Depending on how you look at it, it is either a great or rough time out there for speculative fiction, as reality continues to bite at the heels of even the most dystopian visions. Jason Tester is a futurist with a knack for telling prescient stories about our imminent urban realities, in a startlingly graphic way. The visually compelling Insurrection: an American Future predicted troop deployments in San Francisco in early January 2025; by June, a real-life version of that story began unfolding in Los Angeles, then Washington, Chicago, and Portland. Tester gazes into the abyss with Unfrozen, in another episode a bit too close for comfort.

Intro/Outro:
“System Error,” by The Cooper Vane

Discussed:

What Is The Insurrection Act? Here’s What Happens If Trump Invokes Law

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

San Francisco Proposition E - Police drone authorization

The beleaguered Whole Foods on Market

ICE Ramming in Chicago

Grand juries say no to sandwich crimes

DDS Waymo Jam

Barbara Walter at UC San Diego: How Civil Wars Start

Abyss gazing

UrbanistAI

One Big Beautiful Bill

One Big Beautiful Aftermath