Dystopia Now

Does fiction inform what we think the future should look like? Sci-fi and futurism has typically told us the inevitability of technology and dystopian cyberpunk imaginaries. Monika Bielskyte joins us to introduce her alternative, Protopia Futures, a framework for science-informed visions for a good future.
Find Monika's writings at https://monikabielskyte.substack.com
Further Reading
https://monikabielskyte.substack.com/p/we-can-always-do-something-about

https://plus.flux.community/p/to-achieve-a-beautiful-future-we

https://monikabielskyte.substack.com/p/the-futurism-you-were-sold-was-a

https://monikabielskyte.substack.com/p/protopia-world-stack-values-bodies

This week, we go over the merits and demerits of the Pope Leo XIV's first encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas and its co-presentation with Christopher Olah of Anthropic, the company branding itself as most concerned with "AI Safety."
Further Reading
Émile's article: https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/shame-on-the-pope-shame-on-ea-shame

Magnifica Humanitas: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/encyclicals/documents/20260515-magnifica-humanitas.html

Full Speech: Anthropic Co‑Founder Christopher Olah at Magnifica Humanitas Vatican Launch | EWTN News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORFrdYSvzuw

Paolo Benanti, "An invisible revolution: Peter Thiel and the Silicon Valley coup": https://legrandcontinent.eu/fr/2026/03/14/thiel-heresie-benanti

Timnit Gebru's comments: https://x.com/timnitGebru/status/2058959646891581898

Could a populist, independent candidate win an election in the most Republican part of Nebraska's 1st Congressional District? In a time when the Republican and Democratic Party are both notoriously corrupt, Austin Ahlman is making the call to "Take Back Nebraska."
This week we talk with Austin about his run for office, antimonopoly, Abundance, and how tech companies are undermining Nebraska's public power system through regulatory carve-outs.
Find Austin's campaign at ahlmanfornebraska.com or takebacknebraska.com.
Further Reading
Austin Ahlman for The Intercept: https://theintercept.com/staff/austin-ahlman/

Austin Ahlman Launches Insurgent Independent Campaign in Nebraska https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYE10gacxiE

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Oliver Larkin, activist, union organizer, and Democratic Socialist, joins us this week to discuss his run for election to the U.S. House as a Florida representative.
We talk about Oliver's campaign, how South Florida and Greater Miami are becoming new headquarters for tech companies including Palantir, and what we can do electorally to support working people instead of billionaires.
Further Reading
Find Oliver's campaign at https://www.oliverforcongress.com

https://theintercept.com/2026/02/26/iran-war-powers-vote-democrats-gottheimer-moskowitz

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On this special Patreon episode, we talked to antitrust hero and Fordham University law professor Zephyr Teachout about surveillance pricing and surveillance wages.
From airlines charging us more to fly home if they see we've recently searched "funeral arrangements" to rideshare companies paying less per ride if your bank account is low, we explored the present and future possibilities of data as a tool for economic and labor exploitation.
Book Mentioned
Karen Levy, Data Driven: Truckers, Technology, and the New Workplace Surveillance

Further Reading
FTC Report, https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/01/ftc-surveillance-pricing-study-indicates-wide-range-personal-data-used-set-individualized-consumer

ACLU Report, https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/surveillance-pricing

Electronic Frontier Foundation on surveillance pricing, https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/08/fight-surveillance-pricing-we-need-privacy-first

Maryland ban on surveillance pricing, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/29/maryland-grocery-stores-ban-surveillance-pricing

New York legislation, https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/politics/2026/05/19/surveillance-pricing-

Cory Doctorow on surveillance wages, https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2026-04-06-empiricism-washing-veena-dubal-d63fef485503