エピソード

  • Transhumanism and Capitalism with Dr. Alexander Thomas

    Transhumanism and Capitalism with Dr. Alexander Thomas
    2025/06/05
    To become a supporter and join our group chat, visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DystopiaNow This week we chatted with Dr. Alexander Thomas, author of The Politics and Ethics of Transhumanism: Techno-Human Evolution and Advanced Capitalism. Dr Alexander Thomas is a multi-award-winning film director and screenwriter. His academic research questions what it means to be human when cultural, cybernetic and biotechnological developments undermine the notion of the human as a cogent and eternal category. This episode is a great pairing to last week's episode with Quinn Slobodian. We mentioned a lot of texts and authors in this episode that we've included below. Inclusion does not mean agreement in all instances. Critical Analyses of Transhumanism & Longtermism University of East London: A Critical Look at the Rise and Risks of Transhumanism Emile Torres in The Guardian: Pro-Extinctionists and the Longtermist Threat Torres in Aeon: Why Longtermism Is the World’s Most Dangerous Secular Credo Boston Review: The New Moral Mathematics New Statesman: The Longtermist Threat to Humanity Slate: Existential Risk vs Human Apathy Economics Papers: Is Longtermism Dangerous? Tyler Austin Harper thread on X: Post Books & Research on Transhumanism Posthuman Bliss? by Susan B. Levin: Oxford University Press The Proactionary Imperative by Steve Fuller: Palgrave Macmillan Citizen Cyborg by James Hughes: Westview Press James Hughes lecture: What Is Transhumanism? (PDF) Nietzschean Meditations by Stefan Lorenz Sorgner: Amazon Future Superhuman by Elise Bohan: Amazon Mind Children by Hans Moravec: CUNY Commentary Research paper: Transhumanism: A Progressive Vision or Capitalism's Last Ideological Resort? Transhumanism: The Future of Humanity (book): Hudson Booksellers IAI Essay: The Irrationality of Transhumanists Literal Magazine: Transhumanism: Bostrom and Pearce Interview Futurism, Accelerationism & Up-Wingers Wired (1994): The Extropians The Breakthrough Institute: Rise of the Up-Wingers AEI: Up-Wing America Slate: Reframing Environmental Policy Aeon: Up vs Down Politics F. M. Esfandiary’s Manifesto: Up-Wingers (Book) The Guardian: Accelerationism Explained Philosophy, Politics & Theory Achille Mbembe: Necropolitics (PDF) MIT Press: Cybernetics by Norbert Wiener Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism: Book New Statesman: On K-Punk and Fisher Dan Paul Zimmer website: Main | Research Billionaires NYT: Elon Musk, Trump, Drugs, and Children Sam Altman: Moore’s Law for Everything
    続きを読む 一部表示
    1 時間 36 分
  • The Tech Bro Zone with Quinn Slobodian

    The Tech Bro Zone with Quinn Slobodian
    2025/05/28

    To join our group chat or become a subscriber, go here: https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow

    This week we chatted with historian Quinn Slobodian, a professor of international history at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University.

    His books, which have been translated into ten languages, include, most recently, Hayek’s Bastards: Race, Gold, IQ and the Capitalism of the Far Right and Crack-Up Capitalism: Market Radicals and the Dream of a World without Democracy.

    Intro

    • Anthropic: AI deception risk
    • Patreon: Join Community Chats

    Quinn Slobodian

    • Tech bros, Trump, and the Silicon Valley nation-state – The Guardian
    • The Bastards of Neoliberalism – New Statesman
    • Elon Musk and the Demography Agenda – New Statesman
    • Crack-Up Capitalism Interview – Jacobin
    • The Bastards of Neoliberalism – New Statesman
    • The Inhuman Future of Intelligence – The Guardian

    Other

    • Balaji’s Private Island School – TechCrunch
    続きを読む 一部表示
    1 時間 8 分
  • PATREON PREVIEW: The Zizians, A Cult Within A Cult

    PATREON PREVIEW: The Zizians, A Cult Within A Cult
    2025/05/25

    This week is Part 1 of our Patreon supporter only series on the Zizians. We discuss the origins of the Zizian ideology in the Rationalism community, MIRI, CFAR, Roko's Basilisk and Doom Circles.

    To become a subscriber, visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow
    続きを読む 一部表示
    3 分
  • Dragging Matt Yglesias with Nathan Robinson

    Dragging Matt Yglesias with Nathan Robinson
    2025/05/22
    To become a Patreon supporter go here: https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow With guest Nathan Robinson, Editor of Current Affairs, we dive into the career and ideology of Matt Yglesias and his confidently wrong opinions about everything. Yglesias has helped shift mainstream liberalism toward a colder, more cynical worldview that prioritizes elite consensus and data-driven “pragmatism” over solidarity and human dignity. From Sam Bankman-Fried and crypto, to housing, to Palestine, he’s the voice of technocratic centrism beloved by Silicon Valley elites. His views reflect a shallow utilitarianism that strips politics of moral urgency and empathy, and we are here to drag that shit. We explore how Yglesias has become a key ideological bridge between neoliberal Democrats and the techno-libertarian right. Nathan J. Robinson – Articles & Book The Opinions of Matt Yglesias Should Be Ignored – Current Affairs Why Effective Altruism and Longtermism Are Toxic Ideologies – Current Affairs We Should Be Neither Anti-Natalist Nor Pro-Natalist – Current Affairs The Dangerous Ideas of Longtermism and Existential Risk – Current Affairs The Myth of American Idealism – Book by Noam Chomsky & Nathan J. Robinson Articles Mentioned in Intro: Democrats, Influencers, and Trump – NYTCharity for Shrimps? Ronny Chieng Explores the Limits of Effective Altruism | The Daily Show Biden’s PSA Test and Political Fallout – NYT Matt Yglesias – Writings & Critiques The Troubling Rise of Hitler Revisionism – Slow Boring Some Thoughts on the FTX Implosion – Slow BoringReds in the Family – Slow Boring Matt Yglesias’s Crypto Opinions – Revolving Door Project Matt Yglesias in Biden’s Washington – Washington Post Embarrassing Fans of the Super Rich – Jeet Heer Silicon Valley Patronage – Citations Needed Group Chats That Changed America – Semafor Sam Bankman-Fried & Effective Altruism FTX’s Collapse and Media Fallout – Semafor How SBF Sweet-Talked the Media – NY Mag Inside the Crazy World of FTX – The Guardian SBF Guilty Verdict – Semafor EA Group Debated SBF’s Ethics in 2018 – Semafor Breakthrough Institute Homelessness Meets Cluelessness – Prospect on Michael ShellenbergerTed Nordhaus – The Breakthrough Institute Bad Science in Apocalypse Never – Yale Climate Connections Empathy, Musk Elon Musk on Empathy – CNN The Christian Right’s War on Empathy Additional Resources Solidarity – Book by Leah Hunt-Hendrix & Astra Taylor (N+1) International Factory Safety – Slate
    続きを読む 一部表示
    1 時間 13 分
  • TESCREAL Overview with Kath Barbadoro and Alex Ptak

    TESCREAL Overview with Kath Barbadoro and Alex Ptak
    2025/05/15

    To join us on Patreon:

    https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow

    This week we welcomed comedians Kath Barbadoro (What a Time to Be Alive podcast) and Alex Ptak (Quorators podcast) to go through each letter in the bundle of ideologies. Who invented them, who believes in them, and the impact they are having on our world today.

    Transhumanism

    Extropianism

    Singularitarianism

    Cosmism

    Rationalism

    Effective Altruism

    Longtermism

    Extra reading/watching:

    Intro clip: https://www.tiktok.com/@the.free.press/video/7457615074945944863

    The TESCREAL Bundle: https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/13636/11599

    Adam Becker:

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/03/tech-oligarchs-musk

    The Politics and Ethics of Transhumanism by Alexander Thomas:

    https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-politics-and-ethics-of-transhumanism

    TESCREAL overview by Èmile:

    https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-acronym-behind-our-wildest-ai-dreams-and-nightmares/
    続きを読む 一部表示
    1 時間 4 分
  • The Dark Enlightenment (Nick Land and Curtis Yarvin)

    The Dark Enlightenment (Nick Land and Curtis Yarvin)
    2025/05/08

    Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow

    This week we discussed Nick Land's series of essays "The Dark Enlightenment," considered a foundational document for right accelerationists (r/acc) and neoreactionary ideologies (NrX). Plus the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit, Mark Zuckerberg's AI friends, Bryan Johnson's penis de-aging, and AI spirituality.

    Additional Resources:

    Segment 1: Bryan Johnson

    • Vanity Fair: The bizarre journey of Bryan Johnson, his anti-aging endeavors, and his controversial experiment in penile rejuvenation.

      • Don't Die, Tech Mogul: Bryan Johnson's Quest

      • Bryan Johnson’s Blog on Penis De-Aging

    Segment 2: AI Is Stealing Your Boyfriend

    • Rolling Stone: How spiritual delusions about AI are fracturing human bonds.

      • AI and Human Relationships: A Cultural Shift

    Segment 3: Nick Land

    • Vox: Neoreaction as a segment of the alt-right

      • The Alt-Right Explained

    • Slate: John Derbyshire

      • Derbyshire's "Advice" and the Fallout

    • Nick Land's Foundational Text: A dense introduction to accelerationism, emphasizing the destructive potential of speeding up capitalist processes.

      • A Quick and Dirty Introduction to Accelerationism

    • Mark Fisher (Tumblr): A reflection on accelerationism from the left

      • Terminator vs. Avatar: Notes on Accelerationism

    • Viewpoint Magazine: Dark Enlightenment

      • The Darkness at the End of the Tunnel

    • The Guardian: How accelerationism predicted our modern world.

      • Fringe Philosophy that Predicted the Future

    • Financial Times: Dark Enlightenment

      • Archived Content
    続きを読む 一部表示
    1 時間 2 分
  • UNLOCKED: Nuke Mars (Bezos vs. Musk)

    UNLOCKED: Nuke Mars (Bezos vs. Musk)
    2025/05/04

    If you'd like to become a subscriber to hear more bonus episodes you can do it here: https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow

    his Patreon bonus episode with Kenice Mobley about Bezos vs. Musk on space was so fun we decided to unlock it.

    Bezos wants us to live in cylinders, Musk wants us to nuke Mars, but both of them want a future where we're all digital beings maximizing value. Some of the wildest information we've talked about so far.

    Thanks for being one of our patreon subscribers!

    For further reading:

    Jason Hickel: https://www.jasonhickel.org/less-is-more

    Astrotopia: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/A/bo184287883.html

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/12/15/forget-musks-martian-ambition-jeff-bezos-thinks-humans-should-live-in-giant-cylindrical-space-stations/

    https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/nuke-mars-elon-musk-seems-serious-about-plan-terraform-red-ncna1045181

    https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/science/starship-spacex-explosion-elon-musk.html

    https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/11/technology/elon-musk-spacex-mars.html
    続きを読む 一部表示
    49 分
  • COPAGANDA with Alec Karakatsanis

    COPAGANDA with Alec Karakatsanis
    2025/05/01
    Please join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow For the first half of the episode, we talked about the Semafor reveal of Silicon Valley groupchats and Marc Andreessen’s posting addiction + Èmile’s article on End Times Eschatology. We covered Yudkowsky’s “Fun Theory,” cryogenically freezing your head, and the connection between transhumanists and Christianity. Then, we talked to author and former public defender Alec Karakatsanis about his new book Copanganda and the way we are all propagandized about policing and crime. Alec is the founder of the Civil Rights Corps, an organization designed to advocate for racial justice and bring systemic civil rights cases on behalf of impoverished people. This was such a good interview. Apologies for Kate’s slightly bad audio in this, we had some internet issues and had to record on the phone. Alec Karakatsanis – Resources THE BOOK! The New Press – Copaganda: How Police and the Media Manipulate Our CommunitiesSubstack: Equal Justice Under LawTwitter/X: @equalityAlecBluesky: equalityalec.bsky.social PDF: The Body Camera by Alec Karakatsanis (Yale Law) Articles and People We Mentioned Truthdig – “The Endgame of Edgelord Eschatology” Vox – “Will AI become God? That's the wrong question.” The Guardian – “Tech guru Jaron Lanier: 'The danger isn't that AI destroys us. It's that it drives us insane'” Wired – “Doug Rushkoff Is Ready to Renounce the Digital Revolution” Semafor – “The Group Chats That Changed America” Harper’s – “A Letter on Justice and Open Debate” Mother Jones – “The Billionaires Who Want to Live Forever” Chesa Boudin Recall Mission Local – $9 Million Spent on the Boudin Recall 48 Hills – GOP Donors & Big Money in the Recall Portugal & Drug Decriminalization Scientific American – Portugal’s Drug Decriminalization Success TIME – What Can the World Learn from Portugal’s Drug Policy?
    続きを読む 一部表示
    1 時間 19 分