TRASHFUTURE — Episode: "Panopticon :3" feat. Cory Doctorow

Date: February 10, 2026
Guests: Cory Doctorow
Hosts: Hussain Alkhateeb, Nate, Riley, and others

Overview

This episode presents an incisive, witty exploration of the intersection of technological ambition, political decay, and dystopian business practices, featuring guest Cory Doctorow. The hosts dissect everything from NEOM-inspired urban planning grifts, Labour Party power plays, Amazon's surveillance capitalism, and Elon Musk’s latest empire-building PR stunts—unpacking how tech hype, monopoly consolidation, and political malaise are shaping today’s (and tomorrow’s) world.

The conversation moves fluidly from satirical urban design in the UK, through Labour party intrigue and the enduring banality of “Epsteinism”, to Amazon’s Ring surveillance campaigns and Musk’s consolidations around X, XAI, and Starlink—culminating in a detailed critique of the geopolitical implications of tech platform monopolies. The tone is irreverent, analytical, sometimes exasperated, and always deeply skeptical of “solutions” proposed by the elite for problems of their own making.

Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. NEOM, "The Loop", and Satirical Urbanism

(00:16–08:11)

• News Item: Architect Chris Williamson proposes a "Loop"—a massive high-speed rail connecting nine UK and Irish cities, explicitly “inspired by NEOM.”
• Hosts’ Reaction: The crew lampoons the architecture world's obsession with grand visualizations and the fantasy logic of Neom-style projects (“Like Lord of the Rings, it keeps ending and then there's another ending.” – Hussain, 00:16).
• NEOM’s Real Output: Williamson’s work on NEOM amounted only to visualizations, not actual public infrastructure. (Cory: “The idea of building anything, let alone public infrastructure in the UK is kind of a joke anyway…” – 02:54)
• SimCity/Infinite Money Analogy: “Saudi Arabia is the closest that anyone can come to playing SimCity with the infinite money cheat.” (Riley, 03:20)
• Satirical British Snowpiercer: Imagining Britain’s own endless, useless train line (“…train is the only dry land and everything is wet…” – Riley, 03:42)

2. Labour Party Drama & Epsteinism, “Managing Decline”

(08:11–25:43)

• Epstein File Fallout: Morgan McSweeney’s ouster sparks discussion on Labour’s internal rot and ties to unsavory powerbrokers. (“It is…amusing to think…it's so a group of friends…with a friend of Jeffrey Epstein's…could have a go at doing what he did…” – Hussain, 08:06)
• Labour's Gen X Stasis: Panel critiques the party’s out-of-date Blairism and penchant for endless briefings and backbiting.
• “Epsteinism” Concept: Riley and Hussain suggest Starmerism (and various centrist ideologies) are forms of Epsteinism, i.e., “managing decline for profit” by well-connected insiders. (“Starmerism and Trumpism are just Epsteinism...the amount of Obama high-level…all over the island…” – Hussain, 21:09)
• Labour’s Self-Inflicted Limitation: Characterized as draining their own “candidate pool” by fixating on internal purges over true political strategy.

3. Amazon Ring, Surveillance & AI Hype

(25:49–40:44)

• Amazon’s Palantir: Hosts share Brian Merchant’s reporting on Amazon as a core infrastructure supplier for U.S. security agencies (“Amazon is providing the technical architecture to the Federal Security State, ICE, NSA, Pentagon…” – Hussain, 26:52)
• Ring AI “Search Party” for Dogs: The new feature is parodied mercilessly for its dystopian PR (“…all the ring cameras in the neighborhood being activated—the white flight panopticon, basically.” – Riley, 30:23)
• Verhoeven Parody / AI Weirdness: The ad’s uncanny, AI-generated feel is highlighted as both sinister and absurd.
• Data Sharing & Encryption Skepticism: Cory’s CES encounter reveals Ring managers often cannot explain where user data goes or if it’s genuinely encrypted. (“I was like…where does the ring data go?...tell me about your ring data. Is…do you make it available to law enforcement?” – Cory, 28:14)
• Imperial Boomerang: Comparisons are drawn to South African gated community surveillance, returning to UK/US suburbia.

4. Elon Musk: Shell Games, "Everything Apps," Space Data Centers

(41:26–56:14)

• Data Centers in Space: Hosts dissect how “data centers in space” are another manifestation of Silicon Valley’s science fiction-fueled wishful thinking, using sci-fi concepts (Dyson Spheres, Kardashev scale) to justify dubious investments.
  • “The only thing you do if you want to have the heat leave a vessel is you surround it with vacuum. We call that a thermos.” (Nate, 43:47)
• X, XAI, and SpaceX Mergers:
  • The move to bind Musk’s companies together is seen not as strategic but as a panicked improvisation:
  • “He just has his shells and the shells have money and he has to keep moving all the money around between the different shells.” (Hussain, 50:12)
• “Running Across Alligators” Analogy: Musk is famed for barely staying ahead of disaster by constantly moving liabilities (“He is the all-time master of running across a river on the back of alligators without losing a leg.” – Nate, 51:07)
• Starlink & Infrastructure Monopoly: Musk’s control of satellite internet is dissected as a slow-motion monopoly in communications, especially critical in war zones or remote areas.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• NEOM Satire:
  “Should we be as ambitious about our future as they were in Saudi Arabia? …Should we be that ambitious? I know we’re an oil-producing country, but not that much.” – Hussain (04:06)
• Ring Surveillance:
  “When there's an alert, you push the button and every camera will look for this person...We're going to identify them.” – Riley (31:55)
• Epsteinism:
  “Starmerism and Trumpism are just Epsteinism. It's the same ideology…profit from managed decline.” – Hussain (21:09)
• Space Data Center Scepticism:
  “Famously, the thing that you do if you want to have the heat leave a vessel is you surround it with vacuum. We call that a thermos.” – Nate (43:47)
• Musk’s Tactics:
  “He is the all time master of running across a river on the back of alligators without losing a leg.” – Nate (51:07)
• On State Resistance:
  “If they're sending the gendarme for you because you're a pervert, like that...That should really make you have a look at yourself.” – Cory Doctorow (65:31)

Important Segment Timestamps

• NEOM/“The Loop” Parody: 00:16–08:11
• UK Labour, Epsteinism, Political Decay: 08:11–25:43
• Amazon Ring Surveillance/AI Dystopia: 25:49–40:44
• 2000 Dotcom Ads/Marketing Excess: 39:10–41:12
• Elon Musk’s Shell Games, Data Centers in Space: 41:26–53:55
• Tech Monopolies, Geopolitics, EU/France vs. Musk: 55:08–66:14
• Legal and Policy Dragnet Closing on X/Twitter: 68:46–73:28
• Closing Satire and Banter: 74:46–End

Geopolitics & Tech Sovereignty

(56:14–66:14)

• State Resistance: French authorities raid X offices due to platform’s failures to moderate abusive content and illegal AI-generated images. Symbolic break from passive European deference to U.S. tech dominance.
• Cory's Policy Proposal: Instead of just suing, EU states should legalize jailbreaking Twitter/X—allowing creation of alternate clients that skip advertising/slop content, breaking U.S. platform ad monopolies at the root.
• Broader Trend: Discussion of crumbling trust in U.S. as a neutral provider of core infrastructure, and the dangers of “abdicating” sovereignty over essential comms and cloud infrastructure.

Conclusion & Tone

The episode ends on a characteristically darkly comic note, underscoring both the “psychic trauma” of technological/ political dystopia and the podcast’s mission to at least make it all bitterly funny. Episode ranges from detailed policy critique to wild satire (“if you want to get to Glasgow from Leeds...actually go to Ireland and come back”—Riley, 04:41).

For Listeners New & Old

• This episode offers deep dives into current events, tech skepticism, and British institutional fatigue, all layered with dry wit and anger at the status quo.
• Cory Doctorow delivers insider policy insight on tech infrastructure, surveillance, and political power, while the hosts puncture the hype cycles and hollow ambitions of “innovation” capitalism, always returning to the implications for ordinary people.

Want more?

• Bonus: They also recorded an episode on the (lamentable) Melania movie for subscribers; consider for even more psychic damage.
• For additional detail: See timestamps above and refer to the quotables for highlights.