The Unabomber
Dystopia Now
This week, we discussed the biography of the Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and his brand of tech doomerism. Further Reading Émile's article:
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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
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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 ()
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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
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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
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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
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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:
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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:
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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...
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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:
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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
https://x.com/jeremyjudkins_/status/1944894110420148723
https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/
https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/parents-parkland-shooting-victim-ai-version-son-joaquin-1235400053/
Ritchie Torres
https://fortune.com/crypto/2023/01/26/ritchie-torres-cryptocurrency-blockchain-web3-financial-inclusion/
https://ritchietorres.house.gov/posts/led-by-rep-ritchie-torres-20-members-of-congress-urge-congressional-leadership-to-fully-fund-pandemic-preparedness
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/mar/28/cryptocurrency-democratic-party
Simone and Malcolm Collins
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/may/25/american-pronatalists-malcolm-and-simone-collins
https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/of-interest/2025/02/01/malcolm-and-simone-collins-pronatalism/
https://secondvoice.substack.com/p/why-were-surrounding-our-kids-with
Birth Rates and Fertility
https://jacobin.com/2020/01/full-surrogacy-now-sophie-lewis-review
https://jacobin.com/2025/07/socialism-birth-rates-fertility-future
https://jacobin.com/2022/08/capitalism-low-birth-rate-labor-abortion-contraceptives-childcare
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/06/birth-rate-population-decline/683333/
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/07/09/5-facts-about-how-the-worlds-population-is-expected-to-change-by-2100/
https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/world-population-prospects-2024
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/apr/20/pro-natalism-babies-global-population-genetics
Eugenics
https://ksqd.org/predatory-data-eugenics-in-big-tech-interview-with-anita-chan/#gsc.tab=0
https://hardea.org/