Dystopia Now

We return from our brief summer break chatting about Émile's latest article of interest, "Here's Why SpaceX's Mission is Bullshit" in the wake of its recent IPO and question the assumptions underlying transhumanism for space exploration. Further Reading https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/heres-why-spacexs-mission-is-bullshit https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/is-elon-musk-a-mass-murderer...

Does fiction inform what we think the future should look like? Sci-fi and futurism has typically told us the inevitability of technology and dystopian cyberpunk imaginaries. Monika Bielskyte joins us to introduce her alternative, Protopia Futures, a framework for science-informed visions for a good future. Find Monika's writings at https://monikabielskyte.substack.com Further Reading https://monik...

This week, we go over the merits and demerits of the Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas and its co-presentation with Christopher Olah of Anthropic, the company branding itself as most concerned with "AI Safety." Further Reading Émile's article: https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/shame-on-the-pope-shame-on-ea-shame Magnifica Humanitas : https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/...

Could a populist, independent candidate win an election in the most Republican part of Nebraska's 1st Congressional District? In a time when the Republican and Democratic Party are both notoriously corrupt, Austin Ahlman is making the call to "Take Back Nebraska." This week we talk with Austin about his run for office, antimonopoly, Abundance, and how tech companies are undermining Nebraska's publ...

Subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow ! Oliver Larkin, activist, union organizer, and Democratic Socialist, joins us this week to discuss his run for election to the U.S. House as a Florida representative. We talk about Oliver's campaign, how South Florida and Greater Miami are becoming new headquarters for tech companies including Palantir, and what we can do electorally to suppor...

Subscribe to our Patreon for the FULL episode and more bonus content at patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow ! On this special Patreon episode, we talked to antitrust hero and Fordham University law professor Zephyr Teachout about surveillance pricing and surveillance wages. From airlines charging us more to fly home if they see we've recently searched "funeral arrangements" to rideshare companies paying les...

In this week's episode we begin to go into the philosophy around consciousness and AI as New Atheist relic Richard Dawkins recently claimed "Claudia" was conscious. What are the merits and issues of thinking about consciousness in the context of AI? Later we discuss a recent piece in Jacobin arguing against data center resistance. Further Reading Richard Dawkins in Unherd, https://unherd.com/2026/...

In this week's episode, we explore a question no one has ever thought of before: "What is violence?" We unpack the recent Molotov cocktail attack on Sam Altman's home and how his own rhetoric about ( checks notes ), "killing every human on earth with AI", may be leading people who take him seriously to act in extreme ways. We explore Altman's vision for the future and the violence inherent within...

Subscribe to our Patreon for the FULL episode and more bonus content at patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow ! Quinn Slobodian, historian of neoliberalism, and Ben Tarnoff, internet and technology writer, join us to unpack how Musk's fears and fantasies are shaping our world.  Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed is available now in the United States ( Harper ) and UK ( Penguin ). Quinn Slobodian is professor...

Prof. Emily M. Bender, linguist, and Dr. Alex Hanna, sociologist join us to discuss their 2025 book The AI Con and how Big Tech spun marketing around "stochastic parrots". Find lots more from Emily and Alex on their podcast Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 from the Distributed AI Research Institute! Books Mentioned Emily Bender & Alex Hanna, The AI Con Rua M. Williams, Disabling Intelligences: Legacie...

Journalist Taylor Lorenz joins us to discuss Section 230, how Big Tech is already tracking everything from eye movements to finger presses, the ongoing erosion of online privacy through right-wing tech policy and identity verification. Find Taylor on YouTube @TaylorLorenz and her publication UserMag on Substack. Further Reading Taylor Lorenz, Usermag, The Media Lied About the Social Media Addictio...

David Ramírez Álvarez, secretary at the embassy of Cuba in the US, joins us to understand the escalating blockade on Cuba.

Find Part 2 coming soon on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow This week we dive into Emile's area of expertise, the ethics of human extinction and how these ethics are shaping Silicon Valley.  Further Reading https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/making-sense-of-the-human-extinction Books Mentioned The Last Man, Mary Shelley Human Extinction: A History of the Science and Ethics of An...

Support the show at https://patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow Researcher and journalist Dylan Gyauch-Lewis joins us this week to discuss the views behind ongoing data center buildout for AI despite community resistance. Find Dylan's work at the American Prospect and https://therevolvingdoorproject.org Further Reading Dylan Gyauch-Lewis for The American Prospect: More AI Means More Cancer  Dylan Gyauch-Lew...

Find Jacob Silverman on Substack at  https://substack.com/@ jacobsilverman  or Bluesky  https://bsky.app/profile/ jacobsilverman.com   Further Reading from Jacob * The Shady Financial Past of a Major Trump Crypto Investor:  https://www.thenation.com/ article/society/andrei- grachev-dlw-labs-world- liberty-financial-trump/ * The President Took A $75 Million Bribe And We All Saw It:  https://www.jac...

This week, we discussed the biography of the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and his brand of tech doomerism. Further Reading Émile's article: https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/eliezer-yudkowsky-and-the-unabomber

While profit motivates all companies under capitalism, why are the wealthiest tech companies so focused on AGI? This week, we dive into the relationships, ideologies, and claims behind the four biggest players claiming to build artificial general intelligence: Google DeepMind, OpenAI (partly owned by Microsoft), Anthropic, and Elon Musk's xAI. Further Reading https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/...

We're joined again by Dr. Alexander Thomas, author of The Politics and Ethics of Transhumanism , to discuss current events and how the Extropians' libertarian transhumanist fantasies connect to today's efforts to meme right-wing authoritarianism into reality.   Books Mentioned Hayek's Bastards by Quinn Slobodian The Politics and Ethics of Transhumanism by Alexander Thomas ( open access )

Welcome to 2026! This week, we took a look at imperialism and how the rotating cast of billionaires discussed on the show are more involved than meets the eye. FURTHER READING: Émile's article "Are You Suffering from Crisis Fatigue?": https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/are-you-suffering-from-crisis-fatigue Gil Duran's article on the Network State and Venezuela (The Nerd Reich): https://www.th...

Is AGI right around the corner, again? How's the AI bubble doing? What happened to climate activism? We're closing out the year with a round up of the many predictions made about technology by 2025 and share some of our own guesses. Support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow Further Reading Émile's rundown of 2025 predictions:  https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/what...

This week, we're joined by Keira Havens, director of Citizens' Impeachment and former scientist to discuss Jeffery Epstein's transhumanist, eugenicist beliefs, their roots in hierarchy, and his influence in funding scientific research. Further reading: TBA

In a 2-part series on Jeffery Epstein, we'll explore Epstein's ties to the TESCREAL ideologies. This week though, we're talking about his ties to one of our intellectual heroes who really let us down. Further reading: Émile's article "Noam Chomsky is a Scumbag": https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/noam-chomsky-is-a-scumbag Jeffrey Epstein Met With Harvard Professor Martin Nowak and Noam Chomsk...

Support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/dystopianow How did Émile get involved in Effective Altruism and what was it like beginning to turn away? In this week's episode, we touch on Palantir CEO Alex Karp's political journey, a review of longtermism, and what first sounded the alarm bells on EA for Émile. Further reading: Emile's article "Against longtermism": https://aeon.co/essa...

This week, we're joined by Adam Aleksic, also known as @etymologynerd to discuss his new book Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language . We talk everything from 67, slop, rationalists versus post-rationalists, teleology, vibes, and Silicon Valley slang. Further Reading Buy Adam's book Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language at your local book st...

This week, we dive into the horrifying world of Eliezer Yudkowsky, AI Doomer, Rationalist, and Harry Potter fan fiction author in light of his recently published NYT bestseller with Nate Soares, "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies." Further reading: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-eliezer-yudkowsky.html https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/461680/if-anyone-builds-it-yud...