Dystopia Now

This week we're joined by Vu, an undergraduate at Stanford University and representative of Stanford SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) to discuss the role of technology in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians, student activism at Stanford including the recent commencement walkout, and the experience of students looking toward careers in tech.
Find more about Stanford SJP on Instagram @stanfordsjp.
Further Reading
Stanford SJP Link In Bio: https://lnk.bio/stanfordsjp

Stanford Daily, June 2026, Google CEO addresses graduates amid student walkout

Bay Area Current, Feb 2026, Pro-Palestine Stanford Students Await Trial Verdict 

NYT, August 2026, Gen Z Fell Out of Love With Work. I Don't Blame Them.

This week, Kate and Émile discuss AI 2040, a new document by some of the same authors behind AI 2027.
The authors argue, if AI companies come to their senses and prioritize AI safety, the result could be a superintelligence that brings about a utopian world of immortality and space colonization and property rights. We dismantle the silly arguments in AI 2040 with a good dose of mockery.
Further Reading
Thomas Larsen, Romeo Dean, Brendan Halstead, Eli Lifland, Ryan Greenblatt, Daniel Kokotajlo. AI 2040: Plan A, https://ai-2040.com

Daniel Kokotajlo, Scott Alexander, Thomas Larsen, Eli Lifland, Romeo Dean. AI 2027, https://ai-2027.com/

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On this now-unlocked 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

We return from our brief summer break chatting about Émile's latest article of interest, "Here's Why SpaceX's Mission is Bullshit" in the wake of its recent IPO and question the assumptions underlying transhumanism for space exploration.
Further Reading
https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/heres-why-spacexs-mission-is-bullshit
https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/is-elon-musk-a-mass-murderer-on-par 
Books Mentioned
Adam Becker, More Everything Forever

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