Podcaster discusses apocalyptic scenarios
By Kevin Duggan The end is nigh!
Podcaster Josh Clark will
host “The End of the World,”
a show that unpacks the very real
existential threats facing humanity,
and discusses what we can do to save
ourselves. The talk, at the Bell House
on Jan. 24, draws from his 10-part
podcast series of the same name, each
episode of which investigated a different
threat to the human species. Clark
said that he started the series as a kind
of abstract exercise, but became more
and more worried about the future as
he did his research.
“Originally, I was just intellectually
attracted to these ideas, but as I learned
more about them and started speaking
to philosophers who think about these
problems, I realized, ‘This is real! This
is a very real thing people are talking
about.’ That was a very jarring conclusion,”
Clark said.
There are many ways in which we
could all perish, according to Clark,
including artificially intelligent robots
enslaving us, natural risks such as
gamma ray bursts and supernovas, and
the runaway greenhouse effect — none
of which matters if it turns out we are
all living in a computer simulation and
somebody decides to pull the plug.
“If just one of these risks befalls us,
that’s it for humans,” he said.
After a phase of despondency, Clark
shifted his focus to informing people
about the coming dangers and energizing
them to take action, he said.
“I wanted to raise the alarm without
being alarmist,” said Clark. “You can’t
just say that A.I. will take control of
us and expect people to care about it
without backing it up with facts.”
Clark is especially worried about
the rapid advance of artificial intelligence.
Those working on the technological
cutting edge need to plan
ahead by programming so-called
“friendliness” into these super-smart
machines, making them aware of
what’s best for people.
“If we haven’t programmed what’s
called friendliness into A.I. then we
are toast, and no one has figured out
how to do that yet,” he said. “We’re
COURIER L 56 IFE, JAN. 18-24, 2019 24-7
releasing loaded guns out into the wild
but haven’t figured out how to attach a
safety to them yet.”
The current chaos in Washington
makes it difficult to focus on long-term
threats, said Clark.
“It’s tough to tap people and get
their attention and show them that this
supersedes all the geopolitics — but
there’s not going to be geopolitics and
culture if we don’t address it,” he said.
“The End of the World” at the Bell
House 149 Seventh St., between Second
and Third avenues in Gowanus, (718)
643–6510, www.thebellhouseny.com.
Jan. 24 at 8 pm. $25.
SBy Julianne Cuba he’s taking her secrets to the
graves.
A spooky puppet show in
Williamsburg will explore the shadowy
after-hours world of Green-Wood
Cemetery. “Secrets of Green-Wood,”
debuting at the Brick Theater on Jan.
30, follows a woman who journeys
through the gravestones in hopes of
laying her troubles to rest — but the
deeper she travels into the necropolis,
the bigger her problems become,
according to the show’s creator.
“The main character is kind of grappling
with personal demons, she goes
to the graveyard to put in a secret,” said
Sarah Krasnow, who lives in Ditmas
Park. “It’s kind of cathartic, but she
ends up getting lost and stuck in the
graveyard and things kind of get worse.
She has an even worse secret by the
time she leaves.”
The 25-minute show was inspired
by a real-life art project titled “Here
Lie the Secrets of the Visitors of Green-
Wood Cemetery.” French artist Sophie
Calle installed an obelisk in the historic
graveyard in 2017, where visitors can
write down their secrets and slip them
inside. Calle plans to return annually
over the next 25 years to exhume and
burn the buried secrets.
Krasnow, who first saw Calle’s
work in France, researched the history
of the artist and the boneyard while
working on her script.
“After that point I did more research
on the cemetery itself, I don’t think
I had ever been there before that,”
Krasnow said.
Krasnow will work with another
puppeteer, Stephanie Sleeper, to
manipulate figures on a pair of projectors
during the play, while her husband,
James Ilgenfritz, performs music that
he composed for the show.
The show uses dozens of elaborate
puppets, cut out of black cardstock
with the help of designers and artists
Shannon Iriarte, Virginia Wang, and
Emma Wiseman, said Krasnow.
The puppet show will appear on a
double-bill with the comedy “Sexless
Cocaine Saturday,” as part of the
Exponential Festival of new plays.
“Secrets of Green-Wood” at the
Brick (579 Metropolitan Ave. between
Lorimer Street and Union Avenue in
Williamsburg, www.theexponentialfestival.
org). Jan. 30–Feb. 2 at 8 pm. $20.
Horns of plenty: Zlatne Uste, which runs the annual Golden
Festival, has trumpets, trombones, flugelhorns, saxophones,
tuba, and drums. Valerie Trucchia
TBy Colin Mixson hey’ll make your
Balkan dance
dreams come true!
Brooklyn music lovers
are invited to shake a
leg to the home-brewed
sounds of the Balkans
at the legendary Grand
Prospect Hall on Jan. 18
and 19, where the borough’s
Veveritse Brass
Band will join more than
60 other rockin’ ensembles
at the 35th annual
Golden Festival, which
celebrates tunes from
Southeastern Europe that
are heavy on the horns.
“It’s dance music,” said
Nick Mauro, who plays
trumpet for Veveritse.
“The songs are really fun
and the crowds are always
there to dance.”
The 11-member band
features a diverse cast of
amateur and professional
players, almost all of
whom live in Brooklyn,
and who share a common
love for the sweet
sounds of the Near East,
said Mauro.
“We just love the
music,” said the horn
player.
Veveritse will join
dozens of other bands
at the Park Slope music
hall on Saturday for the
second day of the annual
festival, which has grown
from a small gathering of
local Balkan bands to a
massive two-day bonanza
that will see thousands of
local music lovers hitting
the dance floor with traditional
folk jigs, or plainold
hipster head bobs,
according to Mauro.
“It’s a mix of folkdance
steps, or just
free-for-all hipsters in
Brooklyn dancing,” he
said.
The event will kick off
on Friday night with four
bands performing in one
room of the sprawling
126-year-old event complex.
The beginning of
the night will be devoted
to dance workshops, so
that newcomers can get
up to snuff on traditional
Balkan dance routines,
said longtime organizer
Michael Ginsburg.
But come Saturday,
the entirety of Grand
Prospect Hall will be
turned over to the Balkan
event of the year, with
some 65 total bands rocking
out across five stages,
according to Ginsburg
“It’s absolutely spectacular,”
said Ginsburg,
a founding member of
Zlatne Uste, the band
that created Golden Fest.
“We’ll have five rooms
going at once. It always
exceeds my expectations.”
Golden Festival at
Grand Prospect Hall (263
Prospect Ave. between
Fifth and Sixth avenues in
Park Slope, www.goldenfest.
org). Jan. 18 at 7 pm.
$35 ($30 students). Jan.
19 at 5:30 pm. $55 ($45
students). Tickets for both
nights $80 ($65 students,
kids free).
An end in sight: Podcast host Josh Clark will talk about the various ways humanity could perish,
based on his series “The End of the World,” at the Bell House on Jan. 24. iHeartMedia
Getting ahead: “Secrets of Green-Wood”
creator Sarah Krasnow and a team of artists
cut elaborate figures out of black cardstock.
Near East
ear feast!
TALK OF DOOM
Darkest secrets
Balkan music festival
at Grand Prospect Hall
/www.golden-fest.org
/www.theexponentialfes-tival.org
/www.theexponentialfes-tival.org
/www.theexponentialfes-tival.org
/www.thebellhouseny.com
/www.golden-fest.org
/www.golden-fest.org
/www.thebellhouseny.com