Doomscroll 30: Krystal Ball

Krystal and I explore the looming threat of AI, transhumanism and solve “the Elon Musk situation”. We ask; what is the left-wing version of tariffs? And why should the left support economic protectionism? You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Krystal Ball, a political commentator and a co-host of ‪Breaking Points. We discuss the seismic shift of American politics and our hard breaks to the right and left. We explore Zohran Mamdani's historic win in NYC and the ways in which the internet become real life. How do online audiences correlate to real world political coalitions? This episode marks the first year of the show. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

We dive into Ana’s background and formative experiences on TYT. We discuss the horseshoe theory meme and I float a strategic argument: “the neoliberal case for single payer healthcare” lol. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Ana Kasparian, a host and executive producer of ‪The Young Turks. We discuss her political journey from progressive to "independent and unaligned". Last year, Kasparian’s commentary took an editorial turn away from left echo-chambers and towards a generalized populism. We pay respect to the political genius and lasting influence of Michael Brooks. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Yancey Strickler. We discuss the theory and practice of content moderation on big platforms. Today, the “terms of service” also necessarily set the parameters of debate and have profound downstream effects on political reality. Later on, we discuss Yancy’s background as a music critic, his early online record label and his unconventional path to becoming a co-founder of Kickstarter. We breakdown the incentives of platforms to forecast what comes next. At the end of this episode, we discuss a new project called A-Corps. A-Corps are a lightweight co-operative model for creatives. (TLDR: your band can be an artist co-op.) It’s not software — it’s law. We get into the hard numbers around this and share some war stories about creative life without health insurance. www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Yancey Strickler, an author and former music critic. He is a co-founder of Metalabel as well as a co-founder and previously the CEO of Kickstarter. We discuss the new shape of online culture. Dark Forest spaces are gated digital communities, often curated around a specific niche or field of expertise. They represents a retreat from open social media into private spaces, where users may have complex and context-rich conversations. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Tim Heidecker. We discuss his background in music and DIY creative scenes as well as our shared admiration for artist and documentary filmmaker Adam Curtis.

My guest is ‪Tim Heidecker, a comedian, musician and actor. He is a host of Office Hours. You can find him performing live music as 'Tim Heidecker and The Very Good Band'. His video work pioneered the style, affect, and genre of new media alt-comedy. We discuss how online irony became today's real world politics. We explore the shift from legacy TV to streaming platforms. How did our media ecosystem shape the politics and culture of today? You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Aella. We discuss the psychological and social origins of sexual fetishes, the dark side of internet pornography, and we bring clarity to the online debates around race and IQ. Due to TOS, some of these topics can’t be included on the YouTube episode. Other topics are better kept off of public channels. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe

My guest is Aella, a writer, blogger and sex worker. She writes the highly popular blog Knowingless. She is a member of the online community LessWrong. We discuss the emergence of AI, the sex industry (online and offline), robot gfs and libertarian transhumanism. Aella describes her evangelical religious upbringing and how she learned to navigate the secular world. We explore the overlap of niche online politics and fetishes, the Woke Wars, debate culture and free speech. You can get access to the full catalog for Doomscroll and more by becoming a paid supporter: www.patreon.com/joshuacitarella joshuacitarella.substack.com/subscribe