We chat about our week as Guests of Honor at Capricon, a science fiction convention in Chicago, and all the great panels and chats we had about luddism, science fiction, politics of futures, and the importance of the stories we tell—and are able to tell and believe—about technology-in-society. Then we wrap up with a recent case study of storytelling: the performative puppetry of moltbook.

••• Moltbook was peak AI theater https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/02/06/1132448/moltbook-was-peak-ai-theater/

••• Exposed Moltbook Database Let Anyone Take Control of Any AI Agent on the Site https://www.404media.co/exposed-moltbook-database-let-anyone-take-control-of-any-ai-agent-on-the-site/

Standing Plugs:

••• Order Jathan’s book: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520398078/the-mechanic-and-the-luddite

••• Subscribe to Ed’s substack: https://substack.com/@thetechbubble

••• Subscribe to TMK on patreon for premium episodes: https://www.patreon.com/thismachinekills

Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (bsky.app/profile/jathansadowski.com) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (www.x.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (bsky.app/profile/jebr.bsky.social)