142: The Enhanced Games (ft. Lucas Ropek)

142: The Enhanced Games (ft. Lucas Ropek)

The Enhanced Games are Silicon Valley's version of the Olympics -- the athletes are invited to bulk up with performance enhancing drugs, then gather in Las Vegas for competition, and of course, it's funded by some notorious figures in venture capital. Amanda's colleague, Lucas Ropek, got to attend this carnival of debauchery and is here to tell us all about it. And yes, he saw Byran Johnson there. If you missed our episodes on the Chinese Peptide craze (ep. 137) or the general antics of Byran Johnson (ep. 128), you may find those to be useful primers -- but also, you can just enjoy the absurdity of the Enhanced Games on its own. Lucas's article: https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/31/i-went-to-the-so-called-steroid-olympics-to-understand-why-silicon-valley-is-obsessed-with-peptides/ [https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/31/i-went-to-the-so-called-steroid-olympics-to-understand-why-silicon-valley-is-obsessed-with-peptides/] Balaji's Greys: http://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrat [http://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrat] Find Us Online  Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wowiftrue.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/wowiftrue.bsky.social] Twitter: https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod [https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wowiftrue [https://www.instagram.com/wowiftrue] Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue [https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue] Website: https://wowiftrue.com/ [https://wowiftrue.com/] Email: wowiftruepod@gmail.com About Us  Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim [http://isabel.kim/] and Amanda Silberling [http://amandasilberling.com/]. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of Multitude [https://multitude.productions/], a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

141: The Worst PowerPoint Ever

In which Amanda makes the worst PowerPoint ever (it's about rationalists and fan fiction, iykyk), Isabel goes on book tour, and we experiment with flip phones. The PowerPoint in question: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1ch0rBRdr8PGindVGa0cGQaKDiYR5rFmMiclL58CPci8/edit?slide=id.p#slide=id.p Find Us Online  Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/wowiftrue.bsky.social [https://bsky.app/profile/wowiftrue.bsky.social] Twitter: https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod [https://twitter.com/wowiftruepod] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wowiftrue [https://www.instagram.com/wowiftrue] Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue [https://www.patreon.com/wowiftrue] Website: https://wowiftrue.com/ [https://wowiftrue.com/] Email: wowiftruepod@gmail.com About Us  Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim [http://isabel.kim/] and Amanda Silberling [http://amandasilberling.com/]. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of Multitude [https://multitude.productions/], a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

140: Horrible Little Guys (ft. Adam Becker)

In this collab-isode, we're joined by Dr. Adam Becker of Dreaming Against the Machine, a podcast about envisioning a realistic and hopeful future in the face of tech oligarchs... or, as we call them, Horrible Little Guys. Sublimation is out now!!: https://bookshop.org/p/books/sublimation-isabel-j-kim/75bdbf4afed5475f?ean=9781250376794&next=t Join our Patreon: https://patreon.com/wowiftrue Listen to Dreaming Against the Machine: https://www.dreamingagainstthemachine.com/ Also, ISABEL IS ON TOUR ! Dates below, and more info + tickets at https://us.macmillan.com/tours/isabel-j-kim-sublimation/ VIRTUALLY:  June 2 — I’ll be on r/Fantasy doing an AMA more or less all day! Come ask me your burning questions, also, your unburning questions. You can just ask me whatever.  June 7 — I’m going to be at The Back Room for a virtual event (details to come at their website)!  PHYSICALLY:  May 30 — PGH Bookfest in Pittsburgh (with John Scalzi)  June 2 — Barnes and Noble, Clifton, NJ (with Neil Clarke) June 3 — The Strand, NYC (with Jinwoo Chong)  June 4 — Harvard Books Store, Boston (with R.F. Kuang)  June 6 — RJ Julia, Madison CT (with @redreadsreviews)  June 10 — Center for Fiction, Brooklyn (on a panel with Joseph Eckert & Thomas Elrod, moderated by Yume Kitasei)  June 20 — Bronx Book Festival, the Bronx (on a panel with Nicole Glover, Andrea Hairston, and Vincent Tirado)  June 30 — Dungeon Books, Jersey City (with Yume Kitasei) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

139: The Sublimation Special

HAPPY SUBLIMATION PUBLICATION DAY! Or, Publimation Day! Isabel's long-awaited debut novel SUBLIMATION is out now. Everyone is very excited. We are proud of Isabel here at Wow if True HQ. Isabel did a billion other podcast interviews about the book, so we decided that on our podcast, we'll ask Isabel some questions that maybe people who are meeting her for the first time via podcast interview wouldn't ask. Also, for some reason Amanda goes on a tangent about cannibalism and Catholicism which is... kinda relevant? YAY SUBLIMATION!! Here it is. The link. The link to buy Sublimation: https://bookshop.org/p/books/sublimation-isabel-j-kim/75bdbf4afed5475f?ean=9781250376794&next=t Also, ISABEL IS ON TOUR ! Dates below, and more info + tickets at https://us.macmillan.com/tours/isabel-j-kim-sublimation/ VIRTUALLY:  June 2 — I’ll be on r/Fantasy doing an AMA more or less all day! Come ask me your burning questions, also, your unburning questions. You can just ask me whatever.  June 7 — I’m going to be at The Back Room for a virtual event (details to come at their website)!  PHYSICALLY:  May 30 — PGH Bookfest in Pittsburgh (with John Scalzi)  June 2 — Barnes and Noble, Clifton, NJ (with Neil Clarke) June 3 — The Strand, NYC (with Jinwoo Chong)  June 4 — Harvard Books Store, Boston (with R.F. Kuang)  June 6 — RJ Julia, Madison CT (with @redreadsreviews)  June 10 — Center for Fiction, Brooklyn (on a panel with Joseph Eckert & Thomas Elrod, moderated by Yume Kitasei)  June 20 — Bronx Book Festival, the Bronx (on a panel with Nicole Glover, Andrea Hairston, and Vincent Tirado)  June 30 — Dungeon Books, Jersey City (with Yume Kitasei) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].

138: Claude doesn't know ball

Google is broken, and so is Amanda, apparently, because she is seeking validation from an AI chatbot. Also, video games. Sublimation is out on 6/2. This is what we have for you. We'll be back next week for the "Sublimation is out!" spectacular, but you should pre-order it now: https://bookshop.org/p/books/sublimation-isabel-j-kim/75bdbf4afed5475f?ean=9781250376794&next=t Also, ISABEL IS ON TOUR ! Dates below, and more info + tickets at https://us.macmillan.com/tours/isabel-j-kim-sublimation/ VIRTUALLY:  June 2 — I’ll be on r/Fantasy doing an AMA more or less all day! Come ask me your burning questions, also, your unburning questions. You can just ask me whatever.  June 7 — I’m going to be at The Back Room for a virtual event (details to come at their website)!  PHYSICALLY:  May 30 — PGH Bookfest in Pittsburgh (with John Scalzi)  June 2 — Barnes and Noble, Clifton, NJ (with Neil Clarke) June 3 — The Strand, NYC (with Jinwoo Chong)  June 4 — Harvard Books Store, Boston (with R.F. Kuang)  June 6 — RJ Julia, Madison CT (with @redreadsreviews)  June 10 — Center for Fiction, Brooklyn (on a panel with Joseph Eckert & Thomas Elrod, moderated by Yume Kitasei)  June 20 — Bronx Book Festival, the Bronx (on a panel with Nicole Glover, Andrea Hairston, and Vincent Tirado)  June 30 — Dungeon Books, Jersey City (with Yume Kitasei) About Us  Wow If True was created by Isabel J. Kim [http://isabel.kim/] and Amanda Silberling [http://amandasilberling.com/]. Our editors are Allison Mills and David Newtown. Wow If True is a member of Multitude [https://multitude.productions/], a podcast collective, production studio and ad sales provider. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy [https://art19.com/privacy] and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info [https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info].