Category Archives: Dystopia

Robert Stark interviews Musician Jody Coombes of Star Noir

1980's, 80's music, Absolute Valentine, aesthetics, Art, Asia, Asian Culture, automation, Basic Income, Blade Runner, California, Cinema, Cities, Comic Books, Culture, Cyberpunk, Depeche Mode, Dystopia, England, Film, Film Noire, Florian Renner, FM-84, Futurism, History, Hong Kong, horror, horror films, Industrial Music, J.G. Michael, Japan, Japanese Culture, Jody Coombes, John Carpenter, Las Vegas, Leisure Suit Larry, London, Music, Neon, New Retro Wave, Perturbator, Photography, Psychology, Retro Futurism, Sam Kevorkian, Science Fiction, Star Noir, Stranger Things, Synthwave, The Summoner, Transhumanism, Travel, Vaporwave, Video Games, Wilderness, William Gibson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark, Sam Kevorkian, and J.G. Michael talk to Illustrator, Photographer, Video Game Designer, and Musician Jody Coombes. Check out his music under the label Star Noir on Facebook and bandcamp, and his photography and illustrations on Flickr.

Topic:

Working on video games including Call of Duty and Need for Speed
Cyberpunk games such as Shadowrun and Beneath a Steel Sky
The New Retro Wave and Darkwave genres
The  Cyberpunk genre
How To Make Synthwave Retrowave with Timecop 1983 in FL Studio
The visual component in making Synth music
Jody’s first EP Psycho City
Jody’s first-ever gig in London at the Retro Future Fest
Jody’s illustrations and 80’s Retro-Futurist aesthetics
80’s Action and Horror films
80’s Video Game Arcades; London Trocadero
The new series Stranger Things and the film Drive
Jody’s photography of locations including the UK, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Nova Scotia
Sinofuturism
“Design is not art….. Design is an exercise in psychology”
Robert Stark’s Paintings which fuse Retro Futurist genres
Transhumanism, Automation, and the Basic Income
The Pilot project “Lost Future” about a man who lost his future
Upcoming projects and performances

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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark talks to Anatoly Karlin about Transhumanism & Effective Altruism

Altruism, Anatoly Karlin, automation, demographics, Dystopia, Economics, Effective Altruism, Eugenics, Futurism, Gender, Hank Pellissier, Human Bio Diversity, Immigration, IQ, Overpopulation, Philosophy, Rationalism, Sam Kevorkian, Science, Science Fiction, technology, Transhumanism, Utopia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and co-host Sam Kevorkian talk to Anatoly Karlin about Transhumanism and Effective Altruism. Anatoly blogs for The Unz Review and is on the Russian language podcast rogpr.

Topics:

The philosophical roots of Effective Altruism in rationalism and how it uses reason to determine the most effective ways to benefit others
Anatoly’s article Immigration and Effective Altruism
Steve Sailer on U.N. population projections for Africa and the Carrying Capacity of the Global Population
Hank Pellissier and his charity in Africa based on Effective Altruism
Psychometrics and Pellissier’s book Brighter Brains: 225 Ways to Elevate or Injure IQ
Positive Eugenics, IQ and fertility, and fertility preferences
The Transhumanist and Futurist movements
Paper Review: Artificial Wombs
Radical Life Extension
CRISPR gene editing and intelligence augmentation
How Transhumanism could exacerbate inequality
The Technological Singularity and the age of intelligent machines
Cybernetics and the Neural Lace
Anatoly’s essay A Short History of the Third Millennium which predicts a future based on current trends without Transhumanism
Anatoly’s upcoming book on Neo-Malthusianism

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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark talks to Brandon Adamson about the Film Cherry 2000

1980's, aesthetics, Brandon Adamson, Cherry 2000, Cinema, Cities, comedy, Culture, Dystopia, Environment, Erotica, Feminism, Film, Futurism, Immigration, Las Vegas, Love, Mad Max, Overpopulation, Pamela Gidley, Phoenix, Pilleater, Pornography, relationships, Sam Kevorkian, Science, Science Fiction, Sex Robots, Sexuality, Stepford Wives, Suburbia, technology, Transhumanism, Travel, Trip, Twin Peaks, Urbanism, Wilderness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark, new Co-host Sam Kevorkian, and retiring co-host Pilleater talk to Brandon Adamson about the Film Cherry 2000(1987). Brandon blogs at AltLeft.com, is the author of Beatnik Fascism, and has a new youtube channel Self Checkout

Topics:

Brandon’s review Cherry 2015 – If Loving A Fembot Is Artificial, I Don’t Want To Be Genuine
The main character Sam Treadwell who is a romantic guy who still longs for a traditional loving relationship and finds courtship with a female android
The depiction of sexual encounters and relationships with real women as complicated legal transactions requiring lawyers, reduced to merely emotionless business arrangements
Contrasting the film with the “Stepford Wives” where the men kill their loving yet sassy wives in exchange for robot sex slaves
How the issue of sex robots has become relevant again and it’s implications for the future
The ending of the film where Sam falls for the tracker, “Edith”(Melanie Griffith) whom he hires to help locate the robot
The theme of a journey and the popularity of road trip films in the 80’s and 90’s(ex. Chevy Chase in “Vegas Vacation”)
Pamela Gidley as Cherry 2000 and her role in the Twin Peaks prequel “Fire Walk With Me”
The 80’s aesthetic of the film
The dystopian theme where cities are deserted and overrun with criminals; comparisons to “Mad Max”
Locales depicted in the film including Las Vegas, the Hoover Dam, and the Citadel Outlet Mall
Self Checkout – Becoming a New Suburbanist

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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark talks to Giovanni Dannato about The Post Scarcity Economy

aesthetics, Alt Center, Alternative Left, Alternative Right, American Culture, Architecture, arcology, Art, automation, Basic Income, capitalism, censorship, Cities, Conservatives, Corporations, Crime, Culture, Donald Trump, Dystopia, Economics, education, Environment, Eugenics, Feminism, Freedom of Speech, Futurism, Gender, Giovanni Dannato, Globalization, Healthcare, Human Bio Diversity, Immigration, IQ, Korea, Las Vegas, Leftism, Libertarianism, Middle Class, NEETs, New Urbanism, Oligarchy, Paul Fussell, Pilleater, Police, Police State, Political Correctness, Politics, Post-scarcity economy, Prison, Prison Industrial Complex, Radical Center, Sexuality, Skyscrapers, Social Media, social status, Socialism, Suburbia, technology, Third Position, Third Way Economics, Urbanism, Utopia, Wealth, welfare state

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and co-host Pilleater talk to Giovanni Dannato. Giovanni blogs at Colony of Commodus and is the author of A Kingdom For the Introvert. Follow Giovanni on Twitter.

Topics:

On A Post Labor Scarcity Economy
On A Basic Guaranteed Living
Some Form of State Capitalism Is the Future
State Capitalism in the Internet Age
Much US Dysfunction Comes From Post-Scarcity Denial
Urban Land Management In A Post Scarcity Economy
The Leisure Economy
NEETs, Lumpenproles, and the Leisure Economy

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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark interviews Jeffery J. Smith

Aldous Huxley, Architecture, automation, Basic Income, capitalism, Cities, comedy, Corporate Welfare, Corporations, Dystopia, Eco-Cities, Economics, Ecotopia, energy, Environment, Futurism, Georgism, Hong Kong, humor, income inequality, Jeffery J. Smith, Literature, Mass Transit, Oligarchy, Perfect Timing, Politics, Portland, Post-scarcity economy, Robert Putnam, Science, Science Fiction, Singapore, Skyscrapers, social capital, Social Isolation, Socialism, Suburbia, Time Travel, Urbanism, Utopia, Water, Wealth, Zoning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JEFFERY J. SMITH published The Geonomist, which won a California GreenLight Award, has appeared in both the popular press (e.g.,TruthOut) and academic journals (e.g., USC’s “Planning and Markets”), been interviewed on radio and TV, lobbied officials, testified before the Russian Duma, conducted research (e.g., for Portland’s mass transit agency), and recruited activists and academics to Progress.org. A member of the International Society for Ecological Economics and of Mensa, he lives amidst the beauty of Northern California. Jeffery is currently Chief Editor at Progress.org.

Topics:

Jeffery Smith’s new science fiction novel Perfect Timing about time travel to a future society
How the book conveys the tone of Hitchhiker’s Guide, offers insights like Stranger in a Strange Land, and presents an upbeat alternative to Brave New World
The theme and implementation of a Basic Income in the future society
Why a basic income is necessary and ways to implement it
The artificial notion of the work week and the book The Overworked American
The Post-scarcity economy and how the surplus of wealth is concentrated in the top 1%
The theme of Utopia; Aldous Huxley’s utopian novel Island
The future society of Geotopia, the theme of Ecotopia, and the book by Ernest Callenbach
Ecological based economics; Herman Daly’s Steady State Economics
Geonomics, Georgism, and the land value tax
How a land value tax is different from a property tax and leads to more efficient land use
City Density—Friend of Trip Efficiency
The book Better NOT Bigger: How to Take Control of Urban Growth and Improve your Community
Jeffery Smith’s upcoming book on measuring the indicators of land value

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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark talks to Count Fosco about the Film Blast From The Past

1950's, 1960's, 1990's, aesthetics, Alicia Silverstone, Alien Covenant, Blast From The Past, Brendan Fraser, Christopher Walken, Cinema, Clueless, comedy, Culture, Dystopia, Environment, Fashion, Film, Gender, humor, Los Angeles, Mid-Century Modern, Pilleater, Psychology, psychosocialism, relationships, Sexuality, Tess Haubrich, The Babysitter, The Crush

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and co-host Pilleater talk to Count Isidor Fosco about the Film Blast From The Past(1999) starring Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone.

Topics:

The plot summery; Adam Webber(Brendan Fraser) comes out from a nuclear fallout shelter after 35 years
The culture shock when Adam emerges in the 90’s and thinks he is in a zombie overrun dystopia
Adam’s father scientist Dr. Calvin Webber(Christopher Walken) who builds the fallout shelter
The stereotype of a 1950’s father vs. Calvin as a Utopian and idealist
The beginning of the film during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War Theme, and the cultural “nuclear war”
The “education” of Adam; his homeschooling makes him appear “aristocratic” to women
The bunker as an analogy for isolating one self from society and the pros and cons of doing so
How Adam manages to win the Psychosocial narrative by playing by his own rules
The concept of “Eternal Return” as it is shown at the end of the film
The trend of having nostalgia for past eras and the mid century aesthetic
Political agendas in film and conservatives uncreative critiques of Hollywood
The formulaic narrative of romantic comedies and how it works for the film
The comic element in the miscommunications and what makes good comedy
Brendan Fraser as a 90’s icon, his comic style, and his other films
The allure of Alicia Silverstone and how her character compares to her roles in films such as The Crush, Clueless, and The Babysitter
The Transformation of Alicia Silverstone’s character Eve
LA depicted in the film, the San Fernando Valley, and Pasadena
Pilleater on Tess Haubrich as Rosenthal in the new film Alien Covenant


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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark and Richard Wolstencroft discuss The Film Dark City

1990's, aesthetics, Akira, Alex Proyas, alienation, Architecture, Art, Art Deco, Australia, Cinema, Cities, Count Isidor Fosco, Culture, Dark City, David Lynch, Dystopia, Edward Hopper, Film, Film Noire, Ghost in a Shell, Hollywood, horror, horror films, Jennifer Connelly, Metropolis, Mid-Century Modern, Mythology, Nihilism, Philosophy, Pilleater, Plato, Psychology, Retro Futurism, Richard Wolstencroft, Science Fiction, Steampunk, Surrealism, The Matrix, Utopia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark, co-host Pilleater, and Count Isidor Fosco, talk to filmmaker Richard Wolstencroft about the film Dark City(1998) directed by Alex Proyas.

Topics:

Australian director Alex Proyas, his background in Punk, and his style
Proyas’s films The Crow, Gods of Egypt, and Knowing
Proyas rebelling against the conformity of Hollywood Cinema
Comparisons to the Matrix which came out a year later and the theme of a meta reality
The setting of the City in a Space Ship disconnected from earth, the theme of parallel universes, and comparisons to the Truman Show
The role of “the Others” in the film; the metaphor for powerful people who manipulate reality from behind the scenes
How the others switch peoples memories and give them false memories; comparisons to Ghost in a Shell
The Gothic and Neo Noire Genres
The aesthetics of the film; Decopunk, Metropolis, Edward Hopper, and other influences
The irony of dystopian films is that they often succeed in creating utopian aesthetics
The films success in building upon the sense of mystery
The theme of man becoming a “God Like” figure restructuring society as a utopia
Plato’s allegory of the Cave and the Ship of Theseus
The symbolism of Shell Beach
The directors cut vs. the theatrical cut

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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark, Pilleater, & Richard Wolstencroft discuss Ghost in a Shell

1980's, aesthetics, Akira, Alternative Right, animation, Anime, Architecture, Asia, Asian Aryanism, Asian Culture, Blade Runner, China, Cinema, Cities, Culture, Cyberpunk, Dystopia, Film, Futurism, Ghost in a Shell, Globalization, Hong Kong, Liberalism, Martin Heidegger, Mishima A Life in Four Chapters, Music, Nationalism, Paul Schrader, Philosophy, Pilleater, Political Correctness, Psychology, Retro Futurism, Richard Wolstencroft, Scarlet Johansson, Science, Science Fiction, Sexuality, Synthwave, technology, Transhumanism, Travel, Vaporwave, William Gibson, Yukio Mishima

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark, co-host Pilleater, and director Richard Wolstencroft discuss the new film Ghost in a Shell based on the 1995 anime.

Topics:

How it compares to the original film
The plot and characters
The film’s aesthetics, 1980’s retro-futurism, holograms, and cyberpunk
The synth soundtrack
The Robot Geisha scene
The fictional  futuristic Asian city filmed in Hong Kong
Richard Wolstencroft’s experience in Hong Kong and observations on Asian culture
Comparisons to the films Akira and Blade Runner, and William Gibson’s Neuromancer
The Anime Right
The “white washing” controversy about a White actress playing an Asian role
Scarlet Johansson
Takeshi Kitano
Themes of Trans-humanism and Cybernetics
Ray Kurzweil’s Wildest Prediction: Nanobots Will Plug Our Brains Into the Web
The Philosophy of Mind, ‎Gilbert Ryle’s Ghost in the machine, and Arthur Koestler’s Ghost in the machine
Hubert Dreyfus’s views on artificial intelligence influenced by Martin Heidegger
Political messages in the film
“Ghost in a Shell” as a metaphor for the rootless atomized society where people lack any real identity
Richard’s upcoming film The Second Coming Volume II


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This show is brought to you by Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark talks to Greg Johnson about the Alt Left Dilemma

aesthetics, Alternative Left, Alternative Right, American Culture, Architecture, Art, Art Deco, Basic Income, Berkeley, Blade Runner, Cities, Conservatives, Consumerism, Cultural Marxism, Culture, Cyberpunk, David Lynch, demographics, Dune, Dystopia, Economics, Environment, Eugenics, Film, Film Noire, Frank Lloyd Wright, Futurism, Greg Johnson, Historic Preservation, Immigration, Italian Futurism, J. R. R. Tolkien, Lafayette CA, Leftism, materialism, Mid-Century Modern, Middle Class, Neon, New York, Nietzsche, overdevelopment, Overpopulation, Philosophy, Pilleater, Rabbit, Retro Futurism, San Francisco, Skyscrapers, SWPL, Utopia, Wealth, Wyndham Lewis, Zoning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark, co-host Pilleater, and AltLeft blogger Rabbit talk to Counter-Currents editor Greg Johnson.

Topics:

The Concept of the Left Wing of the Alt Right; The Alt Left
Greg Johnson’s essay on SWPL Identity and Rabbit’s Alt Left Manifesto
Millennial Woes’ talk with Rabbit and Greg Johnson about the Alt Left
The 60’s Left Counter-Culture as a fusion of Tolkien and Marcuse, and the need to reclaim the positive attributes of the left, such as ecology, historic preservation, and anti-consumerism
The Alt Left dilemma identifying with SWPL Culture, and urban aesthetics, while supporting forms of identitarianism that often lack strong aesthetic visions
The lack of cultural sophistication among conservatives, and the left’s monopoly on cultural institutions
Suburbia as a by product of the middle class being cleansed out of cities, and the need to sustain a strong urban middle class
Affordable family formation
The Basic income, how it should be implemented, and who it should favor
Putting caps on high incomes with the exception of artist and inventors
The Nietzschean concept of the artist as the ruler
The conservative outlook that judges people on their material wealth over their aesthetic taste, and creative potential
Overpopulation, and how the ideal is to have immigration reduction with a stable or slowly rising birthrate
Greg’s experience living in San Francisco and Berkeley, San Francisco as a SWPL Utopia, and the aesthetic and ecological attributes of the region
The Transamerica Pyramid and Embarcadero Center in San Francisco
Rabbit’s interest in Mid-Century Space Age aesthetics, and his observations going to Mid-Century Modern home tours
Frank Lloyd Wright
Art Deco, which was a heroic vision of the future with respect for tradition; Art Deco in New York and San Francisco
Film noir, and the Blade Runner
David Lynch’s Archeo-Futurist aesthetic in Dune, and ruin porn
The tradition of right wing modernism; Italian Futurism which captured the vitality, optimism, and new possibilities created by technology
The concept of degenerate art, distinguishing between modernism and postmodernism
Defining what is degenerate; Robert and Pilleater’s show on Avant Garde Film

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Check out Robert Stark’s Paintings!




Robert Stark interviews Artist Epiphora

1960's, 1980's, aesthetics, Alternative Left, Architecture, Art, Basic Income, Black Mirror, capitalism, Culture, Despair, Dystopia, Economics, Enlightenment, Ephiphora, Global Warming, Globalization, Hieronymus Bosch, Italian Futurism, Philosophy, Psychology, Science Fiction, Social Media, Surrealism, Utopia, Vaporwave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Stark and Pilleater talk to artist Ephiphora. He has a Redbubble and facebook page

-Epiphoras art
-Video Synthesis. Teenage Engineering OP-Z, Lumen, TACHYONS+ video synths.
-Verso Books, Jacobin Magazine, Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities
-Epi’s Facebook account, his off-color jokes and troll personalities.
-Super Mario 64 Gameshark Glitch stuff.
-Italian Futurism, James Turrell
-Stereograms
-Glitch Art, Vaporwave, Gerhard Richter
-Architecture.
-60’s, 70’s and 80’s designs.
-Mainstream Left vs. Alt-Left, economic arguments, the basic income
-Art and the economy, manufacturing, job outsourcing, and automation
-Epiphora’s art, his colors, his pieces (name of the pieces)
-Global warming, climate change.
-Looking at things that are unattractive
-minimalism
-infleences in major philosophies, Hegel and Pascal.
-Science-Fiction, the series Black Mirror, future technologies
-Intenret culture
-Influences in art, Hieronymus Bosch


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Check out Robert Stark’s Paintings!