Staying Human Podcast

Finding faith—in our common humanity—amid distance, anxiety, grief, and injustice. Host: @gregmepstein, humanist chaplain @harvard & @mit. 1-hr special out now!

[Staying Human Podcast @StayingHumanPod]

New logo, who dis?

(Something special coming in the next few days to help you manage the election week stress: stay tuned...)

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

"Techno-solutionism and related ideas can function as a kind of theology, justifying harm in the here and now with the promise of a sweet technological hereafter."

-quick summary of ch 1 of my '24 📘 Tech Agnostic, (@mitpress) in my new @techreview piece https://t.co/Yug3pioCOA

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

...@techreview's Ethics issue is out! And despite questioning the ethics of posting a 🧵on "X," I'm excited to introduce my 1st piece for TR: a big feature on @AllTechIsHuman, an org I see as the standard bearer of a new nonprofit model, for an age in which tech is like religion.

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

Here's a more detailed update on LinkedIn, because I just didn't have the stomach to make Musk's Zombie Site my primary social media outlet for this: https://t.co/NZ1La8C6pE

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

Some personal news: I've got a big new magazine piece out today, and it doubles as a major life/book update!

Details below, via the social website with the career stuff on it; and more of a 🧵 to come later.

"The rise of the tech ethics congregation": https://t.co/ebVUKqtGSj

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

Turned in 100,000+ word TECH AGNOSTIC draft yesterday. 5 yrs work. @mitpress already sending out for peer review (& advice on what to cut...it's LONG, incl. 5K words of notes/references!). Need to send pre-publicity info f/@penguinrandom next week. Can't believe it's really real.

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

Turned in 100,000+ word TECH AGNOSTIC draft yesterday. 5 yrs work. @mitpress already sending out for peer review (& advice on what to cut...it's LONG, incl. 5K words of notes/references!). Need to send pre-publicity info f/@penguinrandom next week. Can't believe it's really real.

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

I've been working on my next book for three years now. Excited that it officially has a name—Tech Agnostic—and a great home @mitpress. Publication is still awhile away; plenty of time for more interviews. DM/Signal if you want to talk or send ideas.
https://t.co/A0TbGoATYm

[Salman Rushdie @SalmanRushdie]

https://t.co/1P54Rby9zQ

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

Welp, @jentaub kindly/randomly boosted me on Mastodon despite my novice status there. Suddenly bunches of random, lovely people are following me, and I can see them interacting w/ one another. Fascinating to watch new community take shape in real time.

No wonder Elon is worried.

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

Hard to say I'm "excited" to discuss the ethics of life amid climate crisis, but I'm so glad to be doing this event w/author @madelinevo & MIT partners like @KSJatMIT. Pass on to MIT people in your life? For others: buy Madeline's important book; we'll do a broader event later.

[KSJ at MIT @KSJatMIT]

Explore the search for purpose, ethics, and resilience in KSJ’s October 25th event featuring a talk with @madelinevo on her book “At Home On An Unruly Planet” The book talk will also feature a conversation with @gregmepstein. Interested? Sign up below! https://t.co/ChGCRBxosN

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

Not only is each of our 37 trillion cells made of carbon from exploding stars, much of that carbon is from binary stars, which produce 2x more than single stars. 0ur entire being is born of brilliant interconnectedness. Reach out to others and share your whole self, courageously.

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

Here's @hemantmehta, @onlyskymedia, on why the "communitarian atheism" @ZeeshanAleem seeks=right here to be found. Not only in my work but more importantly in work countless humanist/atheist/secular activists and community leaders are doing, worldwide. 2/2
https://t.co/hyIb4jtadL

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

Favorite new thing from yesterday: @ZeeshanAleem @MSNBC on the exact work I've done f/2 decades: building community-oriented atheism/humanism. Lovely story of how his Muslim grandfather caused Aleem to discover atheism, & how it inspired him. Also...1/2

https://t.co/8LqApXowlk

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

This kid is around the age of my mom when she had to quickly flee Cuba alone. It took two years to reunite with her parents. If our experience is any guide, he'll experience the anxiety and trauma for decades to come. But he also has a beautiful future ahead - loving and loved.

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

I'm joining clergy colleagues in a hunger strike for voting rights. I believe our democracy is under attack and in danger. MLK Day is a time for personal sacrifices, motivated by radical love (religious or secular), to raise the conscience of this nation.
https://t.co/t9OligR0Xe

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

As the sun sets on the shortest, darkest day of a year both too dark and too long, enjoy this little animated Solstice video we @HarvardHumanist made w/@SashaSagan, back when we tried to start an online secular Sunday school. Here's to the return of light!
https://t.co/kocilm7eUr

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

Here is my talk with @NPR All Things Considered tonight if you have 7 minutes for nonreligious rabbis, secular students, learning about unconditional love from religious leaders, & a cute baby story. Thanks as always, @NPRMichel

https://t.co/unV5yI1xew

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

Sometimes it takes an overly dramatic week/weekend to remind me that I actually enjoy doing laundry. When this world seems out of control I try to remember I'm a sentient being on earth, 14 billion years after the Big Bang, with easy access to liquid soap and a good spin cycle.

[@gregmepstein on BlueSky & LinkedIn @gregmepstein]

Thank you, @NPRMichel @NPR @npratc @NPRWeekend. It was a privilege to speak with you and I was, once again, honored to represent my @HarvardChaplain colleagues - especially the ones who disagree with me most strongly on theology and politics.