Summary: <p class="p1">Horror, fashion, and the end of the world … In this episode, first aired in 2014, but maybe even more relevant today, things get weird as we explore the undercurrents of thought that link nihilists, beard-stroking philosophers, Jay-Z, and True Detective.</p> <p class="p1">Today on Radiolab, a puzzle. Jad’s brother-in-law <a href="https://www.johnhuntpublishing.com/zer0-books/our-books/in-the-dust-of-this-planet">wrote a book called 'In The Dust of This Planet'.</a></p> <p class="p1">It’s an academic treatise about the horror humanity feels as we realize that we are nothing but a speck in the universe. For a few years nobody read it. But then …</p> <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2014/02/02/writer-nic-pizzolatto-on-thomas-ligotti-and-the-weird-secrets-of-true-detective/">It seemed to show up on True Detective.</a> <p> </p> Then in a fashion magazine. <p> </p> And then on Jay-Z's back. How? <p class="p1">We talk nihilism with Eugene Thacker & Simon Critchley, leather jackets with June Ambrose, climate change with David Victor, and hope with the father of Transcendental Black Metal - Hunter Hunt Hendrix of the band <a href="http://www.thrilljockey.com/thrill/Liturgy/Aesthethica#.VA9NM7ywK68">Liturgy. </a></p> <p class="p1">Also, check out WNYC Studio's <em>On the Media </em>episode <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/staring-abyss">Staring into the Abyss</a>, in it Brooke Gladstone and Jad Abumrad continue their discussion of nihilism and its place in history.</p> <p class="p1"><a href="http://www.zero-books.net/books/in-the-dust-of-this-planet">You can find Eugene Thacker's 'In The Dust Of the Planet' at Zero Books</a></p> <p><em>Support Radiolab by becoming a member of <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/membership">The Lab</a> today. </em></p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaum_fMDGgFQCmKHUBPq_xg">Radiolab is on YouTube!</a> Catch up with new episodes and hear classics from our archive. Plus, find other cool things we did in the past — like miniseries, music videos, short films and animations, behind-the-scenes features, Radiolab live shows, and more. Take a look, explore and subscribe!</p>
