Dystopia Now

This 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/  

Please consider becoming a subscriber on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/dystopianow/membership   This episode we began with a discussion of Peter Singer and eugenics ideas in the Effective Altruism community. And more Sam Altman-- his firing at Open AI, his doomsday prepping and his version of utopia.    Sam Altman & OpenAI Moore’s Law for Everything – Sam Altman’s Blog OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Is a Survivalist Prepper – Futurism Sam Altman’s Manifest Destiny – The New Yorker The Most Powerful Man in AI – New York Magazine   OpenAI Controversy The Real Story Behind Sam Altman's Firing From OpenAI – WSJ Former OpenAI Employee Sounds Alarm on Altman – Futurism Sam Altman Reinstated at OpenAI – The Guardian   Tech Utopias & Praxis Altman-Backed Praxis Eyes Kyiv and Athens for Tech Utopia – Bloomberg Praxis: Tech Dystopia as the Next America – The Nerd Reich   Science, Ethics & Philosophy Dyson Sphere – Wikipedia Simulation Hypothesis – Wikipedia The Matrix as Reality: Simulation Hypothesis Explained – Vox   Longevity & Biohacking Sam Altman Invested $180M in Anti-Aging Startup Retro Biosciences – MIT Technology Review   Ethics, Exploitation & Effective Altruism Red Cobalt: Mining in the Congo – NPR Shrimp Welfare Project – Official Site Introducing the Shrimp Welfare Project – Effective Altruism Forum Against Speciesism – Jacobin

Dive into the enigmatic world of Sam Altman, exploring topics like the AI Doomer coup and his controversial Worldcoin project that scans retinas. Discover his connections with Peter Thiel and visionary plans for restructuring governance through AI. The conversation also touches on the absurd idea of a Mars trial run on Greenland and critiques the ethics surrounding biometric cryptocurrency. Engage in a critical look at the intersection of technology, ethics, and societal implications—just scratching the surface of a complex figure.

To become a Patreon subscriber and hear our bonus eps: https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow This week we talked about Curtis Yarvin and his vision of CEO/Monarchies, Network States for Tech Bros-- in the US. And Ezra Klein's more minor tech backed reforms.  How much democracy should we have?       

This week we talked about the "Abundance Agenda" and it's roots in the Effective Altruism movement.  A network of think tanks, Silicon Valley billionaires, and centrist pundits are getting all riled up about zoning ordinances, and possibly trying to take over the Democratic Party? Oh boy.  We explore the dark side of Effective Altruism, men's rights activists, IQ Realists, "race science," eugenicists and more lurking in a movement where the biggest scoundrels in society are mixing with Vox writers- EA! This episode was a wild ride, let us know what you think.  We'll be back with Thiel Part 2 next week but we had to know-- why did an Atlantic writer podcast with a Nazi?    Further reading   By Èmile: https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-acronym-behind-our-wildest-ai-dreams-and-nightmares/   https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/jun/16/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-eugenics-scientific-racism   https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/12/opinion/richard-hanania-eugenics-billionaires.html   https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/09/richard-hanania-origins-of-woke-book/675348/   https://jacobin.com/2023/01/effective-altruism-longtermism-nick-bostrom-racism   https://theintercept.com/2019/09/06/exxon-mobil-progressive-policy-institute-climate/   https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/ruben-gallego-crypto-digital-assets-andreessen-yglesias-1235260013/    

In this episode, we explore Peter Thiel's villain origin story. From his budding commitment to being an edgelord at Stanford to developing the theory that girls ruined everything by voting. Seasteading, blood transfusions, the weird incel parties he throws with Curtis Yarvin. We've got it all. Next week we'll cover the NeoReactionary movement in detail.  Futher reading: https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/education-libertarian/ https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/owned-book-peter-thiel-trump-tech-silicon-valley-1235276868/ https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/26/elon-musk-peter-thiel-apartheid-south-africa https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/04/inside-the-new-right-where-peter-thiel-is-placing-his-biggest-bets?srsltid=AfmBOop8TkGouVZ72xamuuLVjtZjqQ8rz2G_SBCykFPkOpQGDtS77-j4 https://www.ft.com/content/02217acf-ac64-49c2-acd5-ef4f107f014c

This week we are joined by Paris Marx, host of the podcast Tech Won't Save Us and a tech critic, journalist, author, and international speaker. We talked about Silicon Valley's changing influence in politics, climate policy, and about reasons for optimism as we think about how to confront Musk and Co. in the political arena. This is somewhat of a sister episode to our conversation last week with Jacob Silverman about the tech right that explores the political ideologies of the tech billionaires shaping our country, including within the Democratic Party. To support us on Patreon (and get bonus eps plus a download of our intro song) go here:  patreon.com/DystopiaNow Please note we generally record these episodes a few days before publishing so Tesla story was still evolving.  Further reading: https://parismarx.com/ https://www.disconnect.blog/ https://www.npr.org/2024/07/12/g-s1-9545/ai-brings-soaring-emissions-for-google-and-microsoft-a-major-contributor-to-climate-change https://www.wired.com/story/true-cost-generative-ai-data-centers-energy/ https://theconversation.com/data-centre-emissions-are-soaring-its-ai-or-the-climate-240137 https://www.versobooks.com/products/2795-road-to-nowhere?srsltid=AfmBOor_bXPpd8aqF9_mHCdTCfJsbfp-V1qFE-ERNFyRVF2RVRfYj365 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cnvze9dzq8vo https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/08/business/elon-musk-tesla-violence-protests-vandalism.html

To hear the rest of this episode, become one of our Patreon supporters at https://www.patreon.com/DystopiaNow For this bonus episode we were joined by comedian Kenice Mobley to talk about the different space futures Bezos and Musk have in mind. Bezos wants us to live in cylinders, Musk wants us to nuke Mars, but both of them want a future where we're all digital beings maximizing value. Some of the wildest information we've talked about so far.

This week our guest is Jacob Silverman, and independent journalist who has written for the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Slate, The New Yorker & The New Republic. He's the co-author of "Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud." We talked about the growing right wing movement in the tech industry. From the PayPal mafia to President Sh*tcoin today, we dive deep into how a few billionaires are influencing policy from DOGE to how cities treat our unhoused neighbors. Sorry for slight reduction in audio quality this week, we had some issues with our recording software we will fix for next week! This is a fantastic interview you don't want to miss.

This week we welcomed special guest Albert Fox Cahn who is the Executive Director of S.T.O.P. (the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project). We talked about how AI is impacting policing and pricing. We also returned to the subject of Elon's ketamine addiction.  Special thanks to Deon Wolf who has been helping with our short videos on instagram and youtube.