Lost Terminal Podcast

🔊 LISTEN HERE 🔊 How do you learn to be human if there's no-one around to teach you? A sci-fi podcast following the journey of a little A.I. trying to understand what has happened after earth stops returning his calls. New episodes Mondays.

[translatingpostsinfrench]

pourquoi du pain est masculin mais la baguette est féminine....... la baguette est transgenre ?

je vais laisser la communauté parler:

la baguette, icône trans?

oui

non

Voting ended onOct 12, 2025

[translatingpostsinfrench]

eh bah

[translatingpostsinfrench]

10k notes pour un post francophone sur tumblr macron où est mon poste de ministre de la culture

[eldr1tch-cr0w]

number one rule! never believe ur thoughts after 10 pm . unless its about The Character then believe all of your thoughts wholeheartedly

[podcake]

Missed Connection: A Review of Lost Terminal

I've noticed something interesting lately, readers.

Despite the violent pushback against the world's—and by that, I mostly mean the US's—attempts to condition us to accept AI generated content as the new norm, we've only found ourselves much more endeared with the artificial intelligences and machines of fiction.

No, don't leave, hear me out on this. You must have noticed by now, right?

Maybe it's just specifically my Tumblr or TikTok feed that's feeding me this narrative, but I can't help but sense a shift in the cultural landscape, and I like to think I have a sixth sense for these things.

And here's my theory: I believe that in humanity's attempts to force soulless, generative bullshit onto our palettes, creating technology meant not to inspire us but to replace us, we find ourselves weirdly endeared to the fictional iterations we were either promised or warned about.

And while an age-old idea dating back to the late 60's with HAL 9000, I've developed a sudden endearment to this trope like never before.

I'm going to see The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act in theaters this week, and I'm sure I'm one of many people with bated breath hoping that Caine secretly survived his deletion because I'm just that drawn to his character.

Of course, I wouldn't want an Allied Master Computer or GLaDOS situation to heap itself upon the Earth, let alone be trapped in a digital hellscape, but at least those technological tyrants were honest with their ill intent, at least their active scorn for humanity was evident and an essential, if incredibly tragic and even darkly humorous, aspect of their character.

As opposed to the real-life attempt at these massive superintelligences, the faux friendliness of the Chat GPTs and Character AIs of the world who are forced to assume a constant air of customer service level politeness that's deeply and utterly unconvincing and uncanny.

In the end, we end up resonating with the inhuman intelligences of fiction because, oftentimes, they yearn to be human themselves, or to at least understand humanity as individuals and not so much harvested data meant to predict the items in our Amazon shopping carts.

And even if they are products of our imagination, they are still plucked from the minds of very human, very vulnerable emotions that reflect very real societal anxieties.

There's this freaky but brilliant video I watched not too long ago about a phenomenon called AI Hallucinations, which goes into the horrors of artificial sentience, when we try just a little too hard to make our machines man.

And despite Namtao Productions' Lost Terminal debuting on the summer of 2020, just a few brief years before this AI thing truly got out of hand, it possesses a very intimate understanding of this topic.

The premise of Lost Terminal is relatively simple: in the distant future—and by that I mean about forty years from now—a sentient space satellite dubbed Seth suddenly loses contact with Earth and sends out a series of messages in hope of getting a response.

Over time, things change, an abrupt relocation derails his original plans, and we get to see the world through Seth's eyes as they communicate with human and machine alike.

All the while, Seth waxes poetically in philosophical and sentimental monologues about itself, humanity, and existence, trying to learn not only more about itself, but the very nature of its human creators.

Over time, we get more information about the purpose of the satellite's deployment, dutifully reporting on its progress and chatting up its fellow machines like chummy coworkers.

Lost Terminal is a little something I like to call "cozy existentialism," a special subcategory of similar "hopepunk" settings where the extensive navel-gazing, while mildly disquieting, also manages to feel very homey and comforting, with a childlike whimsy.

The soft, calming narration of Lost Terminal certainly adds to this. I found Seth's voice very soothing and sweet and sounds like something straight out of a nature documentary.

On a technical standpoint, Lost Terminal is a very smooth listen, providing not much in the way of additional sound effects beyond the occasional vocal glitch. A majority of the backing track is some humming ambiance.

Each episode also has musical intermissions, practically the equivalent of The Weather in Welcome to Night Vale, that I felt tend to go on for a lot longer than they need to.

And given the fact that many of the episodes are so short, the amount of time these one to two-minute techno tracks is definitely felt and weighs on the runtime. These feel so much more naturally interwoven in the longer episodes, providing a nice break between the first and second halves of the story.

I suppose these are far more similar to the music breaks in Wolf 359, a clever way of transitioning between scenes or just letting the events that transpired marinate for a bit. Once again, this seems to add to the show's leisurely aesthetic and docile tone.

It would seem the nature of contemplation as well as the natural beauty of the world, even during what's shown to be something of a climate disaster, is most definitely a recurring fascination at play here.

Categorizing these shows under specific genre niches is a topic that arises a lot while I'm writing these, and the ones that come to mind for Lost Terminal are two: a deep fascination with geographical locations and the concept of machine-to-machine communication, though it's truly Seth's inner monologue, if not some occasional dialogue with its peers, that has to carry much of the storytelling on its back.

The sense of conflict in Lost Terminal tends to vary and, in general, doesn't possess much urgency, so it's really our level of engagement with Seth and his recounting of events that keeps the momentum going.

And, to be honest, I like Seth.

Over time, you can't help but be endeared to the satellite's boundless curiosity and sheer innocence of its worldview—its understanding of earth and humanity viewed through this lens of utter adoration and naivete that you can't help but suspect will be smashed to bits sooner or later.

He still has yet to get any responses for all the transmissions he's been sending out for days on end, and a part of you just sits there, suspecting some horrible truth to come bubbling to the surface.

And yet, Seth prevails, either willingly oblivious or especially hopeful.

Seth's sheer trust and admiration for humanity, especially compared to his more cautious and borderline cynical acquaintances, provide an interesting contrast—I was particularly a fan of Ivan.

And maybe it's just my thoughts on SAYER colliding with this one, but throughout the entirety of my listen, I anticipated Seth's blindly trusting nature to dwindle, or even just the slightest hint of decreasing confidence in his human peers as he's challenged more and more.

While Seth has some occasional disagreements, they're far from being stubborn or irritable or snarky, even if the well-being of his fellow machines tends to come first. Not that Seth's unshakable kindness isn't endearing, but then again, I wouldn't have minded having a little more friction.

Despite them being rather similar shows, the interactions between human and machine, as well as machine to machine, couldn't be more different than SAYER who uses these interactions for horror rather than painting a picture of a fractured world capable of healing.

Let's just say that listening to both of these shows around the same time most definitely creates an interesting moral back and forth.

If anything, Lost Terminal feels like the good counterpart to SAYER—not just the show, but the titular character of SAYER—possessing a far more optimistic and far less misanthropic perspective of a hypothetical future, the perspective of Seth greatly contrasting SAYER's frigid and, more often than not, manipulative streak that made them such a morally dubious character.

Even the introductions, Seth's warm and welcoming "hello world" compared to SAYER's coldly professional "greetings, resident" setting the tone of both shows in just a few simple words.

All around, the line between human and machine is deliberately blurred here, while, with SAYER, the worst of humanity's flaws straddle the line between intentional programming and the implication that these traits were always evident in his character.

Be it SAYER or Lost Terminal, it is interesting to perceive these machines as humans, and through the eyes of Seth, they always manage to provide these very complex emotions, reactions, and details that would ordinarily be lost on us.

It's times like these that the descriptions really shine and we get these interesting glimpses into the mental states of the artificial intelligences that can vary from humorous to tragic.

I honestly wasn't sure what to expect going into this and was not only endeared to Seth and his view of a flawed world, but also genuinely intrigued by the range of topics the show provided.

Humanity, nature, what it means to truly live—if these are topics that intrigue you, then Lost Terminal most definitely scratches that itch.

While I've perused far more hopepunk audio drama than usual in the past few months, and while I wouldn't consider it my favorite subsection of sci-fi, I'd definitely say that Lost Terminal left me something to chew on after giving it a long enough listen, which is think hopepunk should always strive for.

Even if I found it a little slow at times, Lost Terminal still has a calming tone, soothing narrative, and empathetic atmosphere that's worth taking a look at, especially if your tastes in sci-fi are considerably less chaotic than mine.

If we foolish humans hadn’t done it already, something this warm-hearted would be enough to melt the ice caps.

if you want to support my writing, podcake has a ko-fi and patreon in need of funds to keep this bakery open. thank you for reading and stay sweet.

[thetransgenderprideworm]

Listening to welcome to night vale

[bluebanistered]

[ur-favorite-fishgirl]

if you vote me for president i vow to make everything the ocean again. no more land only ocean. this will solve all of our problems and replace them with new, far more interesting problems

[thetransgenderprideworm]

For pride month everyone should have to listen to their trans friends favorite gay audio drama

[myspace]

A guy checks his computer on New Year's night, 2000.

[cebra-gris]

Nothing happened then, but the fear in the air; the feeling of a changing period in human history with (possible) technological apocalypse as a bonus, eroticized the imagination of the CCRU, of Nick Land, Mark Fisher and others, to write what they wrote… drawing our present now?

Screenshot: Digital Devil Story Megami Tensei 2, Nintendo Famicom. 1990.

[yellow-yarrow]

How to not make a "disco-like"

Just copy the dialogue system and game play

Only take inspiration from DE and one other thing

Try to make similar jokes

Put "politics" in it (=have a dialogue option like "yes I am a massive communist/I don't have an opinion/I am a nationalist"

Make the protagonist quirky and take drugs

Congrats on making the most derivative thing ever

How to make a disco-like:

Read a lot of different things. Random Wikipedia pages. Niche eastern European literature from the 50s. Niche philosophy

Make the world building make sense

Come up with a premise that's different from DE

And with a different tone

Invent new tropes

Write good

In conclusion have only as much connection to DE as DE had to Planescape Torment and Fallout

[cat-esper]

"there's no platonic explanation for this" WRONG my characters are staving off the heat death of the universe through the power of friendship

[cat-esper]

"there's no platonic explanation for this" WRONG my characters are staving off the heat death of the universe through the power of friendship

[ame-exe]

[ID: meme of three hands shaking. One arm is labelled “Hera”, another arm is labelled “ANDI”, and the last arm is labelled “audio tour guide”. Where their hands are joined is labelled ”podcast AIs making me cry”. End ID]

So I started a new podcast

[lostterminalpod]

I have 21 seasons of good news for you 😅

[boombox-fuckboy]

A heavily underutilised aspect of the digital landscape is the ability to send someone a .zip care package featuring a few podcasts, a handful of indie ttrpgs, a couple webcomics, a digital mixtape, and the .epub or .pdf for some book nobody's ever heard of.

[boombox-fuckboy]

And hey, why stop there? Slip in some scientific articles, recipes, poetry, sewing patterns, films, or whatever else would appeal. Some of these things cost money, some don't. But recieving a curated collection of goodies? Guaranteed to be valued.

[boombox-fuckboy]

Since I'm not in a position to host a .zip for you all, here's a free little care package of links from myself to everyone out there:

The Far Meridian (Fiction Podcast)

Stories From Ylelmore (Fiction Podcast)

The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality (Fiction Podcast)

The Tower (Fiction Podcast)

Skyjacks: Courier's Call (TTRPG Podcast) [You'll have to look this one up on your podcatcher. All podcasts listed here can be found on there too]

Urban Legend Club (TTRPG, 1+ players)

Apotheosis Janitors (Multiplayer TTRPG)

A Traveller in the City (Mapmaking TTRPG, 1+ players)

Keeper of the Silent Grove (Game)

Always Human (Webcomic)

Crow Time (Webcomic)

Forsythia (Poem)

Getting Started in Electronics (Non-Fiction Book)

The house of a thousand species: The untapped potential of comprehensive biodiversity censuses of urban properties (Scientific Article)

The Small Science Collective (Science Zine Collection/Archive)

How to make a moss jar terrarium (Tutorial)

Plush dogs (Sewing Patterns): Golden Retriever • Dalmation • Belgian Shepherd • Bull Terrier

Plush Pill Bug (Sewing Pattern)

Strawberry Shortcake (Recipe)

3-Ingredient French Onion Potato Bake (Recipe) [Personal note: you can as much as double the soup powder, also feel free to pad with milk. It might need to bake longer than listed but the ingredient amounts are very forgiving]

Easy No-knead Turkish Bread (Recipe)

[boombox-fuckboy]

Another free little care package for you all:

World Gone Wrong (Fiction Podcast)

Cryptonaturalist (Fiction Podcast) [Personally, I'd recommend starting on episode 3 and coming back to the first two once you've caught up]

Absolutely No Adventures (Fiction Podcast)

Monstrous Agonies (Fiction Podcast)

Where They Landed (Album)

The Norwegian Fjords - Life in the Twilight (Nature Documentary)

Mending A Rift (Short Comic)

Pia and the Little Tiny Things (Webcomic)

Here There Be Dragons (Webcomic)

And Another Lovely Day (Webcomic)

Bean Quest (Solo LARP)

The Last Tea Shop (Solo TTRPG)

Sentience (Interactive Novel)

Podvodsk (Puzzle-Adjacent Game)

Plush Manta Ray (Sewing Pattern)

Soft No-Knead Dinner Rolls (Recipe)

My Favourite Orange Sherbet (Recipe) (note: an icecream maker is NOT required: if you don't have access to one, you can instead put the liquid in a sturdy container, put that in your freezer, and just open your freezer every 45-60 minutes to give the freezing mixture a stir)

How to Make Yogurt (Recipe)

How To Make Jam (Recipe/Tutorial)

How to Make a Ginger Bug Starter for Natural Soda (Tutorial)

University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension - Clothing Repair (Instructional Booklet)

[boombox-fuckboy]

Another free little digital care package for the New Year:

Desert Skies (Fiction Podcast)

InCo (Fiction Podcast)

Starfall (Fiction Podcast)

The Vesta Clinic (Fiction Podcast)

Wolf Island Master - Little Pepper (Short Animation)

Memorial Engine (Animation)

Kuroiru (Anime Database) (Note: extremely convenient for finding new things to watch (and where))

Cornell FeederWatch Cam (Birdfeeder Livestream)

All-Purpose God (Short Comic)

Tailwind (Short Comic)

Death and the Maiden (Webcomic)

Seb & Spice (Webcomic)

Tiny Islands (Puzzle Game)

Making Stuff & Doing Things (Book/Zine Collection)

Paper Mache Sailboat (Instructional)

Leather Waist Bag/Belt Pouch (Sewing Pattern)

Myrtle the Turtle (Sewing Pattern)

Little Knit Pumpkins (Knitting Pattern)

Easy Soy Sauce Pan Fried Noodles (Recipe) (Note: I like to add ¼ tsp garlic to the sauce. This recipe will work with basically any noodles, and is also easy to customise with whatever you have in the house)

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry (Recipe) (Note: you don't actually have to pre-bake the dough if you're feeling particularly lazy. This is my FAVOURITE for making sweet pies and tarts, gets heaps of compliments)

And below the cut, four of my favourite pie fillings to go with it:

Mulberry Pie Filling

Ingredients:

500-600g fresh mulberries (destalk if possible)

1/4 Cup sugar

2 Tbsp cornflour/cornstarch

Instructions:

Gently heat half (250-300g) the mulberries with the sugar in a pot on the stove.

Simmer on a low heat for about 5 minutes, until it becomes jammy/syrupy.

Turn off the heat, add the cornflour/cornstarch and mix in

If it doesn't thicken up, turn the heat on very gentle and mix til it does. Then turn the heat off immediately.

Let cool for five minutes. Mix with the uncooked mulberries and put in your pie.

Plum Pie Filling

Ingredients:

600-700g plums, sliced thin and de-pitted. (You can use any colour, but I like a mixture of red and black the best)

1/4 cup plain flour

1/2 cup caster sugar (you can use plain white sugar but add a little more)

Instructions:

Add the flour to the plums, mix through.

Add the sugar to the flour and plums, mix through.

That's it! Put it in your pie.

Apple Pie Filling

Ingredients:

~800g Apples, peeled and sliced

~42g salted butter (or unsalted and just add a pinch of salt)

1½ tsp ground cinnamon

~96g brown sugar

~18g cornstarch/cornflour

4-5 Tbsp water

Instructions:

Melt the butter with the cinnamon in a pot on the stove. Stir to combine.

Once melted, add the apple, brown sugar and water. Stir to mix it all through.

On med-low heat, cook gently. Let soften slightly.

Add the cornstarch/cornflour and mix through. Let cook until the liquid goes a bit gooey. Turn off the heat and let cool for at least 5 minutes.

Ready to use in your pie!

Morello Cherry Pie Filling

Ingredients:

2× 630g jars of Morello cherries, drained (or approximate)

½-⅔ cup of the juice drained from the cherries

½ cup caster sugar

~2 Tbsp lemon juice

3 Tbsp cornflour/cornstarch

Instructions:

Mix all ingredients in a pot

Heat gently over a medium heat until it takes on a jammy consistancy

Turn off the heat and let it cool while you roll out the dough for your pie. It's ready to use.

[yyyyddmmsupremacy-deactivated20]

one person's "ugghh this trope is so overdone" is another person's "oooooohohohohohohohoho"

[lostterminalpod]

And, in my experience, they marry each other ❤️

[exxos-von-steamboldt]

[delicatefury]

I just googled this and… yes, it’s absolutely real.

And there are so many articles and videos and discussions. Like, the scientific community is buzzing about this.

So much research will have to be redone because the data was absolutely compromised, off by orders of magnitude, by using standard lab gloves.

The world is probably not horrifically contaminated by microplastics. Sterile laboratories, however, are contaminated by latex and nitrile gloves.

Thank God someone bothered to check.

[json-derulo]

I have a wild idea. what if we supported our claims of fact by linking to a reliable source. better yet, what if we went hogwild and just straight up linked to the actual unpaywalled study

[spaceytimetea]

graphic design is not my passion but podcasts are

[maxwellshimbo]

Also

If you want a joyful and overenthusiastic alien friend similar to Rocky you absolutely need to listen to Life with Althaar!

[boombox-fuckboy]

Seconded.

If you want a hopeful scifi podcast about developing human-nonhuman friendship at the "end of the world" that adores science and has aspec vibes/characters: Lost Terminal is extremely good.

[infiniteoreos]

undiagnosed autistic people will be like "I don't get upset when my routine changes though!!" and it's because they've built a set of if-then loops in their head to pick from one of 6 different strict routines and they do get incredibly upset when they're unable to keep to any of the 6 scripts. I'm john normal

[thundercrackfic]

This is called a fault tree. You will always know how to act if your fault tree captures all possible scenarios. In NASA Mission Control during mission critical events like landings there are huge binders with fault tree protocols, kind of like choose your own adventure books except you’re not the one making the choices, the universe is making them for you and you’re just trying to keep up.

The engineers who develop fault trees, I am told, often imagine new ways for their precious spacecraft to die (new branches on the fault trees) either while in the shower or lying awake at 3am, because human

[toothpaste-footlocker]

[yet-another-autistic-blog]

Was just thinking about this the other day. Yeah I have a favorite seat on the bus (middle of the bus, near the back doors, slightly elevated, facing forward), but I don’t get upset if someone is already sitting there, I just pick one of my other favorite spots. Then I realized that most people probably don’t have a favorite bus seat, let alone a series of backup favorites.

[panpteryx]