TGS Live: The Exhaustion of the West, Life after Death, and Extraterrestrial Intelligence
The Glenn Show
Glenn Loury
4.8 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 17 August 2025
⏱️ 5 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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In our latest livestream, TGS editor Mark Sussman and I discuss Michel Houellebecq's 2015 novel Submission and its rather unpleasant but compelling critique of modern existence, after which we take questions from viewers and callers. We get into some unexpected territory, like life after death (I don’t believe in it), the existence of alien intelligence (it seems probable to me), and psychedelics (that one’s on Mark). I’m truly enjoying these face-to-face conversations with viewers, and I encourage everyone who can call in to do so on our next stream.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | and hi Maddie. |
| 0:02.8 | Hey guys, how's it going? |
| 0:05.3 | Hey. |
| 0:07.5 | I'm back at work and I've been tuning in. |
| 0:12.7 | Oh, there we go. |
| 0:14.9 | Lots of things have come to mind. |
| 0:19.8 | But I just wanted to comment. |
| 0:21.1 | I think the idea of people actually living after death actually cheapens life, as a lot of people have claimed kind of like, if you live forever, |
| 0:39.3 | where does that sense of purpose come from? |
| 0:42.3 | If you can just keep going another day. |
| 0:45.3 | And I wanted to hear your comments on that. |
| 0:49.3 | Glenn? |
| 0:51.3 | Okay, well, the fact that we know we're going to die quickens us. |
| 1:00.0 | It means that each day's significance is heightened. |
| 1:08.0 | And if I'm understanding you, |
| 1:11.8 | the notion that we live forever, |
| 1:15.4 | we live on beyond the expiration of our physical form, |
| 1:22.0 | takes away from that in some way. |
| 1:25.2 | And I think that's a reasonable thing to say. |
| 1:31.7 | Life is precious because it's a given season and it comes and it goes. |
| 1:38.4 | Each life is precious, but it comes to an end. |
| 1:44.3 | Something like that. |
... |
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