Radical Candor Podcast:

AI Gods, Space Empires, and the Stories Tech Uses to Justify Power with Adam Becker
February 18, 2026
Guests: Adam Becker (science journalist, astrophysicist, author of "More Everything Forever")
Hosts: Kim Scott, Amy Sandler, Jason Rosoff

Episode Overview

In this episode, the Radical Candor team dives into Adam Becker’s latest book, More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity. Becker examines the science-fiction-fueled myths underpinning the tech industry’s vision for the future—myths that justify pursuit of “more everything, forever.” The conversation weaves through themes of transhumanism, longtermism, capitalism’s seductive grip on tech billionaires, and why radically honest conversations are necessary to challenge these powerful narratives.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Origins and Motivation for the Book

• (02:40) Adam Becker shares that living in the Bay Area exposed him to recurring “nonsense” at tech gatherings—grand visions of AI, immortality, and space colonization. He noticed critiques of tech tended to miss the “animating myths” driving the industry’s worldview.
  • “There was all of this criticism … based on politics, [but] it didn't seem like enough … The entire tech industry is in thrall to these ideas about what the future holds.” (03:45, Adam)

2. The Big Tech Myths: Space, AI, and the Singularity

• (06:55) Becker identifies three core myths dominating Silicon Valley:
  • Space Colonization: Humanity leaving Earth en masse
  • Superintelligent, God-like AI: Machine powers beyond comprehension
  • The Singularity: Transcending human biology, living forever in virtual utopias
• These ideas are not mere background noise; they're “the animating motivation behind some of the biggest and most important tech companies.” (08:36, Adam)

3. Mythology vs. Science—The Fiction Gap

• (09:42) Discussion turns to how tech leaders misread science fiction—embracing the aesthetics of dystopias like Blade Runner and Star Wars without grasping their cautionary intent.
  • “Blade Runner is a cyberpunk dystopia. That’s what you’re not supposed to do.” (10:07, Amy)
  • Hilarious moments: Tech leaders mischaracterizing movie plots (e.g., Peter Thiel and Han Solo).

4. Capitalism, Technological Salvation, and “More Everything Forever”

• (16:09) Becker explains the title: Tech billionaires believe in the possibility—and desirability—of endless growth and power. Their worldview equates market logic and technological solutions with natural laws.
  • “There’s this idea … that markets are fundamental … when the fact is that markets are a tool humans created. In the same way that a hammer is not the right tool for every situation, markets are not the right tool for every situation.” (18:28, Adam)
  • Quote (20:03): “If you don’t think that hitting it with the hammer will fix it, you’re a communist.” (19:59, Adam/Amy)

5. Pseudo-Science and Authority: Who Gets to Invent the Future?

• (22:46) The group discusses whether these utopian or apocalyptic tech promises are even possible—or desirable.
  • “They’re so obsessed with whether they could, they didn't stop to consider whether they should. … [Tech billionaires] just claim that they can and they should, when in fact they can’t and they shouldn’t.” (23:02, Amy & Adam)

6. Escaping Politics through Space—A Libertarian Fantasy

• (23:45) Many in the tech elite believe space or ocean colonies (seasteading) offer a way to evade societal rules.
  • “You can’t escape politics by going to space. Politics is something that happens the minute you have more than one person in a room.” (25:20, Adam)

7. The Effect of Extreme Wealth (“Money Brain”)

• (25:28) Kim asks whether vast riches inevitably distort moral perspective; Adam reflects on outreach to tech leaders, who uniformly declined to be interviewed for the book, preferring insular “PR bubbles.”

8. Tech Billionaires vs. Tech Workers: Who Represents Silicon Valley?

• (30:11) Most people in the Bay Area are progressive, yet public attention focuses on a fringe of centibillionaires with outsized influence.
  • “We need more of you in Silicon Valley … for some reason, we’ve allowed a handful of centibillionaires to grab the microphone, and they represent the worst of us.” (29:34, Kim)

9. Radical Solutions and Hopeful Action

• (36:05) Becker calls for eliminating billionaires via progressive taxation—“half a billion should be enough for anybody”—not out of spite, but to restore broader participation and sanity to public life.
  • “It’s like the One Ring. It poisons your brain.” (36:00, Adam)
• He advocates for labor organizing and journalism as means to rebalance power.
  • “One of the best ways to go after this is through labor organization.” (37:38, Adam)

10. Redirecting Attention to Real Problems (Human and Political, Not Technological)

• (41:28) The discourse around AI godhood distracts from tangible issues—climate, inequality, democracy.
• (44:00) Host quotes Eric Schmidt (Google): “We’re never going to meet our climate goals, so let’s pour all our energy into AI and hope AGI solves climate change for us.” Adam skewers this magical thinking:
  • “Ask this genie in a bottle, ‘Hey, how do I solve climate change?’ First thing it’ll say: Well, you shouldn’t have built me.” (44:41, Adam)

11. The Poverty of "General Intelligence" and Eugenicist Thinking

• (47:10) The flawed idea that there is a single, measurable “general intelligence,” rooted in racist pseudoscience, underlies much of AI hype.
  • “When you have this simplistic, pseudoscientific way of looking at the world … of course, you’re going to think that technology is going to solve everything. When the fact is, the biggest problems facing humanity today are not problems of technology.” (47:52, Adam)

12. Connection and Resistance: Reclaiming Humanity and Nature

• (51:56) Kim describes deliberately unplugging and gardening, as a personal antidote to “more everything, forever”:
  • “I spent nine full hours pulling weeds … I feel like maybe that’s not going to solve all the world’s problems, but it really did make me feel better and more connected to the Earth.” (52:21, Kim)
• Adam agrees: “As a writer, hearing that I made you cry is … exactly what I was going for with that chapter. … I worked very hard to maintain a strong connection to the natural world away from screens.” (52:52/53:18, Adam)

13. Carl Sagan’s Real Legacy

• (57:48) Adam invokes Sagan to counteract misappropriations:
  • “If we find any life at all on Mars—even bacteria—then we should leave Mars alone. Mars should be left for the Martians.” (58:21, Adam paraphrasing Sagan)

14. Practical Takeaways: Read, Unplug, Connect

• (61:47) Final tips:
  • Read More Everything Forever—ideally as a physical book, outside, away from screens.
  • “If you’re angry at libertarian tech billionaires … there is nothing that a libertarian hates as much as a public library. So go to your public library and get a book.” (64:02, Adam)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Tech’s Sci-Fi Blindspots:
  "They read some science fiction book when they were 10 … and now they have hundreds of billions of dollars and they’re trying to make this nine-year-old dream come true." – Kim (09:17)

• On Market Fundamentalism:
  "There’s this idea that markets are as fundamental as laws of physics … when the fact is markets are a tool that humans created." – Adam (18:28)

• On The Flawed Logic of Technological Solutionism:
  "What Altman is saying is that a good way to solve the biggest problem of our time is to build a machine that nobody knows how to build and then ask it for three wishes." – Adam (45:24)

• On Billionaire Brain: "It’s like the One Ring. It poisons your brain … and you can’t bring yourself to get rid of it." – Adam (36:00)

• On Escaping Politics:
  "You can’t escape politics by going to space because politics is something that happens the minute you have more than one person in a room." – Adam (25:20)

• On AI Rights vs. Human Rights:
  "Because AI is so smart … maybe we better give it human rights, but we’re not willing to give humans human rights. So weird." – Kim (51:16)

• On the Joy of Real Connection:
  "If you want to promote authentic social connection … literally anything with a screen can’t do that." – Adam (56:46)

Timestamps for Key Sections

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|--------------------------------------------------| | 02:40 | Adam’s motivation for the book | | 06:55 | The three dominant Silicon Valley myths | | 09:42 | Misreading science fiction in tech | | 16:09 | Why “More Everything Forever” | | 18:28 | Markets, capitalism, and myth | | 22:46 | “Is it possible? Is it good?” – Philosophy/ethics | | 23:45 | The fantasy of escaping politics | | 29:34 | Who represents Silicon Valley? | | 36:05 | Taxing the billionaires/“one ring” metaphor | | 37:38 | Labor organizing as a corrective | | 41:28 | Distraction from real problems | | 44:00 | Eric Schmidt: AI and climate | | 47:10 | Eugenics, general intelligence, and AI | | 52:21 | Radical connection to earth as resistance | | 57:48 | Carl Sagan, Mars, and honoring life | | 61:47 | Closing thoughts: physical books, libraries |

Actionable Takeaways

• Read Critically: Question narratives of technological salvation—are they possible? Are they good?
• Prioritize Human Needs: Focus on solidarity, labor, journalism, and genuine communal action.
• Value Nature and Human Connection: Unplug, spend time in the natural world, build face-to-face relationships.
• Support Libraries and Physical Books: They offer privacy, real connection, and resist corporate surveillance.

Closing Tone

The conversation is passionate, skeptical, sometimes hilarious, but ultimately hopeful. Becker insists that “treating everybody like people” and nurturing authentic connections are radical, necessary acts. The episode offers a bracing antidote to techno-utopian hype—reminding listeners that humanity’s problems (and joys) are still grounded on Earth.

“All I want is a world where we treat everybody like people… I don’t see why that's such a radical proposition.”
— Adam Becker (51:19)