Panic World
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We are living in a casino [Ad-free]
🕑 Added 2025-06-25 07:00:06 +0000 UTCFirst they came for our mobile apps, then they came for our videogames, and now, it seems pretty much every aspect of our lives is being re-oriented around gambling. Who are the players — inside and outside of tech — that have spent the past decade building out “Casino World”? Edward Ongweso, Jr. joins us to talk about why we should be panicking about a world where everything is gamified, and what’s in it for the people trying to run the floor.
Our guest Edward Ongweso, Jr. writes the Tech Bubble newsletter, and you can check out the piece we referenced, “Trapped in the Maw of A Stillborn God,” here. He also hosts This Machine Kills, which you can find wherever you listen to podcasts.
Credits
- Host: Ryan Broderick
- Producer: Grant Irving
- Researcher: Adam Bumas
- Business Manager: Josh Fjelstad
Comments
Aaron
Note: this episode is really only about males
Paul
Ryan, you’re my favorite thinker on the cultural impact of the internet. Grant, don’t give him shit. This is sincere. In this episode you were piecing together two ideas—casino world and our current political moment. Here are two things you might want to look at. 1) The Winner Take All Society by Robert Frank which makes the case that power law and monopoly outcomes have become the norm for everything from software markets to sports. And this was in 1996. And 2) The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb which says that long-tail risks are the only things worth working for because although they’re highly unlikely, when they happen they have a bigger effect than anything else. If you dig, you will find the straight-shot linkage from Wall St to Silicon Valley to DC through Taleb. Oh, and thanks for all the great episodes. I listen to every one
