The Present That Won't Leave (Apologies, a draft version was previously uploaded in error) - The Deeper Thinking Podcast

The Present That Won't Leave

The Deeper Thinking Podcast is digitally narrated. 

For those drawn to the strange persistence of the present, the architecture of time, and the politics of repetition.

#Foreverism #GraftonTanner #MarkFisher #CulturalTheory #PoliticalThought

What happens when the present stops passing through us and begins to hold us in place? In this episode, we explore Grafton Tanner’s concept of foreverism—a cultural condition in which time loops on itself, endlessly refreshing the same now until before and after dissolve. Where Mark Fisher’s hauntology tuned us to futures that never arrived, Tanner shifts our attention to the present that refuses to leave.

We trace Tanner’s subtle but decisive turn: from the ache of unrealized tomorrows to the vertigo of a now that never ends. Through film marquees stacked with reboots, algorithmic playlists on eternal shuffle, and cafes cloned across continents, we follow the engineered middle—a present maintained by design, built to stabilize recognition, minimize risk, and keep the loop intact.

Along the way, we hear from economists, designers, union organizers, and cultural historians, exploring the temporal, spatial, and emotional architectures that make foreverism possible—and the tiny, unscripted glitches that hint it might one day falter.

Reflections

This episode examines how continuity can be engineered, revealing that stability without change is not natural but maintained—and therefore vulnerable to interruption.

Here are some other reflections that surfaced along the way:

• The present can be a prison as much as a passage.
• Hauntology mourns the future; foreverism mistrusts endings.
• Engineered loops don’t renew—they retain.
• Platforms turn hours into assets, eroding the line between work and leisure.
• Spatial standardization erases place to sustain predictability.
• Emotional smoothing keeps desire half hungry, never full.
• Every loop is imperfect; every glitch is a seam in the frame.
• Noticing is not leaving, but it’s the first step toward disruption.
• The absence of renewal can feel stranger than its return.

Why Listen?

• Understand how foreverism reframes time as a managed resource
• Explore Tanner’s contrast with Fisher’s hauntology
• Learn how cultural recycling, temporal arbitrage, spatial standardization, and emotional smoothing sustain the loop
• Hear why even small disruptions—a skipped track, a blank billboard—matter

Listen On:

• YouTube
• Spotify
• Apple Podcasts

Support This Work

If this episode stayed with you and you’d like to support the ongoing work, you can do so here: Buy Me a Coffee - with thanks to Fernanda who did just that. 

Bibliography

• Tanner, Grafton. The Hours Have Lost Their Clocks: The Politics of Nostalgia. Repeater Books, 2021.
• Fisher, Mark. Ghosts of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures. Zero Books, 2014.
• Berardi, Franco “Bifo”. After the Future. AK Press, 2011.

Bibliography Relevance

• Grafton Tanner: Defines and develops the concept of foreverism as a managed, looping present.
• Mark Fisher: Originated the hauntological framing of lost futures that Tanner repositions toward the stagnant now.
• Franco “Bifo” Berardi: Explores the exhaustion and temporality of late capitalism, complementing Tanner’s diagnosis.

The loop is not inevitable. Every seam is proof it can be interrupted.

 #Foreverism #CulturalTheory #Hauntology #GraftonTanner #MarkFisher #TemporalPolitics #MediaTheory #CulturalRecycling #TemporalArbitrage #SpatialStandardization #EmotionalSmoothing #PoliticalPhilosophy #CulturalCriti