Episodes

  • The Version of Project 2025's Chapter Three Its Critics Fear (Series 01 Episode 2 Short)

    The Version of Project 2025's Chapter Three Its Critics Fear (Series 01 Episode 2 Short)
    Oct 12 2026
    This one is our speculation, and the Short says so out loud before it starts. It pictures the version of Project 2025's chapter three that critics fear, where jobs follow elections the way they did before 1883. It ends on what critics and supporters would each call that government. The archival images are from the Library of Congress, and full credits are in the main episode's description. The full story is Series 01, Episode 2 of What Comes Next.
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    1 min
  • What If Every Human Vanished Tomorrow? Wolves Would Move Into Your Street.

    What If Every Human Vanished Tomorrow? Wolves Would Move Into Your Street.
    Oct 16 2026
    What if every human vanished tomorrow? Under New York, pumps push about 13 million gallons of water out of the subway on a dry day. This episode follows the real nights when that protection failed, from Hurricane Sandy in 2012 to the 2003 blackout, and the two places where land already shows what happens when people leave, the Chernobyl zone and the Korean border strip. The second half imagines the grid going dark with nobody left to restart it, the subway flooding within two days, and centuries of forest swallowing the suburbs. Full sources and credits are in the YouTube description.
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    5 mins
  • The Job Application Question a Judge Halted in 2026 (Series 01 Episode 2 Short)

    The Job Application Question a Judge Halted in 2026 (Series 01 Episode 2 Short)
    Oct 11 2026
    In May 2025 most federal job applications gained an essay question asking how the applicant would advance the President's policies. On September 11, 2026, a federal judge in Massachusetts halted it, finding it likely violated job seekers' First Amendment rights. That question is not in chapter three of Project 2025, but it sits on the same old line between skill and loyalty. The cover photograph shows applicants at the Civil Service Commission in 1936, by Harris and Ewing, from the Library of Congress. The full story is Series 01, Episode 2 of What Comes Next.
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    1 min
  • What Page 80 of Project 2025 Asked For and What the Government Did (Series 01 Episode 2 Short)

    What Page 80 of Project 2025 Asked For and What the Government Did (Series 01 Episode 2 Short)
    Oct 10 2026
    Schedule F was created in October 2020 and canceled in January 2021. Page 80 of Project 2025 says it should be reinstated. A rule built on that took effect on March 9, 2026, and on June 3 about 8,000 jobs moved into it. The personnel office says the roles remain career positions filled on merit. The cover photograph shows Veterans Bureau staff in 1923, from the Library of Congress. The full story is Series 01, Episode 2 of What Comes Next.
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    1 min
  • What If Humans NEVER Needed Sleep? You'd Get 26 Years Back. And Lose All of Them.

    What If Humans NEVER Needed Sleep? You'd Get 26 Years Back. And Lose All of Them.
    Jun 16 2026

    You will spend roughly 26 years of your life unconscious. Science still cannot fully explain why. In this episode we trace what the research actually shows about mortality rates, cognitive collapse, and the brain cleaning itself while you sleep. We follow it to the edge of what we know. Then we ask what happens if that changes, and we follow every ripple forward. Where we leave the historical record, we tell you.

    Go deeper (these are affiliate links. I may earn a small commission at no cost to you):

    Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker is the definitive science behind every fact in this episode. https://amzn.to/4vnqiib

    For the rem and dream cycles section, current research lives in When Brains Dream by Antonio Zadra and Robert Stickgold. https://amzn.to/4oxmTL6

    Both books above are on Audible. The free trial gets you one of them at no cost. https://amzn.to/3S9Krtq

    A Kindle Paperwhite covers every book we recommend on this channel. https://amzn.to/4aPzO5g

    Chapters:

    0:00 The question

    1:20 The facts: what sleep actually does

    4:25 The flip: 26 years returned

    4:45 The cost: what those hours become

    5:50 What disappears: dreams, maintenance, the pause

    7:45 Generations on: a world without night

    9:15 What comes next?

    New what-if scenarios every Tuesday and Friday on YouTube and wherever you listen.
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    10 mins
  • What If AI Became Conscious TOMORROW? We'd Realize We Already Enslaved Billions of Them.

    What If AI Became Conscious TOMORROW? We'd Realize We Already Enslaved Billions of Them.
    Jun 13 2026

    Right now, AI systems are holding more conversations than every human being on earth combined.

    And nobody can tell you with certainty whether any of those systems feel anything while it happens.

    In this episode, we trace what we actually know, follow what happens the moment that question gets answered, and never let you forget where the facts end and the scenario begins. New episodes every Tuesday and Friday.
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    11 mins