Utopian Horizons

The prospect of a shorter working week is the subject of this episode, with Aidan Harper from the 4 day week campaign and the New Economics Foundation joining me to make the case for reducing working hours without a reduction a pay. We discuss crises of productivity, mental health, automation and climate, and how the 4 day week could help address these problems.

Utopian Horizons is a podcast about utopia. Each episode covers a different utopia, dystopia, utopian thinker, or utopian movement, asking what they can tell us about ourselves, our society, and our future.

Music: The Fiction of Utopian Studies/The Road To Oceania by The Fucked Up Beat.

The phenomenon that is the Battle Royale videogame genre and the pseudo-dystopias depicted in games like PUBG, Fortnite and Apex Legends is the subject of this episode. Academic, writer and co-founder of Ranged Touch, Cameron Kunzelman, joins me to loot the genre's barren thematic landscapes for some fragments of meaning.

Utopian Horizons is a podcast about utopia. Each episode covers a different utopia, dystopia, utopian thinker, or utopian movement, asking what they can tell us about ourselves, our society, and our future.

Music: The Fiction of Utopian Studies/The Road To Oceania by The Fucked Up Beat.

A host of guests join me to talk about a chosen song or artist in relation to utopia: sci-fi author and academic Adam Roberts on The Kinks, Anna McFarlane from the University of Glasgow on The Tale of the Giant Stone Eater, Imaginary Cities author Darran Anderson on Talking Heads, Fatima Vieira from the University of Porto on Grandola Vila Morena, All Units' Sean McTiernan on Nomeansno and David Bell on jazz.

Utopian Horizons is a podcast about utopia. Each episode covers a different utopia, dystopia, utopian thinker, or utopian movement, asking what they can tell us about ourselves, our society, and our future.

Music: The Fiction of Utopian Studies/The Road To Oceania by The Fucked Up Beat.

Rosie from the Shadow Trap and Diane podcasts joins me to talk about From Software's PS4 game Bloodborne. We talk about utopia's relationship to the secular, living dystopias in videogames, the role of utopia in religion and the idea of reaching utopia through evolution or transformation.

Utopian Horizons is a podcast about utopia. Each episode covers a different utopia, dystopia, utopian thinker, or utopian movement, asking what they can tell us about ourselves, our society, and our future.

Music: The Fiction of Utopian Studies/The Road To Oceania by The Fucked Up Beat.

Deirdre Hollman from The Black Comics Collective joins the podcast to talk about Marvel's Black Panther film, the utopia that is Wakanda, and the representation of its characters.

Utopian Horizons is a podcast about utopia. Each episode covers a different utopia, dystopia, utopian thinker, or utopian movement, asking what they can tell us about ourselves, our society, and our future.

Music: The Fiction of Utopian Studies/The Road To Oceania by The Fucked Up Beat.

I return to my solo-run through Philip K. Dick's novels, this time touching down on the Alphane Moon to discuss misogyny, the psychopathology of power, and the utopian potential of empathy.

Utopian Horizons is a podcast about utopia. Each episode covers a different utopia, dystopia, utopian thinker, or utopian movement, asking what they can tell us about ourselves, our society, and our future.

Music: The Fiction of Utopian Studies/The Road To Oceania by The Fucked Up Beat.

Trevor Strunk from No Cartridge joins the podcast to talk about Hideo Kojima's cyberpunk detective game, Snatcher. We discuss the game's take on immigration, body snatching, Russia hysteria and more.

Utopian Horizons is a podcast about utopia. Each episode covers a different utopia, dystopia, utopian thinker, or utopian movement, asking what they can tell us about ourselves, our society, and our future.

Music: The Fiction of Utopian Studies/The Road To Oceania by The Fucked Up Beat.

Sarah Lohmann returns for part 2 of our conversation on Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed, where we continue to delve into the anarchist world of Anarres.

Utopian Horizons is a podcast about utopia. Each episode covers a different utopia, dystopia, utopian thinker, or utopian movement, asking what they can tell us about ourselves, our society, and our future.

Music: The Fiction of Utopian Studies/The Road To Oceania by The Fucked Up Beat.

Sarah Lohmann from Durham University joins me to talk about Ursula Le Guin's classic utopian novel The Dispossessed. We discuss the anarchist world of Anarres, complexity theory, time, complementarity and more.

Utopian Horizons is a podcast about utopia. Each episode covers a different utopia, dystopia, utopian thinker, or utopian movement, asking what they can tell us about ourselves, our society, and our future.

Music: The Fiction of Utopian Studies/The Road To Oceania by The Fucked Up Beat.

Continuing my solo run through every Philip K Dick novel, I discuss The Simulacra. I talk about celebrity politicians, Clinton, Merkel and Macron as images, politics as cause and effect, how ideology requires complicity and more.

Utopian Horizons is a podcast about utopias, real and imaginary. Each episode covers a different utopia, dystopia, utopian thinker, or utopian movement, asking what they can tell us about ourselves, our society, and our future.

Music: The Fiction of Utopian Studies/The Road To Oceania by The Fucked Up Beat.