People vs Algorithms

Meanwhile, Anthropic is on a $50 billion run rate and raising at a $900b valuation. We look back to the dawn of the assembly line, when workers suffered from “Forditis," a condition of despair caused by a lack of agency and the pressure to keep up with a pace set by machines. Plus: learning from Ferrari, Ryan Cohen's use of the information space for his long-shot takeover bid for eBay, the decline of drinking as structural phenomenon, the end of the road for BuzzFeed, and Italian rock bands.
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* Troy Young’s People vs Algorithms newsletter
* Brian Morrissey’s The Rebooting newsletter
* Alex Schleifer’s Human Computer
* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:
* 00:00 Open
* 00:38 Welcome
* 04:14 Ferrari Scarcity Mythology
* 11:27 From Ferrari To Anthropic
* 21:33 AI Backlash And Forditis
* 27:19 Thinking Machines New Interface
* 38:13 Narratives Beat Policy
* 41:23 Ryan Cohen Media Populism
* 48:01 BuzzFeed Byron Allen Deal
* 58:37 Good Product
* 01:09:08 Credits


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.peoplevsalgorithms.com

While some of this is cover for overhiring during the ZIRP era, there's clearly a move to cut the "coordination tax" that exists within companies. And what starts in tech always moves downstream. Plus: Ted Turner and the end of the media mogul archetype, James Murdoch's move to buy Vox Media's podcast network and New York magazine, and how to tell fake fakes from real fakes at the souk.
* Watch us on YouTube
* Troy Young’s People vs Algorithms newsletter
* Brian Morrissey’s The Rebooting newsletter
* Alex Schleifer’s Human Computer
* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:
* 00:00 Open
* 00:18 Welcome
* 02:02 Brian in Marrakesh
* 04:43 PVA Vibe-Coding: RingRing & Field Notes
* 09:18 AI Is A Job Killer
* 16:48 AI Native Orgs and Jevons
* 26:34 Permanent Underclass Fears
* 31:23 The Last of the Moguls
* 35:32 Murdoch Buys Vox
* 40:49 AI Private Equity
* 42:24 GameStop Targets eBay
* 48:14 Met Gala Tech Takeover
* 50:33 Tech Villains
* 52:40 Good Product
* 01:01:39 Credits


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.peoplevsalgorithms.com

This week we dig into how the clip has become the unit of cultural currency and whether it's creating a mass delusion about what people actually want and what is popular. Also: a Waymo hostage situation, a vibe-coded group-texting platform, Apple vs. the interface doomers, Uber's super app survival play, Ben Sasse's deathbed honesty about young people's anxiety, and what the rise of Graham Platner says about the need to be a legible character.
* Watch us on YouTube
* Troy Young’s People vs Algorithms newsletter
* Brian Morrissey’s The Rebooting newsletter
* Alex Schleifer’s Human Computer
* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:
* 00:00 Open
* 01:05 Welcome
* 04:31 Vibe Coding Field Notes
* 07:55 Fan Feedback
* 11:56 AI Power Games Trial
* 20:51 Next Interface
* 29:06 Can a New AI Phone Win
* 33:28 Why Super Apps Fail
* 38:10 Media’s Next Chapter
* 41:43 AI Replacing Media Work
* 44:51 Clipping And Fake Popularity
* 51:20 Gen Z Nostalgia Anxiety
* 54:23 Politics As Characters
* 59:08 Good Product
* 01:05:00 Credits


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.peoplevsalgorithms.com

Troy’s vibe coding project has moved into high gear, as institutional and personal memory becomes the point of leverage with media’s ultimate goal shifting to how to get the right people in the saloon. Claude Design and GPT-Image 2 reinforce the same message: You’re either high-end craftsman or you’re orchestrating AI systems, like it or not. Plus: Tim Cook hands over the CEO reigns after Apple’s boring decade, why media is about artists, suits and engineers, the dismal fate of much of Vox’s publishing assets, the emptiness of cloned media assets and why there’s leverage in coming out of the kitchen to spoon the gravy, no matter how much you’ve accomplished.
* Watch us on YouTube
* Troy Young’s People vs Algorithms newsletter
* Brian Morrissey’s The Rebooting newsletter
* Alex Schleifer’s Human Computer
* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:
* 00:00 Open
* 00:52 Building on Top of LLMs
* 03:41 Welcome
* 04:31 Vibe Coding Costs
* 09:00 Memory as Moat
* 13:38 Wiki Maintenance Problem
* 16:41 Workers Training Replacements
* 18:13 McClatchy Content Scaling
* 25:25 Community as Real Value
* 32:43 Monitoring the Situation Review
* 35:20 Are Designers Cooked
* 37:58 Dotcom Agency Flashback
* 40:19 AI Kills The Agency Model
* 42:36 Displacement And Value Stack
* 45:38 Farm To Table Humans
* 47:13 Apple’s Boring Decade
* 51:47 Nvidia Chips And China
* 55:40 Event Format And Layers
* 57:29 Vox Sale And Media M&A
* 01:01:27 Media Notes And Widgets
* 01:06:59 Collectibles As Asset Class
* 01:09:12 Good Product
* 01:14:43 Outro


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.peoplevsalgorithms.com

Troy unveils his vibe-coded media system that produces a daily briefing based on his entire media diet, underpinned with a memory layer that acts as a second brain of PvA thinking. This would turn media from a game of speed to one of accumulated worldview. We also unpack the rise of fakes, from the clip economy to Allbirds pivot to AI; handicap the Pope vs Trump battle; and get a report from an international journalism festival in Italy.
* Watch us on YouTube
* Troy Young’s People vs Algorithms newsletter
* Brian Morrissey’s The Rebooting newsletter
* Alex Schleifer’s Human Computer
* Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Chapters:
* 00:00 Open
* 00:34 Welcome
* 02:48 Troy The Vibe-Coder
* 11:54 Takeaways Process And Limits
* 17:52 AI Slop And Meme Warfare
* 25:37 Clips Economy
* 32:32 Allbirds AI Pivot
* 37:37 Anthropic vs OpenAI Chart
* 47:02 Journalism Hierarchy
* 49:30 LinkedIn Is a Sad Place
* 54:01 Vibe Coding and API Economy
* 57:56 World Economy Summit
* 59:48 Good Product
* 01:05:34 Outro


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.peoplevsalgorithms.com