Libsyn Directory

Pro-Natalism, Anti-Natalism and Efilism with Briahna Joy Gray

Release Date: 06/20/2025

Dystopia Now

This week, we discussed the biography of the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and his brand of tech doomerism. Further Reading Émile's article:

Four Companies, Under AGI

Dystopia Now

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 Book mentioned The AI Con - Emily Bender & Alex Hanna

LARPing into Authoritarianism with Dr. Alexander Thomas

Dystopia Now

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 ()

How Tech Bros are Innovating Imperialism

Dystopia Now

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?": Gil Duran's article on the Network State and Venezuela (The Nerd Reich): Prospera: Honduras: Greenland: AND AND Pardons: AND

The Distant Future: 2025 Expectations versus Reality

Dystopia Now

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: NYT on the AI bubble: Book mentioned: The Discovery of the Future - H.G. Wells

Epstein Part 2: Transhumanism & Eugenics with Keira Havens

Dystopia Now

This week, we're joined by Keira Havens, director of 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

Epstein Part 1: Chomsky Struggle Session

Dystopia Now

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": Jeffrey Epstein Met With Harvard Professor Martin Nowak and Noam Chomsky in 2015 in Harvard Office: Lawrence Krauss and Epstein:

Escaping Effective Altruism

Dystopia Now

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": Karp's swordsmanship:

Algospeak, Vibes, and Post-Rats with Adam Aleksic (Etymology Nerd)

Dystopia Now

This week, we’re joined by Adam Aleksic, also known as @etymologynerd to discuss his new book . 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 store or online: Find Adam Aleksic @etymologynerd on Instagram and TikTok, and check out his Substack at More on slop: Adam’s website: Book recommendation: Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (1998) by...

Fan Fic at the End of the World

Dystopia Now

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:

More Episodes

To join us on Patreon go here: https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow

This week we were joined by Briahna Joy Gray to talk about natalism and Efilism. We also had a great discussion about the philosophy of human extinction.

Bad Faith Podcast / Briahna Joy Gray
Bad Faith Podcast: “Episode 479: Promo — Truth in Fiction w/ Cory Doctorow”
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-479-promo-truth-in-fiction-w-cory-doctorow/id1531192509?i=1000710888262

Bad Faith Podcast: “Episode 445: Promo — From Merit to Eugenics: Elon Musk’s…”
https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/episode-445-promo-from-merit-to-eugenics-elon-musks/id1531192509?i=1000688606822

Pronatalism / Natalism Discourse
Mother Jones — “This Is a War, and Natalism Is Our Sword and Shield”
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/03/this-is-a-war-and-natalism-is-our-sword-and-shield-my-weekend-with-the-pronatalists/

The Guardian — “Natal Conference in Austin, Texas, and Eugenics”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/03/natal-conference-austin-texas-eugenics

The Guardian — “What Is Pronatalism? Right-Wing Republican Movement”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/11/what-is-pronatalism-right-wing-republican

The Guardian — “Elon Musk, Pronatalism, and Motherhood on Social Media”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/25/elon-musk-pronatalism-mothers-social-media-parenting

CNN — “Pronatalism, Elon Musk, and Birth Rates”
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/10/us/pronatalism-elon-musk-birth-rates-cec

Vox — “JD Vance, Pronatalism, and Population Decline”
https://www.vox.com/policy/363543/pronatalism-vance-birth-rates-population-decline-fertility

New York Times — “Liberals and Falling Birth Rates: Anastasia Berg Op-Ed”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/16/opinion/anastasia-berg-falling-birth-rates-liberals.html

New York Times — “Natalism, Liberalism & Parenthood”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/10/opinion/natalism-liberalism-parenthood.html

The Atlantic — “Democrats and Pronatalism: Family Policy Debates”
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/02/democrats-pronatalism-family-policies/681827/

Liberal Currents — “Liberal Pro-Natalism”
https://www.liberalcurrents.com/liberal-pro-natalism/

The New Yorker — “How Liberals Talk About Children”
https://www.newyorker.com/news/fault-lines/how-liberals-talk-about-children

Current Affairs — “We Should Be Neither Anti-Natalist Nor Pro-Natalist”
https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/we-should-be-neither-anti-natalist-nor-pro-natalist

The Guardian — “Birthstrikers and Climate Change”
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/mar/12/birthstrikers-meet-the-women-who-refuse-to-have-children-until-climate-change-ends

People — “All About Elon Musk’s Children”
https://people.com/all-about-elon-musk-children-11678749

New York Times — “Trump, Musk, and Birthrate Proposals”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/us/politics/elon-musk-trump-birthrate.html

New York Times — “Trump’s Birthrate Proposals”
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/us/politics/trump-birthrate-proposals.html

Axios — “Elon Musk, Ashley St. Clair, and Baby Influencing”
https://www.axios.com/2025/04/17/elon-musk-babies-ashley-st-clair

Conversations with Tyler — Ezra Klein Interview
https://conversationswithtyler.com/episodes/ezra-klein-3/

Efilism / Anti-Natalism Extremism
The Intercept — “Efilism and the Palm Springs Bomber”
https://theintercept.com/2025/05/19/efilism-palm-springs-bomber-fertility-clinic/

NBC News — “Reddit Bans Anti-Natalists After Explosion”
https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/reddit-bans-anti-natalists-palm-springs-explosion-rcna207677

The Guardian — “Palm Springs IVF Clinic Bombing and Online Extremism”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/may/21/palm-springs-ivf-clinic-bombing-online-extremism

Eugenics, Longtermism, Effective Altruism
Truthdig — “Nick Bostrom, Longtermism, and Eugenics”
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/nick-bostrom-longtermism-and-the-eternal-return-of-eugenics-2/

Truthdig — “A Short History of Eugenics”
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/a-short-history-of-eugenics-from-plato-to-nick-bostrom/

The Guardian — “Pro-Extinctionists and Effective Altruism”
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jul/22/pro-extinctionis-longtermim-effective-altruism-human-extinction-emile-torres

Utilitarianism: For and Against (PDF)
https://www.utilitarianism.com/utilitarianism-for-and-against.pdf

LessWrong — Computronium Page
https://www.lesswrong.com/w/computronium

Political News / Commentary
AP News — “Trump’s Army Parade and Protests”
https://apnews.com/article/trump-army-parade-troops-tanks-birthday-protests-4cca4da0e89908d39c820240744375a1

New York Times — “Andrew Cuomo and Nursing Home Deaths During COVID”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/09/nyregion/cuomo-pandemic-nursing-home-deaths.html

Social Media & Commentary
Instagram Reel
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DK-VjqwxisA/

Twitter — Nathan J. Robinson
https://x.com/NathanJRobinson/status/1890845684061847836

Twitter — David Sirota
https://x.com/davidsirota/status/1921259098516918382

Miscellaneous
Zohran Mamdani Campaign Site
https://www.zohranfornyc.com/

Hacker News Thread
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10812804

TOPICS