Podcast Summary: TRASHFUTURE – "Do Not Think This At Home"
Date: December 23, 2025
Hosts: Nova, Matt, Guest(s)
Description: Wry, irreverent analysis of year-end scandals, the empty promises of corporate AI, the performative cruelty of British politics, and the pursuit of holding onto empathy under capitalism.
Episode Overview
This special year-end episode of TRASHFUTURE blends notes of dark humor and weariness as the hosts reflect on a tumultuous 2025, major “cancellations,” hollow “AI revolutions,” and the political landscape’s encouragement of cruelty over empathy. Alongside classic run-downs of UK tabloid pathology and business snake oil, they grapple deeply with the British state’s response to pro-Palestine activism, especially ongoing hunger strikes by imprisoned activists. The episode’s core message: in a world run by grifters and algorithms, holding onto empathy and practical solidarity is a radical act worth treasuring.
Key Discussion Points
1. Year-End Scandal Roundup & "Cancellations"
[00:18 – 02:40]
- Hosts jokingly suggest a somber "in memoriam"–style segment for everyone "canceled" in 2025.
- Lampooning the idea of culture war indignities: “Kevin Spacey tap dancing in Tel Aviv” as a recurring image.
- (Matt, 00:32): “A segment on TF where it's like the in memoriam thing, but it's like who got canceled this year? Be really good. Do some like slowed down footage of Kevin Spacey tap dancing in Tel Aviv.”
- The dynamic of celebrities using cancellation as a springboard for a comeback is skewered, with mentions of David Walliams and Tom Skinner as right-wing grifters playing the “fired for truth” victim.
- (Nova, 02:56): “He is continuing his, I would say long and storied career as ... one of the best right wing whiners on social media.”
2. Tom Skinner, Media Victimhood & Right-Wing Grift
[02:40 – 11:24]
- The panel dissects Tom Skinner’s manufactured sense of persecution after being voted off "Strictly Come Dancing," highlighting the performative tantrums as a career move.
- (Matt, 05:15): “I do wonder, right... how quickly does this just become its own punishment? ... You've got to be this guy forever now.”
- The group riffs on right-wing figures (Charlie Kirk, JD Vance), noting their ability to turn personal grievance into permanent public persona.
- (Nova, 04:16): “If Charlie Kirk taught us anything, it's that if you're willing to sacrifice everything you can give your wife an amazing career...”
- Satirical plans for "Challengers 2," starring JD Vance and Erica Kirk, poking fun at the idea of manufacturing new culture war celebrities through AI.
3. AI: Empty Hype, Workplace Uselessness & Economic Froth
[13:00 – 37:32]
- Nova introduces a review of who’s actually gaining value from generative AI; the answer: almost no one.
- Multiple surveys show that only a tiny minority of executives and companies see real profit or value from AI investments (e.g. just 5% according to BCG).
- (Nova, 24:18): “Consulting firm BCG found that only 5% of just over 1250 executives surveyed saw any value from AI at all.”
- Corporate AI deployment is derided as performative and often more trouble than it’s worth.
- (Matt, 19:49): “You talk to anyone with a corporate job ... at some point a push to use AI more. And then everyone tries it ... figures out that it takes longer to fix its output than it does to just do your own job.”
- Discussion of Oracle’s risky “Wework”-style leasing model for AI data centers, suggesting the entire AI hype train is built atop precarious, financialized short cons.
- Anecdote about an AI chatbot unable to parse a 100-page railway safety document, underscoring how far the technology lags behind the sales pitch.
- (Nova, 33:56): “No model could consistently and correctly summarize the Canadian Rail Operating Rules, a roughly hundred page document... Sometimes the models forgot or misinterpreted the rules, other times they invented new ones.”
4. British Politics, Cruelty, & the Suppression of Empathy
[37:37 – 58:32]
- Shift to coverage of the hunger strikes by Palestine Action activists imprisoned in the UK—an “ongoing national shame.”
- (Nova, 37:52): “...there is a hunger strike going on in British prisons. These are people who have been arrested for either association with Palestine action...”
- “Performative bemusement”: British press framing these activists as privileged or unserious, reminiscent of coverage of IRA hunger strikes, Extinction Rebellion, etc.
- (Matt, 39:51): “...the one that really ... gets under my skin is the kind of performative bemusement, which is something that the British press has a great line in. ... 'Oh, these sort of privileged kids who are sort of attaching themselves to something that seemed trendy and a conflict thousands of thousands of miles away.'”
- State officials, e.g., James Timson, refuse engagement with hunger strikers to avoid appearing to “negotiate with terrorists” or give “special treatment.”
- The persistent theme: British society “fetishizes” cruelty, punishes empathy, and ridicules—then pathologizes—those who feel moral urgency.
- (Matt, 41:02): “I think is something that indicts our entire society ... not only do we really try to punish empathy, but we really make a fetish of cruelty as well.”
- The media’s intentional ignorance, selective reporting (“hunger strikers demand touchscreen phones” [42:18]), and refusal to assign moral responsibility is critiqued as a calculated effort to “further break these people.”
- The hunger strike as a rare act capable of shaming power structures—though increasingly, the state and media simply refuse to feel any shame at all.
- (Matt, 49:28): “I think there's a recurring pattern ... of ... never feeling like we should ever be allowed to feel shamed for anything that we do...”
5. Reflections, Hope, and the Value of Empathy
[58:32 – episode end]
- Hosts urge listeners to treasure empathy and to continue organizing and responding morally, even as cynicism becomes the default.
- (Matt, 59:31): “...if you're going to try and find meaning in it, then it's going to have to be in your own ... moral and practical response to these things. ... And it requires your involvement. If nothing else, it requires you to feel empathy. And that is something I think you have to absolutely treasure.”
- Closing thoughts: solidarity, community, and the podcast itself as one way to keep “the horrors bearable.” Thanks and love for their community.
Notable Quotes & Moments
- On manufactured victimhood:
“Man whose entire career, entire life... has been kicking off for attention.”
— Matt, [09:15] - On the AI bubble:
“So what I'm looking at here, when I'm looking at the kind of AI bubble such as it is, is it's a million sort of short cons built on top of each other. Built on top of a soufflé.”
— Matt, [29:37] - On the state of British empathy:
“The whole just genocide has done, but this is sort of like an acute example of it in that not only do we sort of really try to punish empathy, but we really make a fetish of cruelty as well.”
— Matt, [41:02] - On the hunger strike’s moral function:
“Part of the shaming function of a hunger strike... is partially to sort of indict, as in put on trial the whole system...”
— Matt, [57:00] - On hope and resistance:
“There are people who organize against these things and there always will be. ... It requires your involvement. If nothing else, it requires you to feel empathy. And that is something I think you have to absolutely treasure.”
— Matt, [59:31]
Important Timestamps
- Year-end scandal & cancellation roundup: [00:16–02:40]
- Tom Skinner, right-wing media cycles: [02:40–11:24]
- Satirical AI resistance, corporate AI skepticism: [13:00–37:32]
- Hunger strikes, prison, empathy vs. cruelty: [37:37–58:32]
- Reflections, solidarity, end-of-year thoughts: [58:32–61:23]
Tone & Style
True to TRASHFUTURE’s reputation, the conversation is mordantly witty, sharply cynical, and consistently irreverent—no horror or absurdity is too bleak for a sick joke or a bleakly hopeful digression. The hosts juggle heavy subject matter with surreal corporate-bro jests, meme references, and frequent moments of cathartic laughter.
Conclusion
"Do Not Think This At Home" encapsulates 2025’s blend of malaise, moral challenge, and resistance. The episode weaves together media critiques, AI industry skepticism, and urgent calls to defend empathy and solidarity against the culture’s accelerating descent into cruelty. As the hosts conclude: the only way out is through—and it’s empathy, not resignation, that needs defending most of all.