Being in the World

About Being in the World

Neuroscientist and writer Dr. Patrick House & Tao Ruspoli (filmmaker, photographer, co-founder Bombay Beach Biennale) discuss philosophy, art, science, sex, and relationships, both amongst themselves and with guests.

Publisher

Dr Patrick House & Tao Ruspoli

Category

society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

4 Sept 2020

Latest episode

23 Apr 2025

Latest episodes

79 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   23 Apr 2025

   Being in the World Podcast 088: Patrick House on Convivium, Quonset, & Hypnotherapy

   In this spirited reunion, Tao Ruspoli welcomes back neuroscientist and writer Patrick House for a discursive meander through memory, addiction, architecture, mind control, and the seductive power of narrative. Recorded inside Tao’s newly finished Quonset hut in Yucca Valley, fresh from the seasonal migration to and from Bombay Beach, the episode unfolds like an improvised fugue—equal parts philosophical inquiry, campfire confession, and comedic eschatology.Together they explore the strange efficacy of hypnotherapy as Tao recounts his recent attempt to curb phone addiction with the help of a Bombay Beach practitioner named Fig. Patrick counters with his own story of self-invented ritual: “My Last Hundred Cigarettes,” a memoir-in-the-making that fuses constraint with narrative compulsion. What begins as a reflection on behavioral modification becomes an inquiry into the ontological status of placebo, the unconscious as moral engine, and the metaphorical terrain between desire and discipline.They talk about speciation by isolation, the etymology of "convivium," and the biological and philosophical implications of Bombay Beach as an aesthetic petri dish. The episode culminates in stories of murdered heiresses, screen-time shame, Mediterranean consciousness conferences, and the delightful absurdities of lives lived between logic and longing.Topics include: addiction as mythos, narrative as neuromodulation, Klaus von Bülow, modular architecture, hypnosis and the DSM, the nature of suggestion, and why every great podcast should be seasonal.

2. 

   23 Apr 2025

   Being in the World Podcast 087: Dulcinée DeGuere on Bombay Beach, Acéphale, and the Leaderless Crowd

   In this evocative and wide-ranging conversation, Tao Ruspoli is joined by artist, filmmaker, and systems architect Dulcinée DeGuere to unravel the conceptual fabric of Bombay Beach, Convivium, and the radical politics of community. From the ghostly traces of Georges Bataille’s Acéphale to the practical realities of water systems and website menus, the episode oscillates between myth and infrastructure, utopia and desert dust. Together, they trace the emergence of The Bombay Beach Institute for Industrial Espionage & Post-Apocalyptic Studies, interrogating the role of systems in anarchic spaces and the necessity of form even in acts of resistance. Dulcinée offers a compelling meditation on leadership, queer futurity, the politics of occupation, and why structure—when wielded with love—can be liberating rather than oppressive. The conversation becomes a lived example of “social sculpture,” as they discuss Convivium—a seasonal gathering and philosophical feast—where intimacy replaces spectacle and a new kind of aesthetic polity emerges. From critiques of neo-colonial utopias to a defense of being a “corporate bitch” in the service of radical imagination, this episode is both a blueprint and a love letter for those seeking alternatives to the dominant order. Topics include: Acéphale and regicide, Bombay Beach as a post-capitalist petri dish, decentralized art-making, systemic insurgency, the queering of public space, and what it means to retire—if only briefly—from capitalism.

3. 

   27 Mar 2025

   Being in the World 086: B. Scot Rousse

   B. Scot Rousse ("B") is a philosopher focused on existential phenomenology and its applications to AI. He holds a PhD from Northwestern University and is currently a visiting researcher at Topos Institute in Berkeley, a visiting scholar in philosophy at UC Berkeley, and the director of research at Pluralistic Networks, an educational and professional development company based in Oakland. B is also co-founder of Curiosity Craft, a company dedicated to helping families reclaim technology for shared discovery and learning rather than distraction. He has been drumming in punk bands his entire life. Some links from B: •⁠ ⁠B's philosophy newsletter: https://without-why.ghost.io - •⁠ ⁠The Dreyfus Skill Model Wikipedia page (written and cared for by B): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyfus_model_of_skill_acquisition •⁠ ⁠B's scholarly writings: https://scholar.google.ca/citations?user=IUXiRcMAAAAJ&hl=en •⁠ ⁠B's start-up, Curiosity Craft: https://www.curiositycraft.ai/Waitlist •⁠ ⁠B's punk music: https://www.discogs.com/artist/2942613-B-Rouss

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.7 / 5

15 ratings

Spotify

4.6 / 5

12 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 30 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

25

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

85

Contact Being in the World

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.