Our Coming Cyberpunk Dictatorship (Snow Crash)
Literate Machine
There's a worst case scenario looming here, isn't there? Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, Curtis Yarvin, Freedom Cities, "Anarcho-Capitalism", and the Neofeudal Order Still to Come Special thanks to my Patrons Support this project at https://patreon.com/ericrosenfield for exclusive author's notes, deleted material, and other goodies Blog version: https://literatemachine.com/2025/04/13/our-coming-cyberpunk-dictatorship-snow-crash Bibliography: https://literatemachine.com/2025/04/13/our-coming-cyberpunk-dictatorship-snow-crash#bibliography Music: "What Shall We Do Now?" written by Roger Waters,...
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Gravity's Rainbow Over Palestine
Literate Machine
How Jewish Socialists Made an Outhouse for the European Soul Apologies I had a cold through part of the recording of this and you can hear that my voice is hoarse Extra content, ad-free content, early access, exclusive authors notes and more at: Thanks to my patrons! Tip me: Text of the episode and information about the podcast version: Full Bibliography: Including links to cited articles and videos
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What Do We Do Now?
Literate Machine
https://literatemachine.com/2024/11/07/what-do-we-do-now/What do we do now that the orange fascist is back? Support me at: Support me at: , Sources: People like Biden's policies but not Biden: Bernie Sanders on the election: Berlesconi's ownership of the media: Get your news from: , (New York City area only), and other journalist cooperatives Progressive legislators have: Helped secure housing for the homeless: And healthcare for undocumented immigrants: A Mind Forever Voyaging into Neoliberalism: Thanks to my Patrons: Curtis Shea, Craig DeHaan, Emre Bagdatoglu, Christopher Paul...
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10,000 Subscriber Q&A
Literate Machine
This a Q&A episode in honor of the YouTube channel hitting 10,000 subscribers. Topics include degrowth and socialism, private cities, anime, Loki Season 2, and my cat In this video I say I couldn't think of a source talking about alienation, work, and mental health, but after I made it I came across this video that does a pretty good job at the basics: Thanks for listening! You can support me on Patreon at https://patreon.com/ericrosenfield and get early access to videos like this one, extra content, exclusive author's notes and more! You can also tip me at...
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How Capitalism Becomes Feudalism (Severance and Technofeudalism)
Literate Machine
As commerce transforms around the new rent-extracting digital fiefdoms, algorithms and AI become a way to transform skilled labor into machine-learning piecework. In Severance, technology is used to "sever" people's working selves from their actual selves, creating the perfect, dehumanized work force. Bibliography: https://literatemachine.com/2024/06/25/how-capitalism-becomes-feudalism-severance-and-technofuedalism/#bibliography Blog version and links to the podcast and mailing list at https://literatemachine.com You can support this project at Patreon.com/ericrosenfield where for as little as...
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Elon Musk, Wokeness, and the Myth of Meritocracy
Literate Machine
How Tony Stark, the myth of meritocracy, and our unspoken beliefs about genius explain Elon Musk and the (re)turn of eugenics to the right wing Blog version and information about podcast and mailing list: If you enjoyed this, please tell someone, as word-of-mouth is how projects like this grow. For as little as $1 an episode, you can get exclusive authors notes, excerpts, and early access to episodes by supporting me on Patreon at: Thanks to my current Patrons: Kathryn Carruthers, Gabi Ghita, Hristo Kolev, Kevin Cafferty, Ulysse Pence, Wilma Ezekowitz, IndustrialRobot, Not Invader Zim, Jason...
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How Will Capitalism End? The Orville, Eduard Bernstein, and What is to Be Done?
Literate Machine
What does comedic science fiction television show The Orville tell us about how capitalism will end? How did Germany go from having the largest and most powerful socialist movement in the world to finding its movement gutted and its country given over to fascists? How did Eduard Bernstein, despite his best intentioned, upend the Marxist movement and provide cover for those who wanted to destroy it? And was he actually right all along? All this and more will be answered! The previous video, Star Trek into Socialism, is not necessary for appreciating this one, but the two inform each other:...
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Star Trek into Socialism: or Who Deserves the Future
Literate Machine
Does Star Trek show us what socialism looks like? What would it look like if we organized society democratically instead of allowing a few people to control most of the resources? Bibliography and Further Reading * Obviously, the work of Marx and Engels is key to this piece. Particular texts I drew on here include The Civil War in France (1871) (modern editions contain the first draft and the address on the Civil War) and The Critique of the Gotha Programme (1875). Marx's "La Liberte" speech (1872) is where he proposes that some countries might transition to communism peacefully:...
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Loki and How Conservatives Become Fascists
Literate Machine
Marvel's Loki shows us what fascism looks like, and how it comes to take root within innocuous conservatism. Corrections: • Rupert Murdoch and the Koch Bros are not Jewish. Actual examples of Jewish funders of the right include Sheldon Adelson and Ike Perlmutter. I may upload a revised version of this audio with the names changed. • Malthus never directly said that the poor and unskilled should be liquidated, but he did oppose aid to the poor on the theory that they should be allowed to naturally die out if they were of no use to society in order to preserve resources. Interstitial...
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The Confused Ideology of Schitt's Creek
Literate Machine
How a show about poverty that can't ever bare to really show poverty illustrates everything we've been blind to. Support the show on Patreon and get early access to episodes and exclusive Authors Notes: Text of the show and more information about other formats it's available can be found at: Bibliography and Further Reading - Hallmark Christmas movie montage sourced from: - On the urban-rural divide of Christmas movies: - The TV Tropes entry for From New York to Nowhere: - Ted Koppel's piece on The Andy Griffith Show and modern politics: - A fascinating video that explains how the ethos...
info_outlineIs the Paw Patrol an unintentional conservative utopia? What can the show tell us about how the political spectrum views the police, its purpose, and its funding.
For as little as $1 an episode (going forward) you can get early access to episodes, as well as exclusive author’s notes at Patreon.com/ericrosenfield.
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Bibliography and Further Reading
- How the regulations around tv shows as toy commercials were repealed in the Reagan administration
- How square dancing was popularized as a tool of white supremacy
- How EMTs are underpaid, overworked, and underrecognized
- About police officer Joe Crystal, shunned by police for trying to hold them accountable
- Wikipedia entry on the Blue Wall of Silence
- NYPD internal investigator called a "rat"
- Prosecutors don't like to prosecute cops
- Attorney General Letitia James plan for civilian oversight of the NYPD
- Police departments aren't largely being defunded
- Crime is rising in cities that did not defund their police the same as those that did
- How torture doesn't work
- About Abner Louima who was sodomized with a broken broomstick by the NYPD
- The great Forced Adversity video about the Punisher/Police Problem
- Some More News video about the Warrior Mentality training given to the police
- How congress buys equipment for the military that it doesn't want or need as pork barrel
- Study finding conservatives lack a sense of humor
- Last Week Tonight's video about Tucker Carlson and his lightly veiled fascism and even less well veiled white supremacy
- Edmund Burke and the origins of conservatism
- Conservatism defending the status quo
- The myth of meritocracy
- Book about how billionaires are funding the radical right: Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right by Jane Mayer
- On prison labor in America
- The Thought Slime video that covers the video where John Doyle says that conservatives aren't about equality, they're about hierarchy and natural law
- Police will tell you to obey them if you value your life
- Republicans legalizing the automative murder of protesters
- Poor people can't just get a better job
- Why conservatives are more punitive than liberals
- The penal system as slave labor