Tech's hyper-growth era is ending, with online 100 million new people getting online between 2022 and 2023, and almost every major web platform seeing a decline in growth since 2021. In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through how tech's decline is driving the tech industry to try and sell you useless products like the metaverse, cryptocurrency and generative AI.

Episode Links: https://tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks

Tech's hyper-growth era is ending, with online 100 million new people getting online between 2022 and 2023, and almost every major web platform seeing a decline in growth since 2021. In this episode, Ed Zitron walks you through how tech's decline is driving the tech industry to try and sell you useless products like the metaverse, cryptocurrency and generative AI.
Episode Links: <a href="https://tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks">https://tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks</a>

Better Offline is a weekly show exploring the tech industry’s influence and manipulation of society - and interrogating the growth-at-all-costs future that tech’s elite wants to build. 

Combining narrative-form storytelling, one-on-one interviews and panel-based discussions, Better Offline cuts through the buzzwords and obfuscation of the tech industry, investigating and evaluating the schemes and scams of everyone from cryptocurrency scumbags to the greediest of the venture capital elite. Tech industry veteran Ed Zitron and a dynamic coterie of guests will help listeners understand the who, how and why of how tech’s most powerful players are changing the world - for better or for worse.

Better Offline is a weekly show exploring the tech industry’s influence and manipulation of society - and interrogating the growth-at-all-costs future that tech’s elite wants to build. 
Combining narrative-form storytelling, one-on-one interviews and panel-based discussions, Better Offline cuts through the buzzwords and obfuscation of the tech industry, investigating and evaluating the schemes and scams of everyone from cryptocurrency scumbags to the greediest of the venture capital elite. Tech industry veteran Ed Zitron and a dynamic coterie of guests will help listeners understand the who, how and why of how tech’s most powerful players are changing the world - for better or for worse.

Better Offline

Better Offline is a weekly show exploring the tech industry’s influence and manipulation of society - and interrogating the growth-at-all-costs future that tech’s elite wants to build.



Combining narrative-form storytelling, one-on-one interviews and panel-based discussions, Better Offline cuts through the buzzwords and obfuscation of the tech industry, investigating and evaluating the schemes and scams of everyone from cryptocurrency scumbags to the greediest of the venture capital elite. Tech industry veteran Ed Zitron and a dynamic coterie of guests will help listeners understand the who, how and why of how tech’s most powerful players are changing the world - for better or for worse.

Better Offline is a weekly show exploring the tech industry’s influence and manipulation of society - and interrogating the growth-at-all-costs future that tech’s elite wants to build.
 
Combining narrative-form storytelling, one-on-one interviews and panel-based discussions, Better Offline cuts through the buzzwords and obfuscation of the tech industry, investigating and evaluating the schemes and scams of everyone from cryptocurrency scumbags to the greediest of the venture capital elite. Tech industry veteran Ed Zitron and a dynamic coterie of guests will help listeners understand the who, how and why of how tech’s most powerful players are changing the world - for better or for worse.

The Rot-Com Bubble

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/13826f4b-f955-47e7-b37d-b185016c5fbf/transcript

In this week’s Better Offline, Ed Zitron is joined by Arif Hasan of Wide Left and Caleb Wilson of Kill The Computer to talk about an academic paper on AI slop, and the many reasons why LLMS can never truly make art.

Why Slop Matters: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.06060

Arif Hasan
wideleft.football
x.com/ArifHasanNFL
arif.bsky.social

Caleb Wilson
https://bsky.app/profile/birdrespecter.bsky.social
https://bsky.app/profile/killthecomputer.com



Please support me by subscribing to my premium newsletter - here’s $10 off your first year of annual: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/84rt762qen

YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.

---

LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks

Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 

Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at

Ed's Socials:

https://twitter.com/edzitron

https://www.instagram.com/edzitron

https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com

https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com

In this week&rsquo;s Better Offline, Ed Zitron is joined by Arif Hasan of Wide Left and Caleb Wilson of Kill The Computer to talk about an academic paper on AI slop, and the many reasons why LLMS can never truly make art. Why Slop Matters: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2601.06060 Arif Hasan wideleft.football x.com/ArifHasanNFL arif.bsky.social Caleb Wilson https://bsky.app/profile/birdrespecter.bsky.social https://bsky.app/profile/killthecomputer.com 
Please support me by subscribing to my premium newsletter - here&rsquo;s $10 off your first year of annual: <a href="https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/84rt762qen">https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/84rt762qen</a>
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to&nbsp;<a href="https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline">https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline</a> and use code&nbsp;FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.
---
LINKS: <a href="https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks">https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks</a>
Newsletter: <a href="https://www.wheresyoured.at/">https://www.wheresyoured.at/</a>
Reddit: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/">https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/</a>&nbsp;
Discord: <a href="https://discord.com/invite/QUUQUP9szv">chat.wheresyoured.at</a>
Ed's Socials:
<a href="https://twitter.com/edzitron">https://twitter.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/edzitron">https://www.instagram.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com">https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com</a>
<a href="https://www.threads.net/@edzitron">https://www.threads.net/@edzitron</a>
Email Me: <a href="mailto:ez@betteroffline.com">ez@betteroffline.com</a>

LLMs Will Never Make Art With Caleb Wilson and Arif Hasan

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/dd47d692-1652-4ecf-bbc1-b4b90036fea9/transcript

In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs through how the AI bubble has increasingly become Jensen Huang and NVIDIA feeding different companies money, and how NVIDIA’s revenue is mostly dependent on a small handful of customers being able to raise more and more debt every year. 

EDITOR’s NOTE: I incorrectly say at the beginning of this that NVIDIA’s earnings were this week. They’re next week. Sorry!

Newsletter: The AI Hater’s Manifesto: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-ai-haters-manifesto/ 
Bloomberg Article: https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/nvidia-500-billion-plan-envelops-164209178.html 

Please support me by subscribing to my premium newsletter - here’s $10 off your first year of annual: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1

YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.

---

LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks

Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 

Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at

Ed's Socials:

https://twitter.com/edzitron

https://www.instagram.com/edzitron

https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com

https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com

In this week's Better Offline monologue, Ed Zitron runs through how the AI bubble has increasingly become Jensen Huang and NVIDIA feeding different companies money, and how NVIDIA&rsquo;s revenue is mostly dependent on a small handful of customers being able to raise more and more debt every year. EDITOR&rsquo;s NOTE: I incorrectly say at the beginning of this that NVIDIA&rsquo;s earnings were this week. They&rsquo;re next week. Sorry! Newsletter: The AI Hater&rsquo;s Manifesto: https://www.wheresyoured.at/the-ai-haters-manifesto/ Bloomberg Article: https://finance.yahoo.com/technology/ai/articles/nvidia-500-billion-plan-envelops-164209178.html 
Please support me by subscribing to my premium newsletter - here&rsquo;s $10 off your first year of annual: <a href="https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1">https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/gzqwkv54e1</a>
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to&nbsp;<a href="https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline">https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline</a> and use code&nbsp;FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.
---
LINKS: <a href="https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks">https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks</a>
Newsletter: <a href="https://www.wheresyoured.at/">https://www.wheresyoured.at/</a>
Reddit: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/">https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/</a>&nbsp;
Discord: <a href="https://discord.com/invite/QUUQUP9szv">chat.wheresyoured.at</a>
Ed's Socials:
<a href="https://twitter.com/edzitron">https://twitter.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/edzitron">https://www.instagram.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com">https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com</a>
<a href="https://www.threads.net/@edzitron">https://www.threads.net/@edzitron</a>
Email Me: <a href="mailto:ez@betteroffline.com">ez@betteroffline.com</a>

Monologue: Into The Jensenverse

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/98e3778c-cab7-4cac-80ac-b4b30151d81e/transcript

In this week’s Better Offline, Ed talks with computer science professor and writer Cal Newport about what the recent AI hacking incidents actually mean, why we should stop referring to LLMs as AI, and what the post-bubble world looks like for LLMs.

Podcast & Videos: https://www.youtube.com/@CalNewportMedia/
Newsletter: https://calnewport.com
New Yorker archive: https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/cal-newport



Please support me by subscribing to my premium newsletter - here’s $10 off your first year of annual: https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/84rt762qen

YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline and use code FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.

---

LINKS: https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks

Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/ 

Discord: chat.wheresyoured.at

Ed's Socials:

https://twitter.com/edzitron

https://www.instagram.com/edzitron

https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com

https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

Email Me: ez@betteroffline.com

In this week&rsquo;s Better Offline, Ed talks with computer science professor and writer Cal Newport about what the recent AI hacking incidents actually mean, why we should stop referring to LLMs as AI, and what the post-bubble world looks like for LLMs. Podcast &amp; Videos:&nbsp;https://www.youtube.com/@CalNewportMedia/ Newsletter:&nbsp;https://calnewport.com New Yorker archive:&nbsp;https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/cal-newport 
Please support me by subscribing to my premium newsletter - here&rsquo;s $10 off your first year of annual: <a href="https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/84rt762qen">https://edzitronswheresyouredatghostio.outpost.pub/public/promo-subscription/84rt762qen</a>
YOU CAN NOW BUY BETTER OFFLINE MERCH! Go to&nbsp;<a href="https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline">https://cottonbureau.com/people/better-offline</a> and use code&nbsp;FREE99 for free shipping on orders of $99 or more.
---
LINKS: <a href="https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks">https://www.tinyurl.com/betterofflinelinks</a>
Newsletter: <a href="https://www.wheresyoured.at/">https://www.wheresyoured.at/</a>
Reddit: <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/">https://www.reddit.com/r/BetterOffline/</a>&nbsp;
Discord: <a href="https://discord.com/invite/QUUQUP9szv">chat.wheresyoured.at</a>
Ed's Socials:
<a href="https://twitter.com/edzitron">https://twitter.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/edzitron">https://www.instagram.com/edzitron</a>
<a href="https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com">https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com</a>
<a href="https://www.threads.net/@edzitron">https://www.threads.net/@edzitron</a>
Email Me: <a href="mailto:ez@betteroffline.com">ez@betteroffline.com</a>

No, AI Is Not "Autonomously Hacking" with Cal Newport

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/4be0bff9-e999-406b-8cb2-b4b10166a39f/transcript

The Rot-Com Bubble

In 1 playlist(s)

Better Offline

Social links

Follow podcast

Recent clips