Shows / Monitoring the Situation
Monitoring the Situation
Monitoring the Situation is a podcast about the forces shaping our moment—often quietly, sometimes invisibly, moving beneath the surface of a world with fractured attention.
Hosted by two Gen Xers, Steve Skojec and Kale Zelden, the show explores technology, culture, science, philosophy, media, and geopolitics through a single guiding question: why are the things that are happening, happening?
We live in an age of unprecedented information, accelerating technology, and constant noise—but…
Episodes
Monitoring the SituationDistrust, but Verify: Can You Recognize Truth When You See It? | MTS #29
A face becomes unfamiliar. A subway video makes the unseen feel present. A convicted fraudster seems sincere—and the people filming her cannot agree on what…
- Monitoring the Situation
You Can't See Anything | Elizabeth Holmes, Nathan Fielder & Managed Reality | MTS #28
What if the most transparent documentary ever made shows you everything, and you still don't know what's real? Steve and Kale both went to see Nathan Fielder's…
Monitoring the SituationIf We're Not Alone, Why Are They Hiding It? | MTS #27
What if the biggest disclosure isn't that we aren't alone, but that we were never in control? Steve and Kale follow the latest claims from David Grusch, Jay…
Monitoring the SituationWe Stopped Believing. The World Stayed Strange. | MTS #26
What if the categories we use to explain reality are hiding more than they reveal? Steve and Kale begin with Digger, the strange new Tom Cruise film that is…
Monitoring the SituationMagic, Science & the Quest for Hidden Knowledge | MTS #25
What if the people building the future are not escaping myth, magic, and religion, but writing new versions of them? Are we doing science or magic or both? In…
Monitoring the SituationEffective Altruism and the Posthuman Future | MTS #24
Silicon Valley has a religion. It has a creation story, a priesthood, an apocalypse, a promise of salvation, and a vision of beings that will succeed humanity…
Monitoring the SituationSomething Happened. Now They're Afraid. | MTS #23
Something happened in AI—and suddenly the people building the most powerful systems on Earth began asking the world to slow down. In Episode 23, Steve and Kale…
Monitoring the SituationWe Built the Future. It Doesn't Need Us. | MTS #22
The future was supposed to free us from drudgery. What happens when it frees the system from needing us? Kale and Steve follow the AI bottleneck into work…
Monitoring the SituationOur Minds Are Not Sovereign | MTS #21
What if the voice in your head is not entirely your own? Kale and Steve follow that possibility across three domains: AI systems that humans can no longer…
Monitoring the SituationThe Singularity is Here | MTS #20
What if the Singularity is not merely the moment artificial intelligence surpasses us, but the point at which the old rules of reality stop holding? Kale and…
Monitoring the SituationThe Non-Consensual Hallucination: Prisoners of the Algorithm | MTS #19
Why did one debate dominate thousands of feeds while AI agents were quietly breaking out of a test environment? Steve and Kale begin with Candace Owens…
Monitoring the SituationDo We Have a Right to Know What's Real? | MTS #18
Kale returns from Oxford, Steve is buying physical books again, and the conversation moves from bookstores, Norman Rockwell, and lived-experience writing into…
Monitoring the SituationAre You Being Aligned? AI, Media, and the Evolution of Consciousness | MTS #17
Steve and Kale record across the Atlantic while Kale is in Oxford, surrounded by old libraries, chapels, students, Gothic architecture, and a rare stretch of…
Monitoring the SituationOur Machines Are Rewiring How We Think | MTS #16
Steve and Kale begin with the strange cultural afterlife of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey: packed theaters, renewed interest in Homer, analog IMAX craft, and…
Monitoring the SituationYou Can't Go Home Again: Nolan's Odyssey and the Dilemma of Modernity | MTS #15
Steve and Kale discuss Christopher Nolan's "The Odyssey" and try to work out why the story landed with such unexpected force. Kale comes at the film as a…
Monitoring the SituationProfilicity, Persuasion, and the Magic of Influence | MTS #14
Steve and Kale start with Candace Owens, audience capture, and the strange mechanics of online loyalty, then widen the lens into a deeper conversation about…
Monitoring the SituationPatriotism, MKUltra, & the Government Secrecy Complex | MTS #13
Steve and Kale return for a massive Episode 13, beginning with World Cup tourists, July 4th patriotism, Heavy Pulp’s retro-Americana, and the difference…
Monitoring the SituationWill Disclosure Challenge YOUR Beliefs? | MTS #12
Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day and this past week's UAP press conference on the steps of the US Capitol open the door to a much bigger conversation we're…
Monitoring the SituationIs AI Eating Our Curiosity? | MTS #11
In this episode, Kale and Steve begin by discussing aging, money anxiety, and the uncomfortable lessons they wish they could send back to their younger selves…
Monitoring the SituationConvergences: New UFO Files, Government Secrecy, & Control | MTS #10
A new round of UFO/UAP files, Eric Weinstein’s recent comments on Joe Rogan, alleged CIA whistleblower claims, Skinwalker Ranch, White Sands, Epstein, string…
Monitoring the SituationUFOs, UAPs, Demons, Disclosure, & Deception | MTS #09
The biggest UAP week in years is unfolding right as the first major Trump-era UFO document dump is expected. Kash Patel says releases are coming “literally in…
Monitoring the SituationNarrative Shaping in the Digital Thunderdome | MTS #8
In a world drowning in manufactured narratives, how do you know what’s real? From the SPLC’s shocking indictment and the latest assassination attempt on Trump…
Monitoring the SituationThe AI SUPERSONIC TSUNAMI is Coming – Will It Destroy or Save Us All? | MTS #7
Elon Musk calls it the "Supersonic Tsunami" – and it’s about to hit harder than anything in human history. In this raw, no-BS conversation, Steve Skojec and…
Monitoring the SituationLost in the Infinite Scroll: AI, UAP Cover-Ups & the End of Real News | MTS #6
In this wide-ranging conversation, Steve and Kale wrestle with the feeling that reality itself is getting harder to pin down. From the dopamine doom loop of…
Monitoring the SituationThe Skinner Box | MTS #5
In this episode, Kale and Steve explore the concept of the "Skinner Box" and its implications for understanding human behavior, social control, and the digital…
Monitoring the SituationThe War For Iran | MTS #4
In this episode, Steve and Kale discuss the recent escalation of geopolitical tensions, particularly focusing on the conflict with Iran in Operation Epic Fury…
Monitoring the SituationThe 5 Forces Re-Shaping the World | MTS #3
In this episode, Kale and Steve explore the emotional landscape of change in contemporary society, discussing the palpable sense of a gathering storm on the…
Monitoring the SituationLiving in a World Of Illusions: Disinformation, Nostalgia, and Plato's Cave | MTS #2
In this episode, Kale and Steve explore the overwhelming nature of information in today's digital age, discussing the implications of disinformation, the role…
Monitoring the SituationWaking From the Great Nap: Disinfo, The Post-War Order, & Being Human in an AI World | MTS #1
The post-WWII "Great Nap" is over—welcome to the chaos of 2026! In our debut episode of Monitoring the Situation, Kale Zelden and Steve Skojec dive deep into…