Urgent Futures with Jesse Damiani

From comedies like Anchorman and Step Brothers to The Big Short, Vice, and 2C—a forthcoming film about climate apocalypse—Adam McKay's evolution as a storyteller and public figure epitomizes the journey we will need many other creative folks to undertake if we're going to survive what's coming. We get into all of it (including teasers about forthcoming projects).Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email).BIO: Adam McKay is an Academy Award-winning writer, director, and producer whose work spans comedy, film, television, documentaries, and podcasting. He won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Big Short and earned additional Academy Award nominations for Vice and Netflix’s global hit Don’t Look Up. His producing credits also include The Menu, Booksmart, Hustlers, The Chair Company, and HBO’s acclaimed series Succession, for which he directed the pilot and won a Directors Guild Award.Before becoming one of Hollywood’s most influential filmmakers, McKay made his name in the comedy world as a founding member of the Upright Citizens Brigade. In 1995, McKay and Will Ferrell happened to start on the same day at Saturday Night Live, where he became Head Writer. McKay and Ferrell’s time at SNL led to collaborations that established their unique absurdist style on Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) followed by Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006), Step Brothers (2008), The Other Guys (2010) and Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013).Beyond film and television, McKay is also an active producer of documentaries and podcasts focused on politics, culture, sports, and social issues. In 2023, he founded Yellow Dot Studios, a nonprofit media organization dedicated to combating climate misinformation through comedy and storytelling.In 2016, McKay joined the Creative Council of Represent Us, the largest grassroots anti-corruption campaign in the US to pass laws that stop political bribery, end secret money and give voters a stronger voice. He is passionate about the climate crisis and is affiliated with numerous climate organizations, including the Climate Emergency Fund to whom he donated $4M in 2022. In addition to aiding the movement General Strike for Resignations (GS4R), a group that helps finance strike-support platforms across labor unions, climate organizations and social justice groups, McKay supports DSA LA, Homeless Health Care LA and Amnesty International.CREDITS: This podcast is produced & edited by Adam Labrie & me, Jesse Damiani. Adam Labrie also edited the video version, which is available on YouTube.Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

By now, the company Palantir has probably entered your field of view—but many still don’t quite get the scope and scale of what they’re building and why. Juan, today's guest, formerly worked at Palantir and other AI companies, and has now emerged as leading advocate for a people’s movement to regulate AI and promote liberatory futures. So listen/watch on to understand into the invisible dangers of Palantir’s tools and what we can do to keep them (and other harmful aspects of AI rollout) in check.Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email).BIO: Juan Sebastián Pinto is a designer and writer currently working at the intersection of civil rights and technology. His writing appears in The Guardian, Forbes, Dwell Magazine, and Substack. His work and advocacy has been featured in WIRED, NPR, The Washington Post, Democracy Now!, and the BBC.In the past Juan led content/creative for various leading AI startups and worked and collaborated with many architecture firms as a strategist, writer, and graphic designer. He completed his BA and MA in English at the University of Pennsylvania.Juan also runs Ziggurat on Substack—be sure to subscribe!CREDITS: This podcast is produced & edited by Adam Labrie & me, Jesse Damiani. Adam Labrie also edited the video version, which is available on YouTube.Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

If you spend enough time learning about climate change, you come to regard the molecule carbon dioxide—abbreivated to CO2—with fear and frustration. After all, the long accumulation of CO2 is behind roughly 75% of Earth’s warming. Leaving aside the fact that we’re the species that put all that CO2 in the air, we’re also not viewing the bigger picture. That bigger picture is the subject of today's guest's modestly titled new book, The Story of CO2 is the Story of Everything. Read on...Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email).The book amply earns the big claim of the title, helping readers like me understand that the carbon cycle is one of the most miraculous things on Earth—and also one of the most consequential.Buy The Story of CO2 is the Story of Everything here.Don’t get the wrong idea: Story of CO2 is not a starry eyed greenwashing affair. If anything, the book is asking us to approach the subject with humility. The carbon cycle may be miraculous, and a driving part of why life emerged on Earth, but that doesn’t mean it’s unchangeable. In continuing to burn fossil fuels, we’re tampering with that system, and at an alarming rate. Insofar as we’re already witnessing some of the consequences, we also have no way of knowing the full regimen of changes that might be occurring across the Earth system. To that, Peter employs some of the same time travel he used in The Ends of the World—which we discussed in an earlier episode—taking us on a journey through deep time to understand how the story of CO2 really did become the story of everything—at least as we understand it on our one precious planet.BIO: Peter Brannen is an award-winning science journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Scientific American, and The Guardian among other publications. He is the author of The Story of CO2 is the Story of Everything and The Ends of the World. Peter was a 2023 visiting scholar at the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress, and is an affiliate at the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado-Boulder. He was formerly a 2018 Scripps Fellow at CU-Boulder, a 2015 journalist-in-residence at the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center at Duke University, and a 2011 Ocean Science Journalism Fellow at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole, MA. His essays have been featured in the Best American Science and Nature Writing series and in The Climate Book by Greta Thunberg. Peter is particularly interested in geology, ocean science, deep time, the carbon cycle and the Boston Celtics. Peter splits time between Cambridge, MA and Damariscotta, ME and is a placental mammal.CREDITS: This podcast is produced & edited by Adam Labrie & me, Jesse Damiani. Adam Labrie also edited the video version, which is available on YouTube.Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

When you think of threats from heat, your mind probably goes to wildfire threats. And don’t get me wrong, having lived through wildfires firsthand, they’re not to be underestimated! But the headline-grabbing nature of fires might overshadow the fact that plain old heat can be a real threat to your health. In fact, extreme heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S.; more than hurricanes and floods.Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email).And this is pronounced in urban spaces, where a deadly cocktail of heat-exacerbating building materials and careless urban planning has created a situation in which, during heat events, cities can become especially dangerous. Today’s guest is an expert in the phenomenon of urban heat islands, areas that are significantly warmer than surrounding rural areas. Tree cover is one of the key interventions, but unfortunately, US cities are actually losing tree cover. A study from the Forest Service in 2018 found that US cities were losing trees at a rate of 36 million per year. And worse, what Vivek has found in his research is that many of the hottest neighborhoods in cities—those that already lack sufficient tree cover—are also losing trees at the fastest rates. While I absolutely hate this fact, it’s why I especially appreciate Vivek’s approach, weaving together sustainability, environmental justice, and urban planning—and doing so in such a clear-eyed, accessible way.I know this is not light fare, but given that we’re also potentially heading into what experts have literally called a “super-duper” El Niño, which they believe will produce new record-setting temperatures, I feel strongly that you need to familiarize yourself with this subject so that you’re best able to prepare and help do what you can to advocate for better heat planning in your hometowns. BIO: Vivek Shandas is a researcher, professor at Portland State University, and advisor helping cities navigate climate and public health challenges. Over two decades, he has worked with governments and communities to improve urban environments through data-driven, equitable strategies. He has authored 100+ journal articles and five books, and his work on urban heat, air quality, and environmental justice has been featured in major outlets including The New York Times and National Geographic. In 2023, he was appointed to the USDA’s National Urban and Community Forestry Advisory Council. He is also the lead scientific advisor to CAPA Strategies and enjoys the mountains and water of the Pacific Northwest, where he lives with his family.CREDITS: This podcast is produced & edited by Adam Labrie & me, Jesse Damiani. Adam Labrie also edited the video version, which is available on YouTube.Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

What happens when a veteran humanitarian and disaster relief specialist founds a camp for building resilience and community? Listen on...Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email).As I’ve discussed in a few other episodes, I’m of the mind that we need to reclaim the notion of prepping and shift it away from a stock stereotype about loner survivalists (though, hey, good for them). Rather, I’m excited by the version of prepping that’s growing out of the mutual aid movement, which foregrounds community care and self-empowerment. I did a collaborative video with forecasting agency Death to Stock outlining some of these ideas, which went a little viral, and beyond vanity, I’m glad it did; it led me to meet Sam Bloch, founder of Camp DoomsDaddy. What Sam is doing is precisely what I see as the potential of turning preparedness and resilience into commonplace aspects of our lives. Essentially, he moves from the twinned premise that community is a superpower and resilience should be fun. He’s run two camps already—and has one coming up in May that, if you can go, you really should!—and if the documentation of their time is to be believed, they really did have a blast. All while learning critical skills to navigate volatile futures.And Sam is the perfect person to do this; he’s a sort of preparedness and disaster relief auto-didact, having kicked off his career in Southeast Asia two decades ago, and becoming a leading figure in humanitarianism along the way. He sensed—rightly, in my estimation—that while disaster relief remains critical, a missing piece is building communities of people who have learned how to prepare in advance.BIO: Sam Bloch is the founder and lead trainer at Camp DoomsDaddy. Sam comes with 20+ years of emergency response experience at the front-lines of disasters worldwide, from tsunamis and earthquakes to wildfires and war zones. A co-founder of Communitere International and former Director of Emergency Response at World Central Kitchen, he has led response efforts in more than 50 countries and worked at the epicenter of them in more than 30 U.S. disasters alone. After decades helping people who weren’t prepared, Sam is now focused on ensuring individuals and communities have the skills they need to take care of themselves and each other before disaster strikes. Sam is also on the Advisory Board of Watch Duty, and a trained wild land firefighter.CREDITS: This podcast is produced & edited by Adam Labrie & me, Jesse Damiani. Adam Labrie also edited the video version, which is available on YouTube.Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

Viktor Orbán is widely regarded as having written the playbook for 'illiberal democracy' that has been used by those aspiring to turn democracies into autocracies—including Donald Trump. But last week, he lost the election—and miraculously, actually stepped down. What should we make of all this? What does it mean for Hungary, the EU, and the world? I chat with friend of the pod Eric Czuleger to find out.Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email).BIO: Eric Czuleger is a geopolitical analyst and journalist who has worked across 45+ countries. Trained under George Friedman at Stratfor, he holds a Master's in National Security from the RAND School of Public Policy and an MSt in Creative Writing from Oxford. He is the author of You Are Not Here: Travels Through Countries That Don't Exist. A returned Peace Corps volunteer (Albania, 2011–2013) and former ambassador from Liberland to Somaliland, he splits his time between Tirana, Albania and Los Angeles.Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

I don't think people fully understand how incredible solar power has gotten—and what it would mean for the future of our planet (and species) if we pursued an aggressive solar effort.Today's guest, Lee Buck, explains what solar futures might hold—and why we should be doing everything we can to bring them about.Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email).I had the good fortune to meet Lee last summer in Maine while my partner was in residency at Reach Projects in Blue Hill. It’s a really lovely community of people up there, and Lee is an esteemed member, a great host, and grills a mean burger to boot—and we quickly bonded over both our commitment to climate-related work and our background in tech.Lee’s perspective on climate progress (or lack thereof) stems from his work as an investor and philanthropist, which gives him a unique view into what’s afoot in ClimateTech, as well as the struggles that startups and even more established companies face in implementing effective responses under current social, cultural, political, and economic conditions. It’s a perspective I haven’t yet had the chance to feature on the show, so I’m glad Lee agreed to sit down with me.You’ll also hear his reflections on solar power, on what Silicon Valley felt like during the dot-com boom, and his advocacy for Apple vs. Android products, and much more. BIO: Leonard Buck is an investor and philanthropist focused on the challenges and opportunities presented by climate change.He previously supported the regional entrepreneurial ecosystem as an early-stage investor, mentor, and board member. He has served on dozens of boards, including NC IDEA, CED, and the UNC Board of Visitors, and was a Blackstone Entrepreneur-in-Residence.Earlier in his career, Buck founded a succession of software companies that partnered with leading technology firms such as Apple, Oracle, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems. He also contributed to early internet standards through a working group of the W3C.Buck lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina, with his wife, Libby.CREDITS: This podcast is produced & edited by Adam Labrie & me, Jesse Damiani. Adam Labrie also edited the video version, which is available on YouTube.Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

Remember when the Internet was a fun place, not where you were hypersurveilled while doomscrolling?Enshittification. It’s a word that captures what's happened to the Internet—and critically, why. It has taken the world by storm, dubbed the 2023 Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society and the 2024 Word of the Year by the Macquarie Dictionary. It’s a delicious word—playfully naughty and piercingly descriptive.Grab your copy of Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It here!Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email).Today’s guest is the man behind the word, and he’s something of an expert in crystallizing complex ideas with memorable turns of phrase. What started as a blog post a few years back has become a full-blown book (and a great one, at that, so pick your copy now!). The concept describes the process by which tech products degrade over time—specifically through economic and political pressures and incentive structures—and the book breaks this down in page-turning detail, with case studies that make your stomach turn. If you’ve interacted with tech products at all over the past couple decades, everything about this book will ring painfully true to you.But all hope is not lost; Cory also outlines how we fight against these enshittificatory processes. It’s truly a must-read, and in the meantime, I hope this conversation is an invitation into this vital body of ideas. So without further ado, please enjoy this illuminating conversation with Cory Doctorow.BIO: Cory Doctorow is a blogger, journalist, and activist. For more than twenty years, he has worked with the Electronic Frontier Foundation on campaigns to safeguard and further our human rights online. He was coeditor of the weblog Boing Boing for nineteen years and now maintains a daily(ish) newsletter at Pluralistic.net. He has written more than thirty books, including nonfiction books, many science fiction novels, collections of short stories and essays, young adult novels, graphic novels, and even a picture book. Born in Toronto, he now lives in Burbank, California. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in laws by York University and an honorary doctorate in computer science by the Open University. He has been inducted into the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association Hall of Fame and was awarded the Sir Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society. He holds visiting professorship and research appointments at MIT, the University of North Carolina, Cornell University, and the Open University.CREDITS: This podcast is produced & edited by Adam Labrie & me, Jesse Damiani. Adam Labrie also edited the video version, which is available on YouTube.Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

Over the years, you’ve probably heard many references to quantum computing. In geopolitics and tech matters, it’s considered an area of extreme interest, and yet it remains a subject that many don’t fully understand (even within the tech commentariat). What is it, how does it work, and what are the implications of a world suffused with this technology?Today's guest, Dr. Bob Sutor, breaks it down.Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email).BIO: Dr. Bob Sutor has been a technical leader and executive in the computer and DeepTech industry for over 40 years. He is a theoretical mathematician by training, with a Ph.D. from Princeton University and an undergraduate degree from Harvard College.During his career, Dr. Sutor has spoken to and briefed government legislators and policymakers around the world, such as his 2022 testimony before the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on “Securing U.S. Leadership in Emerging Compute Technologies.” He was a co-author of the 2024 Quantum Economy Blueprint from the World Economic Forum.Dr. Sutor is the CEO and Founder of Sutor Group Intelligence and Advisory. He helps clients and investors understand sophisticated technologies such as quantum computing and use them effectively to succeed in their organizations and industries. Bob is a member of the Board of Directors of Nu Quantum and an advisor to the Forma Prime venture capital firm. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Buffalo, New York, and spent over two decades at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center. Dr. Sutor is the author of the bestselling 2019 quantum computing book Dancing with Qubits.CREDITS: This podcast is produced & edited by Adam Labrie & me, Jesse Damiani. Adam Labrie also edited the video version, which is available on YouTube.Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe

This marks Noelle’s—count it!—fourth time on Urgent Futures, and I continue to be grateful to have her as a dialogue partner on all things Internet freedoms. This conversation most directly builds on our Aug. 2025 episode, which focused foremost on the threats to privacy and security smuggled in with ‘age verification’ laws. That conversation is as timely and relevant today, so if you want to learn more, be sure to check that episode out as well.Support the show by checking out: ProtonVPN (gold-standard VPN—fast and safe. Click the link to get 55% off VPN Plus: $4.49/mo). ZBiotics (Decrease impact of hangovers. Code: JESSEDAMIANI for 10% off), MUD\WTR (43% off starter kits), 1Password (simplify your life and increase digital safety), Mission Farms CBD (healthy, effective CBD for relief, sleep, and wellbeing—25% off with email).In today’s episode, we jump off from her recent founding of the Anti-Censorship Coalition with Taylor Lorenz. They’ve both been doing great work explaining the stakes, particularly involving a possible repeal of Section 230, part of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, which protects online platforms (websites, apps, ISPs) from liability for content generated by users on said platforms.I recognize this might feel too tech-centric or legalistic for some folks, but I feel obligated to encourage you to think otherwise; our ability to communicate freely on the Internet is a baseline need for intervening in the polycrisis, and moreover, pushing against the ongoing surveillance creep occurring in much of the “modern” world.BIO: Noelle Perdue is a writer, producer, and Internet porn historian with nearly ten years of experience working platform-side for multiple mainstream and independent adult companies. Having written everything from Food Network porn parodies to legally binding terms and conditions, much of her current work explores obscenity law and how pornography’s history can influence our digital and political futures. Noelle’s writing work has been published on Wired, Washington Post, Pornhub, Slate, Brazzers, Input, etc., she’s also been featured as an industry expert on multiple programs including the BBC, CBC, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, and on Netflix’s 2023 documentary Money Shot. Find more episodes of Urgent Futures at: youtube.com/@UrgentFutures. Get full access to Reality Studies at www.realitystudies.co/subscribe