Dreaming Against the Machine
What might a good future look like? Explore ideas about how to envision better, realistic, equitable futures with astrophysicist and journalist Dr. Adam Becker. Each week, Adam and a new guest will try to find hope in the darkness of the current political moment through earnest (and entertaining!) conversations about what such a future might look like. In a world where tech oligarchs and their power fantasies are driving visions of the future, Dreaming Against the Machine aims to take back the public conversation about what our world can and should be.
Episodes
This week, Adam talks with journalist, author, and erstwhile political operative Gil Duran about the fascist dreams of the tech oligarchs, and what we can do to fight them. Adam also points out a particularly vile tweet from JD Vance's political mentor, and asks why other journalists aren't confronting Vance about it. This one will make you angry. Go out and make some good trouble.
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We have to talk about it, so let's talk about it. Adam lays out exactly where the AI doom narrative is coming from and why you shouldn't take it seriously.
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About the show:
Dreaming Against the Machine is a podcast about envisioning a realisti...
This week, Adam talks with biologist Brandon Ogbunu about the horrifying history of genetics, what it means for working geneticists and evolutionary biologists, and how culture shapes science (and vice versa).
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About the show:
Dreaming Against...
This week it's just Adam! Following up on the space colonization episode from a few weeks back, Adam talks about exactly how horrifying and difficult it would be to live permanently in deep space. He also answers a couple of listener questions, talks a bit about the show itself, and reveals a special surprise for our Patreon supporters.
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This week, Adam talks with author and essayist Meghan O'Gieblyn. They discuss her remarkable book, God Human Animal Machine, which is one of Adam's favorites. They also talk about what it means to be in the world, and the awareness it takes to write good sentences.
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This week, Adam talks with computer scientist and author Cal Newport about the resurgent claims of AI doom in the news, where these ideas come from, and what we can do to shift the narrative around AI. (Also, they meant to talk about Cal's book Deep Work, but ran out of time.)
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This week, Adam talks with linguist and AI critic Emily M. Bender. They talk about large language models, Emily's origin story, and the importance of parrot emojis. Read Emily's book The AI Con and listen to her podcast Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000.
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This week, Adam and returning guest Dave Karpf talk about what it's like to gaze into the abyss of politics and tech as part of their jobs, and how to find balance and maintain their sanity while doing that work. Dave also talks about his work with the Sierra Club, and reveals his obsession with sandwiches. Read Dave's newsletter and preorder his new book now.
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Occupy Wall Street is the story of the improbable becoming possible. In 2008, millions of people were devastated by an economic crash caused by Wall Street greed, but it wasn’t until 2011 that there was a mass response from the Left. A call to protest went out, and thousands of people responded. They raged against a system that was rigged against them and tried to create their own anti-capitalist village in a small Manhattan ...
This week, Adam talks with Matt Scherer about the AI bubble: what it is, why it's a bubble, what might happen when it pops, and what we can all do to prevent a bailout when it does pop. They also talk about Star Trek, because of course they do.
Matt's report is here: https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications/no-bailouts-for-big-tech-billionaires-policies-for-when-the-ai-bubble-bursts
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This week is a little bit different. Adam talks with Alli Finn and Matt Rodriguez about a very specific kind of better future: one with way fewer AI data centers. Alli and Matt explain why we should fight AI data center construction, how to fight it, and what you can do if there's already one in your city.
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It's a triple astrophysicist episode! This week, Adam talks with Lucian Walkowicz and Erika Nesvold about why space colonization is a terrible idea, and what would be a better idea for the future. They also talk about science fiction (of course) and the danger of miscalibrated bummer meters.
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This week, Adam talks with Alondra Nelson, sociologist and former head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under Joe Biden. They talk about the destruction of scientific research in the US under Trump 2.0, what we can be hopeful about for the future, and Star Trek.
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This week, Adam’s guest is mathematician, algorithmic auditor, and author Cathy O’Neil. They talk about the uses and misuses of math and computer science, and what led both of them away from academic STEM into the wilds of tech ethics.
More about Cathy and her books here. Cathy’s podcast is AI Skeptics, her consulting firm is ORCAA , and her nonprofit is OCEAN .
The Multitude listener survey is here , please fill it...
This week's guests are historian Quinn Slobodian and writer Ben Tarnoff, authors of the new book Muskism: A Guide for the Perplexed. Adam talks with them about what Musk is, how he gained so much power, and what we can do to stop him.
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This week, Adam fanboys at Becky Chambers, author of the Wayfarers series and one of his favorite science fiction writers. They talk about imagining cozy futures, hopepunk, why space ain't the place, and big trees. Pre-order As You Wake, Break the Shell here.
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This week's guest is author and journalist Annalee Newitz, whose most recent nonfiction book, Stories are Weapons, is about the history of psychological warfare. Adam and Annalee discuss psyops, science fiction, the origin of the term "banana republic," and many other things along the way.
Buy Stories are Weapons here:https://bookshop.org/p/books/stories-are-weapons-psychological-warfare-and-the-american-mind-annalee-newitz/5dadea9e...
This week is a reversal: Adam is interviewed by Jack Stilgoe, professor of science and technology studies at University College London. Jack and his colleagues ask Adam about how he came to write his most recent book, what the process of writing it was like, and how things have changed since he wrote it.
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&n...
This week, Adam talks with Katie Mack, physicist and author, about feeling some type of way about the end of the universe. Along the way we also discuss illusions of control, entropy, and why it can be good to feel insignificant.
Messages:
• Support the show at patreon.com/DreamingAgainstTheMachine
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This week, Adam talks with Cory Doctorow, author, blogger, and tech policy advocate. Cory explains why your boss wants to replace you with an AI, why that won't work, and why they're trying to do it anyhow -- and what you can do about it. Cory and Adam also talk about the AI bubble and how its myth of perpetual growth is fed by greed, along with some terrible misunderstandings of science fiction.
Cory's new book, The Reverse C...
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