
Hosted by Ramesh Srinivasan · EN
The Utopias Podcast with Dr. Ramesh Srinivasan
In the wake of an era where alarmism and crisis branding sells - whether in relation to climate change, new technologies, or polarization, we have a huge opportunity to embrace our capacity for innovation, empathy, and compassion towards one another. To get there it is high time to have creative, productive, and truly progressive conversations about our planetary future, and approach such from every discipline and perspective we can.
Hosted by UCLA professor and public intellectual Ramesh Srinivasan, the “Utopias” podcast presents a new narrative, a vision of life futures based on a set of conversations that celebrate the work and perspectives of “dreamers”, or those who represent and care deeply for the endless potential for human creativity, expression, and optimism. We share the stories of those who believe in the potential for our planet, and are doing the important work to try to empower our tomorrow in a way that we can all benefit from.
This podcast brings back the realms of the scientific, emotional, artistic, legal, poetic, musical, ecological, and spiritual into conversation with one another as together, we imagine and advocate for futures for our planet and species that lift us all up. Dr. Srinivasan’s guests shall run the gamut, bringing artists, journalists, politicians, scientists, environmentalists, monks and religious practitioners, and scholars together. Utopias shall inspire listeners to imagine new futures defined by compassion, an appreciation of diversity alongside unity, and the recognition that we live in an extraordinary time where we are all in ‘it’ together.
Produced by Jack Garland. Music by Albert Ortega

Douglas Rushkoff is an author and documentarian who studies human autonomy in a digital age. His twenty books include Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires and Team Human, which is also the name of his podcast. Douglas was named one of the "world’s ten most influential intellectuals" by MIT.This conversation was recorded on June 6, 2025. Follow Team Human on Instagram and X. Follow Ramesh on Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky, X, YouTube, LinkedIn, and on his website. Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com.This podcast may contain explicit language and content that is not suitable for all audiences.

Ethan Zuckerman is a professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he teaches public policy, communication and information. He founded the Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure, an organization that studies the civic and social role of internet platforms, and advocates for approaches to digital infrastructures that treat platforms as public goods, not purely as profit-making ventures. He is the author of Mistrust: Why Losing Faith in Institutions Provides the Tools to Transform Them and Digital Cosmopolitans: Why We Think the Internet Connects Us, Why It Doesn't, and How to Rewire It.This conversation was recorded on April 18, 2025Follow Ethan on Bluesky, X, LinkedIn, and his website. Follow Ramesh on Bluesky, X, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and his website.Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com.This podcast may contain explicit language and content that is not suitable for all audiences.

Yanis Varoufakis is a renowned Greek economist and bestselling author. He served as the Minister of Finance in Greece and co-founded the political party Democracy in Europe Movement 2025 (DiEM25). His books include Another Now and Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism. This is Yanis’ second time coming on the show.This conversation – moderated by CNN Arabic Editor-in-Chief Caroline Faraj – was featured at Web Summit Qatar on February 3, 2026. Learn more about Yanis and Caroline. Follow me on Bluesky, X, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and on my website. Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com.This podcast may contain explicit language and content that is not suitable for all audiences.

Kaiser Kuo is the founder and host of Sinica Podcast. He is a journalist for Beijinger magazine and a senior manager in public communications at Baidu. Kaiser also cofounded the Chinese rock band Tang Dynasty.Tulin Chang Maltepe joined me as a co-host for this interview. Tulin is a third-year undergraduate student at UCLA pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Public Affairs with a minor in Chinese Languages and Cultures. She is also the Director of Outreach for the show. This conversation was recorded on November 14, 2025.Follow Kaiser on Bluesky, X, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Follow me on Bluesky, X, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and on my website. Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com.This podcast may contain explicit language and content that is not suitable for all audiences.

Peter Bloom is the founder and general coordinator of Rhizomatica, an organization that promotes new communication technologies that are community owned and managed. He is also the founder and ex-director of Juntos, a human rights organization for latino immigrants, and the founder of the Media for Justice Project in Nigeria. In 2015, he was named to the MIT Technology Review's "Innovators Under 35" list and Foreign Policy’s "100 Leading Global Thinkers" list.Erick Huerta serves as policy and advocacy coordinator at Rhizomatica and is an expert of the International Telecommunication Union for connectivity issues in remote and indigenous communities.This conversation was recorded on July 6, 2023.Keep up with me on Bluesky, X, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and on my website.Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com. This podcast may contain explicit language and content that is not suitable for all audiences.

Daron Acemoglu is an acclaimed economist, author, and professor at MIT. In 2024, he received the Nobel Prize in Economics and the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences. His research focuses on the field of political and economic development and the relationships between political power and institutions and prosperity. He has written six award-winning books about the intersection between economic institutions, statehood, democracy, and technology. Nishat Anjum joined me as co-host for this interview. Nishat holds a PhD and MA in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She currently serves as a fellow in the National Data Innovation Centre at the National Council of Applied Economic Research. This conversation was recorded on September 23, 2025.Keep up with Daron and Ramesh. Follow Daron on Bluesky and X. Follow me on Bluesky, X, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and on my website.Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com.This podcast may contain explicit language and content that is not suitable for all audiences.

Andrew Yang is an American entrepreneur, lawyer, author and philanthropist, as well as a former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and 2021 New York City mayoral candidate. He is the founder of the Forward Party and Humanity Forward, an organization that lobbies for anti-poverty measures in Washington DC. Andrew is the first two-time guest on Utopias! This conversation was recorded on July 11, 2025.Keep up with Andrew and Ramesh. Follow Andrew on Bluesky, X, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Follow me on Bluesky, X, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and on my website.Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com.This podcast may contain explicit language and content that is not suitable for all audiences.

Astra Taylor is a documentary filmmaker, writer, and political organizer. Her works include the documentary What is Democracy? and the books The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart and The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age, which won an American Book Award in 2015. She is also the co-founder of the Debt Collective, a union for debtors fighting to cancel student debt and bail debt.This conversation was recorded on July 11, 2025.Follow Astra on Bluesky and X. Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com.Keep up with Ramesh on Bluesky, X, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.

Cory Doctorow is an activist, journalist, and bestselling science fiction author. His books include The Lost Cause, Red Team Blues, The Internet Con, and Picks and Shovels. In 2020, he was inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame. This conversation occurred on May 8, 2025, as part of a live event sponsored by UCLA DataX, an initiative focused on strengthening research and education in data science and critical data studies. The event was titled Beyond Broligarchy: The Fight for a Better Future. Learn more about Cory and Ramesh. Follow Cory on Bluesky, X, and LinkedIn. Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com. Keep up with Ramesh on Bluesky, X, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn.This podcast may contain explicit language and content that is not suitable for all audiences.

Sayash Kapoor is a computer scientist and co-author of AI Snake Oil. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University's Center for Information Technology Policy. His work focuses on the societal impacts of AI. In 2023, he was named to Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in AI.” This conversation was recorded on February 27, 2025. Learn more about Sayash, AI Snake Oil, and Ramesh. Follow Sayash on Bluesky, X, and LinkedIn. Keep up with Ramesh on X, YouTube, Instagram, Bluesky, TikTok and LinkedIn. Questions or comments? Email podcastutopias@gmail.com. References: The Fallacy of Inscrutability by Joshua A. Kroll. Technology and the Rise of Great Powers by Jeffrey Ding. Machine Bias by Julia Angwin, Jeff Larson, Surya Mattu and Lauren Kirchner.This podcast contains explicit language and content that may not be suitable for all audiences.