Pan-Optic is a podcast featuring conversations between a critical theorist and a management consultant, cohosts (and longtime friends) Juan Pablo Melo and Jason Margaritis respectively.
They met during a monotonous work assignment at a Washington-based government contractor in 2013. Jason and Juan Pablo sought refuge in daily extended work breaks musing about the limits of knowledge, the organizations of power, the regrets of Thrasymachus, and so on.
Later, Jason received his MA in Government and MBA from Johns Hopkins University. Today, he works as a management consultant specializing in strategic communications and org change. Jason is particularly interested in affecting stakeholder beliefs, behaviors, and culture.
Juan Pablo is a doctoral candidate at Stanford University's Program in Modern Thought and Literature. His research interests span media theory, literature, architecture, art history, urban theory, and science and technology studies.
"We made this podcast to continue exploring the intersections of our respective disciplines, in a way that others might find useful. Pan-Optic relates theories of communication, power, and technology to practical institutional issues, and everyday life."
Become a part of the conversation at www.panopticpod.com.
#18 - Reinventing Capitalism—Really? Hayek’s Theory of Prices, Technology, and the Yelp Mafia
Today, Jason and Juan Pablo discuss political theorist Evgeny Morozov’s article, “Digital Socialism? The Calculation Debate in the Age of Big Data” (NLR, 2019, https://newleftreview.org/issues/II116/articles/evgeny-morozov-digital-socialism). In this article, Morozov critiques the idea that technology will somehow reinvent capitalism. He argues that technology-enabled capitalism (technology within the logic of markets) is STILL capitalism and thus it does not escape challenges produced or compounded by capitalism. However, what if technology enablers could be applied beyond the realm of capitalism? Morozov posits that the public sphere could apply modern technologies (e.g. social media, knowledge management platforms, advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, etc.) to efficiently coordinate and solve problems outside the markets. Fascinating! But Jason and Juan Pablo are skeptical. Maybe not for the reasons you expect... In this episode, we address: the Austrian-British economist Friedrich Hayek’s successful theory of the relationships between knowledge, prices, and human behavior; markets vs. non-markets vs. new markets; existing technology enablers and how they map across the private and public spheres; challenges associated with technology ownership and maintaining a democratic process; and the problem of turning knowledge into meaningful action. We also harken back to our ongoing debate surrounding whether massive financial incentives are required to inspire innovation or make people want to solve the world’s most pressing social challenges. For more on this, listen to our previous “listener case study” episode called, “The Protestant Ethic, Instrumentalizing Everything, and Devotion to Work.”
The views expressed on this podcast are our own. If you enjoy what you're hearing, please follow/support us through any of the below media:
Twitter: twitter.com/Panopticpod
Patreon: www.patreon.com/panopticpod
Website: www.panopticpod.com/
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pan-…st/id1475726450
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/0edBN0huV1GkMFxSXErZIx
2 Sept 2020
#17 - Radicalization + Ideology (P3) - Notions of the Good & Strategic Communications
Pan-Optic is pleased to present part three of our three-part series on radicalization and ideology. In today’s episode, we address: individuation and socialization; a critique of generalizable interests; existential and absurdist interpretations of the ”ideological grounding” problem; the people side of mergers and acquisitions; applications to change management and strategic communications; and more.
The views expressed on this podcast are our own. If you enjoy what you're hearing, please follow/support us through any of the below media:
Twitter: twitter.com/Panopticpod
Patreon: www.patreon.com/panopticpod
Website: www.panopticpod.com/
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pan-…st/id1475726450
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/0edBN0huV1GkMFxSXErZIx
11 Aug 2020
The Protestant Ethic, Instrumentalizing Everything, and Devotion to Work
Today’s episode is Pan-Optic’s first ever "personal case study" response, where we react to listener Sep’s account of working in big tech and grappling with feeling intellectually and morally limited by her work requirements and the logic of the firm. In reacting to Sep’s personal case study, we explore: Max Weber on the protestant work-oriented ethic; the tendency to justify something’s existence by instrumentalizing its purpose; Jason’s aversion to divine command theory; being socialized and acculturated within neoliberal and meritocratic structures; research on what motivates high-output performers; and who should be let on the plane first. Thank you Sep for an excellent submission. We hope we did you justice. Pan-Optic is always accepting personal case study submissions. Share your story by contacting us at panopticpod@gmail.com or through any of our social media platforms. We look forward to hearing from you and reacting to your story.
Addendum: we are issuing a correction after failing to do our homework... Sep, who we addressed using he/him/his pronouns, goes by she/her/hers pronouns. HUGE apology to Sep! We really feel bad about this and won’t make the same mistake again. Thank you for going easy on us and for making our first personal case study reaction possible and so much fun.
The views expressed on this podcast are our own. If you enjoy what you're hearing, please follow/support us through any of the below media:
Twitter: twitter.com/Panopticpod
Patreon: www.patreon.com/panopticpod
Website: www.panopticpod.com/
Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pan-…st/id1475726450
Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/0edBN0huV1GkMFxSXErZIx
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