Critical Nonsense

How should we learn beyond school? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about framing work as learning, human observation, vocational training, osmotic learning, pen and paper, and the wheel. They don’t talk about Simple Machines Records. 

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What fictional characters should we be shipping today? 

This week, Aaron and Jess talk about soap, fan fiction, Back to the Future, ensemble shows, reading the book vs. seeing the movie, and reimagined universes. They don’t talk about Such Great Heights. 

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Who can I say "I love you" to? 

This week, Jess and Joey talk about expressions of love, social and gender dynamics, rejection, promiscuous love giving, monoliths, and Bad Bunny. They don’t talk about the Pixies or Deee-Lite. 

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What's to come in 2026? 

This week, Wild Prognostications returns! Jess, Aaron, and Joey make their predictions for the new year, discussing privacy as luxury [3:28], the romance resurgence [4:28], Avengers Doomsday flopping [13:29], paper as a smart signal [16:35], bird pets [18:31], medical research breakthroughs [24:51], and an existential AI employment crisis [27:42]. They don't put respect on Birdman's name. 

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What you doing and what you sharing? 

This week, Aaron, Joey, and Jess talk about battle rap, knitting, crochet, LitRPG, world building, and not finishing. They don’t talk about Fraggle Rock. 

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When is the right time to actually? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about corrections, status, intent, virtue, asymmetric information, and confidence intervals. They don’t talk about Thomas Brodie-Sangster. 

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How far would you be willing to go to experiment with your health? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about peptides, biohacking, Silicon Valley libertarian culture, Bryan Johnson, exercise, and salt. They don’t talk about The Gelflings. 

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Why do we keep using short-form video? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about dopamine culture, friction, flow state, floating, smoking, and green juice. They don’t talk about cannolis. 

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How do you dress for success? 

This week, Aaron and Joey talk about fashion plates, professionalism, drag, archetyping, navigating differences, and respect. They don’t talk about Rufio. 

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This week, Aaron, Jess and Joey revisit their 2025 prognogs from Episode 296. They talk about the micro social media surge, cynicism, platform madness, informed styling, blockbusters, weaponized compliance, non-apocalyptic runaway AI moments, and our AI overlords. They don’t talk about eggprogs. 

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What does your Zero Farts Land future look like? 

This week, Aaron, Joey, and Jess talk about fucks. And farts. 

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How do you strategy? 

This week, Aaron and Joey talk about Elliott Kalan, the School of Let's Figure It Out, emotional distance from work, working in teams, meandering, and strategy that bleeds. They don’t talk about Jamesy P. 

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Why do we expect the worst? 

This week, Aaron and Jess talk about simple solutions, Karen moments, assuming malice, Thanos, Falkland's Law, and lemmings. They don’t talk about the famous former power forward for the Boston Celtics or the Hamburger Peddler's rhyming buddy. 

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How has technology made us less sure of ourselves? 

This week, Jess and Joey talk about technological change, Christmas cards, scraping, phone numbers, friendships, and FaceTime. They don’t talk about beepers. 

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Is it better to generalize or to specialize? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about polymaths, running, functional fitness, idea people, curiosity, and Starship Troopers. They don’t talk about dilettantes. 

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Are there actually interesting life innovations that are coming out of the content creation boom? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about homemade pop tarts, learning letters, the power of song, TikTok, mastering movements, and apple dumplings. They don’t talk about Action Bronson. 

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How many other things do we have that we think of as imprecise but are actually pretty precise and agreed upon? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about box plots, New York neighborhood names, Australian colloquialisms, measurement language, baking, and square roots. They don’t talk about The Smiths. 

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What if we've become less willing to sacrifice our pawns to take the queen? 

This week, Jess and Joey talk about Ezra Klein, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Obama, game theory, defaulting to passion, and nuclear weapons. They don’t talk about David Lightman. 

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What's in your notes? 

This week, Aaron and Jess talk about internet chalk, bottle lining, the Pantry Challenge, gold bars, word clothes, and golden milk. They don’t talk about Gold Bond powder. 

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How much do you think you can change your personality? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about life satisfaction, sad auras, nominative determinism, nature versus nurture, Martin Seligman, magical meat sacks. They don’t talk about marinade bags. 

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What are places where wisdom exists where it shouldn't? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about the Benner Cycle, feng shui, jelly shoes, BMW dashboards, the bullshit asymmetry principle, and Hitchens's razor. They don’t talk about Christopher Robin. 

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Why do we wave from trains and boats? 

This week, Aaron and Jess talk about kids, duck boats, kerchiefs, air travel, cruise ships, and roller coasters. They don’t talk about chucking the deuce. 

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How are you personally preparing mentally, psychologically for the increased engagement with AI? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about AI psychosis, Blake Lemoine, the Turing Test, cognative security, red teaming, and hats. They don’t (yet) talk about NonsenseLLM. 

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When is old good and when is old bad? 

This week, Jess, Aaron, and Joey talk about The Bible, first editions, berries, Final Destination, whiskey, and Rick Astley. They don’t talk about Flavor Flav. 

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How do you make sense? 

This week, Aaron, Jess, and Joey talk about intention, trust, assumption, context windows, synchronicity, and drinking. They don’t talk about Pal Joey. 

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Why do we do hard things? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about the Baddie Performance Index, Barkley Marathons, fun types, self flagellation, dessert stomachs, and natural childbirth. They don’t talk about Saquon. 

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Why is it so important to be cool? 

This week, Jess, Aaron, and Joey talk about Black culture, 21 Jump Street, social approval, bandwaggoning, alternative hierarchies, and Lauryn Hill. They don’t talk about Digable Planets. 

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How is it we've convinced ourselves sometimes that we like things that we don't really like? 

This week, Jess and Joey talk about the big light, the beach, group vacations, going to the movies, nature bathing, and bad drinks. They don’t talk about Mr. Nice Guy. 

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What new rules should we have? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about the Irish Goodbye, music at the beach, phones on the train, zipper merging, gift obligations, and desire paths. They don’t talk about Dua Lipa or New Rochelle. 

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How do y'all protect your sense of possibility? 

This week, Aaron, Joey, and Jess talk about optimism, imagination, resilience, cultural technology, escape rooms, and rules. They don’t talk about the endless persistence of existential dread. 

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What are the important analog activities in an increasingly digital world? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about luddites, handwriting, typewriting, mashing tomatoes, kinetic learning, and carbon dioxide. They don’t talk about Folkways Records. 

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In April, SYLVAIN released an open letter of resistance in response to the chaos of the moment we're in. This is a live reading of that letter, and a reminder that resistance is ongoing.

Too many in our industry have been quiet in the face of injustice and uncertainty. Too many important conversations have been relegated to back channels. So we put pen to paper, naming simple truths that have guided our company and actions for 15 years—and will continue to guide us.

Have a listen or read the op...

What universal truths do you believe in? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about database shapes, LLMs, collective human intelligence, apple eating, folk wisdom, and Pi. They don’t talk about apple pie, though. 

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How do you feel about no-phone zones? 

This week, Joey and Aaron talk about AI, parenting, over-responsibility, constant access, bluetooth speakers, and biking while texting. They don’t talk about Nowadays. 

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Do we need to create more with friends? 

This week, Joey and Jess talk about consuming, the value cycle, parallel play, time horizons, water-based cooking, and Ciabatta. They don’t talk about Real Genius. 

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How do we muster the courage? 

This week, Jess and Joey talk about fear, Inside Out 2, Andor, The Mandalorian, stoking action, and antidotes. They don’t talk about booze. 

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How do we stress professionally? 

This week, Aaron, Jess, and Joey talk about Cowboy Carter, self-regulation, Frozen, tears, being "professional," and anger. They don’t talk about Organized Konfusion. 

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How is this world optimized for dating? 

This week, special guest Chloe returns to chat with Joey about high yield investment strategies, influencers, gender polarization, crushes, the butterfly effect, and Russian hackers. They don’t talk about the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-14. 

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How do you approach reclaiming or disavowing your creative outputs that you don't love? 

This week, Aaron, Joey, and Jess talk about Smithee-ing, TV edits, résumé writing, Spike Jonze, sportsball, and the DC Universe. They don’t talk about Cordwainer Bird. 

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How good is hi-res for our imagination? 

This week, Aaron and Jess talk about smoothing, the boundless powers of creativity, Smell-O-Phone/Vision, imagination reconstruction, gaming, and nurturing our sense of play. They don’t talk about NHL 98 on Sega Genesis. 

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