Hello. Hi. My name is Aaron Gowen, and I’m here to tell you about this show that you’re listening to: A Million Little Gods. A Million Little Gods has been around for—I’m just gonna keep saying “A Million Little Gods” until it gets stuck in your synapses. <hushed> A Million Little Gods. <whispered> A.M.L.G.
A Million little Gods is celebrating its tenth anniversary today. You might be saying to yourself, “Gosh, that’s a long time for a podcast to be around and for him to still be previewing it. And you’re right. But this isn’t a relaunch, because, well, I just take a longer view in terms of breaks between seasons.
Back in 2015, I was like Kermit the Frog after an accidental overdose of gamma radiation alters his body chemistry, and then he throws a tantrum when the Muppet Show gets out of hand: really, really, green. By the time I finished that first season, I realized I hadn’t been making one-off episodes. I’d been making a case over a series of episodes for what it means to be a self, and why that might—or might not—be important.
So I retroactively named the first season Book I: “What is a Self?” Then I got a new job at the University of Hamburg as a tenured lecturer in English language practice and applied linguistics. I enlisted students to help out with the show in exchange for elective credits. And a colleague, who’s now one of my best friends in the world, Ben Feddersen, became my co-host. Together between 2018–2019 we conducted scores of interviews with journalists, scientists, philosophers and other podcasters—and stylistically pushed as far as we could to figure out what a podcast could be. The result was a gonzo-academic mix of nine audio essays/radio plays, ostensibly about the scientific third-rail of racial categories, but really about much bigger questions. We called it: Book II: “Race—Is That a Thing?”, vol. 1. Then in 2020 we produced a coda, three last episodes: Book II, vol. 2. (Episode 10 of Book 2 is still my favorite episode of our show that we’ve released—so far!)
Three years ago, however, Ben decided to devote his massive brainpower—and uncanny skills as a raconteur—to helping a multibillion-dollar startup give the world a better battery that can store more energy. (Sad for the show; good for the planet. But you’ll still be hearing from Ben on occasion.) Meanwhile, over those three years, I’ve emigrated the show to Substack, where I began publishing little newsletter essays as I planned out the the next season. I also jumped back into interviewing and collaborating with guests and co-hosts, all of whom I’ve left wondering, “What the heck, man!? Where’s the podcast we worked on?”
Well, there were a couple of things I realized I wanted to accomplish with the pod. The focus in the first two seasons, the first two “Books,” was philosophy and culture studies. And that’s not going to change. But linguistics has always a subterranean facet of the show. And that’s my trade. That’s my jam. So I’ve brought the linguistics communication more to the fore. And beyond that—at the risk of sounding pompous—I have literary and artistic ambitions for the podcast.
By the way, if you’re saying to yourself, “Speed it up, man! Stop taking such log pauses,” . . . no. Stop mainlining TikToks and doomscrolling your way through the trenches of your own inner demons. I’m making art. Art has it’s own rhythms, man. I want to see what you can do with language in this medium—and music, and sound design.
On July 31, I’ll be back in full swing with part one of the Introduction to Book III. And like every upcoming chapter, the Introduction immerses you in spatial audio. So do me a favor: If you’re listening to this at home or work on a set of speakers, or a Sonos bar, or on an Alexa or something, please switch over to headphones so you can hear the actual sound design. And even though I know it’s convenient to speed up your podcasts, please listen to this at normal speed. (And if you use a smart speed controller to shorten the silences, you’re a monster, and I hope you get a painful hangnail on your big toe.)
One last thing, and this is important: If you’re listening to this in a car with Dolby Atmos, or surround sound, or even just with stereo and decent speakers—the audio you will hear mimics three-dimensional sound, and it can cause spatial confusion, and possibly an accident. So turn this off and listen later. (And when you do listen to it, use headphones.)
Ok. That’s it. I might have a couple of surprises for you before you listen to the Introduction (with headphones).
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