Paper Report Live: Special Slop Edition

Paper Report Live: Special Slop Edition

Author: Charts & Leisure September 10, 2026 Duration: 1:00:00
The Never Post staff meet to discuss four academic papers on how the internet is getting worse, each from a special edition of the European Journal of Cultural Studies. How is slop like gelatin? In many more ways that you might immediately assume! Tune in to hear about them all! – Become a Never Post member at https://www.neverpo.st/ for access to extended and bonus segments! – Call us at 651 615 5007 to leave a voicemail Drop us a voice memo via airtable Or email us at theneverpost at gmail dot com – Brainrot, AI slop, and the enshittification of the Internet Intro  Georgia, Doing the numbers: The operational aesthetics of AI slop Hans, Feed them slop: Alignment, attunement, and the affective lure of slopaganda Jason, Degenerative AI: AI slop, brainrot, and the gimmick of generative culture Mike, Computational Gallerte: Compressions of culture – Never Post’s producers are Audrey Evans, Georgia Hampton and The Mysterious Dr. Firstname Lastname. Our contributing producer is Kurt White. Our senior producer is Hans Buetow. Our executive producer is Jason Oberholtzer. The show’s host is Mike Rugnetta. Jesus Christ, my dusty socialist, “There’s enough sun for everyone,” you state, your crown chipped like a front tooth after a bar fight. Behind you a red curtain. Excerpt of Ephphatha by Spencer Reece Never Post is a production of Charts & Leisure and distributed by Radiotopia. Never Post is a production of Charts & Leisure and is distributed by Radiotopia

Mike Rugnetta, known for his thoughtful and often playful analysis of digital culture, guides each episode of Never Post. This isn't a series about quick social media tips or gadget reviews; instead, it digs into the deeper currents of online life. The conversations explore how the internet shapes our identities, our art, our politics, and our very sense of reality. You'll hear discussions that feel like the best kind of late-night talk with a deeply curious friend-ranging from the absurdity of memes to the profound implications of network theory. Produced by Charts & Leisure, the podcast operates from a simple, powerful premise: that the digital world is now inseparable from the human one, and it deserves this kind of careful, critical, and celebratory attention. Tuning in feels like getting a clearer map to a territory we all inhabit but rarely stop to examine. Each episode asks us to reconsider our daily scrolls, clicks, and shares, making the familiar strange again. It’s for anyone who has ever felt exhilarated, exhausted, or utterly bewildered by life online, offering a space to step back and make sense of the noise.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 50

Never Post
Podcast Episodes
Mailbag #12: We're Not Built For This [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:41
We respond to your questions and comments! – Become a Never Post member at https://www.neverpo.st/ for an ad-free version of the show and bonus content -- ☎️ Call us at 651 615 5007 to leave a voice mail 🗣️ Drop us a voi…
News Post: A Primer on Torrenting [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:32
In the latest installment of Terms & Conditions, Georgia chats with author, professor, and digital piracy expert Aram Sinnreich about torrenting. Peer-to-peer file sharing isn’t new, nor is the legal controversy surround…
Lolcows and the Internet's "Digital Freakshow" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:33
Executive Producer Jason Oberholtzer speaks to Dr. Jess Rauchberg about how the lolcow — a vulnerable Internet persona interacting with an unreliable and often malicious audience — relates to contemporary politics online…
The Disappearance of Tween Fashion [Archive Pull] [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 18:49
Originally published in our first episode I'm Mad, You're Mad, We're All Mad Here on January 31, 2024, enjoy Georgia's segment talking to Professor Elizabeth Wissinger about how the social internet helped erase an entire…
When The Taliban Turned the Internet Off in Afghanistan [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:40
Contributing producer and Kabul-based journalist Ali Latifi tells the story of a roughly 48-hour period, at the end of 2025, when the Taliban turned off the entire internet in Afghanistan. – Become a Never Post member at…
Not What You Know, but How You Know: Science Communicators Roundtable [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:23
Mike talks with science communicators Alex Dainis, Trade Dominguez and Joe Hanson about what it’s like trying to do their job in today’s information environment. – Become a Never Post member at https://www.neverpo.st/ fo…
News Post: On the Impending Silicon Goods Shortage [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 42:11
Mike chats with Jeffrey Parkin of Rogue and Rory Carroll of Alloy about the impending chip shortage caused by the construction boom in AI Data centers. How did this happen, why is there no easy way out, and how should yo…
What Kind of Place is the Internet? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:14
Producer Georgia Hampton looks to writer and blogger Katherine Dee and academic Charles Soukop to help her figure out how to visualize the internet. As in, what kind of a place is it, if it’s even a space at all? – Becom…
Pornhub Goes SFW [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 52:54
Senior Producer Hans Buetow digs into the data from the 2025 Pornhub Year-in-Review, and wonders aloud to sexual wellness educator Courney Brame, and co-founders of SWR Data, MelRose Michaels and Mike Stabile - what’s go…
Posting Disease, with Bijan Stephen [Archive Pull] [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 21:14
Originally published in our first episode I'm Mad, You're Mad, We're All Mad Here on January 31, 2024, enjoy Mike's segment on the epidemic of Posting Disease plaguing social media. Listen to the original episode here: h…