What Future with Joshua Topolsky

Josh finally lets his inner fanboy out by talking to his favorite musician of 2022 — the one-of-a-kind genius Penelope Scott. After rising to fame and sonic virality on TikTok for her shockingly honest and extremely online songs, Scott went on to garner hundreds of millions of listens across the internet, along with all of the commentary you might imagine is unavoidable when that happens. Whether it’s songs about how Ted Bundy truly sucks, succinct takedowns of America’s broken healthcare system, or a deconstruction of the lies Silicon Valley tells us (set against an 8-bit carnival stomp of course), everything she touches seems infused with an energy that is uniquely of this moment. Discussed: The discourse behind the discourse, LMMS, four hour remixes, pandemic memory issues.

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In the age of femcels, proud boys, groypers, and C.H.U.D.s, one reporter is striving to make sense of it all. Her name is Taylor Lorenz, and her beat is literally the entire internet and all of the strange people who inhabit it. When she’s not discovering the next new thing in influencer culture or shining a light on the dark patterns of misinformation, Taylor is fending off attacks by Tucker Carlson, terrible trolls who aren’t Tucker Carlson, and other assorted villains who are just rude online. Taylor and Josh go deep on the modern state of existing on social media, fighting for the future, and straying further from god’s light every day. Discussed: Chili, doxxing, context collapse, chili.

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Casey Newton is one of the best reporters in the world when it comes to getting an inside look at the triumphs and tragedies of the Silicon Valley elite. Lately he’s been something of a scoop machine about all things Twitter. From mistaken firings to panicked midnight emails, Casey has been tracking all the nasty details of Twitter’s flop era — so who better to clue Josh in to what the future may hold for the social network you love to hate. Discussed: Christianity, Excited CEOs, the Cuomo brothers, Diet Coke.

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As Thanksgiving approaches, Josh is thinking about the things that really matter in life, like family, health, and new gadgets for making sick beats. This is also a time to think about the communities we’re in — both near and far, and who better to discuss our life offline and on than Anne Helen Petersen, author of “Can’t Even,” the definitive book about burnout, and a Very Online Person who has managed to stay sane. Discussed: septic tanks, babysitters, Discord families, and Delilah.

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Come for Josh's rant on the future of the internet, stay for his conversation with Vincenzo Natali, director of 'Cube,' 'Splice,' and your favorite episodes of 'Hannibal,' who has taken on William Gibson's reality-bending book 'The Peripheral' and turned it into electrifying TV. The two discuss how horror is in our DNA, his creative relationship with AI, and the difficulties of turning 80's sci-fi into modern art. Discussed: Ray Harryhausen, math that kills you, "big" iPads.

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What you’re reading right now was written by an artificially intelligent — though not sentient — neural network designed to write descriptions for podcasts. Or was it? You don’t know, and that’s what makes AI so fascinating, cool, and scary. Since Josh loves all of those feelings, he sat down with the founder of controversial AI-generated art startup Midjourney, David Holz, to unpack the future of creativity. Discussed: Porn, therapy, families, Hitler. This one’s a doozy!

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Twitter is now owned by edgelord supreme Elon Musk, and Josh has many, many thoughts on the subject. To explore and dissect the coming post-social media world we're all about to live in, Josh sits down with New Yorker staff writer Jia Tolentino, whose book 'Trick Mirror' explored all of the ways that being very online is bad, weird, and probably ruining our real lives. Discussed: Nathan Fielder, incels, italian cuisine, blogging.

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On the premiere episode Joshua explores Spooky Season with Jason Blum (founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions), a man behind some of the most iconic horror films of the past decade — like 'Get Out,' 'The Purge,' and 'Paranormal Activity.' Discussed: the horror of reality, the reality of horror, how data is killing art, the politics of hunting people, film industry lifehacks.

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Coming October 27th, host Joshua Topolsky (co-creator of Vox Media and founder of The Verge) deconstructs modern culture, mining the surprising connections that make up our increasingly frenetic world. A heady mixture of fugue-state monologues and spontaneous, irreverent conversations with experts, weirdos, and big thinkers, What Future is here to dissect our insane reality, lasso the pieces, and ride off into the sunset with your money, your woman, and your pride.

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