Subscribe to our Patreon for more bonus content at patreon.com/c/DystopiaNow!

On this now-unlocked episode, we talked to antitrust hero and Fordham University law professor Zephyr Teachout about surveillance pricing and surveillance wages.

From airlines charging us more to fly home if they see we've recently searched "funeral arrangements" to rideshare companies paying less per ride if your bank account is low, we explored the present and future possibilities of data as a tool for economic and labor exploitation.

Book Mentioned

• Karen Levy, Data Driven: Truckers, Technology, and the New Workplace Surveillance

Further Reading

• FTC Report, https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/01/ftc-surveillance-pricing-study-indicates-wide-range-personal-data-used-set-individualized-consumer

• ACLU Report, https://www.aclu.org/news/privacy-technology/surveillance-pricing

• Electronic Frontier Foundation on surveillance pricing, https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/08/fight-surveillance-pricing-we-need-privacy-first

• Maryland ban on surveillance pricing, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/apr/29/maryland-grocery-stores-ban-surveillance-pricing

• New York legislation, https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nys/central-ny/politics/2026/05/19/surveillance-pricing-

• Cory Doctorow on surveillance wages, https://doctorow.medium.com/https-pluralistic-net-2026-04-06-empiricism-washing-veena-dubal-d63fef485503

We return from our brief summer break chatting about Émile's latest article of interest, "Here's Why SpaceX's Mission is Bullshit" in the wake of its recent IPO and question the assumptions underlying transhumanism for space exploration.

Further Reading

• https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/heres-why-spacexs-mission-is-bullshit
• https://www.realtimetechpocalypse.com/p/is-elon-musk-a-mass-murderer-on-par

Books Mentioned

• Adam Becker, More Everything Forever

Does fiction inform what we think the future should look like? Sci-fi and futurism has typically told us the inevitability of technology and dystopian cyberpunk imaginaries. Monika Bielskyte joins us to introduce her alternative, Protopia Futures, a framework for science-informed visions for a good future.

Find Monika's writings at https://monikabielskyte.substack.com

Further Reading

• https://monikabielskyte.substack.com/p/we-can-always-do-something-about

• https://plus.flux.community/p/to-achieve-a-beautiful-future-we

• https://monikabielskyte.substack.com/p/the-futurism-you-were-sold-was-a

• https://monikabielskyte.substack.com/p/protopia-world-stack-values-bodies