What did 'Catch-22' actually predict about today's world?

This article has been published to coincide with an episode of Mashable’s new podcast, Fiction Predictions. Listen here.

Like 1984, Catch-22 is one of those books that seems to be absolutely everywhere at the moment.

Aside from the recent miniseries, the actual phrase itself often crops up in news articles and casual conversation, and it even has its own place in the dictionary.

“If you describe a situation as a Catch-22, you mean it is an impossible situation because you cannot do one thing until you do another thing, but you cannot do the second thing until you do the first thing,” reads the entry.

It’s the phrase at the heart of Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel — an often maddening concept that’s symbolic of the bureaucratic web the characters find themselves stuck in.

But how much about today’s society did Heller’s story actually predict?

In the final episode of Fiction Predictions Season 1, this is the mystery we attempt to unravel. And we do it with the help of writer Isobel Hamilton, writer/actor Andy Hamilton, and Guardian reporter Amelia Gentleman.

You can listen to the episode in full here.

Catch-22 is streaming on Hulu in the US, and began airing on Channel 4 in the UK on 20 June.