Afleveringen
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New York Times tech reporter Kate Conger joins Offline to discuss Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter, a new book she coauthored with Ryan Mac. It’s the best coverage out there of Elon’s takeover and the subsequent deterioration of the platform, with behind-the-scenes reporting on how and why he bought the company, and the decisions he’s made since. But first! Jon and Max discuss whether the danger of Donald Trump has become more abstract since his forced migration to Truth Social. Then they unpack Chappell Roan’s decision to support but not endorse Kamala Harris, and John Mulaney’s hilarious takedown of Salesforce at the company’s own conference.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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Critic Emily St. James and Crooked’s Halle Kiefer join Max to discuss “Blade Runner,” the 1982 classic that asks the question: could an AI chatbot become so hot that it would be unethical to delete it? Perhaps no other movie has had as big an impact on sci-fi or the aesthetic of futurism as Ridley Scott’s film. Is this Harrison Ford’s peak hotness? Which Silicon Valley Overlord is our Tyrell? If life imitates art, does tech imitate sci-fi? Listen to the final installment of Offline Movie Club to find out.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Tristan Harris, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology and ex-design ethicist at Google, joins Offline to chat about the attention economy, why tech execs don’t let their own kids on the apps, and how our AI arms race is one giant game of Jenga. But first! Jon and Max break down Instagram’s new sweeping changes for teen users—do they address child safety concerns? Why now? Will kids be able to outsmart the new rules? Then they turn to pet-obsessed Springfield, Ohio, which has been suffering through some of the most pestilent (and catchy) misinformation of this election cycle. To close it out, the guys break down North Carolina Lt. Governor Mark Robinson’s slew of scandals, and how Republicans are shamelessly endorsing him nonetheless.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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Since “Fight Club” hit theaters in 1999, the movie has become both a cinematic cult classic and a building block of how people (mostly men) express themselves online. Film critic Emily St. James and Crooked’s Erin Ryan join Offline Movie Club to talk about whether David Fincher’s opus deserves its top tier rankings, how the movie has been misappropriated by disillusioned Gen Xers and online chauvinists alike, and whether there are any feminist messages to be found. In essence, it’s Edward Norton playing a bored shitposter with Brad Pitt as his edgelord sock puppet account—what’s not to love?
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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Robert Putnam, renowned political scientist and author of Bowling Alone and The Upswing, joins Offline to explain why bowling alone and scrolling alone are two sides of the same coin. Putnam has spent his life deciphering why social capital—our connection to each other and our communities—has been withering away for the last 50 years. The consequences of this trend are the focus of a new documentary, “Join or Die,” which explores the importance of civic engagement in America. Bob and Jon talk about the film, why social capital undergirds democracy, and why the internet is no substitute for joining an in-person club.
Join or Die is the inaugural film of the IRL Movie Club - a new initiative for Americans to gather in art house cinemas, watch documentaries in the public interest and then talk about them. To learn more, visit https://www.irlmovieclub.org/
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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This week Offline Móvie Clúb takes on “Tár,” the 2022 film about a music conductor whose narcissism and abuses of power bring about her very public downfall. Max is joined by New York Times critic at large, Amanda Hess, and Offline critic at large, Jon Favreau, to examine the movie’s takes on cancel culture, identity construction and the limits of control—especially online. Should we feel pity for cancelled celebrities? To what extent is social media real life? And is “Tár” secretly a comedy?
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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It’s not just supplements and energy drinks fueling the manosphere. Your favorite right-wing podcaster may be sponsored by…Vladimir Putin! Jon and Max discuss the new federal indictment alleging that the Kremlin has been funding right-wing internet personalities, including Tim Pool. Then they break down why the Brazilian Supreme Court has blocked access to X and why the “Hawk Tuah” girl’s new podcast showcases the difference between virality and popularity. But first! Donald Trump is doing the red-pilled podcast circuit in an effort to get young men to vote for him. The guys take stock of the former president’s appearances from Jake Paul to Lex Fridman, and explain why a “laid-back” Trump is so dangerous.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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Has there ever been a more dramatic Twitter thread than A’Ziah King’s 2015 saga about a roadtrip turned kidnapping? Erin Ryan and Josie Duffy Rice join Max to discuss “Zola,” the movie adaptation of those tweets. The film tells the (mostly true) story of a young stripper getting whisked away to Florida by a new acquaintance and her pimp. Its searing commentary on sex trafficking is studded with notification sounds and social media soliloquies, to both sinister and comedic effect. Are Florida roadtrips ever a good idea? What are the hallmarks of toxic white girls? And how much of the original post was really true? Listen to this week’s Offline Movie Club to find out.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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Max and Jon sit down to break down a very online DNC, diving into Obama’s anti-social media convention speech, the MyPillow guy’s embarrassing troll attempts, and a Taylor Swift & Beyonce rumor that spun out of control. Plus: Mark Zuckerberg’s fear driven turn towards Trump and the new political divide: cranks vs. everyone else.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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Jon Lovett and Erin Ryan join Max to discuss how “The Truman Show,” predicted our current era of continuous surveillance and content mining. The movie may be from 1998, but its insights are just as applicable 25 years later—from cults of celebrity, to Fox News, to Instagram. Is Ed Harris’ dome over Burbank a cautionary tale about fascist governance? Do we all hide parts of personalities, depending on context? Why was Jon Lovett freaked out by the Hunger Games premiere? Find out in this week’s Offline Movie Club.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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Peter Thiel isn’t as rich as Elon Musk or as notorious as Steve Bannon. But over the last 10 years he has grown from Silicon Valley’s oddball conservative to an ideological anchor of the Trump era. And, unfortunately for us, he thinks the country would be better off without voting. Bloomberg Businessweek reporter, Max Chafkin, has written a book about Thiel and his mind boggling worldview: The Contrarian. He joins Max to discuss what Thiel wants from the Republican Party, his mentorship of J.D. Vance, and how he's emboldening a huge swath of tech leaders to be openly MAGA.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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Jon Lovett and Ben Rhodes join Max to explore how 1983’s “WarGames” predicted the internet era. The film is a fascinating time capsule of Reagan era tech optimism, nuclear war doomerism, and Matthew Broderick’s puckish charm. Ben dives into the foreign policy behind the movie, drawing on his own experience traveling the country with Obama and a briefcase of nuclear codes. Lovett reminisces about 80s computing, marvels at how technology has changed since then, and talks shop on tic-tac-toe. This and more on Offline Movie Club: The Sequel!
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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Elon Musk hosted Donald Trump for a two and a half hour ramble on Twitter’s garbage live streaming platform—and if you think SpaceX flubs launches…well, they’ve got nothing on X Spaces. Max sits down with Hysteria’s Erin Ryan to recap the most head-smacking parts of the conversation, and ask the question of our generation: if Elon doesn’t call it X, why should we? After that, Katie Paul, director of the Tech Transparency Project, joins the show to talk about J.D. Vance’s ties to a small but powerful faction of tech elites in Silicon Valley. Vance’s personal investments in Rumble, the favored social media of racist militias, expose his true tech agenda of enriching his friends and himself at the expense of the rest of us.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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Why is Tim Walz, a 60-year-old dad from Minnesota, so internet savvy? And why is he so good at making right wingers look not just weird, but also extremely, chronically and dangerously online? Jon and Max discuss the meme appeal of Harris’ new VP pick, why Republicans are sinking deeper into weirdness with transphobic attacks on Olympians, and what X’s latest legal tantrum is really about.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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All of a sudden, nearly every Democrat in the country has started calling out Republicans for being really damn weird. And with JD Vance’s pronatalist views and Trump’s insistence that Kamala Harris isn’t actually Black, the GOP isn’t beating the allegations. When did Republican rhetoric go from fear-inducing, to groan-inducing? Jon is joined by Laura K. Field, a researcher and political theorist who recently published a piece in POLITICO on the topic, and who is writing a book about the evolution of the Republican party. She breaks down why GOP weirdness is tied to the emergence of the “New Right,” how JD Vance exemplifies this moment, and how to prevent the movement from capturing more power in American politics.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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Kamala Harris memes are bringing together leftists and wine moms, neolib shills and NeverTrumpers, political wonks and pop stars across every platform. Why is the presumptive Democratic nominee for president breaking the internet and right-wing brains? Jon and Max discuss the danger of the VP leaning into the memes, MAGA trolls' reaction to her candidacy, and how much of Silicon Valley is all in on Trump.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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We still don’t know why a 20-year-old from Pennsylvania opened fire on Trump last weekend. Lone shooters whose paths from normalcy to vigilantism seem esoteric, obscure, or perverse have become a familiar pattern—but there’s actually a lot we do understand about the origins of political violence. Max sits down with terrorism scholar J.M. Berger to understand the psychology of violent extremists and what role the internet plays in their decision to act. But first! Max is joined by the New Yorker’s Jessica Winter to talk about the online fandom around Vice President Kamala Harris and the true meaning of the coconut emoji.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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Elle Reeve, CNN commentator and author of the new book Black Pill, joins Offline to share her reporting on the darkest corners of the internet. For over a decade, Reeve has tracked the emergence of the alt-right, watched them radicalize on sites like 4chan and 8chan, and documented their migration off the web and into the streets of Charlottesville and halls of the Capitol. She and Jon talk about how this new brand of white nationalism feeds on male loneliness and white resentment, the schisms within the movement, and its implications for politics. But first! Jon and Max unpack the last few weeks of Dem Drama®. The guys critique the debate discourse, explain why social media forced this conversation to happen, and reveal why Jon is finally disabling some of his Twitter notifications.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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Chat GPT isn’t going to top the Billboard Hot 100 any time soon, but something is happening with AI and music—something’s BEEN happening. Unlike in entertainment and journalism, big music labels and even musicians like Drake and Grimes are cautiously embracing the latest in AI. And the results are not all bad! New Yorker writer John Seabrook sits down with Max to explain why the music industry has historically adopted new technologies, and how that Muddies the Waters around what is made by humans vs. what is made by machines. What does the future of songwriting look like with an AI Bob Dylan? Will a tide of lowbrow AI slop hurt artist payouts? And what’s really behind the record industry standing with artists?
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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Has this pod saved America…from phone addiction?! We got Jon Lovett to take a rather extreme version of the Offline challenge in Fiji, AND America’s top doctor and friend of the pod Vivek Murthy is now calling for a Surgeon General’s warning label on social media platforms. Max and Jon bask in their success, then mourn the dismantling of the Stanford Internet Observatory, the nation’s leading mis- and disinformation research organization. Then, Max sits down with longtime tech journalist Brian Merchant to talk about whether AI development is slowing down, why workers should organize against the technology, and what good AI use cases and centaurs have in common.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email [email protected] and include the name of the podcast.
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