anarchySF - an anarchist, science fiction podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

We never left, so we are not back. We just like to keep you guessing about episode times. This time we talk about the brilliant Saint of Bright Doors, a decolonial multifaceted dark fantasy novel that's quite a thinker, but also pretty accessible. Give it a read!

Eden recommends playing "Laysara: Summit Kingdom", which kinda fits the theme of this episode.

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 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 

We talk about a medley of Kurt Vonnegut books, how they play around with cynicism and sentimentalism, how they're anarchist and humble and absurdist.

Near the end Eden mentions this paper by David Graeber and David Wengrow:
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/62756/1/__lse.ac.uk_storage_LIBRARY_Secondary_libfile_shared_repository_Content_Graeber%2C%20D_Farewell%20to%20childhood_Graeber_Farewell%20to%20childhood_2015.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1tVc7d35wbjGhGmH-L2VnhDqUHEMaSiMH0ubzQEaUhZlJcxSX-f4_H80w

We talk about the video game franchise Dishonored. Topics discussed:

- The means of magical production

- Sociological storytelling

- Resentiment

- Hypocritical opiate (of the masses)

- What good is an individual?

- What to do after a revolution

We had a great time talking about Oval, by Elvia Wilk. It's a complicated little story about being an artist in Berlin and watching as the world around you burns, or turns.

Discussions:

- Leftism's "call to action"

- Reciprocity vs. Transactions

- The Relationship Between Hi-Tech and Art

- How Tech Falls Apart

- Human Nature and Economics

References:

"Hauntology" is discussed in Derrida's "Spectres of Marx"

We mention a video by the great youtube channel space commune, about art and gentrification:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJqBAqM-8KU&ab_channel=SpaceCommune

We talk about a cool little action movie that didn't do well in theatres but has its own little place in our hearts with its scathing critiques of bad environmentalism, bad identity politics, and bad cyberpunk. 

Paper on design fiction (though it doesn't use the term):

https://www.hellofosta.com/writing/the-future-mundane

We talk about the Rivers Solomon's thought provoking and gut punching "An Unkindness of Ghosts". But we promise there are no spooks! Some rough discussion topics though (Body manipulation, sexual assault and rape).

Topics discussed:

- The pneumatics of power

- The revolutionary potential of food

- Afropessimism

- Racialization

- Midwives

- Gendered Racism

External reading referenced:

- Article about Afropessimism:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/20/the-argument-of-afropessimism

- More critical view on Afropessimism:

https://www.academia.edu/44499560/Nick_Mitchell_The_View_from_Nowhere_On_Frank_Wildersons_Afropessimism_Spectre_November_2020_

- Desert:

https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/anonymous-desert

We talk about the incredible film adaptation to the early 20th century epic poem Aniara. Pretty depressing stuff, but we refuse to be doomers.

Discussion topics:

- Why are the people who cause calamity in charge of fixing it?

- Why do we obey?

- Why do we work?

- How do temporary hierarchies become permanent?

- Opium for the masses

- The complicity of scientists 

Lindsey Ellis video essay on three act structure:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0QO7YuKKdI&ab_channel=LindsayEllis

Oliver Thorn's video essay on airport security:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyzd_a6vLWY&ab_channel=PhilosophyTube

On "efficiency" compromising the readiness of hospitals for a pandemic:

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2020/09/gambling-with-your-health

We talk about Jeff Vandermeer's New-Weird book - Annihilation, a book about climate horror and accepting uncomfortable changes.

Issues discussed:

- The horror of climate change

- Unintelligible politics

- The failure of facts and logic

- Doing better than Lovecraftian racism

- Becoming other

- Permeable boundaries