Latest / Blocked and Reported / Episode 296: Loving Pound Cake

Transcript

Episode 296: Loving Pound Cake · Blocked and Reported

• 0:11
  SPEAKER_03: Katie, I gotta have it.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_03: What do you gotta have?
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_03: Ants update.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_03: Tell me where the ants are.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_03: Are you currently tapped?
• 0:17
  If the ants have crawled inside your mouth and you can no
• 0:19
  longer form words,
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_03: just pound on your mic.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: I am not covered in ants.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: The ants seem to be, the genocide seems to be working.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: The ant, I think I can move back into my house now.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: I have not slept in my house in like a week.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_03: You slept in one of your 12 other outbuildings.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: I slept in the, I slept in the van.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 0:39
  so I think we can move back into the I can move back into the
• 0:42
  into the house,
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: which is great news because it's getting cold.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: But after I made my aunt's confession,
• 0:46
  a couple of the commenters pointed out that how odd it was that
• 0:49
  you didn't bring
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: up,
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: the two most famous men who were constantly covered in ants,
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Ian Malstrong and Arthur Chu.
• 0:57
  And I had also forgotten about their existence while I was
• 1:00
  telling you about my aunt problems.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I remembered it afterwards.
• 1:03
  And I came extremely close to cutting that entire thing from
• 1:06
  the episode because I
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: didn't want people to compare me to those two.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm brave.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: What can I say?
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: I am brave.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_03: You're very similar to Arthur Chu.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_03: That was a name I hadn't thought of in a while.
• 1:18
  I thought you were going to say someone like Amelia Earhart or
• 1:22
  Helen Keller or some
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: other brave woman,
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: but you said Arthur Chu.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_03: That was a name I really hadn't thought of in a while,
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_03: so I pulled up his long,
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_03: defunct Twitter page because he fled to blue sky,
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_03: I assume.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_03: Of course.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's a real blast from the past.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_03: One of his most recent retweets from December 24th, 2022.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_03: This is from America Reframed, a documentary channel.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_03: In case you missed it,
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_03: after an iconic game of Jeopardy launches him into stardom,
• 1:49
  Arthur Chu puts his 15 minutes of fame to use to confront
• 1:53
  racism and sexism in the
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_03: gaming community.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: In the Arthur Chu film, now streaming.
• 1:58
  we need to watch it on the pbs app it was on pbs well i wonder
• 2:02
  people like that who
• 2:03
  fled i'm sure i have not looked into this but i am willing to
• 2:07
  bet a thousand ants
• 2:08
  lies on it that he fled twitter x because of elon musk racism
• 2:13
  etc when blue sky
• 2:16
  dies which it will do you think those people all the people who
• 2:19
  were like fuck elon
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: musk i'm out of here do you think they'll come calling back
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I mean, some of them have started to come back.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_03: I think in all likelihood, you know I'm a big deep state guy.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_03: I think the deep state controls everything.
• 2:32
  I think the deep state will keep funding Blue Sea just as sort
• 2:35
  of a containment mechanism.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_03: Is this a Soros project?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_03: It's a Soros project.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_03: I'm curious.
• 2:41
  Do you think Arthur Chu and Ian Miles Chong at one point were
• 2:45
  like,
• 2:45
  well...
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_03: You know, we're both Asian guys.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_03: We're both very online.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_03: I think one of us should be staunchly racist and one should be staunchly
• 2:52
  anti-racist and they just flipped the coin and it could have
• 2:54
  gone down totally
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_03: differently.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Either way.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: One of us should be covered.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, both of us should be covered today.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_03: It's all the time.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I guess.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that must be how it happened.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: I can't imagine there any other explanation for it.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: That must be it.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm sorry.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, wait.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: So you're winning the ant battle.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm winning the ant battle.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know about the war, but I'm winning the battle.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_03: Can I say something earnest to you?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: I guess, if you must.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, to Jana.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_03: Will you pass this on to Jana?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: I will, yeah.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: She's sitting right here.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: She always listens to the podcast while we're recording.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_03: Hey, Jana.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: Can you hear me?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: You can't hear her because of headphones.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, because you've got headphones on.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_03: No, Jana did an incredible job on the Personals episode.
• 3:29
  And I meant to text the two of you,
• 3:30
  but then I was like,
• 3:31
  that would be too...
• 3:32
  Nice.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: You know,
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want to like express actual emotions,
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_03: but she's a natural at the podcasting thing.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: She is totally a natural.
• 3:40
  And more than one person was like,
• 3:43
  her voice is so much better than Jesse and Katie's voices.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: I can't argue against that.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: It was true.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking of trying to recruit her onto the show.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like maybe sometime when you're gone,
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'll do her as my guest,
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: but I'll just tell her some online story and we'll just like slowly.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: She'll just like fall asleep as I'm telling her about it.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: It'll just be the sounds of her snores.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you again to Jana.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_03: That was great.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, she was great.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: Before we get into the meat,
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: I could just use your advice because I,
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_03: as listeners know,
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_03: I'm in California for a few months.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: One of the reasons I came out here is there's amazing skiing.
• 4:17
  And they are about to be getting six to eight feet of snow in
• 4:22
  the part of Tahoe I'm going to.
• 4:23
  So I'm going to be trying to punch through this one part of the
• 4:27
  drive where you
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_03: gain 4,000 feet or whatever.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_03: Wednesday morning, you are...
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I guess you don't drive.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: Why am I asking you about this?
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: I should be asking Jen about this.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: I was going to ask you how to survive this drive.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: We should also note that we're also recording this quite early.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And every time we do this, some major world event happens.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: So Jesse has to ski.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: It just had to be done early.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_03: But also, I might die.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_03: And I want you to get the money from this last episode if I die.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have snow tires?
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: That would be my advice for you.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_03: Well,
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_03: I don't have a car,
• 5:00
  but the car I rented on Turo has snow tires and I have chains
• 5:04
  on route from Amazon.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know how to put chains on?
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: That would be my advice.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Practice like, or at least read the directions first.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: You know,
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: in case I cause a crash,
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want to say one way or another for liability purposes,
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: whether I've ever put chains on,
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: I will say that I will enter the situation being prepared about that.
• 5:17
  Is it,
• 5:18
  is it something like a Katie Herzog type could figure out how
• 5:20
  to do?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think I've ever put chains on tires?
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_03: Has Jana?
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure she has.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, God.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: Well, everyone wish me luck.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: What are we talking about today?
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_03: Well, Katie, today's main story is about AI.
• 5:31
  It's a tale of the way in which the specter of AI is messing
• 5:35
  with people's senses
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_03: of reality and often as a result,
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_03: their emotions.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_03: Now, I've been trying to figure out what to do about this because...
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_03: In the long run,
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_03: I want to have more conversations on this show about AI because it's just
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_03: everywhere.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_03: I mean,
• 5:48
  is your feed like mine where it's just absolutely impossible to
• 5:52
  ignore these very
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_03: high-stakes,
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_03: overwrought conversations about AI whenever you log on to anything?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: My feed is 100% Jeffrey Epstein.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: All Epstein.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_03: Well, that's AI.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_03: AI wants you to think that.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: Is this going to be a completely Epstein-free episode?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it was going to be until 30 seconds ago.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_03: Genuinely, it was for the first time.
• 6:13
  Should we talk more about the difference between hemophilia and
• 6:16
  pedophilia?
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know what?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Let's save that for Primo.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_03: I'll include a link to the thread I put on the Primo sub stack.
• 6:23
  I basically ask people,
• 6:24
  like,
• 6:24
  what aspect of this do you find interesting for BarPod?
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_03: Because I struggle with it because, like, it's...
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_03: I think the most rapid change in my lifetime,
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_03: technology-wise,
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_03: in your lifetime,
• 6:36
  it's just hard to know exactly how to approach it from a
• 6:39
  sufficiently bar-potty
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: angle.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know if there's two in the weeds,
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_03: but it seems really important,
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_03: but I don't really know what to think about it.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of people feel that way.
• 6:48
  And this was one of,
• 6:49
  I think,
• 6:51
  one of the things I really liked about Andy Mills' AI series.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_03: The Last Invention by Longview.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: The Last Invention.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: He really lays out not just the stakes and how we got here,
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: but the sort of warring factions about what happens next.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um,
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: but I'm,
• 7:08
  I'm honestly just talking more about how I feel like the way I
• 7:10
  use it in my day to
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_03: day life is already very different from two months ago.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you use it, you're, you're in constant contact with Chad, right?
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: Constant, constant contact.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_03: What do you talk to him about?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, today I've been talking to him about head injuries, um, ants always.
• 7:24
  Um,
• 7:24
  but just as an example about how much better Chad is right now
• 7:28
  than last year.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, um,
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: I compile.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: We just did our personals episode.
• 7:32
  And last year,
• 7:34
  when I compiled the responses,
• 7:38
  I took them all from a Google form.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: It gets dropped into a spreadsheet.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then I take that.
• 7:44
  And like the first year,
• 7:45
  I fucking edited it by like formatted and edited by hand.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: It was a huge pain in the ass.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Last year, I dump it into chat GPT.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I asked it to format everything for me.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: And what it spit out was half hallucinations.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: And the hallucinations themselves were actually pretty hilarious.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like half of them were jokes about like non-binary polycules in Portland.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: It had all these made up email addresses.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: When I did it this year, it was perfect.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: There was no hallucination.
• 8:13
  I mean,
• 8:13
  there were still,
• 8:13
  I had to like do some manual formatting and stuff like that.
• 8:16
  But it's very,
• 8:18
  it's much better at the copy paste function than it used to be,
• 8:22
  if nothing else.
• 8:23
  Yeah,
• 8:24
  I mean,
• 8:24
  there's so many daily use cases where it strikes me as really
• 8:29
  helpful.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_03: I mean,
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_03: oftentimes,
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_03: frankly,
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: replacing human labor,
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_03: which is one of the things people are worried about.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Before we get into it, did you see this?
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: This was floating around Twitter.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: This article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer about an editor there.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_03: No.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_03: What did he do?
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Or did she do?
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so the tweet that I saw...
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: And this guy, the guy who posted that, his name's Sam Allard.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: And he posted a link to a cleveland.com article.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: Including a couple of excerpts, screenshots from it.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And this editor at the paper says, let me just read you a bit.
• 9:17
  Because we want reporters gathering information,
• 9:19
  these jobs are 100% reporting.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: We have an AI rewrite specialist who turns their material into drafts.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: We fact check everything, editors review it, reporters get the final say.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: Humans not AI control every step.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: So they're taking the writing off of the reporters.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_00: Huh.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're at the Cleveland Plain Dealer,
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: presumably,
• 9:38
  you go and you basically dump your notes and your interviews
• 9:41
  and transcripts or
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: whatever into an LLM and it generates an article for you.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, on the one hand, I can see some...
• 9:54
  you know for efficiency sake that would let because writing is
• 9:58
  so much of so it's
• 9:59
  such a basically a time suck when it comes to producing
• 10:02
  actually like the writing
• 10:03
  is a time suck you could spend a lot more time investigating
• 10:08
  and doing a lot of a
• 10:09
  lot of like old school journalists are really bad writers too
• 10:11
  this has always been
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: a thing that's totally true
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: So on the one hand,
• 10:14
  I can see from an editor's perspective why this would be a game
• 10:16
  changer in a good
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: way.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: But for me, I got into journalism because I want to be a writer.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: The writing, it's really less about the reporting for me.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's about the writing.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that seems just awful.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_03: It's just weird that they're saying it out loud.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_03: Also...
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: of all the things that like take up, I think it's good.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: They're saying it out loud.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: It's well,
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: yeah,
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: but also of all the things that take a lot of time,
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: like in the process of doing journalism,
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_03: I just don't put writing,
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_03: especially newspaper writing is not that time consuming.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: It's this is, I mean, it's interesting.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's weird.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_03: I see why people are freaking out about it.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: Cause it's like, Oh, the machine's writing it now.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, huh?
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know what to think about that.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um,
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_03: What are we talking about?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_03: What do you want to say?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_03: We're talking about a story.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_03: We're talking about a story today, Katie.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_03: It comes from Reddit.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_03: I want to talk a little bit about Reddit first.
• 11:06
  This is terrifying to admit,
• 11:07
  but Katie,
• 11:07
  guess how many years I've had a Reddit account for.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_03: 30?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_03: That's offensive.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_03: No, I've had one for 19 years.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was not that far off.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, actually not.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think it's been around for 30 years.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_03: When was it launched?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_03: Whatever.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_03: When I was first using it, it was really this niche nerdy thing.
• 11:25
  And it's become sort of a cultural juggernaut in a way that I
• 11:29
  feel like a lot of people don't.
• 11:31
  realize because like it's easy to overlook it um in part
• 11:34
  because it's like very
• 11:36
  aesthetically what's the word ugly bland like it's just wall
• 11:39
  after wall of tech i
• 11:40
  mean are you ever are you on there much uh yeah i have a feed i
• 11:44
  i let's see you
• 11:45
  want to see my you want to see who i follow on reddit can you
• 11:48
  follow people you
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: mean well not people but yeah okay my subreddits are aging parents
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Real estate.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: God, I feel old.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_03: Lesbian off-roading.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: Red Scare Pod.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: Au-pairs.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how I got into au-pairs.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Au-pairs?
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like for moose?
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Hygiene.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Ask Docs.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Asheville.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, what's Ask Docs?
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: Poverty Finance.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Ask Doctors.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, Ask Doctors.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Ask Docs.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's just for proctologists.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: Trusted house sitters.
• 12:19
  renters hawaiian mormon snark am i the asshole breaking mom
• 12:25
  jewish executive
• 12:26
  assistant subreddit drama new york times games that's pretty
• 12:29
  much it and uh some ai
• 12:31
  um ai you know um boyfriend girlfriend ones i um my i i the one
• 12:38
  i talked about
• 12:39
  mentioned just now that i've had 19 years is not under my name
• 12:42
  the one i have under
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: j single
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_03: I don't,
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_03: I mean,
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_03: I don't remember subscribing to it,
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_03: but it did get subscribed to like the XX women's one.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't remember doing that.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_03: I don't, I don't remember.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: You were hacked.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: I was probably the same person who hacked Joy Reid.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_03: The weird thing is one out.
• 12:59
  And I think someone on one of the feminist subreddits pointed
• 13:02
  this out recently,
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_03: but like on XX chromosomes,
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_03: I,
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_03: I thought you meant like XXX.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, no, not XXX.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_03: XX chromosome.
• 13:12
  Like,
• 13:13
  two X...
• 13:13
  Sorry,
• 13:13
  two X chromosomes is the name of,
• 13:14
  like,
• 13:15
  the women's subreddit.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_03: But, like... Yeah, you got it.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: So there's, like, all sorts of stuff that, like, whatever.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_03: But then,
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_03: like,
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_03: it seems like one out of four posts are just,
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_03: like...
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know how to say this without sounding gross.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_03: But it's, like...
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_03: Do any other of the women on here notice that during sex,
• 13:31
  your pussy just gets way too wet all the time and you just love
• 13:34
  getting fucked?
• 13:34
  And it's just so obviously dudes and the percentage of them on
• 13:38
  the women subreddit
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_03: makes me feel bad.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just trying to say I'm a feminist is what I'm getting at with this.
• 13:43
  You might not want to say that because as soon as you declare
• 13:45
  yourself a feminist
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: or a male ally,
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: that's when you know you're about to get me to.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:50
  just a cavalcade of victims of something I did yeah I don't
• 13:55
  know why these show up
• 13:56
  on my front page I did not sign up anyway um reddit it like
• 14:00
  sort of runs the
• 14:01
  internet a little bit uh people who use google to answer their
• 14:04
  questions will often
• 14:05
  get reddit posts as their top search results if you use chat
• 14:08
  yeah I mean and that's
• 14:09
  a that's a like if you're searching for if I'm searching for
• 14:12
  reviews of a product
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: yeah
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: I always look at Reddit because until recently,
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: it was harder for brands to...
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: What would be the word?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_03: Advertise?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: No, not advertise, but fake reviews.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_03: I know what you mean.
• 14:29
  You look at Amazon and there's a million fake reviews and you
• 14:32
  check the same
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: product on Reddit and presumably you would get genuine reviews.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: But now you can use AI to generate shit on Reddit too.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and speaking of AI, one of the reasons Reddit is...
• 14:43
  sort of unavoidable is it has produced a huge amount of text
• 14:46
  that the LLMs train on.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_03: So if you use chat GPT,
• 14:50
  the response you're getting is probably like often regurgitated
• 14:53
  Reddit for better
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_03: or worse.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah,
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_03: Reddit does not come up as much like in our discourse about social media,
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_03: but by one estimate it has over a billion monthly active users,
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_03: which is quite large.
• 15:04
  So part of the reason it's weird Reddit has gotten so
• 15:08
  successful is just like,
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_03: it's this sort of anti-social form of social media that
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_03: When you post something, I think a lot of our listeners have used it.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe some haven't.
• 15:18
  If you post something and it gets downvoted,
• 15:20
  it sort of makes the thread invisible.
• 15:22
  And then comment threads often spiral off in this really hard
• 15:25
  to follow ways.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_03: It's just like not intuitive.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_03: And unlike old school forums, Reddit just makes it...
• 15:32
  Almost like by design,
• 15:33
  it's harder to build connections with other individual posters.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_03: If you sign up,
• 15:38
  Reddit will actually suggest a username with this weird
• 15:41
  adjective noun number
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_03: format.
• 15:43
  And a lot of Reddit users will just take the sort of generic
• 15:47
  name that's suggested for them.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_03: So they don't have the catchiness of...
• 15:50
  sciencing by or j single 69 so there'll be conversations
• 15:54
  between like gentle ramen
• 15:56
  983 and eloquent stiletto 72 um and i was running some of this
• 16:01
  episode by claude
• 16:03
  just to like check a few things and it said something
• 16:06
  interesting katie please read
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_03: this because i think it sums up reddit nicely
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Reddit is deliberately topic-centric rather than person-centric.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: You follow subreddits, not people.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: That does make it harder to build personal connections,
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: but it's also arguably what makes it work so well.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: The content matters more than who posted it,
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: which reduces clout chasing and influencer dynamics.
• 16:24
  Whether that's a bug or a feature depends on what you think
• 16:26
  social media is for.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Huh.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean,
• 16:28
  do you see I'm trying to think I don't know that I've ever
• 16:32
  heard of like a Reddit
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: pile on.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure it happens within subreddits,
• 16:38
  but this thing that sort of like leaves containment and like
• 16:41
  someone's actual life.
• 16:43
  It's also just a lot more anonymous than something like Twitter
• 16:46
  or Facebook or Instagram.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah,
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_03: I think usually when someone like a story from Reddit breaks out,
• 16:52
  it has more to do with just like what's being discussed than
• 16:54
  who's discussing it.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_03: Totally.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, there's exceptions to this.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_03: Like we Reddit does tend to lean left.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_03: That hasn't always been the case.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_03: Like way back in 2020, I think we talked about.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_03: 2000 subreddits were banned for basically having questionable politics,
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_03: including the Donald,
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_03: which definitely helped turn Trump into a sort of modern meme.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_03: Also, a large number of gender critical subs were banned.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_03: We've also there is this also thing where like Reddit super moderators,
• 17:21
  the people who run individual subreddit can really sort of take
• 17:25
  over and ruin a
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_03: given subreddit from the inside.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_03: Are we going to talk about Ghislaine?
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: No, we got it.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let's not let's not talk about it.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_03: Ghislaine Maxwell?
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Maxwell.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_03: What'd she do?
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: She was a Reddit power mod.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_03: Did I actually miss this?
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_03: She is on which mods?
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 17:42
  I don't think any of this is confirmed,
• 17:45
  but she...
• 17:47
  So this is all confirmed.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: But so she... The rumor is that she was a power mod on World News.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_03: Well, she was a power mod on World News in a sense.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 17:59
  Technology,
• 18:00
  politics,
• 18:01
  science,
• 18:02
  Europe,
• 18:02
  uplifting news,
• 18:03
  celebrities and more.
• 18:05
  Again,
• 18:05
  this again,
• 18:06
  this is I think I think these subreddits have variously denied
• 18:09
  them.
• 18:10
  But there is an account that people have tied to her and it
• 18:12
  hasn't posted like
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: basically since she's been in prison.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: Can I do a brief defense of Jillian Maxwell?
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_03: Please.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_03: Please do.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_03: In one narrow sense.
• 18:25
  It's just so awesome that she gets moved to this lower security
• 18:29
  prison and just
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_03: treated with kid gloves.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_03: She gets all these special benefits.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_03: And then she's called to testify.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: And she just takes a fifth on everything.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_03: It doesn't cooperate at all.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_03: I mean,
• 18:39
  you've got to give her some credit for the extent to which she
• 18:41
  can manipulate the
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_03: MAGA people.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_03: It's just insane.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: uh, feminist icon.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, all that read a mentor.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_03: I find Reddit really interesting.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_03: That's why I gave that background information.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_03: But I, today's Reddit story is very specific to one community.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, it's the tale of a cat with a weight problem.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, okay.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: A fat cat.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_03: I was going to say,
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_03: what is your stance on fat cats or as I call them,
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: the fat cats in Washington?
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_03: Uh,
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: All cats should be fat.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: If I see a cat, I want it to be a fat cat.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_03: But you're a dog girl and a horse girl.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a dog girl.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_03: You don't like cats.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: No, you're a horse girl.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a horse guy.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: I am not a cat girl.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, why not?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: Never been.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have much experience with them.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: One lived with me briefly for a little while.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: I named it Kitty Purzog.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: I renamed it Kitty Purzog.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_03: Wait, that's your email address too.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's not my email address.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's my Twitter name.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_03: How did this cat come to live with you?
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_03: How did it come to live with you?
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was the duplex that I was living in.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: I had a mouse.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so I had a friend who had a cat who was like a famously good mouser.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I moved the cat in for a few weeks.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: Never saw the mouse again.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then the person who took over, my lease, had a mouse problem.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I think my theory has always been that the cat is just like cat pee.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have a mouse problem,
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: if you're listening to this and you're like,
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: say,
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: allergic,
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: just go get some mouse pee and just like dribble it around your house.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_03: Just extract pee from the nearest cat you can find.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_03: Go milk a cat.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_03: What's interesting about you favoring dogs and about moose in particular,
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_03: you are so much,
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_03: and take this right way,
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_03: please,
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_03: but you are so much more cat than dog.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's not even close.
• 20:13
  You're all the way far on the cat end of the spectrum and moose
• 20:16
  is the doggiest dog
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_03: I've ever met.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: I hate that.
• 20:18
  hate that about myself but it's undeniable but it's true you're
• 20:21
  more you're
• 20:22
  mercurial you need time alone you like to groom yourself rather
• 20:25
  than i lick myself
• 20:27
  clean it's true you lick yourself clean which i asked you not
• 20:31
  to do on stage and
• 20:31
  you kept doing i pee in a box i mean yeah you're a cat
• 20:35
  everyone's a cat or a dog
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_03: and you're definitely a cat i'm sorry
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: Fuck.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I think I'm actually more, I think you're fucking dog.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_03: I'm by,
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_03: I'm by,
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_03: but I can definitely fake being like a,
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_03: I'm good at faking like just a dog's eagerness to be out of the world,
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_03: even though if I'm the inside,
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_03: I just want to lick myself.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the subreddit we're talking about today is our slash Sphinx for,
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_03: 46,000 weekly visitors.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_03: It's dedicated to the Sphinx cat.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_03: Katie, describe this image I included.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_03: This was the first Google image result for Sphinx cat.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so Sphinx cats are hairless cats.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: And there's no nice way to put this.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: They look like wrinkly ball socks.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: And look,
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: I know that Mike Peska and possibly his wife,
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Michelle,
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: are listening to this right now.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: And they have two very lovely hairless cats.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: But I just can't lie.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: They look like genitals.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: Hairless genitals.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's funny you said that because I swear this is true.
• 21:32
  I reached out to them to record something about living with two
• 21:35
  Sphinx cats.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: Let's play that here.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_02: Hi, this is Mike.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: This is Michelle.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_02: And we are here to speak on behalf of Oliver,
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_02: Layla,
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: our beloved Sphinx cats who are no longer with us.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_02: But Noki and Mata, our beloved Sphinx cats who are.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_02: Layla...
• 21:49
  stood or sat on my chest and licked my beard and was just very
• 21:54
  into me,
• 21:54
  a very loving cat.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us about how Oliver would require transportation around the house.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_01: Well, since he was a kitten, he needed to be sort of held at all times.
• 22:04
  So when I got him,
• 22:06
  I would have to kind of do everything around the house
• 22:08
  one-handed.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: But ultimately,
• 22:10
  I ended up getting a baby sling for him so that he could stay
• 22:13
  in the sling while I
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: would have the use of both hands so I could
• 22:16
  actually live my life and do work and one might argue that's
• 22:20
  not really living my
• 22:21
  life but i also enjoyed it it's the life you chose and is this
• 22:24
  characteristic of
• 22:25
  the sphinx cat or just the uh neuroticism of oliver no it is
• 22:29
  they i mean they're
• 22:31
  very very affectionate they love being around their people and
• 22:35
  part of that is they
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: have no hair so they need warmth
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think so, maybe.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: Or I don't know if it's just they're a particularly affectionate breed.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: They are an affectionate breed.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I know the Dutch are trying to ban them.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_02: You know how the Dutch pursue these Dutch protocols sometimes.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_02: But yeah,
• 22:51
  a lot of people in the Sphinx cat chat groups are saying it's
• 22:54
  just an aesthetic
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_02: objection.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: Sphinx cats do get skin infections.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_02: They are sensitive, very sensitive to sunlight and sunburn.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_02: And they don't have long lifespans.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: But cats maybe shouldn't be outside killing birds, right?
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_02: So it's a save the bird.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: If you have a Sphinx cat, keep him inside.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_02: Keep him in a sling.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: Save the birds.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: Any last words, Michelle?
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: Nope.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Sorry.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: I love you.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_01: Say something about the cats.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_01: I love Jesse and Katie.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_02: Stop it.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: Blocked and reported.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Forever.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: You're the worst.
• 23:26
  so that so that from the from the horse's mouth as it were
• 23:28
  that's the lived
• 23:29
  experience of living with a sphinx cat yeah i'm gonna be
• 23:31
  brutally honest too though
• 23:32
  because they are friends mike and michelle they're great i
• 23:35
  enjoy the presence of
• 23:36
  their two sphinx cats whenever i'm there they actually host
• 23:38
  poker a fair amount
• 23:40
  back in brooklyn but i think i prefer my cats just with hair i
• 23:45
  just can't get over
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: how they look you said they look like jesse likes a hairy pussy
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_03: They look... Let's just move past that.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_03: It's not that they look like penises.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_03: It's they look like aliens.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_03: If they looked like penises, that would be funny.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_03: Also, they would have more hair.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_03: Adult penises, at least.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's more like the ball sack than the penis, I guess.
• 24:07
  The reason that I have been able to fall as romantically in
• 24:11
  love with my dog Moose
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: as I have is because he doesn't shed.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: I hate having animal fur on me in any sense.
• 24:19
  And so if I were going to have a cat,
• 24:21
  I would want it to be one of these naked cats.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: But they are undeniably freaky.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_03: Well, and also...
• 24:29
  You wouldn't be off the hook because,
• 24:31
  look,
• 24:31
  Sphinx cats don't have it easy.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_03: There's people like us.
• 24:34
  There's the bigots who recoil in horror whenever Sphinx cats
• 24:36
  manifest themselves.
• 24:37
  They also suffer from a variety of skin problems because they
• 24:40
  don't have fur.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_03: And they get cold.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_03: They get cold.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_03: They're susceptible to infections and disease.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_03: They also, I did not know this.
• 24:48
  I don't want to thank Jessica the 80s baby for finding this,
• 24:51
  but I guess,
• 24:52
  thank you.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_03: They leave patches of brown grease wherever they go.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: No, no.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't believe that.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_03: Now I want to ask Mike and Michelle about that.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: We need to fact check that.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, let's not.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just spread the rumor that, yeah.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I also leave patches of brown grease wherever I go.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yours is pizza.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_03: But yeah,
• 25:11
  these cats do have sort of a cult following and 46,000 of them
• 25:14
  gather on Reddit,
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_03: mostly to share pictures of them.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_03: So our story begins in September.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_03: A new Sphinx owner starts posting about their then recently acquired pet.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_03: The name is Poundcake.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_03: Poundcake is a very good name for a cat.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_03: The owner goes by Practical Intern 735.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_03: That appears to be one of those randomly generated Reddit names.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_03: She shared her story as follows.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_03: 20-year-old college student.
• 25:37
  She had kindly taken Poundcake in after this poor naked
• 25:40
  greaseball spent his life
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_03: being held captive by immoral backyard breeders.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_03: So Practical Intern 735 and her ex,
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_03: presumably named Whimsical Employee 69420,
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_03: they rescued Pound K together.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_03: The ex ended up giving him to her.
• 25:57
  And it was at this point that she turned to R slash Sphinx for
• 25:59
  guidance,
• 26:00
  as one does.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay,
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: so when they say they rescued it from a backyard breeder,
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: was this like a kidnapping situation?
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: How did they get it?
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: Did they jump over the fence?
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I actually...
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_03: Don't know.
• 26:11
  I assume it was sort of like a Delta Ops type thing where they
• 26:13
  went in with armed
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_03: men slash said,
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_03: can we have one of your cats?
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_03: Probably women.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_03: Pound Cake,
• 26:19
  in addition to the regular Sphinx problems of not having hair
• 26:22
  and being bizarre
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_03: looking and leaving grease splotches everywhere,
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_03: was seriously obese.
• 26:27
  So in one of the first posts,
• 26:28
  Practical Intern 735 said he was very cuddly and sweet.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_03: But Katie, read on from there.
• 26:33
  Where he walks to his food,
• 26:35
  literally the only time he gets up,
• 26:36
  his legs shake it.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_00: And he doesn't put any weight on his back leg, so he stumbles around.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: I would record it,
• 26:42
  but he doesn't walk unless I have food for him and shake it for
• 26:46
  like 20 minutes.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm worried for him.
• 26:48
  I have an appointment the day after tomorrow,
• 26:49
  but I don't know what else to do.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_03: Can I just say that so far I identify with pound cake?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 26:54
  I do not like to get up unless there's food and people have to
• 26:58
  me to get me to do anything.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_03: This was accompanied by a photo.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_03: Katie, please describe as non sexually as possible.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is a weird picture.
• 27:07
  It's so pound cake is laying on a bed and the bed has naturally
• 27:12
  cats,
• 27:13
  cat sheets and
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: And pound cake is very Caucasian flesh toned.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like if there,
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: I doubt this is,
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: I doubt there are any white people listening to this right now,
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: but if there are any white people of like maybe Irish descent,
• 27:25
  like if you look at the inside of your arm where it doesn't get
• 27:28
  any color or your
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: belly or your butt,
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: that's the color of pound cake.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: Very fat.
• 27:35
  But one thing that I find odd about this is pound cake doesn't
• 27:38
  seem to have any wrinkles.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like these cats have a lot of wrinkles and pound cake is like smooth fat.
• 27:45
  human fat body strange the hand reaching on well first of all
• 27:51
  the cat is positioned
• 27:52
  in a way where it's like no cameras no cameras it looks like
• 27:55
  it's hung over and
• 27:56
  this person just went and started like grabbing its belly and
• 27:59
  jiggling it yeah
• 27:59
  there's a hand on top of the belly a jiggle hand I forgot yeah
• 28:03
  I'm sorry yeah the
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_03: hand and the hand looks like it's literally gripping the fat
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_03: And like calling the cat a fat piece of shit.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: There's something odd about this photo, though.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it's the sheets.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: In any case,
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_03: from the start,
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: despite Poundcake just being obviously undeniably a weird creature,
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_03: Poundcake charmed the Sphinx lovers of Reddit.
• 28:19
  Practical Intern 735 began posting regular updates on
• 28:22
  Poundcake's life,
• 28:23
  often with videos.
• 28:24
  With her first video,
• 28:25
  she outlined a serious tale of,
• 28:27
  whoa,
• 28:27
  Katie,
• 28:27
  pleased to read.
• 28:28
  The bad news is he has severe osteoarthritis,
• 28:31
  and that's why he's not walking.
• 28:33
  He plays laying down,
• 28:34
  but Will walks a few steps for his food before giving up.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_03: Again, just like me.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: Frowny face emoticon.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: His muscles are incredibly underdeveloped as well.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: Also me.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: The vet prescribed solsnea and something similar to gabapentin.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: I forgot his name.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's long.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately,
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: he has a cranial cruciate ligament rupture,
• 28:54
  SPEAKER_00: which the vet explained is like a cat equivalent of an ACL tear,
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: and he needs surgery to fix it.
• 29:00
  The vet believes this has been bugging cat pound for months,
• 29:02
  if not longer.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Pound cat.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: Pound cat for months, if not longer.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: Frowny face emoticon.
• 29:09
  Since he's too overweight to put under safely,
• 29:12
  he are having to consider putting him down.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, no.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: Broken heart emoji.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: His QOL,
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: quality of life,
• 29:19
  is so poor he only plays laying down for seconds at a time
• 29:22
  before giving up
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: entirely.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: He can't understand he's not being free feed.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: And the poor guy cries when I leave him.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Frowny face.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: He got groomed, too.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: And the poor guy... How do you groom a...
• 29:33
  the hairless cat just keep reading katie come on and the poor
• 29:37
  guy got shit all up
• 29:38
  in his ass he's just so sad all the time so practical intern
• 29:42
  says she's giving it
• 29:43
  about a week at this point um week on this medication to see if
• 29:46
  he's in less pain
• 29:47
  but the possibility of killing pound cat of setting him to that
• 29:51
  big swing scat farm
• 29:52
  in the sky is very much his name is pound cake pound cake what
• 29:55
  did i say pound cat
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_03: it's definitely pound cake um
• 30:00
  Some users immediately responded with skepticism that this cat
• 30:04
  actually existed and
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_03: at least reported the original poster for posting AI generated content.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_03: The Sphinx mods did not agree.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_03: One of them said, reported as AI media, really?
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_03: And then practical intern said, he's real.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_03: I'm happy to DM you and confirm.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_03: Describe this photo.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: There's a photo of Pound Cat.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_03: It's really grotesque.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, sexually leering at the camera, but also lounging.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_00: This guy... Onto his back.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_03: You don't often see cats just on their back.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: Nips out.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_03: But Pound Cake...
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Poundcake's got a bit of a come-hither look in his photo.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's hot.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: I can't deny it.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: But also, Poundcake's face sort of looks like a face with hair.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_03: A penis.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: And a penis.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: The skin is really taut on this belly.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_03: So generally speaking at this point,
• 30:55
  the sentiment on the Sphinx subreddit is this is not AI and
• 30:58
  anger at the people who
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_03: would even suggest it's AI.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_03: The comments are overwhelmingly supportive.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_03: Poor Poundcake has been through so much in his life.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_03: And now, first of all, people are pretending he doesn't even exist.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_03: So they're literally trying to erase him.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_03: But thankfully,
• 31:11
  this community now has an entire subreddit praying for a
• 31:14
  miracle because Poundcake
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_03: has become a bit of a celebrity on the Sphinx subreddit.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well, did Poundcake recover?
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_03: Well, so the next update was a bit more hopeful.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_03: The original post was deleted, but it got preserved.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_03: We'll link to it.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_03: It's very long,
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_03: but to summarize it,
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_03: Poundcake has improved with the help of his meds,
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_03: was playing a bit,
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_03: but he was still unhealthy.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_03: Quote, he still cannot walk without help.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_03: He's also never been bathed.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_03: That smell must be really bad.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_03: I've been putting the beauty filter on him,
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_03: but he's very pimply and has rashes and bits and folds.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_03: I'm putting the beauty filter on Poundcake.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: Also like you.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_03: Just like me.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_03: A cat rescue nearby had apparently visited and reported that,
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_03: quote,
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_03: Poundcake was one of the neediest cats they've ever seen.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, just put the cat down.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: The cat honestly sounds annoying at this point.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_03: Katie, let me finish.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_03: Well, let me describe the rest of the situation.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_03: There were ongoing severe problems with his legs.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_03: He couldn't walk.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, euthanasia was still a possibility.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_03: But, quote, right now he's chilling in his heated binky off a CBD gummy.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_03: Can you give a cat a CBD gummy?
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: I guess.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: What are cats not allowed to eat?
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: Anything?
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: What about chocolate?
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_03: It's like with dogs and chocolate.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_03: And grapes.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_03: Confusing babies.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_03: Human babies is honey, right?
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_03: It, like, destroys their brains.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think so.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: they can eat honey.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think if they don't eat honey, they end up being allergic to bees.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_03: Babies cannot eat kitty.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: Can babies eat honey?
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Fucking RFK Jr.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: over here.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_03: They cannot.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_03: It's totally toxic to them.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: But look, here's what I'm saying.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: Okay,
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: so big...
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: No,
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: well,
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_03: first give people the accurate health information about babies and honey.
• 32:42
  So big allergy wants you to think that the bacteria colostrum
• 32:45
  botulinum can
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_00: germinate in a baby's immature digestive system causing botulism.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's what big allergy wants you to think.
• 32:53
  I think that if you microdose babies on a small amount of
• 32:55
  honey...
• 32:56
  Then what?
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: Probably you'd be fine.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 32:58
  This is not what we do occasionally get comments that we're
• 33:02
  ignorant on X or Y due
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_03: to not having children.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_03: This is not going to help on that front.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: Not this one.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_03: So pound cakes cheerleaders.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_03: And at this point there are many cheerleaders for pound cakes.
• 33:11
  Uh,
• 33:11
  they're happy to see any sign of progress over the next week's
• 33:14
  practical intern.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_03: 735 continues to share updates, always with photos and videos.
• 33:18
  Pound cake,
• 33:19
  um,
• 33:19
  had actually been taken in by a rescue and while she was doing
• 33:22
  well,
• 33:22
  uh,
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_03: Wasn't doing well enough.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_03: Poundcake was partially blind.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_03: Poundcake might have liver damage.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: So this cat is still... Wait, taken in by... Like a rescue shelter.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_03: Presumably a fat camp for cats.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, so intern 357 gave Poundcake to a rescue?
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_03: But apparently he's in still contact with it and sharing photos of it.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_03: That's the story.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: Why did she give the rescue?
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: Why did she give the cat?
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_03: Well, it was a lot for practical intern 735 and her busy life.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_03: She's a 20-year-old college student.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: She can't just nurse.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_03: She's got stuff to do.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_03: She's not like you.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: He had shit all up in his butt.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_03: She got...
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_03: Every post about pound cake on Sphinx got thousands of upvotes,
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_03: sometimes 7,000 or more,
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_03: in not a very big community,
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_03: and his fame began to spread to other parts of Reddit.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_03: So people started following his story on the...
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_03: The subreddit D Chonkers.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_03: Do you know about D Chonkers?
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: Is that like people who put their cats on Ozepic?
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, dchonkers is a subreddit dedicated to fat pets losing weight.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_03: Very controversial.
• 34:24
  But then Poundcake also found his way onto cats,
• 34:27
  which is the main cat subreddit.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_03: This is the big time.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_03: People there are very critical, though, of Practical Intern 735.
• 34:35
  They start telling Practical Intern 735,
• 34:39
  you have to have this cat killed.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_03: Because Poundcake's quality of life is so miserable, morbidly obese.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_03: Unable to walk.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_03: Parsley blind.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: Very fat negative.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_03: With liver damage.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_03: So the main cat subreddit is calling for the killing of this cat.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: Is this subreddit?
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: Is it a Canadian subreddit?
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds Canadian.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_03: They're all like, Poundcake seems like he sometimes gets sad.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_03: You should kill him.
• 35:04
  So yeah,
• 35:04
  Poundcake's migration to the main cat Reddit also exposed
• 35:09
  certain rifts within...
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_03: Cat Reddit, or the cat Reddits, there's this infighting.
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_03: So one person,
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_03: Proof Mongoose 4350,
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_03: or I'm sorry,
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_03: 4530,
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_03: I'm really sorry,
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_03: says,
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_03: yeah,
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_03: people on our cats can be fucking nasty.
• 35:25
  I tried to ask for advice on an issue with my cat once and
• 35:27
  wound up basically being
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_03: told I should be in jail for animal abuse.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds like Twitter.
• 35:31
  SPEAKER_03: So this stuff...
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_03: This stuff gets really intense.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_03: It does sound like Twitter.
• 35:35
  One other person just says,
• 35:36
  I come here every day hoping for a pound cake update.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_03: Go pound cake.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_03: You got this.
• 35:40
  Pound cake is becoming something of a mascot,
• 35:42
  if not a hero at this point.
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately, things took a sad but not unexpected turn.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_03: In October,
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_03: several weeks after adopting pound cake,
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_03: Practical Intern 735 posted,
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_03: rest in peace,
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_03: sweet pound cake.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_03: I want you to read this, Katie.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_03: I'm also worried you're going to start crying.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_00: Over a cat?
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, maybe not.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: You don't know me well.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_03: Go for it.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know this isn't the outcome he deserved,
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: but his quality of life improved immensely from when he was given to me.
• 36:05
  He came to me screaming and pacing in pain and with love he
• 36:08
  became able to play and
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: snuggle and he finally got the right medical care.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: Even if for only a short time, I'm glad he knew peace and he knew love.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: From the rescue and most of all y'all.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so happy he was on pain meds.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so sorry to have to share this news.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's upsetting,
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: but if he would have passed anyway,
• 36:24
  I'm so glad he passed after knowing at least a little bit of
• 36:26
  comfort and a whole
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: lot of love.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: Do cats know that, did he know he was a Reddit celebrity?
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: Rest in peace, pound cake.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: You were so weird the whole time.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'll miss your freak ass forever.
• 36:37
  He had a little photo shoot at the rescue the day before
• 36:39
  everything went downhill.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think he looks cunty as hell.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_03: This got 10,000 upvotes.
• 36:48
  It became the 10th most upvoted post in the long storied
• 36:52
  history of r slash sphinx.
• 36:55
  And there's another post where Practical Intern 735 produced
• 36:58
  this really detailed
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_03: information about Pound Cake's heart attack.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_03: I don't want to read the whole thing,
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_03: but just to show you the level of detail she went into,
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_03: he fought so hard for those two days,
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_03: even through some pretty unbearable pain,
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_03: I got a FaceTime,
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_03: I guess a FaceTime from the rescue shelter,
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_03: and my poor dude was wheezing and blue in the face while being completely
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_03: restrained in his sling.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_03: Thank God he was sedated after.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_03: Pound Cakes fans were devastated by the news.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_03: Katie, read this from Other Cantaloupe 4765.
• 37:27
  6 a.m.,
• 37:27
  not even out of bed yet,
• 37:28
  and I'm crying over a cat I only knew from Reddit.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: For some reason,
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm relieved,
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_00: I guess,
• 37:32
  that he died naturally instead of having to be euthanized and
• 37:35
  that he wasn't in any
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: pain.
• 37:36
  It hurts me to think of how awful most of his life was confined
• 37:39
  to a room.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad he could leave this world having experienced love and care.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: I just wish he could have experienced more of it.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: Fuck, I don't know why I'm so emotional over this, but it hurts my heart.
• 37:49
  My own cat is confused about why I'm crying already at this
• 37:52
  time of morning.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: Ha ha.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for taking care of him, even if for only a short time.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_03: Your cat's not confused.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_03: It's just like, why have you not fed me yet?
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_03: My cat's so worried about me.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I do think that dogs, or some dogs at least, are very empathetic.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_03: I think cats are sometimes too.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like they see you crying and they're like, how bitch?
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_03: I should have disclosed this because it's a big conflict of interest.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_03: But we had a fair number of cats over the years growing up.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_03: Cats can be very affectionate.
• 38:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like they have their moments.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_00: Did you ever have dogs?
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, we had one dog that got hit by a car.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's right.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: You fed, um, you fed it American cheese, American cheese.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_03: I also,
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_03: one time it got into a bar of chocolate,
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_03: so I had to give it hydrogen peroxide and then it puked everywhere.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I was so relieved that it puked everywhere.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_03: That was a cool story.
• 38:38
  um so yeah people are devastated at the passing oh wait another
• 38:43
  one oh no r.i.p
• 38:44
  pound cake meat slap run free over the rainbow bridge you were
• 38:48
  loved more than you
• 38:48
  know op thank you for getting him out of a bad situation thank
• 38:51
  you for loving him
• 38:52
  taking care of him getting him help he needed and sharing him
• 38:54
  with all of us dot
• 38:55
  dot dot you mattered pound cake so at this point pound cake has
• 38:59
  been elevated to
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_03: the status of a feline saint
• 39:02
  There is talk of making Pound Cake the official mascot of the
• 39:06
  Sphinx Cat subreddit,
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_03: changing the subheader photo to a picture of Pound Cat,
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_03: all that.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_03: The devastation was real.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_03: And Katie,
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_03: try to put yourself...
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_03: Imagine Pound Cake was a fat,
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_03: slovenly,
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_03: ugly dog instead of a fat,
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_03: slovenly,
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_03: ugly cat.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_00: I have trouble understanding... I only like cute dogs.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_03: Imagine it was a physically, a sexually attractive dog.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_03: Can you...
• 39:28
  try to explain the level of emotional connection these random
• 39:31
  people on the
• 39:31
  internet have to and I understand liking animals I have a lot
• 39:35
  of trouble with like
• 39:36
  feeling an emotional connection to an animal I haven't met that
• 39:39
  I only know through
• 39:40
  photos but I take it you can relate to this a little bit not
• 39:46
  really I'm not like a
• 39:48
  look I think people because I have such a perverse love for my
• 39:51
  own dog people think
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_00: that I'm like a crazy dog lover
• 39:57
  i'm not i just like my dog i do like other dogs as well just
• 40:01
  not that much i don't
• 40:02
  get it it's like the difference between a pedophile and someone
• 40:05
  who offends with
• 40:06
  children opportunistically you opportunistically but that
• 40:10
  doesn't mean you like dog
• 40:11
  you don't love dogs in general i'm a child molester not a
• 40:13
  pedophile yes according
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_03: to your metaphor according to my excellent metaphor
• 40:19
  um okay so as always unfortunately things are not as simple as
• 40:23
  they seem this
• 40:24
  outpouring of grief over pound cake doesn't last long the very
• 40:28
  next day after pound
• 40:29
  cakes i was gonna say untimely demise but it sounds like it was
• 40:32
  timely a new user
• 40:35
  automatic ship 785 pops up on sphinx and posted post this katie
• 40:40
  please read
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: Did some digging because the video of Poundcake and his siblings,
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_00: that's in quotes,
• 40:44
  that was posted here today is an AI generated video that went
• 40:47
  viral on TikTok.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: And yep, every photo of Poundcake is on TikTok.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: He was never real.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_00: OP just stole the images of random fat sphinx.
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway, that's what the person says.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway,
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_03: so this was not even a high effort con job,
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_03: but literally just taking stuff from one platform.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, it's AI generated?
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_03: AI generated video.
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I should say,
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_03: some of the sleuths said that some of the videos looked a little AI-ish,
• 41:12
  but then most of the Sphinx community- I said it should have
• 41:14
  had wrinkles.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: I said those bitch tits weren't wrinkly enough.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: You heard me, right?
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_03: I did.
• 41:18
  SPEAKER_03: You said those bitch tits weren't wrinkly enough.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_03: I think that was a direct quote.
• 41:23
  SPEAKER_03: So one of the people respond,
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_03: some of the responses to this accusation,
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_03: wait,
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_03: I cried yesterday over Poundcake.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_03: So now Poundcake never really existed?
• 41:31
  SPEAKER_03: What the fuck?
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_03: How many users are there?
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_03: Eight?
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_03: Crying emoji, crying emoji.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_03: Prunkle, Prunkle.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's a great name.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_03: Prunkle says, this is why you should create your own names on Reddit.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_03: Prunkle says, legit cry to the gym locker room when I saw it.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_03: That's so fucked.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_03: Can you imagine...
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_03: I assume this is a woman.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I can't imagine crying in the gym.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: Listening to Taylor Swift, looking at pictures of Poundcake crying.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_03: Can you imagine another woman coming up and be like, are you okay?
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_03: What's going on?
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_03: And then Prokel has to explain.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_03: You think that was a woman?
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_03: Someone crying in a gym over a dead cat is a woman.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_03: Not to be sex reductionist.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_03: That's a woman.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: Weird.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: When I read that, I just pictured clavicular.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_03: Clavicular crying.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_03: Other cantaloupe 4765 response.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_03: So did I. I cried over this shit.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_03: Unbelievable.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_03: Un-fucking-believable.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_03: And I know what you're thinking.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_03: And yes, there's a period before each part of that.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_03: Another person has a different take.
• 42:29
  I got about 50 negative hits on my comments suggesting this was
• 42:32
  a bot or AI.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_03: All I can say to that is, told ya.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_03: And they got 800 upvotes for that.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: So wait, what did practical intern 7735 do?
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: Deleted her account.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: Ugh.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_03: Just gone like that.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_03: Except the next day,
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_03: another user,
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_03: this one,
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_03: a long established Redditor,
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_03: posts a mind-blowing theory.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_03: Katie, please read it.
• 42:52
  I think the account who invented Poundcake and the account who
• 42:54
  exposed it all are
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_00: the same person.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_00: What similar accounts both deleted after posting their drama,
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: same typing style,
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: language,
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_00: et cetera.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_00: I called it a couple of hours ago.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't think there's anyone to know for sure.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_03: If that theory was...
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think this person just like wanted to...
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: Was like,
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: I can't do this anymore.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to blow up my life.
• 43:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like when you cheat on your spouse with...
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: Your sister?
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_03: Her sister?
• 43:16
  I think if this Sphinxception theory is true,
• 43:20
  it would be more calculated than that.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_03: It would be someone who all along planned to take Poundcake,
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_03: turn Poundcake into a celebrity,
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_03: have Poundcake die,
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_03: and then expose himself.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_03: Some real sick convoluted fuck.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so Reddit is not a forum that you can monetize.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: You can monetize Facebook.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: You can monetize YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_03: You can now very slightly monetize it.
• 43:48
  I've made 15 cents,
• 43:50
  and that has to do with,
• 43:51
  I think,
• 43:51
  people giving...
• 43:52
  I don't know.
• 43:53
  I haven't even looked into it,
• 43:53
  but you can...
• 43:54
  Because this was exactly what people are asking.
• 43:56
  Why did Practical Intern 735 dedicate hours of her life over
• 44:00
  several weeks to...
• 44:02
  to finding photos and videos and posting these updates um weird
• 44:06
  hobby yeah yeah now
• 44:09
  i mean one obvious answer would be karma farming because you
• 44:12
  know you could gain a
• 44:13
  lot of karma although this doesn't really make sense explain
• 44:15
  what karma is for oh
• 44:16
  yeah karma is if your comments get upvoted on reddit you get
• 44:19
  karma and if you get
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: downvoted uh you lose what do you what is karma get you
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_03: Well,
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_03: karma,
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_03: I mean,
• 44:26
  it's like proof that you have a long standing account in good
• 44:29
  standing and you make
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_03: good comments.
• 44:32
  At the extreme edges,
• 44:35
  if you have a high karma Reddit account,
• 44:36
  you can sell it.
• 44:37
  But Jessica the 80s baby said you're talking about like $120 in
• 44:42
  crypto if you have
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_03: a long time Reddit account with a really high karma score.
• 44:46
  So that's like if Practical Intern 735 was trying to do that,
• 44:51
  sub minimum wage work.
• 44:52
  Do you think that Practical Intern 735 might also have been AI
• 44:56
  generated?
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's the thing, right?
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_03: I don't.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_03: But I think a year from now,
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_03: when you tell a version of the story,
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_03: it could just be everyone involved was an AI agent.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone commenting, the cat, the poster.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: The cat.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_03: Totally.
• 45:09
  No humans involved in this entire affair,
• 45:11
  including the two podcasters telling the story.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_03: It's just agents all the way down.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: You said agents, not Asians, right?
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_03: Asians.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_03: No, I meant Asians.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_03: It's just Asians all the way down.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's Arthur Chu and Ian Myles Chong.
• 45:23
  SPEAKER_03: Myles Chong with all their different sock puppets.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_00: Typing back and forth, covered in ants to each other forever.
• 45:29
  The most common reason someone does something like this is just
• 45:32
  to try to get money out of it.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_03: But it doesn't look like there was ever an attempt to raise.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, right.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_00: Like a GoFundMe.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: That would have fucking killed.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: A GoFundMe, a pound cake GoFundMe.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: Is it too late?
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_03: They could have raised so much money.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_03: Should we do a pound cake GoFundMe?
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_03: To bring pound cake back to life.
• 45:46
  I think the most likely explanation and like a pretty credible
• 45:49
  one is just attention.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like the whole saga was about that feeling of like,
• 45:54
  if you log onto the internet and your account tab is lit up and
• 45:58
  there's a red thing
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_03: with 20 comments,
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_03: like people really get something out of that,
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_03: especially if they don't have,
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_03: like us,
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_03: don't have anything else going on in their life.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know,
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: since I have been off of Twitter for like over a year now,
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: like it's not a struggle not to post.
• 46:12
  I think a year of sobriety or near sobriety for me when it
• 46:16
  comes to posting has
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_00: made me,
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: it's like an alcoholic who has a year of sobriety.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: I just feel incredibly judgmental of people who post nonstop.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't, yeah, I don't really miss it.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um,
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_03: there's a final twist here,
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_03: which is the,
• 46:33
  and I'm trying to keep these different handles straight and
• 46:35
  this is all this.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_03: Everyone's been deleted.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_03: So it's like old screenshots and stuff.
• 46:40
  automatic ship 7835 the user who had said i did some digging
• 46:46
  and pound cake does
• 46:48
  not exist and who is suspected of also being practical intern
• 46:52
  so automatic ship
• 46:53
  suspected being practical intern you're with me so far yes so
• 46:56
  this is the person
• 46:57
  who outed pound cakes owner as fake or out of pound cake is
• 47:02
  fake but who is also
• 47:03
  some people think it also might be yes pound cakes yes someone
• 47:07
  else posts this
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_03: screenshot katie will you read the whole thing
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay,
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: the screenshot says,
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: Poundcake's owner replied to me,
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: turns out they're even more of an asshole than we thought.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then this is automatic ship 7835.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: So this is the outer and also possibly Poundcake's person.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_03: The inner.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:26
  You're literally the exact type of person I made up pound cake
• 47:28
  to torture.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you went outside and had a life, you'd be unaffected.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_00: But since you choose to do this with your time, you get tormented.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: Not to be the pot calling the kettle black, but get a fucking life.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: Or at least at least I know I have one.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_00: I only got Reddit to do this.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_00: So this person is like is saying that they did this long con.
• 47:45
  SPEAKER_00: to make people fall in love with this cat just to fuck with them.
• 47:49
  SPEAKER_03: And they're saying,
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_03: they spent hundreds of hours on this,
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_03: and then they're saying,
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_03: at least I know I have a life.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: At least I have a life, yeah.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_03: So...
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 47:58
  The main reason Pound Cake Story was so compelling was the
• 48:01
  photos and videos.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_03: Some, not all, some of them were AI-generated.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_03: This person also just took real photos of swings cats.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_03: And I think it does just highlight the extent to which...
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_03: I mean,
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_03: we're joking about it,
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_03: but pretty soon we're not going to know if anything is real.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_03: And there was actually a recent...
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_03: Wired story about how all this stuff is affecting Reddit.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_03: And in it,
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_03: the moderator of I Am I the Asshole,
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_03: one of the most popular subreddits of all,
• 48:27
  estimates about half the content on Reddit is already either
• 48:31
  generated by AI or
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_03: tweaked about it.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_03: There are some accounts on Reddit.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_03: And again, the reason I find this surprising is...
• 48:40
  AI accounts on like TikTok or Twitter that produce these dumb
• 48:43
  videos that boomers
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_03: circulate,
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_03: like I can understand why they go so viral,
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_03: but it's surprising to me this is even now extending to tech.
• 48:52
  So Jessica the 80s baby found a Reddit account we'll link to
• 48:55
  that is just AI
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_03: fictional storytelling.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_03: So this is an account which claims to live in California and
• 49:03
  in the last month it bought a mercedes decided to move to spain
• 49:06
  decided to build
• 49:07
  their own house found a great bookstore in london worked as a
• 49:10
  day trader suffered a
• 49:12
  near-death experience and plan a trip to thailand with their
• 49:15
  kids um the account is
• 49:17
  also both struggling to find his own personal style by looking
• 49:21
  for advice on men's
• 49:22
  fashion subreddit and wondering how she should deal with
• 49:25
  bloating during pms
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_00: We're sure this isn't one person with multiples?
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: Are we sure this is?
• 49:33
  This could just be a normal Reddit user,
• 49:34
  like a normal Zoom or Reddit user.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_03: So all these posts are AI generated.
• 49:39
  Many of them appear to be advertisements for a wide range of
• 49:41
  different products and services.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah,
• 49:45
  Jessica just said she's seen more and more obvious AI posts on
• 49:48
  other text-only
• 49:49
  forums she reads like Mumsnet that aren't like natural places
• 49:53
  for monetizing things
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_03: or clout chasing,
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_03: just places where you would most expect to just find regular people.
• 50:00
  So it's just going to be weird watching a larger and larger
• 50:04
  proportion of the
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_03: internet getting eaten up by all this stuff.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_00: I mean,
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: besides the fact that AI is eating the Internet and,
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_00: a year from now,
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: the Internet can mostly be just AI agents talking to each other.
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: The other the other issue with this is that when things that are real,
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: this is obvious,
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_00: but when things when you see things that are real,
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: like I find myself questioning videos now,
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_00: is this real?
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_00: As an example,
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_00: there's a video that was circulating on Facebook and probably on Twitter,
• 50:37
  SPEAKER_00: probably everywhere,
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_00: but I saw it on Facebook a couple weeks ago.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: And did you see this one?
• 50:42
  SPEAKER_00: It looked like a video of Trump shitting his pants.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_03: No, I missed that somehow.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_03: So this one's real.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_00: It actually is real.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't know if he actually shit himself.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: I just looked this up.
• 50:54
  So Snopes fact check this,
• 50:55
  but they couldn't conclude whether or not they shit his pants.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_00: It was from late January, a press conference.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's a bunch of executives in the Oval Office with him.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's what sounds like a fart.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then people are making faces like someone's like, what the fuck?
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then they rush everybody out of the room.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: And of course,
• 51:15
  this went viral on Facebook because people love the idea of
• 51:19
  Trump shitting himself.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_00: Did he shit himself?
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 51:22
  But when I first saw that,
• 51:23
  saw this video,
• 51:24
  I'm like,
• 51:25
  this could be completely real.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_00: This could also be completely fake.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't have any fucking idea at this point.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_03: I hope when Democrats take power back,
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_03: they do like a 9-11 commission style investigation of that incident.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, with like red light cameras or black light cameras.
• 51:40
  Just drag everyone who was in the room before,
• 51:43
  make them testify before Congress.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'll post a link to the Snopes page of the show notes.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_03: Definitely post a link.
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_03: I think a huge amount of the negative consequences of AI,
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_03: particularly generative AI,
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_03: they're just going to like roll downhill and hit sort of the loneliest,
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_03: least connected people.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's going to be the really sad part of this.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_00: Well,
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean,
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_00: the scams are,
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_00: this is one thing I really worry about more even than jobs is just,
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_00: it's going to be so easy to scam people.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_03: Both, I mean, both traditional like
• 52:16
  get someone's credit card number scams,
• 52:18
  but also the agent stuff that's right on the horizon.
• 52:21
  Like it's eventually going to get to the point where you click
• 52:25
  a link and then
• 52:26
  there is like basically a thing living inside your computer
• 52:29
  that has a fair amount
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_03: of control over your files and what you post and your email.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, just worse than like sort of the simple bots of the past.
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_03: It's going to get really bad.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well,
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_00: and I mean,
• 52:37
  the other thing is like this is going to put scammers out of
• 52:41
  business like the
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_00: human scammers who have who are doing simple,
• 52:45
  SPEAKER_03: hardworking Nigerian doing the work getting replaced by AI.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 52:50
  I think I think one thing that if this hasn't already happened
• 52:53
  will happen soon is
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_00: AI taking over OnlyFans.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_00: You and I could be OnlyFans models if we ran bots.
• 53:03
  You construct some really hot woman and then have an AI engage
• 53:09
  with lonely men 24-7.
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_00: I bet people are doing that.
• 53:13
  SPEAKER_00: Think of the OnlyFans girls.
• 53:15
  There's been a spate of coverage of like clavicular and looks
• 53:18
  maxing stuff lately.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_03: Joe, Joe Bernstein had a good times piece.
• 53:21
  SPEAKER_03: Uh,
• 53:21
  PJ vote had a good search engine episode and that trajectory of
• 53:26
  just altering your
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_03: appearance,
• 53:28
  either physically or through filtering until you look less and
• 53:30
  less human and more
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_03: and more like this,
• 53:32
  SPEAKER_00: like,
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_00: like a sphinx cat,
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_03: like a sphinx,
• 53:34
  SPEAKER_03: like a hairless as hairless as a sphinx cat.
• 53:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um,
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_03: but with jaw, the jawline.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_03: Well,
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_03: especially with like porny stuff,
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_03: which is probably,
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know what percentage of the internet is porn,
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_03: not small.
• 53:47
  It's all just going to be really realistic looking video of
• 53:49
  people who don't exist.
• 53:51
  SPEAKER_03: And it's going to fuck kids up.
• 53:53
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_03: I just already feel like the teenagers in the 20.
• 53:56
  SPEAKER_03: Well, yes, but not as much as like,
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I mean, think about old people.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you grow up with this stuff,
• 54:02
  SPEAKER_00: if you're a native user to it,
• 54:03
  SPEAKER_00: you might learn to be more skeptical of the technology.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's the elders I'm worried about.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I'm worried about everyone.
• 54:10
  But in terms of having really fucked up views about how actual
• 54:14
  humans look,
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_03: I think if you were not raised with this stuff,
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_03: you're just like,
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_03: yeah,
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_03: not everyone looks like a perfect...
• 54:21
  creepy alien god but if like at the most formative adolescent
• 54:25
  years of your life
• 54:26
  you were glued to your phone looking at highly filter shit and
• 54:28
  now increasingly ai
• 54:29
  shit that's gonna screw you up in like a different way janna
• 54:32
  and i were like a
• 54:33
  month ago janna and i were just like watching tv one night and
• 54:36
  i had eaten an
• 54:37
  edible for the first time in like many months and she said out
• 54:40
  of nowhere she said
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_00: let's get into looks maxing and
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I died laughing.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_00: It was like tears coming out.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_00: I could not stop laughing.
• 54:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I wasn't sure.
• 54:52
  In retrospect,
• 54:53
  I'm not sure if it was just very funny because she said it or
• 54:57
  it was the edible.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, I'm mewing right now.
• 55:00
  SPEAKER_00: We're doing it.
• 55:00
  Clavicular is interesting because there is so little there
• 55:03
  there in terms of any
• 55:05
  SPEAKER_03: soul or personality or charisma.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_00: He's a vessel.
• 55:08
  Just that's like where the trajectory of everything has been
• 55:11
  headed toward the
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_03: hollowing out of any sort of actual like definable humanity.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_03: So he's he's he's going to be president one day.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_03: That's inevitably where this is headed.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, he mogs.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_03: He does.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_03: He mogs.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_03: And he slay.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_03: He's.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_03: Do you know what slay maxing is?
• 55:24
  uh i i learned that from um from joe's piece um he he he freaks
• 55:30
  if you know what
• 55:30
  i'm saying i bet well i don't think he's probably incapable of
• 55:33
  sex because of all
• 55:34
  the i think they alluded to this but like he's i think he takes
• 55:36
  um he takes viagra
• 55:38
  anything else katie on our wait i'm curious i'm curious what
• 55:41
  the um so you you
• 55:43
  asked on our chat what people are what was it what they're
• 55:46
  worried about with ai
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_03: what they're well just like what they wanted us to talk about okay
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_03: I think we're going to have like,
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_03: yeah,
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_03: there was,
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_03: I want to like actually get a little pound cake on the list.
• 55:56
  SPEAKER_03: Pound cake was not on the list.
• 55:57
  I think this was an excellent,
• 55:58
  uh,
• 55:59
  one of the many reasons we're happy to have Jessica.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_03: She finds incredible stuff.
• 56:03
  SPEAKER_03: She found the story of pound cake.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_03: Um, there's a lot more.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_03: We got to do housekeeping.
• 56:07
  SPEAKER_03: We forgot to do housekeeping.
• 56:08
  So blocked or imported podcast at gmail.com is the best way to
• 56:13
  suggest the threads
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_03: you want us to tug on when it comes to AI stuff.
• 56:16
  We're obviously not going to have the podcast be dominated by
• 56:20
  this,
• 56:20
  but there's a lot going on.
• 56:21
  SPEAKER_03: You can also rate and review us on Apple Podcasts.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_03: What else, Katie?
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_00: Join us.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_03: You mean become a premium subscriber?
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 56:28
  SPEAKER_03: Become a premium subscriber.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 56:31
  SPEAKER_03: Or we'll be replaced by AI.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_03: That's true.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_03: That would be better.
• 56:34
  The AI would know how it would be better at pronouncing stuff
• 56:37
  than we are.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_03: And that would be the dead giveaway.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_03: For sure.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 56:40
  If we ever start pronouncing names correctly,
• 56:42
  then you know we've been taken over.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_00: Anything else, Katie?
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Jesse.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
• 56:47
  SPEAKER_03: This has been Blocked and Reported.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_03: As always, we are produced with help from Jessica, the 80s baby.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for listening and stay vigilant.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_03: There's AI in the woods.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_03: Bye.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_03: Bye.