681: Trough of Disillusionment
Grumpy Old Geeks
Jason DeFillippo & Brian Schulmeister with Dave Bittner
4.8 • 6.1K Ratings
🗓️ 25 January 2025
⏱️ 85 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Brian and Jason kick things off by highlighting the troubling state of the gaming industry, with 11% of developers laid off in 2024, according to a GDC survey. Meanwhile, Elon Musk finds a new way to perplex us all by admitting he pays people to play video games for him.
They then unpack a whirlwind of news, including Trump’s controversial pardon of Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht and his ongoing crusade against perceived social media bias. Elon Musk’s antics take center stage as he mocks America’s tech elite, clashes with Trump over the flashy “Stargate” AI project, and battles AI cost concerns as hype begins to wane. On the corporate front, Amazon halts drone deliveries after crashes, Instagram blocks political hashtags, and Neko, a body-scanning startup co-founded by Daniel Ek, secures a whopping $260M at a $1.8B valuation.
In media candy, the hosts revisit the charming chaos of the Lilo & Stitch franchise and dive into music documentaries like Yacht Rock and Echo in the Canyon. And let’s not forget Netflix’s price hikes and yet another mediocre Star Trek installment with Section 31. Dave wraps things up with The Dark Side, covering Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, ham radio tools, and even a shoutout to Morse code. Packed with biting commentary, this episode is a mix of tech absurdity, media nostalgia, and the trademark Grumpy Old Geeks snark!
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Show notes at https://gog.show/681
FOLLOW UP
Eleven percent of game developers were laid off in 2024, according to GDC survey
Elon Musk Admits to Paying People to Play Video Games for Him
IN THE NEWS
Joe Rogan, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos: Tech Titans, Celebs at Inauguration
Trump Orders Government to Stop ‘Trampling’ Conservatives on Social Media
Silk Road Mastermind Ross Ulbricht Seen Leaving Prison Holding a Small Plant
President Trump Pardons Silk Road Creator Ross Ulbricht After 11 Years in Prison
Elon Musk Plays DOGE Ball—and Hits America’s Geek Squad
Instagram blocked searches for #democrats and other political hashtags
Why You May Automatically Be Following Trump and Vance Now
AI-Generated Junk Science Is a Big Problem on Google Scholar, Research Suggests
What is the ‘Stargate’ AI project?
Trump Showing Love to Sam Altman Is Clearly Driving Elon Musk Into a Jealous Fury
Trump staff ‘furious’ after Musk trashes AI project
AI Hype Is Dropping Off a Cliff While Costs Soar, Experts Warn
Amazon puts its drone deliveries on hold following two crash incidents
‘Neo-Nazi Madness’: Meta’s Top AI Lawyer on Why He Fired the Company
Apple must face suit over alleged policy of underpaying female workers
Amazon to close Quebec facilities, but says it's not because of that new union
MEDIA CANDY
Lilo & Stitch 2 - Stitch Has a Glitch
Lolla: The Story of Lollapalloza
Netflix plans now cost between $8 and $25 after yet another subscription price hike
Everything to Remember Before Star Trek: Section 31
Section 31 Is a Mediocre Action Movie, and an Even Worse Star Trek One
Fail Better with David Duchovny - Catching Up with Gillian Anderson
James Cameron: Special Video Message at the SCSP AI+Robotics Summit
APPS & DOODADS
Developer Creates Infinite Maze That Traps AI Training Bots
Best Cooking Equipment for Meal Kits (2025), Tested and Reviewed
Trump Executive Order Generator
AT THE LIBRARY
The Breakthrough Effect by Douglas E. Richards
Not Till We Are Lost (Bobiverse Book 5) by Dennis E. Taylor
THE DARK SIDE WITH DAVE
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Grumpy old geeks, a weekly talk show hosted by Brian Schulmeister and Jason DeFilippo discussing the finer points of what went wrong on the internet and who's to blame. |
| 0:16.2 | Welcome to Grumpy Old Geeks. I'm Jason DeFilippo. And I'm Brian Schoemeyer. |
| 0:20.3 | I'd just like to say, Brian, when we do our next show, it will still be fucking January. |
| 0:25.1 | This is the longest January ever. |
| 0:27.6 | Ever. It is funny now that we are in the alternate Back to the Future 2 timeline with Biff's Casino. |
| 0:36.2 | That it just makes sense that time is just wrong right now. |
| 0:39.9 | You know, in good times, we complain that time goes too fast, Jason. |
| 0:43.9 | I know. |
| 0:45.0 | Oh, human nature. |
| 0:46.5 | That's it. |
| 0:47.2 | Let's get on that hedonic treadmill. |
| 0:49.4 | It's been an incredibly long, just week over here. |
| 0:52.3 | We had a polar vortex. |
| 0:55.7 | Now, it's cold enough here in regular winter. The polar vortex was insane. I didn't even want to leave the house. In fact, |
| 1:01.8 | we discovered that the north side of our house does not have good insulation and the pipes froze |
| 1:07.9 | that led to two of our three bathrooms. So that was awesome. |
| 1:11.3 | But the south side does have good insulation. |
| 1:13.4 | So luckily our kitchen was fine and our on-sweet bathroom was fine and everything unfrozed yesterday. |
| 1:19.0 | See, here's the deal. |
| 1:21.0 | When you went to Canada and I stayed here, it created a rift in the weather pattern. So you get the ultimate cold. I get the ultimate |
| 1:29.9 | hot. It was 80 degrees here yesterday in January with like 30 mile an hour winds. So if we, |
| 1:35.6 | if we average the two, we have normal weather. So that just means you have to come back. |
... |
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