The Astroturf Agenda with Dean Preston
Dystopia Now
To help us keep the show going become a subscriber here: https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston joins us for a wide-ranging conversation about the tech billionaire-backed astroturf campaigns that flooded his district with money and disinformation. We dig into how tech barons are reshaping local politics through alleged “grassroots” groups, what it means for democracy when dark money drives housing and policing policy, and how Preston sees the fight for tenants’ rights and progressive politics moving forward. The Guardian — Inside tech...
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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...
info_outlineTo 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