The current world order seeks to make sovereignty simple. One map. One flag. One final authority. But in Indian Country, the borders break down. Tribal nations govern alongside the United States, and sovereignty overlaps in real, everyday ways. This isn’t a historical footnote. It’s the future, hiding in plain sight.
In this episode, Graham Brewer – the AP’s National Correspondent covering native lands and peoples – traces what sovereignty looks like when power overlaps and treaty promises from the 19th century adapt to the 21st. That negotiation is now playing out in the cloud: as languages are revived and culture moves onto servers. By its nature, the training of AI frontier models plunders native wisdom, but fully opting out risks another century of invisibility.
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity — David Graeber & David Wengrow (Book, 2021)
The Cherokee Nation and the Trail of Tears — Theda Perdue & Michael D. Green (Book, 2007)
Prison Writings: My Life Is My Sun Dance — Leonard Peltier (Book, 1999)
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) — U.S. Congress (U.S. law, 1990)
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) — United Nations General Assembly (UN declaration, 2007)
Music Modernization Act — U.S. Congress (U.S. law, 2018)
McGirt v. Oklahoma — Supreme Court of the United States (Supreme Court case, 2020)
Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta — Supreme Court of the United States (Supreme Court case, 2022)
Treaty of New Echota — Cherokee Nation and United States Government (Treaty, 1835)
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Credits
Executive Producers: Nicolas Berggruen, Nathan Gardels, Nils Gilman, Dawn Nakagawa, and Jason Hoch.
Producers: Grant Slater, Alex Gardels, and Nathalia Ramos.
Associate Producer: Elissa Mardiney
Theme Music: Marcus Bagala.
Audio Engineer: Aaron Bastinelli
Futurology is a production of Studio B and Wavland.
December 23, 2025