My BF is AI
Dystopia Now
To become a sponsor and get an extra episode each week, visit us at https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow, This week, we talked about what AI is doing to our emotions and our relationships. From AI Psychosis to AI Boyfriends, AI is breaking our brains and our hearts. Further reading:
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Patreon Preview: The Vox Writer w/ Eugenics Fanfic (Effective Altruism in Media)
Dystopia Now
To hear the rest of the episode and become a supporter visit us on Patreon. We are entirely listener supported and we appreciate your contributions so much! This week, we were joined by Rachel Adjogah, of the brilliant blog. discussed The Argument, a new publication funded in part by Open Philanthropy. We also discussed Vox's Future Perfect, and the general problems of having EA/Rationalist aligned reporters cover...themselves.
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UNLOCKED: Zizians Part 1- A Cult Within a Cult
Dystopia Now
This week we are off, so thought I'd unlock one of our Patreon eps from the series we did about the Zizians. We discuss the origins of the Zizian ideology in the Rationalism community, MIRI, CFAR, Roko's Basilisk and Doom Circles. To hear parts 2 and 3 become a subscriber on Patreon: We'll be back on our regular schedule next week.
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PATREON PREVIEW: Listener Q and A
Dystopia Now
This week we answered questions from our Patreon supporters about the Bay Area cyberdelic scene, Church of the Subgenius, the persistence of eugenics, anarcho-primitivism, TESCREAL boardgames and what our personal tech (or tech free?) utopias would be. To hear the rest of the episode become a sponsor at . We use your $ to edit the podcast. Further reading: Organizations Mentioned: Board game: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/257732/pax-transhumanity
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"These F*cking People" with Adam Becker
Dystopia Now
Become a supporter at This week we interviewed astrophysicist and science journalist Adam Becker, author of More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley’s Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity. Becker contends that Silicon Valley’s grandiose fantasies cloak a hunger for control, often rooted in pseudoscience and elitism rather than real science or ethics Adam cuts through the bullshit of Mars colonization, sentient AI and digital immortality to bring us all back down to earth. Where we live. And are going to stay forever. Futher Reading: More...
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PATREON PREVIEW: The Extropians
Dystopia Now
To hear the full ep sign up here: https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow In the 1990s, at the height of the Grunge Era, a small but ambitious group calling themselves the Extropians dreamed of transcending the limits of the human body and mind, through technology, radical life extension, and an unapologetically libertarian vision of the future. In this episode, we trace their journey from obscure online mailing lists to their outsized influence on today’s transhumanist movement, Silicon Valley techno-utopianism, and AI ideology. We’ll unpack their proactionary principle, ties to...
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Simone and Malcolm Collins: TESCREAL Parents
Dystopia Now
To become a Patreon subscriber go here: https://www.patreon.com/DystopiaNow This week we go on a dark journey of TESCREAL parenting with Simone and Malcolm Collins, the rationalist pro-natalism advocates who are raising their kids on an all AI diet. Strap in as we explore their secular religion, their runs for office, and "Future Day." By the end of this episode you may never want to have 10 kids. We also covered Jim Acosta's interview with an AI Parkland survivor, Elon's sex chatbot, and Èmile's new newsletter, Real Time Techpocalypse. Further reading Intro ...
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PATREON PREVIEW: The Zizians Part 3: The Murder Spree
Dystopia Now
This is the final installment of our series on the Rationalist Death Cult, the Zizians. This three part series unpacks the twisted story of the Zizians, a fringe group born out of the Bay Area rationalist and effective altruism subcultures that descended into violence and murder. Blending a belief in utilitarianism with extreme accelerationist ideology, the Zizians started with an AI Doom fixation and ended up justifying a string of brutal killings in the name of a supposed greater good. To hear the series, become a member here: In "A Cult Within a Cult" We discuss the origins of...
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Mark Zuckerberg: Bunker Boy
Dystopia Now
To become a supporter, visit us at https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow This week we explore the weird world of Mark Zuckerberg and billionaire bunkers. FURTHER READING: Meta, Zuckerberg, and AI Meta Q2 earnings beat forecasts, pushes toward AI “personal superintelligence” Inside Meta’s plans for a new AI lab focused on superintelligence Meta’s growing dominance in AI Zuckerberg responds to Cambridge Analytica scandal How Facebook contributed to genocide in Myanmar Zuckerberg grilled in Congress on Facebook’s origins Zuckerberg’s Hawaii Estate and Land Development...
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Tech and Hasbara
Dystopia Now
To become a supporter and keep the show going, visit us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow This week we were joined by of Citizen’s Impeachment and , a staff researcher at Dropsite News to discuss how tech has assisted propaganda campaigns to further the genocide in Gaza. Articles and Media Mentioned:
info_outlineThis week we answered some questions from our Patreon supporters. It's like a mini episode on a bunch of different topics, including the worst book I've ever heard of. We covered Èmile's journey out of longtermism, Yudkowsky's Harry Potter fan fic, end-times narratives, and how we will one day beat the tech bros by withholding our labor.
If you'd like to hear part 2 become a subscriber here:
https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow
Articles Mentioned in This Episode and Further Reading
AI Ethics
- Louisiana is using a mysterious algorithm to decide who gets parole – The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/news/647405/louisiana-tiger-algorithm-parole - Why Sam Altman wants AI to say "please" and "thank you" – Quartz
https://qz.com/open-ai-sam-altman-chatgpt-gpt4-please-thank-you-1851777047
TESCREAL and End Times
- End Times: How Fascism, the Far Right, Trump, and Musk are converging – The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/apr/13/end-times-fascism-far-right-trump-musk - Overview of TESCREAL (by Èmile) The acronym behind our wildest AI dreams and nightmares – Truthdig
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-acronym-behind-our-wildest-ai-dreams-and-nightmares/
Effective Altruism & Scandals
- The sexual harassment scandal tearing Effective Altruism apart – TIME
https://time.com/6252617/effective-altruism-sexual-harassment/ - Sam Bankman-Fried funded 'woke shit' for transactional purposes, prosecutors allege – VICE
https://www.vice.com/en/article/sam-bankman-fried-funded-woke-shit-for-transactional-purposes-prosecutors-allege/ - The rise and fall of Sam Bankman-Fried – The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/mar/23/sam-bankman-fried-rise-and-fall-details - Defective Altruism – Current Affairs
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/2022/09/defective-altruism - Effective Altruism’s bait-and-switch: From global poverty to AI doom – Techdirt
https://www.techdirt.com/2024/04/29/effective-altruisms-bait-and-switch-from-global-poverty-to-ai-doomerism/
Neoliberalism
- Neoliberalism’s World Order – Review of Quinn Slobodian's Globalists – Dissent
https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/neoliberalism-world-order-review-quinn-slobodian-globalists/ - The Bastards of Neoliberalism – New Statesman
https://www.newstatesman.com/ideas/2025/04/the-bastards-of-neoliberalism - The Geneva School, Hayek, and Neoliberal Nationalism – Jacobin
https://jacobin.com/2022/11/neoliberalism-geneva-school-nationalism-mises-hayek - Review of Hayek’s Bastards by Quinn Slobodian – The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/books/review/hayeks-bastards-quinn-slobodian.html - Race Science, Neoliberalism & Hayek – Jacobin
https://jacobin.com/2025/04/race-science-neoliberalism-hayek-slobodian
Rationalism
- Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Potter_and_the_Methods_of_Rationality
Transhumanism
- Beyond our ape-brained meat sacks: Can transhumanism save us? – The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/04/beyond-our-ape-brained-meat-sacks-can-transhumanism-save-our-species - The Frozen Father of Modern Transhumanism: Upwingers and Downwingers – VICE
https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-frozen-father-of-moden-transhumanism/