It’s been a bad week for government and technology. It was revealed this week that the medical records of over 300,000 Californians sat on unsecured servers … leaving everything from…
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Rethinking Complexity
Are you old enough to remember when “the Internet” was just getting big? Do you remember what people thought it was going to be? It was going to revolutionize democracy…
As America’s countdown towards default continues, we keep hearing that it’s “uncertainty” about the economy that is keeping companies with big bank on hand from hiring new employees. That seems…
Leading thinkers in sustainability have known for some time now that a sustainable society can’t be based on continuous consumption. The question was always: how do we get there? A…
New Existentialists
If the future of Existential Psychology could be reduced to a bumper sticker, it might be this one: “Nietzsche Was Right.” In 1882, Nietzsche put some stunning words in the…
Penn State, Goldman Sachs, Enron, University of Virginia, SuperPACS, the Catholic Church–we live in an era of institutional scandal. If you want to know why we are careening from one…
Those lucky enough to have jobs are spending more and more time at them—so it matters more than ever to our mental health and psychological well-being what makes people happy…
If there is an “original sin” to intellectual culture of the last 500 years, it is the Big Data fallacy—the idea that if we can just gather up enough raw…
Apocalypse Cabaret Manifesto
The most crucial element to the success of a moral order (anti-political space) is that it accurately represents (or close to) the values of those who choose to live in…
Does the notion that a diversity of cultures can actually be more stable than a single common culture seem counter-intuitive? It shouldn’t: it’s actually the basis of the American experiment….
We are now ready to address the first of the questions asked before: (given the human condition and the nature of culture) what kind of society should we be trying…
Experts as much as imbeciles are wondering how a society as advanced as the modern West could be repeating so many mistakes of the past. How, after everything we’ve learned…
Marketing
As the former chair of the board of the San Francisco Institute of Possibility (SFIO), I know just how hard it is for non-profits to simultaneously connect with their communities…
Every product has a history, every innovation has a story. The trick is to tell it in a way that is quick, compelling, and memorable. Below are two short case…
Marketing isn’t just about getting eyeballs any longer: getting your logo out there is cheap. Getting attention is priceless. Can you convince your target market that you have something to…
Audio / Video
Podcasts
I got to interview one of my favorite researchers in this Burning Man Philosophical Center podcast.
Dr. Steven Pritzker, editor of the Encyclopedia of Creativity, discusses the way in which many fields are studying “creativity” – and how it benefits us – but don’t talk to…
“Saybrook Salons” were a series of interviews I did with leading faculty members at Saybrook University. My discussions with the founders of Saybrook’s program studying creativity were some of my…
This is part of an episode of my periodic podcast on politics and culture, The Apocalypse Cabaret, produced with Ariel Cruz. In this episode, Benjamin and Ariel discuss the concept…
Videos
Produced with my team of JK Realms and Ariel Cruz. This video represented a successful $20,000+ Kickstarter campaign.
Produced alongside my team of JK Realms and Ariel Cruz.
I am sometimes astonished by just how carefully studied this video was for clues.
Many people have approached me to say that this video has changed the way look at the world, and influenced for the better. I can only say I’m humbled and…
Reviews
(This article originally appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle) Would you rather be buried in a coffin or have your ashes become part of a piece of art? If your…
(This review originally appeared in the J Weekly) By the beginning of the 20th century, Western culture had produced so many great books by atheists that writing them started to…
San Francisco Theater writer Lily Janiak once called me “San Francisco’s most lacerating critic,” but in fact I try to keep my really, really, bad reviews few and far between. But…
(This review first appeared in “All Shook Down”) Noel Coward does not haunt us from beyond the grave. Though once the toast of mid-20th century London and Broadway, most theatre-goers…
Burning Man
Art, Money and the Renaissance
In 2016, Burning Man’s theme was “Da Vinci’s Workshop,” and on behalf of the Burning Man Philosophical Center I project managed, edited, and largely wrote a year long exploration of…
Radical Ritual
In 2017, Burning Man’s theme was “Radical Ritual,” and on behalf of the Burning Man Philosophical Center I project managed, edited, and largely wrote a year long exploration of place…
I, Robot
In 2018, Burning Man’s theme is “I, Robot,” and on behalf of the Burning Man Philosophical Center I am project editing, and largely writing a year long exploration the potential…
Bar Columns
(This story first appeared in the SF Weekly) We’re hanging out in Martuni’s, the last great gay piano bar in San Francisco. Once, these majestic animals roamed the hills like…
(This story first appeared at the SF Weekly) Sitting at the bar, nursing a glass of absinthe, Lapo tells me that as a Berkeley student he’d wanted to design his…
(This story originally appeared in the SF Weekly) I was prepping to go to an event I’d helped organize when I got a call from someone telling me that he…
(This article originally appeared in the SF Weekly) I’m going to tell you a ghost story. It’s about a bar. About 13 years ago my friend Colin went to the…
Journalism
(This story originally appeared in San Francisco Magazine) San Francisco’s budget has almost doubled over the last 10 years, from $5.3 billion to nearly $9 billion. We’re nearly paying for…
(This story originally appeared in San Francisco Magazine) Uber chief executive officer Travis Kalanick is on the world’s most awkward rehabilitation tour, and he’s bringing us all along for the…
(This article originally appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle) The top of a mountain offers the best view in the world, but it might be the loneliest place on Earth….
(Originally appeared in the San Francisco Chronical) When an invading army of 60 dancers descended on the Lake Merritt Gazebo on Sunday afternoon, Mario Benton was entranced — even though…