Cherry Picking with Alexia Benn

Welcome to Cherry Picking, a political podcast recorded on lək̓ʷəŋən territory. Initially, this show was created by host Alexia Benn as a coping mechanism to find joy while completing the final year of her undergrad. Uniquely messy, at times particularly niche, and consistently caught within the contradictions of life, Cherry Picking now seeks to analyze, interrogate, and assess private and public policy through the consumption and gossip of mainstream media, acknowledging profit incentives lurking in the political sphere. From municipal politics, RCMP expenditures, anarchist and Marxist theory, environmental policy, and Indigenous governance, facts, feelings and ideas meet in the ether, given a chance to air themselves out. Always professionally unbiased, and always driven by the utmost care and consideration for human life, with a goal of accessibility. What does the acid rain which falls from the sky whisper to us? How do we listen? What will we do? Tune in most Wednesdays, sometimes with guests!

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Cherry Picking with Alexia Benn

The Future is Now

December 15, 2021 • Alexia • Season 1 • Episode 19

Good morning and happy Wednesday! I'm pleased to have my first episode out on time in a little while here and man, does it feel good. Today on Episode 19 of Cherry Picking we talk about the Metaverse. Or Meta? The Meta. Metaverse. Something vaguely reminiscent of Facebook but more ominous and somehow even less cool. This episode covers a brief history of a long slew of the legal entanglements of FB and Mark Zuckerberg, our favourite lizard barbeque, before getting into some more.. opinion-driven ideas of what this transition to 'augmented reality' means for us.

In all honesty, I am a nerdy granola girl at heart. I love reading and being outside, and technology has a way of keeping me from doing that sometimes. I despise the metaverse and everything it stands for, but each day that passes I am reminded of how thin a line we walk as our lives become increasingly integrated digitally with technology. The social, economic, and political implications of the modern trajectory of social media are already profound, and what is sure to come next will be... more profound?

If any of this is interesting to you, hop on and join the ride. It is a weird world to exist in when the promise of an ideal, online, augmented, artificial reality genuinely appeals to ANYONE over the real thing. And if this world gives you the ick, you're not alone.

Cheers,

Alexia

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