Art, Entertainment, and Society with Brad Haugen

07/26/21 • 57 min

Art and entertainment play a central role in culture, shaping our preferences, attitudes, and values, and creating a sense of shared cultural identity. In the 21st century, new technological platforms have not only changed the way we consume art and entertainment, but they’ve also led to new genres of content and paved new pathways for creators. There’s been an explosion of new forms of expression, communication, storytelling, and connecting with others around the world.

At OSCILLATIONS, we’re interested in understanding these cultural changes and how we can leverage them to amplify creative expression and cross-cultural collaborations. On this front, there’s perhaps no better role model to look to than Brad Haugen, President of Westbrook Media at Westbrook.

We’ve all seen Will Smith and his family’s incredible adaptation to the new ways of doing media and entertainment in the digital and social technology age. Westbrook exemplifies several emerging trends, where celebrities are leveraging their brands in new, socially progressive ways. They’re working to reach younger audiences, who engage with content very differently. They’re partnering with other organizations in the Smith Family circle to make and promote socially impactful investments in startups. And they’re experimenting with categorically new kinds of storytelling at a time when Hollywood—and our increasingly interconnected world, more broadly—is undergoing rapid transitions and associated growing pains.

Westbrook’s mission is to empower artists to tell stories that connect the world. If you’ve read the OSCILLATIONS manifesto or listened to us read it on the first three episodes of our podcast, you might have noticed the alignment. At OSCILLATIONS, we’re all about empowering artists to guide the future of some of the most exciting—but also potentially scary—creative technologies that will be coming out in the next decade or two.

One of the reasons we’re so excited to talk with Brad is that he himself is a talented visual artist. You can see his paintings on his Instagram profile, and more recently showcased at art galleries. It’s extraordinarily rare to find such dedicated, technically proficient, and talented artists working on the business and entrepreneurial side of any industry. We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to get Brad’s thoughts on how entertainment is changing, how the attention economy can be used for social good, and how artists might tangibly shape the future by spreading their art and ideas in a rapidly changing world.

"Art is the signature of civilizations." -Beverly Sills
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Previous Episode

The Science of Self and Identity with Dr. Bruce Hood

Welcome to the OSCILLATIONS Podcast, where we invite you to participate in conversations at the intersection of art, culture, technology, and the science of the mind.
There's often a lag between common knowledge and academic knowledge. Sometimes that lag can span decades or even centuries. What the average person might know about the latest ideas in politics. cognitive science, economics, or astrophysics, for example, may in fact be outdated by many years.
The field of psychology is only about a century and a half old, but it's gone through some profound changes. The trajectory of our understanding of human thought and behavior has branched off into many disciplines, some of them more speculative and philosophical. Others more concerned with remedial mental health care and others still taking a scientific approach to understanding how the mind works. It's in this scientific approach where we've made the most progress.
We now have mountains of evidence in cognitive science, neuroscience and certain areas of experimental psychology that collectively portray an increasingly nuanced understanding of how the human mind evolved, how it develops and how it constructs models of the world. We're beginning to make headway on exciting if still hotly debated questions surrounding consciousness selfhood, identity and agency. Most non scientists aren't aware of this progress. But in our modern world, it's nevertheless critically important to understand Keystone ideas of the science of the mind. These ideas have important implications for governance, progress, and many areas of our individual and collective lives.
That's why we recently interviewed Dr. Bruce Hood, an experimental psychologist who makes a great effort to communicate these ideas to a broader audience. Dr. Hood is a professor of developmental psychology in society. His area of research, like Danielle's, focuses on cognitive development. He also participates in many conversations at the intersection of psychology, Technology and Society, including at conferences like Ted RSA and cipher at Google, as well as in interviews for NPR and other major media outlets. He's written several fantastic books for the public that elegantly tackle complex or counterintuitive scientific ideas. These include super sense why we believe the unbelievable the science of superstition, how the developing brain creates supernatural beliefs, the self delusion, how the social brain creates identity, the domesticated brain, and most recently possessed why we want more than we need.
Dr. Hood's work has shaped Danielle's approach to AI research at Google, and her theories on the psychology of art. When she teaches undergraduate courses on cognitive science and developmental psychology, she has her students watch excerpts from his online lectures. The discussions that emerge, such as those on the nature of selfhood are consistently the most engaging topics for her students. Both Brendan and Danielle would also argue that they're among the most important. So with that, OSCILLATIONS brings you Dr. Bruce Hood.
"Art is the signature of civilizations." -Beverly Sills
Join the movement from the very beginning. If you believe that #thefutureiscreative, support us with a like, a follow, and a share.
subscribe: YouTube / Instagram / TikTok / Facebook / Twitter / Vero / Substack / Patreon

Next Episode

The Art (and Science ) of Grace with Sarah Kaufman

Grace is a way of making others feel at ease. Like hospitality, good manners, cultivating a sense of fashion, and putting your best foot forward when it counts, grace is an ongoing effort and cultivated habit of making the world less stressful and more pleasing for those around us.

For these reasons, grace is something like a virtue or a paramount “first principle” of social interaction. In this sense, grace is a courtesy; a respect for others. Grace reflects an awareness of being situated in something larger than ourselves, whether that’s a relationship, a community, or a society.

Yet grace is overlooked. In my own lifetime, it seems to have eroded considerably. I remember fondly back to my childhood, a time when nobody received calls after 7pm - a social convention that respected family and personal time and recognized a need to collect oneself, move at a slower pace, and wind down for the day. I remember a time when politicians showed at least some deference to decorum, especially a head of state. I even grew up in a small town in the foothills of Berkshires where vestigial organs of a bygone etiquette would make the occasional appearance: antique ideas that children might refer to their parents and grandparents by “sir” and “maam,” that one ought to ask to be excused from the table, or that any plateware left behind by a guest ought not be returned to them empty.

Grace is an outward orientation, and as such it’s a bit anemic in a modern culture with such inward-oriented messaging that encourages us to prioritize our own happiness, our own boundaries, our self care, our self expression, our feelings, our self-reliance, and our independence.

To try and understand what grace is and where it fits into modern life, we’re speaking today with Sarah Kaufman, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and dance critic at the Washington Post. I read her book “The Art of Grace: On Moving Well Through Life” years ago and it’s had a lasting impact on me. It takes the reader on a search for grace, occasionally looking at some pretty surprising and educative examples. It’s not only a pleasure to read, it’s an inspirational call to action.

At OSCILLATIONS we’re all about the inspirational and the visionary - the imagining of new, more creative and beautiful worlds. The book gently encourages us to imagine a world where we are generally better to each other and collectively contributing to a sort of beautification project. For most of us, life is hard enough without having to suffer through its trials surrounded by slumped shoulders, shuffling feet, and morose dispositions. I came away from the book with a strong desire to fashion myself into a graceful person as a matter of virtue and civic responsibility. Let’s just say it’s a work in progress.

We couldn’t be more honored and excited to speak with Sarah about grace, culture, art, dance, civics, and science. And so with that, we bring you Sarah Kaufman.

Oscillations - Art, Entertainment, and Society with Brad Haugen

Transcript

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Welcome to the oscillations Podcast, where we invite you to participate in conversations at the intersection of art, culture, technology, and the science of the mind. I'm Danielle persik. And I'm Brendan Lewis.

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