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Artwork for Human Meme

Human Meme

David Boles
Artificial Intelligence
Climate Change
Education
Consciousness
Resilience
Passive Social Murder
American Sign Language
Cryptids
Henry VIII
Change
Roman Empire
Black Holes
Democracy
Technology
Prometheus
Mental Health
Nature
Health Care Access
Personal Transformation
Disappointment

The Human Meme podcast examines what separates human consciousness from mere biological existence. Each episode investigates the inherited behaviors, cultural transmissions, and cognitive patterns that replicate across generations, shaping how we think, grieve, speak, and remember. David Boles, a New York City writer, publisher, and teacher, hosts these conversations as mindfulness with teeth: no ... more

PublishesTwice weeklyEpisodes891Founded10 years ago
Number of ListenersCategories
Society & CultureArtsPerforming Arts

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Artwork for Human Meme

Latest Episodes

In 2003, a laboratory asked the plainest question you can put to the night: when dreams draw on waking life, what do they take? Twenty-nine people kept logs for two weeks. The answer came back in two numbers. Two-thirds of everything these sleepers r... more

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Here is a game. I am going to spend the next several minutes telling you about a book, and I will not say its name once. The name is four words. Two of them are the same word. If you follow the grammar, by the end of this episode you will say the nam... more

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A friend of mine once cleared a bookshelf with one sentence. It took him a week to collect. I have spent twenty years understanding that afternoon, and the understanding became a book. Let me tell you the story first. The store was a Mormon bookstore... more

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Here is the shape of it. In 1955, American television had no memory. A play aired live, once, and it was gone: no rerun, no archive, no second pressing. Serling wrote a play called Patterns, and the country went so crazy for it that the critic at the... more

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The telephone went to speaker at three in the afternoon on a Tuesday in August, and the voice that came out of it belonged to family, calling from a small town in Nebraska where it had been raining for days. The call carried two things at once, the w... more

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The Watermark is about a city that computes its poor as calories. And it is about the man who does the computing. His name is Anselm Wenger. He is thirty-one that winter. He is a clerk of the Relief Bureau, the best computer on the fourth floor of th... more

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Somewhere in your kitchen there is a glass, and you trust it. You washed it, you shelved it, and if I dropped one bead of ink into it right now, you would never drink from it again. Not after a rinse. Not after ten rinses. One drop, and the glass is ... more

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Somewhere ahead of you, on a day no calendar has marked yet, someone you love is going to say a final sentence, and you may be the one who hears it. You will lean in. You will carry what they said for the rest of your life. And you will believe it, b... more

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Key Facts

Contact Information
Podcast Host
Number of Listeners
Find out how many people listen to this podcast per episode and each month.

Recent Guests

Janna Sweenie
Co-author, deaf educator and practitioner
Co-author with David Boles
Episode: Beyond the Hands: Completion of the ASL Linguistics for Practitioners Trilogy
Jana Sweeney
Co-author of Depicting Space, Advanced Classifier Morphology and Spatial Grammar in American Sign Language
Episode: Depicting Space: When Language Lives in the Hands

Host

David Boles
Host of the show; writer, publisher, teacher with a focus on human meme and cultural transmission.

Reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars from 15 ratings
  • Does Human Meme mean AI?

    I only listened to the Rashoman/Kagemusha episode and the narration is so perfect and consistent that my brain is convinced that the voice actor is actually AI software. The actual text of the episode was a little unusual in places and Rashoman is only briefly discussed, Kagemusha not at all, and it would not surprise me if the text was also the product of artifical intellegence software. Listen for yourself and see if I'm just a crazy person.

    Apple Podcasts
    4
    phoenixfoundationpodcast
    United States6 years ago
  • Really great topics. Makes you think how we learn stuff. There is no right answer but many wrong solutions. Find the right pathway. Take the moral high ground with duty and passion.

    Podchaser
    5
    Django
    9 years ago
  • Many great topics up for discussion. Open to listener feedback. Learn something new and spread it all around the world is the topic of this podcast.

    Podchaser
    5
    janna
    9 years ago
  • if I didn't know any better, I'd claim this young man was an Ultra Genius!

    Podchaser
    5
    Boles
    9 years ago
  • Human Meme

    In this podcast, David Boles invites us to pause from our fast-paced lives and introspectively think about what it means to be human. He delivers the information so eloquently and he poses questions which encourage the listener to reflect with him. Human Meme is refreshingly unique, intelligent, and thought-provoking. When David speaks, he has something significant to say, and he does this with a passion that is infectious. His knowledge on a myriad of topics is evident in each episode. I look f... more

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    ng3000
    Australia10 years ago
  • How to be a Human Being

    David Boles is pretty swell when it comes to discussing what makes us work as people. Memes are for sharing information, and he certainly helps us through understanding why we need to keep teaching and talking to each other as humans. "Be a Human Meme!" is his outcry, and I join him in that shout from the mountaintop!

    Apple Podcasts
    5
    NYCbae
    United States10 years ago

Listeners Say

Key themes from listener reviews, highlighting what works and what could be improved about the show.

Listeners appreciate the challenging topics and the depth of cross-disciplinary references.
The host delivers thoughtful, well-researched monologues with a calm, persuasive voice.
Insightful and thought-provoking analyses that blend history, philosophy, and culture.

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Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

Listeners per EpisodeGender SkewLocation
InterestsProfessionsAge Range
Household IncomeSocial Media Reach

Frequently Asked Questions About Human Meme

What is Human Meme about and what kind of topics does it cover?

The show probes what makes humans unique by examining memory, language, perception, ethics, and culture through thoughtful, often historical or philosophical lenses. Episodes frequently center on how ideas propagate, how power shapes belief, and how technology and media influence human experience. A standout trait is the host's willingness to tackle weighty topics with a calm, reflective voice and a discipline of cross-disciplinary references, blending history, literature, philosophy, and current affairs. This approach is likely to appeal to curious, introspective listeners who enjoy rigorous analysis without sensationalism, often delivered in solitary monologues or tightly focused discussions. Potential listeners may appreciate the book-le... more

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How many listeners does Human Meme get?

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What are the audience demographics for Human Meme?

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How many subscribers and views does Human Meme have?

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How many episodes of Human Meme are there?

Human Meme launched 10 years ago and published 891 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

How do I contact Human Meme?

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Where can I see ratings and reviews for Human Meme?

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What guests have appeared on Human Meme?

Recent guests on Human Meme include:

1. Janna Sweenie
2. Jana Sweeney

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

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