26 episodes
anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcast Yanai Sened / Eden Kupermintz
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- Fiction
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4.5 • 6 Ratings
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The podcast companion to anarchysf.com, an archive of anarchist science fiction.
During each episode, we'll analyze one piece of science fiction media which explores themes relevant to left-wing ideology.
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Can we fix it? Maybe! Kinda! With Ixion
We talk about the sci-fi strategy game Ixion and its somber adventure through space.
Some topics discussed:
- Shameful space
- Space is silence and death
- Gravestone science
- Accelerating the flows
- The eternal recurrence of the same
- Middle management euphemisms
Referenced Some More News video 'Jeff Bezons Learned Nothing in Space':
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7TQFFH9gj8&ab_channel=SomeMoreNews -
The Potential and Limitations of Clowning on Billionaires on Space Sweepers
This is an especially rambly episode of us talking about the excellent kitchen sink space romp movie Spacesweepers.
Topics discussed:
- Billionaires hate humanity
- The limits of Villainry
- What internationalism looks like
- The ethics/politics distinction -
Raging in alliance with The Only Harmless Great Thing
We read Brooke Bolander's short and painful novelette and spoke about:
- Nuclear semiotics
- The uses of violence
- The master's tools
- Being pushed to the corner -
Optimist Awakenings with Citizen Sleeper
Citizen Sleeper is touching and optimistic without being saccharine and might be just what we need in these trying times.
The podcast opens with us venting our feelings and thoughts about another demonstration of incredible violence from Israel against the Palestinian people. Free Palestine!
Then we talk some themes. Here's what you can expect:
Gaming under capitalism
Vicious and virtuous cycles
Refugee experience
Care ethics - A softer world is possible)
Intra-class struggles
Radical embodiment (Yes, Eden talks about the body some more) -
Repo Virtual repossesses Cyberpunk
We talk about Corey J White's modern vision of Cyberpunk: Repo Virtual, reimagining the genre and its radical potential.
Topics discussed:
- Data creep
- Radical potential of games
- Firearms in smart cities
- Cyberpunk's questionable beginnings
- Opting in / Opting out
- Identity politics and data dystopia
Referenced pieces:
- Video discussing (among other things) how youtube manufactures identities:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41B5YonixBs&ab_channel=F.DSignifier
- Watched over by machines of loving grace:
https://allpoetry.com/All-Watched-Over-By-Machines-Of-Loving-Grace -
Spire, racialization and resistance
We discussed the role-playing game Spire, with its different ways of representing oppression and the struggle against it.
- Epistemic vice and epistemic resistance
- Construction of knowledge and infrastructure space
- Adevnturism and the challenge of struggling in a hopeless fight
- Good weird and bad weird
Links:
Eden's podcast appearance about magical realism and much more:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/inner-experience-62792132?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copy_to_clipboard&utm_campaign=postshare
Eden's essay on the topic:
https://www.notthesky.com/posts/essays/on-becoming-a-god/
Customer Reviews
Superb
I fell in love with this podcast when I found their discussion on “
Random Acts of Senseless Violence. Fell in love again when they introduced me to Aniara. One of the best podcasts on SF period.
A Solid SF Culture Show!
It's always interesting to see a completely different approach to interpreting science fiction. If the title of this particular show doesn't give things away, it takes an anarchist politics approach, which would seem odd except a lot of anarchistic thought ties into many of the very things you'd expect, from explorations of societal collapse to critiques of colonialism and on and on. So when I found this show, I was, well, pleasantly surprised to find more of the kind of critical examination I love in an SF/F podcast. Plus, the hosts, Yanai and Eden, clearly know their stuff and love talking about SF new and old.
Subscribe. Learn a thing or two :P