What Future with Joshua Topolsky

Ryan Broderick, creator of Garbage Day (the day, and also the newsletter and burgeoning media empire) knows a thing or two about "online." Not only has he been covering general weirdness on the internet since before the dawn of Pepe, but he's got some strong notions about where all this madness is going. Join Josh and Ryan on this special journey, won't you? Discussed: Backpack kid, The Rationalis...

Jamie Loftus is a comedian, a writer, an actor, a PODCASTER (listen to understand these caps), but most importantly... she is a person who decided to write an entire book about the humble food item we all affectionately refer to as a "hot dog." Jamie joins Josh on a truly 360 adventure where the two explore the minefield that is life, love, and loss in the 21st century. Discussed: Mental health, W...

Acclaimed stand up comedian, writer, and Emmy Award winner Sara Schaefer joins Josh on a raucous journey, exploring the dark underworld of reverse cancel culture, mob rule, one-woman shows, and theme park rides. Sara and Josh do a full conversational road trip, pondering the madness of social media, the cruel and beautiful world of comedy, and the shocking truth about college campuses. Discussed:...

You've heard the rest, now hear the best. Josh welcomes Axios Chief Financial Correspondent Felix Salmon to run a post-mortem on the Silicon Valley Bank & Signature collapse, the implosion of Silvergate, and the wide variety of freakouts and breakdowns that accompanied the not-so-micro failure. Discussed: Mary Poppins, ontology, bunkers, stonks. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...

Josh is elated to speak with Nick Turner, not Nicks Turners as his Twitter handle would lead you to believe. As a standup and podcaster, he's been through it all and will not be stopped by a wet heckler. His latest special "Ice Cold" is available on YouTube. Check out Nick live: March 10th San Francisco, 11th Santa Cruz , 17th Salem , 18th San Francisco , April 7th in Houston, then to Dallas and A...

It's a family affair today as Josh welcomes his sister-in-law and Senior Technology Reporter for Buzzfeed News, Katie Notopoulos. Lots to uncover and dissect in a world wide web gone mad, but thankfully we have an expert in the chaos. Discussed: Dilbert, Bold Glamour, Slurp Juices, SAG Awards  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Josh welcomes Washington Post columnist and author of 'The Aftermath: The Last Days of the Baby Boom and the Future of Power in America,' Philip Bump! Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z, where are they and where are they going? You are one of them, but what does that mean for the country you grew up in and what happens next? Discussed: Stillness, '2000 Mules,' Florida Man  See omnystudio.com/liste...

[rerelease]: On the premiere episode Joshua explores Spooky Season with Jason Blum (founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions), a man behind some of the most iconic horror films of the past decade — like 'Get Out,' 'The Purge,' and 'Paranormal Activity.' Discussed: the horror of reality, the reality of horror, how data is killing art, the politics of hunting people, film industry lifehacks. See omn...

Actor, writer, activist & organizer, Dallas Goldtooth, only got 3 hours of sleep last night, but he's up for a lively conversation with Josh. As "Spirit" on the FX series Reservation Dogs, Goldtooth subverts expectations and breaks down long-lasting tropes in American media. Discussed: Hell Let Loose, night owls, Avatar, Harry Potter the trust fund kid See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i...

On today's episode, Josh is interrupted by an unexpected visitor. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On today's episode, Josh is joined by the ever-insightful Rebecca Jennings, a senior correspondent for The Goods at Vox and a woman who isn't afraid to peer into the void. Josh and Rebecca cover the gamut of internet celebrities and influencers — from Kim Kardashian to Paris Hilton to Andrew Tate to MrBeast, looking into who's really responsible for the cool state of social media today. Discussed:...

On the show this week Josh is joined by the illuminating and hilarious Baratunde Thurston (host of the PBS show America Outdoors, Puck News writer, and all-around genius) to discuss... the total breakdown of information in the world. Baratunde and Josh take the listener on a sprawling conversational ride, revealing unexpected truths about the future of all life on Earth. Discussed: Original conspi...

On today's episode, Josh is joined by longtime friend, collaborator, and Gawker editor-in-chief, the inimitable Leah Finnegan. Leah's adorable yet lethally uncouth dog Baby caused some disruptions early in the recording, forcing Leah to take drastic action to silence the creature (she put Baby in her bed). Luckily Josh and Leah were able to get things back on track despite the disturbance, leading...

This is not Josh's favorite time of year; but we can still find some trends to look forward to in 2023. Discussed: Las Vegas, CDs, Dry January, The Twilight Zone See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well folks — that’s about it for the year 2022. But what a ride! Right! Right? There have been many things to lament this year, but it hasn’t been without its pleasures as well. Josh is saying goodbye to the year that brought us a reverse red wave, Alex Jones’ downfall, and multiple days of the world’s (former) richest man getting owned on the website he just bought for $44 billon U.S. dollars. Bu...

Josh finally lets his inner fanboy out by talking to his favorite musician of 2022 — the one-of-a-kind genius Penelope Scott. After rising to fame and sonic virality on TikTok for her shockingly honest and extremely online songs, Scott went on to garner hundreds of millions of listens across the internet, along with all of the commentary you might imagine is unavoidable when that happens. Whether...

In the age of femcels, proud boys, groypers, and C.H.U.D.s, one reporter is striving to make sense of it all. Her name is Taylor Lorenz, and her beat is literally the entire internet and all of the strange people who inhabit it. When she’s not discovering the next new thing in influencer culture or shining a light on the dark patterns of misinformation, Taylor is fending off attacks by Tucker Carl...

Casey Newton is one of the best reporters in the world when it comes to getting an inside look at the triumphs and tragedies of the Silicon Valley elite. Lately he’s been something of a scoop machine about all things Twitter. From mistaken firings to panicked midnight emails, Casey has been tracking all the nasty details of Twitter’s flop era — so who better to clue Josh in to what the future may...

As Thanksgiving approaches, Josh is thinking about the things that really matter in life, like family, health, and new gadgets for making sick beats. This is also a time to think about the communities we’re in — both near and far, and who better to discuss our life offline and on than Anne Helen Petersen, author of “Can’t Even,” the definitive book about burnout, and a Very Online Person who has m...

Come for Josh's rant on the future of the internet, stay for his conversation with Vincenzo Natali, director of 'Cube,' 'Splice,' and your favorite episodes of 'Hannibal,' who has taken on William Gibson's reality-bending book 'The Peripheral' and turned it into electrifying TV. The two discuss how horror is in our DNA, his creative relationship with AI, and the difficulties of turning 80's sci-fi...

What you’re reading right now was written by an artificially intelligent — though not sentient — neural network designed to write descriptions for podcasts. Or was it? You don’t know, and that’s what makes AI so fascinating, cool, and scary. Since Josh loves all of those feelings, he sat down with the founder of controversial AI-generated art startup Midjourney, David Holz, to unpack the future of...

Twitter is now owned by edgelord supreme Elon Musk, and Josh has many, many thoughts on the subject. To explore and dissect the coming post-social media world we're all about to live in, Josh sits down with New Yorker staff writer Jia Tolentino, whose book 'Trick Mirror' explored all of the ways that being very online is bad, weird, and probably ruining our real lives. Discussed: Nathan Fielder, i...

On the premiere episode Joshua explores Spooky Season with Jason Blum (founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions), a man behind some of the most iconic horror films of the past decade — like 'Get Out,' 'The Purge,' and 'Paranormal Activity.' Discussed: the horror of reality, the reality of horror, how data is killing art, the politics of hunting people, film industry lifehacks. See omnystudio.com/l...

Coming October 27th, host Joshua Topolsky (co-creator of Vox Media and founder of The Verge) deconstructs modern culture, mining the surprising connections that make up our increasingly frenetic world. A heady mixture of fugue-state monologues and spontaneous, irreverent conversations with experts, weirdos, and big thinkers, What Future is here to dissect our insane reality, lasso the pieces, and...