Panic World

10:51

BONUS PREVIEW: "Primetime" gets it

Panic World ·

2026/10/03

Sit down and take a seat with Ryan & Grant. They discuss the recent release of Primetime as a follow-up to this week’s episode.Want to hear the rest of this conversation? Or ad-free episodes, bonuses & exclusives, and access to our members-only Discord? Sign up for a membership for 6.66 bucks a month at https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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65:52

Why "To Catch A Predator" videos feel so gross

Panic World ·

2026/09/30

To Catch A Predator launched in 2004 and was immediately a massive hit, but despite its long-lasting cultural impact — highlighted by last week’s release of Primetime — it only ran for one season and twenty episodes. The show ended after an assistant District Attorney in Texas died by suicide. Is it ethically worse? Is this justice? Why does it feel so gross? Today we’re joined by Free Country USA to look at the legacy of the show and the trend of content creators trying to bust predators on their

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72:53

The original looksmaxxer who created our hell world

Panic World ·

2026/09/23

Who created the strongman hellscape that we’re currently living in?Today, we’re talking about the original looksmaxxer, Zyzz. He got his start online in 2006 with a popular World of Warcraft streaming account, whose earnings he used to join a gym, because he’d “always been obsessed with bodybuilding.” By 2010, he had amassed a huge following among outrageously jacked guys online. He finally figured out how to make money off this — by hawking supplements and other products — but then he passed

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10:27

We're going independent

Panic World ·

2026/09/16

A little over a year ago, we had a big announcement — that we were adding video to the podcast with our partner Courier. Just as we go into the third year of exploring how the internet warps our minds, our culture, and eventually reality, we’ve got some more big news for you, which we’re really excited about.Speaking of, want to support the new Panic World… world? And get ad-free episodes, bonuses & exclusives, and some new wacky stuff we’re gonna be experimenting with? Sign up for a membership at

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29:17

Charlie Kirk didn't matter

Panic World ·

2026/09/10

Happy (?) Kirkiversary. One year ago today, Charlie Kirk was killed by someone the right-wing wasn’t able to effectively use for fearmongering. Ryan & Grant look back at what Kirk’s legacy is now — the martyr he wasn’t able to become, and the guy who’s instead trapped in memes and shitposts forever.Want even more Panic World content? Like ad-free episodes, bonuses & exclusives, and access to our members-only Discord? Sign up for a membership for just five bucks a month at

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21:15

BONUS PREVIEW: Is social media actually "dead" now?

Panic World ·

2026/08/26

Will we ever get another new platform to communicate with on the internet?Today, we’re talking about the various eras of social media platforms — from Myspace to Facebook, Twitter to Instagram, and Vine to TikTok — and their biggest moments in culture, like Fred, Shit My Dad Says, Wendy’s Twitter, and Kombucha Girl. Some have stood the test of time so far, but mostly, we’re all beholden to platforms that have so much power and money now that they can control where we post and how we do

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72:25

The sicko who invented prediction markets

Panic World ·

2026/07/22

Where did prediction markets come from, and why are they more popular than ever?Charlie Warzel joins the pod once again to discuss the proliferation of these strange companies like Kalshi and Polymarket that allow you to bet on nearly anything — monetizing the good, and mostly bad things. We go into the early 2000s background of these platforms, led by Robin Hanson, an economist and self-described “Jungian ENTP” who originally got involved with prediction markets through his “Policy Analysis

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64:56

Bad things happen when we let robots decide what’s good

Panic World ·

2026/07/15

Why does culture feel so much less... human than it used to? Wyatt Cenac joins Ryan to discuss the “crisis of taste” — or how, in the past 10-15 years, tech companies have flipped media on its head. People used to spend more time making things and shaping culture, and then tech responded to that culture. Now tech is using AI to try to manufacture culture so you don’t need to develop your own taste because our tech overlords will tell you what taste to have. Ryan & Wyatt reflect on why nostalgia

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68:19

Our autopsy of the DNC autopsy

Panic World ·

2026/07/08

Why did the Democrats lose so badly in 2024? Rob Flaherty joins us to dissect the "DNC autopsy" — the formerly internal report about what went wrong in 2024 — about which he gave his own thoughtsonThe Bulwarkin May. Rob was the deputy campaign manager for Kamala Harris and also formerly a digital strategist for Joe Biden. Rob distills his analysis of what happened in 2024, and then Ryan & Grant present Panic World’s own version of the DNC autopsy and get Rob’s response, as well as additional

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32:59

BONUS PREVIEW: Enhanced masculinity crisis

Panic World ·

2026/07/01

Did you catch Peter Thiel's Enhanced Games in Las Vegas on May 24th? You know, the libertarian-minded, steroid-fueled, biohacked Olympics. No? Still nothing? After recruiting mostly ex-Olympic athletes from track & field, swimming, and weightlifting, parent company Enhanced trained them for months in Abu Dhabi — while also loading them up on a cocktail of drugs to see how many world records they could break. Reporter, producer, wrestling coach, and also Grant’s trainer Sam Eagan talks with Grant

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56:26

The Onion's big plans for InfoWars

Panic World ·

2026/06/24

Venerable satirical Chicago-based outfit The Onion is truly on a mission to save democracy — and it starts by relaunching FKA Alex Jones’s InfoWars, which The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron LLC, acquired via bankruptcy auction. CEO Ben Collins joins us to discuss the business’s past and future; chumboxes vs. subscriptions; why they still put out physical newspapers; “Google Zero”; the editorial process (and humans vs. AI); of course, their plans for InfoWars, and more.Our guest Ben

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39:28

We went to the UFC fight at the White House lol

Panic World ·

2026/06/17

This past weekend, Ryan & Grant went down to see what the UFC Freedom 250 fight on the White House lawn was all about. What they found was $30 margaritas, $120 graphic tees, one (1) mechanical bull, and a whole lot of people who just wanted to watch some dudes beat each other up — and didn’t even know it was supposed to be Trump’s big birthday bash.Want even more Panic World content? Like ad-free episodes, bonus & exclusive episodes, and access to our exclusive Discord? Sign up for a membership

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68:56

This celebrity murder case feels like fan fiction

Panic World ·

2026/06/10

Today we’re talking about the D4vd murder case, one of the darkest stories in pop culture at the moment. D4vd — or David Burke — got his start as one of the original Fortnite streamers, who then built a big Discord community around himself, including an alter-ego, "IT4MI," and ultimately his work as a musician blending styles like bedroom pop and indie rock. But in April 2026 he was charged with allegedly murdering one of his fans, 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. Jennifer Swann joins us

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10:55

BONUS PREVIEW: This is the dot-com crash all over...

Panic World ·

2026/06/05

What would the internet look like if major tech companies like Meta and Google were no longer usable?With Google more deeply integrating AI into Search and changing how it’s worked for the first time in 25 years, many fear “Google Zero,” where websites simply don’t receive any traffic from search anymore. But Google isn’t the only one. With so many companies going all-in on AI, replacing employees with AI and reorienting their products to cater toward AI use, Ryan presents his “Internet Zero”

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60:03

BONUS: How the internet destroyed TV (and itself)...

Panic World ·

2026/06/05

Why is everything online just clips now? We’ve reached a point with digital video that’s made it impossible even for a normal, non-sicko to ignore: we’re awash in slop (whether AI-created or not). Ryan works through his thinking with Grant about how everything on the internet became video: how the people who were first to figure that out made enough money that they’re now able to take on legacy media and big Hollywood players, but it doesn’t really seem like anyone knows what to do with that

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42:32

Fauxbituaries (Hyperfixed)

Panic World ·

2026/06/03

We’re taking a breather to let Grant out of his cage and get some fresh air, but we didn’t want to leave you without something to panic about. So this week we’ve got an episode from friend of the show and previous guest, Alex Goldman, the host of Hyperfixed. It’s about Markus. When his good friend died suddenly, he went online to get more information. What he found was several AI-written obituaries on dodgy looking websites with a litany of factual inaccuracies. Who is making these, and why

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55:25

New York hipsters and the antichrist

Panic World ·

2026/05/27

Today we’re talking about billionaire Peter Thiel and his many fascinating, varied interests. You might know him for secretly funding Hulk Hogan’s lawsuit that destroyed Gawker, but did you know that he is also pretty interested in New York’s comedy scene, its hipsters, and something about a biohacked Olympics? What is going on here? Claire Parker joins us to delve into the concept of “Thiel Bucks,” or the money he allegedly gives to willingly reactionary influencers and media figures.Our guest is

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59:44

Revisiting "Her" in the age of AI relationships

Panic World ·

2026/05/20

If you forgot to add this important event to your calendars, Spike Jonze’s 2013 sci-fi film, Her, was actually set in 2025. Ryan and Grant watched the Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson vehicle now that we’re just past that date to see what it got right and wrong. They discuss where Jonze thought we would be versus where we are with generative AI, societal isolation, relationships — and whether the movie is really "one of the best science fiction movies of all-time."We're off this week, so

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75:17

Why AI cat videos are becoming the internet’s newest...

Panic World ·

2026/05/13

Why are cats so popular on the internet? It started with cat memes like I Can Haz Cheezburger and Keyboard Cat, then we became enamored with cat celebrities like Lil Bub, Grumpy Cat, and Princess Monstertruck. And now, we’re witnessing the next evolution in cat internet content: “cute cat AI.” Our guest and host of American Hysteria, Chelsey Weber-Smith, calls it a “Kitty Horror Picture Show.” Chelsey joins Ryan and Grant to tell us about the explosion of really weird AI-generated cat videos

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59:28

How trad wives took over the internet — from 4chan to...

Panic World ·

2026/05/06

Where did the "tradwife" trend come from — you know, aside from the 1950s — and why has it become increasingly popular online? Today, we’re talking about not just how men aren’t doing that well, but maybe women aren’t either. This question, of course, is because the (usually) alt-right tradwives supporters have a new girlboss, and it’s Erika Kirk.Journalist Liz Plank joins us to break down the resurgence of these regressive ideas about where women belong and how they should conduct themselves, the

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