Wow If True

By MultitudeNews Technology

Wow If True episodes

October 04 147: Wow if Schue (feat. Julia Schifini)
In which Amanda, Isabel, and special guest Julia Schifini record another episode of long-running Glee recap podcast, Wow if Schue. Yes, this entire special episode, originally made for the Multicrew feed, was based on making that joke.
Both Amanda and Isabel have been at various conventions and not "at home" or "recording," so we're pulling this episode from the Multicrew feed (which, if you want more fun stuff like this, WIT patrons get access to the feed at no extra cost!). Hey, it was either this or us talking about rationalists again.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
53 min
September 16 146: Writing the Future (LIVE at Kelly Writers House!)
It's the first ever Wow if True live show! At the Kelly Writers House in Philadelphia, Isabel reads from Sublimation, then we talk about our approaches to writing the future from both a sci-fi and journalism perspective. It's fun.
Find Us Online
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wowiftrue.bsky.social
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wowiftrue
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue
Website: https://wowiftrue.com/
Email: [email protected]
About Us
Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim and Amanda Silberling. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of Multitude, a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
1 hr 5 min
August 26 145: Katseye (ft. Allison Mills)
Amanda is obsessed with Katseye. Editor Allison™ doesn't understand. Isabel is on vacation. Eat zucchini.
Also, BIG NEWS: Wow if True is coming to a city near you, so long as that city is Philadelphia.
Isabel & Amanda are doing a book event for Sublimation together on Wednesday, Sept. 9 at the Kelly Writers House on the University of Pennsylvania's campus in Philadelphia. It's FREE. More info at this link, plus there will be a livestream, which also should be linked at the link below once that link exists: https://writing.upenn.edu/wh/calendar/0926.php#9
Find Us Online
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wowiftrue.bsky.social
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wowiftrue
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue
Website: https://wowiftrue.com/
Email: [email protected]
About Us
Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim and Amanda Silberling. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown (but Amanda edited this specific episode which is why it sounds bad, it was a last minute thing, ok). Wow If True is a member of Multitude, a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
1 hr
August 05 144: AI (is not our) Friend
Good news: Isabel went to Comic Con! Bad news: There is so much AI discourse. Everything is AI. We talk about -- the Hank drama, the new AI friend, the AI crime thriller situation... There are a lot of situations. We are so tired.
Find Us Online
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wowiftrue.bsky.social
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wowiftrue
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue
Website: https://wowiftrue.com/
Email: [email protected]
About Us
Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim and Amanda Silberling. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of Multitude, a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
56 min
July 15 143: @Pangram is this AI? (ft. Max Spero)
Pangram makes the most accurate detector for flagging AI-generated text, but when your startup is the arbiter of what is real and what is not, you sometimes get into hairy situations. For example, the Atlantic and the Wall Street Journal might say that our country has a Pangram problem. But what's the actual problem: that we can detect AI-generated text, or that so much AI slop exists in the first place? Fortunately, Pangram founder and CEO Max Spero happens to be our Actual Real Life Friend™ and we can ask him about it.
Find Us Online
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wowiftrue.bsky.social
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wowiftrue
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue
Website: https://wowiftrue.com/
Email: [email protected]
About Us
Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim and Amanda Silberling. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of Multitude, a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
50 min
July 01 142: The Enhanced Games (ft. Lucas Ropek)
The Enhanced Games are Silicon Valley's version of the Olympics -- the athletes are invited to bulk up with performance enhancing drugs, then gather in Las Vegas for competition, and of course, it's funded by some notorious figures in venture capital. Amanda's colleague, Lucas Ropek, got to attend this carnival of debauchery and is here to tell us all about it. And yes, he saw Byran Johnson there.
If you missed our episodes on the Chinese Peptide craze (ep. 137) or the general antics of Byran Johnson (ep. 128), you may find those to be useful primers -- but also, you can just enjoy the absurdity of the Enhanced Games on its own.
Lucas's article: https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/31/i-went-to-the-so-called-steroid-olympics-to-understand-why-silicon-valley-is-obsessed-with-peptides/
Balaji's Greys: http://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrat
Find Us Online
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wowiftrue.bsky.social
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wowiftrue
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue
Website: https://wowiftrue.com/
Email: [email protected]
About Us
Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim and Amanda Silberling. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of Multitude, a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
41 min
June 17 141: The Worst PowerPoint Ever
In which Amanda makes the worst PowerPoint ever (it's about rationalists and fan fiction, iykyk), Isabel goes on book tour, and we experiment with flip phones.
The PowerPoint in question: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ch0rBRdr8PGindVGa0cGQaKDiYR5rFmMiclL58CPci8/edit?slide=id.p#slide=id.p
Find Us Online
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wowiftrue.bsky.social
Twitter: https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wowiftrue
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue
Website: https://wowiftrue.com/
Email: [email protected]
About Us
Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim and Amanda Silberling. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of Multitude, a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
55 min
June 03 140: Horrible Little Guys (ft. Adam Becker)
In this collab-isode, we're joined by Dr. Adam Becker of Dreaming Against the Machine, a podcast about envisioning a realistic and hopeful future in the face of tech oligarchs... or, as we call them, Horrible Little Guys.
Sublimation is out now!!: https://bookshop.org/p/books/sublimation-isabel-j-kim/75bdbf4afed5475f?ean=9781250376794&next=t
Join our Patreon: https://patreon.com/wowiftrue
Listen to Dreaming Against the Machine: https://www.dreamingagainstthemachine.com/
Also, ISABEL IS ON TOUR ! Dates below, and more info + tickets at https://us.macmillan.com/tours/isabel-j-kim-sublimation/
VIRTUALLY:
June 2 — I’ll be on r/Fantasy doing an AMA more or less all day! Come ask me your burning questions, also, your unburning questions. You can just ask me whatever.
June 7 — I’m going to be at The Back Room for a virtual event (details to come at their website)!
PHYSICALLY:
May 30 — PGH Bookfest in Pittsburgh (with John Scalzi)
June 2 — Barnes and Noble, Clifton, NJ (with Neil Clarke)
June 3 — The Strand, NYC (with Jinwoo Chong)
June 4 — Harvard Books Store, Boston (with R.F. Kuang)
June 6 — RJ Julia, Madison CT (with @redreadsreviews)
June 10 — Center for Fiction, Brooklyn (on a panel with Joseph Eckert & Thomas Elrod, moderated by Yume Kitasei)
June 20 — Bronx Book Festival, the Bronx (on a panel with Nicole Glover, Andrea Hairston, and Vincent Tirado)
June 30 — Dungeon Books, Jersey City (with Yume Kitasei)
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
1 hr 3 min
June 03 139: The Sublimation Special
HAPPY SUBLIMATION PUBLICATION DAY! Or, Publimation Day! Isabel's long-awaited debut novel SUBLIMATION is out now. Everyone is very excited. We are proud of Isabel here at Wow if True HQ. Isabel did a billion other podcast interviews about the book, so we decided that on our podcast, we'll ask Isabel some questions that maybe people who are meeting her for the first time via podcast interview wouldn't ask. Also, for some reason Amanda goes on a tangent about cannibalism and Catholicism which is... kinda relevant? YAY SUBLIMATION!!
Here it is. The link. The link to buy Sublimation: https://bookshop.org/p/books/sublimation-isabel-j-kim/75bdbf4afed5475f?ean=9781250376794&next=t

Also, ISABEL IS ON TOUR ! Dates below, and more info + tickets at https://us.macmillan.com/tours/isabel-j-kim-sublimation/
VIRTUALLY:
June 2 — I’ll be on r/Fantasy doing an AMA more or less all day! Come ask me your burning questions, also, your unburning questions. You can just ask me whatever.
June 7 — I’m going to be at The Back Room for a virtual event (details to come at their website)!
PHYSICALLY:
May 30 — PGH Bookfest in Pittsburgh (with John Scalzi)
June 2 — Barnes and Noble, Clifton, NJ (with Neil Clarke)
June 3 — The Strand, NYC (with Jinwoo Chong)
June 4 — Harvard Books Store, Boston (with R.F. Kuang)
June 6 — RJ Julia, Madison CT (with @redreadsreviews)
June 10 — Center for Fiction, Brooklyn (on a panel with Joseph Eckert & Thomas Elrod, moderated by Yume Kitasei)
June 20 — Bronx Book Festival, the Bronx (on a panel with Nicole Glover, Andrea Hairston, and Vincent Tirado)
June 30 — Dungeon Books, Jersey City (with Yume Kitasei)

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
46 min
May 27 138: Claude doesn't know ball
Google is broken, and so is Amanda, apparently, because she is seeking validation from an AI chatbot. Also, video games. Sublimation is out on 6/2. This is what we have for you.

We'll be back next week for the "Sublimation is out!" spectacular, but you should pre-order it now: https://bookshop.org/p/books/sublimation-isabel-j-kim/75bdbf4afed5475f?ean=9781250376794&next=t

Also, ISABEL IS ON TOUR ! Dates below, and more info + tickets at https://us.macmillan.com/tours/isabel-j-kim-sublimation/
VIRTUALLY:
June 2 — I’ll be on r/Fantasy doing an AMA more or less all day! Come ask me your burning questions, also, your unburning questions. You can just ask me whatever.
June 7 — I’m going to be at The Back Room for a virtual event (details to come at their website)!
PHYSICALLY:
May 30 — PGH Bookfest in Pittsburgh (with John Scalzi)
June 2 — Barnes and Noble, Clifton, NJ (with Neil Clarke)
June 3 — The Strand, NYC (with Jinwoo Chong)
June 4 — Harvard Books Store, Boston (with R.F. Kuang)
June 6 — RJ Julia, Madison CT (with @redreadsreviews)
June 10 — Center for Fiction, Brooklyn (on a panel with Joseph Eckert & Thomas Elrod, moderated by Yume Kitasei)
June 20 — Bronx Book Festival, the Bronx (on a panel with Nicole Glover, Andrea Hairston, and Vincent Tirado)
June 30 — Dungeon Books, Jersey City (with Yume Kitasei)

About Us
Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim and Amanda Silberling. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of Multitude, a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
42 min

About Wow If True

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Wow If True is your one-stop internet culture shop, explaining how what’s happening online shapes the real world. And we’re the internet experts and real-life besties to unravel it: tech culture…