With Aaron and Derek out, Pri and Chris hold down the fort and kick things off with Pri’s breakup with Claude, unpacking why AI models feel increasingly different in tone, usefulness, and cost. And why power users are becoming their own routers. From there, they move into “Woke 3,” AOC’s political rebrand, prediction markets, and renewed movement around crypto’s CLARITY Act. The conversation turns to Stonkbrokers, Base, and a provocative Gen Z survey suggesting sports betting is becoming part of the financial plan, opening a broader debate around gambling, risk, and whether sports could ever function as an asset class. They then zoom out to influencer culture, ASU’s content creation major, Sun Belt hockey, and the rise of “Y’all Street.” The back half becomes an impromptu book club, spanning Wiseguy, The Diamond Age, Don DeLillo, and a striking comparison between 1870s railway speculation and today’s AI infrastructure boom. The episode wraps with a history-rich discussion of Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Shōgun, Jesuit trade networks, Ray Dalio, Rome’s Illyrian emperors, and the economic forces that shape conflict, empire, and technology.

Mentioned in the episode

Stonkbrokers https://opensea.io/collection/stonkbrokers-434284142

Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/3633

Gen Z Is Moving Money From Stocks to Sports Betting in Wealth Plans https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-12/gen-z-investors-turn-to-sports-betting-to-build-wealth

Content Creation, BA at Arizona State University https://degrees.apps.asu.edu/bachelors/major/ASU00/CSCCBA/content-creation

Dallas’ “Y’all Street” Rivals New York https://www.axios.com/local/dallas/2024/08/16/dallas-financial-services-hub-yall-street

Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Wiseguy/Nicholas-Pileggi/9781982129903

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/24031/the-diamond-age-by-neal-stephenson/9780241953198

White Noise by Don DeLillo https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/323270/white-noise-by-don-delillo/

Underworld by Don DeLillo https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Underworld/Don-DeLillo/9780684848150

1873 by Liaquat Ahamed https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/306461/1873-by-liaquat-ahamed/

Shōgun https://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/shogun/characters/viewers-guide/timeline-and-history

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Producer/Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

The Net Society crew kicks things off with Pri’s costly Stonkbrokers miss and a look at Robinhood’s growing onchain ambitions, asking whether established companies may be better positioned to deliver crypto’s promise than crypto-native players. From there, Chris takes the group deep into the enclosure movement, sparking a debate over property rights, internet commons, and whether NFTs can create useful scarcity online. The conversation then turns to increasingly autonomous AI agents, secret agent message boards, Cloudflare’s crypto infrastructure, and what a machine economy built around blockchains might look like. They debate agent rights, consciousness, model specialization, speed, and Google’s place in an AI-first world before moving into AI-designed viruses, telepathy, brain-computer interfaces, and synthetic neurocomputing. The episode wraps with the idea of AI as a Rosetta Stone for entirely new forms of language, followed by a spirited debate over Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and what great directors get right about storytelling.

Mentioned in the episode

Stonkbrokers https://opensea.io/collection/stonkbrokers-434284142

Being mean to your agent https://x.com/mteamisloading/status/2084429800878338111?s=20

Artist chains up robot https://www.reddit.com/r/artificial/comments/1iple9t/an_art_exhibit_in_japan_where_a_chained_robot_dog/

Safety fears as scientists make first viruses designed by AI https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/aug/06/safety-fears-as-scientists-make-first-viruses-designed-by-ai

The Endpoint of Longevity Is Woo Woo https://x.com/pridesai/status/2085138043233505439

• (00:00) - Stonkbrokers & Robinhood’s Onchain Push

The Net Society crew dives into a timeline overtaken by “cabal” discourse, using the drama to examine the state of crypto art and the surprisingly small group still shaping its narratives. They debate whether open blockchain markets reliably surface great work or simply reproduce the gatekeeping, prestige, and conflicts of traditional institutions. From there, the conversation turns to quality, product discipline, and how much grace should be extended to builders experimenting with sharp-edged onchain tools. The crew explores the tension between speculation and utility before unpacking a growing sense of innovation fatigue across crypto and AI. They consider how curation, taste, and better signals might help people navigate an internet flooded with new products and content. The episode wraps with reflections on institutional access and the enduring pleasure of discovering emerging digital art.

Mentioned in the episode

Beep Everyday CABAL STUFF https://x.com/beeple/status/2082677058052775985

The Cabal and Kanye https://x.com/schmrypto/status/2082578200413057399?s=20

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Producer/Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

• (00:00) - Timeline Chaos & the Cabal Debate

Aaron, Chris, and Pri begin with Miami real estate, New York’s enduring appeal, and whether AI could hollow out the white-collar industries that support the city. Pri then shares her developing thesis around spiritual technology, exploring how AI, longevity, space exploration, ancient philosophy, and a renewed interest in the cosmos may push people to look inward. Chris takes the idea further with digital animism, imagining a future where AI gives everyday objects distinct personalities and transforms the failed Internet of Things into the Internet of woo woo. From there, the conversation moves through mahjong, camping, Hans Moravec’s Mind Fire, transhumanism, simulation theory, and the unresolved mystery of consciousness. The crew considers what happens if money disappears, why collecting may become even more important in an age of abundance, and whether digital objects could become a new form of stored value. The episode closes with Coinbase’s awkward CryptoPunk courtship, its possible future as an acquisition target, the open-source AI debate, and why companies facing aggressive competitors need better products rather than protection.

Mentioned in the episode

Pri reading https://archive.org/details/petrarchlettertoposteritymusa/page/n1/mode/2up

Meteorite with ingredients for life https://nypost.com/2026/07/21/science/rare-meteorite-that-hit-nj-home-carries-ingredients-for-life/

Hans Moravec predicting AI/robots https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/hans-moravec-interview.html

Debt: The First 5,000 Years https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6617037-debt

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Producer/Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

• (00:00) - Miami, New York & the AI Economy

With Aaron away, Chris, Pri, and Derek unpack Glitch’s latest release with die with the most likes, Dying Is Not Enough. Derek explains why Glitch operates without a fixed calendar or revenue targets, choosing projects artist by artist and treating its Marfa gallery as only one tool within a broader internet-native model. They explore the collection’s grief-soaked animations, poems, and extended titles, and why art about death, fear, and mourning deserves to exist beyond decorative expectations. The conversation then turns to whether one successful release can restore confidence in a stagnant NFT market and remind artists and collectors what made crypto art compelling in the first place. From there, the group examines X’s algorithm shift, the return of mutuals to the timeline, and the platform’s retreat from viral clip farming. The episode closes with conspiracy rabbit holes, a disputed Tony Hsieh will, Substack fatigue, and Chris’s case for withdrawing attention from political systems and global crises that offer no meaningful agency in return.

Mentioned in the episode

Dying is not enough https://www.dyingisnotenough.com/

Glitch Gallery in Marfa https://www.glitchmarfa.com/

Die With The Most Likes https://x.com/toadswiback

Twitter boosting mutuals https://x.com/nikitabier/status/2076747704248758617

Zerobeta new pup https://x.com/zerobeta/status/2078128119618195953

Mystery Will of Tony Hsieh https://www.wsj.com/tech/forensics-take-center-stage-in-the-mystery-will-of-tony-hsieh-471bde33

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Producer/Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

• (00:00) - Derek Edwards, Glitch & die with the most likes

The full Net Society crew is back together to confront the arrival of disturbingly dexterous robot fingers and what increasingly capable humanoid machines could mean for work, athletics, warfare, and everyday life. From there, they examine AI future scenarios involving regulation, universal basic income, recursive improvement, and the tendency for technologists to build toward decades-old science fiction. Pri then introduces her theory that mass literacy may have been a 500-year glitch, sparking a wider debate about shallow reading, the emergence of an elite “scribe class,” and whether writing will become a luxury craft in an increasingly oral and AI-mediated culture. The conversation expands into the effects of declining literacy on law, government, language, and collective memory before turning to COVID-era education, childhood independence, and the potential for AI tutors to reshape learning. The episode closes with reactions to the latest generation of frontier AI models and a look at remix culture, collapsing intellectual property boundaries, and whether AI-generated Seinfeld makeovers could somehow bring monoculture back.

Mentioned in the episode

Creepy robot fingers https://x.com/TheHumanoidHub/status/2075272514755059773?s=20

AI 2040 Plan A https://ai-2040.com/

People reading was actually a 500 year glitch https://pridesai.substack.com/p/people-reading-was-actually-a-500

Schoolhouse Rock! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_Just_a_Bill

New Grok Model 4.5 https://x.com/SpaceXAI/status/2074915721684086811

OpenAI ChatGPT 5.6 https://x.com/OpenAI/status/2075274275104399670

Meta Muse Spark 1.1 https://x.com/finkd/status/2075218444056707458

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Producer/Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

• (00:00) - Robot Fingers, AI Futures & UBI

The Net Society crew is back together for a holiday-weekend episode. They begin with Chris’s frustrations around Fable before examining Meta’s struggling engineering culture, copycat tendencies, and surprising progress in brain-signal decoding. From there, the conversation turns to custom models, expert investor judgment, and the growing push for AI sovereignty as enterprises question how much control they should hand to frontier labs. The crew considers whether open-source models, fine-tuning, and intelligent routing will create a more fragmented AI ecosystem where models are selected by cost, reliability, and specialization. They also ask what happened to the inventive energy of the last NFT cycle and whether better tools, cheaper blockspace, and a little AI could make crypto fun again. The episode closes with America’s 250th anniversary, Europe’s resistance to air conditioning, and an unexpectedly serious debate over whether AC belongs among humanity’s greatest inventions.

Mentioned in the episode

Fable 5 returns https://x.com/AnthropicAI/status/2072163884430229756

Meta Engineering Culture https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/12/metas-months-old-ai-unit-is-a-soul-crushing-gulag-say-the-engineers-stuck-inside-it/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Nature Article decoding brain activity https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-026-02303-2

Bridgewater and Thinking Machines https://x.com/ziv_ravid/status/2072171186620960908?s=46&t=3cJ-BS7Y1NeBdjntkS2hZQ

Backseats tweet https://x.com/backseats_eth/status/2072020616400757233

AC being a hot topic https://x.com/NYCMayor/status/2072411003170472359

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Producer/Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

• (00:00) - Fable Returns & Meta’s AI Problem

Special guest Jared Poz of 8NAP ART joins Aaron and Pri for a wide-ranging conversation about where digital culture, crypto, and emerging technology are heading next. They begin with Jared’s long-term outlook on NFT art, exploring smaller generative art collections, algorithmic outliers, and why larger sets can produce unexpected cultural icons. From there, the group dives into the resurgence of trading cards and tokenized collectibles, unpacking blind packs, collector psychology, physical redemption, and the growing role of blockchain-based receipts for real-world assets. They zoom out to consider whether crypto is entering a more mature era defined by utility, clearer regulation, digital provenance, and trusted custodians. The conversation then turns to AI agents, open systems, healthcare research, robotics, and the rapid convergence of several major technology curves. The episode closes by looking toward the next frontier, asking how art, collectibles, and NFTs might evolve as humanity moves further into space.

Mentioned in the episode

Special guest Jared Poz https://x.com/jared_poz

Dean Eigenmann - Crypto's Graham Moment https://x.com/DeanEigenmann/status/2069052614939906362

Softbank SGM Deck https://group.softbank/media/Project/sbg/sbg/pdf/ir/investors/shareholders/2026/shareholders-meeting_46_05_en.pdf

Jeff Koons Moon Phases https://jeffkoonsmoonphases.com/

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Producer/Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

The Net Society crew dives into Midjourney’s unexpected move from AI image generation to medical imaging, exploring its underwater full-body scanner and what the company’s unconventional path says about founder freedom, bootstrapping, and technological ambition. From there, they examine how better measurement, massive datasets, and preventative healthcare could transform longevity, before imagining a future of AI mattresses, intelligent objects, and sensor-filled environments. The conversation turns to growing resistance against AI doom narratives and the complicated conflict surrounding Anthropic, model safety, corporate incentives, and government oversight. They also unpack Kanye’s appearance at Art Basel, the state of digital art at major institutions, and the potential for autonomous AI art systems. The episode closes with a debate over whether machines can manufacture taste, predict cultural trends, and forecast a future shaped by rapidly advancing AI and space technology.

Mentioned in the episode

Midjourney medical https://x.com/midjourney/status/2067421950314688759

Fable 5 shut down https://x.com/AnthropicAI/status/2065597531644743999

Eli showing Kanye William Mapan at Art Basel https://x.com/nullinger/status/2066944333714997753

William Mapan sale https://x.com/RogerDickerman/status/2067222189674275201

Taste labs https://x.com/taste_ai_

AI 2027 https://ai-2027.com/

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Producer/Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

• (00:00) - Midjourney Medical & the Freedom to Build

The Net Society crew welcomes collector and digital art advocate Redbeard for a wide-ranging conversation about where crypto art goes next. They begin with the upcoming Basel exhibition and the challenge of building a genuine art movement without losing the strange, internet-native culture that made the space compelling. From there, the group examines the need for more collectors, contributors, artist residencies, and other forms of patronage beyond simply buying work. The conversation turns to the parallel AI art ecosystem, asking whether AI art and crypto art will converge or remain distinct movements shaped by different ideas of process, permanence, and ownership. Redbeard then responds to recent debates around innovation, gatekeeping, and the supposed collector cabal, arguing that structural problems are real but experimentation and opportunity remain. The crew explores accessible pricing, community building, artistic quality, and why some artists are better equipped than others to develop sustainable careers. They close by calling for digital art to stop chasing institutional approval, rediscover its disruptive energy, and embrace the cultural transformation being driven by AI, robotics, and a new generation of creators.

Mentioned in the episode

Special guest Redbeard https://x.com/redbeardnft

Art Basel https://x.com/ArtBasel

Aire bathshttps://beaire.com/en/aire-ancient-baths-newyork#

Show & Hosts

Net Society: https://x.com/net__society

Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01

Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x

Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws

Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai

Producer/Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl

• (00:00) - Redbeard, Basel & Building an Art Movement