I am restraining myself from writing a comment that would turn into an unauthorized companion essay.
Loved the convo and deeply appreciate Jason's sane, nuanced thoughts. 🙏
I think the last bit is so important and too frequently overlooked. The context of our (real, understandable) gripes about the horrors of the current world matters.
Our World in Data is a wonderful resource for visualizing the rapidity at which key facets of the world and life are improving (and the problem areas): https://ourworldindata.org/
I thought I might be finally getting too old for technology when I couldn't figure out how crypto worked or why anybody would want an NFT. But it turned out what I thought was age was just common sense.
I think it's interesting to compare Jason’s more positive outlook with Joshua’s piece a couple days ago. Data and statistics can be at odd with how we feel about the world. Over the past year or so there was a lot of polling showing a majority of people (incorrectly) thought the US was in the middle of a recession, when in actuality the US economy was growing at a good pace. Some of it is politics of course, but I think a lot of how we view the world just comes down to "vibes". We already know how we're feeling and we work backward from there.
Loved listening to this conversation. My introduction to Jason Pargin was via the Behind the Bastards podcast which he has been a guest on several times, the host Robert Evans being a former Cracked writer. I haven't gotten around to reading any of his books yet but I do like the sound of I Am Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom.
This episode had me thinking about how out of control technology has become. It's answering questions nobody is asking and at the detriment of climate and art.
With that being said, what would we say was the peak year of technology in the modern era? Personally speaking, I might go with 2006. Social media existed (hell, I met my wife on Myspace that year) but it was disconnected from our bodies. The web was useful and fast enough that it was worth visiting but it was not all-encompassing over our society.
Absolutely love these Webworm podcasts ❤️❤️❤️. I never made the connection that the man I've seen on TikTok a bunch of times is the same guy who wrote John Dies At The End! Loved this chat! Keep up the great work!
Oh, he’s the author of that book?! I had no idea. I see his TikToks all the time (my comment on the tickled one pictured recommending mister organ has plagued me with over 900 notifications - thanks a lot David!).
You should check out Be Scofield's extensive work in this area https://www.bescofield.com/articles. I don't know if they were mentioned in the podcast obviously.
Yay! I love Jason Pargin's work and his really thought provoking videos. He's one of my faves too. Will set some time aside today to enjoy. Thanks David 🔥
Very good, your coverage of the madness has been great.
Now I am very sad to report some more. A while back when I made a comment about how the media was covering the Gaza issue, someone pointed out to me that Mark Jennings & Juliet Moses were married, and I kind of told them off, saying NZ was too small to be prying into that sort of thing. But recently Juliet Moses post this absolutely jaw dropping exchange, joking about assassinating a NZ academic.
As a result, I'll be buying at least one of his books....maybe the first one. I'm trying to get back into reading, rather than video/internet/Youtube/Twitter all the time, because things are so messy for my mind, so atm I've got Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World and A Fly under the Radar (a novel by NZer William McCartney) to give my poor addled brain a little bit of a workout.
But I have to say, listening to you both discussing the various subjects was so darn refreshing - thank you!!!
Snap! Except I go to some light-weight fiction (police or mystery-solved-by amateur) so I can inhabit a fictional world that is completely away from my daily reality 💙
I am restraining myself from writing a comment that would turn into an unauthorized companion essay.
Loved the convo and deeply appreciate Jason's sane, nuanced thoughts. 🙏
I think the last bit is so important and too frequently overlooked. The context of our (real, understandable) gripes about the horrors of the current world matters.
Our World in Data is a wonderful resource for visualizing the rapidity at which key facets of the world and life are improving (and the problem areas): https://ourworldindata.org/
As someone who is a big fan of both Pargin and your work, it was *such* a treat to see this episode pop up in my inbox!
I'm so old I thought you forgot to copy paste the article.
Came to the comments to let you know then realized it was a link to a podcast.
Oh dear. Look forward to a traffic listen, thanks!
Mm. Me too. It was encouraging to hear them both discussing the "cut off" from new things, but to be honest, I am still waaaay behind.
You'll soon learn how relevant your comment is to today's subject!
I thought I might be finally getting too old for technology when I couldn't figure out how crypto worked or why anybody would want an NFT. But it turned out what I thought was age was just common sense.
I think it's interesting to compare Jason’s more positive outlook with Joshua’s piece a couple days ago. Data and statistics can be at odd with how we feel about the world. Over the past year or so there was a lot of polling showing a majority of people (incorrectly) thought the US was in the middle of a recession, when in actuality the US economy was growing at a good pace. Some of it is politics of course, but I think a lot of how we view the world just comes down to "vibes". We already know how we're feeling and we work backward from there.
Loved listening to this conversation. My introduction to Jason Pargin was via the Behind the Bastards podcast which he has been a guest on several times, the host Robert Evans being a former Cracked writer. I haven't gotten around to reading any of his books yet but I do like the sound of I Am Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom.
You have a choice: Invisibility or being a dick ☹️
This episode had me thinking about how out of control technology has become. It's answering questions nobody is asking and at the detriment of climate and art.
With that being said, what would we say was the peak year of technology in the modern era? Personally speaking, I might go with 2006. Social media existed (hell, I met my wife on Myspace that year) but it was disconnected from our bodies. The web was useful and fast enough that it was worth visiting but it was not all-encompassing over our society.
Absolutely love these Webworm podcasts ❤️❤️❤️. I never made the connection that the man I've seen on TikTok a bunch of times is the same guy who wrote John Dies At The End! Loved this chat! Keep up the great work!
Oh, he’s the author of that book?! I had no idea. I see his TikToks all the time (my comment on the tickled one pictured recommending mister organ has plagued me with over 900 notifications - thanks a lot David!).
You should check out Be Scofield's extensive work in this area https://www.bescofield.com/articles. I don't know if they were mentioned in the podcast obviously.
Yay! I love Jason Pargin's work and his really thought provoking videos. He's one of my faves too. Will set some time aside today to enjoy. Thanks David 🔥
My pleasure.
Very good, your coverage of the madness has been great.
Now I am very sad to report some more. A while back when I made a comment about how the media was covering the Gaza issue, someone pointed out to me that Mark Jennings & Juliet Moses were married, and I kind of told them off, saying NZ was too small to be prying into that sort of thing. But recently Juliet Moses post this absolutely jaw dropping exchange, joking about assassinating a NZ academic.
https://x.com/gtiso/status/1838077016018714833/photo/1
Jason sure loves to talk! Loved it and can't wait for the book to come out this week. Thanks.
What a fantastic 40+ minutes!!
As a result, I'll be buying at least one of his books....maybe the first one. I'm trying to get back into reading, rather than video/internet/Youtube/Twitter all the time, because things are so messy for my mind, so atm I've got Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World and A Fly under the Radar (a novel by NZer William McCartney) to give my poor addled brain a little bit of a workout.
But I have to say, listening to you both discussing the various subjects was so darn refreshing - thank you!!!
Snap! Except I go to some light-weight fiction (police or mystery-solved-by amateur) so I can inhabit a fictional world that is completely away from my daily reality 💙
Love Jason from his participation on Secretly Incredibly Fascinating podcast, how fun to have you two come together in conversation! Loved it.
Thanks - I was thrilled to get connected with him. Had to contain the fan.
Here’s the bookshop link to his new book, for those who want to support ya locals: https://bookshop.org/p/books/i-m-starting-to-worry-about-this-black-box-of-doom-jason-pargin/20981865?ean=9781250285959
And for us in Aotearoa: https://bookhub.co.nz/p/i-m-starting-to-worry-about-this-black-box-of-doom?barcode=9781835412695