The Sprawling History of Neal Stephenson's 'Polostan'

On this week’s episode, Sonny Bunch (The Bulwark), Alyssa Rosenberg (The Washington Post), and Peter Suderman (Reason) discuss both AI witchhunts and Blumhouse’s decision to partner Meta with filmmakers in an effort to bring AI into the filmmaking fold. (You can watch the video/ad by Aneesh Chaganty we discussed here.) Then, in a slight departure for the podcast, we discuss a book: Neal Stephenson’s Polostan, the first entry in his forthcoming Bomb Light Cycle. Historical fiction examining the cultural and scientific revolutions of the first half of the 20th century by one of our greatest novelists? We were very much into it. Make sure to stick around for Friday’s bonus episode, in which we discuss scary books just in time for Halloween. And if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend!