Join the Doomer Optimism crew for their first-ever live group chat as they tackle the big questions facing our technologically saturated world. Ashley, Nate, Jason, Peter, and Patrick gather to discuss Paul Kingsnorth’s new book Against the Machine, the creeping influence of AI in our daily lives, and whether we’re heading toward accelerated collapse or just another step down.
The conversation meanders from the ethics of AI chatbots (including Amish farmers launching their own) to the practical realities of keeping phones away from kids in an increasingly digital world. Nate shares hard-won wisdom from rebuilding after his house fire, while Peter warns about the looming cattle market collapse that could reshape American agriculture. Jason makes the case for sheep, Ashley name-drops her upcoming dinner with Wendell Berry (yes, really), and everyone debates whether we should accelerate into the chaos or dig in our heels and resist.
Topics covered: screen-free parenting strategies, the difference between tools and crutches, why COVID lockdowns weren’t all bad, the impossible economics of small-scale beef production, John Michael Greer’s stair-step collapse theory, and what it really takes to build resilience in an age of affluence and anxiety.
Plus: Patrick performs a house tour nobody asked for, Nate explains why relationships matter more than bunkers, and the group grapples with whether the machine can ever truly be stopped—or if the best we can do is stay human despite it all.