Do we treat political affiliation like a religion? Which parts of our identity are based off factual belief vs. imaginary belief? This week, Max talks to Professor Neil Van Leeuwen about the difference between thinking and believing, the power of groupish thought, and the similarities between religious creeds and political ideologies. But first! Jon and Max break down the drama between Scarlet Johansson and OpenAI, pick apart the TikTok blockout, and suspend their disbelief that a close friend of the pod is…on Survivor?! Will he love it or leave it?

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

Ezra Klein joins Offline Movie Club to discuss “Her,” the movie that more or less incited this week’s Scarlett Johansson v. OpenAI drama. Back in 2013, when ChatGPT was just a twinkle in Sam Altman’s eye, no one thought a writer falling in love with his sentient virtual assistant was a near-term scenario. But here we are! Ezra, Max and Jon debate what AIs mean for relationships, how “Her” introduced emotional stakes that are absent from AIs in real life, and why Altman definitely copies Johansson’s husky voice in the latest GPT-4o.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.

ChatGPT has officially entered its “Her” era! Jon and Max talk about the flirty AI that debuted this week, whose husky voice and warm enthusiasm evokes Scarlett Johansson. But not all the tech titans are doing so hot; Facebook’s noxious combo of AI-generated content and the real people who are falling for it has been coined the “zombie internet.” The guys discuss Meta’s spam problem, then take a look at how mental health curricula in schools can actually make things worse for students.

For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.