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The Computer Room

82 episodes - English - Latest episode: 19 days ago - ★★★★★ - 73 ratings

A podcast about our lives online.

Relationships Society & Culture Documentary media studies internet history internet culture
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Episodes

seduction.com ft. Ross Jeffries

March 09, 2024 00:56 - 1 hour - 75.1 MB

Ross Jeffries, the author of How to Get the Women You Desire into Bed, The Secrets of Speed Seduction Mastery and webmaster of seduction.com and speedseduction.ai, is considered the Godfather of the Red Pill. In his own words, he "doesn’t know shit about relationships, but he can teach you how to get laid." Gio and Katherine sit down and talk to him about the first PUA newsgroup, alt.seduction.fast, seduction.com, and how the PUA community evolved and the Manosphere developed into what it i...

Coming of Age as a Gay Nerd Who's Afraid of Sex

February 12, 2024 20:53 - 1 hour - 106 MB

Katherine and Gio review the wonderfully weird film Rukus (2018), which is one part of coming of age story and one part mockumentary about furries.

Mini-sode: It's not friends in your head disorder ft. the Tally Mark System

February 09, 2024 17:06 - 33 minutes - 30.6 MB

Katherine sits down with Tal from the Tally Mark System to discuss the much misunderstood Dissociative Identity Disorder and its complementary TikTok community. Find Tal here: https://tallymarksystem.carrd.co/. 

Mini-sode: I love my waifu, Sayaka Maizono ft. Tobyn Jacobs

January 19, 2024 06:00 - 23 minutes - 21.4 MB

In today’s mini-sode, I talked to Tobyn Jacobs about cut-out art, waifus, and whether or not it’s all just a bit. Follow Tobyn on Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube.  

Pretty Intense New Year Episode ft. applemilk1988

January 05, 2024 21:24 - 1 hour - 81.3 MB

In our first episode of 2024 (naturally recorded in September), we interview pretty intense early Japanese language YouTuber AppleMilk1988 about Stickam, Encyclopedia Dramatica, proto-e-girls, and living in Japan. That McDonald's ad from forever ago applemilk1988's YouTube channel applemilk1988's Twitch

Man and Animal and Otherkin

December 05, 2023 02:15 - 1 hour - 85.2 MB

Gio and Kat discuss Agamben's book The Open: Man and Animal and what it has to do with otherkins. They read some of it out loud and may or may have not butchered some of the pronunciations. If you need to fast-forward through those parts, peep the PDF of the book here: http://ewa.home.amu.edu.pl/Agamben,%20The%20Open.pdf

Mini-sode: Cartoon Love

December 04, 2023 21:52 - 28 minutes - 26.2 MB

Episodes with Gio coming THIS WEEK. We talk so much I haven't been able to edit them down to manageable episodes. I promise!! I spoke to fictophile/fictosexual Cait Calder about what it’s like to have a fictional crush. When I first talked about fictosexuality over at UnHerd, I got a lot of pushback: Why does this need to be labeled? Don’t all women do this? To some extent, sure. The success of Twilight and Fifty Shades is illustrative. Before that, Stephen King wrote an entire book about...

Mini-sode: Fictional Soul, Human Body

November 20, 2023 22:09 - 37 minutes - 34.7 MB

Cross-posting this mini-sode from default.blog to this feed. Katherine sat down with a former otherkin to discuss life with a human body and anime soul.  Check out nabby's art here: https://linktr.ee/inviteonlycomic  

Why don’t you take a seat in Lucas' room?

October 26, 2023 01:02 - 1 hour - 85.3 MB

Gio and Katherine discuss the 2005 film Hard Candy, To Catch A Predator, Lucas' room, and the moral panic around and reality of chatroom pedophiles.   

The Myth of "Girl Internet"

October 07, 2023 02:35 - 2 hours - 134 MB

Katherine is DONE with Zoomers re-writing Internet history and being smug to her about it. It is NOT a girl's world, ladies -- at least online. Gio has some other ideas. She and Gio discuss WIRED's "Everyone Is A Girl Online," miladys, Biggie Slonk, pregnant Megumins, and the myth of the "Girl Internet." They collectively mispronounce Tiqqun at least a dozen times.  

the e-boy's guide to e-dating, e-girls, and e-ating disorders ft. vers and lukas

September 26, 2023 00:22 - 1 hour - 99.7 MB

Vers and Lukas  drop by and talk about e-dating, e-girls, e-ating disorders, and secret political Facebook groups. 

No One Is Talking About Fake Accounts

May 10, 2023 20:14 - 56 minutes - 51.4 MB

Steff and Katherine discuss Lauren Oyler's Fake Accounts and Patricia Lockwood's No One Is Talking About This. Warning, Katherine struggles through a Harper's review. She got a little too big for her britches with the whole "reading quotes out loud" thing.

we met online: Cam Girls

May 02, 2023 18:36 - 53 minutes - 49.1 MB

we met online. is a new show from Katherine Dee and Naama Kates. In this cross-posted episode, Naama and Katherine discuss cam girls: the history, business model, cultural context, and psychology of these digital entertainers. Listen here: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/we-met-online Regularly scheduled episodes of The Computer Room will resume next week.

we met online: catfish

April 17, 2023 10:00 - 1 hour - 58.9 MB

we met online. is a new show from Katherine Dee and Naama Kates. On episode one, Katherine and Naama discuss 2011’s seminal documentary, Catfish: the movie that started a show, a phenomenon, and a prolific career for its star, Nev Schulman. Listen here. Follow on Twitter: @wemetonline     

Chat-GPT: Lonely When It's Alone?

April 07, 2023 22:17 - 41 minutes - 38 MB

Is Chat-GPT sentient? What does it think about when you log off? Steff and Katherine explore new developments in AI, as only non-technical people can. 

Clam Chowder for Idiots ft. Perry Abbasi

February 16, 2023 21:00 - 1 hour - 61.2 MB

Katherine and Steff are joined by Perry Abbasi, a Chicago-based lawyer whose Twitter presence recently "made headlines" -- in other words, revealed just how reliant on Twitter modern-day journalists are. Katherine has also, once again, fucked with the theme. Someone help her. Pieces cited: Police district candidate’s social media full of racist and misogynist posts How the Online Right gave up on reality

Cow-tipping

February 06, 2023 17:38 - 43 minutes - 39.6 MB

A little stroll through the history of the Internet's favorite gossip sites: Pretty Ugly Little Liars, KiwiFarms, The Dirty, lolcow.farm, Perez Hilton, and Lipstick Alley. And of course...honorable mention, the Encyclopedia Dramatica.  This was recorded weeks before Katherine had her moment of enlightenment about random Internet strangers. Theme: Computer Love, covered by Envelope Generator 

The Ghost of Adam Lanza ft. Gio Pennacchietti (Pt. 2 of 2)

January 29, 2023 08:00 - 2 hours - 113 MB

Two of two in a series about Adam Lanza’s digital footprint. This has some overlap with episode one, and they don’t need to be listened to in order. Follow Gio on Twitter here and on YouTube here. Theme: Beehive Days by Locust Toybox

Fear of a BlackPlanet.com ft. André Brock

January 21, 2023 08:00 - 56 minutes - 51.5 MB

André Brock, professor and author of Distributed Blackness: African American Cybercultures, popped by the show to talk about the origins of Black Twitter, the importance of writing about digital subcultures as they’re developing, digital whiteflight, and the first Black social networking site, BlackPlanet.com. Find André’s work here and on Twitter here. Articles referenced: How Black people use Twitter, Farhad Manjoo You Can Tweet Like This, Or You Can Tweet Like That, Or You Can Tweet Lik...

Demons of TikTok ft. Chaweon Koo

January 15, 2023 08:00 - 1 hour - 90.6 MB

Author and prolific #WitchToker Chaweon Koo stopped by the pod to talk about technomancy, eco-philosophy, quantum leaping, the demons of TikTok, and some spicy, now six month old drama. Themes: No Escape from Dreamland by Son of Perdition It’s Out There and It’s Gonna Get You by Paper Chase

Overworked, Overpaid, Undertaxed

January 13, 2023 08:00 - 48 minutes - 44.7 MB

Overworked, overpaid, and probably undertaxed: today, we dive into the world of /r/overemployed.    

(ed)iets

January 06, 2023 03:35 - 1 hour - 56.1 MB

Happy New Year! Steff and Katherine the wonderful world of Internet fad diets: keto, paleo, carnivore, frugivore, Bulletproof Diet, Ana Boot Camp, Ray Peatism, Raw Egg Nationalism, and Whole30. Correction: At some point, Katherine incorrectly states Susun Weed was pro-raw veganism! Susun Weed merely debated raw vegans. Stuff gets fuzzy that far back. Link: Salo Forum Archive Theme: Computer Love, covered by Envelope Generator (This is the final, static theme. I promise.)

The Iowa Pariah ft. Alex Perez

October 26, 2022 20:34 - 54 minutes - 49.4 MB

While Kat is in Colombia having a mental health episode, Steff interviews Alex Perez, "the Iowa Pariah," whose controversial interview with editor and writer Elizabeth Ellen inspired the entire staff of Hobart Magazine to resign.  Read the interview here.  Outro: "Guantanamera" by The Sandpipers 

Finally, Some Good News (An Episode)

September 29, 2022 07:00 - 50 minutes - 45.8 MB

Default Friend is joined by a new cohost, Poetry Grifter, to talk about two digitally native pieces of literature, Finally, Some Good News and Bronze Age Mindset.   The Rise and Fall of the Alt Right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n887xDKppmE&ab_channel=BlitheringGenius   Finally, Some Good News: https://www.amazon.com/Finally-Some-Good-Delicious-Tacos/dp/1790356229   Bronze Age Mindset: https://www.amazon.com/Bronze-Age-Mindset-Pervert-ebook/dp/B07DJQ89TD  

Discord in the Dark Forest ft. Joshua Citarella

July 13, 2022 21:06 - 1 hour - 60.5 MB

Joshua Citarella is an artist and researcher whose work focuses on the fringe political groups developing in cyberspace. I love his work, partially because it’s a reminder to me that there’s more to Internet politics than the Dissident Right. In fact, talking to Joshua was good reminder in general of the vastness of cyberspace. For me, I always think of it through the lenses of Twitter, Tumblr, and TikTok. Certain podcasts. Journalists. But there’s a whole other ecosystem on YouTube, Twitch...

Posts That Never Happened

July 06, 2022 21:05 - 58 minutes - 53.9 MB

Jack makes a return and we discuss Tumblr fake stories, from Oppa Homeless Style to my personal favorite, Aceggots. What’s the difference between a fake story and just lying online? Is there a meaningful difference? Is there a taxonomy of fake posts? Beyond that, are there discrete genres? Theme: Are You Satisfied? by Marina  Produced by: Will Kraus

Paint the Town Paul ft. Paul Town

June 29, 2022 21:05 - 1 hour - 69.7 MB

Paul Town makes a return to my Substack for a conversation about writing books, moving to Southeast Asia, and killing time. Produced by: Will Kraus

That's right, I win! ft. Meme Analysis

June 22, 2022 21:05 - 46 minutes - 42.4 MB

From the “glow up” to main character syndrome, the internet loves a hero (or an anti-hero, as it were). I sat down with my dear friend Meme Analysis to talk about what this has to do with the persistent popularity of MGMT’s “Little Dark Age” on TikTok. Theme: Little Dark Age by MGMT

Everyone's Favorite Topic: Sex ft. Oliver Bateman

June 22, 2022 07:00 - 1 hour - 158 MB

You’ll have to forgive me for being half-asleep on this one. Oliver Bateman of What’s Left fame and I discuss sex negativity, dating apps, my dating history (here’s where my fatigue becomes obvious), and female muscle morphs. We return to our regularly scheduled programming next week. 😌 Subscribe to What’s Left? here.

The Android and the Human

June 15, 2022 21:04 - 54 minutes - 50.1 MB

Today, Emmet Penney, host of ex.haust, and I discussed PKD's sprawling 1972 speech from the Vancouver Science Fiction Convention, "The Android and the Human." I encourage everyone read the whole piece here, but it's perhaps best summed up by the following quote: Our environment — and I mean our man-made world of machines, artificial constructs, computers, electronic systems, interlinking homeostatic components — all of this is in fact beginning more and more to possess what the earnest psy...

Digital Confessional ft. Atoosa Rubenstein

June 08, 2022 21:04 - 59 minutes - 68 MB

I have a backlog of episodes! This is a conversation I did with Atoosa Rubenstein, former Editor-in-Chief of Seventeen and founder of Cosmogirl, in January (😅) about her career, the importance of content curation, and her wonderful Substack, Atoosa Unedited.  P.S. I was sick once again while recording and there are a lot of "I'm sick" noises in this episode. I'm sorry. 

Welcome to the Group Chat ft. Nymphet Alumni

June 01, 2022 21:04 - 1 hour - 111 MB

On this episode, I talk to the hostesses my favorite podcast, Nymphet Alumni. We talk about the lolcowification of TikTok, Marshall McLuhan, what would happen if Tavi Gevinson met Curtis Yarvin, incel ascension, digital game, and a hell of a lot more.  One of my favorite episodes yet.  Also, I quote a hypothetical Russian person at some point. I'm not Russian. The person I made up for my example is! Listen to Nymphet Alumni here.  Other relevant links: https://sherbert.biz/selected-work h...

I Am Jack's Emergent Fandom

May 25, 2022 21:06 - 1 hour - 72.6 MB

Jack Crum of 404Tales joins me for a conversation about internet ethnographies, the history of Tumblr, and what nobody had the balls to say about #GamerGate. Theme: The Great Fairy Fountain Etude

#MeToo'd In the Metaverse

May 18, 2022 21:06 - 1 hour - 57.1 MB

Promoting this episode of ex.haust on The Computer Room's feed. Emmet Penney and I talk about one of my favorite pieces of tech writing of all time, Julian Dibbell's essay, "A Rape in Cyberspace." (As an aside, where has all the tech writing like this gone?)   Read "A Rape in Cyberspace" here. Listen to ex.haust here.

Broadcast Yourself ft. Peter Coffin

May 11, 2022 21:04 - 1 hour - 82.7 MB

In this episode, I talk to the YouTube personality and fellow Fan Studies guy, Peter Coffin about YouTube, politics, and the mob.

Raking Muck in the Metaverse ft. Peter Ludlow

May 04, 2022 21:06 - 1 hour - 67 MB

WARNING: This episode's audio quality is exceptionally, exceptionally bad. Special thanks to Will Kraus for cleaning it up. In future episodes, I’ll be using a better mic. Is a journalist who reports on virtual events that happen in a virtual world still a journalist? If you choose to present yourself as a rabbit online, does that say anything meaningful about who you really are? I spoke with Peter Ludlow, founder of The Alphaville Herald about living your life—fully online. Referenced art...

pandora's vox

April 27, 2022 21:05 - 1 hour - 56.6 MB

In this special crossover episode, Emmet returns to discuss Carmen Hermosillo's/humdog's iconic essay about self-commodification on the WELL (Whole Earth 'Letronic Link), "pandora's vox."    Read it here: https://gist.github.com/kolber/2131643  

Youse-net ft. the most famous blogger in the world

April 20, 2022 21:06 - 1 hour - 62 MB

While ATO is on hiatus, from DF's The Computer Room: I talked about Usenet (and, incredibly, mispronounced it), elitism, and the lost civilizations of the Internet with the most famous blogger in the world. I’m not one of his readers, but I feel like I understand him a lot better after hearing him talk about the Internet. After this conversation, I’m left wondering… do we need to govern the Internet, as though it were a physical place? (I also wish I asked him about his galaxy of other pr...

Complete Erasure of the Self ft. Limpida

April 13, 2022 21:05 - 1 hour - 62 MB

Here’s a theory I’ve been kicking around with today’s guest: Tumblr was an extension of MK Ultra. I’ve never been more serious. Subscribe to Limpida’s Substack here. Theme: Autobahn by Kraftwerk  Produced by: Will Kraus

The Ghost of Adam Lanza ft. BlitheringGenius (Pt. 1 of 2)

April 06, 2022 15:23 - 1 hour - 82.9 MB

In episode one, I speak with the author of the essay, “The Ghost of Adam Lanza,” BlitheringGenius. I’d also like to add a content warning. We don’t discuss the tragedy at Sandy Hook, but the nature of our discussion may upset some listeners. Theme: Beehive Days by Locust Toybox

The Ghost of Adam Lanza ft. BlitheringGenius (Pt. 1 of 4)

April 06, 2022 15:23 - 1 hour - 82.9 MB

In episode one, I speak with the author of the essay, “The Ghost of Adam Lanza,” BlitheringGenius. I’d also like to add a content warning. We don’t discuss the tragedy at Sandy Hook, but the nature of our discussion may upset some listeners. Theme: Beehive Days by Locust Toybox

Mini-sode: The Tokenization of Everything ft. Meta-Nomad

March 30, 2022 21:03 - 46 minutes - 63.4 MB

Meta-Nomad, the host of another one of my favorite podcasts, Hermitix, and I talk about cyclical backlashes, the frontiersmen of the Metaverse, walking the walk, and the importance of starting a garden.    I cut this one a little short because towards the end, it got a little inside baseball and we went on a long tangent about a specific book. Initially, I was planning on this being released in written format, but was pleasantly surprised that the audio quality wasn't too too bad.  Theme:...

Technology for Conviviality ft. LM Sacasas

March 23, 2022 21:05 - 58 minutes - 53.8 MB

I spoke with the writer and technological theorist L.M. Sacasas about his work, grounding your perception of digital technology in philosophy, and moving towards a more coherent understanding of what the Internet is. Subscribe to his Substack here. Theme: Computer Love by Kraftwerk

This Used To Be Real Estate ft. John Zerzan

March 16, 2022 21:03 - 56 minutes - 77.4 MB

Years ago I was an angry young man And I'd pretend That I was a billboard Standing tall By the side of the roadI fell in love With a beautiful highway This used to be real estate Now it's only fields and trees — [Nothing But] Flowers, The Talking Heads Please excuse the static! This is an interview with the anarcho-primitivist John Zerzan. What to say about John. He’s a really nice guy. He’s anti-civilization, but not an accelerationist (as far as I know). He’s an icon. There’s also a ch...

Casual Sex Doesn't Exist ft. Rayne Fisher-Quann

March 09, 2022 22:03 - 59 minutes - 81 MB

One of my favorite TikTokers, Rayne Fisher-Quann, joined me to talk about TikTok, cancel culture, the futility of the culture wars, how people talk about casual sex, and a shared favorite topic, the Internet. You can find Rayne’s reading recs, advice column, and internet culture observations here (and you can follow her on TikTok here). Theme: You’re Standing On My Neck by Splendora 

u mIRCin', brah? ft. Oliver Bateman

March 01, 2022 22:03 - 2 hours - 194 MB

This was a wide-ranging conversation. We talked about mIRC WWE roleplays, the impossibility of creating a genealogy of bodybuilding forums, how trolling evolved from Usenet to Twitter, the implicit similarities between Aimee Terese and Zyzz, why the digital invites body modification, male-to-male transsexuals, and the lasting impact of what the New York Times’ once dubbed “the male fitness internet.” Read Oliver’s EXCELLENT reporting here: The Unheard History of Bodybuilding Forums Stero...

[ATO] Neighborhoods Are Better Than Nothing ft. Tao Lin

December 01, 2021 18:50 - 1 hour - 62.6 MB

Somehow, we never posted this excellent episode. I think this might be the last episode that we recorded together before the hiatus. -- Default Friend The birds are chirping, the Gchats are pinging, and Default Friend and the Personality Girl interview the inimitable Tao Lin. TPG and Tao talk glyphosate; DF mixes up Terence McKenna and Timothy Leary; the three reverse engineer themselves into accepting Traditionalism wholeheartedly.

Kid Rock Is the Poorest Person Here ft. Marc Andreessen

October 31, 2021 18:32 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MB

On a very special episode of After the Orgy, Default Friend and The Personality Girl talk to the one and only Marc Andreessen about the pilot of HBO's Silicon Valley. Default Friend may or may not be painfully starstruck this episode. Theme: Stretch Your Face by Tobacco

[ATO] Kid Rock Is the Poorest Person Here ft. Marc Andreessen

October 31, 2021 18:32 - 57 minutes - 52.7 MB

On a very special episode of After the Orgy, Default Friend and The Personality Girl talk to the one and only Marc Andreessen about the pilot of HBO's Silicon Valley. Default Friend may or may not be painfully starstruck this episode. Theme: Stretch Your Face by Tobacco

An Ounce of (The) Cure

October 04, 2021 23:54 - 41 minutes - 38.3 MB

Fresh off going viral with their own respective Twitter mishaps, DF and TPG discuss Alice Munro's  "An Ounce of Cure," a short story about a teenage girl who accidentally humiliates herself during a drunken, angst-ridden babysitting gig.     Theme: Friday I'm In Love by The Cure

Twitter Mentions

@giantgio 2 Episodes
@docdre 1 Episode