TRASHFUTURE

Brian Merchant, journalist and author who explores technology's social impacts. He dissects an ed-tech firm selling digital hall passes turned anti-vaping surveillance. Conversations cover how such systems mimic military tracking, their technical and logical failures, student workarounds, and broader worries about normalizing workplace-style monitoring in schools.

Wendy Liu, San Francisco billboard specialist and tech journalist, returns to unpack Delve and related Silicon Valley scandals. She describes Delve’s provocative SF ad campaign and what it claimed about automated compliance. The conversation traces fake audit evidence, troubling VC incentives, and how hype can crowd out durable infrastructure.

They dig into recent promising UK transit developments outside London. They roast the metaverse collapse, mocking huge bank and consultancy forecasts. They explain why gaming and kid-driven platforms like Roblox actually work while corporate metaverse bets flopped. They close by questioning pundits' past hype and misplaced tech optimism.

Riley has been driven insane by a… company hinging on a single Australian man that appears to be bamboozling the British State with complex financial chicanery, and now you all have to hear the story of how NScale started out as a landlord for bitcoin miners and became the government’s best hope for a “Sovereign AI” but that has only a scaffolding yard to its name. Except it also doesn’t own the scaffolding yard either. If you want to hear more bonus episodes like this one, consider signing up on our Patreon! TF Merch is still available here! *MILO ALERT* Check out Milo’s tour dates here: https://www.miloedwards.co.uk/liveshows Trashfuture are: Riley (@raaleh), Milo (@Milo_Edwards), Hussein (@HKesvani), Nate (@inthesedeserts), and November (@postoctobrist)

Josef joins us again to discuss the ongoing disaster in the Persian Gulf, and the crumbling not only of the facade of imperial legitimacy but imperial omnipotence. Also, we look at a startup that could only be called a “moonshot.” Get more TF episodes each week by subscribing to our Patreon here! TF Merch is still available here! *MILO ALERT* Check out Milo’s tour dates here: https://www.miloedwards.co.uk/liveshows Trashfuture are: Riley (@raaleh), Milo (@Milo_Edwards), Hussein (@HKesvani), Nate (@inthesedeserts), and November (@postoctobrist)

Riley has been driven insane by a… company hinging on a single Australian man that appears to be bamboozling the British State with complex financial chicanery, and now you all have to hear the story of how NScale started out as a landlord for bitcoin miners and became the government’s best hope for a “Sovereign AI” but that has only a scaffolding yard to its name. Except it also doesn’t own the scaffolding yard either.   Get the whole episode on Patreon here!   TF Merch is still available here! *MILO ALERT* Check out Milo’s tour dates here: https://www.miloedwards.co.uk/liveshows Trashfuture are: Riley (@raaleh), Milo (@Milo_Edwards), Hussein (@HKesvani), Nate (@inthesedeserts), and November (@postoctobrist)

Josh Boerman, media analyst and podcaster known for dissecting consolidation in the media industry. He unpacks Ellison-backed Paramount–Warner consolidation and its creative, labor, and AI consequences. The conversation also pivots to a possible UK energy price shock, its macro parallels to the 1970s, and political fallout for British politics.

This Machine Kills (Ed & Jathan), commentary duo critiquing tech and corporate culture. They unpack the false binary of good vs bad AI and laugh about an AI-controlled mattress gone wrong. They also eulogize BrewDog’s collapse and discuss Eight Sleep’s partnership with Tether. Short, sharp, and irreverent takes on AI, corporate tie-ups, and brand downfall.

Matthew Petti, assistant editor at Reason who covers national security and the Middle East, joins to unpack war dynamics and policy analysis. They discuss U.S., Israeli, and Iranian aims. They debate leadership mindsets, drone-versus-interceptor attrition, and how Europe and Gulf states could be pulled in. The conversation probes long-term shifts in power and the risks to Gulf stability.

They dig into a wild Business Insider story about someone trying to build an AI Scott Adams. The conversation covers childhood connections to Dilbert and the ethics of recreating a public figure. They debate grief, consent, family objections, and whether an AI likeness could be more or less harmful than the real person. Production costs and how the AI is trained also get a laugh and a critique.