While profit motivates all companies under capitalism, why are the wealthiest tech companies so focused on AGI? This week, we dive into the relationships, ideologies, and claims behind the four biggest players claiming to build artificial general intelligence: Google DeepMind, OpenAI (partly owned by Microsoft), Anthropic, and Elon Musk's xAI.

Further Reading

• https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/tescrealism-and-the-race-to-build

Book mentioned

• The AI Con - Emily Bender & Alex Hanna

We're joined again by Dr. Alexander Thomas, author of The Politics and Ethics of Transhumanism, to discuss current events and how the Extropians' libertarian transhumanist fantasies connect to today's efforts to meme right-wing authoritarianism into reality.

Books Mentioned

• Hayek's Bastards by Quinn Slobodian

• The Politics and Ethics of Transhumanism by Alexander Thomas (open access)

Welcome to 2026!

This week, we took a look at imperialism and how the rotating cast of billionaires discussed on the show are more involved than meets the eye.

FURTHER READING:

• Émile's article "Are You Suffering from Crisis Fatigue?": https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/are-you-suffering-from-crisis-fatigue

• Gil Duran's article on the Network State and Venezuela (The Nerd Reich): https://www.thenerdreich.com/network-state-comes-for-venezuela/

• Prospera: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/28/magazine/prospera-honduras-crypto.html

• Honduras: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/04/trump-venezuela-maduro-pardon-honduras.html

• Greenland: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/greenland-freedom-city-rich-donors-push-trump-tech-hub-up-north-2025-04-10/ AND https://www.insidehook.com/internet/peter-thiel-praxis-next-great-city-greenland AND https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/07/world/europe/trump-greenland-denmark-us-defense-pact.html

• Pardons: https://www.washingtonpost.com/ripple/2025/12/10/trumps-clemency-machine-deserves-more-right-wing-scrutiny/ AND https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/trump-pro-crypto-or-pro-crime

Is AGI right around the corner, again? How's the AI bubble doing? What happened to climate activism? We're closing out the year with a round up of the many predictions made about technology by 2025 and share some of our own guesses.

Support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow

Further Reading

• Émile's rundown of 2025 predictions: https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/what-people-thought-would-happen
• NYT on the AI bubble: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/22/business/the-ai-boom-economy.html
• Book mentioned: The Discovery of the Future - H.G. Wells

This week, we're joined by Keira Havens, director of Citizens' Impeachment and former scientist to discuss Jeffery Epstein's transhumanist, eugenicist beliefs, their roots in hierarchy, and his influence in funding scientific research.

Further reading:

TBA

In a 2-part series on Jeffery Epstein, we'll explore Epstein's ties to the TESCREAL ideologies. This week though, we're talking about his ties to one of our intellectual heroes who really let us down.

Further reading:

• Émile's article "Noam Chomsky is a Scumbag": https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/noam-chomsky-is-a-scumbag

• Jeffrey Epstein Met With Harvard Professor Martin Nowak and Noam Chomsky in 2015 in Harvard Office: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/5/3/epstein-nowak-chomsky-meeting-2015/

• Lawrence Krauss and Epstein: https://slate.com/technology/2019/08/jeffrey-epstein-science-eugenics-sexual-abuse-researchers.html

Support the show on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/dystopianow

How did Émile get involved in Effective Altruism and what was it like beginning to turn away? In this week's episode, we touch on Palantir CEO Alex Karp's political journey, a review of longtermism, and what first sounded the alarm bells on EA for Émile.

Further reading:

• Emile's article "Against longtermism": https://aeon.co/essays/why-longtermism-is-the-worlds-most-dangerous-secular-credo

• Karp's swordsmanship: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/alex-karp-wielding-a-sword

This week, we're joined by Adam Aleksic, also known as @etymologynerd to discuss his new book Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language. We talk everything from 67, slop, rationalists versus post-rationalists, teleology, vibes, and Silicon Valley slang.

Further Reading

• Buy Adam's book Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language at your local book store or online: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/776856/algospeak-by-adam-aleksic/

• Find Adam Aleksic @etymologynerd on Instagram and TikTok, and check out his Substack at https://etymology.substack.com/.

• More on slop: https://etymology.substack.com/p/notes-on-slop

• Adam's website: etymologynerd.com

• Book recommendation: Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (1998) by James C. Scott

This week, we dive into the horrifying world of Eliezer Yudkowsky, AI Doomer, Rationalist, and Harry Potter fan fiction author in light of his recently published NYT bestseller with Nate Soares, "If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies."

Further reading:

• https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-eliezer-yudkowsky.html
• https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/461680/if-anyone-builds-it-yudkowsky-soares-ai-risk
• https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/30/ai-debate-culture-clash-dc-silicon-valley-00133323
• https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/eliezer-yudkowskys-long-history-of

In this episode, we talked to journalist Eoin Higgins about his book "Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left" which examines how Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and Elon Musk have used their wealth to shape media narratives, especially through journalists Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi.

Eoin Higgins: https://x.com/eoinhiggins_?lang=en

Eoin's Substack: https://eoinhiggins.substack.com/

Eoin's book: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/eoin-higgins/owned/9781645030461/

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