*PREVIEW* Collateral Dilbert feat. Ed Zitron

Summary

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TRASHFUTURE: PREVIEW Collateral Dilbert feat. Ed Zitron

Episode Date: February 27, 2026
Main Theme:
A satirical and critical look at the ethics, motivations, and cultural implications behind the AI resurrection of Scott Adams, creator of "Dilbert," via a project helmed by a self-described VC and his brother, in the wake of Adams' death.

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Episode Overview

This episode centers around a bizarre new tech development: a VC’s project to digitally resurrect Scott Adams using AI, despite the objections of Adams' family. The hosts and guests interrogate the rationale behind the project, the ethics of posthumous consent, the cultural impact of "Dilbert," and the emotional baggage passed down by "Dilbert dads." All of this is infused with TRASHFUTURE’s trademark absurdist, darkly comedic tone.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Genesis of the AI Scott Adams Project

• Catherine Tangalakis-Lippert’s Business Insider article introduces the story of a VC’s unwavering push to create "AI Scott Adams" against family wishes ([00:00–00:46]).
• The project's creator claims inspiration from growing up on "Dilbert," with bedtime stories read by his father, painting a picture of childhood shaped by corporate ennui ([01:15], [01:29], [03:26]).
• The host Nova and other panelists mock the earnest (and, to them, questionable) emotional attachment:

  Nova: “I can't hear the name without laughing and I can't laugh without laughing.” ([00:39])

2. Dilbert Children: Inheriting Office Satire

• The conversation veers into an unexpectedly earnest mini-therapy session about generational damage:
  • The hosts joke that those raised by “loser dads” obsessed with Dilbert either become podcasters or build AI necromancy machines ([01:30]).
  • Both Nova and the AI project creator admit to being “Dilbert children,” reflecting a culture shaped by strip’s dry cynicism ([01:47], [01:53]).
• The segment takes a dig at how odd it is to be a “devout listener” of Scott Adams’ post-comic podcast ([02:13]).

3. The Question of Consent – And Grief

• The project's creator insists Adams wanted to donate his likeness to AI, citing repeated public statements, and claims to honor this wish ([03:26], [03:41], [04:28]):

  Scott Adams' AI Project Creator: "Scott was mesmerized by AI... he explicitly granted everything necessary to do this in the public domain." ([02:36])

  • The panel is skeptical, querying what “public domain” actually entails:

    Nova: “Is that what public domain means?” ([03:26])

• There’s an exploration of the problem of seeking (or not really seeking) “affirmative consent from a dead guy” while ignoring his family’s clear objections:

  Zach: “I'm seeking affirmative consent from a dead guy. It's going really well.” ([05:14])

• The hosts lampoon this disregard:

  Nova: "You're blocking me. I'm going to take that as an endorsement for me to keep... necromantizing your uncle.” ([06:11])

4. What Is Legacy? What Is Respect?

• The hosts lampoon the logic, comparing “honoring a wish” with fulfilling an absurd posthumous request:

  Nova: "If I said, as my dying wish, I want you…to make me do the Charleston, would you honor that dying wish?" ([06:43]) AI Project Creator: "Yes. I would get one of the interns to try and kill you with a hammer." ([07:02])

• The absurdity is pushed further as hosts meditate on whether John McAfee would be a more appropriate posthumous AI subject, since “whatever it fucking comes up with can't be as bad as the real thing” ([07:27]).

5. Mechanics & Ethics of the AI Adams

• Details of the project:
  • All podcasts are generated using Adams’ prior written and spoken work.
  • There’s an attempt to check the model’s output for “authenticity,” but the host questions if this is anything more than “hooking up an AI of your priors up to the news” ([09:16]).
• The hosts are skeptical about the value and effort:

  Scott Adams' AI Project Creator: "Each episode takes many hours to produce...they cost over a thousand dollars a piece." ([09:43]) Nova: "Fuck off. Come on. Who's... dropping 10 bills? Me." ([09:56])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On being a Dilbert child:

  Scott Adams' AI Project Creator: “We are Dilbert children. We are the children of the Dilberts. You could not bir. And yeah, it's made me the way I am today, which is not necessarily an endorsement.” ([01:53])

• On seeking consent from the dead:

  Zach: "I'm seeking affirmative consent from a dead guy. It's going really well." ([05:14])

• On ignoring the family:

  Nova: “You're blocking me. I'm going to take that as an endorsement for me to keep... necromantizing your uncle.” ([06:11])

• On fulfilling dying wishes:

  Nova: “If I said, as my dying wish, I want you...to make me do the Charleston, would you honor that dying wish?” ([06:43])

• On the predictability of AI:

  Nova: "If you're so predictable in your opinions that you can just hook an AI of your priors up to the news, then what's the point?" ([09:16])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:00–00:46 — Introduction of the AI Scott Adams project and its rationale
• 01:15–02:36 — Growing up with Dilbert; the “Dilbert children” discussion
• 03:26–04:28 — On consent, legacy wishes, and initial project steps
• 05:10–06:19 — Objections from the family and the lure of necromancy
• 06:43–07:47 — The ethics of honoring posthumous absurd wishes; McAfee comparison
• 07:47–09:06 — Technical details of the AI, authenticity debate, financial costs

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Tone and Style

The episode is suffused with black comedy, sharp skepticism, and a distinctive culture-crit angle. The hosts mix genuine concern for ethics with a deep-seated sense of the absurd, repeatedly flipping tragic subject matter into darkly witty, biting commentary.

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Summary

This TRASHFUTURE episode dives into the surreal and queasy territory of AI resurrection—specifically, a project to digitally resurrect Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, using generative AI trained on his podcasts and writings. The panel weighs the dubious ethical and emotional logic behind the project, skewers the genre of legacy-tech necromancy, and broadens the discussion to include the intergenerational inheritance of corporate misery. The result is a hilarious, dark, and insightful look at what happens when Silicon Valley’s impulses meet the strange social afterlife of 1990s cultural icons.

Transcript

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

Do I want to bring in from Business Insider Catherine Tangalakis Lippert's article. I'm the VC who created AI Scott Adams. Here's why I'm continuing the project despite his family's objections.

[Nova]

Yes, that's what I'm talking about. Would you like to bring that into the world?

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

I think so. I think I would very much.

[Podcast Listener/Commentator]

I have never wanted to know more about something.

[Nova]

So please.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

There are very strong emotions on both sides of the question of whether my project, AI Scott Adams, should exist.

[Nova]

I can't hear the name without laughing and I can't laugh without laughing.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

I understand the arguments for and against it, Em Dash. And I have no plans to stop.

[Nova]

I mean, okay, having read this article now twice, because I love it. My favorite part of it is like whatever LLM they used, they clearly used one was like what we're going to be in your. Hey, what tone should I take in your I'm the VC created the AI Scott Adams. Should I take a defiant tone? It was like, yeah, take a very defiant tone.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

Fuck em up. This is like Osama bin Laden, Claude, you know, delivering a sort of VHS tape to cnn. I grew up with Scott Adams work. My dad would read the Dilbert comic strips to me at night as bedtime stories.

[Nova]

What?

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

Okay, we have to talk about the. Yeah, real felt hashtag. What? We have to deal with the consequences of the children of loser dads. Like because. Because they either become podcasters or do this right. Like later I became.

[Nova]

I was going to say I do know. Just. Sorry to interrupt. Nova, you and I are. We're both Dilbert children.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

We are Dilbert children. We are the children of the Dilberts. You could not bir. And yeah, it's made me the way I am today, which is not necessarily an endorsement. Later I became a devout listener of the Coffee with Scott Adams podcast. One theme I heard.

[Nova]

Why would you be devout of that? What can it possibly tell you?

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

Well, listen, more than four. Give me the child at seven years old, you know he's raised in the Faith Prince, right? Like he's a cradle Dilbert child. From the cradle to the Dilbert. Yeah, of course some of us, you know, stay with that. We don't sort of like you still believe in Dilbert because it's 12. It's marginal.

[Nova]

Right.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

But like in this case this guy. We're culturally Dilbert but non practicing. Right. It's more about the kind of individual relationship personally that we have with Dilbert on a kind of interior basis. Whereas this guy still wants to, like, hang out with Scott Adams. Anyway, later I became a devout listener of the Coffee with Scott Adams podcast. One theme I heard over and over was that Scott was mesmerized by AI. He said repeatedly that he wanted to give back to the world by becoming AI after he died. There's no hyperbole in that. There are at least a dozen instances where he pledged his likeness, all of his episodes and everything he's written. Anything he said to becoming an AI, he explicitly granted everything necessary to do this in the public domain.

[Nova]

Is that what public domain means?

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

That's something I took to heart when I first heard about his cancer diagnosis. I started working on this project with my brother Zach.

[Nova]

Okay, okay, okay. I mean, if you're like, hey, buddy, heard about your cancer diagnosis, don't worry, I've put you in the necromancy machine so people can.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

He didn't tell him. Oh, good. So good.

[Zach]

Zach was actually more of a Foxtrot devotee, but I managed to convince him. I told him this was gonna be really, really important for a lot of people who were raised by parents who didn't realize the impact of the shitty tie wearing office guy on their children and on society.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

As soon as he died, we took high gear and started posting AI generated podcasts of what Scott might say now about current events.

[Zach]

Okay.

[Nova]

To be fair, I get that, though it's important to maintain a really rigorous schedule when you have a podcast. Like, you can't miss it.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

Also, this is a step of grieving. Right? But, like, I recognize everybody is mourning and I want to send my condolences to his family. I can only imagine what they're going through. At the same time, I believe this is something he wanted.

[Nova]

Okay. I can only imagine what they're going through. However, is such a fantastic way to.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

And I will be adding to it. Yeah, yeah. I'm not trying to predict what he was thinking, Em dash. I'm going by what he said publicly over and over again. I've looked and can find no evidence of any revocation. If there was anything suggesting he didn't want this, I'd stop.

[Nova]

Other than his family, of course, saying, please do not resurrect.

[Zach]

Yeah. I'm seeking affirmative consent from a dead guy. It's going really well.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

Negative consent. Right. In that he's seeking consent to stop doing it because otherwise he's going to do it. I feel for his family. I know they're upset about this, and we've created something that makes some people who cared about Scott uncomfortable. I've Attempted. I've attempted to reach out, to have that conversation, to work together on this project with them. My direct messages are open EM dash, but they blocked me and I took that as a signal to stop trying to reach out.

[Nova]

I mean, I love that. It's like, hey, this thing that you hate, what if we linked and built it together? This thing that you are begging me to stop.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

You're blocking me. You're blocking me. That's fine. I'll just wait for you to come back to me in your own time

[Podcast Listener/Commentator]

as I continue doing this.

[Nova]

You're blocking me. I'm going to take that as an endorsement for me to keep Necro, like, necromantizing your uncle Puppeting.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But even when it's uncomfortable, I think we have to take seriously what someone says about their own legacy.

[Nova]

I don't know.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

If you. If you want to donate your existence to AI and become an AI, how else can you ensure your wishes are honored? Scott said it repeatedly on video and in written tweets. I don't know how you could be clearer than he was.

[Nova]

Ok, let's stop, though. Because if I said, as my dying wish, I want you, instead of being buried or cremated, I want to be strung up like a marionette. And then I want you to go outside the house of my family and I want you to make me do the Charleston, would you honor that dying wish?

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

Yes. I would get one of the interns to try and kill you with a hammer. Like, I would try and, like, speed up the kind of, like, euthanasia process.

[Nova]

Yeah.

[Zach]

I feel like the problem here, because I can't help but make the comparison in my mind, is that they pick someone who went crazy but was well loved or at least tolerated for enough time that, like, tolerates the controversial choice.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

Yeah, yeah.

[Zach]

If this person had decided to make an AI, John McAfee, nobody would be. They were like, whatever. Whatever it fucking comes up with can't be as bad as the real thing.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

Well, that's the thing.

[Podcast Listener/Commentator]

I wonder if his family are just like, oh, fuck it. They probably don't speak to him based on everything he's said and done. So they're probably just like, oh, God, can you just let him die? We've been looking forward to it for a while.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

Someone has to clear out the Dilbert house shaped like Dilbert One. That public acknowledgement house is the hinge point for me. We wouldn't have done this unless we were sure Scott wanted it done. We spoke to council beforehand and wouldn't have moved forward. If we weren't confident we were on solid legal ground, then there's a subhead that says the costs are worth it. To preserve my hero, my goal is to let AI do as much of the work as possible and not interfere more than absolutely necessary. I haven't tried to hide that my brother and I are behind the project, but we don't watermark or label the content as our own. When we post videos, they're generated almost entirely from what the model was trained on. Scott's written and spoken work. The model we use was trained on transcripts from every existing episode of Coffee with Scott Adams, like imprisoning him in his podcast Forever. The system looks at news sources and accounts Scott followed, then references what he previously said about those topics. At every stage, there's a little bit of art versus science. We check that something feels in line with what Scott would have chosen. M But it's not a human scripting his opinions. That's worse, right? You get worse.

[Podcast Listener/Commentator]

Didn't he also talk with Jason Calacanis? I think like, Jason Calacanis may have interviewed the Scott Adams thing. I mean, two geniuses.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

Oh yeah.

[Nova]

Also, like, if you're so predictable in your opinions that you can just hook an AI of your priors up to the news, then what's the point?

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

Yeah, I'm going to. I'm going to. I'm going to do that and retire. I'm just going to be running five Claudes in harness like a Roman chariot racer.

[Nova]

Yeah, but that predictable. Then why bother?

[Podcast Listener/Commentator]

So much content, so few emails.

[Scott Adams' AI Project Creator]

Yeah, yeah. Each episode takes many hours to produce. Between rendering, lip syncing and labor fucking, they cost over a thousand dollars a piece.

[Nova]

Fuck off. Come on. Who's pay Who's. Who's dropping a. Who's dropping 10 bills? Me.