What Area 51 can teach us about the drones in NJ (with Dylan Thuras)
Americans love not believing anything the government tells us, and it seems likely we’ll just keep coming up with stories to explain what is probably really boring in real life. The latest of these is the mysterious drones that descended upon New Jersey and then vanished without a trace. Dylan Thuras joins us to shed light on Americans’ love of conspiracy theories, which naturally begins with Area 51.
Our guest Dylan Thuras is the co-founder of Atlas Obscura. Follow his work at https://www.atlasobscura.com/users/dylan, and you can hear more of his stories on the Atlas Obscura Podcast wherever you listen to ‘em.
Catch the extended conversation and plenty of other great bonus content, plus ad-free episodes, by joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld. Use code "PANIC" at checkout to get your first month for just $0.50!
Want to sponsor Panic World? Ad sales & marketing support by Multitude, hit them up here: http://multitude.productions.
Credits
- Host: Ryan Broderick
- Producer: Grant Irving
- Researcher: Adam Bumas
- Business Manager: Josh Fjelstad
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1:10:03
Are online "suicide games" real? (With Alex Goldman)
Momo and the Blue Whale Challenge are two trends that targeted young social media users, supposedly challenging them to an escalating series of dares. Were these viral “challenges” actually causing kids to kill themselves, or was it all a hoax? Alex Goldman joins us to trace the origins of these “suicide games,” as well as the fallout that resulted from them.
Our guest Alex Goldman is the host of a great new podcast called Hyperfixed. Find that anywhere you listen to podcasts, and you can find him @agoldmund on Twitter/X, or just Google him!
Catch the extended conversation and plenty of other great bonus content, plus ad-free episodes, by joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld. Use code "PANIC" at checkout to get your first month for just $0.50!
Want to sponsor Panic World? Ad sales & marketing support by Multitude, hit them up here: http://multitude.productions.
Credits
- Host: Ryan Broderick
- Producer: Grant Irving
- Researcher: Adam Bumas
- Business Manager: Josh Fjelstad
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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1:30:28
How bin Laden killed TikTok (with Rachel Gilmore)
America is in a “will they or won’t they” situation with TikTok, but it’s not cute. As of last week, the app was finally set to get banned, but over the weekend Trump stayed its execution. Because we don’t really know if/when the app will get deleted, instead, let’s look back at how we got to this dark and dumb moment in the first place. Rachel Gilmore joins us to talk about where it all began: like so many other things, with Gen Z and Osama bin Laden.
Our guest Rachel Gilmore is a journalist. You can read/watch her reporting and commentary on her newsletter Bubble Pop (https://rachelgilmore.substack.com), and follow her everywhere else at https://linktr.ee/rachel_gilmore.
Catch the extended conversation and plenty of other great bonus content, plus ad-free episodes, by joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld. Use code "PANIC" at checkout to get your first month for just $0.50!
Want to sponsor Panic World? Ad sales & marketing support by Multitude, hit them up here: http://multitude.productions.
Credits
- Host: Ryan Broderick
- Producer: Grant Irving
- Researcher: Adam Bumas
- Business Manager: Josh Fjelstad
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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1:19:36
BONUS: Meta doesn't care anymore
Producer Grant joins Ryan to talk about how Mark Zuckerberg went from looking and acting like “Every Guy Walking Down the Street in Boston in the Mid-2000s” to his current era, “I Work in the Financial District and I’m Dating A Girl from Bushwick,” and said man’s recent announcement that Meta would no longer be employing fact checkers, instead relying on community notes to flag offensive content.
Catch the full episode and plenty of other great bonus content, plus ad-free episodes, by joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld. Use code "PANIC" at checkout to get your first month for just $0.50!
Want to sponsor Panic World? Ad sales & marketing support by Multitude, hit them up here: http://multitude.productions.
Credits
- Host: Ryan Broderick
- Producer: Grant Irving
- Researcher: Adam Bumas
- Business Manager: Josh Fjelstad
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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26:00
How Facebook caused January 6th (with Charlie Warzel)
On January 7, 2021, did you think the storming of the capitol would be politically successful? Charlie Warzel joins us on the eve of Donald Trump retaking the White House to weigh that question as he and Ryan trace the origins of the insurrection and its ultimate impact on US politics.
Our guest Charlie Warzel is a writer for The Atlantic and for his Substack, Galaxy Brain (https://warzel.substack.com/). You can follow him there or @cwarzel on X and Instagram, or @cwarzel.bsky.social.
Catch the extended conversation and plenty of other great bonus content, plus ad-free episodes, by joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld. Use code "PANIC" at checkout to get your first month for just $0.50!
Want to sponsor Panic World? Ad sales & marketing support by Multitude, hit them up here: http://multitude.productions.
Credits
- Host: Ryan Broderick
- Producer: Grant Irving
- Researcher: Adam Bumas
- Business Manager: Josh Fjelstad
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices