4 ms·

> I don't see the comedy here So you are part of the problem. The algorithmic overlords have long favored "trends" or more seriously content regurgitation. At

> I don't see the comedy here So you are part of the problem. The algorithmic overlords have long favored "trends" or more seriously content regurgitation. At first it was "have to post something about $topic". Then it was reaction videos. Arguably negative value add content. Then it was all fed back to algorithmic content regurgitators (LLMs) which flood the internet. The beauty of this recording is that it sounds convincingly like a podcast. It has the podcast-style pacing, over the top praise for the most mundane things. It highlights how narrow is the mean this "content" has regressed to. It's comedy. Comedy in absurd, but still comedy.

hnbad 2y ago
As someone who mostly stopped listening to podcasts just around the time the medium started to be taken over by overproduced vacuous drivel (I recall outrage from indie podcasts over random ads being injected into their audio), I always find these NotebookLLM "podcasts" unconvincing because it's just random speakers regurgitating information in between platitudes and praise for the most mundane and arbitrary things. Now that you mention it, that does fit what has at this point become the primary podcast style so I guess it's actually being surprisingly realistic because the thing it tries to mimic is already so artificial.
- friendzis 2y ago
  Pseudo-intellectual consumerism, as I like to call it. How many people do you know who turn on the news on TV, sit in front and take notes? Who put on some music, relax in the sweet spot and immerse themselves? Who read a book, stop and ponder, continue? Versus people who turn on the TV while cooking, who put on headphones with music while working out for background noise, who put on sped up version of audiobook while driving to tick off another checkmark? It's form over substance all over the place. I absolutely love this TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S0FDjFBj8o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S0FDjFBj8o The more pseudo-intellectual consumerism infiltrates our collective psyche, the more the substance becomes irrelevant. Nuance requires thinking. "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong" -- HL Mencken. But knowing this answer makes you feel smart.

hnbad 2y ago

As someone who mostly stopped listening to podcasts just around the time the medium started to be taken over by overproduced vacuous drivel (I recall outrage from indie podcasts over random ads being injected into their audio), I always find these NotebookLLM "podcasts" unconvincing because it's just random speakers regurgitating information in between platitudes and praise for the most mundane and arbitrary things. Now that you mention it, that does fit what has at this point become the primary podcast style so I guess it's actually being surprisingly realistic because the thing it tries to mimic is already so artificial.

friendzis 2y ago
Pseudo-intellectual consumerism, as I like to call it. How many people do you know who turn on the news on TV, sit in front and take notes? Who put on some music, relax in the sweet spot and immerse themselves? Who read a book, stop and ponder, continue? Versus people who turn on the TV while cooking, who put on headphones with music while working out for background noise, who put on sped up version of audiobook while driving to tick off another checkmark? It's form over substance all over the place. I absolutely love this TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S0FDjFBj8o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S0FDjFBj8o The more pseudo-intellectual consumerism infiltrates our collective psyche, the more the substance becomes irrelevant. Nuance requires thinking. "For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong" -- HL Mencken. But knowing this answer makes you feel smart.