Different Worlds

Eliot
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Different Worlds digs into the big ideas inside works of fiction — sci-fi novels, horror movies, Korean cinema, the Marvel universe, and more. Eliot, a recovering journalist, and rotating cast of guest hosts break down works like the Three Body Problem and Squid Game, looking at how they speak to our dystopian late-period capitalist smartphone-absorbed world. What do these stories mean for our own worldview — and do they even inspire real-world action? Spoiler warning: the show includes spoilers, and aims to get you excited enough to read or watch the spoilt work on your own.

Episodes

  1. Sep 19

    Thoughts on Climate and our Personal Carbon Footprints, with Annapolis Friends Meeting's Patty Robinson

    00:02:00  Introducing Patty Robinson of Annapolis Friends Meeting and talking about living in New York City 00:11:15 How Patty got introduced to Quakerism and discussing Quakerism vs. Unitarianism 00:16:45 A digression on community without church and the Masons 00:20:35 Humanity’s impact on the natural world, and earlier acts before the climate struggle:  70s pollution regulation by Nixon, and the Ozone Layer campaign of the 80s and 90s 00:23:30 Patty on why Climate matters to her 00:27:40  Climate change as a force multiplier for every form of human suffering, and witnessing from social media the glacier flooding in Nepal.  Considering the impacts closer to home. 00:36:15 Patty calling for talking about the problem with friends to build demand for politicians to act.  Eliot calls out individuals can reduce carbon footprints with solar, EVs, and life decisions. 00:39:30 Eliot’s motivation:  Even if we don’t hit a target on controlling warming, each incremental amount of emissions and warming is a multiplier for suffering. Individual people today are at peak leverage for emissions, considering all humans in the past and future of the species.  Our individual vote / consumption matters. 00:41:41 The parable of the boy and the starfish 00:46:05  How long before we collectively get it together to do the right thing on climate? 00:50:01 Saving money with solar and EVs, and the up front expense that stops countries and individuals from saving money if they can’t afford the initial investment. 00:56:35 Annapolis Friends’ Callan Benson and her climate activism 01:01:35 Climate defeatism and pessimism, and how hard it is to escape.  What do you do when you accept that climate change is real, and our “normal” behaviors like flying and driving are adding to it? Show Notes link:  Article on Kallan Benson - https://www.friendsjournal.org/giving-up-childhood-to-avert-climate-catastrophe/

  2. Aug 20

    Ep. 3 - Christopher Nolan's Odyssey

    Eliot and Brad, longtime friends, talk about the point of the Odyssey, translations of the Odyssey, Christopher Nolan's Odyssey, and what is going through people's minds in IMAX theaters around the nation watching this monster of a film. 00:01:30  Welcoming Brad Gunson, writer of the Different Worlds theme, Odyssey fan, trombonist, composer, and co-host for the episode! 00:03:45  Appreciating Monoculture in its declining years 00:07:10  Brad describes reading the Odyssey in various translations, in the NICU and other venues 00:11:15  What was the point of the original Odyssey?   Bards performing for rich people 00:16:00  A review of Nolan’s Odyssey by two infrequent theater-goers;  recapping Nolan’s themes and greatest hits 00:22:00   How the book is different - focus on royal court, partying, “that life” - what it meant to listeners before the book was even written 00:24:20  Controversies of Nolan’s Odyssey - culture war and politics 00:28:00  Leaving Gods out of the movie, unpacking themes of the movie 00:31:00  Cerci, Sinon, and the performances of Samantha Morton and Elliott Page 00:36:05  The darkness of the Odyssey as it extends to Nolan’s overall catalogue.   What is the point of it?  Who UNDERSTANDS what the movie means when the lights come on at the end? 00:40:40  Enjoying a good doom movie as in SOME ways it feels like the world is ending.  Debating the evidence for an imminent apocalypse with Jehovah’s Witnesses IRL 00:49:20 “Are we the baddies??”   pre-ambling Emily Wilson’s critiques of Nolan’s Odyssey and shouting out Amy Goodman.    00:54:15  Emily Wilson’s “Tell me about a complicated man” and Brad’s criticism of the Cyclops leaving-the-cave scene 00:59:45   Sailor Brad talks sailing and the Odyssey and hobbies of antiquity, like jazz music 01:06:15   Brad’s never completed Odyssey project, Stavvy, and the Baltimore musicXcomedy scene 01:10:30   Brad’s trolling of Eliot peaks 01:13:35  Redditors and NYT agree on the “Sea People” and moral code theme of Nolan’s Odyssey.  We ARE the Sea People, in a few decades of recent U.S. foreign policy 01:22:00  How do people across the political spectrum like the movie?  Is anyone in the middle enjoying this movie for non-political reasons?  Was the MAGA / whitewing backlash a marketing psyop?  Like Cracker Barrel?? 01:27:40  Moral decay in JD Vance’s defense of Richard Nixon, a Trojan Horse to spark moral decline.   The despair of losing a disappearing news monoculture of shared facts.

  3. Jul 16

    Ep. 2 - Childhood's End

    Eliot and Carlo talk about libraries, science fiction, some things that don’t age well in 20th century fiction, and what we learned from Arthur C. Clarke’s classic sci-fi novel Childhood’s End. 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:30 Meet Carlo 00:09:50 Watercooler book recommendations, library habits00:13:30 Section 1: Earth & The Overlords 00:20:00  Eliot starts kvetching about unrealistic sociopolitics00:28:25  More complaints!  Dialogue and Clarke’s dry tone - grounded in a history of British stuffy fiction00:34:00  Section 2: The Golden Age - Clarkian futurism, and Clarke’s sexism and racism00:49:25  Critical consideration of the idea that super-abundance would be evenly distributed by human society / Utopian framing 00:58:30  Section 3: The Last Generation 01:10:00  The ultimate spoilers:  Childhood’s End and how parental reactions land, as parents

  4. May 14

    Ep. 1 - Appleseed

    Eliot and Bonnie talk about sci-fi and fantasy fiction, world-building, Matt Bell's Appleseed, and its themes of technobro dystopia, global warming, mass extinctions (and fauns). 00:00:00 Intro 00:01:16 Today’s show + Introducing Bonnie 00:06:33 Bonnie’s reading habits - fantasy and her alphabetical reading project for 2026 00:17:20 Apocalyptic fiction, The Light at the End of the World, Melancholia 00:25:20 …finally getting to Appleseed and its tech exec protagonists 00:37:40 Fauns, men, and humanity as inherently destructive 00:43:25 Future fauns deep into a dystopian future 00:51:50 Geoengineering, speciecide, and AMOC disruption 00:57:40 Bonnie reads a quote, discussion of climate footprints 01:06:10 duality of life and an Annie Dillard quote from Appleseed 01:10:00 Imagining the same places over vast jumps in time 01:19:20 the fates of fauns

  • 4 Episodes

About

Different Worlds digs into the big ideas inside works of fiction — sci-fi novels, horror movies, Korean cinema, the Marvel universe, and more. Eliot, a recovering journalist, and rotating cast of guest hosts break down works like the Three Body Problem and Squid Game, looking at how they speak to our dystopian late-period capitalist smartphone-absorbed world. What do these stories mean for our own worldview — and do they even inspire real-world action? Spoiler warning: the show includes spoilers, and aims to get you excited enough to read or watch the spoilt work on your own.

Information

  • Creator
    Eliot
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    4
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Eliot
  • Show Website
    Different Worlds