Thanks to the FCC, and thanks to the defunding of public radio and PBS, I thank you for your direct support

CARY HARRISON: Well, here we are again, teetering on the jagged edge of progress like a drunk tightrope walker over a canyon full of terms and conditions. This is a special edition of the Cary Harrison File, still broadcasting from inside the belly of the algorithmic beast, armed with a microphone, a moral hangover, and just enough bandwidth to piss off the surveillance gods.

Today's flavor of dystopia, just the usual, governments gorging on your metadata like it's an all-you-can-eat buffet of broken privacy, tech billionaires trying to colonize Mars because Earth is too full of poor people, and a current government shoving culture through a blender until it sounds like a TikTok remix of Orwell and Huxley doing karaoke. But fear not, you sentient flesh pudding, you're not alone. We're all stumbling through this simulated reality together.

We're clutching our smartphones like digital rosaries, now that we have a new pope, praying to the church of the algorithm for one more dopamine hit before bedtime. And who better to help us navigate this beautifully absurd hellscape than a man who's seen the future firsthand from the bridge of a Federation starship. Joining us today is none other than Tim Russ. He's an actor, director, musician, space navigator, and a man of a thousand hats, all worn with elegance and exquisite competence.

You'll remember him as Tuvok from Star Trek Voyager, the only guy on that ship who didn't fall for every spatial anomaly or temporal paradox like it was a free cruise. But Tim's resume doesn't stop at space. He's composed music. He's directed FBI commercials. Yep, the FBI, and voiced more characters than your average hallucinating screenwriter. Tim is one of the most articulate and conscious advocates for common sense and human decency in the matrix that is now so upside down that a Presbyterian U.S. president has declared himself a Catholic pope. Mr. Russ brings some sobriety back to Twitter, X, and some sanity at a time when we all need more of it.

Tim Russ, I want to welcome you to the Cary Harrison Files.

TIM RUSS: Thank you very much, Cary. A pleasure to be here. Appreciate it. Thank you for the intro. It was volupt.

CARY HARRISON: Tim Russ, you've navigated black holes and bureaucracies. What's more dangerous to you, a Romulan warbird or the current level of propaganda and doublespeak raining down from D.C.?

TIM RUSS: Well, the thing about a Romulan warbird is that, you know, it's very clear, you know, that they're the bad guys and you're the good guys. And now it's no longer clear who are the bad guys and who are the good guys. The that's that's the main difference here is that, you know, the Romulan warbirds coming at you. You know what? It's pretty much laid out and clear what's going to happen and what it's all about. And now it's just, you know, nothing but mass confusion and disinformation. And and nobody knows what, you know, half the time knows what's real and what isn't real and what's what's A.I. and what isn't A.I. And, you know, so now today you can't even rely on what you're listening to or watching or hearing because you're not even sure if it's real.

CARY HARRISON: Yeah, there was an era where whatever we saw, you made. I mean, you directed your own Star Trek movie, and you had live human actors, and you had sets, and you had all of that stuff, because without you creating that, it wouldn't have been done. Now, you... they can efficiently replicate you and me. And sometimes we might not even know the difference. So it's a special kind of, I don't know, it's a dangerous trickery, especially you as a storyteller, as an imagine imagineer using a Disney term, but that's what you are as a creative.

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