Better Offline: "Radio Better Offline: Adam Becker"

Podcast: Better Offline (Cool Zone Media & iHeartPodcasts)
Host: Ed Zitron
Guest: Adam Becker (Astrophysicist & Author, “More Everything Forever”)
Date: September 24, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Ed Zitron welcomes astrophysicist and science journalist Adam Becker to dissect the egregious, often bizarre visions tech billionaires have for humanity’s future and the ways these ideas are not only detached from reality but actively harmful to society and progress. They skewer the cult-like thinking, lack of scientific rigor, and unchecked hubris permeating the tech elite — from Jeff Bezos’s “tubes in space” to Eliezer Yudkowski’s AI doomsaying — and discuss the deep societal consequences of letting these unchecked narratives steer popular and legislative discourse.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Adam Becker’s Background and Entry into Tech Critique

• Transition from astrophysics to science journalism
  Becker began as a physicist investigating the Big Bang ([04:06]) and moved into writing for outlets like New Scientist and the BBC.
• Shift to tech industry focus
  The 2016 U.S. election catalyzed Becker’s engagement with politics:

  "I live in Berkeley...surrounded by tech bros constantly and was getting tired of their bullshit. And it seemed more and more directly connected to the disintegration of American politics." (Adam, [05:16])

2. Examining Tech Billionaire Ideologies

Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and Peter Thiel

• Grandiose, unscientific visions
  Becker exposes Bezos’s space colonization obsession:

  "He has said very recently...that we need to move into hundreds of thousands or millions of enormous cylindrical space stations and have a trillion people living in the solar system." (Adam, [08:31])

• Lack of scientific grounding

  • Musk’s Mars fantasies and Thiel’s creationist sympathies are labeled as “nonsense.”
  • Even their critics give them too much credit for technical expertise.

• Sincerity vs. Cynicism in Tech Leaders
  Zitron asks if these figures believe their own hype:

  "I don't think they believe in anything is my thing." (Ed, [07:35])
  Becker suspects some (like Bezos) do, while others (like Altman) don't.

• Energy consumption fallacies
  Bezos’s idea is challenged for its physical, logical, and moral absurdity:

  "'If we don't keep using more energy, we’ll stagnate'...but why? What does the energy do?" (Ed, [10:02])

3. Ridiculous Futurism: Tubes, Dyson Spheres, and Data Centers Full of Geniuses

• Mocking the “tubes in space”
  Zitron lampoons the “tubes” trope:

  "Tubes of space. Tubes. Trillion people. Mozarts. More Mozarts. Just sweating profusely." (Ed, [10:20])

• AI Utopianism and AGI
  Discussion of Sam Altman’s and others’ singularity dreams, connecting them to ill-defined, sci-fi fueled “AGI” (Artificial General Intelligence).

  • Understanding Dyson Spheres:

    "A Dyson sphere is a giant mega construction project...that just encloses a star and captures all of the energy from that star." (Adam, [12:19])

4. The Rationalists, Cults of Personality, and Eliezer Yudkowski

• Yudkowski and the “Less Wrong” Rationalist community
  Outlined as a charismatic non-expert whose influence comes from online visibility, not accomplishment ([15:13], [25:38]).

• Cult-like following, eugenics, and the origin of the 'rationalist' online movement

  “He's definitely got a hard on for eugenics… and this is... somewhat paraphrasing the comic book Preach, like why do these guys always look like that? If you're gonna claim you're like a eugenicist, you should not look like an egg with a hat on.” (Ed, [22:29])

• Prophetic paranoia and unearned authority
  Yudkowski is compared to a forum-admin turned cult leader:

  "I would say the best way to think about Yudkowski... Imagine like a really smart, self-educated 15 year old." (Adam, [19:30])

5. AI Hype, Dangers, & Ill-Defined Terms

• The AGI Fiction
  • AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) is described as “hopelessly ill-defined” ([32:27]).
  • OpenAI’s own definition is ridiculed for being both “vague and really narrow” ([33:09]).
• Ethics: “Willing slaves” and Modern Tech
  • Cites the lineage of robot-as-slave narratives, tracing back to Asimov and Vinge ([36:00]).

  “If you go back and look at Asimov’s Robot stories...it's hard to see them as anything other than being about slavery and race relations..." (Adam, [35:32])

• Real vs. Imagined Innovation
  • Current AI models fail at basic reasoning, increase harm, and often reinforce mediocrity ([43:47]).
  • Dangers: AI as mass validation engine, poor outputs, and mental health consequences.

6. The Social and Psychological Cost of Billionaire Narratives

• Isolation and Lack of Accountability
  • Tech billionaires, surrounded by validation, lose perspective and become obsessed with being liked but are incapable of vulnerability or genuine connection ([53:13], [57:13]).
• Detachment from Joy and Reality
  • Citron:

    “I don’t think any of these people enjoy anything as much as I enjoy Diet Coke. Like, I’m 100% sure of that…” ([56:34])

7. Critique of Tech Media and Journalistic Complacency

• Parroting powerful voices
  • Mainstream media criticism for “uncritically parroting the powerful,” especially in AI and VC coverage ([65:50]).
  • Specific callouts: Kevin Roose, Ezra Klein, NYT editors.
• Loss of Skepticism
  • Zitron:

    “There is this weird thing of, like, the powerful would never lie to us. And then Prism came out and then Cambridge Analytica happened.” ([68:36])

8. Real Innovations Worth Noting

• Adam’s Picks
  • mRNA vaccines: Fast, effective vaccine technology with public and private funding ([59:01])
  • Green Energy: Solar, batteries, and real legislative progress ([61:25])
  • The need for more government funding in basic scientific research.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• The Tubes Rant:

  “What's your solution, Jeff? You’ve got all the money in the world. Tubes.” (Ed, [10:10])

• On AI’s purported danger:

  “If you make extraordinary claims like [Yudkowski is] making, you need extraordinary evidence. And not having those qualifications...doesn’t really inspire confidence.” (Adam, [15:30])

• On AGI hype:

  “AGI is this hopelessly ill-defined thing, like superintelligence, this thing that Yudkowski is on about. What does it even mean?” (Adam, [32:27])

• On the billionaire mindset:

  “The best thing for the tech billionaires themselves...would be to lose all their money. It would be the best thing for their mental health.” (Adam, [53:13])

• On accountability:

  “You cannot run away from politics. The minute you have more than one person in a room, there’s politics.” (Adam, [42:48])

• On tech’s lack of real appreciation for human achievement:

  “They don’t have a proper appreciation for the human brain and human body...or how remarkable Earth is in particular.” (Adam, [41:50])

Segment Timestamps

• [03:54] – Adam Becker introduces his book and its thesis: tech billionaires’ bad ideas
• [06:13] – Becker’s turn from conventional science journalism to tech critique
• [08:31] – Dissection of Jeff Bezos’ space colonization ideology
• [12:10] – Explanation and critique of the Dyson sphere
• [15:13] – Eliezer Yudkowski and the “Rationalist” subculture
• [32:27] – The ill-definition of AGI and critique of AI “breakthrough” narratives
• [35:32] – The legacy of Asimov, science fiction’s “willing slaves,” and their implications
• [41:50] – The brilliance of ordinary human cognition and the planet
• [53:13] – The social and psychological harm of billionaire culture
• [59:01] – Genuine technological advances: mRNA vaccines and green energy
• [65:50] – Critique of tech media, especially lack of rigor and skepticism

Tone and Style

The conversation is sharp, witty, often profane, and deeply skeptical of the tech industry’s self-mythologizing. Zitron and Becker use humor and pop culture references to communicate complex points accessibly, all while exuding exasperation at the state of media, tech elites, and hype-driven “innovation.”

Takeaways

• Most tech billionaires’ visions are unscientific, self-serving, and frequently absurd when scrutinized.
• The “AI revolution” is more about marketing and economic control than meaningful progress, and its ethics are deeply suspect.
• The media largely fails to hold these elites accountable, recycling their press releases as prophecy.
• Real technological innovation does exist (e.g., mRNA vaccines, green energy), but is often overshadowed by hype.
• Society needs both critical press and policy mechanisms to curb billionaire influence and demand accountability for real-world effects, not just fantastical visions.

For More:

• Find Adam Becker on BlueSky: adambecker.bsky.social
• Check out his book More Everything Forever
• Ed Zitron’s newsletter and more at: betteroffline.com

(Summary by Better Offline Podcast Summarizer)