76. How the Web Became a Weapon: A What They Knew Interlude - Part 1

76. How the Web Became a Weapon: A What They Knew Interlude - Part 1

Before the apps and algorithms, there was a different internet. Not the garage-born startup myth, but something built in the shadow of the Cold War - a network designed to survive nuclear war that became the foundation of modern life. For a brief moment, it was public. Funded by taxpayers. Built for research and shared access. Then came the handoff. Not a conspiracy or collapse, but a quiet transition from public to private. From open system to controlled infrastructure. From sharing information to capturing attention. A series of choices that felt small at the time and inevitable in retrospect. This is Part 1 of that story. This interlude explores the history most people never learned: * 1957: Sputnik launches. Cold War paranoia births ARPANET—a distributed network designed to survive annihilation. * 1991: Congress passes the High-Performance Computing Act. The NREN (National Research and Education Network) promises a publicly controlled internet with guardrails: privacy, equity, security. * 1993: While Congress debates, MCI, IBM, and Merit Network quietly build commercial backbones. Their mantra: build it before there's a law to stop it. * April 1995: The NSF decommissions its backbone. Overnight, the public web becomes commercial. No conditions. No compensation. The NREN is abandoned mid-construction. What followed wasn't chaos. It was order...the kind only capital can impose. This is Part 1 of a 2-part interlude. Standalone listening or part of the "What Radiohead Knew" series. Part 2 coming soon: The architects of enclosure. The legal frameworks that locked the doors. And how hope became our greatest weakness.   The With Jay Burke Show is a member of the Unfiltered Studios  https://www.unfpod.com/ [https://www.unfpod.com/] Please be sure to Rate and Review this episode. Subscribe and Share Visit me @jayburkeshow.podbean.com [https://jayburkeshow.podbean.com/] Email me at: jayburkeshow@gmail.com [jayburkeshow@gmail.com] Twitter/Instagram: @jayburkeshow  [https://www.instagram.com/jayburkeshow/?hl=en]   TikTok: @jayburke17 [https://www.tiktok.com/@jayburke17?lang=en]

75. What Radiohead Knew Too - The Future was Already Happening

As part of the What They Knew series, Part II of What Radiohead Knew follows an android Mother teaching her child about time — how it shaped humanity… and how they broke under the forces gathering at the end of the century. As Thom Yorke spirals into the making of Kid A, the world outside fractures: Y2K, the dot-com bubble bursts, the internet becomes a second bloodstream, and culture slips into the uncanny. But something else is waking. In the static, the child hears the Conductor — a voice tied to humanity’s fall, murmuring of grief, progress, and impossible forces. As one century collapses and Kid A emerges, one truth surfaces: no one survives the future unchanged. This is the story of a band trying to outrun fame, a world trying to outrun itself, and a machine child standing at the edge of a revelation it may not be ready to face. Intro music: “Monkey House” [https://open.spotify.com/album/29EuoWD8gqQaFKSNPgFNtT] by Evan Toth. [https://www.evantoth.com/]Grateful for Evan’s generosity in letting this track set the tone for What They Knew. **The sections discussing Radiohead were informed by research conducted by Stephen Hyden, particularly his book This Isn’t Happening [https://www.amazon.com/This-Isnt-Happening-Radioheads-Beginning/dp/0306845687], and I want to acknowledge and credit his work accordingly. Please Check it out.** Further Exploration: * “Exit Music: The Radiohead Story” [https://www.amazon.com/Exit-Music-Radiohead-Mac-Randall/dp/0385333935] by Mac Randall (2000) * “Radiohead’s OK Computer: An Oral History” [https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/radioheads-ok-computer-an-oral-history-196156/] by Rolling Stone (2017) * “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism” [https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+age+of+surveillance+capitalism&rh=n%3A283155&hvbmt=%7BBidMatchType%7D&hvdev=c&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_5drh44zcl3_e] by Shoshana Zuboff (2019) * “The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity” [https://www.amazon.com/Big-Nine-Thinking-Machines-Humanity/dp/1541773756]by Amy Webb (2019) * "The Birth of The Web" [https://home.cern/science/computing/birth-web] CERN * “The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires” [https://www.amazon.com/Master-Switch-Rise-Information-Empires/dp/0307390993] by Tim Wu (2010) * “Why the Future Doesn't Need Us” [https://www.wired.com/2000/04/joy-2/] by Bill Joy, Wired Magazine (2000) * "Tim Berners-Lee on 30 years of the World Wide Web: We can get the web we want." [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/mar/12/tim-berners-lee-on-30-years-of-the-web-if-we-dream-a-little-we-can-get-the-web-we-want] The Guardian (2019)   The With Jay Burke Show is a member of the Unfiltered Studios  https://www.unfpod.com/ [https://www.unfpod.com/] Please be sure to Rate and Review this episode. Subscribe and Share Visit me @jayburkeshow.podbean.com [https://jayburkeshow.podbean.com/] Email me at: jayburkeshow@gmail.com [jayburkeshow@gmail.com] Twitter/Instagram: @jayburkeshow    TikTok: @jayburke17 [https://www.tiktok.com/@jayburke17?lang=en]

74. What Radiohead Knew - Tech Would Swallow Us Whole

Radiohead didn’t predict the future—they just paid attention. This Episode is a deep dive into how OK Computer was never just an album, but a premonition. A warning. A status update we ignored. Through a blend of storytelling, history, and eerie parallels, we explore how a 1997 album captured the creeping unease of a world being swallowed by technology—from corporate surveillance to algorithmic control to the silent loss of human agency. Was OK Computer just an ambitious rock record? Or was it a glimpse into a future we were already hurtling toward? Let’s find out together. 🎵 Featuring: The evolution of tech, capitalism’s mutation, AI’s rise, and the unseen forces that built the digital throne. Further Exploration: * “Exit Music: The Radiohead Story” [https://www.amazon.com/Exit-Music-Radiohead-Mac-Randall/dp/0385333935] by Mac Randall (2000) * “Radiohead’s OK Computer: An Oral History” [https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/radioheads-ok-computer-an-oral-history-196156/] by Rolling Stone (2017) * “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism” [https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+age+of+surveillance+capitalism&rh=n%3A283155&hvbmt=%7BBidMatchType%7D&hvdev=c&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_5drh44zcl3_e] by Shoshana Zuboff (2019) * “The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity” [https://www.amazon.com/Big-Nine-Thinking-Machines-Humanity/dp/1541773756]by Amy Webb (2019) * "The Birth of The Web" [https://home.cern/science/computing/birth-web] CERN * “The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires” [https://www.amazon.com/Master-Switch-Rise-Information-Empires/dp/0307390993] by Tim Wu (2010) * “Why the Future Doesn't Need Us” [https://www.wired.com/2000/04/joy-2/] by Bill Joy, Wired Magazine (2000) * "Tim Berners-Lee on 30 years of the World Wide Web: We can get the web we want." [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/mar/12/tim-berners-lee-on-30-years-of-the-web-if-we-dream-a-little-we-can-get-the-web-we-want] The Guardian (2019) The With Jay Burke Show is a member of the Unfiltered Studios  https://www.unfpod.com/ [https://www.unfpod.com/] Please be sure to Rate and Review this episode. Subscribe and Share Visit me @jayburkeshow.podbean.com [https://jayburkeshow.podbean.com/] Email me at: jayburkeshow@gmail.com [jayburkeshow@gmail.com] Twitter/Instagram: @jayburkeshow    TikTok: @jayburke17 [https://www.tiktok.com/@jayburke17?lang=en]

73. What Fight Club Knew - The Boys Are Not Okay

1999 wasn’t just the dawn of a new millennium; it was a cultural crossroads, marked by paranoia, violence, and simmering societal tensions. Amidst this chaos came Fight Club, a dark, satirical film that didn’t just critique consumerism and masculinity—it predicted the struggles of men today. In this episode, we explore how Fight Club foresaw the alienation, disconnection, and crises of identity plaguing men in 2025. From absent fathers to toxic masculinity and the rise of chaos-driven politics, we unpack the film’s warnings and examine its misunderstood legacy. Why does Tyler Durden remain an icon for the very people the movie critiques? And what can Fight Club teach us about healing, connection, and finding balance in an unbalanced world? Join us for a deep dive into one of the most hauntingly relevant films of our time   Further Exploration: 1. The Modern Male Crisis (Education, Mental Health, and Crime Rates) * Richard V. Reeves - "Of Boys and Men" (2022) – A book detailing the struggles of modern boys and men, including education, workforce decline, and mental health disparities. * 📖 Summary & Key Findings * Pew Research Center - “The Growing Gender Gap in Higher Education” (2023) – Discusses how women are outpacing men in college enrollment and graduation. * 📊 Read Here * CDC & NIMH Data on Male Mental Health & Suicide (2024) – Covers the higher rates of male suicide and mental health struggles. * 📊 CDC Report on Suicide Rates [https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/] * 📊 NIMH: Men & Mental Health [https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/men-and-mental-health] * Bureau of Justice Statistics - “Mass Incarceration & Gender” (2023) – Data on the disproportionate incarceration rates of men. * 📊 BJS Report   2. Fight Club’s Cultural Impact & Misinterpretation * Chuck Palahniuk Interviews on Fight Club’s Misinterpretation – Palahniuk discusses how the film/book has been misunderstood, particularly among men. * 🎤 The Joe Rogan Experience - Palahniuk Interview [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXXXX] (Find on YouTube) * 📖 VICE Interview: “How Fight Club Became a Cult Favorite for the Wrong Reasons” * Roger Ebert’s Original 1999 Review – Criticism of Fight Club as “macho porn” and why some critics misunderstood its satire. * 🎥 Read Here * The Atlantic - "How Fight Club Predicted the Modern Male Identity Crisis" (2022) – A retrospective on how Fight Club eerily foreshadowed today's male struggles. * 📖 Read Here   3. Economic & Workforce Shifts Affecting Men * Harvard Business Review - “The Disappearing Working Man” (2023) – How globalization, automation, and offshoring have eroded male-dominated jobs. * 📖 Read Here [https://hbr.org/2023/07/the-disappearing-working-man] * Brookings Institution - “Why Men Aren’t Going to College” (2023) – Analysis of educational and workforce trends affecting men. * 📊 Read Here * MIT Technology Review - "Automation & The Future of Male-Dominated Jobs" (2023) – Examines how automation is disproportionately affecting male workers. * 📖 Read Here   4. The Rise of The Manosphere & Online Radicalization * New York Times - “The Red Pill & The Rise of Toxic Masculinity” (2023) – Investigates how online influencers exploit young men’s struggles. * 📖 Read Here [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/01/the-rise-of-the-red-pill.html] * BBC - “How the Manosphere is Changing Modern Masculinity” (2023) – Documentary on Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson, and the influence of online male communities. * 🎥 Watch Here [https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-52228656] * The Guardian - “From Fight Club to Andrew Tate: How Men are Falling into Online Extremism” (2023) – Covers how disillusioned men turn to online influencers. * 📖 Read Here [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/10/andrew-tate-masculinity-online-extremism]   5. Solutions for the Modern Male Crisis * Richard V. Reeves - “How to Save Men and Boys” (2023) – Proposes policy changes, including vocational training and male mentorship programs. * 📖 Read Here * World Economic Forum - “How to Redefine Masculinity for the Future” (2024) – Discusses new models for healthy masculinity. * 📖 Read Here * APA - “The Psychological State of Men & What Can Be Done” (2023) – Strategies for mental health interventions and role models for boys. * 📖 Read Here [https://www.apa.org/topics/mental-health/men]   The With Jay Burke Show is a member of the Unfiltered Studios  https://www.unfpod.com/ [https://www.unfpod.com/] Please be sure to Rate and Review this episode. Subscribe and Share Visit me @jayburkeshow.podbean.com [https://jayburkeshow.podbean.com/] Email me at: jayburkeshow@gmail.com [jayburkeshow@gmail.com] Twitter/Instagram: @jayburkeshow    TikTok: @jayburke17 [https://www.tiktok.com/@jayburke17?lang=en]

72. Atomic Decisions: Revisiting the Ethics of the Bomb & Beyond

Brandon from FDR’s Wheelchair joins Jay to explore one of history's most controversial decisions—the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Together, they unpack the moral and strategic debates, the roles of key figures like Truman and FDR, and the global aftermath. With historical insight and a touch of humor, they dive into how these decisions shaped geopolitics and the Cold War's nuclear arms race. Tune in for a mix of history, ethics, and thoughtful dialogue on one of modern history's pivotal moments.   Brandon - FDR's Wheelchair Podcast * Listen to FDR's Wheelchair: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1325326 [https://www.buzzsprout.com/1325326] The With Jay Burke Show   Please be sure to Rate and Review this episode. Subscribe and Share * Visit me @jayburkeshow.podbean.com [https://jayburkeshow.podbean.com/] * Email me at: jayburkeshow@gmail.com [jayburkeshow@gmail.com] * Twitter/Instagram: @jayburkeshow    * TikTok: @jayburke17 [https://www.tiktok.com/@jayburke17?lang=en] * YouTube: @thewithjayburkeshow1278 [https://www.youtube.com/@thewithjayburkeshow1278]