Pray for Rain

Civility is not just good manners. It’s one of the social technologies that makes civilization possible. Today I talk about why that feels like it’s disappearing: politicians who no longer see each other as human, internet incentives that reward dunking over compromise, cameras that turn every minor disagreement into a possible public trial, and the way all of this bleeds into everyday life. Also...

In this episode, I talk about brain drain, wasted human potential, and all the genius the world never gets to see because of bad governments, instability, corruption, poverty, or sheer bad luck. From Isaac Asimov and Sergey Brin to the idea that the next great innovator might be stuck driving a van or a taxi somewhere, this is about what stable societies make possible — and why America is basicall...

We’ve built a world that is unbelievably convenient, unbelievably optimized, and, in a strange way, a little deadening. Food appears at the door. Every song, movie, and opinion is instantly available. You can get almost anywhere without knowing where you are. And yet a lot of modern life feels flatter, less satisfying, less alive. In this episode, I talk about what happens when friction disappears...

I thought I had a gas leak in my Brooklyn apartment. I didn’t. But the speed and seriousness of the response made me think about all the invisible systems quietly preventing disaster around us. That led me to a stranger realization: Star Wars is older than democracy in Spain. In this episode, I talk about why representative government is younger and more fragile than we like to think, why we only...

The internet used to be a massive, weird frontier. Now it is a consolidated feed trough run by five companies, designed to eviscerate your dopamine baseline and keep you catatonic. We talk a lot about the "Dead Internet Theory" and bots taking over, but the reality is much darker: we are the dead internet. In this episode, we are diagnosing the death of cyberspace, the absurdity of algor...

If you line up your 10,000 grandpas all the way back to the dawn of Homo sapiens, we are the absolute anomaly. Today we explore the 12,000-year financial flatline of humanity, how liberal democratic capitalism spiked the graph, and why the speed of modern change is making us feel depersonalized. Plus, how to cope with the whiplash, and a review of the most unhinged new A24 documentary series on HB...

We are in the middle of the AI gold rush, and if you aren't minting billions right now, you might end up as a disposable grub worm farmer on Mars. In this episode, we audit the absolute manic dread of the tech boom, why the future economy is can still work for us, and why we need an alligator dunk tank to figure out which internet gurus are actually human. Plus, a eulogy for the serious Hollyw...

We've never lived in a time where you can get paid so much to do so little. In this episode, I rant about how Machiavelli would grift a modern tech company. I cover the "Fabian Strategy" of avoiding work, weaponizing the word "kiddo," and using the Three C's (Calendars, Children, and COVID) to shield yourself from accountability. Also, I talk about HBO's Rome at the end because I miss historical f...

Today I talk about how politics is ruining everything. I rant about NPR brain, companies taking stances on everything, and how movies keep sneaking in last-minute ideological sermons. Then I get into why politics has become a moral status game, how the internet ruins shared culture, and why we should carve out more politics-free spaces. 0:00 I’m sick of politics in everything2:48 Companies and ins...

Today I explore what's so frustrating about modern health trends. Plus, why Francis Fukuyama may have been right about the end of history and why our extreme comfort has created a crisis of meaning. We’re evolved apes trying to run a digital program on crude meat servers, and the results are getting weird. Chapters00:00 – The 24-Month Health Hype Cycle 02:34 – The High Cost of "Proprietary Sawdust...

In this episode of Pray for Rain, I audit one of the most grating cliches in modern media and look at exactly what James Cameron gets wrong about the Na’vi 0:00 — The IMAX Hallucination 5:28 — James Cameron and the "Noble Savage" Trope 10:39 — Braveheart & Amadeus: Killing the Record 14:24 — Why the Wild West was actually safer than you think 18:25 — The Nuance of Colonialism 31:22 — The 3,000...

Today I explore why all my hobbies run through Youtube and why it's so enticing for the male brain. Plus, re-watching the Green Mile for the first time in 15 years wasn't what I remembered.0:00 Intro0:31 When Every Interest Becomes a Person1:56 From TV Channels to YouTube Creators2:41 The Envy Machine of the YouTube Feed4:19 The Monkey Experiment Theory6:06 Why Men Are Addicted to YouTube8...

Sick of not knowing if someone used ChatGPT? You’re not alone. I ruminate on how to spot the fakes, what we lose with AI, and why modern homes are starting to feel like no place at all.0:11 Intro: Seattle Wedding + A New Doubt0:39 Did You Write Your Vows… or Did AI?2:18 The Beauty of Bad Wedding Speeches3:46 Great Speeches Are Under Suspicion Too4:13 The Rise of the Bland, Polished Middle5:07 Ever...