Flightless Bird – "Black Box of Doom" (January 7, 2025)

Host: David Farrier
Cohost: Rob
Guest: Jason Pargin

Episode Overview

In this episode, David Farrier, a New Zealander living in America, delves into the intersection of modern Internet culture and American uniqueness. Inspired by the new novel “I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom” from author Jason Pargin (who also joins for a discussion), the episode explores technology, social media rabbit holes, truth in the digital age, and the ways America provides fertile ground for extreme personalities and cultural oddities.

Key Topics & Insights

1. New Year Reflections and the Influence of Algorithms

[00:05–03:05]

• David and Rosabelle chat about their New Year's experiences, with Rosabelle recounting tarot readings in New Zealand and David describing a "transcendent" Creed concert in Vegas (no bedbugs).
• Discussion about TikTok's influence: Rosabelle observes, "A lot of people worry that the algorithm is closing how expansively we see the world...that's true, especially on TikTok." She also feels that, at least intergenerationally, her world has expanded through social media.
• The “big frog” incident is introduced—a viral AI-generated animal video that sparked debate about discerning truth online.

Notable Quote:

“Why would someone fake a big frog? Like, there’s no payoff for this. And I felt like I had to get my act together in terms of my Internet savviness.”
—Rosabelle ([02:33])

2. AI, Internet Curation, and the Battle for Authenticity

[05:03–12:44]

• Rob talks about resetting his Instagram algorithm due to “weird” AI-targeted content.
• David laments the mundane admin of maintaining a manageable online experience: “You’d think in 2025 we’d be at a point where everything is easier. And look, maybe it’s me aging out, but I feel like everything is just getting more difficult.” ([07:30])
• The hosts discuss how quickly algorithms adapt and the unsettling presence of AI.
• A debate: Is it artful or exploitative for artists to use AI? Rob feels it can be creative if human-guided, David worries about missed opportunities for artists and a general loss of trust/truth.
• A recurring theme is confusion: not wanting more “gray area” regarding what’s real or fake, as with the “big frog.”

Notable Quote:

“I don’t want more confusion in my life...if I have to go through my day being like...is this a real frog or is this a fake frog? I just don’t want to have to deal with that.”
—David Farrier ([11:25])

3. America as a Stage for Strangeness: Vegas on New Year’s

[18:58–27:37]

• David details his uniquely American New Year’s: a Creed concert at Caesar's Palace, staying at a rough-around-the-edges Circus Circus hotel, encountering heavy police and military presence reminiscent of “Civil War,” and witnessing surreal elements like the “clicky cards” and military Humvees.
• The aftermath: discovering the cybertruck incident at Trump Tower (an apparent suicide-bombing attempt, which Elon Musk spun into a praise of the vehicle’s containment).
• On the way back, David marvels at the Goodyear blimp and contemplates its $21 million price tag—a “flightless bird” if there ever was one.

4. Cultural Time Capsules: Blimps and Baseball

[27:37–30:16]

• The hosts riff on the Goodyear blimp—David’s quixotic desire to ride one—and discuss Fenway Park’s classic Green Monster scoreboard, still operated by hand.
• Jason joins in to compare these cultural relics to time capsules, still inspiring awe and unmediated by algorithms and AI.

5. Conversation with Jason Pargin: The Internet’s Amplifying Role in American Weirdness

[32:16–52:40]

a. Jason Pargin’s Rise on TikTok & Cross-Media Resonance

[32:16–40:16]

• David reflects on a viral TikTok review of his documentary “Tickled” by Jason, which reignited interest in the film:

“This is one of the weirdest and most unsettling things you can watch that doesn’t involve anybody dying.”
—Jason Pargin ([32:58])

• Jason and David bond over being “mutual fanboys” of each other’s fascination with cultish personalities.

b. America’s Cult-Like Microcultures

[34:34–37:03]

• Pargin’s thesis: America is full of “would-be cult leaders” with small, intense followings. He references “Tiger King” as symptomatic of this phenomenon.

Notable Quote:

“There’s people everywhere just hiding among us, and the only reason you’ve never heard about them is because they never had a shootout with the police. They’re happy to just run their little kingdom.”
—Jason Pargin ([36:17])

c. Technology as Accelerator: From Hitler to TikTok

[40:16–42:41]

• Pargin draws provocative links between the advent of loudspeakers enabling Hitler’s rallies and social media today amplifying dangerous/charismatic actors.

“The technology and the man came along at the same time.” ([41:44])

• The intersection of inventions and vulnerable audiences keeps recurring, from the printing press to television to social media.

d. Information Overload & Social Fragmentation

[42:41–45:56]

• How TV and the Internet have exponentially increased the speed and impact of cultural trends.
• Pargin treasures the connective and democratizing potential of the Internet but warns, “There is nothing in our brains that has evolved to handle this much information or this many social connections.”

“Kids wind up just being the subjects of this big mass experiment that they didn’t consent to and being subjected to this technology that we never tested.” ([45:56])

e. When Online Drama Spills into Reality

[45:56–49:53]

• David and Jason discuss the dizzying and sometimes terrifying moment when Internet drama “escapes” into real life—like misunderstanding and swatting, or when anonymous threats bring police to your door.
• The mass shooting example: Reddit and social media quickly (and often wrongly) “out” a suspect, amplifying engagement regardless of truth.

Notable Quote:

“There’s this feeling that there’s no word for yet because no one had ever experienced it prior to the Internet era—that dizzying sensation of seeing an online drama escape into the real world.”
—David Farrier ([46:24])

f. Hope Amid the Madness: The Guinea Worm Story

[50:45–52:40]

• David brings up a fact from Jason’s book about the guinea worm: once infecting millions, now almost extinct due to sustained, unglamorous human effort.

“Here in the real world, actual real problems are solved all the time...but there’s not much profit to be made in telling you that.”
—Jason Pargin ([51:28])

6. Reflections & Meta-Conversation

[53:09–70:49]

• David and Rob reflect on Jason’s style, comparing it to Michael Crichton and Erik Larson—mixing narrative fiction with real-world facts and pop-culture.
• They delve deeper into the dual nature of online communities: the empowerment of marginalized individuals versus the congregation of malign actors.
• David points out the dominance of negative stories in online discourse (“the louder, more obnoxious ones may seem like they’re more prevalent” — Rob, [56:34]) and how that rarely reflects reality.
• They discuss the loss and fleeting nature of internet history and digital expression—how platforms fade, trends shift, and what we document can vanish.

7. Nostalgia, Archiving, and Scrapbooking

[63:06–66:11]

• As platforms like LiveJournal, MySpace, and Bebo disappear, they wonder if future generations (or aliens) will ever access digital artifacts of this era.
• The episode concludes with enthusiasm for upcoming Australian episodes and a warm sign-off reflective of the show’s quirky, heartfelt tone.

Memorable Moments & Notable Quotes

• On AI & Truth:

  “I want to know if I’m being taken down an AI path or not. Just tell me if the frog is real or not.”
  —David Farrier ([08:51])

• On TikTok’s Generational Shift:

  “TikTok is for old people now. The kids have moved on to something else, and you don’t even know the name of it yet.”
  —Narrator/Host ([44:37])

• On Online Drama Becoming Reality:

  “It’s like in The Ring where the little girl crawls out of the TV...So much of the way people behave online, it’s based on the fact that they clearly, on some level, don’t really think it’s real.”
  —Jason Pargin ([47:27])

• On Real-World Progress:

  “It is not exciting to stop and talk about the problems we’ve solved, like the fact that cancer survival rates have skyrocketed...But you can get a very skewed version of the world that way.”
  —Jason Pargin ([51:28])

Important Timestamps

• Rosabelle on TikTok and algorithms: [01:45–02:15]
• AI & the big frog story: [02:24–03:05]; [08:51–09:04]
• Instagram/algorithm curation frustrations: [05:49–07:29]
• AI in creative work, intent, missing the human touch: [09:37–10:50]
• Creed concert & Vegas stories: [18:58–22:45], including the surreal police/military atmosphere
• Goodyear blimp as a “flightless bird”: [27:37–28:53]
• Jason Pargin’s viral TikTok review: [32:42–34:01]
• Cult of personalities & American microcultures: [34:34–37:03]
• Technology empowering/accelerating culture (Hitler, TV, TikTok): [40:16–42:24]
• Online social overstimulation & youth: [42:41–45:56]
• The “online spills into real life” phenomenon: [46:24–49:53]
• Guinea worm & overlooked progress: [50:45–52:40]
• Meta-discussion: archival, nostalgia, the fleeting Internet: [63:06–65:11]
• Closing, upcoming episodes, Australian meat pies: [70:57–71:41]

Episode Tone & Style

• Curious, self-deprecating, and wry: David and Rob’s Kiwi/American banter is peppered with dry jokes and awe at American weirdness.
• Thoughtful and just slightly anxious: The hosts’ musings on technology, AI, and the fragmentation of truth blend fascination with palpable concern.
• Generationally aware: The conversation is attuned to how quickly platforms, trends, and algorithms shift, often leaving older users behind.

Closing Thoughts

“Black Box of Doom” is as much about the search for meaning and authenticity in modern life as it is about wild American peculiarities. Through their conversation with Jason Pargin, David and Rob reflect on internet rabbit holes, mistrust of digital realities, the joys and horrors of algorithm-driven existence, and the reminders—like the extinction of the guinea worm—that real progress persists, even if it’s rarely headline news.

Recommended for:

• Anyone intrigued by how internet culture mutates society
• Fans of trenchant yet humorous social observation
• Listeners interested in digital anxiety, Americana, AI, cults, or just a really weird big frog