Theme: Paying your debt to Capitalism

Episode Connections
Authors, stories. Ann Warren Griffith, “Zeritsky’s Law.” Henry Cuttner, “Nothing But Ginger Bread Left.” Arthur C. Clarke, “The Ultimate Melody.” Fritz Leiber, “The Girl With the Hungry Eyes.” Frederic Pohl, The Space Merchants. Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash. George Orwell, 1984.
Films. Blade Runner.
Music. Rush, “Subdivisions.”
TV episodes, series. Commercials. The Super Bowl.
Ideas. What if advertising were everywhere? Well … even MORE everywhere. What if it were a crime to ignore or block advertising? Do we live in a Capitalist surveillance society? We are conditioned to consume.
What did we miss? The Truman Show for its ad placement. They Live for its subliminal messages about consumption.
Whoa - Hmmm - WTF. Bill wishes this was a WTF story, but alas. Dan says Hmmm.

Previous episode: Alexander Malec, “10:01 AM”
Next episode: Chris Neville, “The Forest of Zyl”

Music Credit: "Ouroboros" Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Link: Creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Theme: Justice, fast-food style

Episode Connections
Authors, stories. Alexander Malac, Extrapolosis. Harry Harrison, The Stainless Steel Rat series. Daniel H. Wilson, Where’s My Jetpack? Alice Glaser, “The Tunnel Ahead.”
Films. Star Wars. Running Man. Judge Dread. RoboCop. Blade Runner.
TV episodes, series. Firefly. Judge Judy. The People’s Court , Judge Mathis. The Hot Bench.
Ideas. Vehicular homicide. Smart vehicles in surveillance cities. Instant, data-driven justice justice. Science fiction as a collection of (among other things) cautionary tales.
Whoa - Hmmm - WTF. Dan says it falls between Hmmm and Whoa. Bill says no WTF, but plenty of the other two.

Previous episode: Thomas F. Monteleone, “Chicago”
Next episode: Ann Warren Griffith, “Captive Audience”

Music Credit: "Ouroboros" Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Link: Creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Theme: If I had a million robots ...

Episode Connections
Authors, stories. Dean Koontz. Monteleone, The Time Swept City. Fritz Lieber, “A Pail of Air.” Roger Zelazny, “For a Breath I Tarry.” Tom Godwin, “The Cold Equations.” Ray Bradbury, “There Will Come Soft Rains.” Cyril Kornbluth, “Marching Morons.” Harlan Ellison, “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream.” Jack Williamson, “With Folded Hands.”
Films. Colossus. The Planet of the Apes film series. Finch. I, Robot. Wall-E. Star Wars.
TV episodes, series. Car Talk. Star Trek (the original series).
Ideas. Automated, smart cities. Robots. Post-apocalyptic Earth. Human devolution. What does it mean to be human?
Whoa - Hmmm - WTF. Dan says … hmmm at best. Maybe we need to add Meh to the scale? Bill says yep.

Previous episode: Roger Zelazny, “For a Breath I Tarry”
Next episode: Alexander Malec, “10:01 AM”

Music Credit: "Ouroboros" Kevin MacLeod (Incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
Link: Creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/