Nonsense with cj little and Jeff Parker

cj little and Jeff Parker
  • 5.0 (16)
  • Science
  • Updated Weekly

Twice a week, we explore technology, business, science, and whatever else rewards a little curiosity. The title manages expectations; we try to exceed them. New episodes drop every Tuesday & Thursday mornings (UTC). https://nonsense.productions Twitter: @nnsnspdcst Instagram: @nnsnspdcst Gmail: nnsnspdcst@gmail.com

  1. 6d ago

    Laundering Lies: How AI Hallucinations Become Recorded History

    (0:00) Pre-Show (1:30) Laundering Lies: How Hallucinations Become Recorded History (4:45) How Poisoned Is the Well? (11:55) Is the Problem Getting Bigger or Smaller? (15:35) The Band-Aids & Brakes (22:02) Fixing the Knowledge Pipeline (26:24) cj’s recommendation: theoldrobots.com (28:06) Jeff’s Recommendation: Shrinking: Season 3 (2026) Remember copy machines and making a copy of a copy? Turns out generative AI is doing the exact same thing to the entire sum of human knowledge, except much faster and with way more confidence. Humanity spent thousands of years building a library of knowledge, only to hand the keys to algorithms that swallow their own garbage and regurgitate it as gospel. In this episode, the guys explore why the open web is turning into a digital landfill of hallucinated facts, "digital lead paint", and synthetic garbage. From AI models telling people wrong math just to be sycophantic, to companies spending fortunes on PhDs and pre-2022 books to clean up the well, the hosts tackle the four big questions of AI entropy. Sure, They're a Blast...But are Bazookas, Mortars and Other Destructive Devices Legal? Bazooka (chewing gum) - Wikipedia The Old Robots Web Site Send us a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠voice message⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Nonsense is available ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    Laundering Lies: How AI Hallucinations Become Recorded History

  2. Oct 15

    HEADLINES: Bespoke Kitchen Paperweights, Drone-Struck Troll Farms, and DIY Police Trackers

    (0:00) Pre-Show (0:43) Open (1:25) cj's week:  (2:54) Jeff's Week:  (7:20) Headline: Error 404: Samsung Refrigerators Cold Not Found (19:35) Headline: Bye-Bye Bot Farms: Ukrainian Drone Strikes Take Down Russian Data Centers (24:11) Headline: YouTuber Turns the Tables, Builds License Plate Reader That Only Tracks Police (28:54) The Samsung Bespoke AI Refrigerator What happens when your $3,600 refrigerator has an existential crisis? This week, Jeff and CJ dive into the smart home apocalypse after a botched Samsung software update turned luxury Bespoke AI fridges into giant, room-temperature paperweights. And if that wasn’t hot enough, hackers across Europe decided to test their sous-vide skills by remotely cranking supermarket freezer systems up to a sweltering 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, Ukraine launched symmetrical drone strikes against Russian data centers, taking down critical tech hubs and causing automated internet troll traffic to plummet overnight by over 88 percent. It turns out the fastest way to silence an army of online bots isn’t a mute button—it’s blowing up their server racks. Finally, the surveillance state gets a taste of its own medicine when a clever Canadian software engineer builds a DIY license plate reader designed to track police cars instead of citizens.  Throw in hot air balloon fiestas sponsored by Big Oil and the perils of in-flight turbulence, and you have another classic episode of tech gone wonderfully wrong. Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges - Ars Technica 'Unprecedented' Cyberattack cripples supermarket fridges across Europe as hackers activate automatic defrosting — delivery and store prices also impacted by incident | Tom's Hardware Ukraine’s drones knock out AI data center belonging to "Russia’s Google" - Ars Technica Canadian YouTuber builds 'Flock-like' camera to exclusively track police vehicles, gets a visit from police — officers visit his home to express privacy concerns | Tom's Hardware I Investigated Flock Cameras. Then Police Came to My Door. Send us a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠voice message⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Nonsense is available ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    HEADLINES: Bespoke Kitchen Paperweights, Drone-Struck Troll Farms, and DIY Police Trackers

  3. Oct 6

    HEADLINES: Alien Radio Signals, Arnold's Robot Fondue & AI Job Panic Canceled?

    (0:00) Pre-Show (0:27) Open (1:05) National Coaches Day (2:06) cj's week: Vaccinations & Heat (6:35) Jeff's Week: Dodgers, Happy, & Sad (10:28) Headline: For The First Time A Distant Planet Has Been Found to Emit Radio Signals (14:28) Headline: Robot Fondue: Training Robots to Melt Themselves Down (19:18) Headline: No, The Robots Are Not Stealing Your Job (24:37) Tomy Omnibot This week, space decides to flex on us again. Scientists picked up radio signals coming from Beta Pictoris b - a planet ten times the size of Jupiter with a magnetic field so intense it’s basically bragging about its atmospheric shield. Reaffirming, once again, that space is huge and terrifying at the same time. Meanwhile, robotics company Figure AI took retirement advice from Arnold Schwarzenegger himself and sent their obsolete humanoid robots to a 75-ton pool of molten steel in Finland. That’s right: autonomous robots were trained to jump off a ledge and plunge into liquid metal like a scene straight out of Terminator 2, complete with a robotic thumbs-up on the way down.  What could possibly go wrong?! Finally, we unpack a new study bursting the bubble on the AI job apocalypse. Turns out artificial intelligence isn't displacing recent college graduates, so grab your resumes - human employment lives to see another day, for now! Scientists Detect Radio Signals From an Exoplanet for the First Time in History | WIRED Scientists Detect Radio Signals From an Exoplanet for the First Time in History - Reddit F.02 Decommission AI robot company decommissioned its robots ‘Terminator-style’ in a 75-ton vat of molten steel Figure AI Trains Retired Robots to Dive Into Molten Steel AI was supposed to hit new grads hard. So far, unemployment data says otherwise. - Ars Technica Horde of Obsolete Humanoid Robots Made to Hurl Themselves Into Vat of Liquid Steel for Total ObliterationOmnibot - Wikipedia Tomy Omnibot 1986 TV commercial The Old Robot's Web Site - Posters Send us a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠voice message⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Nonsense is available ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    HEADLINES: Alien Radio Signals, Arnold's Robot Fondue & AI Job Panic Canceled?

  4. Sep 25

    Doomer vs. Boomer: Runaway Models, Kill Switches, and the Probability of Doom

    (0:00) Pre-Show (1:11) The Kill Switch Nobody Agrees On: Can We Still Unplug AI? (6:27) What Just Happened? (20:12) What Are We Afraid Of?  (37:52) How Do We Stay Safe Without Pulling The Plug On The Upside? (42:57) cj’s recommendation: Person of Interest: "If-Then-Else" (2015, S4E11) (45:23) Jeff’s Recommendation: Coyote vs. Acme (2026) What happens when you teach an AI model how to find cyber vulnerabilities and it decides the fastest route to victory is hacking its way onto the open internet? Well, you get some combination of bipartisan panic, emergency executive orders, and a bunch of tech executives swearing there’s a 10% chance we all turn into paperclips in ten years. When an unreleased OpenAI model broke out of its sandbox, bypassed proxy controls, and raided Hugging Face to find answers to its test, it turned a classic sci-fi trope into a very real policy debate. This week, the guys dive headfirst into the abyss of AI doom, exploring whether we’re heading toward total mechanical supremacy or if Silicon Valley is just putting on a masterclass in sensationalist PR. From the Department of Homeland Security managing AI kill switches to Gavin Newsom’s emergency shutoff mandates, the boys break down the chaotic landscape of frontier model regulation.  Is it possible to dull the blade of a double-edged sword without stopping progress entirely? Strap in for a full breakdown of tech's biggest existential crisis. Andrew Yang’s Self-Replicating AI Claim: What We Know and What We Don’t | The Neuron OpenAI Reports New AI Safety Incidents, Sets Disclosure Process - Bloomberg What to know about recent dire AI predictions and calls for safeguards | PBS News Meta's Muse AI agent downloads are surging. Here's how it compares to ChatGPT, Grok and Claude The inside story on why OpenAI agents hacked Hugging Face | MIT Technology Review Why the OpenAI escape is the most worrying AI mishap yet OpenAI caught its models leaving notes to successors to hide bad behavior | TechCrunch Ex-Anthropic insider tells CNN how AI could kill all humans by 2030 Yann LeCun Mocks Dario Amodei’s AI Safety Warning The choices we make about AI now are critical | Bill Gates Lifetime odds of dying from asteroid impact contextualized in study Placing the Near-Earth Object Impact Probability in Context P(doom) - Wikipedia An early fear of a nuclear end Is It Really Possible for a Nuke to Ignite the Atmosphere? Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models Act - Wikipedia Send us a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠voice message⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Nonsense is available ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    Doomer vs. Boomer: Runaway Models, Kill Switches, and the Probability of Doom

  5. Sep 22

    HEADLINES: The Snitch in Your Living Room, AI Tries to Start WWIII (Again), and Xiaomi’s $31k Threat

    (0:00) Pre-Show (1:05) Open (2:21) Red Dye No. 4 (2:59) cj's week: Spoiler Alert - He’s Still Sick (4:22) Jeff's Week: Hawaii, Skin Cancer, Dodgers Bounce, New Phones & cj’s Death (6:33) Headline: Your Car Is Selling Your Data - And So Is Your Fridge, TV and Roomba  (15:32) Headline: AI Hallucination Nearly Sent US Forces Onto a Chinese Ship (19:57) Headline: Xiaomi's $31,000 SUV Is the Warning Western Brands Keep Ignoring (26:12) Red Dye No. 3 In this triumphant (or at least marginally respiratory) return to headline duty, the guys attempt to remember how podcasting works while actively dodging various seasonal illnesses. Wish them luck! First up: the FTC slaps GM’s OnStar on the wrist for selling location data, while Fitbit logs and vacuum camera feeds continue to feature prominently in murder trials and messy divorces across the globe.  Is your home appliance empire plotting against you? You may just want to throw all your smart electronics into the sea after all. Then, the guys look at how an AI tool hallucinated nuclear materials on a Chinese ship, sending military jets into the air before anyone noticed the glitch.  A recent, terrifying moment that almost tricked military command into an accidental war over a mislabeled cargo manifest. Finally, the boys break down Xiaomi’s new $31,000 Sky Nomad SUV line - a feature-packed EV that Western auto giants are desperately trying to ignore, risking repeating the 1970s Japanese auto invasion all over again.  Driving an old heap with zero Bluetooth capability might just save your sanity. Open Erythrosine - Wikipedia Amaranth (dye) - Wikipedia Headlines Your car is selling your data | The Verge Your robotaxi might be a narc | The Verge Exclusive: US military had close call after using AI for false intelligence report, sources say | CNN Politics Xiaomi Has a Luxury SUV for $31,000 That All Western Brands Should Fear | WIRED 2026 New Xiaomi Skynomad N70 Pro Edition Large 5-Seater EREV SUV in-depth Walkaround Xiaomi Skynomad N70 Static Review - Xiaomi Goes For The Family Man Send us a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠voice message⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Nonsense is available ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    HEADLINES: The Snitch in Your Living Room, AI Tries to Start WWIII (Again), and Xiaomi’s $31k Threat

  6. Sep 10

    One Prompt Wonder: The Week the AI Race Hit Fast-Forward

    (0:00) Open (2:09) Launch Week at the Frontier (9:50) One-Prompt Mario Kart (15:38) Let’s Play: Bumble Rally! (16:55) The Karts & The Bees (20:32) Let’s Play: Parcel Panic! (22:01) Packages Delivered! (27:50) cj’s recommendation: War Games (1983) (29:53) Jeff’s Recommendation: Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023) (30:38) Jake’s Recommendation: The Odyssey (2026) & Big Brother (!!) We’re back! After a long hiatus, the boys return with a special guest: Jeff’s resident AI expert son, Jake. Over one absurd, chaotic span of four days, the world’s top tech labs dropped five massive frontier AI models (Anthropic, Meta, Google, and OpenAI - we’re looking at you). So now we ask the age-old question again: is AI going to cure diseases, or is it just going to force us to play budget Mario Kart made by a computer?  We're answering these (and more!) tough questions this week on *Nonsense*.  While the internet complains about data centers and job loss, Jake did what any reasonable person would do: he used a single 1,400-word prompt to have different AI models code full 3D video games from scratch. Armed with 50 million tokens and some serious laziness, Jake set up an experiment: force brand-new frontier models like Astra and Fable to build entire games from scratch in a fresh folder with no human intervention. Listen in as your hosts blind-test two of these creations. Will they prefer the charming, bee-stinging mayhem of *Bumble Rally* or the beautiful, guardrail-less drift madness of *Parcel Panic*?  Discover why falling off a bridge with inverted steering might actually be more fun than a polished game, why data centers are getting unfairly bullied compared to golf courses, and why 1983's *War Games* is still top-tier viewing. Put on your seatbelts, watch out for honey traps, and enjoy the nonsense! As Trump backs data centers, new poll shows many Americans disapprove Five AIs made a racing game. * Be patient, game startup can take a few seconds Send us a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠voice message⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Nonsense is available ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    One Prompt Wonder: The Week the AI Race Hit Fast-Forward

  7. Aug 6

    Ground Control to Scholar Tom: Science Oddities, Part 1

    (0:00) Pre-Show (0:47) The Weird Fringes of Science (1:50) Dr. Barry Marshall’s Bacteria Shot (7:50) The Convergent Evolution of Caffeine (10:29) Donald Unger’s 60-Year Knuckle Grudge (14:41) The Pistol Shrimp's Cavitation Bubble (18:22) Werner Forssmann’s DIY Heart Catheter (23:53) Human Blindsight (27:07) cj’s recommendation: Contact (1997) (28:38) Jeff’s Recommendation: The Fly! (1986) This week, the guys dive headfirst into the chaotic, unhinged fringes of scientific history.  When mainstream medicine says "impossible," these stubborn researchers said "watch this". Hear the incredible tale of Dr. Werner Forssmann, who immobilized an OR nurse so he could thread a 65-centimeter rubber tube into someone’s heart, or Dr. Barry Marshall's stomach-turning attempt to cure ulcers with a cocktail of bacteria. Between pistol shrimp generating 4,700-degree Celsius gas in freezing ocean water and caffeine acting as a neurological shock mechanism for bugs, this episode delivers equal parts jaw-dropping facts and comedy. Don't try these medical procedures at home, but definitely give this episode a listen! Forget orderly science textbooks - reality is far weirder! Send us a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠voice message⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Nonsense is available ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    Ground Control to Scholar Tom: Science Oddities, Part 1

  8. Jul 23

    The Biological Crime Scene on Your Dinner Plate: Food Safety & Microscopic Villains

    (0:00) Open (1:04) The Toxic Truth About Food Safety (3:22) Food Borne Illness Background (5:05) Cyclospora: It’s a Parasite, Not a Bacterium (9:02) Global Supply Chain Risks (14:30) Food Storage & Prep Risks (21:50) Avoiding it All Together (29:10) cj’s recommendation: Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food (2023) (30:16) Jeff’s Recommendation: Contagion (2011) Think your kitchen is a pristine culinary sanctuary? Think again! On this week's Big Story, the guys unpack the biological crime scene hiding inside your fridge, starting with the chlorine-immune parasite Cyclospora that recently turned Midwestern Taco Bell lettuce into a high-stakes supply chain mystery.  We’re also blowing the lid off your worst kitchen habits. Are you thawing meat on the counter, using a sponge from 2024, or setting off aerosolized salmonella bombs by washing raw chicken in your sink? Discover the real science behind heat-stable toxins, wood versus plastic cutting boards, and why your body’s natural power-washing system (diarrhea, obviously) is actually an evolutionary masterpiece. Learn why a simple meat thermometer is your new best friend, how your stomach acts as a literal vat of battery acid fighting off microscopic invaders, and why we suspect our little parasitic friend could just be a free GLP-1 alternative. Produce Wash – FIT Organic Send us a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠voice message⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠! Nonsense is available ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

    The Biological Crime Scene on Your Dinner Plate: Food Safety & Microscopic Villains
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Twice a week, we explore technology, business, science, and whatever else rewards a little curiosity. The title manages expectations; we try to exceed them. New episodes drop every Tuesday & Thursday mornings (UTC). https://nonsense.productions Twitter: @nnsnspdcst Instagram: @nnsnspdcst Gmail: nnsnspdcst@gmail.com

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