This week I’m joined by Youtube influencer Steve Linkowski, better known as UrinatingTree. We discussed Steve’s transition from politics coverage to sports, how capitalism has made sports worse, and whether we may see the end of contact football. Even if you’re … | Continue reading
Editor’s Note: Due to the length of this piece, you may need to click a button to read the whole thing in your email. Sorry! Last week, dressed like a destitute bombardier, Elon Musk delivered a stark message to advertisers: don’t want to advertise on X? | Continue reading
This week I’m joined by labor and politics journalist Hamilton Nolan. Hamilton joins me to discuss the American social contract. We dig into what the hell a CEO does, to how workers’ livelihoods have been affected by the gig economy, outsourcing, and now, AI. | Continue reading
We have now entered the age of consequence, where the results of foolish decisions have compounded upon themselves so viciously that entire institutions are crumbling in front of us. As I predicted a year ago, Binance and Changpeng “CZ” Zhao have faced a massive recko … | Continue reading
Listen now (17 mins) | This week I’m joined by journalist David Weigel. David joins me to chat about how the general public’s ability to process news has deteriorated, as well as why many people feel things are getting worse when economic indicators say otherwise. The … | Continue reading
Listen now (16 mins) | This week I’m joined by journalist Zeke Faux, author of the Washington Post and Financial Times best book of the year “Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall.” Zeke joins me to chat about seeing first-hand the da … | Continue reading
Editor’s Note: Due to the length of this piece, you may need to click a button to read the whole thing in your email. Sorry! On Friday, Sam Altman was unceremoniously fired as CEO of OpenAI, with the board citing that he was “not consistently candid with his communica … | Continue reading
It’s been about a year since Sam Bankman-Fried’s empire of dirt collapsed, leading to him being found guilty of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy earlier this month. We won’t find out until March 2024 exactly how many of the potential 110 years he’ll se … | Continue reading
Listen now (16 mins) | This week I’m joined by rock & roll musician Max Collins of Eve 6. Max joins me to talk about his unusual rise to fame after his success in the ‘90s, what makes alt rock unique, and the band’s choice to not put their music up on streaming … | Continue reading
In one of my first jobs, I remember the oppressive feeling that enveloped me as I walked through the door. One’s presence wasn’t simply noted, it was actively surveilled, incentivizing people to seem as busy as possible rather than actually doing anything. The practic … | Continue reading
Listen now (16 mins) | Welcome to episode 14 of 15 Minutes In Hell. This week I’m joined by journalist Ken Klippenstein. Ken joins me to chat about his unusual news beat that ranges from the FBI to UFO “authorities”, the future of Twitter, and the truth behind t … | Continue reading
Back in November 2022, I tried to warn everybody that something bad was coming at the scale of an FTX, something that would almost exclusively harm US investors, and I was sadly right. In February 2021, Gemini (one of the largest and most respected US cryptocurrency exchanges) be … | Continue reading
Listen now (19 mins) | This week I’m joined by the creator of the Xbox - Seamus Blackley. Seamus shares a brief yet spirited tale of going from begging Bill Gates for a middle management job to successfully pitching, inventing and launching the Xbox, as well as his current … | Continue reading
A stick man flashing a fine-lined smile, junk bond trader trying to sell a sucker a stock Rich man in a poor man’s clothes, the permanent installment of the daily dose Elon Musk is not an inventor, a creator or an innovator. He is not a thoughtful leader or steward of compa … | Continue reading
Listen now (16 mins) | Hello and welcome to the 12th episode of 15 Minutes In Hell. Today I’m joined by Kari Byron, former Mythbuster and director of the National STEM Challenge. We discussed what it takes to go from introvert to a television host, how to help kids learn to … | Continue reading
Marc Andreessen, a man worth nearly two billion dollars, a man who lives in a $177 million compound in Malibu, a man who has been on the board of Facebook and Hewlett-Packard and who likely hasn’t experienced a struggle in decades, wants you to believe he’s a victim. | Continue reading
Listen now (16 mins) | This week I’m joined by former BBC journalist and author Rory Cellan-Jones. Rory shares his thoughts on the state of social media, what it’s like having a mega-famous dog, and his book - Ruskin Park: Sylvia, Me and the BBC. The 15 Minutes In Hel … | Continue reading
Listen now (16 mins) | This week I’m joined by Molly White (Web3 is Going Just Great). She joins to share her observations as a longtime crypto-critic, discussing who the biggest scumbags are in the world of crypto, and if the blockchain really has any value at all. The 15 … | Continue reading
Most companies eventually fail. The only real variable is the speed in which they do so.. While the slow declines of Blackberry and Nokia (at least, as consumer brands) were agonizing to watch, both were a result of a lack of foresight and an outright failure to recognize the sig … | Continue reading
Listen now (17 mins) | This week I’m joined by journalist David Roth of Defector. It’s one of my favourite episodes - and I think you’ll get a lot out of it even if you’re not a sports fan. We spoke about the morality of watching the NFL, how things could … | Continue reading
Two years ago, I remember reading multiple people emphatically telling their readers that NFTs (non-fungible tokens) would change everything — that people “wanted” to own a unique digital object, and indeed that said uniqueness would make pictures of apes | Continue reading
Listen now (16 mins) | Welcome to the eighth episode of 15 Minutes In Hell. Today’s guest is political commentator and news anchor Chris Hayes of MSNBC. We talked about the growth of cult-like grifters in the media, how American democracy is in a trust crisis, and how doing … | Continue reading
Listen now (20 mins) | Welcome to the seventh episode of 15* Minutes In Hell. Today’s guest is Twitch streamer and political commentator Hasan Piker. I talked about how Hasan sees his role in the political ecosystem, the flop-era of Tucker Carlson, and how men like Andrew T … | Continue reading
I have rewritten the lede of this newsletter eleven times, trying to find the words to encapsulate an unavoidable truth: Elon Musk is dangerous to society. As a result of our market-driven government and compliant media, Musk has caused (and will continue to cause) human sufferin … | Continue reading
Listen now (16 mins) | Welcome to the sixth episode of 15 Minutes In Hell. Today’s guest is astrophysicist and author Neil deGrasse Tyson. We talked about his very particular online critiques, whether or not artificial intelligence is a threat to society, and, of course, hi … | Continue reading
How venture capital fattened up startup culture to sell on the public markets — and brought out the bolt gun when things got tough | Continue reading
Listen now (17 mins) | Welcome to the fifth episode of 15 Minutes In Hell. Today’s guest is TV writer David Slack (credits include Person of Interest, Teen Titans, Law & Order, Lie To Me, Jackie Chan Adventures, and Dark Crystal), who was also on the Writer’s Guild of … | Continue reading
On a 1910 trip to Paris, Theodore Roosevelt delivered his famous speech about “The Man In The Arena,” which has since been widely adopted by a very specific kind of Silicon Valley cretin. It’s quite a long speech, but here’s the part that they love to shar … | Continue reading
Listen now (16 mins) | Welcome to the fourth episode of 15 Minutes In Hell. Today’s guest is actor and comedian Rob Corddry who you might know from Hot Tub Time Machine, Ballers, and The Upright Citizens Brigade. We talked about how the internet has changed comedy, the Holl … | Continue reading
When TIME named Elon Musk as its 2021 Person of the Year, it referred to him as someone who “aspires to save our planet... [a] clown, genius, edgelord, visionary, industrialist, showman, cad; a madcap hybrid of Thomas Edison, P.T. Barnum, Andrew Carnegie and Watchmen’ … | Continue reading
Listen now (16 mins) | Welcome to episode three of 15 Minutes In Hell. Today’s guest is Taylor Lorenz, columnist at The Washington Post and author of Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet, available for preorder now and releasing O … | Continue reading
Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk will never fight. Over the weekend, Mark Zuckerberg made a statement on Threads stating that “we can all agree that Elon isn’t serious and it’s time to move on.” Elon Musk — after biographer Walter Isaacson shared them f … | Continue reading
Listen now (15 mins) | Welcome to the second episode of 15 Minutes In Hell. Today’s guest is Derek Guy, known as “The Menswear Guy” or @dieworkwear (https://twitter.com/dieworkwear) on Twitter. He’s written for the Washington Post, Financial Times, Esquire … | Continue reading
There's gotta be someway back to earth I'm drifting away as the world turns We'll never get back to where we were Facing oblivion, there's no words We are, as a society, in mourning. The last three years were a conscious attempt to return to a form of normal — a pre-2019, p … | Continue reading
Listen now (15 mins) | A Weekly 15 Minute Interview Show | Continue reading
After three months of striking, the AMPTP has reached out to the Writers Guild of America to resume negotiations this Friday. They’re looking to bring an end to a strike that has already cost the entertainment industry billions because entertainment executives refused to ev … | Continue reading
Elon Musk is symbolic of the economic nihilism of the business world | Continue reading
The problem with making a new social network is that (as I’ve related before) you are only really selling a place. While you can stomp your feet and yell that you’re providing a service and that the value is the platform, the reality is that without an active, interes … | Continue reading
How Facebook's IPO was the beginning of the rot in social media | Continue reading
The concept of “free” social networking is a kind of unspoken social-fiscal contract that only exists as long as operators understand the value that users are creating. A user posts for “free,” but recognizes that they are a user rather than a customer. | Continue reading
Years before OceanGate’s Titan submersible imploded, killing five people in the process, a former employee filed a counterclaim alleging that the company fired him for raising concerns about the vehicle's safety. In addition to terminating the plaintiff (David Lochridge, th … | Continue reading
My personal inbox, as it stands, is largely useless. Of the 100 emails I can see at a glance, two of them are things I asked for — changes to a profile, an order receipt – and the rest are adverts from companies that I have absolutely unsubscribed from. | Continue reading
“To face down your demons, you’ve got to free them.” The last six months have felt like a perpetual threat — a looming doom that never quite transformed into something tangible. We have all been waiting for something to break — for us to enter a rece … | Continue reading
If you are wilfully violating securities law, I have some advice: do not put “we are operating as a fking unlicensed securities exchange” in a message to another party, and if you absolutely must do so, do not say “bro” at the end. Sadly this advice came t … | Continue reading
Last week, the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Social Media and Youth Mental Health issued a stark warning that “while social media may have benefits for some children and adolescents, there are ample indicators that [it] can also have a profound risk of harm to [t … | Continue reading