A survey taken out in 2020 showed young Africans have a strong belief that they will see success, and defeat the largely negative stereotypes that have accompanied our economic underdevelopment in the world system. Largely they believe the advent of new information technologies and a bent toward entrepreneurial innovation,  the future of Africa is bright. But is it...enough!? Will new tools and new businesses really change the fundamental material realities we face?! To discuss this,  we speak to Lorna and Olga from the Arch Africa podcast, an afro-optimist podcast that is focused on examining how grounded Afro-optimism can be a pathway to African renaissance. The survey : https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/feb/20/afro-optimism-on-the-rise-among-continents-youth-finds-survey

This episode takes a look at the concept of technology as the foundation fo civilization as presented by Marc Andreeesen's Techno optimist manifesto and how it follows in a long line of accelerationist philosophy by the likes od Nick Land. Is technology an inevitable irresistible force or is it that the people building our tools want us to think of it that way?

1st Episode of the New Year and we check in with two therapists for life - Nietzche and Dostoyevsky to help us answer the question - should we strive to be good or to be Great?

As we close the year, Pumla, Primah, and Joel take some time to answer some big questions, ruminate on adult friendships, and only take about 20 tangents instead of the usual 30.  Thank you to everyone who subscribed and followed along.

Content is king and we are its subjects. When did everything from movies to blogs to pranks all become known by this one word? We take a look at what a young Bill Gates saw coming all the way in 1996, and how we all got turned into content creators .

In today's episode, we delve into the mind-bending world of Slavoj Žižek, the Slovenian Philosopher known for his take on Lacanian psychoanalysis and a knack for making the mundane and seemingly trivial utterly fascinating. This time, we're tackling his book "The sublime object of Ideology" and exploring how it manifests itself in the most unlikely of places: your favourite sugary beverage, Coca-Cola. Join us as we unpack Žižek's idea that ideology, far from being a mere set of beliefs, is a tangible force that shapes our desires and experiences. We'll examine how Coke, with its iconic branding and promise of refreshment, serves as a potent symbol of our unspoken yearnings for wholeness and happiness. Get ready for a philosophical trip that will hopefully leave you questioning whether we are really in a post-ideological world as well as everything you thought you knew about ideology, desire, and the irresistible allure of a perfectly chilled Coke.

Today's episode from the banks of the River Nile is about ideology as it appears in the unconscious, in how we commodity and value things, and in our religious beliefs. This serves as a preamble to a deep dive into Slavoj Zizek's "The Sublime object of Ideology" 

Nike says " Just do it" but most of our problems in our life stem from either thinking without action or acting without thinking. In this episode, we examine the latter issue, why are we encouraged to just take action instead of taking the time to actually examine what must be done The framework examined for thinking deeply is Blooms Taxonomy for the creation of Knowledge.

Startups have been all the rage in business and technology. Meant to disrupt the market, change lives, and of course make truckloads of cash for the founders.   They've also been disruptive of labor laws, and seen their fair share of fraudsters and hot-air merchants who talk the talk and nothing more. In today's episode, we ask the question - what's the reality behind the start-up phenomenon and is it truly revolutionary or just another great marketing ploy.

The unexamined life is not worth living said Socrates. But he died about 400 years before Jesus and never had to balance career, love, finances and an East African forehead In this PPJ reunion, Pumla, Primah and Joel examine whether they're actually living life well. 

In memory of the best of us

If ideology is what gives meaning to the chaos of our lives, then propaganda is how meaning is communicated and maintained in mass society. It has a negative connotation but in today's episode, I argue that it's not that simple.

Man is uncanny, part of the animal kingdom, yet not fully animal,; part of a culture, yet still carries animal instincts. To be free, both sides have to be recognized, man is an animal in search of a master for his desires.    In this episode, we explore why habits are crucial for us humans, why necessity is the highest form of freedom, and why we are oddly never happier than when we do things unconsciously.    #Philosophy #ImmanuelKant

No concept in psychoanalysis is more misunderstood, and none darker than the death drive. Why do we do things that go against our pleasure and repeat our traumas? Why is the repetition of both pleasure and pain at the core of the uncanny being we call human?  In this episode, I trace the beginnings of Freud's idea of the death drive vs pleasure principle, why he thought the sex drive to be master of all, take a trip through Lacan, who saw death at the core even of sex, and lastly Zizek who extends this to our ideology and the idea of immortality

The seven deadly sins are thought of by Christians as choosing the flesh and desire over God, by moralists as "good advice but not sin" and well, what do I think? It's complicated. This episode is a glance at how we can use the 7 deadly sins to learn about ourselves and the desires created in us living in the modern world Look out for the next episode focused on Lust

The last part of our conversation has range; From why dating intellectuals can be tiresome ( I don't want to debate in the bedroom ) to what is so difficult about loving us as well as what to do when you want people to leave your house so you can sleep !! 

Back by popular demand,Pumla and Primah met up once more to talk about our love and attachment styles, our traumas and everything in between.  I love these people and for me, they are part of what makes me who I am.Friendship like Aristotle said, is the same soul living in different bodies. Enjoy 

"The more you consume the less you live,” Guy Deboard on how our media-dominant modern life has us engaging with abstractions of what real people and relationships are. This episode touches on working-class images, images of time and history, and religion.

When Lacan says that "love is giving what you don't have to someone who doesn't want it," he is pointing to the paradoxical nature of love: that is that we are all fundamentally incomplete or lacking in some way, and we seek to fill this lack through our relationships with others. And the first relationship where this happens is in the family. Daddy issues and mommy issues are universally acknowledged for a reason.  In this episode, Michelle( Michie B as she's known on the streets she's the Mayor of) and I talk about our family, what it's like being the firstborn vs the second born, about loss and how to navigate the complicated feelings that arise as we watch our parents grow older.   If your parents, guardians, or other forms of family are with you, our hope is you can see that all love is complicated, and finding the space to confront those feelings will help you find a way to peace.

In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles,” with this Guy Debord begins his description of how with modern technology and media, we have created a virtuso world of images that dominate our view of reality  This is a highlight from every chapter of this classic text through the eyes of a timid observer

The obsession with masculinity is always a sign of impotence, a defensive reaction against the threat of castration. Symbolically of course. It is in this insecurity that we can find new strength, new ways of being that won't destroy us while claiming to liberate us 

"The biggest takeaway from Easter, from the crucifixion of the Political radical figure of Jesus, is that what looked like a failure was a successful upending of the hierarchical order- It went from us trusting God, to God trusting us by making the world more egalitarian. As a bearded man once said...Philosophers have interpreted the world, the point is to change it. "

The People that make me series will involve discussions with some of the people that make my life worth living and will explore our similarities and differences. Today's episode features Pumla and Primah, the best parts of what we call PPJ - Pumla, Primah and Joel, people who couldn't be more different and yet like different notes, make for a beautiful harmony That sentimental line would make P&P roll their eyes but they're stuck with me. Listen as we talk about love, religion, tradition, and money.

Christian atheism asks - What dies at the cross? Not a messenger, not an offspring but God himself. It is the radical reading of Faith in which God entrust's his spirit to the community of believers through his death. God is dead, and we are his spirit resurrected when we act as God in the world.  This is the first video explainer on the topic - We shall explore it further as an epistemology, why I believe nothingness and atheism are at the core of Christianity, and why it was made pagan again by putting maintaining belief in the transcendent guarantee.

"The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried."   G.K. Chesterton   Today's episode is the first of many chats with Reverend Captain Gideon Mwesh, and we talk about what it means to have faith today.

The famous words of anarchist Pierre Joseph Proudhon can seem silky or reactionary at first glance, but in today's episode we examine his argument that asks us if it is really moral for individuals to take from the commons and deprive others of access to the means of existence It's a challenge to examine our ways of dealing with each other in the face of property rights that pit the individual against society.

Today's show is about Fashion ...which George Simmrl said shows our ". . tendency toward social equalization balanced against the desire for individual differentiation and change."Yvonne from Chic Moments talks about why clothes are anything but a frivolous thing

In this first episode of the year, Joel talks about the importance of the body and explores Nietzche's argument that the mind-body dualism is an illusion- you are your body. Which might be a little distressing for our guy Joel given that he got older on Monday.

Only Gods and beasts can live outside community, to paraphrase Aristotle. In this last episode of the exploration of Being and Nothingness, we dissect the importance of others in forming our identity and why recognition is crucial for us to feel adequate.Many thanks to the people that allow for me to get looked at by all of you barred subjects out there. Here's hoping the New Year brings with it a reminder that we can always start again.

Part 2 of Nothing at the Center is a discussion of Bad faith according to Sartre, which is when we deny either our transcendence or our facticity. In this episode we breakdown facticity, trancendence and the subtle difference between anguish and anxiety Fun times

"Carol is one of the few people in my life that I thought found both the humor and horror of life worth meditating over and not just glossing over "   This chat covers identity, isolation and intimacy.

"Nothingness lies coiled in the heart of being - like a worm." Evocative but what did Sarte mean by this and the rest of " Being and Nothingness"? In this short series, we'll try to unpack why the concept of "Nothingness" is central to what it means to be human...and also the paradox of trying to complete what we all agree I'd forever a work in progress.

Josey wears many hats - She's in PR and Marketing, owns her own agency, round a sickle cell warriors foundation, and somehow finds the time to help me run this podcast!! In the chat we explore what Public Relations means to her, the conflict between bring a " good friend and person" and being a good business leader, how she manages and navigates these worlds as a person with a chronic illness and lastly why she started her foundation.   My big takeaway from the chat rhymes with something Immanuel Kant said " We must, therefore we can" - Josey embodies the idea that we are more powerful than we imagine. And that life is effort in service of our ideals. Enjoy

The spectacle is the next stage of mediation of relations between people. Already commodities mediate our relationships(we are identified by what we consume and what we do to earn the ultimate commodity, money) - but now images become the new basis of relating with products and each other. Recommendations - Century of the self on Youtube; Society of the spectacle by Guy Debord Quote _Just as early industrial capitalism moved the focus of existence from being to having, post-industrial culture has moved that focus from having to appearing. Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle_

Commodity fetishism - The commodity appears to be at first sight to be a trivial thing, but observed again contains both material and immaterial force   On one hand it's use value and the other its exchange value, the first being the need or desire it directly meets, the second the signal, the identity marker that reveals something about u   Quote - "A commodity is therefore a mysterious thing, simply because in it the social character of men's labour appears to them as an objective character stamped upon the product of that labour; because the relation of the producers to the sum total of their own labour is presented to them as a social relation, existing not between themselves, but between the products of their labour. This is the reason why the products of labour become commodities, social things whose qualities are at the same time perceptible and imperceptible by the senses" Marx

Adam Smith spoke of the market operating as an invisible hand that guides the actions of producers and consumers to find each other and a reliable allocation of resources happening with each actor pursuing their ends   In this episode, we examine if that hand is benevolent or an iron hand that both gives and takes away and ultimately what logic that does it serve in the world. As we all know, like gravity, it is the invisible relations between things that have the greatest power.   This is part 2 of our exploration of Marxist ideas and critiques of modern life.

In the first on a series of Marxist critiques of modern life, I thought I'd start with something I am a part of.. the Middle class. And in particular, this is an examination of what exactly the middle class is and how Marxist theory sees it as an illusionary category, a managerial elite without awareness of their working-class status.

The management of time is the mark of modernity. And when we say Time is money, we mean that time is valuable when used for productivity. But as Switchfoot say " Time was never money" and our clocks do not tell us THE time, they give us a version of time. In today's episode we discuss the way our perception of time as a commodity reduces us to being productive and efficient only...Free time being seen as an embarrassment. Perhaps a rethink is needed. And I throw in my own conspiracy theory about Peter Pan being a villain.

This is an introduction to Lacan's idea of the difference between Desire and the object cause of desire. Human beings are desiring beings and we desire things outside of ourselves, which means we long for something outside of us to make us whole. We are...incomplete subjects. Or at least that's how we feel Where does this desire come from and how do we see its effects on our psyche...Check out the video and like, share and subscribe if you found it worthwhile Stay curious, folks

This is a follow-up on the episode on Polyamory in which I respond to anonymous questions that came in on the topic. The biggest takeaway for me from this is even if you don't understand a lifestyle, it's important to speak to people that do, suspend judgment and later make up your mind. More than anything, what I've learnt from engaging with the literature and people living this way is that we stress communication a lot but seldom do we speak the truth to others and ourselves Check out the for a more in-depth discussion on philosophy and relationships.

Polyamory began to capture popular discourse in the 90s, seemingly as an echo of the free love movements of the 1960's, another time when cultural norms were being questioned. Today, polyamory seems to be taking up attention as marriage and monogamy are increasingly being found to not satisfy. Some say we are naturally poly- looking to enjoy sexual relations with as many partners as possible, others say nature or God requires us to commit to one person; Each side utilising the " it's natural" line of argument. In reality, human sexual and emotional connections have changed shape over different cultural epochs proving that man is in fact, a creature capable of " going against nature". In today's episode, I share what I've found about the poly amorous approach to life and what it can teach us about how we think of love.

Today's Sunday Chat is with Nelson Muhire, team lead for @The Collective UG , a movement that seeks to give young people a way to use their creativity, skills and energy to edify people and spread the love of God. Nelson and I, were part of a band , HOP , which eventually led to the creation of C19 Studios, @CtrlAD and now the collective. The discussion focuses on how Nelson chose to follow his passion for music and ministry , instead of the "safer" pathway he was on to becoming a civil engineer. Instead he followed his dream and love of music to become one of the best audio engineers and producers in Uganda. Most of all, the biggest takeaway for me is what does it mean to be a Christian, to follow the call of God in a world where Christianity is seen as the dominant ideology-so much so that it can become a religion without practical implications for how we engage with the world. To take a leap of faith means you put your hopes on the line, and believe that whether you fall or land safely, that you had to be authentic to the call on your life. Enjoy- We are quite silly in this one

Your grades from the school machine, determine what job you get in the corporation, your actions are interpreted in performance reviews which determine your access to credit or social admittance. In these societies of control,you are granted freedom to act, but your actions are surveilled and you are granted or denied access basing on if you act " right " To quote Deleuze "Enclosures are molds, distinct castings, but controls are a modulation, like a self-deforming cast that will continually change from one moment to the other, or like a sieve whose mesh will transmute from point to point."

This is a high-level summary of Michel Foucault's work " Discipline and punish". In it, I look at how power has been organized in societies which had sovereign rulers, vs those with more dispersed institutional centres of power. How do Kings get their subjects to do things vs say Parliaments? How are schools, prisons and factories all avenues for how power is exercised? Foucault's ideas have us questioning how ideology is administered, and how we are normalised, assessed and granted access to things in power structures in both silent and none obvious ways.

We demand too much of life, too little of ourselves. Christopher Lasch. The Culture of Narcissism: This book is an examination of the way culture, empowered by technologies, is making us more narcissistic, looking to the world to fit our own self-narrative rather than the other way around. While I don't agree wholesale, I think this is a great book to use to reflect upon the changes in how we view ourselves since the advent of modernity

The Title Says it all.

Raymond is a journalist, writer, thinker, saxophonist and most importantly, a husband and a father We discuss how he came to his current position in life, his favourite philosophy and whether or not democracy actually works

If seeking pleasure is unsatisfactory, and the ethical life is simply tradition, well what are we to do? There is a third way...the leap of faith. In this episode, we discuss Kiekagaard's religious solution, what it means to be a knight of faith as opposed to a mere sheep of the flock of the church, something he found to be a true loss of oneself, a mockery of the radical call to be a Christian.

" The most common form of despair is not being who you are." Kiekagaard How do we become our selves? Well it appears there are 3 modes of existence that as use to reconcile our potential with our necessity: The Aesthetic, Ethical and Religious modes of life are the responses Kierkegaard uses to frame how we respond to the responsibility of living. Today we explore the aesthetic ( a life filled with the pursuit of what is interesting ) , and the ethical ( a life filled with observing our duties to society ) Spoiler alert, both modes fail to result in us becoming fully ourselves. So that's where the third way, the religious way comes in.

This is the first in our discussion on Existentialism. It's a wide-ranging affair and I knew of no better place to start than with Soren Kierkegaard and his take on how anxiety and angst are markers on helping us become a self Becoming a self is no mere task as so many, he claims, do everything in their power to escape themselves. Enjoy.

In this second part to the exploration of Nihilism, we delve into the "loss of Truth" as the essence of Nihilism and the difference between passive and active nihilism The question we ask ourselves is if the things that previously gave us meaning turn out to be man-made constructs, where do we go from here?

They say you shouldn't meet the people you admire. Well, I'm not one to listen to what they say. Ernest is the first proper celebrity I got to meet and know well, beyond his writing. And I wasn't disappointed..In this episode of Sunday Chats-we talk about his school life, what made him decide to become a writer, and what it's like being iconic-which both of us carry the burden of being !! ;-)

Nihilism was viewed as the worst possible thing- the extreme attitude one could have about existence b the major thinkers that referred to it. But Why? Most of us have this attitude that a nihilist is an amoral, anarchic person..But in reality it is possible to be a nihilist and be none the wiser. In this episode I will explore Nietzsche's conception of the attitude and why it might be the most dangerous pit we can fall into.

@JustAdamCurtis has an incredible documentary called " Century of the self " called happiness machines which I shamelessly used to explore these ideas. As welcome to understand ourselves, we realize that in our modern society, consumerism is the drive for economic growth. To keep this engine going, our desires for self-identity are used by governments and large corporations to sell us who we are. Arguments over being an iPhone vs Android person as though it represents something substantial about who someone is. The fashion industry doesn't sell us clothes to jeep us warm, but rather to get warm receptions at galas and show off our " personality ". In this video, I try to dissect how Freud's ideas about our internal subconscious being more powerful than we realise, were and are used by those that sell us the things we desire.

Nietzsche's Twilight of the Idols...is probably his most mature, comprehensive work in which he develops the idea of " Philosophy with a hammer". By sounding out idols, we can find those ideas we hold in esteem that are actually hollow. In this video, we examine his takedown of true world theories, best exemplified in Plato and Christianity( platonism for the masses as some call it). The idea of a truer better reality apart from the world we are in. A heaven. A nirvana.A utopia. Ideas he finds completely hollow

The first in a subseries of Sunday Reads which Sunday Reads Interviews. I'll be talking to people I find interesting about their life philosophy and their approach to this wacky experience called life. Each interviewee will select a book they love or have written and we talk about. Today we talk about the great Lisa Kanyomozi's book " On the job" a memoir of sorts cataloguing the lessons learnt in her journey as an woman, entrepreneur, media personality, daughter, sister, friend - you name it.

Being and Time is notoriously difficult to read. And at base, it sounds so simple-what does it mean to be- well being there is to be a caring thing in the world. The world and you co-exist, without you, there is no world, and without the world there is no you. It sounds like solipsism and in the hands of a lesser thinker- it could easily be dismissed as such but Heideggar instead uses the concept of time to examine how we are thrown into existence already pre-determined in a way by our nationality, language and physical make up; we are fallen in the sense that we are alongside other humans and co-exist within laws, rituals and cultures ; and are existentially oriented-meaning we see that we have choices before us leading towards our demise. Past, present and future create the framework for us to understand ourselves. The question is then-what does authenticity mean for a creature such as us.

Martin Heidegger's essay on the question concerning technology is probably one of his most accessible works. In it he asks what is it that all technology has as an essence- beyond just human activity or techniques of achievement, what does technology mean for the human being- how does it shape how we view the world and each other-is it neutral?

"They may take our lives but they'll never take out freedom!!" Mel Gibson screamed in a questionable Scottish accent as the iconic William Wallace in Braveheart. It's a sentiment we all hold sacrosanct: Freedom. The idea of being free from the oppression of tyrants, from ideologies that limit us and from judgments of our peers. However, this idea when looked at closely starts to show a partial appreciation of freedom. Erich Fromm's work on escape from freedom borrows from Isiah Berlin's concept of freedom from something vs freedom to do something. In this video, I explore these ideas of negative and positive freedom, and how easy it is for us to escape the radical responsibility of positive freedom.

Disobedience is almost always seen as a vice. But I would counter that much of human progress has come from the defiance of norms. Heck, the Bible starts with an act of disobedience which makes the book worth a read.Change would be impossible without it. A large portion of this video is inspired by the work of Erich Fromm.