The Western Traditions Podcast

Episode IX.09 - The Tyranny of Optimization

How the process of optimization ultimately ruins everything. Beginning with examples from Mexican politics and President Gustavo Diaz, the podcast goes on to consider business, sports, diet, religion, marriage and technology as well as the US health care system. Finally, the episode closes with Dr. Richard Feynman's elaboration on the theory of entropy. 

Episode IX.08 - Into the Evening Redness: The Dark Theology of Cormac McCarthy

The speaker explores the dark theology of Cormac McCarthy. The sources of influence include William Faulkner, Herman Melville's Moby Dick, ancient gnosticism. Cited works include The Orchard Keeper, The Outer Dark, Suttree, Blood Meridian, The Border Trilogy, No Country for Old Men, The Road, The Passenger and Stella Maris.

Episode IX.07: Post-Apocalypse Now

A reflection on the post-apocalyptic trend in modern fiction, starting with an epiphany experienced while rereading Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. The speaker explores technological trends in history, prehistory and the future, from Gobekli Tepe to the present and beyond. Archaeology, history, literature, mathematics and the Technological Singularity all find their way into the thread of the monologue. 

Episode XIB.018 - The Story of Jacob: Part Four

Jacob returns to the Promised Land, after surviving the reunion with his brother Esau. He meets a mysterious stranger and earns a new name at the river Yabbok. His daughter, Dinah, is violated near Shechem. His sons stir up trouble for him as they try to settle in the land. 

Episode XIB.017 - The Story of Jacob: Part Three

Jacob reaches the middle of his life and comes into conflict with Laban, his father-in-law. He gathers his wives and household and returns to the Promised Land. Digressions on repetition in Scripture and the flexible morality of the Patriarchs. 

Episode XIB.016 - The Story of Jacob: Part Two

Jacob begins his odyssey, traveling to the lands of the East, where his uncle Laban and his cousins live. The fragile youth becomes a man. He marries Leah and Rachel, and has numerous children through them and their handmaids. 

Episode III.23 - The Third Punic War: African Apocalypse

Carthago delenda est. Marcus Cato dies before he can see his apocalyptic dream come true. Scipio Aemilianus rises to the office of consul and leads the Roman legions in their final assault on the city of Carthage. 

Episode III.22 - Marcus Cato and the Decline of the Roman Republic

Marcus Cato makes memorable observations on the decline of Roman traditions. Wealth and power are concentrated in the hands of fewer and fewer men. The author reflects on the changing nature of the Roman upper and lower classes and on the decline of the moral order in Republican Rome after the Second Punic War. 

Episode III.21 - Greek Culture and Roman Society

The victors of the Macedonian wars bring back more than treasure and tribute. Greek culture flows into Roman society. Men like Flamininus and Aemilius Paulus embrace it. Marcus Cato reviles this Greek immigration of values and ideas. 

Episode XIB.015 - The Story of Jacob: Part One

The scriptures transition from the grand story of Abraham to the very human, realistic story of a family torn, a dying father, a scheming mother and two brothers in conflict. The tale of Jacob and Esau begins.