Panic World

Latest episodes

Showing 20 · updated from the feed

Why "To Catch A Predator" videos feel so gross

#13 trending · Technology

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 — i

Sep 30
1 h 05 min

The original looksmaxxer who created our hell world

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 pop

Sep 23
1 h 12 min

We're going independent

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 ho

Sep 16
10 min

Charlie Kirk didn't matter

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

Sep 10
29 min

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

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 Facebo

Aug 26
21 min

The sicko who invented prediction markets

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 co

Jul 22
1 h 12 min

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

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 hav

Jul 15
1 h 04 min

Our autopsy of the DNC autopsy

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 whi

Jul 8
1 h 08 min

BONUS PREVIEW: Enhanced masculinity crisis

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 recru

Jul 1
32 min

The Onion's big plans for InfoWars

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 par

Jun 24
56 min

We went to the UFC fight at the White House lol

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 te

Jun 17
39 min

This celebrity murder case feels like fan fiction

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 Fo

Jun 10
1 h 08 min

BONUS PREVIEW: This is the dot-com crash all over again [Part 2]

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

Jun 5
10 min

BONUS: How the internet destroyed TV (and itself) [Part 1]

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 (

Jun 5
1 h 00 min

Fauxbituaries (Hyperfixed)

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

Jun 3
42 min

New York hipsters and the antichrist

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

May 27
55 min

Revisiting "Her" in the age of AI relationships

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

May 20
59 min

Why AI cat videos are becoming the internet’s newest weird obsession

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,

May 13
1 h 15 min

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

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

May 6
59 min

You're one post away from becoming the internet's main character

Remember Chewbacca Mom, Damn Daniel, BeanDad, or most recently, Chappell Roan? These are just some examples of people who have become the “main character” on the internet

Apr 29
1 h 15 min

Chart trend

Position in the Technology chart (US), last 90 days.

#1#67#133JulAugSepOct

all-time peak

days in the top 10 since Nov 2024

Chart positions

Where Panic World ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Oct 1, 2026).

#40 ▲ 46 Technology US

What listeners say

A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.

Found the pod after Claire Parker guested and have been loving it. Thorough discussions that feel like they get to the interesting heart of the matter, and enough variation on themes to keep each episode feeling fresh. Many insightful takes!

game_theory14 · Aug 2026

This is an often-interesting podcast that goes to some fascinating places (culturally). They do a good job of explaining niche internet dynamics that either reflect broader "real life" dynamics or actually presage/become broader "real life" dynamics. I have to specifically call out the most valuable service they have provided for me personally, though; the Casey Newton episode. Before then, I was vaguely aware of him, and had the impression that he was a pretty smart guy who writes about technology. Ho boy, was I wrong! He came on this podcast and made a fool of himself for something like an hour. Just saying factually incorrect things about LLMs with a degree of confidence available only to our most ignorant commentators. The man earnestly said something along the lines of "we have line of sight to AGI". About LLMs! After admitting he didn't understand how they work! Months later, I'm still thinking about how breathtakingly stupid that man is on at least a weekly basis. The more you know! (Also, deduct half a star for putting Lorenz in my feed. Yikes!)

DerBard · Jun 2026

After a Reddit suggestion about this show a year ago, I decided to check it out on Spotify, and ended up binging the entire podcast on audio. Fast forward to today, where I’m currently listening to the “AI cats” episode, where Chelsey Weber-Smith’s description of the videos were so on point I had to drag up the video version on Spotify just to see the chaos for myself. Chelsey’s narrative was 10/10, no notes. Great show to listen to during work. However, I do have one complaint. In my 2025 Spotify wrap up, Ryan thanked me for being one of the 10% top listeners of the year, and promised me a subscription to BetterHelp. It’s June 2026 and I still haven’t received my free BetterHelp subscription. WHERE IS IT, RYAN 😠

AuntBandaid · Jun 2026

Excellent podcast w great info. Show flows smoothly. Lots of cool pop culture topics that are just off the beaten path. Recommend

Ak-215 · Jun 2026

The latest episode about AI exhibits a fundamental misunderstanding of the technology behind the modern AI boom. Any writer who would even espouse the idea that chatGPT functions similarly to a search engine can be immediately discredited as not understanding the underlying technology behind LLMs and other generative models. Transformers are glorified autocomplete. There is no semblance of a path towards a “singularity” or “AGI” in the literature and to suggest otherwise is at best foolish and at worst deception. I question any podcast that would post such a poorly researched episode.

His the · Mar 2025

Good premise, poor execution. The reporting on this show is trivial at best and the hosts think they are the smartest people in the room. Kind of embarrassing listening to them with how wrong they are with their information. Gave it a few episodes but I’m out. Not worth my time.

Chips216 · Jan 2025

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