Show Notes

Depending on how you look at it, it is either a great or rough time out there for speculative fiction, as reality continues to bite at the heels of even the most dystopian visions. Jason Tester is a futurist with a knack for telling prescient stories about our imminent urban realities, in a startlingly graphic way. The visually compelling Insurrection: an American Future predicted troop deployments in San Francisco in early January 2025; by June, a real-life version of that story began unfolding in Los Angeles, then Washington, Chicago, and Portland. Tester gazes into the abyss with Unfrozen, in another episode a bit too close for comfort.


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Intro/Outro:

“System Error,” by The Cooper Vane


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Discussed:


Institute for the Future


What Is The Insurrection Act? Here’s What Happens If Trump Invokes Law


Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence


Frogs of Portland


Ilana Lipsett


Meta Ray-Bans


Frend.AI


ImmigrationOS


San Francisco Proposition E - Police drone authorization


The beleaguered Whole Foods on Market


ICE Ramming in Chicago


Grand juries say no to sandwich crimes


DDS Waymo Jam


Barbara Walter at UC San Diego: How Civil Wars Start


Abyss gazing


UrbanistAI


One Big Beautiful Bill


One Big Beautiful Aftermath