TRASHFUTURE

Friend of the show Patrick Wyman ( @Patrick_Wyman ) joins the gang to talk about ancient state formation… and also a strange book written by a venture capitalist about how this entity called The Network (him and his friends) will replace God and the State as the Leviathan of 21st century society. It’s both History and Hegel with a head injury, folks! Check out Tides of History here: https://podcas...

Friend of the show Dr Eleanor Janega ( @GoingMedieval ) joins the gang to discuss her new book, The Once and Future Sex, about misogyny through the ages, and how while the justifications change, the outcome is always the same. It is a depressingly relevant conversation to the ongoing campaign of stochastic terrorism carried out against transgender people and immigrants by the great and the good of...

For this month's first Britainology, Nate and Milo watched the first installment of the Up series, the 1964 mini-documentary SEVEN UP! Filmed as a commentary on Britain's class system and unintentionally becoming a time lapse of the Baby Boomers, it's still an absolute gem of British Pathé Voice, and much more. We hope you enjoy.   Get the whole episode on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/pos...

Malcolm Harris ( @bigmeaninternet ), author of the forthcoming Palo Alto, joins the gang to talk about the history of capitalism, empire, America, California, Palo Alto, and the one very special University that may not have invented racism, but it sure did perfect it. Get PALO ALTO here: https://www.littlebrown.com/titles/malcolm-harris/palo-alto/9780316592031/ If you want access to our Patreon bo...

There's a rumour circulating that Liz Truss may be making a comeback. Well, she might think so--and she's written an article about it. We review this excellent piece of writing line-by-line, as well as addressing some coin-minting antipathy from a weird Canadian columnist that Riley found. We very much hope you enjoy. Get the whole episode on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/only-britai...

We brought on friend of the show and extremely good cartoonist Mattie Lubchansky ( @Lubchansky ) to discuss their new book BOYS WEEKEND. They wanted to register a website for the book at boysweekend.com , but it’s been parked on by a group of guys who’ve been having boys’ weekends since 2000. And posting about it on a very web 1.0 site. So, cleary we had to talk about it, as well as more AI-relate...

This week, we're speaking with Paris Marx ( @parismarx ) of the Tech Won't Save Us podcast about recent developments in AI--the grift moving from web 3.0 to artificial intelligence, the idea that anything is good enough so long as it automates people out of a job, and much more. Hope you enjoy!   Check out Tech Won't Save Us here: https://techwontsave.us Get the whole episode on Patreon here: http...

This week, we speak with Joe Weisenthal ( @TheStalwart ) of the Bloomberg dot com Odd Lots podcast about minting the coin. But not just any coin: a strange loophole in a ’90s law designed to let the U.S. Mint produce collectors’ coins basically means that, if they wanted to, the director could order the Mint to issue a platinum coin of any denomination. Two dollars. Ten million dollars. One trilli...

Abi Thorn ( @PhilosophyTube ) joins Riley, Milo, and Alice for a mostly dessert episode today! (Hussein continues to recover from a wasting disease, and will be back soon). In the mean time we’ve got news, startups, more Elon nonsense, and then to top it off we try to elucidate  “Starmerism” as a political theory, rather than just a media management strategy. Get the whole episode on Patreon here:...

Activist and campaigner Beth Douglas joins the gang to discuss Scotland’s decision to make transing your gender a more dignified, simple experience, and concomitant decision by the U.K. government to retaliate by launching Trident on its own position. If you want access to our Patreon bonus episodes, early releases of free episodes, and powerful Discord server, sign up here: https://www.patreon.co...

For this month's first Britainology, Nate and Milo examine a BBC children's show that has been running since the 1950s, despite no one watching it. The show is called Blue Peter, it's extremely boring, it feels like it's been taken out of a different era, and yes, there are allegations of adultery and drug use (it's Britain after all!) Hope you enjoy. Get the whole episode on Patreon here: https:/...

This week’s bonus features writer and rail engineer Gareth Dennis ( @GarethDennis ), host of the Rail Natter YouTube show, discussing the current state of British trains. The Tories are ideologically opposed to state capacity, sure, that’s table stakes, but did you know that Labour also promise to not fix the unavoidable problems with the UK’s rail network? Shocking, we realise. Also, we discuss a...

For this week's free episode, the gang is back together to discuss recent developments involving Microsoft buying AI software. However, we're more enthralled with a story from a county council in Cheshire and a proposed real estate deal involving an Australian gentleman named Lex Greensill. Hope you enjoy! If you want access to our Patreon bonus episodes, early releases of free episodes, and power...

For this week's bonus, the nearly-full cast of Riley, Milo, Hussein, and Alice speak with technology publicist and crypto sceptic Ed Zitron about the current state of the cryptocurrency market--of course it's a scam, everyone knows that, but just how much is it on the precipice? The answer will probably not shock you, but might unsettle you regardless. Hope you enjoy! Check out Ed's newsletter on...

The gang says goodbye to Matt Hancock MP, the fabulous app where we all met for the first time. Also, a real use for NFT's finally discovered. Mostly, though, we face up to a grim reality: the society of universal services that defined the postwar period has now fundamentally broken. Predictably, the worst people in the country are all scratching their heads and asking how it happened. If you want...

For this week's bonus, here's the live show we barely remember. It was our first show of the tour in Australia, we were jet lagged to the end of the earth, Milo was out sick with tummy trouble, and we were joined with special guest and friend of the show Aidan 'Taco' Jones to discuss... a spite cube. And a niche kind of Australian vehicle theft where you tell everyone exactly what you're about to...

Riley, Milo, and Alice ring in the new year by looking at the Economist’s rosy predictions in an alternate universe where Britain magically becomes fine due to the power of positive thinking and sharp dressing. We also look at some developments in Scotland, and Labour’s plan to give every homeowner control of Trident to deal with the rampant issue of young people loitering. Finally, we round off b...

We're joined by friend of the show and comedian Tom Ballard. No theme, pure riffs, comedians talking, and also Riley divulging a story about trying to buy used streetwear and being robbed by a Redditor. Embarrassing stuff, folks! Get the whole thing on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/76524185 *WEB DESIGN ALERT* Tom Allen is a friend of the show (and the designer behind our website). If...

Riley, Milo, and Alice festively discuss some Christmas presents granted by the news, including the arrest of the dread pirate Bankman Fried and Elon Musk posting himself into penury. Also, Dom Leusder joins Riley in the second half to talk about the concept of “polycrisis” that appears to now be inescapable, to attempt a more firm definition of a nebulous, but useful, concept. If you want access...

For this month's second Britainology, Nate and Milo discuss the mandatory food selections for British and American Christmas dinner, critique Christmas music and both countries' approach to it, establish that the existence of Black Friday in Russia posits the existence of Russian Thanksgiving (antisemitic), and much more. Get the whole episode on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/britain...

This month's unlocked Britainology involves Milo forcing Nate to watch an incredibly awkward episode of I'm Alan Partridge and then helping him talk him off the ledge. We also explore how Partridge is not all that exaggerated a version of a British radio DJ, replete with some Richard Madeley and Jeremy Vine all-time classics. [If anything seems weirdly out-of-date, just remember that this was orig...

All riffs, no theme, pure vibes, first dates with criminals on the run, you name it. We've brought on comedian Alex Haddow to chat with Riley and Milo in this week's bonus. Hope you enjoy! Get the whole episode on Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/balthasar-feat-76247177 *WEB DESIGN ALERT* Tom Allen is a friend of the show (and the designer behind our website). If you need web design hel...

This week’s free episode is all about William Rees Mogg and James Dale Davidson’s book “the sovereign individual,” which describes a wonderful world in which fifty rich men live in armoured citadels and everyone else scrapes a living off the land. Do not become addicted to water, my friends! If you want to learn more about Quinn Slobodian's work, check out his site here: https://www.quinnslobodian...

Callum Cant from Autonomy and Fairwork joins the gang for Part 2 of AI Week, where we go in depth about what the fair introduction of AI to workplaces might look like. Fairwork is starting the research process to answer this question, and we’re looking at what they intend to achieve and what the answers may be. Here’s a hint: it starts with an “O” and rhymes with an “Blorganised Labour.” Get the w...

The Verge’s James Vincent joins Alice and Riley (and Hussein shortly thereafter) to discuss language models - specifically ChatGPT, and how it fits into OpenAI and Microsoft’s plans. We ask - what is its “fluent bullshit” good enough to disrupt in a world that increasingly relies on paying people for bullshit jobs? Buy James’s book ‘Beyond Measure’ here! If you want access to our Patreon bonus epi...