Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
An outtake from my conversation w Peter Schmidt, a member of The Friends of Attention, whose new book is called ATTENSITY!: A MANIFESTO OF THE ATTENTION LIBERATION MOVEMENT (Crown).
The Friends of Attention is a group of writers, artists, and activists in the vanguard of the movement, and their book is intended as a rallying cry to fight the commodification of human attention.
This is a vital conversation with an eloquent spokesperson for this burgeoning movement, about an issue that affects us all. Don’t miss it.
🎧 Available wherever you get your podcasts.
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Most all of us feel it: something is seriously wrong. Our attention—that essential ability to give our minds and senses to the world—is being trapped, gutted, and sold out from under us by an industry of immense technological and financial power. The heedless exploitation of this vital capacity by a handful of tech companies is harming us all, reducing our very selfhood to that which can be quantified, bought, and sold—and shaking the foundations of our democracy.
To push back against this “human fracking,” we need more than individual willpower or isolated efforts. We need a movement of collective resistance. Such a movement is beginning to bloom, and in this radical, first-of-its-kind guide, The Friends of Attention show us how to join the fight.
Drawing on a rich legacy of critical intellectuals and the creative wisdom of diverse traditions, Attensity! calls on us to come together to defeat the greedy dehumanizing forces of brute instrumentalization—and re-enchant the world.
An outtake from my conversation w Peter Schmidt, a member of The Friends of Attention, whose new book is called ATTENSITY!: A MANIFESTO OF THE ATTENTION LIBERATION MOVEMENT (Crown).
The Friends of Attention is a group of writers, artists, and activists in the vanguard of the movement, and their book is intended as a rallying cry to fight the commodification of human attention.
This is a vital conversation with an eloquent spokesperson for this burgeoning movement, about an issue that affects us all. Don’t miss it.
🎧 Available wherever you get your podcasts.
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Most all of us feel it: something is seriously wrong. Our attention—that essential ability to give our minds and senses to the world—is being trapped, gutted, and sold out from under us by an industry of immense technological and financial power. The heedless exploitation of this vital capacity by a handful of tech companies is harming us all, reducing our very selfhood to that which can be quantified, bought, and sold—and shaking the foundations of our democracy.
To push back against this “human fracking,” we need more than individual willpower or isolated efforts. We need a movement of collective resistance. Such a movement is beginning to bloom, and in this radical, first-of-its-kind guide, The Friends of Attention show us how to join the fight.
Drawing on a rich legacy of critical intellectuals and the creative wisdom of diverse traditions, Attensity! calls on us to come together to defeat the greedy dehumanizing forces of brute instrumentalization—and re-enchant the world.
