Androids and Assets - The Complete Package

Animal Crossing: New Horizons took the world by storm in 2020 and continues to be a cultural touchstone. One question that gets asked over and over is whether Tom Nook is a man of the people or an oppressive capitalist exploiting your labour?

We are joined this week by Kateryna Barnes to discuss the world of Animal Crossing and to hash out if Tom is a welcome ally or an enemy to be destroyed.

Citations

Loading… Volume 13 No 22, Animal Crossing Special Issue edited by Rainforest Scully-Blaker and Emily Flynn-Jones

"Tom Nook, Capitalist or Comrade? On Nook Discourse and the Millennial Housing Crisis" by Emma Vossen

Interview with David Harvey on debt peonage

The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity by Slavoj Žižek

Difference and Repetition by Gilles Deleuze

In "The Wire" Bashir and Garak explore the intricacies of addiction and effective methods for treatment.

In "Crossover" we are subjected to the first mirror universe episode of Deep Space Nine. Kira and Bashir accidentally visit the mirror universe and change the course of history in an alternate world.

Here's the link to our conversation with Premee Mohamed that Stephen referenced: https://androidsandassets.ca/the-dark-sciences-in-conversation-with-premee-mohamed/

Androids and Assets teams up with The Hugo Girl Podcast to review the 2018 novel The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal.

The scientific application of Gun Smoke Theory (GST) is transforming the field of DS9 studies. Join us as we sit down with GST luminary and Steve's Dad, Alan, to analyze The Maquis Parts 1 and 2.

A special Christmas Episode of Androids and Assets where the boys and special guest Candace talk about the reason for the season, struggling against empire.

We also recommend: Divine Intervention (2002) Dir Elia Sulieman

C.S. Malerich joins us to talk about her novella, The Factory Witches of Lowell, a story about an early unionization effort that gets a magical boost. The most important part of the struggle, though, is still solidarity.

You can get The Factory of Witches of Lowell through our Bookshop affiliate link, we get a small kickback, if you do.

Recommended Authors

P. Djèlí Clark

Colson Whitehead

Justina Ireland

Catherynne M. Valente

Cadwell Turnbull

Ursula K. LeGuin

Octavia Butler

Specific Works Mentioned

China Mieville - Un Lun Dun

Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar - This is How You Lose the Time War

K.M. Szpara - Docile

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky - Hard to Be A God

We talk about Season 2 episode 18 and 19 "Profit and Loss" and "Blood Oath". Both episodes are about being a bro: what obligations do you have to other people and how do those obligations act as incentives?

We also have our inaugural segment "Hey Fellas" where we talk to our bros and provide important life advice.

This week we have two episodes, one spiritual essence. A journey into the existential horror of two people, and the healing power of sweet Crude Oil. The boys sit down to review Season 2 Ep 15 and 16 of Deep Space Nine.

The Androids and Assets team sits down with journalist Paris Marx of Tech Won't Save Us to talk about the ongoing struggle for the future of technology and by extension the future of humanity.

Follow Paris and Tech Won't Save Us on Twitter.

Errata

Paris has written articles on this topic and a few are collected here for you.

Aaron Bastani’s ‘luxury communism’ is a false future

Jeff Bezos and His Billionaire Space Fantasy

Jeff Bezos’s Vision of the Future Is Basically Blade Runner

Elon Musk Is Planning for Climate Apocalypse

Paris mentioned a whole bunch of great things to read and we've done our best to list them all here for you.

I Can’t Bring Myself to Stand in Line for Food Again by Mirta Ojito

Utopia, not futurism: Why doing the impossible is the most rational thing we can do by Murray Bookchin

Eco-Socialism or Bust by Thea Riofrancos, Robert Shaw, Will Speck

A Path to Democratic Socialism Means a Path To Climate Justice by Thea Riofrancos

PACTO ECOSOCIAL DEL SUR

The Green New Deal as proposed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin and also everything else she ever wrote.

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson

Our good friend Evan, from Kino Lefter, joins us to discuss "Whispers".

O'Brien senses something is wrong on Deep Space Nine when the crew and his family begin acting strangely around him after he returns from a mission. As he unravels the mystery he finds even senior Starfleet officers are lying to keep secrets from him.

You can find Evan on Twitter and bonus episodes of Kino Lefter on Patreon