Never News: A Post-Webby's Debrief

Hello you beautiful angels! Welcome to this installment of Never News. The NP team are freshly back from the Webby's and I am ready to deliver you THE NEWS THAT YOU CRAVE! Let us begin.

Some Internet aperitifs...

Putting to bed the "5G is dangerous" theories once and for all. Elsewhere, a critical examination of Hasan Piker's stream about being detained at O'Hare Airport, and the tried and true reminder that when being interrogated by the police, there's one approach to handling it: shut the fuck up. While we're on the subject of the cops, a new yucky surveillance tool just dropped, it seems. And finally, just as a PSA as someone who lives in Chicago: yes, I have seen the Chicago Pope memes.

And now, for the main courses...

INTELLIGENCER: ChatGPT goes to college

There's been a recent wave of discourse about how college students use ChatGPT for their homework, essay writing, and seemingly everything else — though I don't think any of us are especially surprised to hear it. It's a terrible thing to expect, and something that I, at least, had naïvely hoped wouldn't somehow get this bad. And yet, here we are. Just today, I saw this TikTok comparing the gleeful adoption of ChatGPT to a reversal of history — specifically, the freedom the invention of the printing press offered the masses. Johannes Gutenberg effectively offered the peasantry the ability to have access to literature, the possibility of literacy, and the independence of thought that can come from it. But as this TikTok video elaborates, the mass adoption of ChatGPT feels like an alternate history where, as a reaction to the printing press, the peasants beat Gutenberg to death, denying themselves the possibility of what he offered. Maybe it's a bit much, but hey — if the shoe fits.

SHOW NEWS: We went to the Webby's!!!

Don't adjust your television set! It's true - in a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence, the entire Never Post team was in the same place at the same time, in REAL LIFE! We all boarded planes, trains, and automobiles to descend upon Mike's house and also to go to the Webby's to bask in the blue light glow of receiving the award for Best Podcast Live Performance. We laughed, we danced, we (I) stared nervously at the Rizzler from across the room, it was great!!!

VOX: Stadium concerts are a huge bummer now

I've been very interested in ongoing conversations around huge blow out concerts — your Eras Tours, Cowboy Carter Tours, and the like. And, according to Vox, the overarching feeling now is one of exhaustion and frustration. Concert tickets are more expensive than ever, the culture around these shows often comes with an expectation to dress a certain way, which is code for buying an entirely new outfit to turn out a theme-appropriate look for exactly one night. There's a sea of phones, and a sea of people who may or may not behave in an especially courteous way while shoulder-to-shoulder with you in the GA section. In short: the stadium concert bubble is bursting. I'll be curious to see how this changes (or maybe...doesn't change) the kinds of shows we go to.

THE CUT: once more with feeling — STOP RECORDING PEOPLE WORKING OUT

You'll have to forgive me for double dipping in the New York Magazine brand of products, but I couldn't help myself when I saw this piece. Much like the Vox piece I sent you all a while back, this article in The Cut continues the debate around when it's not okay to record other people in public. In this case, the story begins with a woman horrified to see herself on a TikTok video during a CorePower yoga class. Maybe this is just a sign that we need to have a much more public and consequential conversation about influencing and how/when it should be limited. Though if the views keep rolling in from videos like the yoga one, I'm not sure how well that'll go.

And that's it for this week's Never News! May you enjoy the incredible smell of a lilac bush in full bloom, an experience I had walking home last night that was such a delightful and joyous surprise that it stopped me in my tracks. Ciao for now!

Here's a song I've been listening to a lot this week (sorry, couldn't find this on YT)