Today we’re joined by Ali Rıza Taşkale to talk about a piece he wrote for Aeon called “the looting of science fiction.” Previous listeners of TFTT would know that I’ve talked about this a fair bit because I don’t think we can understand the ongoing dominance of techbro billionaires over our politics without understanding how they routinely ignore the core messages of works of sci-fi or fantasy that many of us know and love. It’s like that metaphor-turned-meme by Alex Blechman which goes like this: Sci-Fi Author: In my book I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale. Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Torment Nexus from classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus. But ranting about Musk’s bastardisation of Star Trek and Thiel’s bastardisation of Lord of the Rings would be one thing. Understanding their material impact is quite another. As much as I could spend hours insulting these two men and other insufferable men, I wouldn’t be doing you – my dear listener – a service by limiting myself to that. So allow me to introduce you to what Taşkale called materialised science fiction. To borrow from a paper of his: “The most consequential illiberal infrastructure now being constructed may not be emerging from political parties or state institutions at all. It is being built by a small cohort of tech oligarchs” who don’t know how to fucking read. I added that last bit.Admin: Patreons get this episode before November so they’d have time to register for the class. If you’re listening to this after November and wish to take the class, please send me an email and send me a message on Signal expressing your interest. Once I get the 2027 dates sorted I’ll message you with the dates and you can decide then if you wanna book it. It’s really important that I know how many people are in each class so please message me asap. I also wanna make the case for joining the Patreon of TFTT at Patreon.com/thefirethesetimesNot only do you get early access to everything I do as well as other perks such as the monthly hangouts and exclusive video interviews, but you only need to commit to the first year. It’s cheaper to subscribe on a yearly basis anyway, but I understand that not everyone can commit for longer than that. If that’s you, please know that you can continue being on the Patreon for free after that initial year. Just message me closer to the date and I’ll send you a free invite. That initial support is, I’m hoping, enough for me to make this project financially sustainable (and get a producer), and I’m grateful for the 200 or so listeners who currently support TFTT on Patreon. The Star Trek pod: Resistance is Fertile produced by the Collective of Anarchist WritersAli’s recs:Movie: Distant (Uzak) by Nuri Bilge CeylanMovie: Blade Runner 2049Book: The Disposessed by Ursula Le GuinNewsletter: Subscribe to⁠ ⁠⁠Hauntologies⁠Social Media: I'm on⁠ ⁠⁠Bluesky⁠ and⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠.Contact: To collaborate, reach out on ⁠ayoub@thefirethesetimes.com⁠ / Signal @ Ayoub.02Credit: Elia Ayoub (host, sound editor, episode design),⁠ ⁠⁠the rosa artist⁠ (TFTT theme design, 2026-),⁠ ⁠⁠Rap and Revenge⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Music),⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wenyi Geng⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (TFTT theme design, 2022-2026),⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Hisham Rifai⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FTP theme design),⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Molly Crabapple⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (FTP team profile pics) and⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Antidote Zine⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ (Transcriptions).