Episode 189: Care of the Dead, with Jacob G. Foster
In this episode, JF and Phil are joined by Jacob G. Foster—sociologist, physicist, and researcher at Indiana University Bloomington and the Santa Fe Institute—for a conversation about their recent collaboration in Daedalus, the journal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Their co-authored essay, “Care of the Dead,” explores how the dead continue to shape our cultures, languages, and ways of being. Together, they discuss the process of writing the piece and what it means to say that the dead are not gone—that they persist, and that they make claims on the living.
The article is available here: https://direct.mit.edu/daed/article/154/1/166/127931/Care-of-the-Dead-Ancestors-Traditions-amp-the-Life
**References**
[Peter Kingsley,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Kingsley) English writer
Weird Studies, [Episode 98 on “Taboo”]) https://www.weirdstudies.com/98)
John Berger, “12 Theses on the Economy of the Dead” in _[Hold Everything Dear](12 Theses on the Economy of the Dead)_
Bernard Koch, Daniele Silvestro, and Jacob Foster, ["The Evolutionary Dynamics of Cultural Change”](https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/659bt_v1)
Gilbert Simondon, _[Imagination and Invention](https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9781517914455)_
William Gibson, _[Neuromancer](https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780441007462)_
[Phlogiston theory](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlogiston_theory)
George Orwell, _[1984](https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780451524935)_
HP Lovecraft, [“The Case of Charles Dexter Ward”](https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/cdw.aspx)
Weird Studies, [Episode 187 on “Little, Big”](https://www.weirdstudies.com/187)
[John Dee,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dee) English occultist
Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, _[The Western Esoteric Traditions: A Historical Introduction](https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780195320992)_
Robert Harrison, _[The Dominion of the Dead](https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780226317939)_
Gilles Deleuze, _[Bergsonism](https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780942299076)_
Elizabeth LeGuin, _[Boccherini’s Body](https://bookshop.org/a/18799/9780520240179)_
Elizabeth LeGuin, [“Cello and Bow thinking”](http://www.echo.ucla.edu/cello-and-bow-thinking-baccherinis-cello-sonata-in-eb-minor-faouri-catalogo/)
Johannes Brahms, _Handel Variations_
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Weird Studies
Professor Phil Ford and writer J. F. Martel host a series of conversations on art and philosophy, dwelling on ideas that are hard to think and art that opens up rifts in what we are pleased to call "reality."
SpectreVision Radio is a bespoke podcast network at the intersection between the arts and the uncanny, featuring a tapestry of shows exploring creativity, the esoteric, and the unknown. We’re a community for creators and fans vibrating around common curiosities, shared interests and persistent passions.
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- Latest episode: 2025-05-07
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