Podcast Recommendations: Portraits of Possible Futures That’ll Make You Glad for Our Present
By Lauren Shippen, Atypical Artists
It's no secret that the world right now is...not the best. The rise of fascism, late stage capitalism, and Silicon Valley continuing to move fast and break things can make a person feel pretty bleak about the future. Thankfully, we have fiction to help us in our time of need.
And sure, we could dive into soft escapism, but how about we dig into visions of the future that are even rougher than our own? Audio drama is full of wonderful post-apocalyptic adventures, but right now we're going to look a little closer to home.
All of these episodes are glimpses into the near future, some of which will make you laugh, some of which will make you contemplate humanity, but all of which will make you grateful for our reality. Remember: it could be worse.
Possible future fiction podcast recommendations:
Podcast artwork for “Smartr”
Smartr
Every episode of this mockumentary about Silicon Valley entrepreneurs will have you howling at the hilarity and groaning at its prescience, but "DR. ROULETTE" is a particularly biting satire of one of our worst systems: healthcare. And as if that wasn't a big enough subject to tackle, this episode is an excellent example of how Smartr balances multiple social criticisms at once; in this case, gig workers.
Podcast artwork for “Red Valley”
Red Valley
To fully appreciate the winding, decades-sprawling narrative that Red Valley weaves, you need to start with Episode 1, which introduces the central concept of hypersleep. Before you know it, you'll be four seasons deep into this brilliant exploration of wealth, justice, and what it means to spit in the eye of science in order to live forever. Do you want to continue?
Podcast artwork for “Within the Wires”
Within the Wires
The universe of Within the Wires is intricate, spanning across nine distinct seasons and a truly excellent novel. You could start with any season, but I think it’s worth diving in at the start and letting the details of this rich world unfurl slowly - a world that’s off in ways both identifiable and not, and the show does a wonderful job creating a feeling of true dread.
Podcast artwork for “The Truth”
The Truth
There are many episodes of this medium-defining anthology podcast that fit this brief, but - while more abstract than some of the other picks on here - there’s something particularly chilling about the simplicity of “The Choice”. We’ve all had the experience of receiving a strange automated call, some more sinister than others, but this episode takes that premise and ponders the demands our devices make of us and what choices we make in turn, even when we don’t know the consequences.
Podcast artwork for “You Feeling This?”
You Feeling This?
From another excellent anthology, “Highs in the 130s” imagines a not-so-distant future in which LA is rendered inhabitable due to extreme temperatures. As the main characters do what they can to escape the city, tensions reach a boiling point. It’s entirely too plausible and emits a kind of simmering heat you can feel.
Podcast artwork for “World Gone Wrong”
World Gone Wrong
You could jump into any episode of this fictional chat podcast and have a rollicking good time, but it's worth starting with the pilot to get situated in the world of two friends who try to find the lightness in a world that's gone, well, entirely wrong. The truly fun twist of this show is that the world has gone wrong in so many ways - every episode is an unexpected delight of problems.
Podcast artwork for “Life With LEO(h)”
Life With LEO(h)
But alright, I won't leave you in complete despair. If you’re looking for a version of the future that still grapples with the thorny ethics of advancing tech, but will leave you warm and fuzzy, look no further than the sci-fi(ish) romantic comedy, Life With LEO(h).
Podcast artwork for “TWO THOUSAND AND LATE”
And if you’d rather have a cathartic primal scream set in our exact present (just with bonus demons), you could check out my new show TWO THOUSAND AND LATE.
Whichever poison you pick, I promise you’ll be left feeling just a bit more hopeful about the fact that we haven’t screwed everything up forever. Yet.