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PODCAST

Endless Thread

Untold histories, unsolved mysteries, and other jaw-dropping stories online and IRL. Hosted by Ben Brock Johnson & Amory Sivertson.

technology

All Episodes

00:35:03

Find Our Friends

Endless Thread ·

2025/04/25

At any given time, 110 people can tell you exactly where James Tatter is.Every single iPhone user has the Find My app on their phone, which allows them to share their location with friends and family. Increasingly, for young people like James, it's becoming also a form of social media. Endless Thread producer (and James's sister) Grace Tatter wanted to know how something that seems creepy to some people became so commonplace to others — and how it's affecting our relationships off the

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00:17:28

Introducing NHPR's "The Final Days of Sgt. Tibbs"

Endless Thread ·

2025/04/18

Endless Thread is thrilled to introduce you to a new podcast from our friends at NHPR’s Document team. That’s the team behind other great narrative shows like Bear Brook and The 13th Step.For the past six months, NHPR reporter Todd Bookman has been spending a lot of time thinking about… a cat. This cat’s name is Sergeant Tibbs – he’s 19. Tibbs goes missing… and lands in the center of a lot of human pain, confusion… and internet outrage. And as Todd investigated what happened here, he found a

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00:24:45

Nothing Violent

Endless Thread ·

2025/04/11

There's a conspiracy theory on Reddit right now suggesting that Reddit is using aggressive tools to hide posts praising or supporting Luigi Mangione's alleged execution-style killing of the CEO of United Healthcare, Brian Thompson. Endless Thread looks at what is going on with Luigi memes on this platform: the Nintendo character memes… and the other ones.Show notes: A Reddit moderation tool is flagging ‘Luigi’ as potentially violent content (The Verge) Reddit will warn users who repeatedly

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00:30:32

Introducing Levittown, new podcast from Kaleidescope...

Endless Thread ·

2025/04/08

Have you ever been deepfaked? Or maybe this is just a new fear – that photos of you end up online that are you – but not really you? What would you do? For an increasing number of people – especially women – this is becoming a reality.So much so that a recent bill in Congress called the “Take It Down” Act has found some incredibly rare bipartisan support. The bill is sponsored by republican Senator Ted Cruz and democrat Senator Amy Klobuchar – making it illegal to post explicit deepfakes – First

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00:31:59

Toyota Hilux trucks - why are they popular online and...

Endless Thread ·

2025/04/04

In April of 2024, a group of aid workers were killed by Israeli Defense Forces while bringing food to Central Gaza. The IDF had alleged that its military analysts had identified a gunman on top of one of the trucks carrying supplies, suggesting it was a military vehicle, not an aid vehicle.In the online debate following the event, a familiar trope popped up: arguing over whether one of the aid trucks a Toyota Hilux. The reason? In military conflict around the globe, the Hilux is a familiar

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00:25:26

How to responsibly leak information to the press

Endless Thread ·

2025/03/28

Well, the messaging app Signal has been in the news recently, thanks to a snafu in which prominent federal defense officials mistakenly added The Atlantic's editor-in-chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, to a group chat in which they discussed military strikes in Yemen.This whole situation reminds us of another conversation we've been having as a team about how to responsibly leak information to the press, and if there is such a thing as a "secure line." To answer this question, we reached out to our WBUR

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00:23:36

Adrián and the Whale

Endless Thread ·

2025/03/21

There are moments that define each of our lives. Some we can predict: graduations, marriages, births, death. Others? Not so much.And in the year 2025, sometimes, if the stars align just so, you may find that moment explode online. That's what happened to 23-year-old Adrián Simancas. Last month, he was paddling the Straight of Magellan, with his father Dell, when the unimaginable happened: a humpback whale emerged from the water and engulfed him in its open mouth — and his father captured it all

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00:53:55

Bonus: A conversation with Hasan Piker

Endless Thread ·

2025/03/19

Last week, we introduced you to the wildly popular, albeit controversial, streamer and self-declared socialist Hasan Piker — what he’s all about, how he’s delivering his message to millions of followers, and who he’s reaching and resonating with.When we talked to him in November, Hasan had a lot to say about the Democratic Party, about the streaming platform Twitch, and about what’s further dividing Americans right now. So here's more of our conversation with him.

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00:36:12

The Stream is Up

Endless Thread ·

2025/03/14

Every day, seven days a week, for eight hours or more, Hasan Piker is live on the video game streaming platform Twitch. This is where he shares his political commentary with a dedicated community of viewers — many of whom fall into a particularly sought-after electoral demographic: young men.One of the dominant theories about the re-election of President Donald Trump in November 2024 was that it was aided by commentators like Piker: brash and bro-y. But Piker is a Socialist, considerably to the

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00:30:41

Terminally Online

Endless Thread ·

2025/03/07

"Should I be joking at a time like this?"That's the question then 33-year-old Brooke Eby asked herself when she uploaded her first piece of TikTok comedy in 2022, about being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Brooke's since built an audience of hundreds of thousands of people who are rooting for, and laughing with, her. Sometimes it gets weird. Brooke talks to Ben and Amory about how facing death changed her relationship with social media and online community. Show notes: Brooke Eby's TikTok,

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00:32:39

Welcome to the Jam

Endless Thread ·

2025/02/28

Everybody get up, it's time to slam now! Yes, this episode is about the 1996 movie "Space Jam," starring NBA legend Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes. Rather, it's about the website for "Space Jam," which is still up and functioning nearly 30 years later.Amory and Ben talk to the hilarious team behind this digital artifact and hear the unlikely story of its continued existence. Show notes: The Space Jam website 'Space Jam' Forever: The Website That Wouldn't Die (Rolling Stone) The TIL

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00:31:17

Introducing On Point: The Internet Archive is in danger

Endless Thread ·

2025/02/21

We’re coming to you with a special offering today. It’s an episode about the internet… from our friends just a few cubicles over here at WBUR: On Point.Hosted by Meghna Chakrabarti, On Point is a unique, curiosity-driven combination of original reporting, newsmaker interviews, first-person stories, and in-depth analysis, making the world more intelligible and humane. When the world is more complicated than ever, we aim to make sense of it together. We loved their recent episode about one of our

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00:34:19

Love in 60 Seconds

Endless Thread ·

2025/02/14

Wanda Brewer was grieving. After losing her brother, she found comfort in an unexpected place: a soap-opera-esque story on Instagram told in 60-second increments. The story? A mafia boss torn between power, family and love.Wanda’s not alone. Millions are bingeing these bite-sized, ultra-dramatic vertical shorts, where sexy werewolves, ruthless billionaires, and love triangles unfold one minute at a time — hooking viewers with cliffhangers and high-stakes drama. From China’s multi-billion-dollar

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00:25:55

DeepSeek's Diss Track

Endless Thread ·

2025/02/10

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

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00:19:27

Little Big RedNote

Endless Thread ·

2025/02/07

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

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00:38:05

Does Steven Seagal really know karate?

Endless Thread ·

2025/01/31

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,

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00:22:30

Butlerian Jihad

Endless Thread ·

2025/01/24

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

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00:35:41

Episodes we love: The Scream

Endless Thread ·

2025/01/17

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

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00:29:28

Dox Glasses

Endless Thread ·

2025/01/10

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:

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00:34:08

Sandwiches of History

Endless Thread ·

2025/01/03

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

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