I hate to say it bc I enjoy and make money doing them but podcasting has pretty undeniably been a net negative for culture if not the world

Same for the written word

I grew up listening to NPR/Talk Radio and audiobooks, particularly during long car rides. For a whole lot of reasons, podcasting feels like a big improvement to what came before. Especially after Clear Channel flattened radio, it's been the dandelion in the pavement crack of car content.

it's such a high ceiling and low floor is the thing. there's shit that's legit funny, artful, researched and reported, and there's shit that's 3 dudes with the worst opinions you'll ever hear listing them all like they're facts

There are a lot of good podcasts and they have added value to my life. But the level of bad that the worst podcasts can achieve is astonishing. Kind of a major human achievement in its own right to invent "three hours of very dumb men one-upping each other with weird lies about the pyramids."