ACFM Microdose: Sci-Fi

ACFM Microdose: Sci-Fi

Author: Novara Media September 28, 2025 Duration: 1:59:18
Novara Media
NewsCulturePhilosophyPoliticsSocietySociety & Culture

After last week’s ACFM Trip to the Future, Jem and Keir reconvene to talk about science fiction. Is sci-fi a reaction to the “time-space compression” of the present? Is it inherently progressive? How did dystopian and paranoids visions of the future come to dominate sci-fi? Was Arthur C. Clarke an early acid communist?

Find all the books and films mentioned in the show: https://novara.media/acfm
Sign up to the ACFM newsletter: https://novaramedia.com/newsletters

Help us build people-powered media: https://novaramedia.com/support


Tune in to Novara Media for a distinct and probing take on the world as it is, and as it could be. This independent podcast offers a necessary space for the conversations often sidelined elsewhere, weaving together sharp analysis of current affairs with deeper explorations of culture, philosophy and power. Each episode naturally delves into the interconnected crises shaping our time-be it the fraying edges of our economic system, the urgent fight for climate justice, or the enduring struggles against structural inequality. The discussions are built on a foundation of radical thought and a commitment to imagining alternatives, moving beyond the day's headlines to examine the root causes and potential futures. Hosted by the team at Novara Media, the audio format brings a direct, engaging and often challenging perspective, featuring interviews, panel debates and solo commentaries that refuse simplistic answers. It’s for anyone who finds mainstream narratives insufficient and is looking for a podcast that treats politics, society and culture as the complex, urgent and deeply human matters they truly are.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 306

Official website RSS
instagramyoutubetiktokredditlinkedinsoundcloud
Novara Media
Podcast Episodes
ACFM Trip 38: Movement and Stillness [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:51:34
Ever feel like there’s too much change these days? Don’t worry, you’re not (necessarily) becoming more conservative. On this Trip, Nadia, Jem and Keir think about the ebb and flow of political currents, social movements…
Novara FM: In Search of Red Africa w/ Kevin Okoth [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:19:40
In the second half of the 20th century, revolutionaries across Africa were striving towards a decolonised future that never fully materialised. Folding together Marxism and Black radicalism, the global project of Third W…
Downstream: How Protest Movements Fall Apart w/ Vincent Bevins [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:20:46
The 2010s were a time of mass protest, from the Arab Spring uprisings to Occupy Wall Street, Euromaidan and Hong Kong’s Umbrella Movement. Many of these movements shared a ‘horizontalist’ or leaderless approach, and most…
Novara FM: Emergency Brake! On The Road With Just Stop Oil [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:48
Just Stop Oil is a group focused on climate change. So what were they doing blocking the path of a coachload of migrants last week? It all has to do with the effects of a warming world and predictions about the displacem…
Downstream: Philosophy’s Biggest Pessimist w/ John Gray [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:29:49
John Gray’s writing on political philosophy is not easily pigeonholed. Over the last half century he has explored ideas that span the whole political spectrum, and pissed off just about everybody with his central thesis…
Novara FM: Truth That Only Fiction Reveals w/ Pankaj Mishra [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 53:04
After 9/11, the writer and essayist Pankaj Mishra found himself losing faith in journalism’s ability to convey the complexity and nuance of the situation. Much of what he knew of the world, he realised, from history to p…
Downstream: The Left Is Traumatised w/ Gary Younge [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:24:41
From his early career following Nelson Mandela on the campaign trail to his stint as US correspondent for the Guardian, Gary Younge has long been one of the most thoughtful and compassionate voices on the British left. H…
Novara FM: Crossing the Class Divide w/ Lynsey Hanley [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:10
Born and raised on an ‘overspill’ estate in Birmingham, the writer Lynsey Hanley has experienced what a politician would call social mobility. In her books on housing estates and the British class system, she uses her ow…
Downstream: Europe Is Over w/ Yanis Varoufakis [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 57:10
In his new book, ‘Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism’, Yanis Varoufakis explores how giant tech firms, both in the US and China are expanding their control over the planet. His analysis is that, whilst material reso…
Novara FM: Trillions of Tiny Flying Particles w/ Jay Owens [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:07:52
Last month it was revealed that 98% of Europeans are breathing toxic air. We’re slowly realising that the modern world is covered in the dust of environmental devastation, from particle air pollution to nuclear fallout a…

«1...232425262728293031»