Nuclear Barbarians

Episode 77: Esoteric Origins of the Enlightenment Pt. III

October 26th, 2024  |  1 hr 23 mins

In our penultimate Hanegraaff episode, John and I take a look at how “magic,” “superstition,” and the “occult” became epithets divorced from critical reasoning, the uncomfortable overlap between occult and scientific practices, and I deliver a brief monologue on how all of this shows up in the work of HP Lovecraft.

Episode 76: Esoteric Origins of the Enlightenment Pt. II

October 12th, 2024  |  1 hr 20 mins

In our second episode on Hanegraff’s Esotericism and the Academy, John and I dive into the “history of error,” and how Protestantism and refinements in historical practices began to put pressure on the Renaissance conceptions of perennial philosophy and ancient wisdom.

John also had some corrections for Hanegraff!

Episode 75: The Esoteric Origins of the Enlightenment Pt. I

September 27th, 2024  |  1 hr 48 mins

John and I are back with our new series. This time we’re working through Wouter Hanegraaff’s Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture.

Hanegraff’s project looks at the debates over the recovery of ancient texts and their impact on Christian life and thought and what that means for us today, especially when it comes to our weird world of scientism on the one hand and woo-woo New Age-y stuff on the other. The material is dense and you might feel a little overwhelmed listening to the podcast—don’t worry! After the first two episodes (the first half of the series) it gets way easier and more fun, but this episode in the next are necessary listening/reading (if you want to follow along in the book) to appreciate the second half.

However, if you haven’t listened to our series on Michael Gillespie’s The Theological Origins of Modernity, don’t listen to this one just yet. You can start the Gillespie series here, as it provides great and more accessible background for the Hanegraaff.

Episode 74: The Theological Origins of Modernity Pt. V

September 27th, 2024  |  1 hr 6 mins

John and I finish up our series on Michael Gillespie’s Theological Origins of Modernity—offering a break down of his final chapter and our closing thoughts.

Episode 72: Theological Origins of Modernity Pt. IV

June 24th, 2024  |  1 hr 22 mins

John and I spend this, our penultimate episode in the series, discussing Hobbes—his anthropology, his physics, his politics—and the nature of modernity’s “new science.”

Episode 71: Theological Origins of Modernity Pt. III

June 19th, 2024  |  1 hr 1 min

John and I return to Gillespie’s book to talk about Luther, Erasmus, and Descartes and to dig into the motivations behind the ideas that inspired the philosophies that brought about the scientific revolution.

Episode 70: The Theological Origins of Modernity Pt. II

April 30th, 2024  |  1 hr 26 mins

Episode 69: The Theological Origins of Modernity Pt. I

March 31st, 2024  |  1 hr 14 mins

John returns for the first installment of another reading series. This time we’re tackling Michael Gillespie’s The Theological Origins of Modernity, a book that aims at getting to the root of some of the major questions we face today as products of both the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment.

Episode 68: Remix to Ignition ft. Rachael Zisk

March 12th, 2024  |  48 mins 11 secs

Rachael Zisk just launched a nuclear energy newsletter — Ignition — which is great. I brought her on to talk about her new venture, the challenges of covering highly technical topics, how the media landscape is changing, and more!

Subscribe to Ignition.

Subscribe to Payload.

Episode 67: The Machine in the Garden pt. V ft. John Goodson

February 12th, 2024  |  1 hr 17 secs

John and I finish up our discussion of the Machine in the Garden. We reflect on Leo Marx’s contribution—both its successes and failures. And we consider what opportunities there are to think about the American relationship with the Machine.

Episode 66: Juice: Power, Politics, and the Grid

February 2nd, 2024  |  1 hr 4 secs

Director Tyson Culver joined me to talk about his new docu-series with Robert Bryce —Juice: Power, Politics, and the Grid. We talk about what Tyson learned while making documentaries with Robert about the grid and what’s currently going around with America’s electricity sector. Check it out!

You can watch it on YouTube here:

Episode 65: The Machine in the Garden Pt. IV ft. John Goodson

January 26th, 2024  |  1 hr 9 mins

John and I continue our series on Leo Marx’s The Machine in the Garden.

In this episode, we talk about Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, and Hawthorne.

We recorded this one a bit before Christmas last year.

Episode 64: Progress Toward What and For Whom? ft. Matthew B. Crawford

January 15th, 2024  |  1 hr 14 mins

Author and mechanic of joined me to talk about the nature of progress, or over designed world, the limits of laissez faire, safetyism, the current golden age of hotrodding, and so much more.

Here are the pieces we discussed:

Misanthropic Use of the Nudge by Matthew B. Crawford

A $5,600 Taillight Repair? by Matthew B. Crawford

For a way more thorough look into Chernobyl, which comes up towards the end, check out this thread from my friend which has tons of links to resources etc. if you want a way better explanation of what happened that what I give here.

Episode 63: Oil and Gas Execs for Nuclear ft. Doug Sandridge

December 22nd, 2023  |  1 hr 1 min

I got to sit down with Doug Sandridge, an oil and gas guy with decades of experience, to talk about his shocking new project: OIL AND GAS EXECS FOR NUCLEAR. This is the story of someone called to action to stand up for energy abundance for all—Doug’s a great guy and I loved chatting with him.

Check out the declaration of Oil and Gas Execs for Nuclear.

Read Doug’s op-ed for Grid Brief.

Check out Doug’s Substack: ENERGY RUMINATIONS

Episode 62: The Valor of Valar Atomics ft. Isaiah Taylor

December 8th, 2023  |  51 mins 48 secs

Isaiah Taylor, the founder of Valar Atomics, joined me to talk about his new venture, how he wants to turn the nuclear energy over on its head, how his Christian faith and Midwestern roots inform his work, and much more.

Episode 61: The Machine in the Garden Pt. III ft. John Goodson

November 30th, 2023  |  1 hr 5 mins

John and I are back with our third installment of our reading series on The Machine in the Garden by Leo Marx.

This chapter is all about “the machine” as a symbol in American life and letters. We talk about obscure figures like the Pennsylvanian manufacturer Tench Coxe, Thomas Carlyle’s “Signs of the Times,” the Newtonian reconciliation of art and nature, 19th century machine boosterism, and more!