Cultural theorist and essayist Toby Shorin joins Amanda Cassatt to explore one of the most urgent questions of the AI era: What happens to the human body and human meaning when thinking itself becomes commodified?

Drawing on his essay “Body Futurism,” Toby argues that we’re witnessing a massive embodied turn in culture, from peptides and biohacking to looks-maxing and sports investment. But the real question isn’t just why people are obsessing over their bodies; it’s whether that obsession represents liberation or a new form of algorithmic hijacking.

In this episode, they discuss:

- Bryan Johnson’s “don’t die” philosophy and why it’s rooted in fear, not vision

- The difference between a protocol and a practice, and its political consequences

- Who actually benefits from the loneliness epidemic narrative

- What the “AI mind virus” looks like from inside the Bay Area

- Why poetry might be the only genuine escape from the optimization loop

If you’re interested in the intersection of AI, culture, embodiment, and meaning, this conversation is not to be missed.

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction

2:44 Why everyone is obsessed with their body right now

7:08 The philosophy behind biohacking and morphological freedom

10:42 Why "don't die" is actually a fear-based philosophy

13:27 What AI really threatens it's not your job

14:50 AI mastered chess. Chess adoption only grew.

18:05 Why PE firms are buying sports teams

20:41 Body as asset vs. body as practice

26:24 What is a narrative subsidy?

28:44 Who actually benefits from the loneliness epidemic

29:20 We forgot how to do the dance

31:52 Did Andrew Huberman invent seeing light in the morning?

32:44 How insurance culture took over everyday life

36:45 Two ways out of the optimization loop

38:00 The poetic way of seeing

40:29 Toby reads a poem he wrote this morning

42:09 The William Carlos Williams connection

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Endgame on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/endgame-with-amanda-cassatt/id1801809440

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