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.
Latest episodes
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46 min
Episode 28: The AI Doom Sex Cult (Solo Episode)
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.Messages: • Support the s…
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52 min
Episode 27: Eugenics, with Brandon Ogbunu
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 sha…
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53 min
Episode 26: Space Ain't the Place (solo episode)
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 permanentl…
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1 h 01
Episode 25: Transhumanism and Faith, with Meghan O'Gieblyn
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…
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1 h 07
Episode 24: The Myth of AI Doom, with Cal Newport
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…
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58 min
Episode 23: Language Models, with Emily M. Bender
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 bo…
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1 h 04
Episode 22: Balancing on the Abyss, with Dave Karpf
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 the…
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40 min
Sharing a new series from Future Hindsight, Occupy! An Unfinished Uprising.
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 unt…
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60 min
Episode 21: The AI Bubble, with Matt Scherer
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…
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54 min
Episode 20: Resisting AI Data Centers, with Alli Finn and Matt Rodriguez
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 exp…
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60 min
Episode 19: Space Colonization, with Lucian Walkowicz and Erika Nesvold
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…
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54 min
Episode 18: Science Policy, with Alondra Nelson
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 o…
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54 min
Episode 17: Weapons of Math Destruction, with Cathy O’Neil
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…
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57 min
Episode 16: What is Elon Musk? With Quinn Slobodian and Ben Tarnoff
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…
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51 min
Episode 15: Hopeful Science Fiction, with Becky Chambers
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 spa…
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1 h 01
Episode 14: Psychological Warfare, with Annalee Newitz
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 d…
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1 h 13
Episode 13: More Everything Forever, with Adam Becker
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 h…
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52 min
Episode 12: The Cosmic Perspective, with Katie Mack
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, entro…
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1 h 01
Episode 11: Reverse Centaurs and AI, with Cory Doctorow
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'…
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52 min
Episode 10: Better Off Regulated, with Ed Zitron
This week's guest is tech critic, podcaster, and professionally angry dude Ed Zitron. Adam asks Ed what things would have to happen for him to be less angry (mostly, regulating the…