Episode 180: The Invisible Chain that Holds Us Together (w/ Alexis Madrigal)

The poster for Space Truckers showing a bunch of faces around a spaceship: the perfect representation of the supply chain in action

We keep hearing about the supply chain lately... but what is it? And how do all these shipping containers moving around the world shape our lives? We talk to Alexis Madrigal, author of the brand new book The Pacific Circuit, about how trade with Asia has changed Oakland. Plus we talk about how science fiction deals with the idea of the supply chain, and what can go wrong with it.

Notes, citations, & Etc.

Alexis Madrigal's website, plus his author page at KQED, where he hosts Forum

Alexis Madrigal on Bluesky and Instagram

His new book is called The Pacific Circuit

Here's Alexis Madrigal's explainer on containerization

The Good Place proved that capitalism makes us all complicit in evil

The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet follows the crew of a ship creating, basically, a shipping route

Terry Nation's The Survivors makes it clear that we're totally dependent on supply chains working like clockwork to survive