NET Society

Ep82 Congrats Cassandra

The Net Society crew is back together for a wide-ranging conversation on crypto, AI, art, and the strange timing problems shaping the current market. They begin with the disconnect between crypto prices and onchain growth, weighing durable signals like stablecoins, RWAs, ETH activity, and agent standards against leverage, volatility, and renewed concerns around Zcash. From there, the episode turns into a deeper debate about AI fast takeoff, IPO narratives, model costs, market bubbles, and whether rapid technological progress can still create near-term economic dislocation. The crew then shifts into digital art, asking whether the next wave of creative energy is moving away from traditional NFT markets and into AI-driven artistic production. They close by exploring the coming wealth effects of AI IPOs, the future of philanthropy, the millennial midlife crisis, personalized media, community, and whether AI should be shaped by sovereign wealth funds, taxes, or broader industrial policy. Mentioned in the episode AI is moving fast https://x.com/AnthropicAI/status/2062568862479208923 [https://x.com/AnthropicAI/status/2062568862479208923] Third wave of American philanthropy https://nanransohoff.substack.com/p/the-third-wave-of-american-philanthropy [https://nanransohoff.substack.com/p/the-third-wave-of-american-philanthropy] Gmoney and Hunter Biden? https://x.com/gmoneyNFT/status/2062888418229596409?s=20 [https://x.com/gmoneyNFT/status/2062888418229596409?s=20] Show & Hosts Net Society: https://x.com/net__society [https://x.com/net__society] Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01 [https://x.com/awrigh01] Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x [https://x.com/ChrisF_0x] Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws [https://x.com/derekedws] Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai [https://x.com/pridesai] Production Producer/Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl [https://x.com/0xFnkl] * (00:00) - Crypto Drawdown vs Onchain Growth * (05:37) - Zcash, Product Design & Verification * (07:37) - AI Fast Takeoff, IPOs & Market Timing * (30:11) - Digital Art, AI Creativity & NFTs * (37:22) - AI Wealth, Philanthropy & Millennial Midlife * (47:08) - Personal Media, Community & Life Stages * (52:21) - AI Industrial Policy, Taxes & Tech Optimism * (59:44) - Welcome & Disclaimer

Ep81 Stay Native

The Net Society crew is joined by Alejandro from Fellowship for a full-episode debate on the state of NFTs, crypto art, and digital art in 2026. Sparked by Pri’s essay and Alejandro’s response, the conversation digs into what made NFTs feel new in the first place, from internet-native markets and global distribution to transparent ownership and community formation. Alejandro pushes on the limits of decentralization, arguing that while ownership and access may be open, attention, visibility, and support are still far more centralized than the space likes to admit. From there, the crew debates whether crypto art has drifted too far toward traditional art logic, whether collectors are asking the wrong things from the medium, and whether artists need to take bigger risks with work that feels native to the rails. They also explore the difference between crypto art, digital art, and contemporary art, before turning to attention, distribution, pricing, auctions, royalties, and the long hangover from the last NFT cycle. The episode wraps with a more open-ended conclusion: there is no single path forward, but the space probably needs more experimentation, more honest reflection, and less nostalgia for the moment when everything only went up. Mentioned in the episode Special guest Alejandro Cartagena https://x.com/halecar2 [https://x.com/halecar2] Pri’s ‘Stay Native’ article https://x.com/pridesai/status/2057851772924833837 [https://x.com/pridesai/status/2057851772924833837] Alejandro’s response https://x.com/halecar2/status/2058180410476019953 [https://x.com/halecar2/status/2058180410476019953] Joana’s response https://x.com/museumghostart/status/2058550572345704895 [https://x.com/museumghostart/status/2058550572345704895] Show & Hosts Net Society: https://x.com/net__society [https://x.com/net__society] Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01 [https://x.com/awrigh01] Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x [https://x.com/ChrisF_0x] Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws [https://x.com/derekedws] Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai [https://x.com/pridesai] Production & Marketing Producer/Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl [https://x.com/0xFnkl] Social: https://x.com/v_kirra [https://x.com/v_kirra] * (00:00) - Pri’s Essay & Alejandro’s Response * (02:27) - Decentralization, Visibility & Support * (05:39) - Crypto Art Fundamentals & Collector Fit * (13:21) - Categories, Risk & Native Work * (27:11) - Crypto Art, Digital Art & Open Definitions * (37:10) - Attention, Distribution & Market Coordination * (45:20) - Time, Price Discovery, Royalties & Paths Forward * (01:02:45) - Welcome & Disclaimer

Ep80 Everything Old is Networked Again

The Net Society crew is back together for a wide-ranging conversation on AI IPO season, market structure, and where capital flows next. They kick things off by debating whether massive public listings from SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic could mark a top, a wealth creation event, or a new chapter in the AI economy. From there, they explore how the AI trade is pulling attention away from crypto, the role of data centers as the new bottleneck, and whether ETH benefits from building in the shadow of the AI boom. The conversation then turns to open source models, local AI, margin compression, and whether frontier AI companies should be valued like software businesses or utilities. Later, the crew gets into orbital data centers, regulatory arbitrage in space, and the “network state” taking its final form above Earth. The episode wraps with a cultural detour through paid speech, dead internet theory, New York discourse, vibe shifts, political exhaustion, and the strange experience economy of waiting in line for mediocre coffee. Mentioned in the episode SpaceX IPO https://x.com/FT/status/2057896888863510658 [https://x.com/FT/status/2057896888863510658] Sam Altman overdoses on GLP-1s https://x.com/Overlap_Tech/status/2056847843743162448 [https://x.com/Overlap_Tech/status/2056847843743162448] Show & Hosts Net Society: https://x.com/net__society [https://x.com/net__society] Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01 [https://x.com/awrigh01] Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x [https://x.com/ChrisF_0x] Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws [https://x.com/derekedws] Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai [https://x.com/pridesai] Production & Marketing Producer/Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl [https://x.com/0xFnkl] Social: https://x.com/v_kirra [https://x.com/v_kirra] * (00:00) - AI IPO Season & Retail Liquidity * (06:16) - Data Centers, Crypto Risk & The AI Casino * (10:24) - ETH, Network Effects & AI Compression * (13:59) - Open Source AI, Local Models & Utility Economics * (27:14) - Orbital Data Centers & Regulatory Arbitrage * (40:09) - Paid Speech, Dead Internet & Sovereign Opinion * (43:01) - New York Discourse, Vibe Shifts & Coffee Lines * (01:00:53) - Welcome & Disclaimer

Ep79 Celebrity Wrappers

The Net Society crew is back together to unpack a week of internet spectacle, AI froth, crypto privacy, and demographic anxiety. They kick things off with Shl0ms’ Monet fakeout, using the viral AI art discourse to talk about attention games, bots, and the strange durability of crypto art. From there, they debate Martha Stewart’s AI home management startup and whether celebrity-backed ChatGPT wrappers are a real consumer wedge or just another top signal. The conversation then widens into model commoditization, low switching costs, U.S.-China chip strategy, robotics, and the next phase of the AI race. The crew also digs into Zcash, financial privacy, Hyperliquid’s USDH drama, and the exhaustion of retail crypto getting co-opted by insiders. The episode wraps with a detour through World Cup bloat, declining birth rates, “full-time children,” family formation, and the unsettling prospect of pregnancy robots. Mentioned in the episode SCHL0MS Monet post https://x.com/SHL0MS/status/2054280631807316329 [https://x.com/SHL0MS/status/2054280631807316329] Martha Stuart Home AI https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260512987617/en/Martha-Stewart-Announces-Hint-a-New-Home-Management-Platform-Built-on-Human-Expertise-and-AI [https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260512987617/en/Martha-Stewart-Announces-Hint-a-New-Home-Management-Platform-Built-on-Human-Expertise-and-AI] 99% of people don’t use paid AI https://x.com/JohnLeFevre/status/2025334966884708846 [https://x.com/JohnLeFevre/status/2025334966884708846] Trump’s trip to China https://x.com/nypost/status/2055098939351650595 [https://x.com/nypost/status/2055098939351650595] Robots working 8 hour shift https://x.com/adcock_brett/status/2054603963996278786 [https://x.com/adcock_brett/status/2054603963996278786] Coinbase x Hyperliquid news https://x.com/coinbase/status/2054894760859504936 [https://x.com/coinbase/status/2054894760859504936] World Cup halftime show lineup https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026/articles/madonna-shakira-bts-co-headline-historic-final-halftime-show [https://www.fifa.com/en/tournaments/mens/worldcup/canadamexicousa2026/articles/madonna-shakira-bts-co-headline-historic-final-halftime-show] Jasmine Sun China on AI and work https://x.com/jasminewsun/status/2055069143716766099 [https://x.com/jasminewsun/status/2055069143716766099] Show & Hosts Net Society: https://x.com/net__society [https://x.com/net__society] Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01 [https://x.com/awrigh01] Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x [https://x.com/ChrisF_0x] Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws [https://x.com/derekedws] Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai [https://x.com/pridesai] Production & Marketing Producer/Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl [https://x.com/0xFnkl] Social: https://x.com/v_kirra [https://x.com/v_kirra] * (00:00) - Shl0ms, Monet & AI Art Discourse * (06:44) - Bots, Attention Games & Online Astroturfing * (10:54) - Martha Stewart & Celebrity AI Wrappers * (15:24) - Model Commoditization & Low Switching Costs * (23:27) - China, Chips, Robotics & the AI Race * (36:03) - Zcash, Privacy & Hyperliquid’s USDH Drama * (43:03) - World Cup Bloat, Birth Rates & Pregnancy Robots * (58:33) - Welcome & Disclaimer

Ep78 Slop, Stunts & Millennial Politics

The Net Society crew is back together for a wide-ranging conversation on politics, crypto, AI, and the accelerating weirdness of the internet. They open with Spencer Pratt’s LA political rise, using it as a lens for how celebrity, AI slop videos, and direct-to-feed campaigning may be reshaping political media. From there, they compare LA and New York political content, Mamdani’s street-level style, and the possibility of a broader reform movement breaking through old institutional structures. The crew then turns to crypto, unpacking major token and infrastructure moves around Arc, Canton, Circle, public companies, and the growing convergence between blockchains and traditional finance. Consensus in Miami becomes a referendum on crypto’s cringe problem, before the conversation shifts into AI, where Anthropic, xAI, Colossus, Cursor, Grok, OpenClaw, Hermes, and agent harnesses all point toward a new phase of frontier technology competition. The episode closes by asking whether AI agents are following a DeFi-like arc: real innovation buried under waves of noise. Mentioned in the episode Spencer Pratt LA Mayor Campaign AI Slop vid https://x.com/charliebcurran/status/2051647381981290697 [https://x.com/charliebcurran/status/2051647381981290697] Mamdani Ken Griffin video https://x.com/NYCMayor/status/2044508902809628760?s=20 [https://x.com/NYCMayor/status/2044508902809628760?s=20] Bullish acquires Equiniti https://www.wsj.com/finance/currencies/crypto-exchange-bullish-strikes-4-2-billion-deal-for-transfer-agent-in-tokenization-push-4af8f41f [https://www.wsj.com/finance/currencies/crypto-exchange-bullish-strikes-4-2-billion-deal-for-transfer-agent-in-tokenization-push-4af8f41f] Consensus 2026 memes https://x.com/cryptosmiff/status/2053175297818911145?s=20 [https://x.com/cryptosmiff/status/2053175297818911145?s=20] And https://x.com/brookejlacey/status/2053196312091427119 [https://x.com/brookejlacey/status/2053196312091427119] xAI and Cursor https://x.com/xDaily/status/2052867330418335989 [https://x.com/xDaily/status/2052867330418335989] Show & Hosts Net Society: https://x.com/net__society [https://x.com/net__society] Aaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01 [https://x.com/awrigh01] Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0x [https://x.com/ChrisF_0x] Derek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedws [https://x.com/derekedws] Priyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesai [https://x.com/pridesai] Production & Marketing Producer/Editor: https://x.com/0xFnkl [https://x.com/0xFnkl] Social: https://x.com/v_kirra [https://x.com/v_kirra] * (00:00) - Spencer Pratt, LA Politics & AI Slop Campaigning * (08:35) - Political Ads, Memes & the New Media Playbook * (19:17) - The Pratt Hat, Reform Movements & Institutional Frustration * (22:59) - Arc, Canton, Circle & Public Company Tokens * (29:46) - Consensus Miami & Crypto’s Cringe Problem * (33:25) - Anthropic, xAI, Cursor & the Compute Wars * (38:10) - OpenClaw, Hermes & the Future of Agent Harnesses * (46:50) - Welcome & Disclaimer