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Is Silicon Valley a cult? Is AGI, Cryonics, or Transhumanism? Or are these just weird?

Welcome to Season 6 of CoJW, where Chris & Kayla explore our relationship with that thing that connects us all: the inevitability of death. ...And that brings them to some weird (or culty?) places at the epicenter of the modern world's economic & cultural engine.

Recent Episodes

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S6E23 - The Mindset
Sept. 3, 2024

S6E23 - The Mindset

Wanna chat about the episode? Or just hang out?   --- The future is there… looking back at us. Trying to make sense of the fiction we will have become. -William Gibson   Chris & Kayla finally land the plane on this whole TE…
S6E22 - The Germ Makers
Aug. 27, 2024

S6E22 - The Germ Makers

Wanna chat about the episode? Or just hang out?   --- POV: the Serenity Prayer, but with shoulds instead of cans.   Chris & Kayla attempt to tie the knot between Transhumanism and Eugenics. --- *Search Categories* Science /…
S6E21 - The Germ Makers
Aug. 20, 2024

S6E21 - The Germ Makers

Wanna chat about the episode? Or just hang out?   --- No idiot knows that he is an idiot. As a rule, those of small intellectual equipment are so sure of themselves that they are eager to make the race over in their own ima…
S6E20 - The Final Boss(es) (Effective Altruism & Longtermism)
Aug. 13, 2024

S6E20 - The Final Boss(es) (Effective Altruism & Longtermism)

Wanna chat about the episode? Or just hang out?   --- I have often wondered whether a person is justified in neglecting his own family to fight for opportunities for others.  -Nelson Mandela   Last week was context... this …
S6E19 - The Final Boss(es) (Effective Altruism & Longtermism)
Aug. 6, 2024

S6E19 - The Final Boss(es) (Effective Altruism & Longtermism)

Wanna chat about the episode? Or just hang out?   --- The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit. - Nelson Henderson   We tackle the final three letters of the TESCREAL acronym, a…
S6E18 - The Resurrection (Cosmism)
July 30, 2024

S6E18 - The Resurrection (Cosmism)

Wanna chat about the episode? Or just hang out?   --- We're not earthly beings any more... we're cosmic beings. - Eden Ahbez   Two episodes in one to grapple with the origins of a cosmic concept, and its future among the st…
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About the Hosts

Kayla Profile Photo

Kayla

Kayla is a TV writer whose love of all things niche and weird has been with her since day one.

Her lifelong tendency to deep dive, headfirst, into every new obsession, paired with an unhealthy relationship to the internet not too dissimilar to life support, provided fertile ground for Cult or Just Weird. The show's idea took shape and was refined over a series of in depth conversations with her cohost Chris. When she isn’t down an internet rabbit hole (she’s always down an internet rabbit hole), other passions in Kayla’s life include social justice, cats, travel, and hanging out with her niece.

Chris Profile Photo

Chris

Chris has been working in the video game industry over a decade, variously as a producer, data analyst, and product designer & manager. In other words, he has no idea how he wound up hosting a podcast about cults. But it probably has something to do with his insatiable curiosity, spiritual love for science, and a personal dedication to rational skepticism, all of which significantly pre-date his dayjob career choices. He is also a fan of podcasts, and wishes he could hang out with Dan Carlin and/or steal Roman Mars' voice.