Ep78 Slop, Stunts & Millennial Politics

The Net Society crew is back together for a wide-ranging conversation on politics, crypto, AI, and the accelerating weirdness of the internet. They open with Spencer Pratt’s LA political rise, using it as a lens for how celebrity, AI slop videos, and direct-to-feed campaigning may be reshaping political media. From there, they compare LA and New York political content, Mamdani’s street-level style, and the possibility of a broader reform movement breaking through old institutional structures. The crew then turns to crypto, unpacking major token and infrastructure moves around Arc, Canton, Circle, public companies, and the growing convergence between blockchains and traditional finance. Consensus in Miami becomes a referendum on crypto’s cringe problem, before the conversation shifts into AI, where Anthropic, xAI, Colossus, Cursor, Grok, OpenClaw, Hermes, and agent harnesses all point toward a new phase of frontier technology competition. The episode closes by asking whether AI agents are following a DeFi-like arc: real innovation buried under waves of noise.Mentioned in the episodeSpencer Pratt LA Mayor Campaign AI Slop vid https://x.com/charliebcurran/status/2051647381981290697Mamdani Ken Griffin video https://x.com/NYCMayor/status/2044508902809628760?s=20Bullish acquires Equiniti https://www.wsj.com/finance/currencies/crypto-exchange-bullish-strikes-4-2-billion-deal-for-transfer-agent-in-tokenization-push-4af8f41fConsensus 2026 memes https://x.com/cryptosmiff/status/2053175297818911145?s=20And https://x.com/brookejlacey/status/2053196312091427119xAI and Cursor https://x.com/xDaily/status/2052867330418335989Show & HostsNet Society: https://x.com/net__societyAaron Wright: https://x.com/awrigh01Chris F: https://x.com/ChrisF_0xDerek Edwards: https://x.com/derekedwsPriyanka Desai: https://x.com/pridesaiProduction & MarketingProducer/Editor: https://x.com/0xFnklSocial: https://x.com/v_kirra(00:00) - Spencer Pratt, LA Politics & AI Slop Campaigning (08:35) - Political Ads, Memes & the New Media Playbook (19:17) - The Pratt Hat, Reform Movements & Institutional Frustration (22:59) - Arc, Canton, Circle & Public Company Tokens (29:46) - Consensus Miami & Crypto’s Cringe Problem (33:25) - Anthropic, xAI, Cursor & the Compute Wars (38:10) - OpenClaw, Hermes & the Future of Agent Harnesses (46:50) - Welcome & Disclaimer