A hiatus imposed on Dara by life’s steamroller has reminded him how non-performative the podcast continues to be. He reflects on the circumstances that rendered him incapable of recording over the last few weeks and reiterates his conviction that being judiciously transparent is of more use to his listeners, and to him, than jazz hands and soft shoe shuffles.
Recalling Bruce Willis’s boxer in Pulp Fiction who chose not to go down in a fixed fight, Dara wonders if one of his challenges is pride, and whether he should just put his hands up and admit defeat. While he tries to work that out he first considers how much juice he has left for his current path before turning to what can be learned from soothing babies. The lesson is valuable in relation to how we treat ourselves.
As AI creations gather more purchase in online spaces, Dara is bemused by users’ willingness to engage directly with seductive fabrications. The fembots are here boys, and they want to play…