Strange Realm - Ep. 146 - Jan. 4th, 2026

On this week's show we bring you a chilled and distilled episode as we attempt to find strange and wild things to talk about in the first week of the new year. We look at the space missions planned for 2026 from the USA as well as from China and Japan, discuss the troubling implications of "self-preservation" behavior from LLMs and other AI, report that the world's first gene-edited baby is now a year old and has taken his first steps, and we take notice that the flat-headed cat has just recently been spotted back in Thailand for the first time in 30 years. All of this and then, after the break, we continue our reading series as Frobisher continues with "The Cryptoterrestrials," by Mac Tonnies.

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Notes:
- 2026 Space missions round-up
https://thedebrief.org/2026-space-outlook-new-missions-look-to-the-moon-mars-and-beyond-as-humanity-seeks-permanent-space-habitation/
- AI shows worrying signs of "self-preservation"
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/dec/30/ai-pull-plug-pioneer-technology-rights
- First baby to have genes edited takes first steps
https://people.com/first-baby-to-undergo-gene-editing-takes-first-steps-kj-muldoon-11874008
- Flat-headed cat found in the wild! Not extinct!
https://nypost.com/2026/01/02/science/possibly-extinct-flat-headed-cat-seen-on-camera-after-30-years/
- The Cryptoterrestrials
https://www.amazon.com/Cryptoterrestrials-Meditation-Indigenous-Humanoids-Aliens/dp/1933665467
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-cryptoterrestrials-mac-tonnies/1116293428

Intro music: "night drive" by bbrainz (slowed + reverb)
Outro music: "Curious Constellations" by SURGE
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