In this episode of MindTricks Radio, I sit down with physician and novelist Dr. Peter Weiss to discuss Progeny, his chilling dystopian novel set in a world where every newborn is taken from its birth mother and reassigned by the state in the name of equity. At the heart of our conversation is the book’s most unsettling question: what happens when a society’s drive for fairness begins to override the deepest and most instinctive human bonds? We explore how Progeny taps into fears about authoritarianism, social engineering, and the quiet, incremental normalization of ideas that would once have seemed unthinkable.

Dr. Weiss also reflects on the path that led him from a long career in medicine and academia to writing fiction with bold political and psychological stakes. Along the way, we branch into a lively discussion about ideology, polarization, merit, AI, and the way readers often interpret stories through the filter of their own assumptions and beliefs. Thought-provoking and deeply relevant, this is a conversation about more than one novel—it’s about the cultural tensions already reshaping the world around us.