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Alice Bucknell on How Virtual Spaces Help Us Cope With Reality
When wildfire engulfed much of Los Angeles earlier this year, artist and game designer Alice Bucknell found themselves stuck inside, replaying “Firewatch,” a quiet game about exploring the wilderness in anticipation of an impending wildfire. It helped them process emotions that felt too overwhelming in real life. “Firewatch,” and other games like it that focus on exploration rather than fighting or competing, are known as walking simulators. Throughout their career, Alice has used this approach to craft exploratory games that invite players to stretch their imagination and emotional capacity. In this episode, Morgan talks with Alice about how walking simulators and other virtual worlds can reframe our understanding of failure, climate grief, and our connection to one another. From simulating life as a moth to wandering through abandoned metaverses like Second Life, they explore how digital spaces can become sites of mourning, reflection, and hope. Guests: Alice Bucknell, artist, writer, and game designer Further reading/listening: The video game that makes the climate apocalypse look good — Erin X. Wong, High Country News Second Life’s loyal users embrace its decaying software and no-fun imperfections — Alice Bucknell, Document Journal Playing with Feelings: Video Games and Affect — Aubrey Anable, University of Minnesota Press Read the transcript here Want to give us feedback on the series? Shoot us an email at [email protected] You can also follow us on Instagram Credits: This episode was reported and hosted by Morgan Sung and produced by Francesca Fenzi. Our team includes producer Maya Cueva, editor Chris Hambrick and senior editor Chris Egusa. Jen Chien is KQED’s Director of Podcasts, and also helps edit the show. Original music, including our theme song, by Chris Egusa. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Katie Sprenger is our Podcast Operations Manager. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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A Political Reckoning for Twitch?
TwitchCon, Twitch’s annual convention in San Diego for all things streaming and gaming, is facing heightened scrutiny after streamer Emiru was assaulted there during a meet-and-greet. The incident occurred after a series of streamers pulled out of the event over safety concerns and the growing specter of political violence. All of this has highlighted questions about the role of political commentary on Twitch — a genre that's exploded in the last few years, transforming the platform into much more than a gaming site. In this episode, Morgan is joined by author and reporter Nathan Grayson and political streamer Denims to explore Twitch’s rise as a hub for political speech, the company’s inconsistent handling of backlash against political creators, and whether any real alternatives exist for this new wave of commentators. Guests: Nathan Grayson, co-founder and reporter at Aftermath Denims, political streamer on Twitch Further reading/listening: Beefed Up TwitchCon Security Couldn't Stop The Internet's Issues From Spilling Over Into Real Life — Nathan Grayson, Aftermath Can Twitch Survive? CEO Dan Clancy at Twitchcon — Taylor Lorenz, User Mag Stream Big: The Triumphs and Turmoils of Twitch and the Stars Behind the Screen — Nathan Grayson Why is TwitchCon so uniquely unsafe for streamers? — Christianna Silva, Mashable Read the transcript here Want to give us feedback on the series? Shoot us an email at [email protected] You can also follow us on Instagram Credits: This episode was reported and hosted by Morgan Sung. Our Producer is Maya Cueva. Chris Egusa is our Senior Editor. Chris Hambrick is our Editor. Jen Chien is KQED’s Director of Podcasts, and also helps edit the show. Original music, including our theme song, by Chris Egusa. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Katie Sprenger is our Podcast Operations Manager. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Satanic Panic in the Age of the Internet
What do colorful and plush Labubu dolls have in common with Mesopotamian mythology? If you believe some viral TikToks, everything. Recent conspiracy theories have linked the toys to everything from ancient demonic spirits to Satan worship. But behind those ideas flooding online feeds is something older and darker: the return of moral panic. In this episode, host Morgan Sung digs into how a new generation of “satanic panic” has gone digital, from fears of occult rituals in song to online crusades against queer and trans people. Journalist Sarah Marshall, host of the new podcast series The Devil You Know, joins Morgan to help trace how misinformation and moral outrage keep recycling the same fears — just with new villains. Guests: Sarah Marshall, journalist and host of the You're Wrong About podcast Further reading/listening: The Devil You Know with Sarah Marshall — CBC Podcasts You're Wrong About podcast — Sarah Marshall The right’s moral panic over “grooming” invokes age-old homophobia — Aja Romano, Vox The strange origins of the Satanic Panic: How one Canadian book started a worldwide witch hunt — Leah Collins, CBC Arts Read the transcript here Want to give us feedback on the series? Shoot us an email at [email protected] You can also follow us on Instagram Credits: This episode was reported and hosted by Morgan Sung. Our Producer is Maya Cueva. Chris Egusa is our Senior Editor. Chris Hambrick is our Editor. Jen Chien is KQED’s Director of Podcasts, and also helps edit the show. Original music, including our theme song, by Chris Egusa. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Katie Sprenger is our Podcast Operations Manager. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Beyond the AI Hype Machine
When ChatGPT launched in 2022, it kicked off what some have called the “AI hype machine” — a frenzy of promotion and investment that has sent some tech companies’ valuations soaring to record heights. Meanwhile, computational linguist Emily M. Bender and AI researcher and sociologist Alex Hanna have proudly worn the titles of “AI hype busters,” critiquing the industry’s loftiest claims and pointing out the real-world harms behind this wave of excitement. What began as a satirical podcast is now a book, The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want. In this episode, Alex and Emily explain why the very term “AI” is misleading, how AI boosters and doomers are really flip sides of the same coin, and why we should question the AI inevitability narrative. Guests: Emily M. Bender, professor of linguistics the University of Washington Alex Hanna, director of research at the Distributed AI Research Institute Further reading/listening: The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want — Emily Bender and Alex Hanna The Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 Podcast — Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna “AI” Hurts Consumers and Workers -- and Isn’t Intelligent — Emily Bender and Alex Hanna, Tech Policy Press On the Very Real Dangers of the Artificial Intelligence Hype Machine: Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna Explore AI History, the Cold War, and a Fatally Overhyped Idea — Emily M. Bender, LitHub People Are Crashing Out Over Sora 2’s New Guardrails — Samantha Cole, 404 Media Sora 2 Has a Huge Financial Problem — Victor Tangermann, Futurism We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard. — James O'Donnell and Casey Crownhart, MIT Technology Review Read the transcript here Want to give us feedback on the series? Shoot us an email at [email protected] You can also follow us on Instagram Credits: This episode was reported and hosted by Morgan Sung. Our Producer is Maya Cueva. Chris Egusa is our Senior Editor. Our editor is Chris Hambrick. Jen Chien is KQED’s Director of Podcasts, and also helps edit the show. Original music, including our theme song, by Chris Egusa. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brian Douglas and Brendan Willard. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Katie Sprenger is our Podcast Operations Manager. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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The All-Seeing Eyes of Modern Dating
What happens to dating when every misstep has the potential to go viral? That’s what happened in 2022, when social media posts warning about a few bad dates with a man named “West Elm Caleb” blew up on TikTok in 2022, and became a cautionary tale on the culture of public shaming. In this episode, Morgan speaks with tech journalist Tanya Chen and culture writer Magdalene Taylor about the rise of the “dating panopticon” — a world in which love, gossip, and surveillance collide. From ghosting to the hacked “Tea App,” they explore how online whisper networks meant to protect women have turned into digital minefields, and what it takes to opt out of turning our romantic lives into content. Guests: Magdalene Taylor, writer, culture critic, and senior editor at Playboy Tanya Tianyi Chen, independent tech writer and editor Further reading/listening: Reject the Digital Dating Panopticon — Magdalene J. Taylor, Many Such Cases Gender Relations Have Made Dating a Hostile Act — Magdalene J. Taylor, Many Such Cases Women’s ‘red flag’ app Tea is a privacy nightmare — Tanya Tianyi Chen, The Verge West Elm Caleb: The TikTok mob's latest target might not deserve its wrath. — Madison Malone Kircher, Slate Read the transcript here Want to give us feedback on the series? Shoot us an email at [email protected] You can also follow us on Instagram Credits: This episode was reported and hosted by Morgan Sung. Our Producer is Maya Cueva. Chris Egusa is our Senior Editor. Additional editing by Chris Hambrick. Jen Chien is KQED’s Director of Podcasts, and also helps edit the show. Sound design by Chris Egusa. Original music, including our theme song, by Chris Egusa. Additional music from APM. Audio engineering by Brian Douglas. Audience engagement support from Maha Sanad. Katie Sprenger is our Podcast Operations Manager. Ethan Toven-Lindsey is our Editor in Chief. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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À propos de Close All Tabs

Ever wonder where the internet stops and IRL begins? Close All Tabs breaks down how digital culture shapes our world through thoughtful insights and irreverent humor. From internet trends to AI slop to the politics of memes, Close All Tabs covers it all. How will AI change our jobs and lives? Is the government watching what I post? Is there life beyond TikTok? Host Morgan Sung pulls from experts, the audience, and history to add context to the trends and depth to the memes. And she’ll wrestle with as many browser tabs as it takes to explain the cultural moment we’re all collectively living. Morgan Sung is a tech journalist whose work covers the range of absurdity and brilliance that is the internet. Her beat has evolved into an exploration of social platforms and how they shape real-world culture. She has written for TechCrunch, NBC News, Mashable, BuzzFeed News and more. We love listening to shows about technology and culture like Power User with Taylor Lorenz, ICYMI, Wow If True, Hard Fork, There Are No Girls On the Internet, Endless Thread, Uncanny Valley from Wired, It’s Been a Minute, and You’re Wrong About. If you like them too, then trust us–you’ll like Close All Tabs.

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