Worldbuilding Compliance vs Choice | Dr. Larry Smith, 2084: The Neuroxone Conspiracy

Описание: I sat down with Dr. Larry Smith, author of 2084: The Neuroxone Conspiracy, to dig into a near-future dystopia that feels a bit too plausible for comfort.

Larry’s story asks a simple, nasty question: what happens when addiction is “solved” by mandate? In his world, Neuroxone is the miracle drug that removes craving, but the real trade-off is harder to swallow. Recovery stops being a choice and becomes something you prove. Autonomy gets thinner. Compliance becomes the price of a normal life.

We talk through the worldbuilding mechanics that make this work: Superior Pharmaceuticals as the dominant player, governments leaning on persuasive data to justify a one-size-fits-all “solution,” and the quiet dismantling of abstinence-based recovery as outdated or unsafe. It’s not dystopia by jackboots. It’s dystopia by policy, pressure, and people convincing themselves it’s for the greater good.

On the craft side, we get practical. How do you build a world that’s recognisable enough to feel real? How do you keep the tech restrained, like retinal scans and floating screens, without letting gadgets take over the story? And how do you write moral tension without turning the book into a lecture?

Larry also shares the personal fuel behind the novel. He’s been in recovery for over 26 years, and a late friend’s warning about pharmaceutical dominance helped plant the seed for this story. That lived experience gives the book its bite.

If you like speculative fiction that stays grounded, goes after power structures, and doesn’t flinch from the ethics, this episode is for you.