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WBUR

Hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson dig into the internet's vast and curious ecosystem of online communities to find untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other jaw-dropping stories online and IRL.

Endless Thread

The shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson captured the internet's attention last week. Then, a suspect, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, was arrested, and social media really went wild. Why, in a week of historic headlines from around the world, did this story captivate so many, so thoroughly?

Show notes:

Suspect in CEO’s Killing Had Discussed His Health Struggles on Reddit (The New York Times)

r/GetNoted (Reddit)

What Can We Learn From the C.E.O. Shooting Suspect’s Goodreads History? (The New York Times)

Credits: This episode was produced by Grace Tatter. Sivertson. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus. It was hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson.

The Internet Does Its Thing with Luigi Mangione

Jimmy Donaldson — AKA "MrBeast" — has taken YouTube by storm, racking up more than 330 million subscribers with his cleverly edited videos of stunts ranging from performative philanthropy to Fear Factor-esque challenges. Ryan Broderick, creator of the Garbage Day newsletter and host of the podcast Panic World, tells Ben and Amory about the awkward past, the controversial present, and the uncertain future of MrBeast.

Show notes:

 Panic World • 's MrBeast episode with Ben and Amory

 Garbage Day • , the newsletter

 • "In the Belly of MrBeast" (
Time • )

 • "Willing to Die for MrBeast (and $5 Million)" (
The New York Times • )

 • "From baking to MrBeast: Meet the YouTuber taking on the platform’s biggest creator" (
NBC News • )

Credits: This episode was produced by Amory Sivertson and Grant Irving. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus. It was hosted by Ben Brock Johnson, Amory Sivertson, and Ryan Broderick.

You'll never believe what happens in our MrBeast explainer...

When a Redditor said that he was expected to stay in his Swedish friend's bedroom while the friend ate dinner with his family, the internet exploded with hot takes. Is Sweden the most inhospitable country in the world? We talk to the individuals at the center of the Swedengate saga, including the OP himself. We also delve into how questioning cultural norms can shed light on Sweden's reckoning with nationalism, racism, and xenophobia.

Credits: This episode was written and produced by Amory Siverston. Mixing and sound design by Matt Reed. Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson are the co-hosts.

This episode originally aired on July 15, 2022.

Episodes We Love: Swedengate

Barry Enderwick got kicked out of college. Then, in the early aughts, he became the first graphic designer for a little start-up media company you may have heard of: Netflix. But today, the Internet knows Barry as the guy behind the beloved and wildly popular "Sandwiches of History" accounts, where he recreates historical sandwich recipes from old cookbooks and rates and reviews them.

He just released his first cookbook, "Sandwiches of History the Cookbook: All the Best (and Most Surprising) Things People Have Put Between Slices of Bread," and he's taking the show on the road, including a stop at WBUR CitySpace later this month.

But first, Barry joined Ben and Amory from his kitchen in the Bay Area to make the triple-decker sandwich that graces the cover of his debut cookbook, and to talk about how Sandwiches of History came to be. To quote Barry's signature phrase, we think you should give this episode "a GO!"

Show notes:

 • Sandwiches of History on 
Instagram • , 
TikTok • , 
YouTube • , and 
Reddit
 • "
Sandwiches of History the Cookbook: All the Best (and Most Surprising) Things People Have Put Between Slices of Bread • "

 Sandwiches of History: Live! at WBUR CitySpace

Sandwiches of History

Kashif Hoda was getting onto a Southbound train at Harvard Square when a young man said he recognized him. The doors closed before he got a chance to ask the young man how, or who he was. A month later, the answer came in the form of a viral video.

Harvard students AnhPhu Nguyen and Caine Ardefyio modified Meta's smart glasses so that you can search someone's face quickly, almost without them knowing, and pull up personal internet flotsam that they might no longer remember even exists. Think: pictures and articles from decades ago. Addresses. Voting records.

Are we prepared for a future where this tool goes mainstream?

Show notes:

IXRAY (Google Doc)

Two Students Created Face Recognition Glasses. It Wasn’t Hard. (The New York Times)

Credits: This episode was produced by Grace Tatter. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus. It was hosted by Ben Brock Johnson, Amory Sivertson, and Grace Tatter.

Dox Glasses

If you typed “inauguration” into your web browser anytime between 2017 and 2020, you likely saw an image of a person in a neon green jacket, black winter hat and glasses screaming “Nooooooooooo!” That person was Jess, who was in Washington D.C. on January 20, 2017 to protest the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

Jess told their story to Endless Thread in 2021. This week, we're revisiting that episode in advance of Donald Trump's second inauguration, just as the Internet has been resurfacing this poignant — and, for some, highly relatable — meme.

Episodes we love: The Scream

It's 2025. HBO's "Dune: Prophecy" is one of the most popular shows streaming, and the federal government just announced massive spending on artificial intelligence. The inspiration for "Dune: Prophecy" is in part a prophecy, of sorts, from 1872: One about humans becoming subservient to "thinking machines." What can a 150-year-old text teach us about the current AI revolution?

Credits: This episode was produced by Ben Brock Johnson and Grace Tatter. Mix and sound design by Emily Jankowski. It was hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson.

Butlerian Jihad

There's a burning question that keeps coming up in internet communities, YouTube explainers, and interviews with stunt people from the film industry: does Steven Seagal actually know martial arts?

In our current news environment, where conspiracy theories abound and the truth can feel elusive, this somewhat silly question keeps getting asked. But as we explore the answer, we find that perhaps the confusion about Steven Seagal's own personal story has relevance for how we navigate the year of 2025, whether or not we're talking about Hollywood action heroes.

Does Steven Seagal really know karate?

Sometimes, after a long day speaking English, former WBUR podcast fellow Cici Yu just wants to zone out and spend time on the internet where everyone is speaking her native language, Chinese. Her app of choice? Xiaohongshu, or RedNote. So, when Cici logged on recently to find a feed filled with English-speaking Americans, she was surprised.

Show notes:

"The great social media migration: Sudden influx of US users to RedNote connects Chinese and Americans like never before" (CNN)

"More speech and fewer mistakes" (Meta)

"Instagram hides search results for 'Democrats'" (BBC)

"Instagram and Facebook Blocked and Hid Abortion Pill Providers’ Posts" (The New York Times)

Credits: This episode was produced by Grace Tatter. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus. It was hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson.

Little Big RedNote

In 2022, people around the world freaked out at the advent of ChatGPT, OpenAI's chatbot. In under three years, artificial intelligence has been incorporated almost everywhere in our online lives. But training the large language models, or LLMs, that power these AI assistants is hugely expensive. Or is it? Last month, a Chinese startup called DeepSeek released their own AI app for much less money, potentially with huge economic and geopolitical implications. Endless Thread hosts a rap battle to help you understand why these AI companies are beefing.

Show notes:

"Trying to get Deepseek to talk about 'Tank Man'" (Reddit)

"DeepSeek Doesn’t Want to Talk About Tiananmen Square. Here’s What to Know" (Bloomberg)

"DeepSeek is giving the world a window into Chinese censorship and information control" (CNN)

Correction: A previous version of this episode incorrectly identified the brand of specialized chip used by DeepSeek. This episode now includes an update explaining the error.

Credits: This episode was produced by Ben Brock Johnson. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus. It was hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson.

DeepSeek's Diss Track

In 2017, Rhett Barker and his friends needed a way to stay in touch after graduating college. They were ecology majors, and meme groups were in vogue, so they created Wild Green Memes for Ecological Fiends on Facebook.

It began as a place to share silly nature-centered memes. The jokes were comically esoteric: about, say, the scientific name of a rare wild feline or the bites of Brazilian wandering spiders. You needed to know the science to laugh.

In spite of this — or because of it — the group attracted hundreds of thousands of fans from around the world. Now the group is a sprawling ecosystem of memelords with a “relentlessly optimistic” take on the natural world. Rhett decided to put the group’s popularity to good use. The results were overwhelming.

Endless Thread examines the psychology of conservation online and how people are using hope, fear, and humor to repair the planet.

=====

Credits: This episode was written and produced by Dean Russell. Mix and sound design by Matt Reed. The hosts are Ben Brock Johnson and Dean Russell.

P.S. Thanks to Derek for the rad story rec!

Green Memes

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