depth
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:date: 2016-01-12T10:34:00
:category: faith
:tags: podcast, discussion, DanCarlin, politics
(originally comment on Dan Carlin’s “Common Sense” show `no. 298`_)
Hi, Dan,
I have been amused by your plea for the intelligent discussion.
I am persuaded there is a platform for the increasingly
intelligent discussion, which is even more interesting in that it
is more successful more depth it comes not in breadth. You won't
have your TV discussion (who cares about TV these days?), but
I believe there already is such platform. You heard about it
… obviously I mean podcasts. Leo Laporte (of TWiT.tv fame) claims
that the only thing he learned about podcasts is that they are
more successful more in depth they go. His second most successful
podcast is `Security Now`_ which is by far the geekiest one with
the issues like The Current Security Issues of UDP protocol, or
detailed description of the SSL handshake. Leo’s persuasion is
that podcasts crave depth, and with Internet it is a way more
possible to find enough people who are truly interested in the
topic to desire the most depth possible. If you want to make
a podcast about golf, he claims, it is possible, but you have to
be the geekiest golf podcast available (and of course, it doesn’t
hurt if you (or Leo) are a well-experienced radio show host ;)).
I don't know if you publish anywhere statistics on sales of your
individual episodes, but I wouldn’t be surprised if geekiest
episodes of yours (e.g., Prophets of Doom) were not complete
flops. After listening to the Blueprint of Armageddon episode
about The Battle of Verdun (and spent half night on it ;)),
I couldn't sleep for three days because of constant nightmares.
However, I am grateful for that episode, because finally it was
something which really persuade me about how the Great War
actually was truly horrible. And I have gladly paid for the
Ghosts of Ostfront and another sleepless nights.
To have another example, I would present to you EconTalk_, which
is the show of one professor of economics as host (from the
George Mason University) talks with another professors (by far
not only economists) on the level appropriate. Russ is very open
of being strongly free-market leaning, but he is certainly not
a pundit, and he is willing and able to have a very intelligent
and deep conversation with a very left leaning people or people
whose opinions he clearly detests (e.g., various Keynesians,
Thomas Piketty), although he is able to exactly point when
necesary (and it happens very rarely, e.g., Piketty) that he
thinks their arguments are weak.
I can give you a way more podcasts like this: `History of
Philosophy without any gaps`_ and he goes the walk … we are at
the episode 244 and just starting on Saint Thomas Aquinas ;). Or
take for example, `Communio Sanctorum, History of the Christian
Church`_, unfortunately after 100 episodes and being around the
Thirty Years War the quality went seriously down as the author
switched to not very well done apologetics and left the story of
history. Pity.
My point is that podcasts are fantastic opportunity to renew
a very thorough and thoughtful discussion.
.. _`no. 298`:
http://forum.dancarlin.com/viewtopic.php?p=714901#p714901
.. _`Security Now`:
https://twit.tv/sn
.. _EconTalk:
http://econtalk.org/
.. _`History of Philosophy without any gaps`:
http://historyofphilosophy.net/
.. _`Communio Sanctorum, History of the Christian Church`:
http://www.sanctorum.us/
