Pain. Should we kill it? It's pretty obvious that we should... but how do you actually make painkillers? How do we avoid addiction and societal breakdown once we've manufactured them? And what even is pain, anyway?

From rowing to willow trees, heartache to the opiate crisis, viagra to the "council of pain", we ask the question: should painkillers be in the commune? And how do we get them there ethically?

Hosts: Luke & Lauren

Patreon: ⁠http://patreon.com/WhatWeKeepontheCommune⁠

Email: ⁠⁠wwkocpod@gmail.com⁠⁠

Music: Jay Richardson

Artwork: Hayden Pegues

Website and show notes: wwkocpod.com

How we keep time may seem like an obvious question, but it gets to the heart of who we are as communities - how we communicate with one another, what moral weight we attach to our tasks, how isolated we want to be, and fundamentally, how we want to live.

So we checked in with Lauren’s childhood friend and Luke’s partner, Talia - host of the podcast Radical Ruptures - to explore the differences in timekeeping morality and practicality.

From gongs to atoms, Seneca to Gandalf, LinkedIn to the Lakota people - part marriage counselling, part deep-dive into the meaning of life - in this episode, we ask the question: should timekeeping be in the commune? And how do we get it there ethically?

Hosts: Luke & Lauren

Talia (Radical Ruptures): https://open.spotify.com/show/1eR7179FRJyWtyABFF83mT?sik=7qTXLvM6R8uJwZ1AKIvNZQ

Patreon: ⁠http://patreon.com/WhatWeKeepontheCommune⁠

Email: ⁠⁠wwkocpod@gmail.com⁠⁠

Music: Jay Richardson

Artwork: Hayden Pegues

Website and show notes: wwkocpod.com

An unsurprisingly sacrilegious one this week - in which we deep-dive into governance and morality, try to rewrite an ancient book of laws, explore the meaning of numbers, and try to ensure that neither of us will be going to heaven.

From numerology to Mel Brooks, Hobbes to Hitchens, monadic mouths to boogying limbs, we ask the question: should the 10 Commandments be in the commune? And how do we get it there ethically?

Hosts: Luke & Lauren

Patreon: ⁠http://patreon.com/WhatWeKeepontheCommune⁠

Email: ⁠⁠wwkocpod@gmail.com⁠⁠

Music: Jay Richardson

Artwork: Hayden Pegues

Website and show notes: wwkocpod.com

Obviously porridge should be coming to our utopian commune, right? There can't be anything sinister or uncomfortable in the history of such a banal, wholesome food, right? Right..?! Sam and Yasar - friends, comrades, porridge enthusiasts - join us to dive headfirst into the oaty meal, and all its generous, gloopy, ghastly, glory.

(oh and sloppy porridge ASMR warning)

From radiation poisoining to Ancient Romans, 'porridge drawers' to 'porridge taps', golden spurtles to dodgy diets, we ask the question: should porridge be in the commune? And how do we get it there ethically?

Hosts: Luke & Lauren

Guests: Sam & Yasar

Patreon: ⁠http://patreon.com/WhatWeKeepontheCommune⁠

Email: ⁠⁠wwkocpod@gmail.com⁠⁠

Music: Jay Richardson

Artwork: Hayden Pegues

Website and show notes: wwkocpod.com

One man saving the world against one villain - individualist, masculine, simple good versus simple evil. Is that really the vibe for our utopian commune? Dr Matt Mahmoudi - author, surveillance tech expert and part-time superhero - thinks they should be - and he tries to convince us...

From Communist superman to Joseph Campbell, Robin Hood to Catholic saints, Jordan Peterson to Persian mythology, we ask the question: should superheroes be in the commune? And how do we get them there ethically?

Hosts: Luke & Lauren

Dr Matt Mahmoudi: https://x.com/DocMattMoudi

Patreon: ⁠http://patreon.com/WhatWeKeepontheCommune⁠

Email: ⁠⁠wwkocpod@gmail.com⁠⁠

Music: Jay Richardson

Artwork: Hayden Pegues

Website and show notes: wwkocpod.com

Whether you're a left-wing activist decrying corporate Pride floats and status quo foreign policy, or a conservative commentator decrying woke ideology and state welfare - the word "liberal" is a handy catchall insult.

So why on earth would we want liberals - and liberalism more broadly - on the commune? And what actually is it? We chatted to historian Dr Bronwen Everill - an expert in "ethical capitalism", Cambridge and Princeton academic, author of "Africonomics" and "Not Made by Slaves", and Luke's undergraduate thesis supervisor - to find out more.

From pancakes to property, the Economist to Hamilton, pluralism to just good vibes, we ask the question: should liberalism be in the commune? And how do we get it there ethically?

Hosts: Luke & Lauren

Browen - https://www.bronweneverill.com/ and https://x.com/BronwenEverill

Patreon: ⁠http://patreon.com/WhatWeKeepontheCommune⁠

Email: ⁠⁠wwkocpod@gmail.com⁠⁠

Music: Jay Richardson

Artwork: Hayden Pegues

Website and show notes: wwkocpod.com

There are many types of commune - the one where there's too much talking and organising, the one there's too much yoga and cult vibes, the one where there's too much brutalist architecture... but there's also the one where everyone is running around naked, drinking wine, singing and giggling. That last one - that's the hedonist commune.

But what does hedonism - and queer hedonism in particular - look like in a perfect world? We spoke to Queer Hedonism expert, writer and queer community organiser Prishita Maheshwari-Aplin to find out more.

From Epicurus to Audre Lorde, mandatory team-building exercises to post-capitalist queerness, the Marquis de Sade to definitions of abundance - we ask the question: should hedonism be in the commune? And how do we get it there ethically?

Hosts: Luke & Lauren

Prish - https://www.instagram.com/prishita_eloise/

Patreon: ⁠http://patreon.com/WhatWeKeepontheCommune⁠

Email: ⁠⁠wwkocpod@gmail.com⁠⁠

Music: Jay Richardson

Artwork: Hayden Pegues

Website and show notes: wwkocpod.com

What we laugh at - and how we choose to police that laughter - defines a huge chunk of our in-group cultures and politics. Never is that more clearly felt than on the internet, and in the realm of ‘sh*tposting’ - a term regularly used but rarely defined. So what is it, and what does internet comedy look like in a perfect world? We spoke to media scholar and PhD candidate Agustin Ferrari Braun to find out more.

From Area 51 to Christchurch, squirrels to lithographs, corporations to Dril - we ask the question: should sh*tposting be in the commune? And how do we get it there ethically?

Hosts: Luke & Lauren

Agustin - https://x.com/BraunFerrari

Patreon: ⁠http://patreon.com/WhatWeKeepontheCommune⁠

Email: ⁠⁠wwkocpod@gmail.com⁠⁠

Music: Jay Richardson

Artwork: Hayden Pegues

Website and show notes: wwkocpod.com