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PODCAST

Dystopia Now

Kate Willett and Emile Torres

Dystopia Now is a show where a comedian (Kate Willett) and an academic (Emile Torres) explore the philosophies and religions of Silicon Valley and tech billionaires shaping our country, our world, and our future.

society & culture tech news

All Episodes

56:50

How Tech Bros are Innovating Imperialism

Dystopia Now ·

2026/01/10

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?": https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/are-you-suffering-from-crisis-fatigue Gil Duran's article on the Network State and Venezuela (The Nerd Reich): https://www.thenerdreich.com/network-state-comes-for-venezuela/ Prospera:

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01:20:30

The Distant Future: 2025 Expectations versus Reality

Dystopia Now ·

2025/12/28

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: https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/what-people-thought-would-happen NYT on the AI

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01:01:40

Epstein Part 2: Transhumanism & Eugenics with Keira...

Dystopia Now ·

2025/12/12

This week, we're joined by Keira Havens, director of Citizens' Impeachment 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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55:32

Epstein Part 1: Chomsky Struggle Session

Dystopia Now ·

2025/12/04

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": https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/noam-chomsky-is-a-scumbag Jeffrey Epstein Met With Harvard Professor Martin Nowak and Noam Chomsky in 2015 in Harvard Office:

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01:04:15

Escaping Effective Altruism

Dystopia Now ·

2025/11/14

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": https://aeon.co/essays/why-longtermism-is-the-worlds-most-dangerous-secular-credo Karp's swordsmanship:

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50:41

Algospeak, Vibes, and Post-Rats with Adam Aleksic...

Dystopia Now ·

2025/11/07

This week, we're joined by Adam Aleksic, also known as @etymologynerd to discuss his new book Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language. 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: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/776856/algospeak-by-adam-aleksic/ Find Adam

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01:00:57

Fan Fic at the End of the World

Dystopia Now ·

2025/11/01

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: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-eliezer-yudkowsky.html https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/461680/if-anyone-builds-it-yudkowsky-soares-ai-risk

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51:55

How Tech Billionaires Bought the Narrative with Eoin...

Dystopia Now ·

2025/10/23

In this episode, we talked to journalist Eoin Higgins about his book “Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left" which examines how Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and Elon Musk have used their wealth to shape media narratives, especially through journalists Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi. Eoin Higgins: https://x.com/eoinhiggins_?lang=en Eoin’s Substack: https://eoinhiggins.substack.com/ Eoin’s book:

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01:08:19

Is Saving Shrimps Effective Altruism? w/ Guest...

Dystopia Now ·

2025/10/17

In this episode, we explore the Shrimp Welfare Project, featured on the Daily Show several months ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNbIKtGMoaA&t. Comedian Josh Gondelman -- a former writer for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver -- joins us for laughs and some serious reflection on which types of beings should be included within our circles of moral concern. Info on the Shrimp Welfare Project can be found here: https://www.shrimpwelfareproject.org/ A critique of Effective Altruism (written

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52:28

Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures

Dystopia Now ·

2025/10/04

To become a supporter, go here: https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow This week we explored Peter Thiel's Antichrist Lectures. Other than trying to prove he's not the Antichrist, what is this guy up to? Newsletter piece on the topic, titled "The Political Power of Eschatological Thinking: This Is Why Peter Thiel Is Talking About the Antichrist": https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/the-political-power-of-eschatological-82b If people want to learn more about the "dispensationalist" view of the end

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01:02:40

Bryan Johnson, Mortal

Dystopia Now ·

2025/09/15

https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow This week, we explored the anti-aging obsession of Bryan Johnson. From erection measuring to NDA's, join us for a weird ride. Futher reading: How Bryan Johnson, Who Wants to Live Forever, Sought Control via Confidentiality Agreements – The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/technology/bryan-johnson-nda-employees.html @mathrubhumi+3WIRED+3mint+3 Bryan Johnson and Matt Bruenig Are Fighting Over NDAs – New York Magazine

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46:09

The Astroturf Agenda with Dean Preston

Dystopia Now ·

2025/09/05

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’

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47:17

My BF is AI

Dystopia Now ·

2025/08/29

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: https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2025/aug/28/ai-psychosis-could-chatbots-fuel-delusional-thinking-podcast https://futurism.com/paper-ai-psychosis-schizophrenia

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01:19

Patreon Preview: The Vox Writer w/ Eugenics Fanfic...

Dystopia Now ·

2025/08/28

To hear the rest of the episode and become a supporter visit us on Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow We are entirely listener supported and we appreciate your contributions so much! This week, we were joined by Rachel Adjogah, of the brilliant Polemics.md 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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48:48

UNLOCKED: Zizians Part 1- A Cult Within a Cult

Dystopia Now ·

2025/08/21

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: https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow We'll be back on our regular schedule next week.

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12:56

PATREON PREVIEW: Listener Q and A

Dystopia Now ·

2025/08/19

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 https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow. We use your $ to edit the podcast. Further reading: https://www.thetonearm.com/rhymes-against-reality-with-r-u-sirius-and-his-musical-mindfuckery-2/

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56:46

"These F*cking People" with Adam Becker

Dystopia Now ·

2025/08/17

Become a supporter at https://www.patreon.com/DystopiaNow 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

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05:21

PATREON PREVIEW: The Extropians

Dystopia Now ·

2025/08/11

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

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01:09:46

Simone and Malcolm Collins: TESCREAL Parents

Dystopia Now ·

2025/08/08

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

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0:59

PATREON PREVIEW: The Zizians Part 3: The Murder Spree

Dystopia Now ·

2025/08/01

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

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