The Lorem Ipsum of Our Future

This week on Craft and Chaos, Pete, Misty, Kyle, and Ryan take a running jump into the boiling cauldron of AI, authorship, and the existential dread of wondering if your book draft is secretly moonlighting as training data for Skynet’s moody younger cousin. Pete opens the show mourning the discovery that Google Docs is essentially that roommate who “borrows” your clothes without asking—except instead of your hoodie, it’s your creative soul. Kyle yanks all his writing off the internet faster than you can say “Blue Harvest.” Ryan insists on contractual AI abstinence clauses like he’s starring in the world’s least sexy prenup. And Misty? She just admits she’s given up—then immediately delivers a sermon on theft, cognitive diminishment, and the performative weirdness of social media that makes you wonder if Instagram is actually just a giant gaslighting experiment.

But this isn’t all doom and gloom! The crew pivots from paranoia to possibility, arguing that the one thing AI can’t replicate is weirdness. Distinct human mess. The sentences with too many M-dashes. The sketch about sperm redistribution. The Shakespearean play about late-night TV hosts fighting for the throne. The legendary giant squid of Lancashire. This is the content the robots can’t touch, and it’s glorious. Then, as if that weren’t enough chaos, they unleash The Working Titles Game—where Hollywood’s real, baffling project code names are guessed, mocked, and improved. “Starbeast” becomes Alien. “Rory’s First Kiss” turns out to be The Dark Knight. And everyone learns that “Group Hug” is somehow The Avengers.

If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re a “face” or a “hands,” if you’ve contemplated anonymity as artistic freedom, or if you just want to hear Pete suddenly turn a sketch character Jewish halfway through, this episode has everything. It’s part therapy session, part roast, part TED Talk on weirdness, and part game show fever dream. By the end, you’ll either feel inspired to go make something beautifully strange… or just jealous that you’re not the one writing a half-hour comedy called Sperm Robin Hood.

Links and Notes

People & Creators:

• John Scalzi
• Austin Kleon
• John August
• Ursula K. Le Guin Daily Writing Routine
• Miranda July - Author of All Fours
• White Hot Heist (2022) - the one where Bowen Yang does that thing with that stuff.

Articles & Resources:

• "So Your Kid Wants to be a Twitch Streamer" - Wired article discussing "faces vs. hands"
• "Downton Arby's"
• “Night of the Squid”

Creative Works & Projects:

• Welcome to Night Vale
• Swashbuckling Ladies Debate Society
• Go Help Yourself
• Headstone
• Marvel Movie Minute
• Archer Thorne superhero series

Tools & Platforms Mentioned:

• Wattpad - Early writing platform, later acquired and data concerns raised
• AutoPod/AutoCut - AI-powered podcast editing tools for multi-camera switching

Concepts Discussed:

• The Dark Side of Cognitive Diminishment
• The Dunbar number

• (00:00) - Welcome to Craft and Chaos
• (02:40) - How have you changed because of AI?
• (12:07) - "Sponsor:" Headstone with Pete Wright
• (14:04) - MAJOR SEGMENT ALERT
• (01:09:26) - "Sponsor:" The Audio Fiction Convention
• (01:10:57) - Working Title Game!