app02 Wed, 16 Sep 2026 08:51:22 +0000 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Altered Mates - Episodes Tagged with “The Spectacle” https://www.alteredmates.com/tags/the%20spectacle Wed, 16 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0800 Altered Mates is a podcast where two mates, each fascinated by altered states, meet to discuss the psychedelic experience and its implications for society, culture, health, science, and philosophy. Alejandro is novelist and a teacher of english and psychology. Tobias is an academic and a lecturer in social work and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Our conversations are always grounded in our own direct experiences with a range of ‘altered’ states of consciousness. Hero of the podcast, William James, suggests that, “Our normal waking consciousness… is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different… No account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded.” You could say that we are trying to construct a better account of our universe, and we are taking James’ advice to heart, by seriously regarding those “other” forms of consciousness. Through our research and our subsequent discussions, we seek to find, update, and/or create, working models of the mind, and of reality, that help us to make sense of our world. We endeavour to integrate our own psychedelic experiences through the power of conversation. But we also seek to integrate the revelations of “the” psychedelic experience, and come to terms with the implications, from cultural, philosophical, and spiritual perspectives. Having said all that, we’re also just two normal blokes who enjoy each other’s company. And our fancy Socratic dialogues are filtered through our own unique brand of Australian banter. After all, we’re just two mates trying to enjoy our limited time on this planet, and to create a more meaningful life for ourselves and our community while we’re here. en-us episodic Two mates navigating altered states Altered Mates Altered Mates is a podcast where two mates, each fascinated by altered states, meet to discuss the psychedelic experience and its implications for society, culture, health, science, and philosophy. Alejandro is novelist and a teacher of english and psychology. Tobias is an academic and a lecturer in social work and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Our conversations are always grounded in our own direct experiences with a range of ‘altered’ states of consciousness. Hero of the podcast, William James, suggests that, “Our normal waking consciousness… is but one special type of consciousness, whilst all about it, parted from it by the filmiest of screens, there lie potential forms of consciousness entirely different… No account of the universe in its totality can be final which leaves these other forms of consciousness quite disregarded.” You could say that we are trying to construct a better account of our universe, and we are taking James’ advice to heart, by seriously regarding those “other” forms of consciousness. Through our research and our subsequent discussions, we seek to find, update, and/or create, working models of the mind, and of reality, that help us to make sense of our world. We endeavour to integrate our own psychedelic experiences through the power of conversation. But we also seek to integrate the revelations of “the” psychedelic experience, and come to terms with the implications, from cultural, philosophical, and spiritual perspectives. Having said all that, we’re also just two normal blokes who enjoy each other’s company. And our fancy Socratic dialogues are filtered through our own unique brand of Australian banter. After all, we’re just two mates trying to enjoy our limited time on this planet, and to create a more meaningful life for ourselves and our community while we’re here. yes altered states, psychedelics, ayahuasca, DMT, therapy, mushrooms, magic, spiritual, spirituality, religion Altered Mates alejandro.tuama@outlook.com Episode 39: On The Society of the Spectacle https://www.alteredmates.com/39 4365c6dc-918d-48db-a215-f4d2b414d676 Wed, 16 Sep 2026 06:00:00 +0800 Altered Mates full Altered Mates In this episode we discuss Guy Debord’s most famous work, The Society of the Spectacle. 2:09:17 yes <p>In this episode we discuss Guy Debord’s most famous work, The Society of the Spectacle.</p> <p>Guy Debord was born in Paris in 1931. He was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, and founding member of the Situationist International, who was especially concerned by the image-saturated consumer culture of capitalism.</p> <p>The Spectacle is not so much defined by Guy Debord as alluded to across the 221 short theses of the book.</p> <p>We might suggest that the Spectacle represents the total triumph of capitalism in conjunction with the ubiquity of mass media; it refers to the image-saturated reality in which we operate and the way in which these images distort our interactions, relationships and picture of the world; it is “the moment when the commodity has attained the total occupation of social life.”</p> <p>Our approach to this episode was to each choose a handful of our favourite theses to unpack. As usual, throughout the discussion we wander down many tangents; from the immediacy of life as a nomadic hunter gatherer to the absurdity of filming a concert on your phone. And as you might expect, we speculate as to whether our beloved psychedelics can offer any assistance in transcending the spectacle.</p> <p><strong>References</strong></p> <ul> <li> Guy Debord (1967) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Society_of_the_Spectacle" rel="nofollow noopener">The Society of the Spectacle</a> (note: we used the Donald Nicholson-Smith translation)</li> <li> Astral Codex Ten — <a href="https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/your-book-review-the-society-of-the" rel="nofollow noopener">Book Review: The Society Of The Spectacle</a></li> <li> Tiernan Morgan &amp; Lauren Purje — <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/an-illustrated-guide-to-guy-debords-the-society-of-the-spectacle/" rel="nofollow noopener">An Illustrated Guide to Guy Debord’s ‘The Society of the Spectacle’</a></li> <li> John Carpenter (1988) <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Live" rel="nofollow noopener">They Live</a></li> <li> Altered Mates — Episode 38 — <a href="https://www.alteredmates.com/38" rel="nofollow noopener">They Live, We sleep: on John Carpenter’s <em>They Live</em></a></li> <li> The Wachowskis (1999) The Matrix</li> <li> South Park — Season 8, Episode 8 — “Douche and Turd” (2004)</li> <li> <a href="https://www.tarabrach.com/" rel="nofollow noopener">Tara Brach</a></li> <li> Cosmo Jarvis (2012) Love This</li> <li> Scott McGlaughlan — <a href="https://www.thecollector.com/who-was-philosopher-guy-debord/" rel="nofollow noopener">Who was Philosopher Guy Debord?</a></li> </ul> <p><strong>Links</strong></p> <p><a href="https://www.alteredmates.com/" rel="nofollow noopener">Altered Mates Website</a></p> <p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/altered.mates/" rel="nofollow noopener">Altered Mates Instagram</a></p> <p>Altered Mates <a href="https://alteredmates.substack.com/" rel="nofollow noopener">Substack</a></p> <p>Altered Mates <a href="https://patreon.com/AlteredMates?utm_medium=unknown&amp;utm_source=join_link&amp;utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&amp;utm_content=copyLink" rel="nofollow noopener">Patreon</a></p> <p>Music for the show by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/wildmarmalade/?hl=en" rel="nofollow noopener">Si Mulumby</a></p> <p><strong>A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama</strong></p> <ul> <li> Purchase the novel <a href="https://books2read.com/u/m2eWjG" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a> (hard copy, ebook and audiobook).</li> <li> Listen to the free serialised audiobook <a href="https://www.patreon.com/collection/560595?view=expanded" rel="nofollow noopener">here</a>. </li> </ul> consciousness, psychedelics, psychonaut, altered states, altered mates In this episode we discuss Guy Debord’s most famous work, The Society of the Spectacle.

Guy Debord was born in Paris in 1931. He was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, and founding member of the Situationist International, who was especially concerned by the image-saturated consumer culture of capitalism.

The Spectacle is not so much defined by Guy Debord as alluded to across the 221 short theses of the book.

We might suggest that the Spectacle represents the total triumph of capitalism in conjunction with the ubiquity of mass media; it refers to the image-saturated reality in which we operate and the way in which these images distort our interactions, relationships and picture of the world; it is “the moment when the commodity has attained the total occupation of social life.”

Our approach to this episode was to each choose a handful of our favourite theses to unpack. As usual, throughout the discussion we wander down many tangents; from the immediacy of life as a nomadic hunter gatherer to the absurdity of filming a concert on your phone. And as you might expect, we speculate as to whether our beloved psychedelics can offer any assistance in transcending the spectacle.

References

Links

Altered Mates Website

Altered Mates Instagram

Altered Mates Substack

Altered Mates Patreon

Music for the show by Si Mulumby

A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama

  • Purchase the novel here (hard copy, ebook and audiobook).
  • Listen to the free serialised audiobook here.
]]> In this episode we discuss Guy Debord’s most famous work, The Society of the Spectacle.

Guy Debord was born in Paris in 1931. He was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, and founding member of the Situationist International, who was especially concerned by the image-saturated consumer culture of capitalism.

The Spectacle is not so much defined by Guy Debord as alluded to across the 221 short theses of the book.

We might suggest that the Spectacle represents the total triumph of capitalism in conjunction with the ubiquity of mass media; it refers to the image-saturated reality in which we operate and the way in which these images distort our interactions, relationships and picture of the world; it is “the moment when the commodity has attained the total occupation of social life.”

Our approach to this episode was to each choose a handful of our favourite theses to unpack. As usual, throughout the discussion we wander down many tangents; from the immediacy of life as a nomadic hunter gatherer to the absurdity of filming a concert on your phone. And as you might expect, we speculate as to whether our beloved psychedelics can offer any assistance in transcending the spectacle.

References

Links

Altered Mates Website

Altered Mates Instagram

Altered Mates Substack

Altered Mates Patreon

Music for the show by Si Mulumby

A Glimpse of Eternity by Alejandro Tuama

  • Purchase the novel here (hard copy, ebook and audiobook).
  • Listen to the free serialised audiobook here.
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