More or Less · Topics · Episode #165
Jess Got Duped: Taylor Swift, the Dead Internet, and Laughing Ourselves to Death
Clip from the full recording, 59:18–62:49 · download mp4 · watch at this point on YouTube
Brit roasts Jessica — founder of The Information — for falling for an AI-generated Taylor Swift pregnancy post on Facebook. The episode's closing thesis: if these four can't tell what's real, the normies are screwed, and the dead internet theory has arrived on schedule.
Brit closes the show with a public roasting: last week Jessica — professional journalist, founder of The Information — texted her a Facebook post of Taylor Swift crying on the football field, hugging Travis Kelce, phoning someone with tears of joy. Pregnancy rumors everywhere. Brit fell for it too, for a minute — then noticed the mascara physics, then the source: “a Facebook link to a Rando’s Facebook account. And I’m like, Jess, you’re definitely falling for something here.” Jessica’s own tell, in hindsight: “no one finds out they’re pregnant on the phone.”
Dave delivers the episode’s moral: whether it’s Dario and Benioff or Taylor Swift, “nobody knows if anything is real on the internet anymore” — and if the people who know tech best are getting duped, “the normies are screwed. The dead internet theory is real.” Jessica retreats to Instagram as her last real feed; Sam cheerfully reports his is made up too, “but it’s at least titillating.” Then Sam’s actual thesis statement for the episode: everything we said was gonna happen is happening. LLMs blocking users based on their belief systems while users route around them; nobody able to authenticate a video of two Fortune-500 CEOs; and the market ripping through all of it. His closing worry is the sharpest thing in the episode: less afraid of a crash, more afraid “of us all just laughing ourselves to death and not believing anything and then not doing anything.” Dave’s postscript to Suds: “Gen Z hasn’t seen a crash yet, man.”
Key points
- The dupe: an AI-generated Taylor Swift pregnancy-reveal post from a random Facebook account fooled Jessica and, briefly, Brit — the tell was mascara physics and the source.
- Brit's forensics: too much mascara running, no one learns they're pregnant on the phone, and the link traced to a rando's Facebook page.
- Dave's moral: nobody knows if anything is real online anymore — dead internet theory, confirmed by direct experience of the four most-online people they know.
- If the experts get duped, the normies are screwed; Jessica's fallback is Instagram, which Sam notes is also made up — 'but it's at least titillating.'
- Sam's episode thesis: everything predicted is now just happening — model refusal wars, unverifiable reality, ripping markets — 'it's kind of what we expected.'
- Sam's real fear isn't the crash: it's everyone laughing, believing nothing, and doing nothing. Dave to Suds: 'Gen Z hasn't seen a crash yet, man.'
Where they landed
Quotes
“I click through, I realize it's a Facebook link to a Rando's Facebook account. And I'm like, Jess, you're definitely falling for something here.”— Brit
“Whether it's Dario and Benioff or Taylor Swift, nobody knows if anything is real on the internet anymore. The dead internet theory is real.”— Dave
“I'm less worried about a crash and more worried about us all just laughing ourselves to death and not believing anything and then not doing anything.”— Sam
Suggested tweets
The founder of The Information got duped by an AI Taylor Swift pregnancy post on Facebook. “The normies are screwed.”
Tweet this →“Nobody knows if anything is real on the internet anymore. The dead internet theory is real.” — Dave Morin closing this week's More or Less
Tweet this →“I'm less worried about a crash and more worried about us laughing ourselves to death and not believing anything.” — Sam Lessin
Tweet this →All topics · Full episode #165 + transcript · Subscribe on YouTube · Spotify