Lomez joins Plausibly Deniable for a long conversation on the old internet, the rise of online politics, academia, Gamergate, Twitter, AI, prediction markets, publishing, and the strange incentives of modern work.

We talk about Lomez’s path from an early remote job at Google to academia, how 2014-era campus politics pushed him online, the evolution of the dissident right, the social justice warrior era, the shifting meaning of “woke is over,” and how internet subcultures moved from fringe jokes to real political force.

We also get into Passage Press, Lomez’s publishing company, including its role in preserving online writing, publishing controversial or neglected work, and building something closer to the “real economy” than most internet projects. Check out Passage Press and use promo code PD10.

Later, the conversation turns to AI, Claude vs ChatGPT, the tech right, Bannon-style anti-tech populism, X vs YouTube, bot accusations, gender war discourse, office jobs, girlboss marketing, and whether the “normie job” fantasy is actually just another internet mirage.

REMEMBER to purchase all books from sponsor Passage Press: https://passage.press

Promo code PD10 gets you 10% off

Sponsored by:

Polymarket: https://polymarket.com

Zcash: https://z.cash

CitizenX: https://citizenx.com

Network Press: https://network.press

_______________________________

Plausibly Deniable: https://plausiblydeniable.org

Lukas: https://x.com/SCHIZO_FREQ

Saila: https://x.com/sailaunderscore

Lomez: https://x.com/L0m3z

0:02:17 — Fake jobs, make-work, and being too close to the real economy0:03:48 — Introducing Lomez0:04:30 — Lomez’s early life and getting a remote job at Google0:06:00 — Human search ranking, porn SEO, and “artisanal Google”0:10:19 — Leaving tech, traveling, and deciding to become an English professor0:11:55 — UC Irvine, academia, and the politics of 20140:13:02 — Charlie Hebdo, free speech, and campus liberalism0:15:36 — Why online transgression felt politically meaningful0:17:21 — Gamergate, gamers, and the online right0:21:02 — Is woke actually over?0:24:42 — Early Lomez internet lore: forums, Twitter, sports, and betting0:30:43 — The old alt-right, Breitbart, Spencer, and Charlottesville0:34:35 — Passage Press, Scott Greer, and White Pill0:35:00 — Social justice warriors, Tumblr, and naming the enemy0:40:00 — Trump, Kavanaugh, liberal coalition discipline, and political hysteria0:43:19 — Male feminists, the cuttlefish strategy, and dating discourse0:48:56 — The gender war escalates0:56:15 — Wirejacking, welfare, work, and the broken social contract1:05:32 — Passage Press books, QR codes, and preserving internet archives1:10:11 — Digital censorship, stealth edits, and why print still matters1:15:05 — Lomez’s doxxing and public-interest journalism1:25:38 — Polymarket, betting markets, and “selling dollars for 50 cents”1:30:14 — Scale, inefficiency, local culture, and AI1:34:00 — Hard takeoff AI and whether acceleration is inevitable1:45:18 — Nick Land, nation-states, and machine intelligence1:55:01 — Who fears AI more: the left or the right?2:08:21 — Sam Altman, OpenAI, Claude, and AI politics2:13:15 — The tech right, the administration, and institutional conservatism2:16:20 — Policy battles, post-humanism, Bannon, and anti-tech populism2:25:00 — San Francisco, crime, tech elites, and urban decline2:35:00 — Online discourse, media narratives, and AI acceleration2:50:00 — Political aesthetics, millennial posting, and internet memory3:06:14 — Bots, real people, hate-farming, and X engagement3:10:15 — YouTube vs X: analytics, algorithms, and distribution3:15:00 — The return of the gender war meta3:25:00 — The normie office fantasy, PF Chang’s, and work wives3:28:52 — Mega-corporation incentives and fake corporate jobs3:34:27 — Escape hatches, mortgages, and the terror of being stuck3:35:47 — Closing thoughts and subscribe

Internet comedian Howling Mutant joins Plausibly Deniable to talk about getting doxxed, becoming an accidental Goodreads influencer, the strange sociology of right-wing Twitter, journalism, media trust, AI art, gym culture, looksmaxxing, and why the internet turns every private embarrassment into public lore.

The conversation starts with the story of how Howling’s personal information was dug up and spread online, then veers into Goodreads power rankings, the decline of nerd culture, media narratives, “fell for it again” politics, Iran war arguments, anime pronunciation scandals, AI-generated comedy, recycling scams, posture, lifting, and bone-smashing aesthetics.Sponsored by:

Polymarket

https://polymarket.com

Zcash

https://z.cash

CitizenX

https://citizenx.com

Network Press

https://network.press

_______________________________

Plausibly Deniable

https://plausiblydeniable.org

Lukas

https://x.com/SCHIZO_FREQ

Saila

https://x.com/sailaunderscore

Howling Mutant

https://x.com/Howlingmutant0

00:00 Howling Mutant gets doxxed

02:00 The Goodreads scandal begins

06:29 Face reveals, internet expectations, and nerd culture winning

10:08 Gay culture, repression, and mainstreaming

11:41 The media lie that broke Lukas’s brain

13:20 “Fell for it again” politics

16:07 Iran discourse and losing internet arguments

18:47 The Asuka pronunciation scandal

20:43 Frazier Payne, AI animation, and right-wing creativity

23:35 Censorship, bleeping, and edgy comedy

26:02 Sponsors and monetizing Goodreads influence

28:19 Book ratings, Karl Marx, and 800 reviews

29:59 AI art, anti-tech politics, and environmental objections

32:06 Ferry work, old coworkers, and online personas

34:46 How the doxxing happened

38:21 Contacting an ex through her workplace

39:34 How doxxing spreads when people “defend” you

41:53 Posture, camera presence, and gym culture

45:05 Forum experts, deadlifts, and niche knowledge

47:01 Looksmaxxing, bone-smashing, and viral advice

48:46 Closing chaos

Welcome to the Plausibly Deniable experience. Today, we have a very special guest: one of the greatest posters on X, Signull

We explore the bizarre realities of hyper-optimized capitalism, from the dual opt-in mechanics of dating apps to the wild world of DIY Korean Botox and 14-year-olds getting "preventative" injections before Signull tells us about the app he just built - https://skyeapp.ai/

Later, we discuss OpenAI's side quests , Anthropic's focus on coding , and why the infinite scroll is the ultimate IQ filter

Sponsored by:

Polymarket: https://polymarket.com

Zcash: https://z.cash

CitizenX: https://citizenx.com

Network Press: https://network.press

_______________________________

Plausibly Deniable: https://plausiblydeniable.org

Lukas: https://x.com/SCHIZO_FREQ

Saila: https://x.com/sailaunderscore

00:00 - Intro: The $4,000 Testosterone Check & Haggling in Taipei

06:59 - Welcome Signal: Pod Slop & The Podcast Tax

10:26 - Frictionless Capitalism: Diet Cherry Coke & Dating Spreadsheets 20:27 - The Botox Epidemic: Masseter Injections, DIY Kits, & 14-Year-Olds 32:11 - Privacy in the AI Era: Cambridge Analytica & LLM Spies

38:23 - Exclusive Reveal: Signal’s New Agentic App "Sky"

54:32 - Trump, Influencers, & How 200 Accounts Control the Zeitgeist

1:06:00 - TikTok, Netflix, and How Infinite Scroll Obliterated Search Skills

1:12:04 - Apple's Missed AI Opportunity & The Steve Jobs "What If"

1:32:30 - Focus vs. Side Quests: Apple, OpenAI (Sora), & Anthropic (Claude)

1:43:00 - Why Consumer Startups Are "Harder" Than B2B Enterprise

1:49:16 - The Wellness Industry vs. The TikTok Dopamine Machine

2:24:23 - Polymarket, Zcash, and the Art of Judging on Twitter