week 32 / 2026: nature and culture
In this episode: we wander into the forests of medieval Europe, return with the underlying imagery of Enlightenment and Romanticist thought, and then feel for their bones beneath the skin of the present.
worldbuilding
week 31 / 2026: art and artifice
In this episode: a long hard look at the distinction between art and artifice, and what it means to make things for their own sake. Plus: technical aspects of the new Ann Leckie novel!
week 29 / 2026: protocols and performances
In this episode: Scott Smith on “protocol communities”; the face as the site of surgical interventions into reality itself; and another look at “body futurism” as dark enantiodromia.
week 28 / 2026: flats and boxcars
In this episode: can you make the words come without effort? You might think your LLM is helping, but really it’s a fast track to empty mediocrity. In the meantime, why not get a grip on your curiosity and (re)learn to enjoy reading books the old-fashioned way?
week 27 / 2026: progress and myopia
This week, a debunking of bio-factory protein production, which leads us to a broader look at solutionism, and the frustrating impossibility of simply swapping one metanarrative for another. Plus, the short fiction of Iain M Banks...
week 26 / 2026: filtration and modulation
Take a peek inside to find a strong point of view on point-of-view, to learn the differences between writing for the page and for the screen, and to consider the importance of abeyance in our dealings with futurity…
week 24 / 2026: showing and telling
Like science fiction literature, a well-executed work of experiential futuring can look prophetic in hindsight—but it’s what they get wrong that tells you the most in hindsight. Plus: when to show, and when to tell?