After Things Podcast

World’s Greatest Con’s season 2 finale is out today. How was the process of building this season compared to season 1? Plus, a discussion on the crowd-funding campaign for Brandon Sanderson’s surprise novel series. Send your project questions/ideas to [email protected], subject line “After Things.”

The episode opens with banter about meme culture and shared cultural shorthand, then moves into Andrew's discussion of the Soviet Venus probe and the space race. The hosts connect early space ambitions to Cold War ideology, Soviet engineering strengths, and why some technologies and missions were dismissed before they worked. A long middle section focuses on speculative transport ideas and then COVID strategy, including herd immunity, excess-death comparisons, and differing roles for public-health officials versus scientific consensus. The latter half turns to Andrew Mayne's OpenAI discussion of Codex, embeddings, large language model limitations and safety, and creative uses like code generation, story completion, and custom training. The episode closes with the hosts' media picks and reactions to Our Flag Means Death, Severance, Frequency, and Legion. Key topics Memes as shared cultural shorthand: The opening conversation compares meme culture to a Star Trek metaphor-speaking alien and notes how people now share the same references and reactions online. Soviet Venus probe and space race ambitions: Andrew discusses the Soviet probe to Venus, its short surface time, and how the space race and Cold War shaped Soviet and American priorities in rocketry. Soviet engineering strengths and limits: The hosts talk about Soviet metallurgy, engine quality, large-scale manufacturing, and the difficulty of complex systems and consumer goods under the Soviet system. Why technologies get d

Listener David sends in an update on his guitar-lesson project, Song Notes. What advice can he take away when he takes Song Notes full time? Send your project questions/ideas to [email protected], subject line “After Things.” Picks: Andrew: The Intelligent Investor from Benjamin Graham Brian: Cordkillers

The invasion of Ukraine has affected space! Is yellow really just yellow? Half of a giraffe makes an astral appearance. Got something weird? Email [email protected], subject line “Weird Things.” Picks: Andrew: Twitter lists Justin: Encanto Brian: Eye Wonder Bryce: F1TV

How do you make free-time and what are the benefits of taking time off? How do you protect the machine and remember you aren’t a machine? Send your project questions/ideas to [email protected], subject line “After Things.”

Blue Origin is ferrying a new celebrity to the edge of space while Elon handles the realities of being a celeb. You hear about this doors and wheels thing? An awful, awful prank. Got something weird? Email [email protected], subject line “Weird Things.” Picks: Andrew: The Cuphead Show! Justin: Our Flag Means Death Bryce: Drive to Survive season 4

TikTok will allow creators to post videos up to 10 minutes long. Bryce shares an experience opting *in* to marketing and what you can take away. Send your project questions/ideas to [email protected], subject line “After Things.”

A new discovery on Mars reminds us of Sting. Our new favorite Twitter account! Smart birds make smart devices very dumb. Reflecting on the passing of The Amazing Johnathan. Got something weird? Email [email protected], subject line “Weird Things.” Picks: Justin: Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy Bryce: Severance and The Righteous Gemstones

A reminder to think outside the box and updates one week away from the launch of World’s Greatest Con Season 2! Funding, making a trailer, and how they are aiming to get people on board. Send your project questions/ideas to [email protected], subject line “After Things.”

A special dagger…alien Egyptians?! Pointy devices that probably aren’t gambling dice. What is that big, red patty? Got something weird? Email [email protected], subject line “Weird Things.” Picks: Justin: Raised By Wolves and Peacemaker Brian: Severance Bryce: Vampire Survivors