The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy

It's been way too long since we've encountered any truly novel conspiracy theories, so this episode Josh and M go on the hunt, browsing various sites and networks in real time to see if there's anything new and interesting out there. Results are... mixed. But we do get to talk about phlogiston at one point, so that's something.

It's been a good long while since we tested M's recall of their student radio days, so Josh has curated a package of themed episodes to quiz them with. Can M remember the details of conspiracy content that is even older than this podcast? Yes and no.

This episode was recorded on Easter Monday, and if we had been off the air for three days instead of three weeks, there might be some significance in that. As it stands, we're looking at David Coady's paper "Conspiracy as Heresy", whose title has religious connotations of its own, so I guess it all works out and we regret nothing.

We tried to record a new episode and failed spectacularly, so until conditions allow for a proper recording, here's a short episode that will become more relevant once the next full episode comes out. It's a look at the life of Martha Mitchell and the Effect that bears her name. Martha Mitchell was the wife of Nixon's Attorney General, who tried to blow the whistle on Watergate. An outspoken woman standing up to the most powerful men in the world, in the early 1970s? Surely that will turn out well for all involved.

Josh and M discuss some Jeffrey Epstein conspiracy theories, and what the Epstein Files might mean for conspiracy theory theory overall.

M is still in the country, so we put another meal on the Patreon expense account and talk about recent and less recent conspiratorial happenings in Iran, while eating delicious baked goods at a Takapuna café. Good news if you like your podcasts candid and slice-of-life; if not, M will be back in China before you know it and we'll be back to recording as normal, so everyone's happy. Unless they're in the Epstein files.

Join Josh and M over dinner as they discuss the recently deceased.

M has finished Ben Vigden's "State Secrets II" and - as a punishment - Josh has to find out how it ends.

A couple of episodes ago, we looked at a paper on particularism by Kurtis, M and Charles - this episode we're looking at the paper that that paper was a response to, making it both a prequel and a sequel. Just like The Godfather Part II. This episode is the Godfather Part II of podcast episodes - you can tell people we said that.

Josh and M discuss TESCREAL, Peter Thiel, and how Silicon Valley hasn't so much found god but, rather, decided to try and create one that they are afraid of...