Shows
The Culture Journalist36 predictions about culture in 2026CUJO is a podcast about culture in the age of platforms. Episodes drop every other week, but if you want the full experience, we recommend signing up for a paid subscription.Paid subscribers also get access to our CUJOPLEX Discord and The Weather Report, a monthly episode series where we take stock of where the cultural winds are blowing and tell you what’s rained into our brains. As special treat, you can now listen to our 2025 retrospective with Ruby Justice Thelot for free.Hey pals. Welcome to our first annual cultural predictions episode. To ki...
2026-01-161h 04
The Culture JournalistThe agony and the ecstasy of the modern job huntCUJO is a podcast about culture in the age of platforms. Episodes drop every other week, but if you want the full experience, we recommend signing up for a paid subscription.Paid subscribers also get access to our CUJOPLEX Discord and The Weather Report, a monthly episode series where we take stock of where the cultural winds are blowing and tell you what’s rained into our brains. Stay tuned for our 2025 retrospective in late December with Ruby Justice Thelot. You’ll also get an invite to our second reading group meet-up: a discussion of Rich...
2025-12-231h 11
The Culture JournalistInside NYC's thriving cinephile undergroundCUJO is a podcast about culture in the age of platforms. Episodes drop every other week, but if you want the full experience — including access to our CUJOPLEX Discord and our eternal parasocial friendship — we recommend signing up for a paid subscription.Paid subscribers also get access to The Weather Report, a new monthly episode series where we take stock of where the cultural winds are blowing and tell you what’s rained into our brains. In the latest installment, cyberethnographer Ruby Justice Thelot joins us to wax philosophical about the Labubu craze, matcha and “performative male” discourse...
2025-09-111h 24
VaporwareEpisode 10: Ruby Justice ThelotTo kick off our new weekly release schedule, we have Chase & Daniel in conversation with designer, artist, NYU design/media professor & cyberethnographer Ruby Justice Thelot (@being_on_line)
Ruby’s output is thoughtful, extremely prolific, and multifaceted. His writing on virtual realms, digital communities and AI offers a unique perspective that overlaps with our interests at Vaporware in key ways. Chiefly, how crucial it is for people and small communities to truly own their own means of coordination and memory. But also how the specific affordances of those digital tools dictate the bounds of memory itself.
Ruby’...
2024-10-091h 51
The Computer RoomA Cyberethnography of ImaginationKatherine sat down with cyberethnographer and artist Ruby Justice Thelot and discussed the role of imagination in computer-mediated communication, paracosms, building durable relationships with AI, and more. * Ruby's book, A Cyberarcheology of Checkpoints * Ruby's Twitter* Ruby's blog * A really cool video Ruby made, Why Aliens Love America This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit default.blog/subscribe
2024-04-081h 21
Nersey - Technically a Music PodcastStans: The Anti-Haters [Feat. Ruby Justice Thelot] - The Nersey Guide to Ethical Hating E4this episode is part of the nersey guide to ethical hating, a series featuring some of your favorite people on the internet talking about the concept of “the hater” through the lens of their personal expertise. only paying subscribers will have access to the entire series, so sign up on patreon (https://patreon.com/nersey) or substack (https://nersey.substack.com)ruby justice thelot is the smartest person we know. buy his book a cyberarcheology of checkpoints, which is about using the internet to find community in ways that capital does not intend (specifically in the comments sect...
2024-04-021h 49
Contain175. Archive Fever - Ruby Justice Thelot *Unlocked*The internet is tedious, impersonal, rarely goes anywhere. Cyber-ethnographer/professor Ruby Justice Thelot comes on to talk about Checkpoints--a new book which charts the 10 + year history of an extended forum beneath a Youtube video loop of the Donkey Kong Country 2 soundtrack full of personal stories of tragedy, triumph, and major life events that one day vanished without a trace. A history of digital and physical libraries, the shock of deletion, the age of recuperation, file corruption, non-online human digital media, and more.
2024-01-191h 47
Boys ClubEp. 107: Interview - What is e/acc with Reggie James and Ruby Justice ThelotNatasha and Deana have on two big brain dudes, Reggie James and Ruby Justice Thelot, to give a 101 overview of the e/acc movement. In this interview they cover: 1. Exploring Effective Accelerationism (e/acc) Origins: Effective Accelerationism is a modern philosophy stemming from accelerationism. They discuss the origins of accelerationism at the University of Warwick by key figures like Nick Land, Sadie Plant, Mark Fisher, and others, focusing on their study of technology's impact on the world and the resulting cultural analysis. 2. Capitalism and Technological Impact: A significant part of the discussion revolves around the i...
2023-12-051h 06
NicstalgiaCheckpoints and The Shock of DeletionRuby Thelot is featured on this week’s episode of Nicstalgia. He shares how his love for studying and researching niche internet communities and cultures led him to writing his forthcoming book, A Cyberarchaeology of Checkpoints. We talk about how the concept of checkpoints originated in video game culture and took on a subversive new form as personal life status updates in a YouTube comments section. What happens when a community is formed by thousands of checkpoints in a YouTube comments section, and what happens when that YouTube video is deleted?
We explore the shock of deletion, th...
2023-11-2852 min
The Culture JournalistThe decline of the digital third space, with Ruby Justice ThelotBack in 2012, a YouTube user called @taia777 posted a 59-minute video of some dreamy white clouds obscured by thorny green vines, soundtracked by the music for Nintendo’s Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong’s Quest. It was just another example of the popular trend of video game soundtracks on YouTube, but then something strange happened: Down in the comments section, strangers started spontaneously posting the word “checkpoint”— you know, like the “checkpoint” where a player saves their progress in a game — and anonymously sharing incredibly personal stories and updates from their lives. By 2021, when YouTube finally took the video offline...
2023-11-161h 15
Daily Tech News ShowDeep Mind Now Has Brains! - DTNS 4503We have an excerpt from “A Word with Tom Merritt” where Tom talks with cyber-ethnography researcher and writer, Ruby Justice Thélot, about how people evaluate the veracity or truthfulness of information they find on the internet. And we share internal misgivings from inside Google about the issues with its ChatGPT competitor Bard and its not ready for primetime functionality.Starring Sarah Lane, Rich Stroffolino, Megan Morrone, Ruby Justice Thélot, Roger Chang, Joe.Link to the Show Notes. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/dtns.
Ho...
2023-04-2031 min
A Word with Tom MerrittHumanity - Ruby Justice ThélotHumanity is facing a threat and a possible replacement from machines. But is it as bad as we might think? Ruby Justice Thélot talks to us about the philosophy of the future of humanity.Featuring Tom Merritt and Ruby Justice Thélot.Ruby's Links:https://twitter.com/being_on_linehttps://www.instagram.com/being_on_line/www.asterisques.com Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/a-word-with-tom-merritt.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2023-04-2045 minA Word with Tom MerrittHumanity - Ruby Justice ThélotHumanity is facing a threat and a possible replacement from machines. But is it as bad as we might think? Ruby Justice Thélot talks to us about the philosophy of the future of humanity.Featuring Tom Merritt and Ruby Justice Thélot.Ruby's Links:https://twitter.com/being_on_linehttps://www.instagram.com/being_on_line/www.asterisques.com Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/a-word-with-tom-merritt.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2023-04-2045 minA Word with Tom MerrittHumanity - Ruby Justice ThélotHumanity is facing a threat and a possible replacement from machines. But is it as bad as we might think? Ruby Justice Thélot talks to us about the philosophy of the future of humanity.Featuring Tom Merritt and Ruby Justice Thélot.Ruby's Links:https://twitter.com/being_on_linehttps://www.instagram.com/being_on_line/www.asterisques.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
2023-04-2045 min