On the Fringe

This week on the pod, Dave and Gav get into it about the SAFE Kids Act and other pieces of legislation regarding AI chatbots, social media, and child safety. As legislators around the world play catch-up with the social, economic, and legal implications of AI, we talk about how Constitutional rights may find themselves more in the crossfire—or in the crosshairs. This episode is part of our rolling...

Five months after the quiet announcement that American troops were being deployed in Nigeria to combat the local IS franchise, an even quieter announcement that the 200-ish deployment has already come to an end. The strategic aims apparently having been met, the US’s engagement, which began with a barrage of Tomahawks on Christmas Day last year, has been wrapped up. Meanwhile, the Nigerian governm...

Hey On the Fringe Community! In the last couple of years, there have been several other On the Fringe podcasts that have come out (one about labor unions, and one about aliens, from what it looks like…plus a few others). For the first time in both our lives (Dave + Gavin), we are being confused for someone else—and to be honest, it’s kind of weird and funny for both of us. Click the episode above...

Hello, On the Fringe Community! Here’s a quick thank you message as we wrap up season. We appreciate and enjoy your continued support—and we have more on the way! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit onthefringepodcast.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Gav and Dave tackle the continuing problem of bear attacks in Japan, by looking at a recent incident involving a smarter than average bear. As rural communities shrink and bears push into populated areas, the country continues to struggle with all of the conflicts that ensue from overlapping habitats. Dave and Gav discuss why the problem keeps getting worse and why Japanese politi...

In this episode, Dave and Gav look at the rise of the irrepressible Bishnoi Gang and what it says about the continuing evolution of transnational crime. They trace how a gang rooted in northern India developed reach far beyond its home turf, and connect that story to scandals surrounding Cricket Canada, where allegations of corruption and questionable leadership have cast a dark shadow over the sp...

This short episode follows up on part 1: We’re living in the age of the Terminator In recent weeks, autonomous drones flown by the Sudanese Armed Forces (and likely the Ethiopians) went head-to-head, marking the first record event of two autonomous weapons facing off. Both drones came from the same manufacturer, Bayraktar, a Turkish defense company. Could this be a sign of how future wars are foug...

Will algorithms be better decision makers than humans when it REALLY counts? Some countries are betting on it, while others are taking baby steps. We’ve got a short episode about what autonomous weapons are, what they do, and why they could be consequential to the future of war and humanity, much like other parts of the AI boom that we are living in. Please do us a favor and share or drop a commen...

In this episode, Dave and Gav sit down with Dr. Ralph DeFalco, author of The Counterfeit, to talk about Chinese influence campaigns, economic coercion, and the blurry line between fiction and forecasting in the intelligence world. Dr. DeFalco is a U.S. national security operative with more than fifty years of experience. Their conversation explores how speculative fiction can function almost like...

A former Google software Engineer, Michele Spagnuolo, got arrested and charged by the Feds in New York for wire fraud, insider trading, and a laundry list of financial crimes for using his position as a software engineer at Google to make crooked bets on Polymarket. The boys dive into the ongoing legal saga surrounding prediction markets and financial regulations in the United States, and make a l...

In this episode, Dave and Gavin dive into a wild tale, and what may be the biggest counterintelligence failure in the 21st century. Former officer David “Gold Bar Dave” Rush, who allegedly worked in the agency’s Science and Technology Directorate, was recently arrested after fabricating his time sheets, and likely worse—hoarding 300 kilograms of gold bars from the agency for several months. After...

In this episode, Gav and Dave dig into the stagnant security environment in the Gulf, where stranded cargo ships collecting barnacles have become a symbol of a region stuck in limbo, with trade still moving but nobody feeling particularly good about it. This week’s conversation connects maritime insecurity and rising shipping costs to the growing role of Pakistan as a formal military partner for G...

In this episode, Gav and Dave speak with Ramon Perez, AI technology executive and military veteran from the Digital Democracy Project about the misaligned incentive structures shaping modern politics in America. Rather than treating misinformation or polarization as isolated failures, the discussion focuses on how platforms, lobbyists, media organizations, and representatives are rewarded for beha...

If you’re going abroad, moving abroad, want to build new personal relationships, or are looking to level up your life, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss. In this episode, Gav and Dave sit down with David Ramos, a graduate of the Bush School of Government and Public Service who has turned language acquisition into what appears to be a competitive sport. David has 12 OPI certifications a...

This week, Dave and Gav sit down with Tomasz Nadrowski, author of Mineral Wars: China’s Quest for Weapons of Mineral Destruction. They dive into chokepoint theory, fragile supply chains and the disquieting reality that modern life is held together by a handful of minerals most people have never heard about until somebody threatens access to them. The conversation digs into how China has built enor...

In this episode, Gav and Dave break down how Pakistan has become a critical piece on the board in the competition between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. They focus especially on the millions of Pakistani migrant workers whose labor props up huge parts of the Gulf economy while also giving Islamabad a potential Achilles’ heel during moments of regional tension, where visas, remittances,...

In this episode, Dave and Gav look at how the UAE has drifted away from the consensus politics of institutions like Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and the Gulf Cooperation Council in favor of a more transactional worldview that treats regional politics less like alliances and more like market positioning. We’ll be unpacking how Abu Dhabi’s approach to trade, ports, normalization...

In this episode, with help from friend of the pod, Stuart Bolus, Gav and Dave dig into the April 25th attacks across Mali in which jihadist groups working in concert with Tuareg separatists managed to hit multiple cities, shut down key infrastructure and killed the Defense Minister and other key members of the ruling Junta. This highlights an increasingly uncomfortable situation where Mali, a crit...

Gav and Dave wade back into the increasingly unhinged world of prediction markets, starting with how Kalshi ended up fining and banning a handful of American politicians for betting on their own elections, which sounds small until you realize it’s basically insider trading with campaign posters. Then, they pivot to the much less subtle case of a U.S. military operator getting arrested after allege...

Gav and Dave go back to college! This week, the guys talk about the financial crisis affecting higher education across the U.S., which segues into a much larger conversation about how and why higher education has gotten into dire straits, where the Sultans of Swing are hitting their enrollment numbers—and more importantly, their bottom lines. If you enjoyed the episode, don’t skimp on the comments...

Gav and Dave get their toes wet in jet fuel, the least glamorous substance floating around the global economy (maybe next to guano), and follow how price swings and current supply hiccups linked to the current shenanigans in the Strait of Hormuz are keeping airlines in a state of unease where ticket prices jump, routes quietly disappear, and everyone insists this is a normal behavior for a suppose...

In this episode of On The Fringe, Gav and Dave dig into the sudden collapse of the Board of Peace, because nothing says “stable international order” like an institution quietly disappearing mid-crisis. We trace how internal fractures, economic short-falls, and a complete inability to enforce its own mandates turned what was supposed to be a conflict-dampening mechanism into just another casualty o...

Here’s a hot tip on the next big thing—prediction markets! This week, Polymarket and Kalshi are going to court in California to find out whether or not the federal government or individual states have jurisdiction over them….and Donald Trump Jr. (a prominent investor/advisor to both and an actual board member of Kalshi) finds out whether or not he’s hit the jackpot. This ruling will affect nationa...

When you see something online, do you honestly think it is genuine or has your best interest at heart? In this episode, Dave and Gavin talk with Braden Frame, COO of Modern Cartographers based out of Austin. Braden is a medically retired firefighter and expert digital literacy educator who helps communities across the country stay safe and improve communication, among other things. In the chat, we...

For roughly 6 weeks, Afghanistan and Pakistan have been fighting a hot war that has received very little coverage. Yet the ongoing conflict is impacting (and being impacted by) the Middle East and South Asia. We have been following it—and have even made episodes about it that we planned to release—but shelved them because they were stale by the release date. This is a quick update about the last f...