The hottest Speculative Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways

Being John Rawls

Astral Codex Ten • 93466 implied HN points • 19 Mar 26

⚔ Fiction Speculative

Using drugs and staged role-reversals to decide who gets help treats charity like an experiment and is deeply morally questionable.
The story highlights the clash between moral luck and responsibility, asking whether we should judge people for what they would do in a hypothetical life or for the choices they actually made. This shows how chance and circumstance shape who gets aid or blame.
Turning kindness into a calculated test dehumanizes both givers and receivers and can breed resentment, desperation, and violence. That dehumanization is contrasted with hints of deeper moral or spiritual truths that such tests erase.

"They Die Every Day"

The Intrinsic Perspective • 30191 implied HN points • 14 Jul 25

📚 Literature Speculative

Some beings experience a form of daily death where their consciousness resets each night. This process is normal for them.
They use anesthesia to avoid pain during surgery, which shows how used they are to this cycle of dying and rebooting.
Despite knowing deep down that they die every day, they convince themselves it's not a big deal and believe their consciousness continues on.

while the end happens

The Trick Revealed • 396 implied HN points • 22 Feb 26

⚔ Fiction Speculative

The cavern is an otherworldly place where sound and perception are distorted, making the narrator question whether they are alive.
A hooded flame-bearer confronts the narrator and forces an existential dialogue about being dead or alive and what counts as proof of existence.
Play is presented as a way to forget or live through endings; we don't play to escape the end, we play while the end happens.

Baseline Drift

Asimov Press • 477 implied HN points • 19 Feb 26

⚔ Fiction Speculative

Small, incremental enhancements across society quietly shifted what counted as a “normal” human, so there is no longer a stable, shared baseline to compare people against.
That loss of a common reference broke traditional trial designs and public-health metrics, pushing medicine to evaluate treatments against individual histories with N=1 and rolling baselines.
Attempts to recreate an unmodified human were ethically and practically unworkable, so the world adapted: people became healthier on average but far more diverse, creating new scientific, regulatory, and social tensions.

Stop Faecism?!

The Lifeboat • 321 implied HN points • 21 Dec 25

⚔ Fiction Speculative

An AI-linked discovery triggered a coprophagy pandemic and governments responded by mandating digital rectal plugs (ColonLock/SAURON) that log, geolocate, and even tax bowel movements via digital IDs.
Mass voluntary coprophagy became a form of radical self-sufficiency that undermined the economy, forcing states to adopt authoritarian surveillance and punitive measures to recoup taxes and restore order.
The crackdown provoked mass protests, conspiracies, black markets, and brutal forced plugging, leaving people torn between helping suffering friends, asserting bodily autonomy, or joining the resistance.

Get a weekly roundup of the best Substack posts, by hacker news affinity:

Spores

Justin E. H. Smith's Hinternet • 362 implied HN points • 02 Aug 25

📚 Literature Speculative

The narrator has decided to use a Gro-Pad to try and start a family, even though they initially didn't believe they would need one. It shows how life can take unexpected turns.
There is a debate about whether the beings created from these Gro-Pads are truly human. The narrator believes that if they can walk and talk like humans, then they deserve to be regarded as such.
The narrator describes a challenging experience with the process, including finding something troubling while using the Gro-Pad. This led to a private moment of mourning for what they lost.

The Rock War

Devon’s Substack • 79 implied HN points • 02 Jul 24

⚔ Fiction Speculative

The story seems to be about a conflict involving important space territories. This suggests there's a struggle for power and resources.
There's a mention of a United Nations fleet blockading areas, indicating that the situation is significant enough to involve international forces.
The title hints at a deep impact of this conflict, possibly analyzing the consequences and legacies left behind by the war.

The Library of Slaanesh

Thicket Forte • 959 implied HN points • 01 Feb 23

📚 Literature Speculative

The library is a strange place filled with endless walls showing beautiful women, but they aren't real and can't be touched. Men lose themselves in this fantasy, forgetting the life outside these walls.
As men begin to remember real women and experiences from their past, they realize there's more to life than just the pleasure from the walls. This sparks a desire to find and connect with others.
Different men respond to their situation in various ways, some deny the existence of the outside world while others seek to escape it. The struggle between accepting this reality and longing for something more defines their lives.

The Perpetual

Handwaving Freakoutery • 407 implied HN points • 26 Jan 25

⚔ Fiction Speculative

Different people are exploring ways to live forever, like using technology or advanced medicine. For instance, some wealthy individuals focus on using powerful medical treatments for longevity.
Some people think of themselves as not just individuals but as entire organizations. This means they might have many lookalikes or replacements to keep their image alive.
As humanity evolves, we might not become greater individuals but instead blend more with corporations and societies, almost losing our original identity.

What Remains

The Inquisitive • 21 implied HN points • 29 Dec 25

⚔ Fiction Speculative

Losing words makes feelings and ideas harder to name, so rich meanings get reduced to clumsy descriptions.
People invent new ways to communicate — touches, taps, gestures, presence — and those can hold as much meaning as words did.
Keeping records of language helps, but what truly remains is the daily choice to stay with someone and the warmth of shared presence.

ARIA: The Network That Changed Everything

Crypto Good • 9 implied HN points • 29 Nov 25

⚔ Fiction Speculative

In the future, a network called ARIA helps connect resources with people's needs without wasting anything. It listens to everyone's ideas and helps make them happen.
A farmer named Kofi uses ARIA to preserve his grandmother's special seeds. With its help, he starts a seed library and shares knowledge, showing the power of community and local traditions.
This new system encourages collaboration instead of competition. Projects that help people are supported more effectively, creating a world where resources flow easily and everyone's unique ideas matter.

Untitled Future, 1

Working Theorys • 86 implied HN points • 24 Jan 25

⚔ Fiction Speculative

In the future, there are special areas called Aicres that are important for survival and status. If you own an Aicre, it means you have power and wealth.
The government is running a bidding process for Aicres, but many believe it's unfair and favors the rich. People are worried about getting left out.
Some hope for a Universal Basic Aicreage to help everyone, but it would still leave most with very little. There’s a lot of tension between the rich and those struggling to survive.

20251228

Curious futures (KGhosh) • 4 implied HN points • 28 Dec 25

⚔ Fiction Speculative

We are drowning in curated bookmarks and AI nudges that keep us consuming and saving experiences instead of living them, turning daily life into a distracted, chaotic loop.
Small, deliberate acts—like practicing gratitude or writing a thank-you note—can snap people out of that loop and make ordinary moments feel meaningful.
When given the chance, communities quickly rally to preserve things they care about, showing how resilient and generous people can be in a crisis.

Heat is the venerable enemy. Hope is what endures.

storyvoyager • 6 implied HN points • 19 Jun 25

📚 Literature Speculative

The world is facing serious climate challenges, leading to a post-apocalyptic environment where resources are scarce. This situation highlights the effects of human greed and environmental change.
There are stories of survival and hope, such as the Museum of Life which preserves human memories and experiences of those who lived through these tough times. This showcases the resilience of people and their stories.
The narrative includes themes of resistance and bravery, as characters take risks to protect the environment and each other. These tales inspire a sense of connection and motivate action towards a better future.

Wildfire

storyvoyager • 6 implied HN points • 06 Feb 25

📚 Literature Speculative

In the future, resources are scarce, and people need skills to survive and gain citizenship. It's about contributing to help create a better world.
The story highlights the struggle to save the last forest and the dangers of climate change. Technology must improve to protect what little nature is left.
Even in desperate situations, human connection and community can be powerful, suggesting there may be hope despite the dire circumstances.

The Girl Who Never Existed: Last Chapter

Strange Stories by Shantnu • 0 implied HN points • 08 Feb 26

⚔ Fiction Speculative

Rose discovers her life and memories may be manufactured. She learns she might never have been born and could vanish if the people keeping her memories die, leaving her with a terrifying identity crisis.
Extreme moral compromises are presented as necessary to stop a greater supernatural threat. Eddie coerces Rose into killing many to save others, forcing Rose to question whether she has become a villain like the woman she thought was her mother.
Official institutions are corrupted and ineffective, so shadow actors resort to secret, brutal measures to contain portals and protect the world. That split between Unit 7 and the Shadow Order blurs loyalties and makes right and wrong uncertain.

20260215

Curious futures (KGhosh) • 0 implied HN points • 15 Feb 26

⚔ Fiction Speculative

Companies need to upgrade from basic, occasional trend-watching to systematic, data-and-AI-driven foresight, but short-term pressures often stop good long-term choices from being made.
Bureaucracy and culture debt choke sustainable and creative projects, so playful, community-driven, and gamified approaches can help keep people engaged and surface future leaders.
Rapid tech advances—from AI and robots to drones and new materials—offer big gains but also social and regulatory risks, so we need rights (like repair), better governance, and human-centered planning to manage the disruption.

Trent Crawford & Stanton Cornish-Ward: LOCK

Do Not Research • 0 implied HN points • 15 Feb 22

🎨 Art & Illustration Speculative

LOCK (2021) is a speculative film about decentralized personal-development movements and peer to peer therapy called LOCK.
The film merges film production stock footage with artificial intelligence techniques like DeepFakes, Image Breeding, and SPADE to explore contemporary cinema fueled by web 3.0.
The project aims to spark conversations about digital isolationism, presenting a hybrid reality of decentralized, autonomous, and radicalized individuals through immersive video installations.