Permanently Moved

Jay Springett

Permanently Moved is an audio-only podcast about digital culture, internet culture, and the changing shape of the web. Written, recorded, and edited by Jay Springett since 2018, this long-running podcast explores artificial intelligence, social media, world-running, online communities, and life lived online in the shadow of the stack. Episodes blend personal journal and cultural analysis; tracing the strange edges of technology, AI, media, games, and the internet as it evolves. They are accompanied by Start Select Reset, a physical essay zine sent by post to supporters, with limited copies also available for purchase.

  1. 16h ago

    Episode 303: Internet Operator

    Who-or what-are you online? A profile, handle, podcast, avatar, or AI persona can be addressed, remembered, praised, criticised, and made socially present. But it is not quite identical to the person behind it. This episode of Permanently Moved is an hour-long audio essay on digital identity, personal branding, social media, puppetry, platform culture, and AI. It argues that online identity is best understood not as performance or authenticity, but as animation: a figure brought to life through an operator, audience, and apparatus. Moving from The Brand Called You and main character energy to Bunraku theatre, VTubers, icons and idols, automata, platform metrics, and ChatGPT, Jay Springett asks what it means to be responsible for a figure online without being consumed by it. SHOW NOTES https://thejaymo.net/2026/08/11/303-internet-operator-permanently-moved/ START SELECT RESET Issue 16 of Start Select Reset, the print companion to this episode, contains the full essay plus extra material not included in the audio. Membership (£5/month, shipping included): https://thejaymo.net/support/ Buy the zine while copies last: https://thejaymo.net/zine CHAPTERS (00:00:00) Introduction (00:01:06) DRAMATIS IDEAE (00:02:20) Part 1. The Brand Called You (00:09:34) Part 2. Main Character Energy (00:16:21) Part 3. Figure and Function (00:20:42) Part 4. The Booth and the Stage (00:26:43) Part 5. The Suppressed Metaphor (00:32:16) Part 6. The Animated Equation (00:38:25) Part 7. The Face, the Mask, the Person (00:40:47) Part 8. Metonymy, Icon, Idol (00:46:16) Part 9. The Self-Moving Figure (00:53:25) Part 10. Where the Operator Stands (00:58:24) Part 11. The Speaking Image (01:04:34) Part 12. Internet Operator (01:08:03) Afterward (01:08:44) Support the Show (01:09:29) Credits Mentioned in this episode Tom Peters — "The Brand Called You" Teri Silvio — Puppets, Gods and Brands Kevin Munger — "The YouTube Apparatus" Henryk Jurkowski — Aspects of Puppet Theatre Charles Taylor Heinrich von Kleist — "On the Marionette Theatre" Mindar at Kōdai-ji ChatGPT Gordon White Permanently Moved is a quarterly podcast written, recorded, and edited by Jay Springett.

    Episode 303: Internet Operator
  2. Mar 2

    Episode 302: Monsters In The Mirror

    What are large language models, really? A genuinely different frame for what AI is, where it came from, and what it means to live alongside it. This episode of Permanently Moved is an hour-long audio essay on artificial intelligence, agency, and the history of computing that made LLMs possible. The essay moves from the invention of the mirror to double-entry bookkeeping, the printing press, the Manhattan Project, the transistor, and the particular civilisational strangeness of ChatGPT and its successors. It argues that the question everyone is asking about AI "is it intelligent?" is a trap, and it tries to ask a better one.  START SELECT RESET Issue 15 of SSRZ, the print companion to this episode, is available to pre-order now until Monday 16th March. 36 pages, A5, containing the full transcript plus an introduction and afterword not in the audio. Membership (£5/month) shipping included: https://thejaymo.net/support/ Pre-order the zine (£18 + shipping): https://thejaymo.etsy.com/uk/listing/4465040020/monsters-in-the-mirror-start-select CHAPTERS (00:00:02) Introduction (00:00:34) Monsters In The Mirror (00:01:00) Part 1. The Mirror of Modernity (00:05:33) Part 2. The State's Gaze (00:11:28) Part 3. Paper Truths (00:17:27) Part 4. Crystal Fire (00:26:13) Part 5. The Silicon Mirror (00:31:54) Part 6. World(view) in the West (00:35:28) Part 7. Haunted Habitats (00:40:45) Part 8. Thinking Machines (00:49:28) Part 9. Abracadabra (00:54:26) Part 10. Monsters in the Mirror (00:59:03) Afterward (01:00:05) Support the Show (01:00:48) Credits Mentioned in this episode Tyson Yunkaporta — Sand Talk James C. Scott — Seeing Like a State Marion Fourcade & Kieran Healy — The Ordinal Society Marek Poliks & Roberto Alonso Trillo — Exocapitalism Marshall McLuhan — The Gutenberg Galaxy Walter Ong — Orality and Literacy Jean Baudrillard — Simulacra and Simulation Nick Land — Fanged Noumena Monica Gagliano — Thus Spoke the Plant Benedict Anderson — Imagined Communities Bayo Akomolafe Gordon White — Rune Soup Permanently Moved is a quarterly podcast written, recorded, and edited by Jay Springett.  --- SHOW NOTES https://thejaymo.net/2026/03/02/302-monsters-in-the-mirror-permanently-moved/ FIND EVERYTHING ELSE thejaymo.net: https://thejaymo.net/ Experience.Computer: https://experience.computer/ Worldrunning.guide: https://worldrunning.guide/ Subscriber Zine support the show! https://startselectreset.com/

    Episode 302: Monsters In The Mirror
5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

Permanently Moved is an audio-only podcast about digital culture, internet culture, and the changing shape of the web. Written, recorded, and edited by Jay Springett since 2018, this long-running podcast explores artificial intelligence, social media, world-running, online communities, and life lived online in the shadow of the stack. Episodes blend personal journal and cultural analysis; tracing the strange edges of technology, AI, media, games, and the internet as it evolves. They are accompanied by Start Select Reset, a physical essay zine sent by post to supporters, with limited copies also available for purchase.