The political economy of speculative fiction
Our guest this week is Olav Rokne of the Hugo Book Club to talk about unions and organized labour, or rather the lack of it, in science fiction. While representation of unions in science fiction is pretty unusual, it’s moved from anti-union hostility to more of a benign neglect.
See our show notes for more information.
We talk about Wired’s Future of Work series of short stories. The shortage of actual work and the absence of organized labour leaves a lot to be desired.
This is Androids and Assets, the podcast that discusses the political and economic assumptions in science fiction and fantasy and how they shape the world in which we live.
We’re talking about inequality and Neill Blomkamp’s 2013 Elysium starring our best friend, Matt Damon.
Music is from An Ant and An Atom. They’re great.
This week we run the gambit from Waifu’s to Workforce Automation as we cover Blade Runner 2049.