We’re an emotional support podcast about climate change, collapse, lefty politics, the end of the world as we know it, and how to maybe build a better one. Plus pop-culture, wild conjecture, and dumb jokes to lighten the mood.
Don’t start from the beginning; it’s kind of rough. New to the podcast? Start with the latest episode or Episode 9.
Hot goss about Extinction Rebellion America. Fighting fires. NGOs. Filling jails and working with police. Jem Bendell‘s Deep Adaptation paper. Arctic sea ice. Social collapse. Alien archaeologists.
“If it’s the truth, you have to say it.”
Note: Daniel speaks on behalf of Daniel. His opinions do not, and are not intended to, represent XR America. This isn’t a friggin press release, just two dudes chatting about their own feels.
In part 2, Jody gets personal about his history with gurus. The significance of significance and the red herring of ego dissolution. Magick and imaginal spirituality. Psychedelics. Jody’s path to realization. Oprah. The Aquarian Age. Climate change anxiety. The Church of the Subgenius. And burnt almonds: the secret of life, the universe, and everything.
The Alan Watts talk I reference is on YouTube, or you can read the transcript at AlanWatts.org.
New Thought meets collapse. Doing good on behalf of hypothetical futures. The origin of water. We’re all extraterrestrials. Dystopian shopping malls. Helping the normies. The Coronavirus and predictions of doom. Living in captivity. XR Australia is fighting an extremely uphill battle. Zoomers are smart. The metaphysics of humor. Good Grief Network. The fires (and waters) of Australia.
Sarah and Jeremy talk anti-civiliation, Derrick Jensen’s A Language Older Than Words, peak oil, Tar Sands, ocean floor mining, alien belly slugs, rock bottom Hell, the utility of shaming in civilization, mirror universe synchronization, the “Millennial Spectrum of Millenniosity,” and more than a little bit of Star Trek. End on another bitchin’ track by Glass Boy, sip a nice cold beverage, call it a day — you’re in bed by 10:00.
One airbrushed wizard van short of a new religion. Mike Jones is back once again. Can we build a bewildering manifesto-inscribed labyrinth and spiritual movement around J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion? What cult LARPing lessons can we learn from Kurt Anderson’s Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire? Is America the BoJack Horseman of countries? All this plus a Denny’s kids’ menu and a pack of crayons.
Yeah, it’s one of the more pop culture-heavy episodes.
Plus: Glenn answers our first live listener question from Twitch: “Why do you not like the climate change?”
We’re streaming our weekly episode recording sessions Sundays at 6:30pm EST / 3:30pm PST. Call us toll-free during the show to chat or leave a message anytime at 844-9161-NOW (669).
Full episode transcripts now available on the website. (If you’re seeing this on the website, just click the “Continue Reading” link below or, like, scroll down.)
Eric and I each share a similar dream, then we discuss dreams and the playful art of perceiving and indulging synchronicities. Plus the unusual origin of my friendship with Eric and a strangely comforting dream I had about the end of the world.
S1 E13: Atlantean Antifa vs. Quantum Fascists From Lemuria
00:00 / 1:00:17
1X
In this long-awaited episode (by which I mean I took an especially long time making it), Ryan and I chat about the meaning of fascism and run though Umberto Eco’s list of fascism warning signs. Plus: how a quantum cult we investigated reveals the hidden secret behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In this special extended episode, Sonja and I talk Star Trek cruise, confronting scary futures, searching for solutions to the rise of the alt-right, how capitalism turns food into addictive substances, and how to clicker-train a ‘gator. Also ecocide and violence ethics. There’s a lot going on in this episode. It’s a whole thing.
Michael Jones is back again. Get ready for feels, collapse wokeness, Extinction Rebellion, violence ethics, the alienation of frozen pizza, whatever the eff acid communism is, the Green New Deal, questioning the tragedy of the commons narrative, The Left Behind series, and seeking answers to Roy Scranton’s “We’re Doomed, Now What?”
Let’s chat with Glenn Newcomer of Be Your Own Drum Circle about stuff. Oh, all kinds of stuff. Connections between class consciousness and climate change. Plus: How capitalism affects video games and farming in similar ways. Also: What’s stopping us from imagining a better future? Additionally: Will academic meme studies replace art history in 20 years? Furthermore: We break down the Conservative Phrasebook of bad-faith dismissiveness. But then: We both attempt a Jordan Peterson impression. Brace yourselves for that. It’s one heckin’ darn of an episode.
I felt like it was time to talk about what’s been going on with this podcast, where it’s been, why I started it, and where we might take it from here. This one’s more about honesty than goofiness, more personal than pop culture. I also talk about the grieving process, my culture’s obsession with apocalypse fantasy, hopes for humankind, and how imagination might come in handy.
This episode, Eric Schiller and I get weird. We talk UFOs, encounters with strangeness, Carlos Castaneda, Internet dating, peeping the naked cosmic mystery, being the Mary Sue of your fan fiction of reality, “the slipperiest possible thing,” reality TV and the nature of human drama. Is it time to start a funky freaky space cult? What’s really going on behind the curtain of reality? Spoiler alert: we don’t know. Do you know? Spoiler alert: no you don’t.
For real, though. In an age of overconsumption and the looming threat of eco-pocalypse, is it ethically justifiable to have children? More importantly: how come they don’t give Hawkeye some of those fancy robot wings? Do our dead relatives watch us poop? Are we living in a simulation that’s gone off the rails? The one and only Caleb Benningfield is in the house to settle these issues once and for all.
Should we have babies? How many babies? Two babies? Six babies? Zero babies? Or should we run off into the woods and grow secret beans instead? Are the scary millennials coming to destroy your favorite crappy casual restaurant chains? Do we laugh because we’re scared? Matt Cornell of Boss Drop and [REDACTED] is here to help us figure this all out. The stakes have never been higher! Pancakes are promised (but have yet to be delivered). Threats are made. Space colonization dreams are dashed. A product line is pitched.
Mike Jones is back! We’re asking the big questions: did the Bicentennial Man have sex? Can holograms have children? Who killed Laura Palmer? Does the theology of The Book of Job seem kind of… monstrous? Also: our experiences with de-personalization and de-realization (DP/DR), The Matrix, religion, and spirituality. Then we get nerdy comparing magic systems in fiction. Good times.
We’re secretly making french fries the entire episode. Kristine the librarian immediately tries to seize control of my podcast. Corks are pretentious. Robots are cool. An argument over toast technique leads to real talk about what it’s like to grow up as the other. We live test a new method for getting the neighbors to play their thumpy-ass music at a reasonable volume. There’s no school like home school. Moms are calmed.
Cigarettes will be worth a lot of bullet money some day. Climate change won’t affect you unless you live on Earth. Jeremy wants to run off to live in the woods. 4chan turns nerds into White Nationalists. Methane turns earths into Venuses. The Internet turns celebrities into Twitter addicts. Earthships are metaphorically and literally cool. Are mole people the ultimate preppers?
S1 E2: Michael’s Underground Flying French Fry Fortress
00:00 / 1:03:06
1X
We make fun of vampires and robots. Deal with it. Also we unravel the dark secrets of the Pokemon universe, like how does the economy even work and are the pokemon secretly running the show? Whoa, real talk about creative career paths ensues. There are feelings. Michael and I bond over our mutual love of space magic and french fries, then plans are hatched for a post-apocalyptic underground french fry speakeasy. If any of that sounds appealing at all, you’ll have a real nice time, you big ol’ nerd.
S1 E1: Talon Talks About Board Games Instead of Ecocide
00:00 / 43:35
1X
First time listening? Maybe don’t start here. This podcast finds itself as it goes, so it’s probably a better idea to start with the latest episode or episode 9 then maybe come back here.
Am I getting better at Rimworld? Probably not, right? Talon played Watch the Skies, a long and complicated board game, with Seattle MegaGames. How does one breathe and clothe in the Quantum Realm? Headcanon is established to explain pew-pew laser sounds in space. I saw a lot of Disney direct to DVD movies. (Thanks, Family Movie Night.) We check out Tarzan’s abs. CGI animals look terrible. Shane Black is full of Christmas spirit. What the hell is Garfield? Talon’s had many gaming experiences.
