Optimist Awakenings with Citizen Sleeper

We talk about how to critique the Fascist sentiments in Warhammer 40k, without worrying too much about the degrees of intent or satire behind it.

We talk about Ammonite, a somewhat under-the-radar excellent sci-fi book about a virus killing all the men in a far-off planet and exploring indigenous lands as a colonizer anthropologist Themes explored: - Anthrophopolitics and diversity within identity - Biopolitics and virology - "Going Native" (TM) - Some Ursula LeGuin themes Eden's ep of death-sentence about The Dawn of Everything: https://soundcloud.com/death-sentence-pod/david-wengrow-and-david-graeber-the-dawn-of-everything

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

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

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

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)

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

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/

Mordew is a down-to-earth, complex fantasy world, and a promising beginning to a promised trilogy. We talk about: - Realist fantasy - Materialist morality - Knowledge and Protagony - Mark Fisher's Red Plenty See much more anarchist science fiction at anarchysf.com External links: Protagony, by Innuendo Studios: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R943_eAvnWw&t=75s&ab_channel=InnuendoStudios

We dive deep into "The Matrix (1999)" and a little bit into the sequels. No Resurrections here as this was recorded before it came out. Topics discussed: - What is the Matrix? - Snooty philosophers vs. the Matrix - Abolishing everything - The Messiah Complex - Do we want to escape to the Desert of the Real? - Fighting together Editing took a while, so references to current events are referring to about a month ago, including the sad discussion of Charles Mills' death. Charles Mills' NYT obituary (many more exist): https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/27/us/charles-w-mills-dead.html CCK Philosophy's video on Baudrillard and the Matrix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf9J35yzM3E&t=804s&ab_channel=Jonas%C4%8Ceika-CCKPhilosophy