The Anti-Dystopians

Alina Utrata
  • 5.0 (4)
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • UPDATED BIMONTHLY

Is social media really destroying democracy? Should Facebook be considered a public utility? How does cryptocurrency affect state sovereignty? And what exactly is surveillance capitalism? For all your political questions about tech, this is The Anti-Dystopians. The Anti-Dystopians is hosted and produced by Alina Utrata. All episodes are freely available, wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the show on Twitter @AntiDystopians. To support the show, visit: bit.ly/3AApPN4 To subscribe to the email newsletter, visit: bit.ly/3kuGM5X Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

  1. 4D AGO

    Astronauts on Strike! Spaceports, Colonial Telescopes and Labor Unions in the Stars

    In this episode, Alina Utrata talks to Dr Kate Sammler, a geographer who looks at the intersection of science and politics in the oceans, atmospheres, and outer space. They discussed how colonialism and scientific exploration have long been entangled, from building telescopes on sacred indigenous land in Hawaii to James Cook claiming islands in the Pacific while following a star. They also talked about the little known construction of “SpacePorts,” or public transport hubs preparing the public for future travel in the stars—and why they’ve only been used as filming sets. Finally, they explain who exactly are the Autonomous Astronauts and why might the first labor strike in space already have happened. For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X. You can follow Alina Utrata on Bluesky at @alinau27.bsky.social All episodes of the Anti-Dystopians are hosted and produced by Alina Utrata and are freely available to all listeners. To support the production of the show, subscribe to the newsletter at bit.ly/3kuGM5X. Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 10m

  2. JAN 19

    "We Cannot Rely on Five Nerds": AI Urbanism from Amazon Go to Tech Sovereignty

    In this episode of the Anti-Dystopians, Alina Utrata talks to Casey Lynch, the Ramon y Cajal researcher in the Department of Geography at the University of Girona. Casey is a human geographer with interests in digital, political, urban, and labour geographies, as well as geographic thought and critical theory. They discussed that SNL skit about “Just Walk Out” Amazon Go stores, and why automated shopping never got off the ground; what iBuyer programmes are and if an AI can replace your real estate agent; and promising ideas about technological sovereignty and local community in Barcelona, so that we don’t just have to rely on “five nerds” all the time.  For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X. You can follow Alina Utrata on Bluesky at @alinau27.bsky.social All episodes of the Anti-Dystopians are hosted and produced by Alina Utrata and are freely available to all listeners. To support the production of the show, subscribe to the newsletter at bit.ly/3kuGM5X. Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 19m

  3. 12/17/2025

    A World of VCs in Miniature: Silicon Valley's Ideology

    On this episode, Alina Utrata talks to Olivier Jutel, a lecturer at the University of Otago and an expert in cyberlibertarianism. They discuss the ideology of many technology industry elites and the strange political ideas permeating through Silicon Valley. What makes these Sand Hill Road venture capitalists different from the East Coast banking establishment? Why are they imagining a world of venture capitalists in miniature? How does this relate to the Network State treatisie? Can you really “exit” or “LARP” a country into existence? And is this all just capitalism, or something else? For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X. You can follow Alina Utrata on Bluesky at @alinau27.bsky.social All episodes of the Anti-Dystopians are hosted and produced by Alina Utrata and are freely available to all listeners. To support the production of the show, subscribe to the newsletter at bit.ly/3kuGM5X. Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 2m

  4. 12/03/2025

    But Daddy, I Love Him (My ChatGPT Boyfriend): Robots and Loveability

    Alina Utrata talks to Dr Jenny Carla Moran, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow based at the Trinity Long Room Hub and a faculty member at TCD-TU Dublin Joint Centre for the Sociology of Humans and Machines. They discuss Jenny's research about robots and loveability. Why are so many people falling in love with ChatGPT partners? What does the trope of "true love's first kiss" show us about which robots are considered human? How does society proscribe the acceptable limits of love in both gendered and racial ways (or why men can only cry at football games)? What's the problem with apologizing to your hairbrush when you drop it? And, most importantly, do you remember Spongebob Square Pants's underwater computer robot wife? For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X. You can follow Alina Utrata on Bluesky at @alinau27.bsky.social All episodes of the Anti-Dystopians are hosted and produced by Alina Utrata and are freely available to all listeners. To support the production of the show, subscribe to the newsletter at bit.ly/3kuGM5X. Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1 hr

  5. 11/12/2025

    FROM THE ARCHIVE: The eye of the tiger: conservation tech, rural surveillance & the patriarchy in Indian wildlife reserves

    FROM THE ARCHIVE: In this episode, Alina Utrata talks to Dr Trishant Simlai, a conservation researcher studying the politics and geographies of wildlife conservation in India, who just received his PhD in the Department of Geography at Cambridge. They discuss wildlife surveillance in the Corbett Tiger Reserve, as well as conservation’s colonial origins, how camera traps can be used to uphold the patriarchy, and when workplace surveillance technologies literally lead to tiger attacks. All episodes of the Anti-Dystopians are hosted and produced by Alina Utrata and are freely available to all listeners. To support the production to the show, visit: bit.ly/3AApPN4 Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    49 min

  6. 11/05/2025

    Why Finance Guys Are Trying to Offshore the Planet

    On this episode, Alina Utrata talks to Connor O'Brien, a PhD Candidate at University of Cambridge researching a conceptual history of good governance and sovereign debt. They discussed a little-known tool for climate finance called "debt for nature swaps". While they might sound nice, they're actually an insidious tactic of finance guys taking control of government policies amidst the green energy transition. But also they discussed how these financial tools also show more broadly the power of international financial regimes and their relationship to state sovereignty, local power and control and authoritarian or private power.  For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X. You can follow Alina Utrata on Bluesky at @alinau27.bsky.social All episodes of the Anti-Dystopians are hosted and produced by Alina Utrata and are freely available to all listeners. To support the production of the show, subscribe to the newsletter at bit.ly/3kuGM5X. Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 1m

  7. 10/29/2025

    From the Archive: Nationalize Gmail!!!

    FROM THE ARCHIVE: Alina Utrata talks with Josh Lappen, a fellow Californian and environmental historian researching at Oxford University, who studies some of the most important technology there is: critical infrastructure. They discuss why hundreds of Elon Musks can’t (and won’t) solve climate change, the government funding and politics behind many technology entrepreneurs’ businesses, why low-tech solutions and indigenous practices are critical sources of knowledge, and the surprising number of technological innovations enabled by the US Postal Service (including Amazon’s e-commerce business and commercial flight). Plus, is PG&E really the worst company, what’s going on with the Texas blackouts, and should the government give you an email (and a bank account)? For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X. You can follow Alina Utrata on Bluesky at @alinau27.bsky.social All episodes of the Anti-Dystopians are hosted and produced by Alina Utrata and are freely available to all listeners. To support the production of the show, subscribe to the newsletter at bit.ly/3kuGM5X. Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    58 min

  8. 08/25/2025

    On Dystopia, Fearing the Future and Political Imagination

    This week, the Anti-Dystopians talks to an expert in dystopia! Matthew Cole is a scholar of political theory and an Assistant Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences Binghamton University. His book “Fear the Future: Dystopia and Political Imagination in the 20th century” explores the history of dystopian thinking and why so many dystopian books have captured our political imagination (or indeed, accurately predicted our political future). We discuss the history of utopianism and dystopianism, whyy the emerged so prominently in the 20th century, and how dystopian literature and slogans (from “Make Atwood Fiction Again” to “1984 Was Not an Instruction Manual”) have come to characterize today’s political resistance movements.  For a complete reading list from the episode, check out the Anti-Dystopians substack at bit.ly/3kuGM5X. You can follow Alina Utrata on Bluesky at @alinau27.bsky.social All episodes of the Anti-Dystopians are hosted and produced by Alina Utrata and are freely available to all listeners. To support the production of the show, subscribe to the newsletter at bit.ly/3kuGM5X. Nowhere Land by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4148-nowhere-land License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    1h 18m
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About

Is social media really destroying democracy? Should Facebook be considered a public utility? How does cryptocurrency affect state sovereignty? And what exactly is surveillance capitalism? For all your political questions about tech, this is The Anti-Dystopians. The Anti-Dystopians is hosted and produced by Alina Utrata. All episodes are freely available, wherever you get your podcasts. Follow the show on Twitter @AntiDystopians. To support the show, visit: bit.ly/3AApPN4 To subscribe to the email newsletter, visit: bit.ly/3kuGM5X Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Information

  • Creator
    Alina Utrata
  • Years Active
    2020 - 2026
  • Episodes
    58
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Alina Utrata
  • Show Website
    The Anti-Dystopians

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