The End of the World with Michael and Stu

The End of the World with Michael and Stu
  • 5.0 (12)
  • Comedy
  • Updated Weekly

The Apocalypse is Everywhere. The End of the World with Michael and Stu is a (hopefully) insightful and (hopefully) humorous exploration of the rise of apocalyptic news, apocalyptic thinking and apocalyptic culture. Each week, we’ll be looking at a work of art, a piece of media, or an historical event related to the (hopefully not) impending End of the World.

  1. 3d ago

    131: The End of Laughter and Soft Lies

    This week we have a two pronged episode. We open up discussing the suit four states have brought against Meta, alleging the company has knowingly caused irreparable damage to millions of teens in promoting its harmful and addictive products to them.  The bulk of the episode then looks at a recent, brilliant essay by Mathias Fuelling from Cosmonaut magazine on three works of non-fiction, Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, The Technological Republic: Hard Power, Soft Belief, and the Future of the West by Alex C. Karp and Nicholas W. Zamiska, and If Anyone Builds it, Everyone Dies by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares. Fuelling points out how all three works, despite superficially different ideological shadings, share a certain technocratic DNA that points in the same, dispiriting direction: a techno-fascist elite born out of Silicon Valley commandeering control of the United States government in the name of a renewed nationalism in opposition to the so called "Chinese Century."  The essay also makes a strong case for the way AI serves as a "cop out mechanism" that allows these authors to avoid addressing the pressing questions of climate change and wealth stratification. It's a really excellent essay that we enjoyed discussing and that helped us to refine some of our own previously discussed ideas on these matters. "A Thesis on the History of the 21st Century: Technocracy, AI, and the End of the World" by Mathias Fuelling in Cosmonaut Reuters on the Four States suing Meta over Youth Safety Our previous episode on Abundance , Ep 62, on Apple Podcasts Send us Fan Mail https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu

    131: The End of Laughter and Soft Lies

  2. Jul 21

    130: When You Wish Upon a Star

    We're going back to where it all began; that's right, it's aliens, this time those friendly aliens from Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. We talk about the general optimism and lack of paranoia in the film, contrasting it with more recent "first contact" narratives. We also get into the grittiness of Spielberg's early films, a texture he seems to have mostly outgrown by his 1990s blockbuster era. While the movie may have less to say about politics and the hard realities of apocalyptic cultural moments than we would have liked, perhaps that very absence is in itself a lesson for us all. This episode contains spoilers for Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Send us Fan Mail https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu

    130: When You Wish Upon a Star

  3. Jul 14

    129: With the Tolling Tolling Bells' Perpetual Clang

    In honor of America's 250th birthday we are covering one of the landmark events in the nation's history, namely the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. We discuss why the assassination was so significant, the context of the recently concluded Civil War, and the precise nature of the conspiracy led by famous actor John Wilkes Booth. We detail Booth's outrageous actions after shooting President Lincoln, his attempts to flee "to Mexico" on a broken leg, and his eventual killing by the unforgettably strange Boston Corbett in the burning barn at Garrett's Farm.  Dave Taylor's presentation on Booth's flight after the assassination The Abraham Lincoln Memorial Library and Museum's YouTube page (home of many interesting presentations on Lincoln's presidency and the assassination) The Rest is History Podcast on the Lincoln Assassination Send us Fan Mail https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu

    129: With the Tolling Tolling Bells' Perpetual Clang

  4. Jul 7

    128: Everybody Won't Be Treated All the Same

    This week we are using a novel format to explore recent Supreme Court decisions. Stu presents Michael with a brief sketch of the case, Michael decides how he would rule, and Stu then reveals the actual decision arrived at by the justices. Topics covered include: gun rights, pollution, temporary protected status, immigration, transgender athletes in school sports, birthright citizenship, and internet age verification. Is Michael in step with the court, or is he just a bleeding heart liberal? To find out, you must listen! NPR on Trump's Immigration Policy and Population Decline The Guardian on Temporary Protective Status The Hill on Supreme Court Immigration Decisions SCOTUS Blog on Transgender Athletes in School Sports SCOTUS Blog on Birthright Citizenship Politico on 2019 on FDR and Court-Packing Send us Fan Mail https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu

    128: Everybody Won't Be Treated All the Same

  5. Jun 30

    127: Nothing Gold Can Stay

    This week we are discussing the recent New York congressional primaries which have announced Zohran Mamdani's arrival as a new political "kingmaker" in the Democratic Party. We discuss the three candidates, Brad Lander, Claire Valdez, and Darializa Avila Chevalier, go over the politics, and then chart the response from the centrist wing of the party, as led by Hakeem Jeffries. Is this a sign of hope for a more progressive moment in American politics? Perhaps! Stu also gives a brief overview of his recent month long jury duty service in Brooklyn Criminal Court. Democracy Now! on the New York Congressional Primaries Send us Fan Mail https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu

    127: Nothing Gold Can Stay

  6. Jun 23

    126: We're on the Highway to Hell

    This week we are talking about the so-called utopian promise of the internet, the "information superhighway" as it was once known, and how it has, over the last thirty years, transformed into an information superhighway...to HELL.  We look at some predictions and early ideas about the internet from the 90s before considering the critiques brought by Astra Taylor in the 2010s regarding the way the internet had been subverted by corporate interests. We also look at Lawrence Lessig's analysis of a "free culture" vs. a "permission culture" and how the internet has very much been made to resemble the latter. We conclude with a brief discussion of John Perry Barlow's "A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace" from 1996 and what it perhaps fails to consider. Lastly we think about the implications of all of this as we experience the rise of a similarly transformative new technological paradigm, AI and Large Language Models. Clinton Administration plans for the "Peace Dividend" in 1992 Time Magazine in 1993 predicts the future of the internet Astra Taylor at Democracy Now on the Subversion of the Internet by Advertising Lawrence Lessig's Free Culture A Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace by John Perry Barlow Send us Fan Mail https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu

    126: We're on the Highway to Hell

  7. Jun 16

    125: The Sky was the Limit

    This week we are discussing the Challenger space shuttle disaster, looking at what caused the shuttle to explode and how the aftermath specifically affected the psyche of the United States in the late 1980s. We also share personal recollections from the disaster, both as it happened and as a feature of our lives growing up as elder millennials.  Challenger: The Last Flight on Netflix Major Malfunction: A Recap of the Challenger Disaster on Youtube "High Flight" by John Gillespie Magee, Jr. Send us Fan Mail https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu

    125: The Sky was the Limit

  8. Jun 9

    124: Radioactivity is in the Air for You And Me

    This week we're discussing the April 28, 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union and its aftermath. We use the 2019 HBO mini-series Chernobyl as our guide, despite some of its historical inaccuracies and acts of dramatic compression. We note, in particular, how those very acts of dramatic compression in fact work as a metonymy for the residual Cold War ideology that animates much of the show, which seems very concerned with depicting the ways that Soviet bureaucracy contributed to the disaster while failing to adequately acknowledge how that same bureaucracy contributed to containing what could have been a much graver disaster.  This episode contains spoilers for Chernobyl. Send us Fan Mail https://www.instagram.com/theendoftheworldwms/ https://youtube.com/@TheEndoftheWorldwMS?si=xmj-2e0s58JdN8-B https://linktr.ee/endoftheworldwithmichaelandstu

    124: Radioactivity is in the Air for You And Me
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About

The Apocalypse is Everywhere. The End of the World with Michael and Stu is a (hopefully) insightful and (hopefully) humorous exploration of the rise of apocalyptic news, apocalyptic thinking and apocalyptic culture. Each week, we’ll be looking at a work of art, a piece of media, or an historical event related to the (hopefully not) impending End of the World.

Information

  • Creator
    The End of the World with Michael and Stu
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    131
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 The End of the World with Michael and Stu
  • Show Website
    The End of the World with Michael and Stu